• Looks like the newsaskew.com domain is back and running…All of the site’s functions should be back now, unless your ISP is really slow at getting domains refreshed. Expect everything to be normal now. If you’re still having trouble reaching any parts of the site or us via-email, let us know.

• Lots of details from Red Bank over the past few days. As most of you probably know, principal photography is wrapping up this week with stuff filmed at the Stash, Quick Stop, and other locations. Jason Lee stopped into the board yesterday after he finished his filming as Brodie. Here’s what he had to say:

We’d actually planned on going into Red Bank for some coverage of the filming today, but due to poor weather, the filming schedule flopped around, and the Stash interior stuff was filmed yesterday. Some of you were on the scene for this though, and sent in some exclusive pictures and reports from Red Bank. The Stash exterior has been altered a bit, though it could be considered a small spoiler for the purists out there. Click the blurred thumbnail above for a look at this new exterior and swipe below for some details on this shot (thanks to Dave Bednar of Webclerks for scooping on this very early this week, by the way):

[START SPOILERS] The picture is of Brodie’s Secret Stash, altered from the familiar Jay & Silent Bob logo. It appears that Brodie has bought his own comic store (though who knows what happened to the Tonight Show gig) and appears in the new logo. He’s clutching some comic books in one hand and that famous dixie cup in the other. It’s another great job by the production art department. By the way, during our set visit last month we noticed some flyers on a lecture by Brodie Bruce regarding how Hollywood messed up Superman. Maybe that ties into this scene. [END SPOILERS]

Filming yesterday ran from early in the morning until around 7 PM. Lee, Kevin, and Mewes were inside most of the day for the interior shots but did come out for a bit to chat with the bystanders and sign some autographs and stuff. Sounds like the cast and crew were very accommodating to the fans. If anyone visits any of the shooting locations this weekend, as things wrap up, let us know. Thanks again to Gramp and Dave for the shots above. Click them for a better look at the new logo and for shots of Lee and Mewes outside of the store.

• Clerks: The Comic Book gets a mention in a recent Maxim online article about comics:

• Want to own any official props from Jason Lee in Heartbreakers? There’s an auction going on right now with a ton of stuff…Act fast!
• Chasing Amy will be shown at the Writers Center in the DC/Maryland area early next month. It will screen at 10:30 AM on April 8th. Call 301-654-8664 for more info.
• A “Jason Lee Soundboard” has been posted at The Stile Project website. Apparently, it’s a set of clips that one can use to make prank phone calls with…Nothing that this site encourages…Oh and by the way it looks like it’s full of porn banners or something, so be wary.
• An online comic called “Life’s Up And Downs” features a Chasing Amy reference in a recent edition. You’ll find it on the comic’s first page HERE.
• MailAskew.com and Noonchmail, a couple of free e-mail services, are online now if you’re interested. Reserve your name now!
• Jay and Silent Bob are featured in a new poll over at Film Threat. The poll talks about movies where two characters from other movies meet (i.e. Frankenstien meets the Wolf Man). The question is “Which two characters would you like to see meet?”. One of the options is Bill and Ted Meet Jay and Silent Bob. That’d make for an interesting movie huh?
• In the new May issue of Playboy in the “Playmate News” section, there’s a picture of Kevin with Playmate Tiffany Taylor, and a mention of her hanging with him at Vulgarthon 2000.

• Well, it’s Friday, and at presstime, our domain still is down and out. Here’s what happened: As most of you know, you gotta pay for a “.com” address on the web. The company that takes care of this stuff is called Network Solutions. They’re SUPPOSED to warn the domain owner about a site’s going down, but I guess due to the change of both mailing and e-mail address over the past year, they didn’t know where to find me. Anyway, once the domain disappeared we discovered that the .com domain was put on hold due to lack of payment, and immediately paid it up for the next 2 years. Precautions will be taken to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Network Solutions will have the domain back up hopefully sometime today (if not already), but it will take it a few days to propogate around the internet to your server. So, if typing www.newsaskew.com into your browser doesn’t work yet, give it another day or two. It shouldn’t be long before it’s back to business as usual.

The biggest side-effect from this problem is the fact that e-mails sent to brad@newsaskew.com, chris@newsaskew.com, or scoops@newsaskew.com probably bounced right back to you over the past 2 or 3 days. If they bounced back to you, it’s safe to assume that they didn’t make it through, sorry to say. For that reason we may be a little bit behind on news, scoops, and stuff. We’ll be going through e-mail backlog and other stuff as soon as the site’s back to normal, and catch up ASAP. Sorry for the problems, and glad that you stuck with us through the confusion. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to alert us to the problem as well.

We’re not sure if things are just slow or we’re out of the loop due to the server problems, but we’ve got just a few stories for ya today…Rest assured if anything’s missed, we’ll catch back up with it all as soon as things get back to normal. Keep the scoops lined up, or mail them to bplevyak@earthlink.net (my temporary address while the News Askew domain is down). Here’s what we got for ya today:

• We’re all anxiously awaiting the DVD, but the A Better Place soundtrack, with music from the newly remastered soundtrack and dialogue excerpts selected by director Vincent Pereira, is available from several locations these days. The Stash has autographed copies on the way, available for mail order. A real good deal! Also, if you want to preview some of the tracks, it’s available for purchase via MP3 at Emusic.Com. We’re preparing a detailed review of the CD soundtrack for the site. Look for it next week, barring any extended domain problems!

• Issue #2 of Green Arrow hit the stands last Wednesday, and naturally, some online reviews at Fandom have followed. You can read them HERE and HERE. Those of you who just bought issue #1 for collectability’s sake will want to continue after reading these two!
• Those wacky Sod and Git cartoons are contuning on their View Askew path, with latest editions featuring Walt & Bry, followed by Kevin & Jay. Check out the strip HERE.
• And finally today, maybe Rufus was right?

• Just a quick word on scoop usage…TONS of e-mails come into News Askew regarding the site and scoops…on the average of about 50 on a slow day, over 100 on busy day, and it’s getting tougher to include every small detail in updates. We’re trying to keep the site on-topic yet still well-rounded so, while some days you might see a small scoop about something, another day something similar might get passed by. For example: Lately a lot of scoops regarding Shannon Elizabeth‘s promotions of “Tomcats” or Stan Lee appearances have been crossing our paths. While some of this stuff gets mentioned, sometimes we just pass it by in the interest of more on-topic and related to the View Askew realm news. We’re using our best judgement here.

Also, please check the archives before sending in a scoop that’s pretty recent. If you’re not a daily reader, a news story may have dropped back into the archives from a few days ago. We realize the search engine itself is quite slow (our news program is a bit antiquated in that regard) but just checking the past week’s news, especially if you haven’t read it yet, is always a good idea. With readership at an all-time high here, there’s a lot of duplication that comes through the scoop system.

Anyway, please don’t take offense if your scoop doesn’t get used, it’s nothing personal, just a judgement call as what was good for the day of news. Keep sending them in! We’re still taking the time to read every mail that comes into the site, and reply back to you all. While replies may just be a simple “Thanks!” at times, or something similar, please don’t think that anything you take the time to send in isn’t appreciated. It’s what makes the site work. Thanks again for your continued support!

• Our old friend Zeebadaboodee checks in with a few tidbits on that book “My First Movie” that we mentioned in recent NewsBites:

• The latest issue of the UK magazine Total Film (issue #52) has a feature on “Hollywood’s 10 Most wanted” on which Eliza Dushku is mentioned as ‘The new Angelina Jolie’. The piece also cites her jewel thief role in Jat & Silent Bob Strike Back.
• Jason Lee’s former profession was yesterday’s daily pop quiz on EW.com. A moderate 64% answered correctly that Lee used to be, of course, a professional skateboarder before making his big splash in Mallrats.
• Jake Busey is the latest star to join the Harold Ramis production “The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest,” which also stars Adam Garcia, Rosario Dawson and Askew regular ETHAN SUPLEE.

• When the heck’s it gonna warm up outside! They’re calling for wind chills in the single digits here in Central PA all of this week. Yet another year of a short or non-existent Spring season. Global warming my ass! Well, anyway, reality TV continues to rule the airwaves with that new Boot Camp show starting up tomorrow and Survivor getting more interesting with each passing week. X-Files also looks to return with a group of cool episodes starting this Sunday. And then there’s The Sopranos, which continues to impress on a weekly basis. Ya gotta love HBO for producing such outstanding series television lately.

On the flick front…“Enemy At The Gates” was a pleasant surprise, a good classic flick which may have been fairly forumlatic and predictable, but still a good ride. This weekend, “Memento” opens, which sounds like the flick to see. It’s told in reverse, due to the fact that the main character, who’s trying to solve his wife’s murder, can’t retain his memory and thus only knows what he’s learned in the past 5 minutes. Expect some major buzz on this one, folks. It sounds like a winner.

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back‘s just about done with filming, with just a few days of shooting left back east. The crew will all be finishing up the film from Los Angeles, though, where they’ll edit the film, test it, and put the final touches on it. All sources still indicate that the August 10th release is still gonna stick, let’s hope it stays that way. Things have been relatively quiet lately, still, though we’ve got some odds and ends assembled for your enjoyment today:

• If there were questions you had about the animation side of things after listening to the commentary on the Clerks Uncensored DVDs, you’ll be happy to read this new interview with artist Chris Bailey (who designed the logo that graces this page, by the way). You can read it at the Animation on DVD site HERE.
• Autographed Clerks cartoon DVDs have started shipping from the Stash, just as Kevin promised. Now that he’s back in Jersey for a while, he’s going to sign a TON of stuff, including all of the backorders, so those of you who so patiently waited will be seeing some cool stuff in the mailbox very soon. Thanks for your patience!
• WizardWorld‘s last piece regarding the last day of shooting J&SBSB out west has been posted. You can read about it and see a piece of that day’s call sheet HERE.
• The History Askew website, which contains the famous View Askew timelines, and otherwise, has been re-opened and is now located HERE.
• Jennifer Love Hewitt raves about working with Jason Lee in a new IGN interview HERE.
• Clerks is ranked #43 in the Top 50 Comedies Of all time in a recent IMDB poll.