::Dr. Indy comes out on stage, to the applause of the entire crowd::
Indy: Welcome to
::The crowd shouts a big "YES!!!" back::
Indy: Well, you came to the right place. This is the 2007 edition of the Golden Acorn awards and I'm your host. Now that that's settled, let's get down to business. We've got a jam-packed awards show for you, but first I need to thank a few people, make a few announcements and then you'll get to see something special.
::The crowd murmurs about what that could be as Indy checks through his notes::
Indy: As you know, this is no small task to put on. It requires a lot of work and cooperation, so first I want to give a big shout-out to all our volunteers this year! Everyone here who's put in time on the awards, please stand.
::A large portion of the crowd
stands and everyone applauds::
Indy: I'd like to recognize a few people in particular. First, one person was a big help with the
Russian categories this year. Gyrotank, would you please stand?
::Gryotank does so, and the audience applauds::
Indy: Gyrotank wrote the presentations for the Russian categories and helped me hunt down several winners among the Russian Rangerphiles. I salute you for a great first-year effort.
Now, let me also bring attention to Jareth, who just came back among us in the last few days. He's been a designer for our award plaques before, and once again came to our rescue with a great design for this years. If you will observe the big screen, please?
::The crowd applauds as the spotlight trains on Jareth, who stands and bows::
Indy: Okay a couple of announcements. First, this is the last year of the All-Time Best categories.
::Murmurs in the audience reflect the general confusion::
Indy: Don't worry, though. We're not retiring the categories, but reorganizing them. From now on, we'll have Rangerphile Hall of Fame categories, and we'll be retiring the past winners of the All-Time Best awards into that Hall of Fame once their winning works have been in the community for five years.
This is for works only, by the way. You can still win in the Hall of Fame categories for Best Author and Best Artist as long as you're active in the community—we don't retire [u]you[/u] after five years.
::The audience chuckles::
Indy: So for works, you can be up to a five-time Hall of Fame winner—and I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen tonight, with "Mice and Mayhem" in the lists. But next year, artists, you have an easier path to the Hall of Fame. Now, the second announcement, and it segues into the last part of my talk. There will be a couple of video presentations this year.
::The crowd "oohs" at the notion::
Indy: The first one is right now—I put together a little tribute to the last ten years of the Café, told through pictures. I narrated it myself, with my voice…man, that sounds so Don Karnage…but anyway, I hope it's something you enjoy.
It's nearly two minutes, so it takes a little bit to load up. For those of you without broadband, I suggest waiting until later to view this one. For those with broadband, it'll take about a minute and a half to load—don't give up if you've seen the Apple Quicktime "Q" for a while. Trust me, it will load. And now, if you will all focus on the big screen here, we'll get going…
::As the video ends, the spotlight returns to Indy::
Indy: Okay, we've got a long night ahead of us, so let's get to it!
::The crowd applauds and Dr. Batorius' deep voice comes over the speakers::
Dr. Batorious: The Golden Acorn Awards will be right back with awards in the Website categories…