- Okey dokey…Here we go. As we write this, Kevin’s recording that radio show…Hopefully, if all goes well, you’ll be listening in tonight between 6 and 8. Other than that, and the impending group of you that will be visiting Kev & the gang in Toronto this weekend, there’s not a whole heckuva lot to report. We HAVE added the latest scans from DareDevil #8 (including the View Askew references) so be sure and check that out. After that, the ‘ol DareDevil page will go dormant for a bit until Kev’s next run. So, read on…then go out and have some fun. After all, it’s Friday!
Archive for August, 1999
View Askew NewsBites™
- Sort of last minute notice, but…Tonight (8/27) and Saturday night (8/28) the State Twin Theatres (120 W. College Ave.) in State College, Pennsylvania will be showing Clerks at a midnight showing. Warning: PSU and Arizona are playing here this weekend, so it may be crowded and full of drunken students. Directions to the State Twin Theatres can be found here. Nice news if you PA folks need some last minute plans for your weekend.
- Zentertainment reports: Maria Bello (ER, Permanent Midnight) and John Goodman have joined Piper Perabo and Adam Garcia in the cast of COYOTE UGLY. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced film, which Kevin Smith had a hand in writing, is about a New Jersey woman (Perabo) sidetracked in her attempts at stardom in New York by the Coyote Ugly nightclub.
- Finally, just a cool little tidbit for today – Seems that CSNSider even picked up our story from Duncan on Jay & Silent Bob #4’s status. No new material there, just cool to see that News Askew is reaching more of the major players on the web when it comes to comics. Thanks, folks.
Reel.Com Links: Our links to Reel.Com are not working properly due to their switching to a new site design. We will repair this ASAP and let you know when it’s fixed. Sorry for the hassle.
CLARIFICATION/RESCHEDULE: According to our sources and this link, Kev’s appearance on 102.1 in Toronto WAS to be today…But it looks like that’s been rescheduled. The appearance will now happen TOMORROW (Friday) afternoon at 3:30 PM. It will be TAPED at this point, and broadcast between 6 and 8 PM on the station. The station does broadcast over the web. Just surf around their web site to listen in. We thought it would be important to let you know about this ASAP, since the update may not make it online until after the fact tomorrow. Thanks to Aimee, Eric Press, Mark Webster & Trev.
Dogma In Rolling Stone…
- Rolling Stone does their own version of a Fall Movie preview and, of course, Dogma gets a nice little piece of the action…This bit is slightly more spoiler-prone in its description of the plot, but still not too bad as far as we’re concerned. Plus, there’s some excellent quotes from Kev explaining the point he was trying to get across with the flick:
“‘Dogma’: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play fallen angels who try to get back into heaven by using a loophole in church dogma. They’ve been living in Wisconsin for nearly 2000 years, so life had been dull- until they start shooting sinners they catch in the act of commandment-breaking. In the company of and abortion-clinic counselor (Linda Fiorentino) who may be a descendant of Jesus Christ and a smartass named Rufus (Chris Rock), unheralded as the thirteenth apostle because he’s black, the angels head to a New Jersey church for an audience with God, who’s played, as a mute, by Alanis Morisette. This comic brainchild of Kevin Smith, the twenty-nine-year-old writer and director of ‘Clerks’, ‘Mall Rats’, and ‘Chasing Amy’, is boldly funny without ever being blasphemous. But not everyone is laughing-especially not William A. Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax had to buy the film back from their parent company, Disney, which wanted no part of this hot potato, and arrange alternative distribution. Good for Miramax. Despite the rantings of Donahue, who is notably irked that “God is played by a singer known for her nude videos and songs about oral sex,” Smith says he intends no offense: “The central message of Christ were ‘Love one another’ and ‘Tell other people.’ ‘Dogma’ was my way of spreading the word. Granted, Christ wasn’t a filmmaker, and he didn’t trade in dick and fart jokes, but he did tell stories to get a point across.” Here’s Smith’s parable to explain his intentions: “The way my film treats the church is kind of like the girl you really like in the first grade, and you don’t know how to express yourself, so you pull her pigtails. It’s like that. Affectionately, this film pulls the pigtails of the Catholic Church.” Smith believes that Donohue is raising a ruckus to “increase his own profile” at the expense of a movie he hasn’t even asked to see. “My film is irreverent,” says Smith, “but it’s not cynical. At the end of the day here, faith saves the world.”
Dogma NYFF Synopsis & Times!
- Many of you have been writing in asking for Dogma New York Film Festival info. Welp, we’ve got it. Following is their very well-written synopsis of the film (just basic plot details, no real spoilers here) as well as the dates and times for the two showings of the flick. Hope ya got your tickets!
DOGMA Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) brings his decidely absurdist sensibility to a comedy of truly cosmological proportions. Two renegade angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), long ago tossed out of heaven, discover what they think is a loophole in church dogma that will allow them return to paradise. All they have to do is pass through a certain portal at a certain time in a certain New Jersey cathedral; the problem (ours, no theirs) is that by doing so they’ll upset the divine order and obliterate humanity in the process. Standing the way of utter disaster are a woman having a crisis of faith (Linda Fiorentino), a hitherto unknown 13th Apostle (Chris Rock), a heavenly Muse (Salma Hayek) and two unlikely prophets known as Jay and Silent Bob. Delirously imaginative and full of offbeat, outrageous humor, Dogma nevertheless conveys a very human, very touching sense of awe in the face of the eternal mysteries of faith. 125 minutes. USA, 1999
Monday, October 4 at 6:00pm / Tuesday, October 5 at 9:15pm
Commentary…
- Well, after a much needed day off, we’re back with a few more tidbits. We refer to this normally as the calm before the storm. With Kevin’s appearance on the radio (and on a realaudio feed) tonight, and the convention this weekend, we’re sure that there’s going to be no shortage of news this weekend. We’ve got some busy times coming up ourselves, but will try and keep the site as current as possible. Just know that, given our schedules, things may be a bit later than usual. Also, expect some details this weekend on how you can test your setup out to make sure you’re ready for the big chat & raffle drawing this coming Wednesday. Here’s the news:
The Wizard Report!
- Zee’s at it again with another of his fantastic writeups on all the latest View Askew goodness in this month’s issue of Wizard:
Pg. 18 – Letters Column – Robert Chappell Jr. asks the question: “Does a Chasing Amy comic book actually exist, or was the one shown at the end of the movie just a mock up?”
Kevin answers: A teensy bit of a Chasing Amy comic exists. Madman artist Mike Allred (who did the piece supposedly drawn by Holden in the movie) did two pages plus the cover for the movie. A full story may follow. “Perhaps one day, we’ll print it up for Oni Double Features,” says “Amy” writer/director Kevin Smith.
Page 27: – Kevin Smith Watch – An update on all things Kevin, Included in this piece is an announcement on Kevin’s daughter Harley, a write up on the fully painte Bartleby & Loki one-shot which is listed here as a January release. A desription of how Kevin almost missed the Wizard World Con because he got stuck in LA doing work on the Clerks animated series. and a quick note about Kevin admitting on the Stern show that plans for him to do a Fletch 3 script had gone awry.
Page 72: Clerks Animated – Just a quick note that Clerks is expected to premiere in the spring, with a possibility of more episodes (than the original 6) to be added.
Page 122: Top 10 Writers – Once again, Kevin is the #1 writer. Oh yeah, and Joe Q. is the #5 artist
Page 183 -There is a very funny picture that shows Kevin signing an autograph at the Wizard World Con. Thought balloons pop up from Kevin’s head saying “I should have been rich and famous by now.” And the person he is signing for has a word ballon that reads: “sniff…sniff… are you from New Jersey?”
Make Affiliates Your Favorites!
- An astute reader of our site points out that an even easier way to support News Askew Affiliates is just to click OUR links then save that link in your bookmarks! Then, just going right to your bookmarks will still register as a click through News Askew! All ya gotta do is click this
Reel link and this Amazon link, bookmark the pages when you get there, and just use them from here on in when ya make purchaes. Simple, right?
Sorry for mentioning this so much lately, we’re not trying to shove any of this stuff down your throats…Just letting you know of an easier way you can get some great deals online AND continue to support us. Thanks!
View Askew NewsBites™
- Joe was asked about the lines of his and Jimmy’s that were cut from the Con opening in “Chasing Amy”, and he revealed something we hadn’t heard before…Some pretty funny adlibbing that they did:
The camera pans across the convention floor and slowly pauses on Jimmy and myself signing books for fans. It catches us mid conversation.
JQ: “It was unbelievable! The way that guy was licking that monkey’s ass, you’d a thought it was the last monkey on earth.”
JP: “I hear it takes just like chicken–with monkey shit on it.”
It may seem weird now, but when ya meet those two, it all makes sense.
- The Diamond Comics website is reporting that Clerks: The Lost Scene was the 88th most solicited book in August. Diamond is the biggest comic distributer in the US. The full list can be found at here.
- Finally today, for those of you that want to know more about “Mumford”, here’s some info (MINOR SPOILERS) revealed in a press kit floating around for the flick: Jason Lee plays “the richest guy” in a small town composed of eccentric people. The plot is centered on a shrink that sets up shop in the town and gives the locals blunt advice that results in “unlikely romances” and chaos. Apparently Lee’s character pays the psychologist to be his “friend” because he’s somewhat of a recluse.
Commentary…
- Aaaaah! We’re being overwhelmed by Canada!!! Wow, what a horrible time to live in the United States. Never thought we’d say that. But hey, it’s true. If you’re a View Askew fan, Canada is the PLACE TO BE for the next few weeks! Read on for lots of Canadian coolness as well as an exclusive Q&A with Brian Lynch, and tons more…
Dogma To Play Toronto Film Festival!
- Well, it looks like that good Eastern Canadian news that Kevin hinted about is actually what everyone had hoped! Dogma will be featured as a “Special Presentation” at The Toronto Film Festival! Another proverbial notch in the bedpost for the flick, which is having the honor of playing at a growing number of film festivals to rave reviews. We assume that Dogma will be an amazingly hot ticket at the fest…
…But we’ve got some good news! Tickets are still available! Grab them while you can. Tickets for individual screenings are $11.77 (Canadian) and are available at the festival box office at 444 Younge St, Toronto starting September 8. But beware: Most festival regulars buy passes in advance, which can be redeemed for tickets starting September 2. If you don’t have passes or coupons and want to buy individual tickets, you might find yourself shut out of popular screenings.
Passes and coupons cab be ordered through the web site or by phone (416) 968-3456.
The festival schedule is available at the box office Aug. 31st, and on the web September 1st.
Festival passes (good for 50 films) cost $278.20 (Canadian). A 10-film coupon book is $90.95, and a daytime pass (for any 25 films that start before 6pm) os $107.
Last minute rush tickets are sometimes available even for sold out films, because of no-shows. Best bet: Get in line early outside festival theatres and hope for the best.
For those of you who try to make it into the flick and get turned away, though…Jason Lee’s new flick, “Mumford”, which looks quite good, will be a gala presentation. Its Gala opening is on Saturday the 11th at 6:30 at Roy Thompson Hall.
This is a HUGE festival folks, and all the shows, showtimes, and other great stuff can be found on their official site.