THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005

Jamie Morris : Dub Side Of The Moon : Isabel & Jamie on the Pier
Isabel & Jamie on the Pier
Dub Side Of The Moon

My dear friend Isabel is leaving town and moving back to Brazil. I'm very sad, but I got to hang out with her last night. We went to the first Santa Monica Pier concert of the summer. It was a reggae show. A band called Detour Posse played followed by the Easy Star All-Stars who do a reggae version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" called "Dub Side Of The Moon". It was a good show. Isabel's going to be my roommate for the next few days, but I'm not going to see much of her because I'm leaving for Boston & Maine tomorrow.

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MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2005

Jamie Morris : War Of The Worlds Premiere : An Invitation from Tom Cruise
An Invitation from Tom Cruise
War Of The Worlds Premiere

Tom Cruise invited me (see above) to the special War Of The Worlds fan premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. I went over to the theatre after work with Mary and her friend Danielle. When we got there, Hollywood Boulevard was completely blocked off. We checked in and had to walk the long red carpet that ran down the street to the theatre while everyone stared at us. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were also in the street greeting fans and signing autographs. As we were walking in, Jane Yamamoto of FOX11 News stopped us and she interviewed Danielle while I chatted with The Insider's Pat O'Brien. Inside we saw a bunch of celebrities including: Anthony Hopkins, Will Smith, Matthew Perry, Adrien Brody, Ice Cube, Jason Lee, and David Hasselhoff as well as Tom & Katie who ran on stage and introduced the film. The movie is really good. It comes out Wednesday, so go see it!

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SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2005

Jamie Morris : KCRW's World Festival @ Hollywood Bowl : The Arcade Fire @ The Bowl
The Arcade Fire @ The Bowl
KCRW's World Festival @ Hollywood Bowl

Tonight was the first show of the KCRW's 2005 World Music Series at The Hollywood Bowl. Mary got us a Center Stage Garden Box which was really great. I'd never seen the stage from so close before. Usually, I'm in the $5 seats in the back. First up was New York-based Si*Sé who played a Latin/Electronica mix. They were okay. Next up was the band that most people came for, The Arcade Fire, an indie rock band from Montreal. They had a ton of musicians on stage and they were great. David Byrne was the headlining act. He came out and played a few songs with the Tosca Strings, which was kind of boring with the exception of a couple old Talking Heads songs he did. The Arcade Fire came back out and did a song with him. But then... entering from the rear of the Bowl, came the Extra Action Marching Band from San Francisco and they stole the show. The 40 person marching band made their way through the crowd and joined David Byrne on stage for "Burning Down The House" and a cover of Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love." I'm sure glad we had the box seats for this show. We got to see the flag girls and the cheerleaders up close. I feel bad for the people in the back that missed out...

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THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2005

Real Madrid is coming to LA!

Real Madrid, one of the most famous soccer clubs in the world, announced today that they coming to Los Angeles next month to play a match against the LA Galaxy. The match will be played on July 18th or 19th at the Home Depot Center and Madrid is supposed to be bringing all their stars including: David Beckham, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Raul and Michael Owen. You can buy tickets now if you buy a 2-game Galaxy pack, or you can wait until next Thursday to buy individual tickets from Ticketmaster.

Also this week, Tom Cruise invited me to attend the special fan screening of War Of The Worlds next week. So, I'll be hanging out with Tom, Katie, and all the stars next Monday. I hope Tom has calmed down since his attack on Oprah.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2005

Jamie Morris : The United States Grand Prix : That's Him!
That's Him!
The United States Grand Prix

The world's top racing series, Formula 1, has only one chance a year to come to the biggest motorsports market in the world, the United States, to make an impression, and this year they really screwed it up. The 2005 United States Grand Prix took place this afternoon at Indianapolis Speedway with only 6 of the usual 20 cars, and the fans were very disappointed.

Here's what happened... Of the 20 Forumla 1 cars, 14 of them use Michelin tires, the other 6 use Bridgestone tires. After two Michelin tires failed during Friday's practice, Michelin issued a statement saying that their tires were not fit for racing at high speeds through one of the thirteen corners at the speedway. The teams that use Michelin tires asked the FIA to break the rules for them and change the layout of the track this morning or they would refuse to race. The FIA refused to change the track and suggested those cars just run slower in that turn. After the parade lap, the 14 Michelin cars went into the garage in protest and the race started without them. Unfortunately for the fans, they didn't get to see much of a race.

Michelin and the racing teams are blaming the FIA for not breaking the rules for them, but there is noone to blame except for the racing teams themselves. The FIA is responsible for maintaining the rules and not making them us as they go along (unlike NASCAR) and I respect them for that. Changing the rules because some teams did not come prepared with the right tires would be wrong. There have already been races this season where the cars using Bridgestone tires had problems and no issues were raised when they pulled out of the race.

The teams are responsible for their cars and putting on a show for the fans, because their the ones that make all the money. The tires that they had were not unfit for racing, they should have started the race and just gone slower in that particular corner. If they had raced, everyone would have been happy - the fans would see a race and the teams could have finished the race and earned some championship points. Instead, they acted immaturely because they didn't get their way, and everyone lost out. I think all the teams that dropped out of the race should be fined and the money should be given to the fans for ticket refunds. I would like to go to this race someday, but I'm sure glad I didn't go this year.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2005

Jamie Morris : Above and Below the Stars : Johnny Ramone's Grave @ Hollywood Forever
Johnny Ramone's Grave @ Hollywood Forever
Above and Below the Stars

Tonight, Niki and I went to Some Like It Hot, the original cross-dresser movie, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It was one of Marilyn Monroe's last movies and also starred Tony Curtis (as "Josephine") and Jack Lemmon (as "Daphne"). Some of the old movies they show at the cemetery are so bad they're funny, but this one was a truly good movie. Really funny. Next week is Stanley Kubrick's Lolita.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005

Jamie Morris : Summer Friday #4 : Coming Soon: A Wallace & Gromit movie!
Coming Soon: A Wallace & Gromit movie!
Summer Friday #4

I spent most the of past two days sick at home watching TV. Mostly soccer matches and the 2nd season of Deadwood. Back to work today, but only until 1:00. I spent the rest of the afternoon riding my bike, strolling the promenade, and going to the movies. I saw Hideo Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. It wasn't as good as his previous film, Spirited Away, which won an Oscar in 2003, but it's still an amazingly illustrated animated movie. There were also some good trailers before the movie: Tim Burton's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Pink Panther, and a Wallace & Gromit movie!

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TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2005

Jamie Morris : Alex's B-day, Canada, & Too Tight Dwight : To Jamie, Best Wishes, Dwight Yoakam
To Jamie, Best Wishes, Dwight Yoakam
Alex's B-day, Canada, & Too Tight Dwight

I've been busy lately and haven't had a chance to update my site in awhile. Here's a brief rundown of what I've been up to:

Wednesday: Happy Birthday to Alex! Alex turned 30 exactly one month before I will and we had a blast on Wednesday night at Ma'Kai in Santa Monica.

Thursday: My last day at work before my trip to Montreal and I was quite hung over. Then, I took a red-eye to Philly and got no sleep before my morning flight to Montreal.

Friday: I arrived in Montreal and met my parents there. It was very hot and humid and stayed that way for the next 4 days. I was really sleepy today, but we took a boat ride on Saint Lawerence River in the afternoon and went to see a Cirque Du Soleil show at night. The show was called Corteo and we liked it a lot.

Saturday: Today we spent most of the day walking around Montreal. There were lots of Formula One fans downtown. I did some shopping in some of the big department stores on Rue Ste-Catherine and the underground city. My favorite store is La Maison Simons.

Sunday: The reason I came... The Forumla One Grand Prix Of Canada. It was hot, but we had great seats in grandstand 33. Kimi Räikkönen of Finland won the race and the two Ferraris came in 2nd and 3rd. After the race, they opened up the track and let us walk around which was a lot of fun. They didn't do that last year.

Monday: My last day in Montreal. Spent some more time walking around the city and spending the last few Canadian dollars I had. My flight left at 4:30pm and I arrived in Philly on time. But, my connecting flight was late and I didn't get home until 2:00am.

Tuesday: Back to work on very little sleep. After work I went to Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard to pick up Dwight Yoakam's new album, Blame The Vain. He was there along with his band to play a few songs. They were only supposed to play three songs, but they played for over an hour to around 100 fans who showed up to buy the album. It was great. He played new songs, old songs, and some covers. I stayed after the show and got to meet him and get his autograph. He seemed like a nice guy. Before I could thank him for playing so long, he thanked me for staying late to meet him.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 04, 2005

Jamie Morris : Bloc Party Returns : Bloc Party Phone Cam Pic
Bloc Party Phone Cam Pic
Bloc Party Returns

Tonight I went to see the second of two consecutive sold-out Bloc Party shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and it was a very different experience than the show I saw in March at the Troubadour. Back then, they were the new band that was getting a lot of hype and all the critics were saying they're going to be huge. Their album had just come out that day, so most people didn't even know the songs. The audience was mostly indie rock kids and music industry types. Now, THEY ARE HUGE. They just announced these two shows last week and they sold out immediately. Good for them. Bad for me. The crowd tonight was one of the most annoying crowds I've seen in a long time... lots of drunk people, people smoking in the theater, a handful of guys that wanted to start a mosh pit, guys and girls starting fights, spilling and throwing drinks, and people screaming the words to the songs so loudly I could barely hear the band. I really enjoyed the show when I was able to "bloc out" the crowd. The band are really good live and they've got some great songs. I've been listening to their album constantly since March and it was cool to hear those songs live. They're probably my favorite band at the moment (not counting Belle & Sebastian). But if they come back in three months, I don't think I'll be going unless it's a reserved seat venue. I also got to see one of the opening bands, Kiss Me Deadly, an indie dance-pop band from Montreal. They were pretty good.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 03, 2005

PDE's 10 Year Anniversary Bash

Summer Friday #2! We got out at 1:00 today, but I had to come back to work at 5:00 for Paramount Digital Entertainment's 10th Anniversary Party. So I decided to catch a movie this afternoon at the Arclight. I saw Lords of Dogtown, a film about the surfers/skateboarders in Venice and Santa Monica in the '70s. It was a cool movie, but not as good as the Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary. One scene was filmed right in front of my apartment building.

The party started at 5:00 and that was pretty fun. Not everyone on the list showed up, but I got see a bunch of people who I haven't seen in awhile: Kenn, Drew, Dale, Rob, David, Elizabeth, Vito, Pamela, Stacey, Jen, Erika, Mark. A few of us went to Lola's after for some more drinks, appetizers, and cookies. There were lots of pics taken. Hopefully someone will put together a gallery.

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