• Ah, Marilyn Manson gets a story here at NA two days in a row! Who woulda thunk it? Anyway, last night, on the syndicated radio show “Modern Rock Live”, Manson brought up that he liked the movie “Mallrats” and what it embodied, especially Shannen Doherty‘s character. Must’ve been SOME conversation!

• This is pretty neat…What we’ve got here, courtesy of FX God Tom Savini’s website (http://www.savini.com), are what we believe to be the first pics unveiled from the set of Dogma. Nothing revealed about the flick at all, really, but apparently the guy had some snapshots taken while paying the gang a visit. The first features the gorgeous (and a deceptively tall-looking) Salma Hayek…Look close and you’ll see she’s on a crate, folks, though Tom’s a pretty short fella as well…And second, a pic of Tom’s daughter with a couple more familiar faces that need no introduction.

And remember, Kevin took a TON of digital photos of the entire production, that will surely make an amazing gallery over at the View Askew website as the film draws closer to release. We can’t wait to see ’em.

• Finally today, in other Affleck news, Ben’s yet again lining up the projects…This next one sounds like a pretty cool little indie, if they can pull it off:

• Howard Stern listeners this morning were treating to a fairly amusing verbal thrashing of Mr. Ben Affleck, courtesy of the most evil man alive, Marilyn Manson…All in good fun, of course. Our scooper has details:

Marilyn Manson was on the show discussing his new album, Mechanical Animals. As you probably know, he’s been dating Rose McGowan. Someone called in who claimed to have seen Ben Affleck in a Pittsburgh bar earlier this summer. Ben allegedly said (according to the caller) that Rose was putting on some weight and that she was only dating Marilyn Manson for notoriety. Manson responded by saying that he didn’t care what that “queer” thought. He said that he is fully authorized to hand out Queer Cards and that Ben Affleck would definitley receive one. Throughout the show, Manson made references to Good Will Hunting saying that he’d rent it to get some man-on-man oral sex tips, since it was probably full of stuff like that. He seems to have something against Ben now (if he didn’t already). The whole thing was done in a joking sense, and, while I am a fan of Ben Affleck as well as Marilyn Manson, I found it to be rather funny.

• Ah, the themes they are a’plenty. Here’s yet another new Windows 9x theme, this one featuring one of the big heroes of Clerks: Randal Graves himself. As always, download the theme HERE or from Files Askew.

• If you’re looking for a widescreen viewing of “Good Will Hunting”, look no further that DirecTV. Our scooper says, for 3 dollars, he bought an all day ticket for the flick which offered a choice of pan & scan OR widescreen! Yet another reason to own one of those keen dishes…Anyone wanna donate one?

• Well, a reliable source checked in today with some distressing news for Fletch fans…Seems like the project’s fallen through:

Keep in mind, this is just one source, but we wouldn’t be printing it if we hadn’t believed it ourselves. Sounds like Kev’s gonna have some extra spare time once Dogma starts wrapping up…

• Possibly the first reveal of a track on the eventually-to-be-created-and-released “Big Helium Dog” soundtrack? On the Howard Stern show today, Stuttering John, while promoting his new album, commented that his song “Pretty Girl” will be on a Kevin Smith (actually Brian Lynch) soundtrack.

• Rumor has it that Oni Press is e-mailing folks letting them know that Jay & Bob #2 should be out the first week of October. We have no verification on this, but it seems to be a fairly realistic date considering the developments we’ve heard on the book lately.
• A few days ago, we mentioned that the “Clerks” marathon would once again be airing on IFC. We’ve now got a date and time: Thursday, September 17, from 8 am. to 8 pm. As before, the marathon contains a commentary by Kevin Smith and all that unseen footage that was cut from the theatrical version. If you missed it the first time, don’t miss it again!
• Ben Affleck fans listen up: The blockbuster ‘Armageddon’ arrives on video November 13th, just a bit over 5 months from its theatrical date, and in time to crash into Christmas stockings everywhere. Buena Vista Home Video will release the flick at the sell-through price of $22.99. Criterion is also releasing a special director’s cut of “Armageddon” on laserdisc for $99.95. No definite DVD plans have been announced yet.
• Annnd finally today, from The Hollywood Reporter : Joey Lauren Adams, who leaped to fame with her leading role in Kevin Smith‘s “Chasing Amy”, is set to star in Columbia Pictures’ Adam Sandler comedy “Guy Gets Kid”. It tells the story of a cynical slacker who tries to find some fulfillment when his best friend gets married. He then adopts a 6-year-old boy and gets more than he bargained for. If Sandler continues on the hot streak he’s on, Joey might have another hit on her hands and some good exposure.

• As he promised, Kevin’s around on the boards a lot more lately…In fact, last night, he went on a good old-fashioned posting spree in which he revealed that he’d heard November as a possible release date for the Chasing Amy DVD, that he may possibly work on another film before Dogma is released (but he’s pretty busy, so we doubt it), among other things. Here’s his summary post which reveals some other key stuff, including the status of Tour Askew and the next Vulgarthon:

It’s nice to hear that there’s hope for another Vulgarthon. While the tour is a neat idea, we’d hate to sacrifice the fun of a ‘thon for it. Even if the flicks ARE the same (though it sounds as if Kevin will attempt to mix things up a little), we’ll be there. Also, Daredevil really is an excellent book. Go out and buy a copy while you can still find one! Sounds like they’re flying off the shelves…