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.

• Michael Stipe presented at last week's MTV Europe Awards. Awards are so much more elegant over there, no?

• If you're near a computer tonight and curious as to what's going down at the Out 100 Awards, be sure to check in here on the blog, as I'll be Twittering live from the event! (That's sort of like liveblogging, only more bird-like ... and with pants.)

• Best Week Ever gets to the heart of why Chuck & Larry is so disappointing: it feels like it's being narrated by the 13-year-old kids sitting behind you ... and on DVD, that's really creepy.

• Big ups to Joe.My.God. for winning the 2007 Best LGBT Blog Weblog Award!

• Did Ellen cross a picket line at the writers' strike?

• Be sure to study up on all the latest in Michael's Best.Gay.Week.Ever. column, and have a great weekend!

Here it is, folks, Out Magazine's biggest cover of the year, which features Out 100 special honorees Bryan Batt, Jennifer Hudson, Mary-Louise Parker, Bill T. Jones, and Thom Browne.

But that's not all: breaking news from the Out Mothership reveals that this year there will be a 101st honoree, Annie Lennox. Lennox will receive the Humanitarian of the Year award and will screen a short film detailing her efforts to combat AIDS in Africa at tonight's ceremony.

Congrats to all honorees, many of whom I hope to attack at the party tonight. For the full list and lotsa fun pics, check out the Out 100 website.

UPDATE: It also looks like I'll be Twittering live from the event tonight right here on the blog, so check back in for all the up-to-the-minute dish. It'll be like the As the World Turns liveblogs, only I'll have pants on!