• Just a bunch of small news items today, as things have strangely calmed down a slight bit. We’re sure it won’t last for long, though! We’re preparing to fly out to Los Angeles tomorrow, where we’ll hopefully be able to at least check in with a quick report or two, though it will be a very short trip (basically see the premiere on Wednesday night, stay out late to party, then wake up on Thursday and head home). If we’re unable to check in from the west coast, we’ll have a nice full report for ya (including a review of the film) soon after we return.

American Pie 2 had a big weekend at the box office, taking in over 40 million. That’s an indication of what’s available to Jay & Bob, which is also an R-rated comedy catering to a similar demographic. We’ll know what happens in 2 weeks, but we’re pretty sure Dimension would be most pleased to bring in that sorta cash.

Alright then, let’s take a look at what’s in the news today:

• E!’s Behind The Scenes special on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is scheduled to air on August 24th, August 26th, and August 27th. Here’s details:

Doherty? The E! channel must really love that girl.

• Kevin will be hosting the entertainment segments of the KTLA morning news on Monday the 20th, for those in the Los Angeles area. Don’t miss it! In fact, if anyone can capture the segments for us, that’d be great.
• Roger Ebert again brought up Jay & Bob negatively in his response to a viewer question in his Answer Man column last weekend:

• There’s an article at the Film Threat site called “Chasing Chevy” which wonders what happened to Chevy Chase’s career. It mentions the old Fletch stuff that went on between Chevy and Kevin when Fletch Won was in the planning phases.
• In case we didn’t mention it, IMDB has a Clerks: Sell Out page as well as a Fletch Won page. Nothing yet for Kevin’s next flick, but that’s likely because a title has not even been established just yet.
• There’s a positive review of the Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back soundtrack online HERE.
• CITY TV in Canada will be running Chasing Amy tomorrow night at 9 PM and 2:35 AM.
• We have recevied word that some folks are receiving their Brodie shirts, and are attempting to confirm if they are indeed all shipping from the Stash. We’ll also try and get an update on other items that should be arriving soon.
• There will be a screening of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back on Tuesday, August 14 (TOMORROW) at 7:30 at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Passes are available at Excalibur Comics (and probably elsewhere).
• In this IGN interview with Seann William Soctt, he describes his character in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. It’s more American Pie 2 focused, but you might wanna check it out anyway.
• Jay Leno mentioned the whole Planet Of The Apes fiasco in his Friday night monologue (of course ignoring all the news of the resolution that came afterwards though) – The punchline was something like “why would anyone want to take credit for that ending?”
• Random Jay & Silent Bob spotting: A fan noticed a sketched framed drawing of the duo eating a corned beef sandwich in a deli in NYC’s Times Square called “Roxy’s”. If anyone gets a pic of it, send it in! Catch ya next time, hopefully with one more update before we fly west.

• Hey folks…Just wanted to let everyone know that if you didn’t receive an e-mail response, things got a bit wacky here yesterday as I had to go into the hospital last night for an emergency appendectomy. It just came out of nowhere! Chris did a bang-up job keeping everything in order, so we should have all of the recent happenings in order, and be completely caught up on stuff.

Funny story from the hospital, and I swear it’s true – While my girlfriend and I were waiting for some test results, someone actually paged “Dr. Hanjob, Anita Hanjob”. I guess they still fall for some of the oldest tricks in the book. A nice bit of humor during a LONG boring hospital wait.

Anyway, I’m all stitched up, and on some good pain medication, so all is right with the world again. Thanks, doctors! Catch ya back here later with more news.

• Hey everyone. I know Brad usually does these things, but I thought for once I’d like to give a shout out to a great, new television show, SAMURAI JACK. If you haven’t seen this new show from Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of one of my all-time favorites DEXTER’S LABORATORY) you’re doing yourself a grave injustice. It was one of the most amazing animated (let alone action) shows I’ve seen in quite some time. From the great character designs to the gorgeous backgrounds, this will be a show to get in on from the beginning.

• Quite a few fan reports came in last night saying that new, expanded J&SBSB commercials were airing during Mad TV. Keep your eyes open and remember spread the word! It’s less than 2 weeks until J&SBSB opens…
• Mark Hamill was interviewed by The Bob & Sheri Show (A central Pennsylvania Howard Stern clone). He chimed in on the“Attack Of The Clones” and what it was like to work with Kevin. You can listen to the clips from the show right HERE.
• Entertainment Weekly (#609) ran a cover story called “If We Ran Hollywood..” where they give their opinions on how the movie business should run. One section of the article is called “Pirates of Penance” where they accuse celebrities of certain “crimes” and give their verdict. Here’s what they said:

MICHAEL BAY. Crime: The slick Pearl Harbor director is charged with a cruel and unusual amount of hollow cinematic gloss and thimble-deep characters. Community Service: Six months’ confinement with Kevin Smith in a New Jersey comics store to learn the joys of snappy dialouge—and to teach Smith how to make a film that doesn’t look like it was shot on crumpled wax paper.

• Kevin (8/14) and Afroman (8/13) are scheduled to appear on the syndicated Loveline radio show this week.
• J&SBSB gets a mention in the Flick Picks section of September’s issue of Stuff Magazine. Here’s the whole thing:

• AICN’s Moriarty checked in with his review of J&SJSB yesterday. Here’s an excerpt:

You can click HERE to read the whole thing.

• Here’s a weird one. In Canada, Alliance Atlantis Films is sending out RED RUBBER BANDS with the J&SBSB logo and the August 24 release date on them. The bands are being sent out to theatres across the country. We’re not sure what exactly the tie-in is supposed to be, but we’ll try to find out.
• We’ve added some custom-made interiors for all you fans of “The Sims”. Check them out over on our Files Askew page.
• MTV debuted a new special today this weekend called “Kiss And Tell: 20 Years Of Making Out On MTV”. The infamous Kevin Smith / Ben Affleck kiss from a couple of years ago makes an appearance in the special. There’s no new footage, but if anyone wants to try and catch the special anyway, there’ll surely be at least 100 reruns throughout the weekend and next week. MTV’s schedule is right HERE.
• The soundtrack for J&SBSB at last check was #3 on the IMDB’s hot soundtracks.
• A scooper sent this information in about free tickets to see J&SBSB in New York City. If you are in the area, check this out:

• Radio station 102.1 “The Edge” in Dallas, TX is having a promotional weekend for J&SBSB. All day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday they are giving away Advanced Screening passes, Jay and Bob comics, and Jay and Bob action figures.
• Movie-List.com is holding a contest that will give away 2 J&SBSB soundtracks and 2 Afroman single CD’s. Go over and enter today!
• Here’s some UK TV News : Chasing Amy will be on Wednesday night at 11:55PM on Channel4.

• And finally today, a glimpse into the future? Well, here’s one fan’s take on a possible DVD cover for J&SBSB. Catch you all later!

• The Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back score CD composed by James Venable has been bumped back from August 21st to September 11th. We can’t get any further info on this delay, sadly, it seems as if production is just taking a bit longer than anticipated. This has disappointed folks who were eagerly anticipating the score disc, since they’ll hafta see the flick before having the score CD in hand, but hey, look at it this way — At least we’re GETTING a score disc AND an original soundtrack this time. A first for a View Askew production! We’re sure it’ll be worth the wait, don’t forget about the soundtrack album out NOW!. We’ll keep you posted on the release and have more info soon.

• There’s a bit of confusion regarding the WizardWorld schedule in Chicago and when the best times are to catch Kevin & Jay. Let’s try and straighten it out a bit. Keep in mind, this is what Kevin and their schedules have revealed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they might be available at other times as well. These are what’s definite, though:

• FRIDAY – 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Jason Mewes (”Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back”) will be signing at the Wizard booth from 12-2 PM.
• SATURDAY – VIEW ASKEW PANEL – 2:00 – 4:00 PM – Kevin Smith sits down to fill you in on what’s coming up with his latest film project, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (opening Aug. 22) as well the future of View Askew in both comics and film!
• SATURDAY – ACTOR AUCTION – 6:00 PM – Lots of rare items including original Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back props will be auctioned off to benefit the ACTOR charity.
• SATURDAY – 7:00 PM and 11:00 PM – TWO J&SBSB ACTOR Charity Screenings. $15 per ticket. Tickets go on sale after Kevin’s Saturday afternoon panel. Kevin and Jay will be in attendance for both screenings.
• SUNDAY – 2:00 – 3:00 PM – GREEN ARROW HITS THE MARK – What makes the super-hot relaunch of DC’s Green Arrow so freakin’ good? Find out from the crew who make it happen — writer Kevin Smith, artist Phil Hester, inker Ande Parks and editor Bob Schreck!

You can find all the details and LOTS more at the official WizardWorld site HERE. Kevin will liekly hold a signing session either before or after his panel, and may even sign on Friday or Sunday as well, if he’s around. Check around when you’re there, and have fun next weekend!

• AICN has revealed the first photo of Jason Lee as he appears in Cameron Crowe’s upcoming “Vanilla Sky”. Coincidentally, “The Others”, which opens in theaters this weekend, is directed by the same guy who did “Open Your Eyes”, the Spanish film that “Sky” is based on (and it’s a damn good film to boot). Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz co-star.
• This site is holding a contest where you can win J&SBSB soundtracks. Just put your name in the random drawing for your chance to win, simple as that!
• Here’s a RealAudio post of Kevin’s recent interview with Seattle’s Andy Savage (107.7 The End’s morning guy). You can listen to the entire interview (it runs about 10 minutes) HERE.
• In this new article from the Austin Chronicle, Kevin discusses internet critics, identifying with his films, coming to Austin, and more. Here’s a clip:

Read all about it right HERE

• A couple of J&SBSB screenings in Canada are coming up: Toronto Radio Station 102.1 The Edge will be hosting a Toronto screening of the film on the 20th of August. ALSO…In Calgary, Alberta, “The Calgary Herald” is advertising a contest to win tickets to an advanced screening of J&SBSB on August 16th.
• We’re hearing reports that Star Tickets are still selling tickets for the Austin premiere online. This may have changed again by presstime, but if you wanted to attend the Austin benefit, you might still be able to get in.
• Here’s the latest in the line of View Askew WinAMP skins, for the WinAMP MP3 player. This one features Kevin and Jay as Bluntman & Chronic. Download your copy from SCOOPING THE MONKEY.
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that at the beginning of October, the famous Eden Prairie Center, where “Mallrats” was filmed, will have a Grand Re-Opening, with 35 new stores opening.
• Speaking of Mallrats, if you’re in the Askew mood after seeing Jay & Bob this month, and live near Ohio University, this one’s for you. Mallrats will screen at midnight on Saturday, September 2nd in their Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

• Kevin posted a ton of news tonight, commenting on the upcoming auctions and J&SBSB screenings benefiting ACTOR in Chicago. He also goes into detail and gives the final word on that whole Tim Burton thing that went way outta control. The biggest news in this post, though, reveals that the film’s release has jumped back to its original date of August 24th. Whether this is some sort of marketing decision, or just to reflect the date that’s been running in the theatrical trailer and television spots from the start, we’re not sure. At any rate, the other two flicks opening that weekend that Jay & Bob will go up against, The PG-13 rated comedy Bubble Boy, and the R-rated John Carpenter thriller Ghosts Of Mars, will go down in View Askew history one way or another. Ghosts has had no marketing campaign from what we’ve seen here, but Bubble Boy is out to a big start with some extended ads already airing. The more audience-friendly PG-13 will also come into play. Still, with the new ads on the way from Dimension, Jay & Bob have a lot of tricks up their sleeves and can hopefully win over the bigger crowd in 2 weeks. Here’s Kevin with the whole story:

A final note: The lack of an east coast Jersey screening probably saddens many of you, and as you can see, Kevin certainly wanted to do it as well. Hopefully if another Vulgarthon comes to fruition as it’s been hinted this year, you’ll all have your chance to sit with the fans and check out J&SBSB this fall. We’ll keep you posted, as always. See ya tomorrow.

• Remember that big announcement that was supposed to happen at WizardWorld? Well, this MIGHT be it (we’re not sure, though). It’s been revealed that Kevin will be auctioning off actual props and costumes from “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” at WizardWorld to benefit a new non-profit agency called ACTOR. Check it out:

This is your chance to own some way cool View Askew collector’s items. Bring that checkbook or credit card with ya to WizardWorld next week!

By the way, for those of you who have been asking, Wizard is reporting that Jay will be on hand on FRIDAY the 17th to sign, and Kevin will be there on SATURDAY the 18th. We’re not sure if Jay and/or Kevin will be there together at all, but, if you go by the schedule, it looks like you’ll want to attend on Friday for Jay, and Saturday for Kevin.