Last night at the Puck Building, arriving Internet Weekers packed the ballroom to drink free drinks and watch as DJs mashed up videos and music. But for the most part they were there to find their friends and get the weeklong party started.
The party was a co-production of The New York Observer and YouTube, and lasted till after 11 p.m.
“They let me out of the cage just for tonight,” beamed Steve Marchese, managing director of the annual awards ceremony that is the signature public event of the week.
Click on the right for a slideshow of scenes from the party: More will be added later so check back in!
Andrea Chalupa and Ariston Anderson from Walletpop.com were doing a sort of roving duo act throughout much of the evening.
“Being addicted to the Internet, it gives us an excuse to go out,” Ms. Chalups said. “It gets us away from our keyboard.”
And there were other reasons to be out last night.
“You think Internet people are really weird and awkward,” Ms. Anderson said, scanning the room. “But they’re really hot.”
“This is the biggest tech party I’ve been to in a long time!” said Caroline McCarthy, the big shot tech reporter for CNET News. “I feel like [Internet people] are crawling out of their shells.”
“There was this attitude in the tech industry. … It was dwarfed by the finance world, but since that’s recently been diminished, it’s like there’s a void to fill and tech people are doing that.”
“It’s a new generation—people who know how to do technical things are cool now,” said Pas Niratbhand, art director of Schecky’s Media. “We’re gonna take over the world.”
