The Lex Files

From the Grab blog: 12 Resolutions for 2006

Here are 12 of my resolutions for 2006:

1. Read every book in my "to-read" pile, and watch every movie in my "to-watch" pile, and do it all in an entertaining, non-stressful way.

2. Levitate.

3. Increase water’s presence in my water-to-Diet Coke daily intake ratio.

4. Start and maintain a weekly podcast.

5. Expectorate.

6. Keep the family room/kitchen/dining area slightly more tidy.

7. Write even more compelling, amusing, and worth-reading blog entries.

8. Delegate.

9. Floss more.

10. Spend less.

11. Masticate.

12. Make eight billion dollars.

From the Grab blog: And we’re back!

Didja miss me?  I know you did.

The vay-cay was great.  Our first and last days in Jersey were very, bitterly cold, but the days in between were actually pretty mild.  But we all know the best part about seeing family for the holidays:

PRESENTS!

Hahaha.

But seriously, I am getting boatloads of presents.  From my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, and — of course — my wife.  We’re a family that enjoys gift-giving.  Of course, I’ve gotten Bullshit, Bullshit, and more Bullshit — but that’s because I asked for it

I am drowning — in a good way — in new DVDs and books.  Me likey!

From the Grab blog: The 12 Days of Christmas, by Jewish People

While I was on vacation, we spent a day in Queens, NY, with family and friends. Mostly Jewish family and friends, in fact.

One of the folks in attendance mentioned how much fun she had had at a Christmas party earlier that week, when those in attendance had sung "The 12 Days of Christmas" together. Each person had been assigned a day (e.g., one person sang "and a partridge in a pear tree" each time around).

We decided to emulate that singalong — with a twist: Each person would make up the items for that day.

My father-in-law started:

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
A thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong."

That’s "thong," stretched out by many syllables.

Others would enter the rooms to see what was going on, and would be put on the spot to participate, often against their will. Whatever they said would be worked into the song.

The finished ditty went a bit like this:

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve "I want cake"s
Eleven cans of something
Ten bags of ice cream
Nine babies screaming
Eight shots of tequila
Seven weird people
Six random singalongs
Five bellybutton rings
Four sets of twins
Three candy stripers
Two Jewish chicks
And a thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong.

From the Grab blog: Sniff — vacation almost over

My vacation is almost over. Lauren and I will fly back to LA early, early tomorrow (6:30am Eastern, which is 3:30am Pacific), and then once we’re back in LA, I’ll actually be going in for a full day’s work at Grab HQ. That should be fun! If the site falls down tomorrow, I blame me.



In OTHER news… Remember two blog posts ago, when I wrote about “Lazy Sunday,” the Chronicles of Narnia-themed rap on SNL? It’s available free on iTunes, and now Slate says the video actually means something for rap.



As it turns out, Slate’s wrong. But it’s still a good article.



We can’t be TOO sad about returning to Los Angeles, though, because it does mean one very, very exciting thing:



CHARLIE! We haven’t seem the little guy in nearly a week and a half, and we are (all, Charlie included!) looking forward to the big reunion!

From the Grab blog: Fun with an airport

We are at the airport, about to fly from LA to New Jersey.



Lauren went to get a snack. While she was gone, she texted me this:



I just saw Richard Simmons - and yes he was wearing spandex shorts



Lauren — and airports — are grand.

From the Grab blog: "Lazy Sunday" on SNL

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen on SNL in a while.

From the Grab blog: Entertainment News: The Good and The Bad

Actor John Spencer, most famous for his role as Leo McGarry on The West Wing, died earlier this week. That’s certainly sad, as he was a great actor — especially on that show.



It’ll be interesting to see how the show deals with his death, of course. At the start of this season, we saw a scene that took place a few years in the future (where we learned that CJ marries Danny and that everyone including Josh and the President starts speaking to Toby again). And, if I’m not mistaken, Leo was there.



But in happier news, The New York Times leaked information about a forthcoming song from “Weird Al” Yankovic’s next album (which won’t be out till sometime in 2006). Al’s often very secretive about the songs on a forthcoming album, and I’m always dying to know more specifics about what I have to look forward to on his next release.



So, kudos to the times for mentioning that animators working on a video for Al are doing so for a number called “Don’t Download This Song” (sung to the tune of “We Are the World”). (link)

From the Grab blog: Axion 6070 and 6070A region codes

Quick story; maybe I can help someone somewhere some time.

Lauren won a portable DVD player at a work-related party raffle.  Specifically, the Axion 6070A, a close relative of the Axion 6070.

Every DVD we inserted, we were told "Wrong Region." 

But… it wasn’t true.  It’s a Region 1 DVD player (according to the manual), and we were playing Region 1 DVDs.  Or, trying to.

Some Googling turned up this page, with a hack for a different Axion model.  It works for our model as well.  Turns out the device was mistakenly set to DVD region 4; instead, we changed it to allow DVDs of all regions.  (How?  Check the link.)

If you were unaware, DVD manufacturers use different "region codes" in different parts of the world. I can’t, in theory, play a European DVD on my American DVD player.  (In this way, I can’t buy, say, cheap Japanese DVDs and play them at home, or buy certain movies that are released six months earlier in one country.)

It’s lame.  Going region-free on this tiny portable player was a nice "Neener neener neener" to the DVD market

 

From the Grab blog: Best. Headline. EVER.

You’ve got mail, and maybe gonorrhea.

From the Grab blog: DJ Shlomotion: It’s A Bar Mitzvah

DJ Shlomotion presents It’s A Bar Mitzvah.

This is taffy70’s favorite DJ Shlomotion song, as well as foobonic’s, and also DJ Shlomotion’s.