Three Things for the New Year

One is that Danny Boyle wins for Best Director and that Slumdog Millionaire is Best Picture at the Oscars. There are a lot of strong performances this year from some great actors, so I hope its star, Dev Patel, is, at the very least, nominated for this incredible film.

Two is that people do not get fooled by lower prices at the gas pump. Keep the pressure on Detroit to manufacture and market the most fuel-efficient technology available. If a major car maker should die in the New Year, that would be regrettable. But this industry has no one, absolutely no one, to blame but themselves. If you can't make your car payments, you think GMAC has any sympathy for you? Detroit has been warned that they were on an untenable path since 1980. They scoffed. Buy a hybrid car, if you are in the market for a new vehicle! Start worrying about yourself and your future, because Detroit and Exxon-Mobil certainly are not going to.

Three is that there is no SAG strike. Thoughtful and conscientious SAG leaders such as Frances Fisher write eloquently about the need to empower the current SAG leadership with a strike authorization. Had that faction succeeded in merging with AFTRA quite some time ago, that might have worked. But the DGA, WGA and AFTRA have all moved forward with contracts that were settled before the economy tanked to its current level. In this economy and with actors as divided as they are now, a strike would be a major mistake. MERGER IN 2009!!

Happy New Year to my Mom, recovering from surgery up in Syracuse. Or, as we call it, Siber-a-cuse.