So we're pregnant again. Just finishing week 18, actually, which means we're getting close to halfway done. July 29 is the due date, although Stephanie thinks the true due date should be July 28, since the doctor's highly sophisticated "spinny wheel" probably was not programmed to account for an extra day in February as this is a leap year. Let's just hope there's nothing else the doctor has to account for in a leap year.

You may be asking, If you've known since Thanksgiving that you were pregnant, why are you only posting about it now?

Well, first of all, how did you know that we found out at Thanksgiving? Ahhhh... HA!

Secondly, it's because we had a miscarriage last time. I don't know exactly why this made me reluctant to post, but it did. I think maybe I stayed a bit distant from the whole thing for a little while. Then, all of the sudden, we were at week 12 and heading toward the time when we had the miscarriage last time (beginning of week 14). Those two weeks were very long. Steph knew the point at which we had the miscarriage last time to the day, and it fell on a Sunday/Monday again. Going to bed that Sunday night was like putting down a really intense book just as you get to the climactic moment. The sun sets, and the sun also rises, and things move on. It felt like we had passed one of those makeshift memorials you see along the highway with the leaning cross and the sun-faded silk flowers. I don't know if this will make sense, but it wasn't until then that I began to think of this as a new baby, different from the last.

So the task now is to learn to hope again. Steph has been saying, and I've only recently begun to understand it, that our hope is for a baby, but our hope is in God. Even then, hope is a risk, not the last resort of the desperate as I used to think.

Whenever I've watched the Oscars in the past I've been very interested in the short film categories, even though I'm not at all familiar with them. Perhaps it's the fact that they are so unknown that makes that section of the awards unpredictable and exciting.

This year, with the help of YouTube, I've decided to familiarize myself with the short animated films so I can have some idea about what ought to win. I thought some of you might be interested in doing the same. Here are all five nominees for Best Animated Short:

I Met the Walrus
The full film is unfortunately not on YouTube, but you can see a preview here. It looks pretty cool.

Madame Tutli-Putli
This strange little film about a woman on a train is frightening and beautiful.
Part 1
Part 2

Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
A very cute French film about a miserly man buying passage to Heaven. Watch it here.

My Love
I don't really care for the romantic story or the paint-on-glass visual style, but some of the dream sequences are interesting.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Peter and the Wolf
Yes, it's another interpretation of the classic musical composition. It's mostly well-done, and the creators even tried adding new dimensions to the story, including a pacifist ending, but ultimately I found little in it to set it apart from the many incarnations that have come before.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

My pick: Madame Tutli-Putli

Plain View #81 - February, 2008

Bufe

Extreme Horton Makeover

Maly sick

Tet postponed

Music's gotta go (?)

Politics - blah blah blah

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Sophie's Choice (7 minutes cut for your protection)

Water Horse

New music test run

The missing podcast

VV (my favorite Ukrainian rock band)

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