• Early reports indicate another appearance for Kevin on the horizon: Emory University on February the 15th. We’ll report a more major news item as soon as we can confirm and get some details for ya.
• In the latest issue of Wizard Magazine (March 2000, Issue #102), there’s a “Make Your Own Video” contest on pages 98/99. Basically you make a short video and submit it, and if you’re the grand prize winner (or one of 5 runner ups) you get a letter of critique from…none other than KEVIN SMITH himself. Ya want Kev to check out your short? Here’s how:

Deadline for entry is April 30th, 2000. Keep in mind Kev will only critique the 6 winners, he’s not gonna look at EVERY entry. We don’t have an address or any more details. Go buy the latest issue for all of that. Good luck to ya. Why not make a News Askew video? Nah, that’s right, you want to WIN.

• Swag ahoy! Diamond Distributors has announced that the Chasing Dogma limited edition hardcover and the Mooby Cow Plush Doll will be released to specialty stores today. Expect them soon at the Stash!
• The MSN Entertainment page gave some very kind props to Kev, citing the fun appearance he made on the Sundance show:

• ZENtertainment reports that Joe Quesada has announced Brian Michael Bendis (Jinx) will write a three-episode story arc running through DAREDEVIL #16-18, which will be fully painted by David Mack. Still so sign on when Kev will come back for a second round.

• The most popular subject in e-mails to this site continues to be the flicks on DVD. Well, we know Dogma and Chasing Amy will come out sometime this year (though Amy’s original release of May seems a bit questionable now that Criterion doesn’t have it officially on the schedule). But what about the details? Well, several sites have speculated over who, what, where and when this Dogma DVD is going to surface. Here’s what we know, at least, last time we talked about it:

• The disc is going to street on May 2, 2000.
• Several websites are already taking preorders for the flick. Reel.Com has it for $14.99, which seems to be the lowest price going. If you want to wait until release, the Stash will likely sell signed copies.
• The disc will have Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio and be 16:9 enhanced (for widescreen TVs).
• The disc will contain a commentary track, though those speaking on it have yet to be announced. We’d say to expect at LEAST Kevin, Mewes, Vincent, & Scott, and more than likely a LOT more of the flick’s cast.
• Over an hour of deleted material is planned for inclusion, more than the packed Mallrats disc, even. This should include all of the famous sequences you’ve read about and heard about. The flick originally ran well over 3 hours long and was released at 2 hours and change.
• Vincent speculated that the disc MAY use branching technology to allow the Sundance version of the film to be watched in addition to the theatrical version. Sundance’s version did not have ALL the aforementioned deleted stuff, but ran about 20 minutes longer. Chances of this are slim due to the timeframe to put something like that together, but it may happen.

Other items, such as a possible documentary (wouldn’t that be sweet?), stills, and the like have yet to be announced, but we can tell you this – Dogma’s going to be a tough DVD to beat. In fact, we think it’ll be the best disc released this year, if not ever. And with just 3 months to go, you better start saving your pennies for that DVD player!

• Wow, where the heck did February come from? Well, that only means that we’re one month closer to spring and, judging from the weather around here lately, it can show up anytime it wants. The groundhog did NOT see his shadow today, signaling 6 more weeks of winter…But our friend Jeff, whose birthday is today, predicts himself every year, and usually does better than the hog. Jeff saw his shadow and says we can expect an early spring. So there ya go, take it as you will.

As you know, we’ve got a couple projects in the works behind the scenes and have been quite tight-lipped about them. You may also notice that it’s been very business-as-usual around here lately. Just some basic updates and that’s it. Again, this mostly comes from the fact that we’ve been so entrenched in the major project as well as everyday life (fun things such as snow shoveling) that make it difficult to make the site extra lively. Well, the GOOD news is that we’ve decided it’s been long enough and fast-tracked a couple smaller projects and announcements, which we hope to make sometime this week. Watch for them. It’s still not the major announcement we’ve got in the coming months, but it’s some really cool stuff all the same.

Now, on to today. We held off on the news yesterday cuz it was a VERY slow day, and there ain’t much going on today, either. We’re gonna throw them all into newsbites and leave it at that. We’ve also got a quick update on what we know about the Dogma DVD. Also, check out the late poll topic for the week – Vote fast, ‘cuz we think this one’s only gonna hang around until Sunday. Let’s roll: