FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008

San Diego and Orange County

I really need to catch up on things... First of all, my parents were in town a couple of weeks ago. While they were here, we did a daytrip to San Diego and visited Old Town, the Gaslamp Quarter, and the USS Midway aircraft carrier. We also ate some really good food... some treats at Extraordinary Desserts and dinner at Rei Do Gado, a Brazilian steak house. I was pretty impressed with San Diego and would like to go back sometime soon. The next day we had a Champagne Sunday Brunch aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach and then visited some towns in the OC... Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Newport Beach.

Last week, I went to the LA Galaxy's last game of the season. They tied FC Dallas 2-2, but the game was meaningless since the Galaxy didn't qualify for the playoffs. Pretty bad considering they have three of the best players in the league. The Galaxy actually scored more goals than any other team in the MLS this year, but the problem was their horrible defense and goalkeeping. They also gave up the most goals in the MLS. With Landon Donovan saying he wants to play in Europe and David Beckham being loaned to AC Milan this winter, I'm wondering if on Sunday I saw Donovan and/or Beckham's last game in a Galaxy jersey? Let's hope not. Also last week I saw the film Man On Wire - a documentary about a man who strung a wire between the two World Trade Center towers in 1974 and did some highwire walking between them. Fascinating story.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2008

Galaxy, Dodgers, Kings

This week I went to a variety of sporting events. It was a soccer match on Sunday when the LA Galaxy defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-2 without Mr. Beckham who was playing for England over the weekend. That win temporarily kept the Galaxy's playoff hopes alive, but since then they lost to Houston and have been eliminated. On Monday it was baseball. I went to Game 4 of the National League Championship Series between the LA Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers had the lead until they gave up 4 runs in the 8th inning and lost the game 7-5 to put them down 3 games to 1 in the NLCS. They were eliminated two days later. But while the baseball and soccer seasons are ending, hockey season started this week. The LA Kings got off to a bad start losing their first two games, but tonight, I went to my first game of the season with my parents who are in town for a few days. The Kings scored the first goal against the Carolina Hurricanes, but then, in typical Kings fashion, they gave up three consecutive goals in the second period. They managed to come back and tie the game and finally get the 4-3 win in overtime to give the Kings their second win. To be honest, they didn't look that good and I'm glad I didn't renew my season tickets.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008

Jamie Morris : Art Shows, Live Music, and Another Couch Surfer : Dave, Marielos, Jamie and Manuela @ Fred 62
Dave, Marielos, Jamie and Manuela @ Fred 62
Art Shows, Live Music, and Another Couch Surfer

Another week, another amazing CouchSurfing experience. This week I had the pleasure of hanging out with and hosting Manuela from Germany. We went to a couple of art shows. The first was at La Luz De Jesus Gallery at the Wacko toy store featuring art by Nathan Ota. And we also went to the "Hectic and Eclectic" show put on by our pal Dave at the Zakheim Art Conservation. Here are some pictures from that show. We also saw live music. One night we saw an R&B group perform at Harvelle's and another night we saw a country band (her favorite kind of music) called Rancho Deluxe perform at Cinema Bar. We ate lots of good food. I took her to two of my favorite places... Musha and Versailles. She also cooked me dinner one night, and also gave me a massage. She's a professional masseuse! I'm very sad she's leaving, but today she's on her way to Hawaii, the next stop on her around the world adventure. Check out her blog (translated from German).

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2008

Jamie Morris : Detour Festival, Liz Phair @ The Troubadour : Liz Phair @ The Troubadour
Liz Phair @ The Troubadour
Detour Festival, Liz Phair @ The Troubadour

I went to a couple of shows this week. On Saturday, I went to the LA Weekly's Detour Festival in Downtown LA. The festival is a cool idea. They close off a few streets downtown around City Hall and setup 4 stages including a DJ stage on the steps of the City Hall building. The festival wasn't very crowded which was nice, but there weren't any really bands playing worth the $55 price of admission which is what people had to pay if they ordered tickets in advance from Ticketmaster. Luckily, I got a ticket for $35 from Craigslist. I saw a few acts: The Submarines, Datarock, Bitter:Sweet, Black Lips, Gogol Bordello, and some DJ. The bands were okay. On Monday night, I went to really good show. Liz Phair performed her 1993 album "Exile in Guyville" to a sold out crowd at the Troubadour. The show rocked and you can listen to Sunday night's show on npr.org.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2008

Jamie Morris : Brazil, Hollywood Bowl, LA Galaxy : My Portuguese Class in Brazil Explore Magazine
My Portuguese Class in Brazil Explore Magazine
Brazil, Hollywood Bowl, LA Galaxy

It's been almost a month since my last update, but not a lot has changed. My summer continues to revolve around Couch Surfers. For the past month I hosted a girl from Brazil. No, it's not normal to let someone stay for that long. The typical CSer stays for 1-4 days, but since I'm studying Brazilian Portuguese, and planning another trip to Brazil in January, and I just enjoyed having her around, I let her stay for 4 weeks while she studied English at Santa Monica College. My Portuguese class is going well and there's a picture of our class in the August edition of Brazil Explore Magazine. I've also bought tickets for my next three trips. For Thanksgiving, I'll be going to Mexico with my Brazilian Couch Surfer (now friend and travel buddy) for a few days. At Christmas, I'll be going home to Maine. And in January, I'll be taking a big trip to Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil where I'll be doing a bit of couch surfing myself.

I went to my last two Hollywood Bowl concerts of the summer in September. I saw two good shows. The first was Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds with Spritualized and Cat Power which I attended with a bunch of CSers. Then I saw the final show of my KCRW World Festival package which featured Ozomatli, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Lila Downs, and Nortec Collective. I'm really going to miss the Bowl and can't wait for next summer.

I attended the LA Galaxy vs DC United game on September 20th. The Galaxy hadn't won a game in 3 months, but they won this game 5-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive (luckily the entire division is doing poorly). It was a great game with 7 goals scored including a hat trick by Landon Donovan. I have tickets to a couple more games in October. If you're interested in going to a game, let me know!

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