Friday night at the MBI Estate

It's Friday night. That means pizza, Best Week Ever and The Soup.

If you have a minute, take a stroll around the blogorhood (like that? I'm tired of the phrase 'blogosphere' so I'm making up a new word.) and see these things:

This is the funniest thing I've seen all week.

Darren has a big birthday this weekend. Stop by his place and wish him well.

Kittyhox has exciting news.

And last but not least, a smokin' hot woman I know cranked her blog back up today.

Have a great weekend!

Movie Line Friday

We're going back a few years with this week's Movie Line Friday, but I know you're up to the challenge.

So here's this week's movie line:

Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college! You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector. They expect results.

What 80's classic brought us that line?

Storytime Economics

Daughter got her first lesson about the laws of supply and demand tonight.

We read the book Owen tonight, in which the title character's parents search for ways to separate Owen from his beloved blanket.

Along the way, they try to convince Owen to leave the blanket under his pillow at night so the Blanket Fairy will take the blanket and leave a gift.

"Is there really a Blanket Fairy?" Daughter asked.

"I'm sure there is," I told her.

"Fairies are real?" she continued.

"They must be," I told her, reminding her about the time the Paci Fairy came to our house and carried her pacifiers away.

And that's when the teachable moment - or series of teachable moments - began.

"Why don't we leave this blanket under my pillow for the Blanket Fairy?" she suggested, grabbing a blanket from the foot of her bed.

"Well, fairies only come when you're ready to give up very special things," I explained.

"Can I leave a sock for a fairy?" she pleaded.

I could tell that her mind was full of wishful thoughts about all the toys she might gain by stuffing something new under her pillow every night.

After she suggested a few more things she thought fairies should come retrieve (such as books and straws) I finally thought of an example to help her understand how the fairy system works.

"Fairies will bring you a gift when you give up something very special," I said. "Like if you left Duckie (her beloved duck/blanket) under your pillow."

"If you're ever ready to say goodbye to Duckie, you can leave him under your pillow and the Duckie Fairy will bring you a treat."

That seemed to illuminate the harsh reality of the fairy system - the quality of gifts brought by the fairies are directly related to the importance of the item placed under the pillow.

Among fairies, there's a glut of low-value items such as books, socks and straws. Consequently, the fairies won't pay top dollar for those.

But when you start talking about pacifiers and duckies, those items are in short supply. They fetch a tidy sum in the fairy market.

In other words, if you want something good from the fairies, you're going to have to give something good in return.

She wrapped up our conversation about fairies pretty quickly after I mentioned that her duck was eligible for fairy retrieval. We moved on with the story and then said prayers and turned the lights out.

I know the thought of her duck being gone forever was a scary proposition to her, and I'm glad she didn't give it serious consideration.

Truth be told, I can't see her without her duck any more easily than she can. He's her best friend in the world. And he's a part of our family.

I'm glad she didn't call my bluff.

MBI's Spring Soundtrack

I had a cool post up a few minutes ago with an embedded mix tape full of songs that I've been listening to in recent weeks.

Now that I've checked this site again, the embeddedness seems to have failed. Stupid computers. Now you'll never know what music blares from my car as I speed to and fro.

Unless, of course, I just give you a list.

Here's MBI's Spring Soundtrack:

Into the Ocean by Blue October
New Soul by Yael Naim
Say by John Mayer
Leave the Pieces by The Wreckers
Something's Always Wrong by Toad the Wet Sprocket
Stop and Stare by OneRepublic
Flashing Lights by Kanye West
Good Life by Kanye West
M79 by Vampire Weekend
Kelsey by Metro Station
Nine in the Afternoon by Panic at the Disco
Shake It by Metro Station
Summer Skin by Death Cab for Cutie
The General Specific by Band of Horses

A couple items of note regarding this playlist:

1. In direct violation of a hard-and-fast mix tape rule, I put two songs by the same artist back-to-back.
2. Check out the two songs by Metro Station. If you like 80's music, you'll probably like these.

There you go. If your music collection needs a little sprucing up for Spring, try a few of these.

Happy listening!

Answer to Movie Line Friday

Congratulations to WendyDarling, who correctly answered that the line:

I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn't believe anything.

Is from the classic This is Spinal Tap. Way to go, Wendy!

Tune in next week for another thrilling edition of Movie Line Friday!

Mistaken for a TV weatherman

You had some great replies to my post yesterday about the Applebee's server who thought I was her celebrity sighting.

Here are the guesses so far:

1. Katie Couric
2. Matt Lauer
3. A young Charlie Gibson
4. Al Roker
5. Brick Tamland

I know the suspense is killing you, so without further delay, this - for better or worse - is the celebrity I most resemble.

Movie Line Friday

After a long absence, Movie Line Friday is back!

Please try to restrain your glee. You're making a scene.

This week's movie line is a tough one, but I trust there's someone out there who can get it:

I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn't believe anything.

What's your guess?