the drake equation

Peter the Dolphin recounts his one-sided love affair with Margaret Howe Lovatt, as their Dolphinarium rots around them, John C. Lilly falls deeper under the influence of LSD, Margaret falls in love with a human man, and Jeff Bridges and Carl Sagan attempt to befriend Peter in the depth of his despair.

the penitent magdalen

Artemisia kneels, hands bound in front of the papal court, a screw tightening the ropes ever further around her fingertips as they extract the truth from her; did she consent to the sexual relationship with her painting tutor, Agostino Tassi, or was she coerced? As her fingers begin to bleed, she imagines painting the eyelids of her Susanna with the dripping blood. She imagines herself as Judith, taking up the sword. Instead she lifts her eyes to meet Tassi’s, then her father’s behind him, and does nothing at all.