He wore a hoodie. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The Webby Awards)

Hundreds gathered for the 17th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street last night in a ceremony that honored excellence on the Internet--fart jokes, GIF pronunciation debates and all.

Patton Oswalt began by observing, “Look at all these people taping this. By all means, record this shaky iPhone version, because this will never be on the Internet.”

“This whole thing was Kickstarted, but we didn’t quite make our stretch goal, so instead of Louis C.K., you have me as your host," he added.

One of the most memorable acceptance speeches came from Brandon Stanton, who won the Best Blog award for Humans of New York. Hopping onstage, all backwards cap and messenger bag, he quipped, “Still can’t pay my rent.”

Hip hop artist Frank Ocean accepted the Person of the Year award via video. Commended for using social media as a “cultural tool” and attempting to bring an end to discrimination in hip hop, he promised to come out next year to see someone else “fumble through their acceptance speech.”

The ceremony continued with a sincerely moving tribute to Aaron Schwartz, the Demand Progress founder who committed suicide earlier this year. His father, Robert, said, “I wish he was here to see this response.”

Steve Wilhite, who patented the graphic .GIF, didn’t speak at all in his Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech, but pointed to the in-house screens, which read, “It’s pronounced jiff, not gif” thus ending 25 years of speculation.

“David Karp sold his company for 1.1 billion dollars yesterday," Mr. Oswalt said. "When I was 26, I sold an ounce of weed for 140 bucks. Welcome to the club." He then proceeded to try to either pants Mr. Karp or give him a wedgie, unsuccessfully.

The Tumblr CEO was wearing dark pants and his trademark grey a hoodie with the Tumblr logo on the back.

Musician Grimes, Webby’s Artist of the Year, sported hexagonal shades, platform converses, a black cotton dress and punk jewelry aplenty. According to the 25-year-old, the best thing on the Internet these days is, “Political freedom, and being able to undermine government, and all that jazz. I’m hoping that remains.” Her acceptance speech? “This is more than five words.”

Ben Stiller, an actor in the web series, was introduced as, “Ladies and gentleman, Beyoncé!” He proceeded to accept the award with a one word speech, “Grathias.”

Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, founders of Trigger Street Productions, picked up the Special Achievement award for their Netflix series House of Cards and their use of technology “for creative experimentation.”

Their five choice words were, “The Oscars should do this.”

“I have absolutely no idea who’s here. I know as little as possible about what’s about to happen,” Mr. Spacey said earlier. When asked what his favorite website was, he answered, “I probably shouldn’t talk about porn.”

Accepting for Tumblr was Amandalyn Ferri, Community Outreach manager who cheered, “Fuck yeah, fuck yeah….” followed by a dejected, “Fuccck.”

Comedian Colin Quinn feigned bitterness when he presented the final award of the night to Jerry Seinfeld for Outstanding Comedic Performance in the web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

“Jerry doesn’t need this award. It’s an insult to him. I need it, and I’m not getting it, and that’s life,” he said gruffly.

Seinfeld’s acceptance speech wasn’t, as Quinn predicted, “I can buy this place,” but instead, “Why five words? It doesn’t…”

Someone forgot to say thank you.

MOAR EPISODES PLZ (Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix)

Remember when catching up on a TV show required numerous trips to Blockbuster in a single weekend? Us neither. For years we've been mainlining our television shows entire seasons at a time, thanks to the glories of video streaming. How else would anyone have made it through the dismal nadir of season three of "Lost"? What do you think got Americans addicted to "Downton Abbey"?

So when I sat down to watch the first episode of "House of Cards" on Saturday, as a way of killing laundry time, I didn't expect I'd stretch the show out over the next 13 weeks, like I was watching "Dallas" circa 1982. But I also wasn't planning to find myself awake at 2 a.m. last night, polishing off the last episode and frantically googling "house of cards season 2 please oh please tell me it's coming soon." 

If this Wired poll of its readers is any indication, we’re not alone: 10.6 percent of viewers stopped after the first episode (what, you don't like it when they break the fourth wall?), but a substantial number, 32.4 percent, had already polished off episode 13. Variety estimates a quarter of those who watched the first episode have already powered through the whole season.

But was the show any good? Good question. The chilly vibe makes it ideal viewing for a frigid winter weekend holed up inside your apartment. Kevin Spacey is smugly chummy enough that even his syrupy, fake-as-hell Southern accent is entertaining. A lot of the journalism is B.S. (free food at a newspaper? reporter, please), but “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t reknowned for its medical accuracy either.

But “House of Cards” doesn’t have to be the most brilliant thing you’ve ever seen. It’s just got to be good enough to keep you clicking, then leave you wanting more, evangelizing to your friends (when you explain why you can't make drinks after all), liking it on Facebook to silence the haters, and waking up late for work.

If I hadn’t crammed the whole show into just 72 hours--roughly the amount of time the Underwoods spend standing around their Restoration Hardware catalog of a home--it might have gotten laughable real quick. Bonus: no snarky recaps to make you question just what their big plan actually is.

More importantly, the show is on par with whatever you'd find on cable. There's no whiff of direct-to-video/YouTube original content about "House of Cards." No budget backdrops, no cheapskate score. In fact, its bona fides are better than a lot of what you'd see trotted out for the upfronts: Netflix got David goddamn Fincher to help make it, and Oscar winner Kevin Spacey heads up a cast where even the B-listers are good. The price tag, all told, was something like $100 million.

And as Tim Wu points out at the New Yorker, that makes all the difference. If Netflix can make the numbers work on cable-quality television, it means we're "across a psychological line":

But this year or next, cable companies will have to accept that they are no longer the gatekeepers for the best content. It means, eventually, that the industry will probably have to embrace the idea of simply carrying the content of others (which was its original business model), and essentially function as what used to be called an “Internet-service provider.”

According to this month's GQ, Netflix ultimately hopes to be making five original series a year. It won't be cheap or easy to pull off, but think of the money you cough up for premium cable, versus the number of shows you actually watch. Paying Netflix and Hulu $10 a month for a regularly-scheduled weekend timesuck starts sound pretty appealing--and that's how the ground beneath the cable business crumbles.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, season one of Homeland isn't going to watch itself.

The usual suspect.

Randi Zuckerberg isn't the only enterprising producer trying to bring Startupland to the small screen. Over the weekend, Deadline Hollywood reported that Kevin Spacey will be executive producing a new drama on E! Entertainment Television called "Upstarts" about "Silicon Valley's digital gold rush." Michael De Luca, the Oscar-nominated executive producer behind The Social Network will also be executive producing the show. Considering that film was Patient Zero for startup fever, we expect a similar outbreak from the TV version.

But before area bloggers start wagging their fingers--warning! entrepreneurial life may be more dramatized than it appears--"Upstarts" isn't trying to fan the flames of "whether we're currently in a tech bubble" by calling it a gold rush. Rather, the go-go billion dollar valuations "Upstarts" will be covering are set in the late nineties dotcom bubble. "Fueled by power, money, sex and politics, these three will stop at nothing to earn a spot atop the digital food chain," goes the pitch. Hmm, we sense some subversive tactics a foot. They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world it was in a bubble by televising the last one.

UPSTARTS – Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and Oscar-nominated producer Michael De Luca (The Social Network) are Executive Producers through their respective production companies, Trigger Street Prods. and Michael De Luca Prods., of this sprawling drama in which three big dreamers seek to grab their share of wealth and glory amidst Silicon Valley’s digital gold rush of the late 1990s.  Fueled by power, money, sex and politics, these three will stop at nothing to earn a spot atop the digital food chain.  Written by Joey Falco, who will also be a co-executive producer. Dana Brunetti and Ben Younger will also Executive Produce with Younger set to direct, if ordered to pilot.  Brian Haas is also set to co-executive produce.  From Universal Cable Prods.