NMR Weighs In On The 2013 Streamy Awards

Ah, post-award ceremony mornings. As the stars and starlets of YouTube blearily stumble out into the world, now armed with much-coveted award statues, it falls to us, the entertainment writers, we unshaven and caffeine-buzzed to promptly register our adulation or outrage about the past evening’s events. In this case, the third annual Streamy Awards.

Because I’m sure you are waiting in breathless anticipation, here are some things I discovered while attending last night’s awards. First and foremost, Vanilla Ice has still got it. Insane Clown Posse affiliation aside, ol’ Rob Van Winkle seems to be enjoying the hell out of himself while performing “Ice Ice Baby” pretty much on a continuous loop.

Next up is the fact that, if nothing, YouTube creators are gracious winners. It’s a weird thing when Hollywood types attend these new media-driven events and end up giving the canned, wholly inauthentic acceptance speeches we’ve become so accustomed to.

YouTube creators on the other hand seem to be entirely in awe of the fact that they’ve won anything at all. Specifically, I’m thinking of Grace Helbig, Philip DeFranco and Peter Shukoff (Nice Peter). These three, even with their millions of fans, were still completely psyched to be shown appreciation for their hard, often thankless work.

Not saying that the rest of the acceptance speeches were bullshit, but there was a good deal of faux-Hollywood “I’m just so lucky to have you all” bullshit going down.

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” pretty much swept the award ceremony. While deserving many of the received accolades, “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” doesn’t seem like a web series completely in YouTube’s corner. If the endless “I’m a creator” promo videos shown at the Streamys proved anything, it was that the award ceremony was meant for this small tight-knit group of independent YouTubers.

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” cost, according to the LA Times, around $5 million to $10 million to make. Of course the series would sweep the award ceremony. If anything, “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” belongs more in the short-film or television department. Sure, it aired on YouTube and was distributed by Machinima, but a multi-million dollar production versus something a few dudes put together with a thousand bucks seems like an unfair fight.

The same goes for anything with the words “Tom Hank’s” in it. Was anyone shocked that an animated series backed by Tom Hanks beat out something called “Dick Figures?” If these ceremonies are all about creators, let’s make them about creators, not about what has the most cred or money thrown into it.

So we have reached the end — thanks for sticking around. Here are some final thoughts: this year’s Streamys beat the livin’ hell out of the debacle that transpired two years ago, I might have an unhealthy obsession with iJustine, Ken Marino is as rad as I thought he would be, I can’t believe Joss Whedon keeps coming to these, and finally, cash bars suck — $8 for two Cokes? IT WAS SPONSORED BY COKE!

For more Streamy Awards, check out our Streamys live blog.