So on Friday night I left the house (I know, crazy, right?) in the rain to brave the crowds at the annual Out 100 party in downtown Manhattan. It was a night of elbow-rubbing, open-bar-flocking gay media craziness, and I have a few tidbits to share for those of you who missed my live Twitter from the event or couldn't read my bizarre abbreviated Jumpin' Jack Flash-esque updates. (For future reference, "Cat meows, no galoshes for baby" means "Tori Spelling's purple dress was fierce, but I could have done without the mushroom risotto.")

Highlights

• Easily the highlight of the night for me was meeting Dale Levitski, almost-Top-Chef and all-around nice guy. I asked if he thought that he was portrayed accurately on the show (which he really should have won, having brought it in spades to the final challenge), and he said it was "a ditzy version" of the real Dale that made it to broadcast. He's opening his own restaurant in Chicago and when I saw him he was canoodling with Jack Mackenroth from the upcoming season of Project Runway. I asked if there was some Bravo incest going on and he said "Well...?" but the fact that the two were holding hands when he said it pretty much answered the question. Hot! Seriously, just as sweet as I'd hoped, and all the best to him and to Jack, who has some pretty big gay reality contestant shoes to fill. Jack, also very nice, told me he's pretty happy with how he comes off in the season, which starts Wednesday. We'll have to tune in to find out!

• Mary-Louise Parker was a total goofball, which really surprised me given how stiff I've always found her to be in interviews and events. She even told a gay oral sex joke when receiving her award ... know your audience, I guess!

• Gina Gershon, likewise, was great. She looked hot, but I maintain that if you piled her hair on her head and attacked her with eyeliner she'd be a dead ringer for Amy Winehouse. For real.

• Bryan Batt gave a fun and animated acceptance speech and Paul Rudnick introduced him, which was really nice and made me feel that I wasn't 100 years old.

• Honoree Jennifer Hudson looked fantastic. I wish she would have performed (especially given who did, more on that later) but I guess she was there to be admired, not sing for her supper.

• Other sightings: Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, Marc Jacobs, Peter Stickles from The Lair (had a nice chat with him, he heads back in February to shoot Season 2), the gay judge guy from Shear Genius, the Target dog, Michael Musto, Andy Cohen, and about 100 other stylists/designers/fashion gurus that I recognized from a host of other makeover shows, reality competitions and my own nightmares.

Lowlights

• When I got home I discovered in horror that my gift bag included a DVD of famously homophobic buddy comedy Wild Hogs. What, Cruising was out-of-stock?
  

• For some reason Mya was there to perform, and for some reason she sang "Lady Marmalade". Funny, just the other day I was saying to someone, "You know, I really wish it was 2001 again, don't you?"

• Speaking of disposable pop tarts whose popularity with the gays has me continually mystified, Kelly Rowland was there to present someone some kind of something. I of course immediately wanted to yell, "Hey, Kelly - thanks for using the word "faggot" in Freddy vs. Jason!" Yes, I can hold a grudge. Especially when she helped ruin not one, but TWO horror franchises.

The nominees for the 34th Annual People's Choice Awards were announced last night, and among them is out actor Neil Patrick Harris, in the "Favorite Scene Stealing Star" category. He's up against Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy and Richard Belzer of Law & Order: SVU. Needless to say, it would be awesome to have an out, proud actor win a popular vote like this one, so be sure to click the link at the bottom and cast your ballot! Here's a rundown of the other gay-significant noms...

Celebrities:
Gay-faves Sally Field and Katherine Heigl nabbed noms for "Favorite Female TV Star", Jodie Foster is nominated for "Favorite Female Action Star" and Queen Latifah and Drew Barrymore are nominated for "Favorite Leading Lady". Ellen, Whoopi, and Wanda Sykes make "Favorite Funny Female Star" the best category of the bunch, by far.

Television:
Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, which both have gay creators, are up for "Favorite New Drama Series", and out producer Russell T Davies' Doctor Who is up for "Favorite Sci-Fi Series".

Movies:
Recently outed wizard Albus Dumbledore appears in "Favorite Movie Drama" nominee Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and homophobic pigfest Wild Hogs somehow made it into the "Favorite Movie Comedy" category. Likewise, homophobic yet sure-to-win 300 pops up in the "Favorite Action Movie" noms.

Afterthought: I find it interesting that 2 out of 3 "Favorite On-Screen Duo" noms are bromances (Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker and George Clooney/Brad Pitt) and the third, Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst, acted more like they were going through a messy divorce than like lovers in Spiderman 3. Where's the romance?

For all the nominees - and more importantly, to vote yourself (go, NPH!) - head on over to the official website. The winners will be announced on January 8th in a broadcast hosted by Queen Latifah.