• Here’s a couple pics from the Pittsburgh Con that Chris took on Saturday…The first is of Bluntman & Chronic artist Mike Oeming. We’ll have some of Mike’s sketches and pages for you starting this Thursday, where we’ll debut 3 new sketches weekly for a while. We’ve also got a shot of Jimmy Palmiotti, who many of you met at the Stash Bash and came to the Askew world when he worked with Kevin & Joe Quesada on Daredevil. The Pittsburgh show is always a blast.
• A few of you wrote in to mention the fact that Richard Roeper was discussing the practice of companies releasing standard DVDs followed by Special Editions of the same movie a while later on this week’s edition of “At The Movies”. In the piece, he frowned upon the fact that studios aren’t packing all the info into them the first time around. He mentioned the Dogma/Dogma SE situation was one of the offenders.

You may recall that Kevin himself warned folks that the SE was coming even before the standard edition hit shelves, and this was in no way a ploy to get consumers to buy two versions of the movie on DVD. When contacted about this, Roeper replied that as originally written, his commentary made note of the “Dogma” situation, but he had to cut the info to fit its 45 second time limit. He also plans to give the “Dogma SE” DVD a more proper and favorable critique on the show after it is released. Hope this clears that up!

• The Mallrats that aired on CBC this past weekend was indeed the full, uncut version. Sorry for any confusion. Canadian broadcast TV can air uncensored stuff if they so desire, as their rules are much less strict than here in the USA. Sorry if those of you looking for the funny cut-up version were disappointed.
• Just a quick update on the Duncan Fegredo piece of art being auctioned @ the comics 2001 website: It is the TOP piece and has already reached $1000! The art was a custom job designed for a deck of cards that was sold to benefit the UK charity Childline. Anyone get a deck of cards, by the way? You can see shots of the original art (that was used to design one of the cards) HERE. No idea if bids are still running, but if you’ve got the cash and want to get in, you may wanna check this out. It’s a one of a kind.

• Finally today, this poster from a Japanese photo book might interest you. It’s the Japanese poster for Chasing Amy
  that we don’t think was featured on this site before. Enjoy.

• As promised, bright and early on this Monday morning, we’ve got 3 fantastic new pics from the set of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. The first 2 shots were taken by DP Jamie Anderson, exclusively for use here at News Askew, so all of you could get a full color glimpse of some of the amazing stuff happening at the set. First of all, we’ve got a personal favorite of the bunch so far, one of Lee, Jay, Bob, and Tango. A classic shot if there ever was one. Next, check out the amazing job that Ratface and the crew did on the new Mooby’s as our heros enter the establishment. Our third shot is from the original Scott Mosier collection, of the newest addition to the View Askew family herself. Thanks to Jamie, Scott, and Kevin for these pics, which we now hope to continue bringing 3 of for you EVERY Monday until the film is released.

• Wow, been an exciting couple of days around here, hasn’t it? The big announcements from Kevin regarding the Clerks animated show, the possibility of cut scenes and a trailer coming online, the Bluntman & Chronic figures…Information overload! Even better, we’ve got some SWEET new shots from Kevin that Jamie Anderson has taken specifically for this site so that all of you can enjoy them. These are some of the best on-set pics yet, and we’re starting to debut them with the pack of three this Monday. Get those browsers warmed up. Also, met up with Mike Oeming in Pittsburgh today. A very kind, gracious guy who hooked us up with the pages of the first “issue” of the Bluntman & Chronic trade coming this summer. Yep, we’ll have some exclusive shots of those pages to debut for you as well. A lot of it is rough, and it has no dialogue inserted thus far, but you’ll get your first peek of that stuff right here as well. It’s getting good, folks, can ya feel the excitement building to the Summer of Smith? Let’s kick off this Saturday update with more goodness for ya:

• Did you know that you can surf to THIS SPOT to pre-order the latest stuff directly from the Stash? We’re talking about the Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back T-Shirt, the Dogma and A Better Place Special Edition DVDs, even that cool Clerks lunchbox and the Kevin Smith Wizard edition. All directly from the source, Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash itself. Check out the preorder page and get your name down right now. You want all this stuff. You KNOW ya do!

• Let the good news keep rollin’ on in! Vincent has revealed that ABP SE will arrive on DVD very soon, even BEFORE the Dogma SE streets in June. That, my friends, is good news, as those of you who have yet to see A Better Place at any of the festivals or screenings are in for a real treat. And even if ya have, remember this thing is PACKED with a new print, soundtrack, TONS of extras, a commentary, and it of course has great rewatch potential. Here’s Vincent himself with the big news:

• As mentioned earlier this week, here it is! The first shot of George Carlin in his hilarious (trust us) J&SBSB cameo. Click the thumbnail above for a closer look. This scene is sure to be one of the standouts from the flick, and we’re sure it’ll survive the cut. Thanks to our scooper above and Comedy Central for the shot.

• Summer Previews are popping up in the news all over the place lately, and it’s good to see that Jay & Bob are getting props and very prominent mentions all over the place. USA Today sums it up with “Three Jasons…Lee, Mewes, and Biggs.” Movie magazine Cinescape‘s latest issue also mentions the flick, along with a pic of Jay & Bob as they appeared in Chasing Amy. Doing a cameo in the flick even hits ‘The Spin 20′ in the latest issue of Spin. There’s sure to be plenty more where they came from.
• Kevin mentioned in one of his posts (the one about the cartoon returning) that he filmed something for a Destiny’s Child special this weekend on MTV. There are two new Destiny’s Child specials debuting on MTV this weekend: “Destiny’s Child Live” begins at noon and runs for two hours, and it’s then immediately followed by “All Eyes On Destiny’s Child” at 2:30 P.M., which runs for 30 minutes. Those times are Eastern. We’re not sure if Kevin appears on either of these, but it seems like a good chance it’ll be on the latter. As usual, MTV’s going to rerun the specials constantly throughout theweekend and the week, so people will have plenty of chances to catch whatever it is that Kevin did. MTV’s schedule can be found HERE. Good luck.

• Here’s a nice new piece on Jason Lee from the new Parade magazine, which you can find in most Sunday newspapers across the country. All we’ve got is a scan, but if ya click it it’s quite readable. Check it out or buy yourself a copy.
• For all you night owls in the Toronto area, Mallrats is showing on CBC at one in the morning on Sunday (that’s 1 AM SUNDAY, so Saturday Night). Just another chance to catch the unintentially hilarious overdubbing.
• Kevin gets a quote in an article that discusses the term “geek” and its notoriety in Hollywood and the world today. Here he is:

• There’s a new buddy icon featuring Jay & Bob over at for you AIM users out there. Enjoy.

• Well, this was a bit of a surprise…Kevin checked in with one of those posts that sort of hints at some new stuff on the horizon and answers a lot of questions that have been going around lately. You can read below for most of that stuff. Probably the biggest news in this post is the fact that the Clerks cartoon may be making a return and, if rumors are correct, that will be on MTV! Anyway, check below for that news and much more including the release date and soundtrack for the new flick, the internet trailer, and more:

• The latest issue of Previews magazine breaks a big scoop, that an all-Kevin Special Edition of Wizard will arrive on shelves this summer that’s PACKED with some great new stuff. Check out the new offices, read an all-new Kev interview, spend a day with Jay Mewes, get a free bumper sticker, and TONS more. Yep, you want this. In fact, you want BOTH copies as there’s 2 covers coming out. Here’s the details:

Kevin Smith Unleashed

He caught your attention with Clerks. Then he bowled you over with Chasing Amy and Dogma. He revived you with his run on Daredevil. And now he’s trashing your house with his Green Arrow series. He’s Kevin Smith, and he’s interviewed about his fourth feature movie, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back in the Wizard Kevin Smith Special Edition, where he is also questioned about everything from working on his comic titles to his friendships with Alanis Morisette, Shannon Doherty, and Salma Hayek! Plus, there’s photos, a pull-out poster, a rundown of all the secret references in his movies, and more! Look for the Wizard Kevin Smith Special Edition in this month’s Previews!

WIZARD KEVIN SMITH SPECIAL EDITION…………$4.99

– Hot off the success of the all-new Green Arrow series for DC Comics and the fothcoming premiere of the new feature motion picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Wizard Entertainment presents our first-ever KEVIN SMITH Special Edition

– Meet Kevin Smith in our exclusive Q&A on everything – movies, comics and more. From how he got started in filmmaking working with stars like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, to his work with Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti on Daredevil, to the Clerks comics, Green Arrow and new Image titles!

– Go behind the scenes and preview his next file “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” Get a report from the set and see pictures from the film.

– Visit the View Askew offices in a special photo feature. Meet the staff. Meet Kevin’s friends too! People like Jason Mewes, Alanis Morisette, Shannon Doherty, Selma Hayek and others.

– See the world according to Kevin Smith with his views and quotes on everything from Star Wars to Spider-Man.

– Behold the Ultimate Kevin Smith-ography with a rundown of each Smith film and information on all the secret references throughout all of his films. Get a complete list with pictures of all of Smith’s published works (movies, comics, animated projects).

– There’s tons of additional stuff, including a “Day in the Life of Jason Mewes,” a centerspread pull-out poster map of Kevin Smith’s New Jersey, a How to Draw Bluntman and Chronic feature. The magazine wraps up with a “message to the World,” where Kevin writes his 20 rules he’d like fans to follow throughout life.

EXCLUSIVES:
– FREE Kevin Smith Bumper Sticker!

___ Magazine (Kevin Smith and other stars photo cover)…….$4.99
___ Magazine (Bluntman and Chronic cover by Mike Avon Oeming)…$4.99

The book, which sounds like a can’t miss, goes on sale in July. You can check out scans of the actual ad above.