• Hey everyone, Chris here. Sorry for the late posting of this news, but I just got home from work. Hopefully you all saw this on the WWWBoard earlier and saved yourself a trip. Here’s Kevin…

• We have just heard from the events organizers that the event at Villanova tomorrow will NO LONGER be held in the Pavillion, but has been moved to the much smaller “Villanova Room”. This means that VERY FEW SEATS are available! At presstime, of the 700 seats in there, 600 have been sold. So, call Villanova at 610-519-4211 and attempt to buy your tickets ahead of time, we’ve love for these last 100 to go to News Askew readers! Sorry for the late notice, we presented this information as soon as we heard it, so hopefully a lot of you read this in time and purchase ahead. See you there.

• A couple of scans to kick off the update today: These from the UK broadsheet “The Guardian” last week. The cartoon is from their “Friday Review” (30/11/01) while the Jason Lee interview is from their “The Guide” (01/12/01). Click them above for full size versions that you can view and read.
• Kevin’s given a kind mention in this review of the excellent new Almost Famous Bootleg DVD from the Reelbuff website.

• This new article on Project Greenlight appeared at the Salon website.

• And finally today, something that you’ve never seen and are not likely to see for a long time on a Kevin Smith movie ticket — Check out the rating on this J&SBSB stub! Looks like this theater made a little mistake…See ya next time.

• As some of you may know, today Kevin and crew filmed their big short scheduled to appear on THE TONIGHT SHOW at some point. Sounds like a good one, though there may be some spoilers in this description below, read at your own risk:

This shorter report came from someone lucky enough to be really close to the action:

We’ll keep you posted as we learn of the dates all of this stuff is airing. It’ll be great to see Jeff and Brian working together on screen yet again.

• The Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back DVD is starting to show up for pre-orders in various web outlets. We assume the Stash will have a bunch of them available as well. Keep it here for news on official features, previews, and lots more. We’re still hoping to somehow get an early look at the disc, though Buena Vista has been tough to deal with in regards to preview discs in the past. If anyone from BV’s around that we can talk to about disc information, drop us a line!
• Hey, never knew he was a big fan: The December 2001 issue of ArtForum features Top 10 lists from a variety of people (author Susan Sontag, filmmaker Guy Maddin) and writer-director John Waters (”Pink Flamingos,” “Hairspray”) lists JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK at number five, writing, “GLAAD was wrong on this one. Jason Mewes can tell me a blow-job joke any day of the week.”
• Here’s some Daredevil casting news in case you’re interested.
• ReelBuff.com is in the process of counting down the top 100 films of the 90s. Dogma came in at #69. No mentions of Clerks, Amy, or Mallrats so far, though we expect at least one of those might come in for the higher numbers.
• IGN Insider has a new interview with Jason Lee. The insider is currently available only to paying subscribers, but look for the article to open up for free in the next couple of days.

• Some news scans for ya, these from Blender Magazine, where Kevin (pictured in his View Askew office, complete with that Mickey Mouse chair) chats about 10 of his favorite discs. Mandatory reading, check this one out for sure!
• Check out some clips of Vanilla Sky featuring Jason Lee (who would think Brodie would one day be hanging out with Tom Cruise?) right HERE.
• Todays Hollywood Confidential By Jeffrey Wells talks about the difference between older suburban directors and younger edgier directors. At the end he mentions Kevin:

Read the full article HERE.

• A fun article on appears on Comicon.com’s “Newsarama”, detailing why DC should introduce a superbaby, and even includes a reference to Mallrats:

Check that one out HERE.

• We’ve now got some cover and article scans on article from Catholic magazine “Commonweal” we mentioned the other day (the one with Buddy Christ on the cover). Sorry the scans can’t be better, it’s the best we’ve got, but feel free to zoom in on the article and check it out…
• Be sure to watch Clerks cartoon producer Dave Mandel’s Video Game Show on TBS, airing these dates:

• And finally today, it wouldn’t be an update without some news from the UK: There’s an new interview with Jason Lee on the Guardian website in which he talks about Jay & Silent Bob strike back, which you can read HERE. Later, folks!

• Amidst all the craziness that is the Christmas holiday shopping/tree shopping blitz, this post from Kevin got accidentally forgotten. Some information here that you’ll certainly love to read, including Kev’s thoughts on the American Way award we mentioned a few days back, and some BIG news concerning an upcoming stint for Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show”:

You can get full directions to the location for driving HERE at the bottom of Kevin’s post. Sorry for the late notice on this, but the Tonight Show stuff should be fantastic! If you show for the driving duty this Thursday, be sure to send in a report to us on what ya see!

• An event that originally seemed like it was going to be closed to the public and taken a BIG turnaround – Kevin’s Q&A appearance this Saturday at Villanova is happening at the Pavillion, which we hear is a gymnasium-like setup, so we’ll likely be on bleachers of some sort. The GOOD news is that there’s a TON of room in there, so the event likely won’t even sell out, only due to the immense amount of folks that can be seated inside. So, call 610-519-7211 for more information.Tix will run you $15 with ANY student ID or $18 if not. We hear that there’s so many seats, you can just show up and buy your tickets the day of the show. Hope to see you there!

• According to E! Online, Kevin is appearing on Howard Stern’s E! show this Thursday @ 11, with Bob Saget. In this episode, Kevin reveals that Bob was actually his first choice for Brodie in Mallrats. The program is a televised version of Stern’s radio show.
• Recent decisions at the BBFC include a massive list of extras for a REGION 2 DVD release of Chasing Amy, WITH EXTRAS! The title is set for a February 4th release and is to be an HMV exclusive. Most of the extras seem to be an exact copy of the R1 Criterion release. Check out more info on this exciting development HERE.
• On the new (and highly recommended) Almost Famous DVD (The Bootleg Cut, a section appears with screen tests and rehearsals. In one of Jason Lee’s scenes, he wears a “Clerks” t-shirt.
• And speaking of Lee, his flick “Big Trouble” is now slated to open nationwide on April 5, 2002.
• Thanks to everyone who wrote in on the Nokia Operating Logos, we got tons of mail on them. Apparently, the link posted yesterday is only for subscribers of the service in Australia, and are graphics that can appear on phone displays when they ring (much like the customized rings you can download). Speaking of that, there’s a site HERE that offers picture messages with a few Kevin Smith movie logos. These picture messages can be used as “screensavers” for the Nokia 3300 series.
• News Askew Retro: A scoop found this small newsbite from a 1994 issue of Rolling Stone, given by reviewer Pete Travers:

Funny, considering the flick found a HUGE audience on video, much larger than it ever did in theaters!

• J&SBSB entered the UK box office charts at the not-too-shabby 6th place, considering it’s up against a TON of other stuff including Harry Potter. The weekend takings were 381,940, again not too bad considering the fierce competition. Reports are indicating that theaters are quite full for the flick, and it’s playing quite well overseas with all those who catch it.
• Entertainemnt Weekly star Brian Lynch (who will soon be too famous to read this website, we’re sure) has a new episode of his excellent Angry Naked Pat animated cartoon up over at www.angrynakedpat.com and www.campchaos.com. Bob Cesca and the folks at Camp Chaos have done another outstanding job, putting together a product that’s funnier than pretty much everything on network TV (watch out, South Park). Surf over and take a look now that you’re finished for the day here.

• The Detroit Free Press has reviewed the site and given us a three star rating! Not bad at all. Check out a scan of the short piece above, or read the text below. Thanks, Jeff!

This is the site for the legion of movie fans of Kevin Smith of “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma” fame. Smith, who directed and starred in those films, has enjoyed cult status for his digs at suburbia, pop culture and the film industry, not to mention his devotion to everything “Star Wars.”

The site updates readers on a new Smith-inspired comic book, “Bluntman and Chronic,” based on two comic characters in “Chasing Amy.” It also has video clips, chat boards and gossip on new Smith projects, the whereabouts of actors from his films and the DVD for Smith’s last film, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

News Askew probably would alienate anyone not entranced by Smith’s films, but, then again, who but a “Clerks” devotee would spend hours chatting about the dialogue of a mute party-store drug dealer? By Jeff McCracken

You can also check out the article from the “Tech Today” section on their website HERE.