I want to thank Erin (Mario’s girlfriend) for sending this in. Last year they had the chance to hang out at The Wired Cafe’ and she was nice enough to write this up!
The WIRED Cafe!
By: Erin Kowalsky
This is coming to you a year after the fact — so bare with me as my memory processes the blur we like to call Comic-Con!
During SDCC ’12 I was able to attend the WIRED Cafe as a “VIP” guest with Mario (@TheOtherMarioC)!! The Cafe was hosted at the Omni Hotel on a private terrace and was open Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the con from 11am-5pm.
Thursday was “Readers Day”! It was open to everyone and anyone who signed up beforehand to gain access for that day! The rest of the days were for VIPs guests, press and celebs.
The WIRED Cafe was fully equipped with a DJ, appetizers, open bar, free swag, technology demonstrations and celeb sightings! It was sponsored by HBO’s Game of Thrones and included themed drinks and a themed bar! (In 2011, it was a True Blood theme!).
Well known and lesser known celebrities were hanging out, but none were really approachable… except for Thomas Jane, who was just quietly hanging out by the bar most of the time! I saw a lot of the cast from True Blood, Twilight, The Walking Dead, MTV’s Awkward, directors, comedians — all of the Comic-Con faves! Most of the celebrities that showed up did press photos and then went straight to do interviews! The others were sitting in the roped off area and being served lunch.
It was a pretty chill place to hang out if you could get in, definitely something to check out once! Nothing too exciting happened — which was exactly the point and a nice change of pace! The first day we did a bunch of the demos and got some free stuff! I enjoyed the HBO GO demo, as beforehand I had no idea how to even use it or what it even offered! The DJ was great; little dance parties sprouted up here and there. The Hulk was serving drinks!
My take on it was if you want to see celebrities, you’ll see them (just not mingle with them)! Otherwise it’s just people standing around and talking and drinking free boos — which again, was a nice change of pace and great to place to relax for awhile!
It will be nice to see if WIRED has plans for another Cafe this year and what they have in store! I recently heard it got a little out of hand and they have to scale back this year. Since I will be staying at the Omni hotel, I really hope my friends and I can get on the list again!! Who doesn’t love an open bar in their hotel?!
