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Joystiq Meet-Up at Mahalo

I went to a meet-up at Mahalo’s offices yesterday evening. I wanted to see what the offices were like, see who was there, and possibly get free food and drink.

I’ll start with the free food and drink…. Pizza and wings with beer and drinks. Pizza was good, didn’t have the wings. Beer out of a keg, haven’t don’t that in a long, long time — especially out of the beer distributor “free” plastic cups! But the pizza was good…. 🙂

The folks that were there were the “gamer” gang, as E3 had just finished up in Santa Monica that day. So to put it politely, it was a sausage fest! Not that I expected any females, but I think there were less than a dozen. I did bump into a couple friends, one from Yahoo! and we had a good conversation, eating and drinking for free. Who doesn’t enjoy eating and drinking for free :-)?

Ok, now for the “fun” part, but I should be cautious and politically correct… I really went to see Mahalo’s offices, etc. First let me say that I have been acquainted with Jason Calacanis for quite some time, since his days of running seminars and publishing magazines (Silicon Alley Reporter). I am constantly amazed at his marketing and PR ability and admire him for that… I don’t admire him for the work that he has produced. Let’s not even talk about Mahalo, his latest venture which I think is best explained in this blog posting. What got me was when we reacquainted ourselves and talked about someone we mutually knew, he commented that this person deserved the great gig they currently have. Personally, I differ a lot with that school of thought. This person is not ethically/morally sound in my opinion, and it threw what little respect I had left for Jason out the window! What made it even funnier is when a friend came up to me, we chatted and had the same opinion about Jason and his accomplishments/work product. It’s kind of like seeking professional help and asking, “am I nuts?”, and being reassured that it’s others that are out of whack :-)!!! But again, Jason can put lipstick on a pig and dress it up nice, and he’s great at doing so. I just wonder when someone else (those that “fund”) will notice that it’s still just a pig!?!

Mahalo’s office space is nice and open, in a small industrial/stip mall type of thing, and larger than I thought they would be. Not to mention, literally right around the corner from my house, less than a block away. So if they have another opportunity for free food/drinks, I’m there :-)! Happy to mooch of just about anyone, even if I don’t respect ’em, free food/drink is just that, free, and free is good :-)!

I did take some pictures, but they’re not worth posting. Imagine a bunch of guys playing a Wii projected on a wall. Kind of like a bunch of 13 year olds hanging out at the house, but this had free beer! The best part of the evening (other than the free pizza and beer) would definitely have to be Jason’s dog, Toro. He’s this fat Bulldog that would just hang out. I wonder how much pizza he was fed? Bummer to take him on a walk today….