SAG Nominations

Los Angeles- Actors Sandra Oh and Elijah Wood got up early Thursday morning to read the nominations for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The awards show will be held on January 28th and will be televised live on TNT and TBS.

Of the four big Hollywood awards show, the SAGs are the least known step-child to the Golden Globes, the Emmys and the Academy Awards. They don't have a major network broadcasting the show and I don't think anybody remembers who has ever won a SAG Actor award.

But it does have some great attributes. First, it just honors actors and is voted on by its peers. It just focuses on actors and nothing else. No best short film, or sound editing.

It recognizes film and TV, so you get to see all the top stars of both unlike the Oscars which handles film only, and the Emmys, which is TV only.

It's a great predictor of who wins an Oscar because its voted by other SAG members, not "members of the foreign press" like the Golden Globes, who sometimes have unusual choices.

By the list of nominees, this year's SAG should be good. International stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Penelope Cruz, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Eddie Murphy, Cate Blanchette, Jeremy Irons, Helen Mirren, and Greta Scacchi mixed in with television favorites like Kiefer Sutherland, James Gandolfini, Alec Baldwin, Matthew Perry, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mary Louise Parker and Jaime Pressly.

The wild card are movies and TV series which are nominated for ensemble awards.

Will Brad Pitt and his wife, Angelina Jolie, show up for "Babel"? Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Christian Slater and Sharon Stone for "Bobby"? Beyonce Knowles and Jamie Foxx for "Dreamgirls"? And how about the "Desperate Housewives" cast, of which only Felicity Huffman was nominated? Will Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and Nicollette Sheridan make an appearance?

With all its star power the SAGs should be a high-profile awards show. The show hasn't embedded in the media's or the public's minds yet. You will read in the first sentence of a news story "Oscar-winning actor...or Emmy-winning actor...or Tony-award winning actor" but never "Actor-winning actor"???? Maybe that is the problem. The award they hand out it called the "Actor".

It might mean more than the other awards because its judges are other actors, but a "Moonman" from the MTV awards will probably attract more attention in the trophy case.

Waking Up to a New Year

In a few hours things can change drastically.

On New Year's Eve I covered Britney Spears' party at PURE at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Took a few photos of her on the red carpet. She didn't pose long, just a minute and gone.

I stayed a while to see the fireworks on the strip. I thought that there was a chance that Britney might want to do the same and looked to see if she was at the night clubs' terrace overlooking the Strip. She did and I took some so-so photos of her from the street.

I went back to my hotel room and edited and transmitted the photos to my agency in New York and went to sleep.

When I awoke in the morning I was browsing the web looking for a tip on where Michael Jackson new home was in Las Vegas and came across a story about Britney collapsing shortly after midnight. I immediately called my agency in New York to tell them those Britney photos just got more valuable and to price them accordingly.

The strange thing was while waiting for Britney to show up at the red carpet, we photographers were joking about some of the club members came out stumbling out drunk and that you better be ready if Britney were one of them. No one really took it seriously, we were just bored waiting for her to show up.

It's not like you plan or even hope for stuff like this to happen. Its always a surprise.

I was not inside the club when whatever happened. I just shot some photos of her just before it happened. Britney's publicist stated she was tired and was sleeping. Whatever. It's a story either way.

What Happened to Britney?

Las Vegas- No one likes to be under scrutiny. Put a magnifying glass to anyone and you will find the flaws. That's the downside of being famous. There is a huge upside, in a financial sense.

Britney Spears is one of those pop stars that seems to have a huge bull's-eye on their back. I don't know if she tries to paint that target herself, or does the media-induced frenzy paint it for her.

In the last month she was photographed with Paris Hilton at L.A.'s clubs. She has two young children at home and partying with Paris Hilton doesn't seem to be the right thing to do especially after filing for divorce from Kevin Federline. So what does she do this New Year's Eve?
Host a party at the night club, PURE, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Nothing wrong with a twenty-something going out and enjoying herself. Especially if a club is paying you a fee that has been reported anywhere from an outrageous $300,000 to a somewhat, dare I say modest, $30,000. I don't know what the details of her contract with the night club is, but its hard to turn down a job where you get paid to host a party.

Paris Hilton couldn't make the trip to Vegas, she was in Australia promoting beer. Actress Shannon Elizabeth, Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives" and the co-found of myspace.com, Tom Anderson made an appearance.