Okay, so I can get a little (sometimes a lot) starstruck with Hollywood celebrities--the myth, the magic, the movies!  And you don't?  And you're queer, right?  Whatever!

In fact, I know that, by now, it's even become a very old cliché but--Hooray for Hollywood!  That's because the celebrated and prestigious and entertaining and historic Hollywood Walk of Fame will celebrate its 50th birthday on February 8 in the heart of Hollywood.

The iconic Walk will actually be given a yearlong birthday bash by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Everything about Hollywood has and always will be bigger than life so the observance of five decades of honoring the biggest names in the film and entertainment industry will be kicked off with Beatles Ringo Star Ceremony on February 8, the actual date that construction began for the Walk back in 1960.

A member of the legendary, The Beatles, Star will be honored with his own Star on the Walk of Fame in an elaborate celebration honoring his contribution to the music industry.  His ceremony, according to organizers, will "introduce production elements that will give the Star Ceremonies a new look for the next 50 years."

This summer, the "Community Festival of the Stars" will showcase the Walk's five categories: motion pictures, television, radio, recording and live theatre on July 25. The day long event along Vine Street will feature "outdoor stages with live music, live theatre and radio personalities, indoor venues showing past Star Ceremony clips, and food and game booths for the whole family as envisioned by the organizers for the Walk's celebration.

The yearlong celebration will culminate on November 3 with the "Gala - 50 Years of Walk of Fame Stars," a black-tie fundraiser, in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center. The purpose of the fundraiser will be twofold:  to recognize all Walk of Fame Star honorees, now numbering 2,393 stars, and to raise funds for the Walk's ongoing restoration and maintenance.

"Of course, we will continue to add to the Walk of Fame, with new star ceremonies throughout 2010," said Leron Gubler, President & CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Back in 1953, the Chamber actually conceived of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, eventually unveiling its demonstration stars in August 1958, the first being in honor of actor Preston Foster, and the Walk was officially dedicated in November 1960.

The Chamber now claims that the Walk is among "one of Los Angeles' top attractions and one of the world's most recognizable images of Hollywood."

We'll all get ready for our closeup, Mr. DeMille!

For information, visit hollywoodchamber.net

I fess up. I had every good intention of writing a daily blog live from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, but the fact that I've viewed 19 feature length films in four days-an average of 5 films a day--provided me little time between watching films, sleeping, gathering my thoughts and also write coherently!

But let's back-up. Sundance, hosted in the renowned ski-resort of Park City in Utah, is a 10-day annual event, and the largest independent film festival in the United States.

Famous for being famous, Sundance is not just a hub to see the best new independent and world cinema, it's also become a destination, judging from the comments shared by the three Texan "gals" who sat behind me on the flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Salt Lake City. They were traveling for celebrity spotting and partying-without plans to see any films!

For those of us who make the annual pilgrimage to Sundance each year: distributors, acquisition executives, publicists, press, programmers and, of course, movie enthusiasts, it's difficult to imagine Park City without Sundance and even more impossible to imagine this picturesque mountain town without a frosty coating of glittering flakes and elongated sculptural icicles hanging everywhere you turn.

Before reviewing some of the queer films I managed to view this year, it's important to digest some statistics.

According to the last census count in 2000, Park City is officially home to less than 8,000 full-time residents. 2010 Sundance processed, viewed and considered a staggering total of 9,816 film submissions.  Clearly the odds, if you are a filmmaker, are against you.   For those filmmakers lucky enough to be accepted, Sundance offers mind-blowing exposure and attention.  The impact of Sundance and the tourism dollars it generates for the State of Utah and, specifically, for condo management companies, restaurants, bars, stores and taxi/shuttle operators in the vicinity of Park City is incalculable.

If you are inspired to plan a trip for yourself in 2011, my advice to you is to make sure you put your plans into motion early.  Park City does not have the hotel infrastructure like such cities as Miami Beach or Philadelphia and the nearest airport, Salt Lake City, is a good 45 minutes away.  Bad weather can impact your travel and it's best to plan to arrive a full day before the festival actually starts.  Warm clothes, waterproof boots and a steady stock of power-bars are essential.

For a minimum fee of $5, you can register for a "ticket-purchasing" time slot (usually late fall) where you have a designated online window of one hour to try and secure tickets to films that haven't already been exhausted by executive pass holders and sponsors who have first dips at the tickets. Without hard tickets (or an industry/press/sponsor or filmmaker pass) be warned, wait list lines are long, the festival itself recommends a minimum of two hours.  Don't worry they don't make you wait outside in 20 degree temperatures, but you will be asked to stand in long lines in heated tents or in the bowels of the venues themselves.

Sundance said adios to longtime head honcho Geoffrey Gilmore in 2009, and promoted respected Senior Programmer, John Cooper, to take the reigns and ride into the new decade. Under his leadership, and in a break from tradition, Sundance opened their 2010 event with one narrative feature, one documentary and one shorts program from their competition lineup.

Now, onto the queer films at 2010 Sundance.

HOWL was narrative feature for opening night, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Paragraph 175 (2000), The Celluloid Closet (1995)) stars James Franco as a young Allen Ginsberg.  Mary Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels also star in minor roles.

Sewing together three different but interconnected threads, HOWL marries the oratorical skills of Ginsberg as he lifts his words from the page bringing his poem "Howl" to glorious life in a pokey beat hang out.

Juxtaposed against the euphoria of Ginsberg's reading to his peers is a recreation of the actual obscenity trial in 1957, set in a San Francisco courtroom, where the originality and literary merit of Ginsberg's prose is ripped apart, questioned and defended. Vibrant animation provides additional depth and meaning to the originality of Ginsberg's "Howl".

While queer film programmers will be salivating to exhibit HOWL and it is 100% programmable, its difficult to gauge what audiences outside the cities of San Francisco and New York will make of HOWL because the film is wordy and clearly specific to these cities.

While deserving of a key slot and likely to be many a U.S. based queer programmers first

choice for Opening or Closing, "Howl" succeeds on many levels but it fails to explore in any depth Ginsberg's character and the sexual relationships he had with other famous members of the Beat Generation, particularly Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy.

For audiences seeking a greater understanding of the "counterculture" that defined the Beat Generation, it might be sensible to pair "Howl" with WILLIAM S BURROUGHS: A MAN WITHIN, a new and some could argue, the definitive documentary on the Beat Generation,  the directorial debut of Yony Leyser which world premiered in Slamdance

Leyser's in depth exploration of Burroughs, a 20th Century literary icon, a self-defined homosexual, drug addict, gun enthusiast, notoriously known for shooting an apple off his wife's head while they were both drug-fueled (he missed and she died) contains never-before-seen archival footage with many of Burroughs colleagues, lovers, friends and confidantes, including Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Genesis P-Orridge, Gus Van Sant and John Waters. Richly researched and lovingly constructed, you really get a sense of Burroughs, the man behind the gun and the cutup literature.  (Gus Van Sant was spotted in attendance at the public screening.)

CONTRACORRIENTE (UNDERTOW), written and directed by Javier Fuentes-León and set in a tiny Peruvian seaside village will easily find a home in mainstream or queer film festivals.

Set in a picturesque fishing village where everybody knows everybody's business, life is defined by the ceremony and traditions surrounding birth, marriage and death.  Blue eyed artist, and handsome outsider; Santiago (for short Tiago) has a muse, and lover, Chino, a respected and macho member of the village.

Enamored and clearly taken with each other, Tiago and Chino spend secret time in each other's embrace, but Chino is leading a double-life, his wife is in the last trimester of her pregnancy with their first child.

Sensually photographed, and cleverly dramatized film, Undertow secured a distribution deal with Wolfe Releasing at Sundance, is heartily recommended.  I think that you should run to catch this film.

THE MORMON PROPOSTION is required viewing for anybody who believes in constitutional marriage rights for gays and lesbians. This in-depth documentary exposes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'  (LDS) involvement in the passage of California's Proposition 8.  It might be surprising to learn (or maybe not) that the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City in Utah, a non-for-profit 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization that shouldn't be meddling in politics, has secretly waged a decades-long campaign against lesbians and gays rights to marriage.

Director Reed Cowan, himself a former Mormon avoids sensationalism and has spent time trying to humanize the "homosexuals" the Mormon Church has condemned.

Rightly positioned in the Sundance lineup in the backyard of LDS, the film covers ground that is familiar from news reports: the fight by gay activists to demand same-sex rights, the Mormon Church's fundraising power to sway the "yes" vote on 8 in California, the nationwide marches by gay activists--Former Miami-Dade Mayor, Manny Diaz is acknowledged in the films credits under the title "Miami."