Sunday, March 12, 2000

DeeeeeepLeap

Live from Austin, TX

I don't know what we were thinking. The buffet after the web awards ceremony last night was consumed at a rate of roughly one crudite per second, so I suggested to the lady Rebecca Blood that perhaps we forfeit our chances of actually snatching a teriakyi beef stick and instead adjourn for an actual dinner.

Of course, by the time the "let's go to dinner" meme had spread through the assembly of the Weblog Nation, we were a crowd some 20-strong, snaking through the streets of Austin: Pyrans, Bumps, Metas Filter and Grrrl, jjgs and Kottkes and the like, meandering in search of food. Long story short, getting nearly two dozen folks to (A) agree on a cuisine and (B) subsequently seated at a restaurant sans reservations is a task to which we were not equal.

Most everyone ended up fed, though, dispersed to various eateries, and then reconvened at the DeepLeap party, held at the shadowy, maze-like B-Side Lounge. Great conversation, free drinks, showings of the DeepLeap commercial...well, who could have asked for more? Spotted in the crowd: Peter Merholz (sporting a t-shirt with the spiff new Epinions logo), Jack Saturn, web awards emcee Halcyon, Derek Powazek, Wes Felter, a befeathered Ben Brown, Bryan Boyer, The Brig, The Carl and The Lance, among many, many others. Congrats and thanks to Lane and the crew for a great time.

Oh, the web awards? Well, much-deserved wins for Nikolai and Lane in their categories, and two free-association acceptance speeches from Ana Voog were probably the highlights. Halcyon dispatched the hosting duties with vim and verve, as expected. The ceremony itself was mercifully short since, as the emcee noted, the bar would not reopen until all the plaques were passed out.

It's a PPP day here at SXSW: plenaries, panels and parties. Gotta love that. Bing!