An eccentric, incoherent film about voting rights.
Wesley Shiflet: To get more information on this, I had to go to the most authoritative source on the subject: myself, a friend of mine since high school.
Wesley Shiflet: Wesley Shiflet here. Do you know what this is that I'm sitting in? It's the chair of oppression.
William "Bill" Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995 with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his views on licensing and comic syndication, as well as for his reclusive nature.
Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., where his father, James G. Watterson (born 1932), worked as a patent examiner while going to George Washington University Law School before becoming a patent attorney in 1960.
In 1964, when Watterson was six years old, the family moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where his mother, Kathryn Watterson, became a city council member. James was elected as a council member in 1997, holding that position for 12 years before retiring on August 31, 2009 to pursue some artistic "projects and goals".
Watterson, who drew his first cartoon at the age of eight, spent a lot of time in childhood alone, occupying his time with drawing and cartooning. This continued throughout his primary and secondary schooling years when he drew cartoons for the school newspaper and yearbook. During this time he discovered comic strips like Pogo, Krazy Kat, and Charles Schulz' Peanuts which subsequently inspired and influenced his desire to become a professional cartoonist. His parents recall him as a very quiet and unassuming child, who would spend hours drawing in his room:
Where'd you go when you were done?
I'd like to know what you've become
Your biggest fan, awake at dawn,
I cry, I stand on your front lawn
It's plain to see you're scared of me
But that's not how it's supposed to be
When you're the reason I'm in town
And every piece of mind you put down
Don't you know I think that you're the cat's meow?
Where's the tiger now? Where's the tiger now?
Bill Watterson, can't you hear me?
Bill Watterson, please don't fear me
Don't treat me like I have rabies
I only wanna have your babies
Tracing lines with fingertips,
I saw the signs within these strips
And through the fog, between the frames
Of dialogue, I saw my name
And now I know where I must go,
To show you that I love you so
So I brought books for you to sign
And I brought shears to cut your phone line
Don't you know I think that you're the cat's meow?
Where's the tiger now? Where's the tiger now?
Bill Watterson, can't you hear me?
Bill Watterson, please don't fear me
Don't stare at me from your window
I know you wanna let me in...
... Though, oh!
You want me to show
How much I believe and
Prove how far I'll go to meet you,
Through thunderstorms and snow...
Well I would do anything
And oh!
I happen to know
The reason you're hiding
From publicity
It's not out of eccentricity,
But rather for privacy
When you meet me
And when we meet I'll be complete
I'll shake your hand and kiss your feet,
Confess my love and buy you flowers
And eat your heart and absorb your powers
Don't you know I think that you're the cat's meow?
Oh-oh-oh!
Where's the tiger now? Where's the tiger now?
Oh oh oh oh!
Bill Watterson, can't you hear me?
Bill Watterson, please don't fear me
Don't run from me like I'm Jason