• The server upgrade is on schedule for tonight, and due to start up around 10 PM EST, give or take. At that time, News Askew will shut down until tomorrow when the site should come back up on the new box. The reason for the downtime is to allow us to test out the talkbacks, forums, and that kinda stuff. Also, this way no posts or user accounts should be lost. How fast the site comes back for you will depend on how fast your internet provider verifies site addresses out here.

We’ll be adding news to the new site, so when your internet provider catches up and finds us, there should be new stuff waiting there for ya.

See ya on the other side.

• Mysterio’s interview with Eliza Dushku just following her final scenes filmed for “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” has been posted at AICN, along with some photos, both new and old (some from here, some from there, some from the press), some insight into the movie, working with Kevin, the fans, her Buffy future, and more. Surf over to AICN to check out the entire piece.

• There’s a lot of stuff in the news today, as all that layed dormant over Memorial Day weekend came back in a hurry. Today we’ve got tons of stuff from the new Wizard, more on Affleck who’s in the spotlight with Pearl Harbor, and some other stuff.

Most importantly: We’ll be doing that big server upgrade TOMORROW (Thursday) evening. In order to prevent any talkbacks, forums, and user accounts from being lost, the site will totally shut down when the upgrade starts. You see an under construction message or something similar here while that happens. When we come back up, we’ll be at a new IP address, but will set up a forward at the old page that will bring you to our new location. Some of the applications on the site may be touch and go for you, until your internet provider’s local DNS servers upgrade to find us at our new location. That should only take a day or two tops though. So, in short, BIG server upgrade tomorrow night, we’ll come back better, faster, and stronger than ever, but we do expect some downtime (probably running into Friday) due to that. Thanks for your patience. And now, the news:

• As always, Wizard‘s got a ton of Kevin coverage in the latest issue…This time around, in a huge article on upcoming comic book movies, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back gets 2 pages and some pics (similar to the set pics you’ve seen here before, alas, but they’re above for ya anyway). Notice that $25 price tag on the Issue #1 of Bluntman & Chronic that they’re holding up in the Stash? Here’s the article, which for the first time allows us to reveal the character names of the jewel theives in the film (you purists may want to skip this article, as it’s definitely given a more detail plot synopsis than we’ve seen anywhere else so far, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK):

PLOT: When Jay and Silent Bob learn that a “Bluntman and Chronic” movie is being made featuring their comic book counterparts, they drool at the thought of fat movie checks rolling in. But when the pair find that there won’t be any royalties coming their way, they set out to sabotage the flick at all costs.

The stoner duo makes the cross-country trip from New Jersey to Hollywood and along the way they meet up with a quartet of sexy diamond thieves (that’s Chrissy, Sissy, Missy and Justice)…and an orangutan. The escaped orangutan gets a federal wildlife marshal on their tail, and the whole shebang climaxes as Jay and Silent Bob make it to the Mirmax lot, crashing through the sets of a whole bunch of movies, both real and imaginary. And, oh, yeah – the “secret origin” of Jay and Silent Bob is finally revealed!

THE SCOOP: Smith swears up and down that his fifth movie is the final chapter in the “view Askew-niverse” series of films featuring Jay, Silent Bob and the gang. “Who knew this was going to be a career?” he asks. “We’ll do a pretty good job of closing the book on this phase before heading into the next.” In terms of “next,” Smith is looking to possibly turn his attention to more “serious” films. Leftover loose ends? They’ll be addressed in a different format. “Whatever plot threads might be left, I like to call ‘comic stories.’ They’ll eventually end up as an issue of the comics,” Smith says, referring to his line at Image Comics. In the meantime, look for cameos from almost every actor from Smith’s previous flicks in an effort to wrap things up tightly. Chris Rock, Alanis Morissette, Joey Lauren Adams, Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Shannen Doherty and George Carlin will all appear. New faces appear, too: The “Star Wars” pair of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher will have roles, as will ever-present Smith comic book buds such as Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and “Batman Beyond” Producer Paul Dini. Oh, yeah – and one top-secret, unnamed Marvel Comics character will actually make a fully sanctioned appearance!

-Jim McLauchlin

It also states that the Kevin Smith special goes on sale July 18th. In the MAJOR PLAYERS sidebar is the following:

Wow, major major article and a TON of info there. There’s also a small article on pg 23 on the Bluntman & Chronic trade coming out in August, but no real new info about that. There’s another small article on pg 64 in their Summer 2001 Preview section about Green Arrow, asking “Can Kevin Smith and ‘Green Arrow’ Steal the No. 1 Sales Spot Away From The X-Men?” and Green Arrow #1 is in the number one spot AGAIN in the HOT 10 COMICS list on pg 118, with issue #2 in the 8th spot.

Also, shipping to comic retailers this week is Image’s Backlist Catalogue, where comic retailers can order many of their backlist trade paperbacks. In a two page spread are the new versions of the Clerks & Chasing Dogma trades, as well as the Bluntman & Chronic trade, featuring a DIFFERENT photo cover than previously seen.

AND FINALLY:

Sounds like some MAJOR happenings on the comics front after the flick’s been released. Stay tuned!

• There’s some excellent guests on tap for this year’s Florida Film Festival in Orlando next month. Among the list of attendees, Jason Lee will be there on June 17th to screen Chasing Amy! Here’s the full article on all the guests and other information, including how you can get tickets to this thing:

If you’re in the area, there’s definitely some stuff worth checking out. Don’t miss it!

• If you enjoyed Lynch’s “Angry Naked Pat” interview and strips earlier this week, we’ve got a pretty cool announcement coming this weekend. Watch for it. In the meantime, ANP can also be seen in the pages of Sod and Git right now, in Super Sized strips written by Lynch himself, over at Kala Productions.
• FORBIDDEN INTERNET, a new magazine devoted all the weird and naughty Internet sites we love, features Kevin on page 30 where he named his favorite websites (one of which was ViewAskew.com, naturally). Check it out at a local newsstand if you can find a copy.
• Wanna know the nature of Bob Shreck’s cameo in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back? The DC Comics guru revealed his minor role in the film to a scooper at a recent comic show (very small spoiler ahead). Swipe below if you’re interested:

• In the everyone’s entitled to their own opinion department today, it seems that this Time Magazine writer doesn’t have any love for Ben Affleck or Dogma. Read it for yourself HERE.
• For those of you that didn’t catch it in theaters, you can see Jason Lee in Heartbreakers on VHS and DVD this September 18th. Thanks to DVDFile for the info.
• Aint It Cool’s new comic column recommends Green Arrow #4 as a worthy purchase for this week:

• Hey folks, hope the long weekend went well for those of you that had it. The weather turned out much nicer than they’d originally called for, now it’s just the matter of catching up on stuff, mowing the lawn, going back to the jobs, and the like. Fun fun fun. As for “Pearl Harbor”, it certainly wasn’t the blockbuster that everyone had hoped for, though personally expectations on this end were pretty low anyway. “Armageddon” was fun due to the popcorn aspect, this one felt a lot like a blatant attempt to take another historical moment and turn it into “Titanic”. You can’t really blame the players in this one, the script itself just wasn’t up to snuff. The cast did a good job with the material, and the actual action sequences were fantastic, and worth the ticket price for sure.

Got a few big stories to kick off the week, including those new set pics and an exclusive Brian Lynch interview. Enjoy!

• Thanks again to Kevin & Jamie Anderson for these three new pics from the set of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. For the first time in the series, we’ve chosen a theme to follow. In the first shot, you’ll see Jay & Bob entering Holden’s new biz, Potzers, Inc. The second shot’s got the duo and Holden checking out some stuff on the Internet (you may have spotted this one in the trailer). Finally, a neat shot of the crew shooting Affleck’s big close-up. As always, enjoy these web exclusive shots, and we’ll be back with 3 more next week!