Show me the things I've been missin...

Some Hints on Puzzle #1 The Tori Puzzle Box For the most part objects don't represent the meanings of the songs, just in some way reflect their names. All of the songs from Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink and Boys for Pele are represented as well as most of her B-Sides and a few covers. There are also a few references to particular lyrics but those are an added subtlety rather than part of the puzzle.In some cases the positioning of the objects next to each other is relevant as well as their orientation. Be aware that some items may represent more than one song. Pay attention to the arrows in the picture, they are important clues. There are a couple of songs that could be derived from more than one item in the box. There is a 72nd song that I forgot to put in my chart originally. It's now numbered 43 and is located in the upper right corner. So there are now 72 official songs.

Somewhere someone must know the ending...

Congratulate you...

Congratulations to the following Ears with Feet (and eyes) who scored a 65 or higher on Puzzle #1. The prize winners are listed in bold with a star next to their names.

*Eva Piccininni from Portland, OR had the highest score. She only missed two.
Sherri Beguesse, Boynton Beach, FL
*Sara Schaefer, Williamsburg, VA
*Jessica Maxwell, Groton, MA
Julia Kuhn, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Ludick
Doink?, Berkeley, CA
Timothy Gaddis, Tucson, AZ
Mindy Kinney and Teryn Robinson, Decatur, IL
Scott Christiansen, Fresno, CA
Kim Yang, Ft. Collins, CO
Dominic Marullo
Kelly Smith, Cedar Rapids, IA

Also congratulations go to the clever Toriphile who won a puzzle poster for solving Puzzle #2, Tori by the Numbers.

The Answers

Solution to Puzzle #1 - The Tori Puzzle Box

1. Sister named Desire - Pictured is an excerpt from a Sandman Comic featuring The Dream King and one of his siblings Desire. Tori is a fan of Sandman and mentions him and the comics author Neil Gamain on each of her three main albums. Technically Desire is both the Sandman's sister and brother oddly enough.

2. The Wrong Band - The Beatles are pictured with Tori from her YKTR era. Although the Beatles were a major influence on Tori she was never in the band :)

3A.Past the Mission - The building pictured is The Alamo in San Antonio which was a mission. There is a sign by the road pointing past the mission.

3B. Alamo - See explanation for 3A.

3C.Somewhere over the Rainbow - A rainbow is pictured. The song is one of Tori's beautiful covers. She plays it occasionally in concert and it is on the "Hey Jupiter" single.

4. The Pool - A swimming pool is pictured.

5. Little Amsterdam - This is a map of The Netherlands with a little star on the city of Amsterdam. I considered using a photo I took in Amsterdam a few years back, but decided that it would be too hard for most to identify.

6. China - A map of China with a symbolic Chinese Dragon added as another hint.

7. Samurai, A Tori B-side, Note that the Samurai is off the east coast of China where Japan, land of Samurais should be.

8. Agent Orange - An orange wearing an FBI cap and dark glasses.

9. Ode to the Banana King (Part One) - The banana is wearing a crown.

10A. Sugar - a packet of sugar.

10B. The Waitress - A drawing of a waitress is on the sugar packet.

11. Honey - A jar of honey. You can see a bee as part of the design. Tori mentions bees in a few songs.

12A. Mr. Zebra - A zebra is pictured. If you look closely you can almost see that he is wearing a sweater.

12B. Mother - This is Tori's real life mother. My friend Lisa pointed out that this picture could also represent the song "Mary", since Mary is Tori's mother's first name.

12C. Sister Janet - Janet Jackson.

13. Doughnut Song - A big doughnut.

14. Baker Baker - Two bakers are pictured. One carries a doughnut, the other has a Famous Amos cookie. They're both smiling and working hard so either baker could also represent the song "The Happy Worker"

15. Precious Things - A chest full of precious treasure.

16. Baltimore - A map of Baltimore. Baltimore was the first song Tori recorded.

17. Talula: The Tornado Mix - A packet of instant Tornado mix is pictured. The packet has "Just Add Hot Water" and a drawing of a tornado on it. Of course this doesn't actually exist, but I thought it was pretty funny. I made this using a modified scan of a packet of hot chocolate (official drink of RMTA). The woman pictured is Tallulah Bankhead, the old movie star.

18A. Winter - A wintry scene complete with snowman. Tori mentions a snowman in the song too.

18B. Icicle - Icicles hang down from the top of the scene.

18C. Pretty Good Year - A calendar is pictured, representing the year. The big smiley face indicates that it's a Pretty Good Year. I tried to make the smile somewhat flat, to indicate that it was only a pretty good year, not a fantastically great year.

18D. In the Springtime of His Voo Doo - March 20, the first day of spring is circled on the calendar. An arrow pooints to a drawing of a voo doo doll with pins sticking in it.

19. Sweet Dreams - Tori has her eyes closed in this picture and appears to be relaxing, possibly sleeping and dreaming. The picture is located right under the picture of the Dream King and is surrounded by sweet things such as sugar, honey and a chocolate candy heart.

20. Daisy Dead Petals - A daisy with some dying petals falling off.

21A. God - God is in the sky. The picture is the most famous painting of God, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I was lucky enough to see the actual ceiling on a trip a few years ago. Note that God is pointing right at the Daisy, representing the line from the song "You make pretty daisies..."

21B. Happy Phantom - A ghost is smiling so he must be a happy phantom.

21C. Take to the Sky - The phantom is flying up to the sky.

21D. Little Earthquakes - The city pictured is shaking to represent the earthquake. A lot of people had trouble with this one. I guess it's hard to represent an earthquake in a tiny static picture. A few people guessed "Floating City" from YKTR which I gave partial credit for.

21E. Blue Skies - The sky is blue. Blue Skies is a collaborative song with BT. I toned down the blueness in the picture of the Alamo (3A and 3B) to make 21E bluer.

21F Flying Dutchman - The Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship. Note that in the picture the ship is semi transparent and a ghost is flying up from it. Many people also guessed Pirates from YKTR. I found this an acceptable answer too.

21G. Purple Rain - The purple clouds rain purple rain. This one was hard because not everyone knows Tori likes to cover this song. Some people guessed "Cool On your Island" which I gave partial credit for.

21H. Cloud on My Tongue - The frog is shooting out his tongue to the cloud.

21I. Way Down - The arrow is pointing way down, all the way to hell.

21J. Father Lucifer - The Devil AKA Lucifer

22A. Upside Down - Eric is shown upside down.

22B. Song for Eric - Eric Rosse is pictured. Eric was Tori's former producer and significant other. Tori wrote the song for Eric.

22C. Tear in Your Hand - A big teardrop is in Eric's hand.

23A. Twinkle - A bright twinkling star is in the sky.

23B. Space Dog - Snoopy the dog is in space, wearing a space helmet and shooting a ray gun. As an added reference Tori mentions Charlie's wonderful Dog in "Not the Red Baron"

23C. Hey Jupiter - The planet Jupiter.

23D Puttin the Damage On - Snoopy is shooting his traditional enemy, the Red Baron thus he is Putting the Damage on.

23E. Not the Red Baron - A red bi-plane represents the Red Baron. The "Not" part of the song title is represented by a few things - The plane isn't technically accurate for the real life Red Baron. Snoopy is always imagining that he is doing battle with the Red Baron. But in reality it's just a fantasy. Finally Snoopy is destroying the plane, so there is definitely a connotation of "Notness" to that.

24. Silent All These Years - Tori has her finger to her lips, making the "Shhh... quiet" gesture. The picture is right next to the calendar which represents the Years.

25. Love Song - A chocolate heart represents love. Only a few people got this one. The song is a cover of the song by the Cure.

26. Black Swan - A black swan. One of Tori's B-sides.

27. Blood Roses - Blood red roses.

28. Professional Widow - A black widow is pictured. She looks professional because she is holding a briefcase and is wearing glasses.

29. Angie - Angie Dickinson. Angie is a cover that appears on the "Crucify" single. Many people were tricked into guessing "Putting the Damage On" since Angie Dickinson is mentioned there. However for this puzzle pictures refer primarily to song titles and not lyrics.

30. Bells for Her - A pair of bells with Tori's initials engraved on them.

31A. Frog on My Toe - A big frog sits on Tori's bare feet and toes.

31B. Marianne - Mary Ann from the old TV show "Gilligan's Island". You can also see Gilligan and the Skipper from the show as added hints.

31C. Thoughts - Tori has a thought bubble popping up from her head.

31D. Here in My Head - The arrow points in Tori's head. Some folks guessed "You Go to My Head" which got them partial credit.

31E. Me And A Gun - Tori cradles a shotgun.

32. Muhammad My Friend - Tori and Muhammad Ali. Of course Muhammad Ali is also mentioned in the song "Professional Widow".

33. Cornflake Girl - A few cornflakes are scattered about. They are right next to many pictures of Tori, who is a girl.

34. Beauty Queen - A young beautiful Tori wearing her homecoming queen crown.

35. Horses - White Horses

36. Crucify - A crucifix.

37A. Humpty Dumpty - Humpty Dumpty, the nursery rhyme character. The song is a B-side.

37B. Caught A Lite Sneeze - Humpty is sneezing.

38. Butterfly - A monarch butterfly.

39. Home on The Range : Cherokee Edition - The log cabin is an actual Cherokee house circa 1888 in North Carolina. The cabin sits atop a set of stoves, also known as a range.

40A. Yes Anastasia - Anastasia Romanoff, youngest daughter of the last Russian Czar. Tori wrote the song about her.

40B. Girl - Anastasia is a girl. Any of the other pictures featuring girls were acceptable as "Girl"

41. Leather - A piece of leather from a belt.

42. Mary - A small sculpture of the Virgin Mary

43. Strange Fruit - The fruit wearing hats and crowns look pretty strange to me.

Credits and Inspirations

In addition to Tori, of course, the puzzle box was inspired by the puzzle book The Egyptian Jukebox by Nick Bantock. I also highly recommend his other wonderful books especially The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy (Griffin and Sabine , Sabine's Notebook, The Golden Mean). My friend Sandra has a nice Griffin and Sabine page. Bantock's most recent books The Venetian's Wife and The Forgetting Room are also good reads.

Thanks also go to my friend Lisa Street for helping me play test the puzzle and giving me some good feedback.

The puzzle box was created with my original digital paintings, scans, and actual objects. I used Adobe Photoshop for the painting and compositing of the objects. The painting at the top of the intro page - Tori as a Fairy playing her organic piano, was also painted from scratch using Photoshop.

Most of the Tori pictures are from All These Years , the authorized Tori biography. The images of other celebrities were found from various sources on the web as were the picture of the Alamo and the religious objects. The orange, cornflakes, sugar and Famous Amos cookie were scanned in directly by placing them on my scanner bed. I ate them all afterwards! The picture of God is from the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelango.The frame around Anastasia is an antique frame that belonged to a neighbor who used to live in my apartment building. She was a 90 year voice and piano teacher. Interestingly enough her mother was also a musician who once performed for the Czar's family in Russia including Anastasia herself! The zebra, swan and butterfly were scanned from a nature book. The bells were created using Adobe Dimensions with some touch up work in Adobe Photoshop. Pretty much all the other items in the box were painted from scratch using a combination of Photoshop and scanned real objects.
Finally I ask that you not distribute copies of the puzzle without my prior permission.