I can't believe it! We (America) will actually get to see Torchwood Season 2 in real time! I saw an ad on BBC America saying it would start on January 26th. Cool! I thought. Then I saw this (via Scifi Signal). Torchwood has only just finished filming, and the UK is getting it in January as well. Oh, VERY cool! If you haven't had the opportunity to catch Torchwood, make an effort. It's the best SF on TV right now (barring Heroes, which I don't watch and therefore cannot make the comparison). See my rave about it here.
Interesting note: BBC Two will be showing a "cleaned-up" family oriented version for their younger viewers. Great, as long as I get to see the adult version.
One other thing: James Marsters, aka Spike of Buffy fame will be appearing. I seriously can't wait. Fire up the DVR, Honey!! I'm watching Torchwood!
I truly hate this infernal machine. I thought it would be nice to have something portable, which I suppose it is, except that I haven't ported it anywhere. I also thought it would be cool to have a PC for playing certain games and using WORD on, things I cannot do on my iMac. However, this $#@@&% keyboard drives me insane! I am not a great typist at the best of times, and this thing has such a sensitive cursor pad that I am constantly moving the cursor while I type. I cannot tell you how many times I have sent out unfinished emails because the cursor "moved" while I was typing and I didn't notice it in time.
Yes, yes, my soon-to-be ex-husband and all around knowledgeable guy tried to get me to buy an iBook, but it was a) expensive and b) out of stock. Even so, I don't know if this particular problem would be any less apparent.
Either way, my next computer will have an apple on it.
Becki made an interesting comment about an image of the Penitent Magdalen I posted sometime back. She noted that Reni has depicted a couple of mandrake roots on a stone beside her. Well, I had to go and investigate this. I found a very interesting article on the history, myths and legends about the plant. However, after reading that, and digging around some more, I could not find one possible reason for Reni to have put that plant in the painting. Yes, he had some kind of fear of women, but that doesn't seem to relate to his depictions of the Magdalen. The plant is known to have various powers, from an aphrodesiac to helping women in childbirth, to a nasty poison. But I cannot see how any of this relates to the Magdalen, to penitence, or even to prostitution (prostitutes don't need love potions).
The roots beside her certainly seem to be mandrakes. Even so, I also looked around to see if there are ANY herbal roots related to penitence and I found none.
Perhaps Reni included it at the request of the patron, Cardinal Antonio Santacroce, but there is little way of finding that out. I am really stumped on this one. I wish I could provide more information, and I will certainly keep it in mind when next I am searching through my art books. Until then, good luck Becki!