Yes/No Detroit

This week was (per usual) busy, but didn't seem that busy for some reason. I only worked about 3.5 days so maybe that was why.


What I've been up to this week:
Checking out new places. A friend and I went to Royale with Cheese (Detroit, Midtown area) and also Sugar House last Friday, and both were new places to me. My burger at Royale with Cheese was great; the fries were decent. Sugar House was definitely a standout: it has a prohibition-esque vibe (similar to The Oakland in Ferndale, or The Last Word in Ann Arbor) and was great, although the drinks are NOT cheap. My boyfriend and I also tried out Bistro 82 in Royal Oak on Saturday night, because I had a gift card, and that was very tasty too. Watched the Emmy's. The Emmy's aired on Sunday night and because I'm a sucker for entertainment award shows, I tuned in. I was happy to see HBO's Big Little Lies and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale take home a lot of the big awards, too (and both are based on books, as w…

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing relationship with Olympia Entertainment. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Elf the Musical will be coming to the Fox Theatre this year, from December 20-24. I'm a huge fan of the movie, starring Will Ferrell, and although I've never seen the musical, I'm excited to check it out.
About the show: Everyone’s favorite ELF will be coming to Detroit in the holiday classic, Elf The Musical. The Broadway musical will play a limited engagement at the Fox Theatre from Wednesday, December 20 through Sunday, December 24; part of the Fifth Third Bank Fox Theatre Series.

Tickets ($35, $45, $55, $65 and $75) are on sale now and can be purchased at OlympiaEntertainment.com, The Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena box offices and Ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets by phone, call (800) 745-3000. For additional information, call (313) 471-6611. Series subscription packages and discounts for groups of 10+ are available by calling 313-471-3099.

ELF …

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing relationship with Olympia Entertainment. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

The Tony award-winning musical Kinky Boots will be playing at the Fox Theatre, Detroit, this November, and I am excited to see it—I haven't seen it before, and I've heard it's great.

More info:
Kinky Boots, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), plays at the Fox Theatre from Friday, November 3 through Sunday, November 5; part of the Fifth Third Bank Fox Theatre Series.

Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at OlympiaEntertainment.com, The Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena box offices and Ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets by phone, call (800) 745-3000. For additional information, call (313) 471-6611. Series subscription packages and discounts for groups of 10+ are available by calling 313-471-3099…

Back in June, I wrote about Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera, which will be performed at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, from October 17-19.

One of my lucky readers will win a 4-pack of tickets to the Wed. October 18 at 8pm showing!

And as a reminder, you can always buy tickets for the show at the Fisher box office or over on Ticketmaster.

GIVEAWAY: Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 27th at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified the next day via email and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Must live within driving distance of Detroit, MI in order to enter this giveaway.

Winner will receive 4 tickets to Love Never Dies, which can be picked up at the Fisher Theatre Box Office on the day of the show.

Good luck!

4 pack of tickets for Love Never Dies (Fisher Theatre, Detroit)

If you've ever read any of J.D. Salinger's novels—and odds are, they were assigned school reading—you'll find Rebel in the Rye to be an interesting look at his life, and how he got to the point in his writing where he was able to write a novel. However, the film does move a bit slowly, which could cause some to lose interest.

Jerome David Salinger (Nicholas Hoult) is a bit of a screw-up. His father, Sol (Victor Garber) wants him to go into the family meat-selling business, but his mother has faith that he can cut it as a writer. He's been kicked out of schools like NYU for his sarcastic behavior, but he decides to enroll in Columbia as a creative writing major, where his very first professor, Whit Burnett (Kevin Spacey), decides to challenge him to be the best writer possible. The war interrupts his plans, though, and after he gets back from his tour of duty, he's a changed man, which later affects his writing. Though Salinger mostly has written short stories, Burn…

Not much going on this week—I still am keeping busy though. Michigan weather can't decide if it's fall or summer, too: in the mornings, it's 55-60 degrees out, and when I leave work, it's about 75-80. I can't say I mind the warm weather, though.


What I've been up to this week:
I finally got to check out the Michigan Renaissance Festival (commonly known as RenFest). It was about a 45-minute drive from me, and it's in a very wooded area, so you almost feel like you are suddenly in a different state, or even country (Canada, anyone?). I enjoyed my time there but next time would check out the website more beforehand, to properly prepare for my visit. You can read about my experience here.Posting lots and lots of giveaways on the site. I have four giveaways going on right now, and then one more over at my book blog. Most are theater tickets (Detroit area) or gift cards, too, so there are some nice prizes available to win.I spent $7.99 on a pint of ice cream. My lo…

American Assassin is based upon the book of the same name, by Vince Flynn, and is the "prequel" story to the Mitch Rapp series, which consists of 11 books as of yet. The movie, however, seemed to have more of a finite ending, though it's possible we'll see Mitch Rapp again sometime soon.

Mitch (Dylan O'Brien, The Maze Runner) just got engaged to his girlfriend while on a tropical vacation, and couldn't be happier. However, terrorists soon storm the beach, and his girlfriend is murdered; Mitch escapes with his life, but barely. After that, he starts training to take down terrorist cells, one by one, but is soon intercepted by the CIA, who wants him to join their secret counter-terrorism group. His handler, Irene (Sanaa Lathan) and his trainer, Stan (Michael Keaton), soon show him what life is like in the CIA - however, Mitch is very stubborn and doesn't like to follow orders, which could prove to be a problem.

Before the last 1/3 of this movie, I was going…

Godzilla is taking over COMET TV!

In September everyone’s favorite fire breathing, stomping monster is back and this time… It’s on COMET TV!

Saturdays in Sept there are double features starting at 2P/1C and Godzilla will be showing up all over the COMET TV schedule, check out the times below!

Also, enter below to win a Godzilla Doin' Work prize pack, which includes:

1 - Limited Edition Godzilla Action Figure: Who doesn’t want to sport some COMET TV swag! Godzilla sure does! He loves COMET TV so much, he’s ripping through his shirt, clearly Godzilla has been hitting the gym!

1 - Limited Edition Godzilla COMET TV Card: Perfect for catching up with Godzilla’s comings and goings on COMET TV!

I received my Godzilla a few weeks ago, and he's hilarious - I loved the little COMET TV t-shirt that he was wearing!

Here's the Godzilla COMET TV schedule for September: 
SATURDAYS IN SEPTEMBER
Double Feature starting at 2P/1C

SEPTEMBER 25 - 29
Starting at various afternoon times

Godzill…

Last week, I wrote about The Color Purplecoming to Detroit - it will be here November 7-12, at the Fisher Theatre.

Now, one of my lucky readers has the chance to win a 4-pack of tickets to opening night! The tickets are good for the Tuesday, November 7th show at 8pm.

And if you end up not being my winner, you can purchase tickets here.

GIVEAWAY: Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 20th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Must live within driving distance of Detroit, MI in order to enter this giveaway.

Winner will receive a 4-pack of tickets to the show, which can be picked up at the Fisher Theater Will Call office the day of the show.

Good luck!

4 tickets to The Color Purple, 11/7 at the Fisher Theatre

*Disclosure: I was provided tickets to attend RenFest. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

This was my first time attending RenFest! I've heard stories from friends over the years about how much they enjoy going, so I had high expectations for it.

Back in August, I did a giveaway post for the Michigan Renaissance Festival (commonly known as RenFest), and you can read more about the festival at that post, such as pricing and times. The festival is open through October 1st.

I went with my boyfriend and two other friends, and we had great weather that day. One thing I was unprepared for was how much walking there would be, though—I knew the festival grounds were large, but to actually get to the festival grounds from the parking area is about a 15-minute walk.


As you can see in the pic above, a lot of people like to dress up in costume—both actors and the people attending RenFest—which was a lot of fun. There's a reason that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays …

*Disclosure: I have an ongoing relationship with Olympia Entertainment. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

The Wizard of Oz is coming to the Fox Theatre this November! I'm a big fan of the movie version, and it's one of my mom's favorite shows, so we are definitely excited to see it when the musical comes to Detroit.

About the show:
The greatest family musical of all time, The Wizard of Oz, is touching down in Detroit at the Fox Theatre Saturday, November 25 through Sunday, November 26 as part of the Fifth Third Bank Fox Theatre Series.

This magical production is a celebration of the 1939 MGM movie, and will be presented with breathtaking special effects that will sweep audiences away, from the moment the tornado twists its way into Kansas.

Featuring the classic songs, as composed by Harold Arlen, “Over the Rainbow,” “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” and “If I Only Had A Brain,” along with the beloved characters, The Wizard of Oz will have the entire family captiv…

*Disclosure: I will receive TSO tickets in exchange for this post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.
The TSO is coming back to Detroit this year! I've seen them two or three times now at the (RIP...) Palace, and each year they always put on an awesome concert. They will be performing on Saturday, December 23rd, at the new Little Caesars Arena.
If any of my readers are West side residents, they'll be in Grand Rapids on December 3rd, as well. 
More information: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) announced its highly-anticipated Winter Tour 2017. Over the past 20-plus years, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has become a critically-acclaimed, multi-platinum, musical powerhouse, and its annual winter tours a beloved, multi-generational holiday tradition. 2017’s tour, a completely updated presentation of TSO’s unforgettable “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” is set to begin on November 16th and will visit more than 60 cities, for 100-plus performances, before concluding on Decem…

It was nice to have a day off work for Labor Day this week, though I probably still need to get more sleep. I get about 7-8 hours of sleep on average, but I think I need like 9 ... in college, a friend of mine told me about the "even" and "odd" theories of sleep, that some people do better on "even" numbers (6, 8, 10 hours of sleep) and some on "odd" (7, 9 hours of sleep), and I think I'm definitely an "odd" person (ha). Sometimes I feel better with 7 hours instead of 8.


What I've been up to this week:
Celebrating things. On Saturday, I tried out the Clawson Steak House for the first time, for my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend—it's an interesting place, though not as swanky as more "modern" steakhouses such as Ruth's Chris. It has a live band on the weekends and also a dance floor, which was kinda cool/different. I also had Monday off work, due to Labor Day, which was nice. Seeing movies. If you're a…