Should old acquaintances be forgotten? Should they? I mean really – should those old acquaintances be forgotten? Why wouldn’t you ever want to bring them to mind anymore?

Well, it’s too late. You’ve already sung your songs and watched the ball drop and kissed your New Year’s kiss. Congratulations: You’ve made it to 2009.

And in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t make it with Alyssa Milano. There goes that 2008 resolution. Well, it makes it one less I have to figure out for 2009.

Yes, it’s January. The Christmas movies are all done. The Christmas tree is hung on the curb with care in hopes that the garbage man soon will be there. And Christmas bills are in the mailbox, waiting for you to send in your dough to the Credit Man. Looking back at 2008, it seems like it was just one, big, economic sledgehammer knocking into your skull, culminating in a Yuletide of unearthly costs.

There were some nice things about 2008. Thanks to the entertainment industry and that wonderful by-product of celebrity gossip, we can recall with fond nostalgia some wonderful moments in those sweet, horrible twelve months. I saw Lindsay Lohan naked. Always a plus, though now millions have seen it. A good portion of them from the pics in New York Magazine; the others were at that party at the Romper Club in L.A. Mmmm, good times.

I’ve talked about superhero movies in the past. There has been much success from the veritable cornucopia of materials spawned from the comic book industry (or “graphic novel” industry if you believe the academicians who get paid to make it sound like literature – yes, about 2% of it goes beyond guys dressing up to punch out villains, but that’s what sells).

Of the top five movies of the year, the top two – yes, I said that right – the TOP TWO were based on comic books. And not sneaky based-ons like 2002’s Road to Perdition or 2005’s A History of Violence where no one really knew what the source material was. Heck, even Wanted was based on a comic book, but they didn’t make a big deal out of that. You look at the Batman movie Dark Knight and also Iron Man (the aforementioned numbers one and two, respectively) and you would think people would want to promote the stories’ four-color histories. The wheels of the machine …

Also in news and events of 2008, we got a black president. It’s entirely likely that this will have an incredible effect on the film and media industries. Aside from the likely made-for-TV movies that will pop up (Bringing Up Barack: The Story of Obama’s Momma), there is always the possibility that the self-admitted “fan” of movies, who has already shown willingness to get involved in the college football championship process, could want to get his hands dirty on the celluloid front. (I keep wanting to say cellulite. It never works in any context to confuse the two.)

I’m not saying censorship, but he may want to push the country’s agenda. Time for change and all that. More action flicks with sassy black women that look like Michelle in the leading role. More villains that look like John McCain. More voluntary contributions at the movie theatre – that kind of thing.

So that was 2008. What did I say was going to happen in ’08? Francis Ford Coppola was going to make wine but would also be offered the job as the director for the final Harry Potter movie (that we know now will actually be two movies). He was to turn it down so he could make a movie about space monkeys. That was stone-cold accurate. He didn’t credit himself as the director of Space Chimps, but that was undoubtedly his work.

I did say that Shia LaBeouf would be caught up in a scandal or three. I was disappointed that none of them involved trafficking bootleg iPods or transvestite hookers with vision impairments. What do you expect? The guy cheats at cards.

As for predictions for 2009, I am going to lay off. I have proved to be way too canny at predicting celebrity mishaps. I’ve got too much power to unwisely use it on Hayden Panettiere or Scarlett Johansson and their little “hobbies” that no one knows about. I must use this power for good…Hmmm; maybe I’ll make that into a movie…