• As you can see from our counter at the top of the page, “Dogma” shooting isn’t far off. Kevin’s gone to Pittsburgh in preparation, but don’t fret, he’s got a WebTV box along and it sounds like we’ll be getting lots of info right from the source. Here’s his post from earlier today:

Rumor has it that Kevin will be giving us an EXCLUSIVE on the choice for the role of God. We hope this is true. Keep watching the site for the big announcement!

• To celebrate the opening of NewsAskew.Com, we’ve given our exclusive drinking games for Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy an overhaul, which mainly includes NEW RULES. Thanks to the following folks for their contributions to the games:Alicia Blumenfeld, Randal Chou and Robert Plafta. If you’ve never stopped by to check out the games, now is the time! Even if you’re not fond of the alcohol, they’re still fun to read.

By the way, dare we mark these games as the “official” drinking games yet? What do you folks think? Let us know.

• We didn’t just want to move to a new server without giving you folks some nice surprises and changes. Our first was a complete overhaul to the site, which now uses tables and should load quickly for all shapes and sizes of computers and web browsers. We’d LOVE your input. Like the new look? Hate it? Does it work for you? What about you WebTV’ers? Our hope is that the site looks great and loads fast.

In the process of the upgrade, we had to change a LOT of text. If you find bad links or cosmetic errors, or things that are just plain screwy, PLEASE let us know. In our haste to get the page back online for you, we certainly made tons of mistakes. Hey, we’re only human. So we’d appreciate your pointing out any problems. Enjoy the new site, and expect LOTS more surprises over the next few days as we get them ready.

• They tried to shut us down. But we’re back. And THIS time, we’re here to stay. First off, let us apologize for the downtime this week…
• Fuck Intap. That’s all we gotta say. Had we been aware that we were under a stipulation to keep the bandwidth down, we’d have been more careful, or at least prepared for being kicked off the server. To make matters worse, We Didn’t Even Get A WARNING. One day here, the next day gone. What a nightmare. Thank goodness for the View Askew WWWBoard. Without it, we really would have had no way to let you folks know what was going on. Intap REALLY put us into a tough situation. We appreciate the short amount of time we were housed there, but they really dicked us over with the way things ended. Are we bitter? A little. But now we’re here, and we’re stronger than ever. So screw ’em. ‘Nuff said.
• We’d like to take the time to sincerely thank Jason Desjardins for setting up the whole Intap deal to begin with, and for lobbying to keep us on there. He did everything that he could, and our disappearance was not of his doing. Thanks for everything, Jay.
• When you get into a situation like we got forced into earlier this week, you’ve gotta make some choices. Our first thought was…PANIC! So we made a public plea for webspace, and we got TONS of outstanding offers. Thanks to ALL of you who offered space or suggestions, it didn’t go unnoticed and we sincerely appreciate that. Special thanks to Garth Franklin from Dark Horizons (A kick-ass movie news site…Give it a visit! You won’t be sorry), who put up our plea on his popular page. Extra special thanks and props to Ming and Kevin, who stuck with us during the whole thing with tons of support. We appreciate it. Again, ’nuff said.
• After we weighed our options, we still felt that something was missing. We wanted to come back in a big way, and thought, “What better way to do that than to get our OWN domain and webspace?” Sure, it’s not gonna be free, but we figured, at least THAT way we’d have total control over everything on the site, and no worries about unexpected shutdowns. After looking at some popular web providers, we found one that suited us, laid down the cash, and here we are. We posted a small request for donations on the WWWBoard to help offset our startup costs (see story below), and response has been amazing. You folks are the best readers a couple of web fanboys could hope for. Thanks, in advance!
• Finally, welcome to NewsAskew.Com! Please help spread the word about our new address, whether it be through mail, on the web, or by word of mouth. Let’s make that hit counter go through the roof this time! Nothing can stop us now. We spent a TON of time getting this site ready. Hope you like it.
• Oh, and by the way, the new logo is only temporary while we await the “official” one. Sorry, we were in a hurry to get the page up tonight!

• To end on a light note today…For those of you that have been around the block a few times as far as the web is concerned, you may be familar with the “… Ate My Balls” series of pages. Basically, different folks around the world have adopted this strange phenomenon, with pages such as “Spock Ate My Balls” and “Kate Winslet Ate My Balls”. Now, we’ve been told of a “Jay & Silent Bob Ate My Balls” and a “Mallrats Ate My Balls” page. Sorry if it’s old news, and childish humor at that, it’s still good for a chuckle if you’ve yet to see it.

• The Pittsburgh Film Commission has a hotline set up, which summarizes the films shooting in the Pittburgh area. You can call it at 412-281-3343 for all the latest info. We haven’t called, but there’s probably some “Dogma” info on there. Here’s what the hotline had on it last week:

So, there you go. If you want to get involved, MAIL IN your info! Don’t write or call. We don’t think it’ll help your cause. Good luck to ya!

• Ben gets all the chicks. Here’s a blurb from Variety discussing his role in the upcoming “Forces of Nature”, likely to be opposite Sandra Bullock:

• We imagine that you’re looking forward to the MTV Video Stash special as much as we are, so here’s the latest from Kevin:

We expect the special to air in March sometime, and think it’ll run an hour. Oh, and unfortunately, they’re only showing the 1st part of that 2-parter Goonies video. Oh well, can’t have it all, I guess. 🙂