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Wonderful choice, and very well deserved. This recognition could not have gone to a less sane person.

Fondest congratulations, phargle!
 
Congratulations phargle :)
 
Congrats phargle.
 
Congratulations phargle
 
Well-earned mate, congratulations.
 
Congrats! :cool:
 
Congratulations sir, you've certainly been busy these last few weeks. :)
 
Woah.

Thank you. I don't know what else to say. . . this is an honor I never considered or expected, and it came as a huge surprise to me to get the "hey, you're it" email from demokratickid. I accept it with humility that comes from the knowledge that there are many more deserving people than myself. In many ways, I consider myself an anti-fan. I try to keep my tone light, my mood off-kilter, and my critical eye lidded, and my participation here seems to come and go like a thing that comes and goes a lot. I forget the AARs I am reading, I forget recent updates, I am afraid to venture out of the CK sub-forum, and I don't tend to read the popular ones that all the cool kids are reading. demokratickid had a few dozen more-qualified people than me to pick. . so, uhm, thanks. :)

I'm not even sure what to do exactly, and had to go back and read the fan archives to figure out proper protocol. I guess I should say thanks (done), talk about myself (no thanks), and mention a few AARs I read. Okay:

My first favorite back in, uh, 2006, was The Machiavellian Adventures of Princess Eleanor by frogbeastegg, an epic that is written from an obvious female angle and that has lasted for four years now. It was (believe it or not) the first inspiration for my own AAR.

My current favorite is Furor Normannicus by a man after my own heart (seriously - he wants my heart bad) and it's something I consider to be the finest AAR going right now. I like it for its purity as an AAR - there is remarkable fidelity to the game engine, a wealth of historical knowledge, original characters, and a setting that hasn't been used and abused by AARland at large. I <3 it as much as I can <3 something made by man.

My quirky and inexplicable favorite right now is Munster AAR, which is an absolutely pure little AAR about Munster written from the perspective of someone who is apparently going through all the "how do you play this game?!" moments I am, but in Ireland instead of England. I love it because it's an AAR in the traditional sense of the term, and because it is, by definition, easy to keep up with but gives enough detail that my lunatic imagination can make the story up on the go.

I love digestibility in an AAR. The serial nature of threads in a forum means a large update isn't necessary - in fact, it may be counternecessary. I read while I am at work, so I look for AARs I can read in windows measured in minutes at most. Reading more AARs has taught me a lot about the folly of (say) posting a lot of updates at once. :)

Thank you for this unexpected honor. And thank you that much more for the outpouring of support. When I was told I'd been selected, I expected two posts in response, one saying "who?" and another saying "congratulations phargle". Scrolling down the page provoked the barest flicker of actual emotion in my cold Vulcan heart. Thank you. I'll get to the work of picking a successor now.

Ta.
 
phargle said:
demokratickid had a few dozen more-qualified people than me to pick. . so, uhm, thanks. :)

Any time, phargle! It was your frequency of comments, the humor with which you conduct yourself at all times, and the fact that you've never won it before all made me think you were the best. And, yes, there might be some more qualified people, but none of them comment quite like you do. :D

That's really why I picked you, and once again, congrats! :)
 
Nice choice. Congratulations phargle :)