Age: 30

Why Him?:

“Clerks” and “Dogma” director Smith was among the first filmmakers to embrace the Internet, launching viewaskew.com in 1997 to cultivate his fan base. Recently, he’s become the acid-tongued Army Arched for freaks and geeks, regularly slamming such Hollywood sacred cows as Disney, Miramax, and Director Paul Thomas Anderson (his anti-Magnolia rant is legendary). “I think people appreciate getting a peek behind the curtain,” says Smith, who takes plenty of shots at himself. “I figured they’d enjoy it more if I pulled the entire curtain down , shredded it, and burned the remnants.”

Required Web Reading:

The message boards at aint-it-cool-news.com “It reminds me that not everyone is going to like what I do.”

Career He’d Most Like To Have:

“God’s.”Closest Brush With Career Immolation:

“Do the death threats we received for ‘Dogma’ count?”

Next:

“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (August). “The flick’s largely a satire on how ridiculous internet culture can be.”

Bloodhound Gang Strike Back

Yet another eclectic summer soundtrack looms, this time for director Kevin Smith’s forthcoming flick, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The compilation, due August 14th, mixes previously unreleased tracks from Stroke 9, the Bloodhound Gang, Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, Bon Jovi, Morris Day and the Time and Steppenwolf.

The Bloodhound Gang’s contribution to Jay and Silent Bob, a track called “Jackass,” was previously tabbed for two other soundtracks this year. The number was originally written for the aborted soundtrack to MTV’s Jackass. It was then slated for inclusion on, then dropped from, the imminent American Pie II album before finding a home on Jay and Silent Bob.

The collection’s first single will be Stroke 9’s “Kick Some Ass,” with a video to be shot by Gregory Dark (Linkin Park, Crazy Town). Said track will also appear on Stroke 9’s forthcoming fourth album, due this fall. The album was recorded in Northern California earlier this year with producer Jerry Harrison, who also handled the band’s 1999 breakthrough Nasty Little Thoughts. >{?Pirner’s contribution, “Tube of Wonderful,” is an instrumental that initially appeared in the opening credits to Smith’s 1997 film, Chasing Amy, but because no soundtrack for the film was ever released, it remained unavailable.

The film, which will arrive in theaters on August 24th, is the final feature set in actor/director Smith’s so-called “View Askewniverse,” the others being Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma.

Track listing for the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back soundtrack:

“Jay’s Rap 2001”
Stroke 9, “Kick Some Ass”
Afroman, “Because I Got High”
Morris Day And The Time, “Jungle Love”
Steppenwolf, “Magic Carpet Ride”
Marcy Playground,”The Devil Song”
PJ Harvey, “This Is Love”
Bob Schneider, “Big Blue Sea”
Bloodhound Gang, “Jackass”
Thomas Rusiak, “Hiphopper”
Dave Pirner, “Tube of Wonderful”
Bon Jovi, “Bad Medicine”

WORTHIEST ROBOT OR MONSTER

The Golgothan, Dogma 18.36%
The real Godzilla, Godzilla 2000 15.60%
Darth Maul, The Phantom Menace 39.73%
Kevin Bacon, Hollow Man 13.24%
Bette Midler, Isn’t She Great 13.08%

Kevin Smith, whose debut film “Clerks” was initially rated NC-17 for its foul language before the ruling was overturned on appeal, suggested: “What they ought to do is get rid of the NC-17 and just call it R-Plus, because R is a rating (moviegoers) are familiar with, and they can sleep well at night. NC-17 to them is `We’re heading into ancient Roman times and utter debauchery, and we’re going to bring civilization down around our knees.”’