The secret life of links

First off, I wanna say the blog has experienced an upsurge in readership dating back to last winter. The page count total for May was the highest in almost four years. That's pretty amazing, and it's because of you, so thanks so much for sticking with me. I really appreciate the support.

I did not realize Anton Yelchin was actually Russian. I suppose the name should've been a tip off, but I never gave it much thought. His Chekov was a sharp departure from Walt Koenig: a little younger, a little more manic, much more of a prodigy. What I will remember most is him running down the Enterprise hallways like a madman, trying to figure out how to rescue Kirk. He did a decent job of stepping into the boots of an iconic science fiction character. I'm grateful for his contribution. This Variety piece summarizes his pre-Trek career.

Here's something you'll get a kick out of: last week I returned to Brooklyn's Videology, the video rental store turned bar and screening room (and, amazingly, is still a video store as well) for a movie trivia night! I was there at the invite of Jen from my writer's group, who is a big fan of pub trivia nights and party games in general. She was there with her friend Laura, whom I had met before. For a Tuesday night, the place was packed - but then, the impression I got was that this regular event was quite popular. We shared a table with three other people and we partnered with them for the duration of the contest.

There were several rounds of varying degrees of difficulty. In addition to answering questions, we had to also identify stills, audio clips and video clips. You couldn't be a lightweight, either - the questions the hosts provided really did test your movie knowledge. I think Jen and I would've preferred more classic movie-related questions than we got (though there was one about Judy Holliday which I'm proud to say I knew instantly), but our newfound teammates pulled their weight and then some. They knew their stuff too.

Regrettably, it was not enough in the end. Our team floated in the top five at one point before fading out of contention in the later rounds. I think we finished tenth out of somewhere between 15-20 teams (I told you the place was packed). It was fun, though. Too bad the grand prize was only free drinks!

Your links:

Jennifer examines the history of Buffalo Bill in film.

Kristina is in a French New Wave mood.

Le says Harold Lloyd was cinema's first nerd.

Did you know Y-nk-- hall of famer Lou Gehrig appeared in a Western? Paddy knew.

Retrospace looks at two B-movies about space princesses on Earth (NSFW).

Paramount releases their guidelines for Star Trek fan films. I'll talk more about this next month.

Yes, one day, even schlock cinema will be preserved.

A bit of local news: Kaufman Astoria Studios is expanding.

Enjoy the holiday weekend, everyone. I'll be back July 7.