• We’ve been getting lots of info on Kev’s upcoming appearance on The Sundance Channel‘s “Conversations in World Cinema”. His episode is due to be finished about a week from tomorrow, and we’ll be getting an advanced look at the piece for review here at the site. The show itself airs on TSC in May.
• Kev, Joe, & Jimmy all sat down to record a commentary track for the upcoming DareDevil CD-ROM recently, which sounds like a way cool project. The latest Wizard (#104) has a 2-page story on the disc, which we expect will cover DD’s life at least since the Marvel Knights project started with Kev’s 8-issue arc.

• An inspired scooper sent us these rules for a drinking game based on the Mallrats DVD commentary track (NOT the film, like our game), and we certainly thought it was creative enough to give a mention. Check out the rules below, but remember, News Askew does not hold itself responsible for anything that may happen from playing the game, and don’t drive anywhere if ya do, for god’s sake:

• ONE SHOT WHEN:
• Someone refers to someone else by a movie they have appeared in (such as “Phantom’s Ben Affleck”)
• The word “pottymouth” is used
• The original opening of the film is mentioned
• Ben Affleck is interrupted in order to point out Brian or Walt.

  (take an extra shot if Ben is the one interrupting other people for the same reason)

• Jay plugs the Secret Stash and the merchandise that can be purchased there.(take an extra shot if he gives the address and phone number)
• Ben Affleck’s twin brother “Barney” is mentioned.
• Really bad ADR is used.

  TWO SHOTS WHEN:

• The guy with the crossbeam walks past in the background.
• Jay tells a story that makes no sense and goes nowhere.
• Kevin Smith uses the word “ostensibly”.
• A comment is made about Ben Affleck’s “peeps”.
• Ben Affleck complains about Kevin Smith’s use of background scenery.

  THREE SHOTS WHEN:

• A characters hair changes drastically between scenes and everyone groans…

• Well folks, welcome to the BIGGEST lull in News Askew in our almost 3 year history! Yep, things are MAJOR slow this week, so we apologize, there just hasn’t been much to say, and we’re certainly not going to update if there’s nothing at all going on. With Kev’s upcoming appearance and a hopeful announcement on the animated series and next feature film though, we’re sure things will pick up soon. Until then, just one item and a few smaller newsbites for ya. Sorry, everyone, best that we could do today!

• The results are in — The net community have voted Jay & Silent Bob as the best on screen couple of 1999! Check out this and the other IMDB poll results HERE.
• Roger Ebert again brought up Dogma in a discussion on Politically Incorrect earlier this week, citing the Buddy Christ as an example. You can read the entire transcript of the show HERE.
• Kevin again gets a mention regarding his love of the Degrassi series in a new TV Guide online article. Nothing major, just a passing mention. If you wanna read the piece, check it out HERE.
• Gene Hackman has joined Jason Lee, Sigourney Weaver, and Jennifer Love Hewitt in “Breakers”, which will start productionsoon and is Lee’s next project.
• Finally today, Affleck posted on his web board, and we thought you’d be interested:

• Thanks to Zentertainment and the Sundance Channel: Kevin Smith will be the featured guest on The SUNDANCE Channel’s May edition of CONVERSATIONS IN WORLD CINEMA. The special, airing throughout the month, features Richard Pena (Film Society of Lincoln Center) in a conversation with Kev where he discusses God, comic books, and New Jersey. We expect to have an early exclusive look at this and some promotional stuff as the event approaches, courtesy of Sundance.

• Well, if you’ve been reading the site the past few days you’ve noticed that there’s been rumblings of the Chasing Amy DVD’s arrival this June, and now Criterion has indeed confirmed this. Thanks to a post on DVD File, we’ve verified that the disc is planned for release this summer, and will indeed feature all the good stuff from the packed Amy laser from a few years back, AND a brand new anamorphic transfer. Thank goodness! As soon as we get a definite date (online DVD sites are still saying June 13th), we’ll post it here.

• This one we either mentioned a long while ago and forgot, or it just somehow slipped through out fingers. Kevin Smith is due to appear at Towson University a week from today, April 3rd. The Q&A session (and hey, maybe he’ll bring that famous Clerks TCS footage?) happens at Stephens Hall Auditorium at 7:00 (doors open at 6:30). Best of all? It’s FREE, and non-students are more than welcome. So pack on in there, and tell ‘em News Askew sent ya! In honor of Kev being there, the school is also showing Clerks on 3/30 @7PM, Dogma 3/30,3/31 @ 9PM, and Chasing Amy 3/31 @ 7PM. No Mallrats, though.

Don’t miss another chance to catch one of Kevin’s memorable public appearances! Enjoy.

• Does Amazon.Com know something that we don’t, or are they just guessing? They’ve now got Chasing Amy listed for a June 13th DVD street date, for a MSRP of 39.99, and they’re offering a 33% discount ($29.99 their price). Sounds too soon for us, so we don’t hold much faith in the date. Just wanted to let you know, though.

• Faber and Faber, the UK publishers of the Clerks and Chasing Amy joint screenplays, have just released the “Clerks” screenplay on its own. Nothing new, in fact, the dedication at the front is the short “For Joey..” for some reason. We hear it’s a very nice little book for £5 quid. You can get it for £4 at amazon.co.uk.
• Wow, we’re starting to feel like the ONLY ones who haven’t seen Lee in the Cameron Crowe flick! Two more reviews appear over at AICN today, but these look to contain some major spoilers for the film, so be careful!

• The Independent Spirit Awards aired on IFC and Bravo yesterday. Unfortunately Dogma, which was up for Best Original Screenplay, was edged out by “Election”. Election is a well-written flick, but we can’t help but think Dogma’s writing was quite better. But then again, we may be biased. Still, damn shame. Election also took the awards for best picture and director, so there were obviously some huge fans of the flick amongst the voters. That sort of explains why Dogma lost the screenplay nod.

Jason Lee was on hand to present the “Blair Witch Project” with the award for best movie under $500,000. Also, in a montage of movies honored in the awards, they showed the “Salsa Shark” clip of Clerks. That’s about all that happened Askew-related at this year’s show.

While we’re on the topic, in case ya didn’t see it, IFC does have an interview with Kevin online HERE.

• Hey folks…We’ve got a couple tidbits for ya today, but again nothing major. Things have been quite slow in the realm of Askew as they’re likely trying to figure out what to do with the Clerks Cartoon as well as getting things lined up for the next flick. We expect some major news in the next couple of weeks, perhaps Kevin will even leak some stuff out at one of his upcoming public appearances, so if ya attend, be sure and ask him! If you see a skipped day here and there around the site, it’s not because we’re not around, we just tend to take days off when there’s nothing to talk about. Plus it allows us time to catch up on some other stuff we’ve got to work on.

Anyway, here’s today’s update. Enjoy the Oscars tonight, where we expect “American Beauty” to do a much-deserved sweep among a lot of the major categories. There really are some good flicks in the running this year, and some wonderful nominees, though we can wish that Dogma was at least in the running for screenplay. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.

Be sure to vote in the new poll topic this week, as well, which we’ve finally changed. Let’s rock: