- A very quiet day, which means either we did too well of a job covering the news yesterday, or there’s just not a whole helluva lot going on. Dogma: RC‘s been caught up, and our DareDevil page has all the latest dirt from issue 7…We picked it up hot off the shelves TODAY! Check out the really cool animated graphic on our DVD Reviews page, too – Chris’s concept of taking direct DVD menu grabs is great, and it’s worth a look for sure. Oh, by the way, we’ve got a pretty cool announcement on the way soon that may give you the chance to own a pretty nifty piece of View Askew history — But that’s all we’re gonna say until everything’s finalized. Gives you something to look forward to on a slow news day like this. Just a few bits to clear up, in the meantime…
Archive for July, 1999
View Askew NewsBites™
- Here’s a summary of what happened on Access Hollywood tonight:
“Well you may not know his name , and you may not have seen his movies but Kevin Smith sure knows how to pick his stars. From Clerks , to Chasing Amy , and his upcomming movie Dogma. You bet a small buget flim will turn up stars.”
After a couple seens from the movie and who was in it , it showed Kevin Smith.
Kevin:”There is this great scene on the DVD were um…shot which we completely lost of Ben in a dress. Dressed up as a woman at one point.”
Showed a close up view of Ben’s face on 9 montiors together as he said…”My name is Shannon Hamiltion , I’m 25 years old and I like to have sex as a man dressed like a woman( zooms out to Ben in a dress, even with earrings) What do you think?”
Goes back to Kevin…
Kevin:”I was glad and proud to put that on the DVD to help infurther iprove that dude’s career. See Ben Affleck as a woman , you know on the Mallrats DVD , laugh at his early career and what he had to do to earn a nickel…shame.”
Went to an interview with Ben…
Ben: Never would have played that part or done that if not for Kevin. Cause I seriously wasn’t getting paid.
- Dogma’s getting some mention along with Chris Rock in the latest TV Guide, where he appears on the cover:
…And [appearing] in “Dogma” -director Kevin Smith’s religious comedy, which has angered some religious groups that haven’t even seen it- he plays Rufus, an apostle of Christ whose return to earth leads to trouble. After all, Rock jokes, proclaiming Jesus was black “doesn’t make you popular.”
…Adds “Dogma” director Smith: “I was surprised how affable he [Rock] was. There’s just no pretense to him. And he’s so eager to please – he wants to make you laugh, but also think at the same time.
- Speaking of Dogma, Salma Hayek said something that we really dug regarding the Catholic League’s attack on Dogma:
“I feel good that it’s not the Catholic Church that is mad at Dogma. It’s a small group of people that are always mad at everybody.”
Well said, indeed. Thanks to Another Universe for the clip.
- Internet rumors are flying today saying that Ben Affleck, along with action star/Bond girl Michelle Yeoh havesigned for Die Hard 4. We’ve been hearing Affleck attached to this picture since he and Willis got along so wellduring “Armageddon”, so at this point it’s uncertain whether this is for real or just the re-awakening of all thespeculation. It IS the first time we’ve heard Yeoh’s name associated with the project, though. And we hear Willismay see a payday of up to $40 million. Wow.
- Are you a fan of the great work that Oni Press is doing with Kev’s books, among other things? Well, then, why not check out the Oni Press Club online!
- A wacky website called Achiew is holding a poll (parody of sorts) with a long list of namechoices for the next Star Wars flick. Maybe you wanna stop over and give “Maulrats” a nod.
New Mahfood Sketches!!!
 Silent Bob Prototype |
 Jay Prototype #1 |
 Jay Prototype #2 |
 Window Display #1 |
 Window Display #2 |
- Jim Mahfood’s got a great site where he periodically ads pics of stuff that he’s been working on. You’ll find the prototype sketches we mentioned here a while back for the Clerks figures, but also, some sketches of the NEW Jay & Silent Bob Clerks line of figures. Wait until you see all the funny stuff these guys are gonna come with! There’s also some brand new window displays for the Jay & Silent Bob series. Definitely worth a look. The guy’s doing some very nice work, that’s for sure. Surf to Jim’s page or click the thumbs above for more detail.
Commentary
- Thanks, everyone for the very warm welcome back! The mailbox was full of some very kind words when I woke up this morning, always a nice sight to stumble out of bed to. Who would have known that we were missed so much and had so many devoted fans! Again, happy to be back online — Just a quick note, too: Tonight, on Access Hollywood, some clips from the Mallrats missing scenes will be aired. They’re using Ben Affleck’s name on them, so we assume they are indeed Ben clips from the disc — Hopefully this will give the DVD an advanced plug, too. Make a tape if you can, since, for some strange reason, we seem to be the only part of the world that doesn’t get this show on a nightly basis. Thanks to Zee, Megan & Poolboy.
Clerks & Rats DVDs From The Stash!
- Okay, answer us this: Why order your View Askew DVDs from anywhere else? The Stash is NOW offering both Clerks and Mallrats (preordered, of course), signed by Kevin himself! Don’t miss out on this chance to own these 2 films, not only in their highest available quality format, but signed by the guy who made it all possible:
Clerks – The original classic, in all it’s Black & White glory! This disc features a running commentary by Kevin and a crew of special guests, a ton of deleted scenes (introduced by Kevin), the original ending to the film, Soul Asylum’s “Can’t Even Tell” video, and the original trailer. 1:85 widesceen, Dolby Surround Sound. 1995. $34.99
Mallrats – Go back to the mall again with this brand new, high quality, 16:9 enhanced transfer of the second in the Jersey Trilogy. Heralded as one of the greatest DVDs manufactued thus far, this sucker is packed to the brim with extras, including (but not limited to) an hour of deleted material, a new production featurette, running commentary with multi-angle accessible live segments, & The Goops’ “Build Me Up Buttercup” video. If you buy a DVD player, this is the disc to bring home with it. If you already own a DVD player, what the hell are you waiting for? $29.99 (available July 20th)
Clerks DVD Review (Finally!)
- I actually had this sucker done and ready to go right before all the stuff went down last weekend…So while it seems like the disc’s been out forever, here’s some thoughts on the flick, the transfer, the extras, and lots more. This review comes as part of our new DVD Reviews section, which, in addition to our Criterion Armageddon review (due to Ben’s involvement) will be revamped sometime this week, and soon contain a Mallrats review, a Good Will Hunting Review, and someday, god willing, an Amy review. For now, though, surf on over and see what we thought of Clerks.
Kevin: Dogma Editing DONE (Again) & More!
- A nice long post from Kevin greeted us upon our return from vacation, where, among other things, he speaks of the joys of fatherhood, the new 2 hour cut of Dogma (wow, that’s a far cry from the 3+ it used to be!), as well as the fact that a MID OCTOBER release is still planned!!!
WHAT DO I NEED ALL OF YOU FOR? I’VE GOT A KID NOW…
Actually, I’ll stick with you guys – as I rarely have to change your shitty diapers.
All’s well here. We’re done with ‘Dogma’ (again). Running time’s down to two hours even, without end credits (sorry, Mister McCarthy – that half hour to forty five minutes you requested were not do-able). Vincent’s conforming the workprint now, and after Howard touches up his score, we’ll be back up at Skywalker for a final re-mix. Then, mid-October release (which doesn’t seem that far away anymore).
Speaking of Vincent, I’ve seen the ‘Mallrats’ DVD. It is really, really fantastic. It won’t cure maladies, but it’ll come close (particularly if your malady has something to do with hives from not having a decent video release of ‘Mallrats’). Huge kudos to Vinnie and J.M. Kinney on the stellar job. Even if you hated the movie, you’ll love this DVD. I swear.
I really don’t want to become one of those guys who talks incessantly about his child, but I gotta say: she’s… just perfect. She’s adorable – a real looker. And quiet? Boy, this kid’s far from being one of those screamers.
She gurgles when she’s hungry – very politely, in fact.
But her arrival was quiet and polite as well. After about a four hour labor (half of which was hard for Jen, prior to the epidural), the Doctor announced “Okay – you’re read to push.” Jen and I were watching cartoons, and our mouths about hit the floor. We weren’t expecting to start pushing until ten or eleven at night, but here it was – 4:40 in the p.m. – and they were getting geared up to unveil the kid. From the first time the doctor said “Push,” it took Jen all of ten minutes. On the first push, in fact, I saw the top of the baby’s head. It was all quick and painless (although I’m sure Jen would have something to say about that), but moving and emotional. I cried, Jen cried, the baby cried (though not much; one or two loud ones, and then she assumed her official role as ‘Quiet and cute baby’). I’ll never, never forget it (though it happened so fast, I’m still trying to hold onto subtle details and nuances that are buried in my subconscious). Jen instantly became my hero, for the strength and courage she exhibited. Next time I’m about to rail at her for some stupid and petty shit, I guarantee my tongue is frozen by the memory of how brave she was, moments before Harley emerged.
It’s over a week later now (yesterday was her one week birthday), and I can see that this (wife, child, family) will forever be far, far more interesting, important, inspiring than writing dick and fart jokes and yelling “Cut,” for a living.
Of course, those jokes and that shout are what’s going to put the kid through what I’m sure is going to be an extremely expensive college, so I won’t be giving it up anytime soon.
We’re very happy to hear that Harley’s doing so well and that the birth went smoothly also.
Kev hints also that Lee’s big speech in the film’s been trimmed a lot in order to arrive at that running time. Many folks whohave read or seen the scene are a bit upset by this…Trust us, though, at 2 hours this film is gonna be PACKED. And you’llsee it all on the DVD about a year or so from now, anyway, so don’t fret TOO much.
Commentary
- Hi! Miss us? We missed you.
Where the hell were we, you ask? Well, it’s a complicated answer. Plans to switch servers were supposed to take place well in advanced notice, so we could actually give you warning as to when that was going to take place. Unfortunately, it became a rush job, since one contract was running up and we wanted to get the new one started ASAP. Long story short, the holiday weekend screwed us, and we ended up with no website. Period. Our files were cleaned off the server in assumption they were going to be transported, but to no avail. Add in the fact that we were both in and out all weekend with family stuff, plus some other personal issues going on to further complicate things, and it spells disaster for a website.
In addition to the SERVER change, we were also anticipating an internet provider change, which would have meant our e-mail would have been out of service for a day…Which is why we didn’t want a ton of mail coming in. It may have been lost!
As the dust settles, where are we? The same place we started. We decided rather than experience ANY more downtime, that all the files would be restored to the old server until we can contact someone from the new place and straighten things out. We’ll give fair warning next time though, and should experience little, if ANY, downtime. With that said, though, everything SHOULD be back to normal (but let us know if you find a problem), and let those e-mails fly in!
We felt as bad about the downtime and not explaining as you probably did finding the boring white page that stood here, and will do our best to keep you better informed if anything major like that happens again. Hope you all had a very enjoyable holiday weekend here in the States.
Alright, we’ve got some catching up to do, that’s for sure!
View Askew NewsBites™
- The new issue of CREATIVE SCREENWRITING (the one with Stanley Kubrick on the cover) has an interview with Brian Lynch on pages 10-11. It’s mostly based around “The Next Muppet Movie,” although “Big Helium Dog” and “A Better Place” are mentionedas well. Congrats to Brian on his growing success. We don’t have a transcript, but if anyone does and wants to send ‘er in, we’re all ears.
- ‘Clerks’ was placed at number 75 in an English newspaper list of the ‘Top 100 Cult Movies of All Time’ list. This newspaper was ‘The Times’, which is an extremely serious, and somewhat conservative, national newspaper. Therefore, for ‘Clerks’ to be even included, even heard of, is an honor. They called it raw talent, even genius. The winners were flickssuch as ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Star Wars’ (placed at 1 and 2 respectively).
- Some more national press for Kev & Jen’s new bundle of joy, from this past week’s Entertainment Weekly:
A 7-pound 8-ounce girl, Harley Quinn, to Dogma director Kevin Smith, 28, and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach-Smith,28, June26, in Red Bank, N.J. It’s the couple’s first child.
Okay, that’s not much — So what’d we miss??? Let us know!
Commentary
- Holiday weekends are always tough with family commitments and other things getting in the way of updates, but we did manage to get fairly caught up today with a few things, so read on for lots of coolness. ALSO, we WILL have a Clerks DVD review added as soon as possible, so look for that. We need the day to do a comparison against the laserdisc, so it will take some time to compile. So, dear readers, scroll on…We’ll talk to ya later.