Susan Sarandon survives SPiN Dubai

Susan Sarandon and SPiN Dubai co-owner Dani Alyamour 

Is she not gorgeous? Wow oh wow do I hope I look one-tenth that good when I wake up tomorrow. Anyhoo, I travelled down to DXB for the opening of this club, SPiN Dubai, last night. First off, because I know you were wondering: no, the paddles are not actually that big.


I don't often go to events down the road in the big city, because finding things in Dubai invariably frays my very last nerve and also, the city is obsessed with black light. I did not expect black light in a ping-pong club, but there it was, with a DJ and canapes and the smallest lemon cookies I have ever seen (the size of my fingernail, seriously). Black light should be banned and frankly, with all the rules over here, I am surprised it hasn't been. Who wants to feel like Shabby McShabbykins with tell-tale bits of white fluff all over them? Not me, for sure! Also I like to think of Dubai as "the city that was trying too hard" and last night did not disappoint. I saw lots of hip, cool people, but I also saw GOWNS. It's a ping pong club, not a royal wedding! Good lord. Thank goodness I busted out my good shoes. (I will forever love Abu Dhabi's acceptance of flip flops; my distaste for shoes is part of the reason I can't bring myself to leave).

I can report that Ms Sarandon sat in a cordoned off VIP area, right next to the "gold" ping pong table which was "revealed" in a ceremony at the start of the night. On the arm of the sofa, right beside her, was her partner in SPiN (and life?), the very cute Jonathan Bricklin. Who cares if they are going out or not? I just want to believe they are a couple, because the reverse 30-year age gap blows peoples' minds with its different-ness and also I like it when people are happy.

Sarandon, who seemed a little overwhelmed with all the hoopla, was kind and encouraging when my friend's friend waltzed in the VIP area and spoke to her, confessing they would be treating their hangovers today, as they often do, with an encore viewing of The Witches of Eastwick.

Jesse Metcalfe from Desperate Housewives was there, with his fiance, and indeed will be large in Dubai until sometime next week (he is hosting Girls in The City, Cavalli Club's questionable-sounding ladies night, on Tuesday, for example), but I didn't see him. 

In other awesomeness, you don't have to pick up your balls at SPiN! You get giant buckets, and then this guy uses this contraption to pick up all the strays. Genius. Oh, and below, two chicks at the "gold" table. And below that, my souvenir.