• The Clerks animated series, which is Kevin’s favorite project at the moment (aside from Dogma, of course), is slated to debut on ABC this January. He confirmed that Brian and Jeff would indeed be doing the voices of the title characters, along with MANY special guest voices, including most of Dogma’s cast (Affleck wants to be a Canadian character), and a recurring role (Leonardo Leonardo) hopefully voiced by Alan Rickman. A bit of the third episode’s storyline was revealed, and MAN does this sound HILARIOUS! We won’t spill the beans, but, anyone see “Outbreak”?
• Jay yelling “It’s ALL BULLSHIT!!!!” from the balcony of the theater after Kevin finished telling a story about his falling asleep during the filming of a scene in Dogma.
• The Dogma soundtrack is residing with Capitol Records at the moment, with the chance of including a brand new track from The Beastie Boys, and of course lots more. Howard Shore’s score will most definitely be released on another CD, as well. We hear the score is outstanding.
• Kevin hinted that an idea that he had in his head about a Mallrats sequel during the filming of the first one would be turned into a comic book rather than an actual second film. Most of you who have seen Kevin speak know the story, and how well it’ll translate on the comic pages.
• The Green Arrow books may or may not happen, depending on Jimmy & Joe‘s availability to draw the thing.
• He’s working on a script for the Mage movie sometime in the future.
• The Dogma trailer being shown to a highly appreciative audience, who demanded a “REWIND!!!!” when cheering drowned out some of the closing lines of the 2+ minute piece.

A nice reception was held afterwards, where Kevin sat, signed, and chatted away until everyone was left satisfied. We chilled on a couch until business was done, then had a few minutes to talk with Kevin about the past couple day’s events, much of which is summarized in the stories below. Got a summary, favorite moment, or some pictures from tonight’s appearance? Shoot it our way for our upcoming Rider Wrapup page.

Regardless, I’ve got so much to type in that I feel I could write a book, including our feelings on the missing story, the protesting, and all the other news blurbs out there. There’s a TON of text ahead as we unload, so sit back, grab a cold beverage, and enjoy. This update contains more editorializing than ever before, so your comments are most certainly welcome…

Protestors To Dog “Dogma”? [New York Post]

The Toronto Star also has a blurb today summarizing the same ‘ol stuff, as well as the Pittsburgh Post…And then there’sour favorite piece of the day, ‘cuz it linked to a story here at News Askew (though we didn’t score a mention by name, dammit)…It’s from TNT Roughcut, and actually makes some excellent points:

My final homage to trouble is about Disney’s trouble with Miramax’s Dogma.Jeffrey Wells at Mr. Showbiz has been on this story since last summer. Histake, in short, is that Michael Eisner will not let Miramax release the filmand that Miramax has been trying to sell it. No other media wrote much aboutit last summer (though it created quite the brouhaha on Kevin Smith’s ViewAskew bulletin board), but I guess it’s a hotter topic now. Especially withKevin Smith announcing that the film was screened this Tuesday forconsideration by the Cannes Film festival. Assuming this is true, it’s hardto believe that if Eisner, The King of All Things Mickey, really wants thisfilm to go away. Why? Because letting Miramax send it to Cannes would be theworst idea possible. It might make the film more valuable, but it would alsorip the lid off of any “quiet” sale of the film to another company. No onewants to get ripped as a censor like Universal and October did last yearwhen they sold off Happiness. And where did Happiness get hot? Cannes.

Anyway, I went of on a rant within a rant. My point was that Wells’ storygot picked up by at least two outlets, The Drudge Report and the New YorkPost’s gossip sheet, Page Six . The Post credited Mr.Showbiz, but not Wells, who was on the story before he even started his Mr.Showbiz column. (For the record, Mr. Showbiz started their ShowbizConfidential column about seven months after I started The Hot Button hereat roughcut.com and Jeff took it over about six months after that.) On theother hand, the Internet-only Drudge Report didn’t acknowledge anyone but”published reports” and bizarrely titled the report, “Alanis Morissette FilmDebut in Jeopardy” Huh? Gee, Matt, not very honest move there, pal.Especially when you realize that he links to both Page Six and Wells’column. (No, he doesn’t link to me. Tell him he should by e-mailing Matt atdrudge@drudgereport.com.) In any case, Kevin Smith has responded openly toWells and Premiere magazine, which has jumped on the story’s bandwagon. Toread it, click here <../april99/> and look under”Kevin On Premiere…”). For those of you who keep writing to tell me thefilm has a fall release date, Kevin indicates otherwise in this story, soread on.

That’s the end of my rant. I feel better. And the beginning of Kevin’s, Iguess.

Well, that about does it for today! Phew! It was indeed an exciting one. For those of you who are visiting for the first time today, be sure to read the update below, as well. Adios. See some of you at Rider tomorrow.

On the DVD front, we recently announced May 18th as the release of the Clerks Special Edition DVD based on Blockbuster Video’s computers. We should have known better! This is likely a pre-order deadline, since signs now point to a more realistic release of June 29th. Again, this DVD will feature everything the Miramax laserdisc had, including deleted scenes, commentary, and lots more. Again, we weep over the lack of 16:9 enhancement in Miramax titles. We think that, with the hefty price tag, it wouldn’t hurt to go the extra mile.

FINALLY, the Universal DVD site has finally added the Mallrats:SE DVD to their release slate! The date? July 13th. We can’t wait. We reiterate: TEST PRESSING, Universal! Hook us up!

Now, today’s BIG NEWS!!!!

And we guess it makes this week’s poll topic kinda moot. Still, vote as you see fit! 😉

For all of those worried about the size of the auditorium where Kevin was supposed to be last time he was going to be here, since it only held just under 450 people, don’t worry. This Friday he will be in the Student resource building, which holds just over 800…so more people will be able to get in…Just get there early…I know I am on the committee.

Thanks alot, and hope to see you there at 8.pm.

Don’t forget, the Rider show on Thursday is indeed sold out…But we’ll see those of you with tickets there!

As for other stuff, there’s yet another chunk of news, mostly centering on the incredible amount of press Dogma is getting from this latest theory of it being axed by the ‘Max. FREE PRESS! Isn’t this cool?

Also, if ANYONE knows why this wacky thing keeps happening with random e-mails I send out using the new (and BUG FILLED) Internet Explorer 5, let me know. Many folks I write to are receiving nothing but this: > ÿþ<. Anyone got a fix?

You may also notice that we added some new dates to the countdowns, including upcoming KNOWN releases of comics and DVDs. If you don’t see it up there, PLEASE don’t e-mail us asking for a release date. If it’s not up there, we don’t know what it is! In the same respect, we may remove the minor Askew screening events from up there to keep the list under control. AND Speaking of appearances, the Rider show’s just 2 days away, and we’ll definitely be there, so be sure and say hi if you bump into us.

ALSO, note one more correction: The Golden Apple gig we reported on a while back is BACK ON! Kevin had asked us to remove it since he wasn’t sure if it was gonna happen, but it’s back, Thursday, April the 15th, from 7 to 9. See his confirmation below.

Alright, so, we’ve got Dogma stuff to talk about, and lots more, so let’s roll:

I’m stateside now, with nothing new to report, other than the Cannes screening is today. Wish us luck (we’re going to need it, as – rumor has it – they’ve apparently turned down both ‘Summer of Sam’ and ‘Ride with the Devil’ – Spike and Ang Lee’s respective new films).

We’ll have the news (yay OR nay) on Dogma at Cannes as SOON as it’s announced. Good luck, all!