No Party Can Compare with a Detroit Party...

For a Detroit party does not cease! Last weekend I had a house warming party, and in honor of my hometown, the party had a Detroit theme.


I started things out early with Motown music and some tasty appetizers. Tim Allen and a catholic school girl from Divine Child, among others, were in attendance.


My friend Hee Young, who is responsible for my above-par Korean skills came all the way out from Seoul. Yay! Here I am with her, sporting my bling and generally thugging out.


Later on I turned up the BPM on the Detroit-based tunes and others showed up. See Jerome Bettis above.


Eminem even gave us a little performance.


And people danced and drank. Check out Alice Cooper in the back left-hand corner and Diana Ross in the front right.


Here is "Alena in 2000" (if you don't get it, don't worry about it) and Glida Radner's Rosanne Roseannadanna.


Here are some folks rocking out toward to end of the night. As you can see, I was beginning to wilt...


And here is a gratuitous picture of me and my friend Andrea.


The party featured not only the "graffiti wall" pictured above, but I had also covered my walls with pictures of Detroit landmarks (and not-so-landmarks) with little-known trivia facts about the city written on them. I then distributed a sheet of Detroit trivia questions that could be answered by looking around the apartment and sent my guests on a scavenger hunt. The first person to finish with all questions correct was the winner. As it turned out, Alice Copper ruled the night and won a lovely peppermint-scented bar of soap with a map of Detroit on it, complements of my mom (thanks, Mommers!). It was definitely a choice way to break in my new crib, if you know what I'm saying.

Apart from that, things are rolling along quite smoothly. My rehearsals started this week and they are going very well. I cannot deny that I was terrified before the start of my first blocking rehearsal, but it ended up being lots of fun and setting a good tone for moving forward. My cast is very fun and talented. They really seem to have taken to heart what I've said to them about how I want to build the show and they are unafraid to play around and try new things. Hopefully things will continue at this rate.

Also, yesterday Sweeney Todd finally opened here and I went to see it with my friend Rachel. Though I had some major issues with it, I really thought it was great. The design and cinematography were phenomenal, and Sacha Baron Cohen was perfection. I'll spare you the boredom my further deconstruction of it, but of you want to geek out about it with me, hit me up via email.

Next Thursday I am heading to Shanghai, China, for a few days to explore and visit my friend Olga. I am stoked for a little vacation and looking forward to seeing a bit of yet another new country. Also in early February I'm heading to the Philippines with a lovely group of girlfriends for some quality chillaxing and adventure-having.

Yesterday morning I signed a new contract for six months, so I'll plan to head back to NYC for good in September. This job is too cool to walk away from just yet, and I want to save money so as to delay day-job procurement when I return to the City. Some good news is that if my vacation request gets approved (worry not, I knocked on wood), I'll be heading back to the US for two weeks at the beginning of April to visit. I'll plan to hit New York for part of the time, but to spend most of my time with the fam in Detroit. I CANNOT WAIT.

That's about all for now, kiddies. I'm off to my friend's apartment for a ladies' evening of wine tasting. Yum!