• Today’s most popular submission: It seems that the UK protests have begun along with the UK publicity. This one comesfrom the UK Yahoo site:

We’re sure they’re just quaking in their boots!

• The Ben Affleck Film Comment piece that we mentioned a while back is now online. You can read it at their siteHERE.
• Those Nails cigarette boxes just keep getting cooler and cooler! Check out the latest version over at our own Files Askew.
• The Evening Standard, London’s local paper, had quite a bit of stuff on Dogma in yesterday’s issue. Here’s the text(It starts with a quote from Salma):

They also mention that Channel 5’s movie show will air footage of them talking to Kevin Smith about the flick. No idea ifit’s new or not, but we’ll have a report.

• A new interview with Kevin also appears on RC from The Independent News. The headline? “Kevin Smith’s films always feature strong women and weak men. Dogma is no exception. What is he trying to say?”. See, we knew you’d want to read it.Well, we’ve got it on RC. Surf on over.

• According to DVD Debate, Dogma will arrive on the format in the UK this July (through FilmFour).
• Speaking of the UK, Dogma television ads have started to air on Channel 4. They’re about 30 second spots. Many of ourreaders have written in to let us know, so they must be airing fairly frequently. Look for them!
• Dogma made Cheryl Eddy’s top ten list in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. You can read the full list HERE.
• Oh, and one last thing, Kevin is officially NOT part of the Mage feature film project. His busy schedule over the nextfew months (combined with the fast track the film has been put on) just won’t allow it to happen. This was announced a few days ago, and we didn’t think it was TOO noteworthy — But since we’ve been getting lots of folks writing in to let us know, wefigured some of you others may want to as well. Sorry for all the scoopers we missed on this one, we had numerous e-mailscome in on it.
• And finally today, in this week’s Marvel Comics, in Bullpen Bulletins, Stan Lee is asked “I thought you were cool in ‘Mall Rats.’ [sic] Is it true what you said in the movie, when you mentioned that each character you create represents apart of you? And when you met the writer/director Kevin Smith, what did you think of him?”. Stan says:

• Here’s today’s most popular submission: It seems that an Archdiocese in Newark, New Jersey is starting a billboard ad campaign as well as a toll-free number manned by an actual priest! Dogma isn’t mentioned anyway, but the idea of a modern revival of sorts DID remind a lot of you of the “Catholicism Wow!” campaign. The article is quite long, so we won’t be printing it in full here, but it’s linked online for ya HERE.

Oh, and that number? 1-877-Y-NOT-CALL.

• We’ve got some excellent shots from the UK today that most of you probably haven’t seen yet. First, there’s 3 different versions of the Dogma poster that were created exclusively for the Film Four Dogma campaign. As you can see, each feature 2 of the film’s main characters. Next, the entire ensemble on a nice banner-style ad, followed by a couple of shots of said banner in billboard form, out in the wild! Finally, another colorful variation on the ensemble and a circular (button of some sort, perhaps?) look at the Buddy Christ. All of these pics, of course, enlarge, so click the thumbnails for a much closer look. Many thanks go to Kevin & Kim for getting the exclusive shots to us. It’s very interesting seeing how different an ad campaign can be for the same exact movie opening elsewhere in the world.

• That kid…That kid is BACK…On the ESCALATOR!!!

• “Reindeer Games” final title has been changed to…”Reindeer Games”. Yep, that’s right, after all of that fuss and confusion, they’ve gone back to their original title. To be honest, we kinda like it that way. The flick hits screens on February 25th. Here’s Ben:

Funny about the “Glengarry Glenross” mention there, because it really DID sound like a similar cameo when we’d heard about it. Should be good. Chalk up that SNL hosting gig on your calendars as well.

• The trailer for the aforementioned “Boiler Room”, by the way, is now online at Affleck’s site.
• The film that Ben directed as a student, ‘I Killed my Lesbian Wife, Hung her on a Meathook, and Now I have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney’ is now showing at Atomfilms. You gotta register to watch it, but it’s free. Enjoy.
• A couple days ago we reported that Ben might be starring with Robert DeNiro in a flick called “The Score”. Today, we’ve discovered he will not be working on the project. Brad Pitt has now come on board in Affleck’s place.
• Info like this and lots more can be found in Ben’s own words at his Affleck.Com WWWBoard. Surf over for more detail.

• Kevin stopped by the board for a nice little update on what’s new in the world. The Clerks series is shaping up to be something really cool, and we’re hoping to get lots of inside coverage for ya. We ourselves have yet to see a frame of the sucker, so we’re as anxious as you. As you’ll see, Kevin also mentioned some pics from the UK. So far, we’ve got one direct from Kev of that bus ad (”Next Stop Heaven”) in action. Kim shot us off a few more but we’re having some trouble accessing them, so look for the rest next update. As for the rest, we’ll let Kevin take it away:

• Here’s a nifty little tidbit for today — The Roadside America website, which chronicles the more offbeat tourist attractions in America, has a feature on Jesus & God statues around the country…And an all-too familar one’s in the spotlight (though his name’s slightly wrong):

Roadside America, by the way, is the name of the self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Miniature Village” that’s found right downthe highway from us, about a half hour from here.

• The UK Dogma website’s gotten a facelift with a slick new cover page. Check it out HERE.
• The official website for The Boiler Room, the new stock-broker flick where Affleck has a memorable cameo, has now opened.
• And speaking of the UK, we heard from a few fans over there who were lucky enough to see Dogma yesterday. All were verypleased. The new issue of Heat magazine, just on newsstands, also gave Dogma 4 out of 5 stars, calling it “An ensemblesatirical/religious/fantasy/comedy/drama/road movie/adventure”, “It’s unlike any film you’ve ever seen. But in a good way.”, “Alate contender for comedy of the year”. Look for a full review on RC soon. They’ve also got a Q&A with Affleck, same oldstuff really…Though he does say “It [Dogma] has the same appeal as Pulp Fiction: people will want to see it because it’s innovative and ground-breaking.”. And by the way, they also voted Kev’s new pal Jonny Vaughan as the best person on TV.
• Alanis is scheduled to appear on the great Charlie Rose interview show thisFriday (though the schedule is tentative). Check their webpage for the latest.
• Finally today, a small nod to Kevin and Harley Quinn on the Daily Radar…

• Howdy all. Well, everyone’s of course full of buzz over the Dogma home release announcement. We don’t have any more information regarding it, but we are a bit surprised that it’s coming so soon. Pretty much EXACTLY 6 months after the theatrical release. We don’t know more than that as of right now, but will of course pass anything on that we hear.

Also, a hot e-mail topic as of late…We get about 5 mails A DAY on this…So we will say it AGAIN — The Chasing Amy DVD that was set to arrive in Canada a few months back WAS cancelled, and no release is planned for the flick on DVD in the US at this time, though we are HOPEFUL that someone will work on it and get the movie out sometime in 2000. That’s ALL we know. Hopefully that will stop some of the mail here.

Dogma, by the way, has raked in about 26.5 million and is still at number 8 at the box office, not bad considering the amount of screens it’s fallen back to. Congrats again to Lions Gate & View Askew on the film’s success.

Today, we’ve got just a few small items to report again…What can we say, things are slow, but we’re sort of thankful because it’s giving us time to catch up on Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, and preparation for some time with the family over the holidays. Here’s the latest!

• A kind fan by the name of Ike has 2 tickets to the UK Film Four Dogma event tomorrow that he can’t use…So he’s GIVING THEM AWAY! You may wanna drop the dude a line if ya need tix to see if he’s still got them. We dunno how he’s handling things, but it’s worth a shot if you’re desperate and ticketless.
• The interview that Kevin Smith raved about in his last post airs on “The Johnny Vaughan Film Show” on Channel 4 this Saturday, December 18th. We dunno if we’ll have a way to air it for ya online, but perhaps we can snag a copy (or Ming can for the main View Askew site).
• There’s a poll for the most influential catholic of the 20th century going on, and Kevin’s already got some votes. Wouldn’t it be cool to see the dude win? Vote HERE. NOTE: Youmay as well skip it, since they’ve removed Kevin from the voting now (unless you vote for other). Oh well.
• Remember those keen graphics that you could print out to place over a cigarette pack to turn them into a box of “Nails”?Welp, we’re not smokers, but these new-fangled versions of that concept, by Elliot A. Mohr, are pretty darn spiffy. Grab your own copies over at our own Files Askew area.
• Also on the new files front…We’re not users of the program, but here’s a a nifty Chasing Amy “skin” that was whippedup by Jamie Lorance for Yahoo Instant Messenger. In case ya didn’t know, a skin is just a new facelift/look that you place over a program’s normally boring, drab interface. Again, nab it at Files Askew.