I'LL BE PWND FOR CHRISTMAS: The horizons of Christian Gaming continued to expand during 2005 with a pair of FPS (first-person smiter) releases from N'Lightning Games. If the screenshots and blurbage are any indication, they're running Doom or Morrowind-like engines sans gore and with religious narrative driving the action.

While the promotional material is good for a giggle, they won't be pulling me out of Azeroth to investigate any time soon. I'll have to hold out for the next generation, or maybe for titles produced by "an applied religious philosophy" with a little more to offer in the carnage and mayhem department.

On a more serious and optimistic note, is anyone else excited about DarkFall?

SANTA'S BRINGING YOU A SET OF STEAK KNIVES: McSweeney's gives us a nice complement to Glengarry Glen Claus with a little piece called "A Christmas Message From Alec Baldwin's Character in Glengarry Glen Ross."

BUT NOW I'M FOUND: Making me feel like an even bigger loser since I Tivo'd the first few episodes last year and then deleted them for space, the cast of Lost has been named the "Entertainer of the Year" by EW. Following the Lostians on the list were Steve Carell, Naomi Watts, Kanye West, Felicity Huffman, George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, Gwen Stefani,Harry Potter, and Terrence Howard.

SOME LISTS, JUST BECAUSE I CARE: Yeah, people are still making lists. Here are some for your edification.

• Toronto film critics liked A History of Violence best in 2005, while those wacky critics down in the town whose name is German for "Giant Whale Vagina" picked King Kong as the best film of 2005. Meanwhile, Phoenix film critics, proving a punch drunk lot, picked Ron Howard's subtle Cinderella Man as their top film.
  
• The omnipresence of bacon in every restaurant dish made both Epicurious' best and worst food trends lists for 2005. The omnipresence of Rachel Ray, though, only made the worst list.
• SI.com's Bill Syken assembles his top 10 NBAlumni teams, with the trio of Vince Carter, Antwan Jamison and Rasheed Wallace being enough to put UNC in the top spot, followed by Arizona, UConn, and Duke.
  
• ET is the greatest family film of all time according to a new poll done by Britain's Channel 4. Shrek came in second, followed by Mary Poppins, Pirates of the Caribbean (?) and Toy Story.
  
• Bono has some more hardware to put next to his Time Magazine Person of the Year honor. Adam Clayton's bandmate tops Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson's annual list of the top 100 people of the year. No. 19 on her list is Surfjan Stevens, whose 2005 release Come on the Feel the Illinoise may be the best CD of the 2000s. The folks over at Pitchfork may not be willing to go that far, but it is No. 1 on their list of the best CDs of 2005. All of Pitchfork's Best of 2005 lists can be found here.
  
• Meanwhile, I pointed to them before, but for more Best of 2005 lists, be sure to check out both Fimoculous and Metacritic.
  

GREETINGS FROM VACATIONVILLE: A few notes on the culture, from which I'm currently (largely) disconnected:

• Project Runway was another A-level episode this week. I don't quite get what was so good about Daniel V's collection, but I couldn't stop humming "Springtime for Hitler" while watching Santino's team work. Still, between Santino and Daniel Franco, the latter's narrative arc already had closure, while Santino's quest for world domination needs a few more episodes to fully flesh out the drama. Also, big ups for my girl Magneto, who rocked again with another focused collection.
• The Family Stone is a manipulative piece of dreck. Worse, it rarely rings emotionally true -- brothers, sisters and fiancees-to-be just don't behave the way these characters do. And worst of all -- even worse than the pseudo-Amherst geography of the thing (the writer-director is son of Prof. Robert Bezucha), is the way in which the film seems to share in the characters' masochistic beat-down of the Sarah Jessica Parker character, whose sole sin seems to be that she's a career-driven professional. Bad movie!
• Johnny Damon going to the Bronx is just wrong.
• The 2005 ALOTT5MA Award for Most Disappeared Star of the Year (2004 winner: Winona Ryder) goes to Mena Suvari. Any explanation needed?
• Your next reality job-search show? Who Wants To Write Think-Pieces About Midlevel Bands Struggling With Their Limitations In The Face Of Stardom?

FROM THE HOUSTON SATELLITE OFFICE: While I (along with much of the rest of the ALOTT5MA staff) is on vacation, a couple of links from our comrades at TV Tattle worth your reading and discussion:

• Would you watch an Alias spinoff that was all-evil, all the time?
• Have you read the blog from the writers of Grey's Anatomy, which seems to be the equivalent of a DVD commentary track without having to wait for DVD?

A very merry Chrismukkah to all!

YOUR MOTHER'S MISS AMERICA? Of all the updates I've posted on the status of the homeless orphan that was the Miss America pageant until Country Music Television offered it a new home, this one doesn't give me the oogies. According to the NYT (something of a graceful old lady herself), CMT has elected to ditch the various ridiculous embellishments that have been haphazardly pinned to Miss America's bosom over the years, electing instead to return to the pageant's roots.

This may sound odd from an organization that has moved Miss America from Atlantic City to Vegas and from September to January. But as the article points out, CMT viewers are something of a traditional crowd. And traditional crowds will welcome the return to tradition. No more casual-wear competition. No more O-Town (farewell, my Ashley Angel!) and Clay Aiken. No more multiple-choice civics quiz, the results of which always served to indicate that no matter how much scholarship money you throw at Miss America, she still doesn't know a darned thing about how many U.S. senators we have.

What are we getting back? Actual full-length talent performances, in all their cringeworthy glory. Evening wear with sashes displaying the name of the contestant's state. A swimsuit competition without real-time voting as to whether there should be a swimsuit competition. And, in a truly fabulous development, the return of the Miss Congeniality title, absent since 1974.

For the first time in many a year, I'm feeling a little optimistic about Miss America's prospects. The dream of a million more-than-pretty girls may still come true.