Critics, bloggers and people in suits gathered in a large antechamber, sipping wine and feeling skittish yet solemn, like cardinals who had been invited to inspect a newly discovered splinter of St Francis's femur.
Pale snowbirds followed the celebrities and, living large, sipped festive cocktails poolside at the vast new beach resorts.
"I love the energy of live," Seacrest explained, sipping a large coffee and wrinkling his well-tanned brow.
LI JUN, a construction worker from Shandong, sips a large bottle of Yanjing beer as he squats on the pavement and shares a lunchtime bag of noodles with a colleague.
Skipped most of the wines but sipped a large class of Pom Wonderful, that crispy, healthy beverage from the Resnick empire.
While sipping a large bottle of beer, he explained to me that al-Qaeda's take on Islam was at odds with his own beliefs as a Muslim.
Ranbir Sidhu was sitting at his desk, sipping from a large coffee mug and staring at a mostly blank screen.
Mr. Rusbridger sipped on a large vodka tonic and watched the waiters hurry around the hotel lobby in their worn gray coats.
"You don't have to sift through all the negativity," Cho said, in between sips from a large black coffee cup adorned with the Bigtime Bites logo.
