Spent the first week in LA, working on ‘Coyote Ugly’, which was offered to me as a directorial assignment as well. I passed, of course, sighting the usual ‘I didn’t originate it’ code-of-conduct. It was tempting, but a man sets up a few guidelines for himself early on, he oughta adhere to at least a few of them (to wit, other guidelines I’ve NOT followed were ‘I’ll only cut on film’ and ‘Video tap? That’s for sissies who don’t trust their d.p.!’). All in all, I think it’ll be a good flick. I’ll let you know who signs on to direct when I hear about it.

Went to Malcolm’s AFM premiere as well. I’d say it was a success. The entire cast showed up (Jake Busey, Breckin Meyer, Denise Richards, Tanya Allen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Lisa Marie, paramour of Tim ‘Kryptonite’ Burton). It went over well, I believe they just closed a deal with an American distributor (which I’ll let Malcolm fill you in on later). The weirdest moment had to be Berkley coming up to me and doing that ‘Showgirls’ dance move I ripped off for ‘Amy’. Strange. Anyhoo, congrats to all involved.

The second week, I was secluded up at the ranch where our awesome mix team of Gary, Tom, and Ethan designed some killer sound for the flick. We’re under the aegis of Richard Hymns (the two-time Oscar winner who’s up for another this year for ‘Saving Private Ryan’), who’s now started working on ‘Fight Club’ – the new Fincher flick. These guys have lifted the movie to a new audio level for Askew flicks (though in deference to all those mixers on our previous flicks, we never had a film that warranted this much wall-to-wall sound). I think you’ll all be impressed.

And while we’re on the subject, ‘impressed’ describes me as I watched – open-mouthed – the new ‘Episode One’ trailer (which our boy Gary mixed).The producer, Rick McCallum, invited me over to check it out, and shit, is it great. Makes you want to see the movie the instant it ends. After the trailer, I shot fanboy question after fanboy question at Rick, who answered them all gracefully and candidly, spilling dirt and spoilers galore (the only one of which I’ll hint at – and has been hinted at on other sites – is that a certain armor-clad wookie-scalp collector will be featured prominently in ‘Episode 2’).

The next day at lunch, I said hello to Rick and his friend – some guy in a beard who owned the joint. I think his name was George or something…

I’m sure most of you have seen the animated series news. ABC, hunh? Go figure. Let’s see if it takes (I’m optimistic, but I have my doubts too; lots of them). Mid-March, Dave Mandel (exec-producer, along with me and Mosier) comes down, and we’re going to churn out the first six scripts. Dave’s a great guy who did time at ‘SNL’ and ‘Seinfeld’ (he did the ‘Bizarro Jerry’ episode), and ‘gets’ the flicks and the comics. The only downside to this whole development is that Mosier and I kicked and screamed four years ago to do this show, back when it was just ‘The Simpsons’ out there, and we were told animation wasn’t viable. But I guess ‘To everything there is a season…’ and all that.

From the moment I got back, we’ve been working on the Stash-Bash – getting everything in place and ready. Sadly, Affleck won’t be attending, as he’s starting rehearsals on ‘Reindeer Games’ (but you can catch him tonight on ‘Dennis Miller Live’, I think). The guest list is comprised of the usual gang of idiots (myself included), and a few new ones (Jimmy and Joe, if their schedules permit). However, there may yet be an ace up my sleeve.

Unfortunately, that ace is going to reserved for the later groups (we have to make up for the last two tours being at night, with low visibility on some of the outside stuff). Not counting any chickens here, but there may be somewhat of a surprise in store (no pun intended).

I hope you’re all going to enjoy the modest outing we’ve put together. It’s no ‘Vulgarthon’, but I think it’ll be something to remember and talk about. Besides – I’m saving my call-in chips for the next big event: the free ‘Dogma’ screening, sometime in the fall, which we’ll open to a lot more than just three hundred or so, but still reserve for board-posters only (so post, people; POST!… but make it relevant, or Smalls will beat you to death with your mouses… or mice… or meeses… you get the idea).

See you ticket-folks on Saturday.