Unofficial Tex Murphy

Hanging on the wall, near the French doors in my virtual library is a framed drawing entitled "Australia".

My daughter, who is 15, was the artist and Just for fun, and for my own curiosity, I was wondering if any of you guys can guess why she named the picture Australia.

For you folks who don't have my library program, here is a snapshot of the drawing:

Hmm...maybe I should have used less compression or more resolution. I tried to keep the image file as small as possible.

some of the words are hard to read from the pic. Here's what they say:
The Calendar dates are all Saturdays, 1st, 7th, and 14th. The Ribbon says Dare to be one of us, girl.
The words in the window panes say "Give me your hand and Let's jump out the window."
Near the bottom nestled between the 2 and the 1 in 21 is the word Alone.

I think that should do it.

I must confess, I had no idea what all of this meant, so I asked. I'm just wondering if it is apparent to anyone else, or would it be after you know the answer.

In the words of Bill Hicks - "Well, Goddammit, ya stumped me!"

I gots no clue.

-Fred

No seriously. I'm curious. Spill the beans, doc!

-Fred

Surely one of the board's resident Aussies could come up with something!

To be brutally honest I have no frikken idea what this image has to do with Australia that could possibly set it apart from any other country it could've been titled.

Of course, a lot of art is the personal persuit of the artist... and so it's probably part of some in-joke nobody else but the creator understands, or is supposed to understand.

That's what I think.

-Cub. =o)

I'm guessing that boat is the endevour (Captain Cooks ship before it got blown up in Europe )

That could give us a bit of an indication.

Seeing as most young artists are heavily influenced by pop culture I am taking a shot in the dark that it is a song. Specifically this song:

--------------------------------------------------------------
The Shins - Australia

La la la la

Born to multiply or
Born to gaze into night skies
When all you want’s one more Saturday
Well look here until then
They gonna buy your life's time
So keep your wick in the air
And your feet in the fetters 'till the day...
We come in doing cartwheels
We all crawl out by ourselves
And your shape on the dance floor
Will have me thinking such filth
I'll gouge my eyes

You’ll be damned to be one of us girl
Faced with a dodo’s conundrum
I felt like I could just fly
But nothing happend every time I tried

Oh duotone on the wall
The selfless fool who hoped he’d save us all
He never dreamt of such sterile hands
You keep them folded in your lap
Or raise them up to beg for scraps
You know he's holding you down
With the tips of his fingers just the same

Will you be pulled from the ocean
But just a minute too late
Or changed by a potion
And find a handsome young mate for you to love

You'll be damned to pining through the windowpanes
You know you'd trade your life for any ordinary Joe's
Well do it now or grow old
'Cause your nightmares only need a year or two to unfold

Been alone since you were 21
You haven't laughed since January
You try and make like this is so much fun
But we know it to be quite contrary

La la la la la la la

Dare to be one of us girl
Facing the android's conundrum
You see I felt like I should just cry
But nothing happens every time I take one on the chin
Yeah Himmler in your coat
You don't know how long I have been watching
The lantern dim starved of oxygen
So give me your hand and let's jump out the window

la la la la la
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FINALLY! My former job at an art gallery and all that Fine Art edumication paid off. Here's what I think is the music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FkAz4stErM

I should note that I'd never even heard of this song before I read this post. Catchy tune. Also it was fun to use the old detective skills to figure out the riddle. We should do stuff like this more often.

Electron Stu,

Yes! You are exactly correct. It was inspired by the Shins' song entitled Australia.

As a pastime, the artist (my 15 year old daughter) likes to listen to music and then draw her impressions from it. It seems like kind of fun thing to do. The reason I posted this question is because I had had not a clue about the Shins or their song Australia, and I was just curious to know if *anyone* would be able to see what was behind the picture.

She will be very pleased to hear that someone got it, so thanks, Electron Stu. You made here very happy.

DrPaul

A trick question I see! (I had no idea either)

Maybe she could draw/animate for music videos in the future.

i had no cleu at all but i enjoyed giving my brain a good workout.

Hey Stu,

Since you had never heard of this song before, I'm wondering how you managed to lead yourself to it.

How about a little recap of how your excellent detective skills solved the puzzle?

(I agree that it is a pretty catchy tune. Even by my old-guy doesn't like anything new tastes. Thanks for the music video link.)

I bet he googled all the keywords.. Lol good old Google Tex should be using google not that American database crap

American Information Database (AID) will buy Google in the year 2012. It's true. Nostradamus foresaw it!

-Fred

PS: I've never heard of the Shins either. Catchy tune.

It's from their newest album, Wincing the Night Away. The Shins were popular with a smaller circle till the movie "Garden State", and the character that Natalie Portman plays says something like this band will change your life. I don't know about that, but they've got some damn catchy tunes with lyrics at times I'm not sure I'll ever completely understand.

Other good ones are Those to Come, Phantom Limb (the video is bizarre), Baby Boomerang, New Slang, etc.

The band is worth a listen. I learned of them by a friend about a year ago.

Cheers!