• Fans of Page’s way cool View Askew character composite will love this – Wallpaper versions of the artwork! Click the links here or check Files Askew for 1024*768, 800*600, and 640*480 versions. Thanks to Robert for the encoding. Enjoy!

• A toy version of Jason Lee’s skateboard has been spotted at K-B Toy stores. The toy is exclusive to these stores, so you’ll likely only find it there. See a photo above! Might be something cool to have Lee sign for ya sometday.
• UK Readers: There will be a screening of Clerks at the Duke of York’s cinema in Brighton on Saturday, 27th April at 11.15 PM.
• “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” comes up in this poll at the King Nothing website, which asks for your favorite Star Wars episode.

• The Mallrats DVD comes up in a Cnet.com report on DVD Easter Eggs:

• Drop Dead Roses, starring Brian O’ Halloran and Eddie McGee, has been accepted into the Phoenix film festival that’s going on on April 5th through the 7th. The film itself will screen on the 6th at 9:30 PM, and the 7th at 1:30 PM with Brian, Eddie, and the director (Jessica Hudson) in attendance. If you’re in the area, check out the film, and send us a report!
• A strange reference to Chasing Amy pops up in this poll of sequels that we’re unlikely to ever see.
• Jay & Bob were spotted in a strange location today – The cover of of the April issue of “Linux Journal”. You can see a screenshot of the Jay & Bob trailer on the laptop on the magazine’s cover.
• St. Louis screening opportunity: A local theater is showing Clerks on the big screen at 11:30 PM downtown. The theater is called “Ronnie’s”. That’s all the info we’ve got.
• Finally today, an obscure Mallrats homage appears in the online comic “TrueNuff” from a few days back.

• Even better news for those of you who attend Clark University and got tix for Kev’s upcoming appearance (and bad news for those of you that missed out) — The show will be filmed for possible inclusion on the upcoming “Evening with Kevin Smith” DVD! It had previously been announced that all filming for the disc was finished, but it looks like they want to have even more footage to choose from, so those of you in attendance might ask a question and become immortalized on disc. Cool stuff. Anyone who attends, be sure to send in a report! The show is a week from today, March 28, 2002.

• In other appearance news: We do believe that tix are still available for the URI appearance next Tuesday, March 26th – You can get seats through that big bad giant, Ticketmaster. They are $23.50 each after all of the fees they tack on. They’re $17 for non students/$12 for students at the door if there’s are any left on Tuesday also. Be sure and get out there and catch Kevin live, it’s a fun time.
• According to Countingdown.com, Kevin will be giving attendees of the Lake Placid Film Festival this June a sneak peek at the “Jersey Girl” script:

• Here’s a cool quick bit: There is an interview over at the top Daredevil website with the director of the film, Mark Steven Johnson, and Kev gets a great mention:

• Just a few slight changes to things at the WizardWorld show in Philly this may – Marvel chief Joe Quesada himself will now be their official “Guest of Honor”, with Kevin still in attendance as “Special Guest”. The convention’s gonna be a great one, and we’ll certainly be there to check it out — Finally, Wizard comes to the east coast with a great show! The official website has dates, hours, and lots more. Be sure to stop in and see both Kevin and Joe, maybe even get an issue or two of Daredevil signed by those guys!
• Online interactive shockwave game “Booty Call” at The Romp website has a Jay & Bob appearance in the latest episode, #31. Mature audiences only!

• We received a TON of e-mails on that incredible picture we posted the other day of the cartoonish cast from View Askew. A lot of folks were trying to identify everyone in the picture, so one fan actually went through and made a way cool key to go along with the drawing! Download that above, and check out that way cool creation in newsbites from a few days back.
• Jay & Bob video update: Video Store Magazine’s Top 20 rental titles (for the week ending March 17) has J&SB at # 7. The Video Scan DVD consumer sales chart (week ending March 9) as J&SB at # 5. The “First Alert” (preliminary data for the week ending March 17) as J&SB at # 7 on the DVD sales chart.

• This guy’s obviously a real fan! He sent us a shot of his vehicle’s new license plate (above).

• Finally today, a couple more shots from Dave’s Video — One of our good friend Jerry from DVS Shoe Company with Kev, who also supplied a shot of that famous Dave’s sign – Ah, to only live so close to a place where so many celebs sign! Jerry sent us some DVS shoes a while back, and they’re fantastic – If you’re looking for a good pair of kicks or some other cool gear, check out their website! Catch ya next time, folks, and thanks for stopping in today.

• The official site for “Vulgar” launches today, announcing a release date for the film of April 26th, 2002. More importantly, though — If you’d like to see the movie and are nowhere near the cities the film will play in (list coming soon), PLEASE post via the VULGAR message board as to where you are and where you’d like to see the film. Lions Gate is listening!

Also on the site, for the first time anywhere, is the FULL LENGTH theatrical trailer!

Last, but not least – the VULGAR costume contest – fabulous prizes awarded to those who like to dress up in fishnets, platform shoes and bustiers. Visit the website for details on this contest and lots more. So what are you waiting for? Geting over to http://www.vulgarthemovie.com right now!

• Well, folks, bad news to those of you who aren’t attending Clark University — Tickets for Kevin’s upcoming appearance there are COMPLETELY sold out! Clark University had tickets open to students only for the first week, and demand was so high that they lasted just two days. Sorry for the bad news, folks. To those of you who attend Clark and got some of those tickets – Have a great time!

• Two new Jay & Bob DVD reviews today (folks are finally finding the time to get through all that content!): First, DVD supersite The Digital Bits gives the disc a good review, but tends to be a bit negative at times as well. You can check that one out HERE.
• On a smaller scale, this review of the disc comes from Northern Kentucky University’s college newspaper.
• Popular space nerd Wil Wheaton put in a plug for the movie in an interview:

He’s obviously a big fan of the DVD. Check out the whole interview HERE if you’re so inclined.

• And finally today, though not directly Askew related, a film festival will take place in Red Bank, New Jersey from August 21st through the 25th. Visit the official site for more information. The flicks will be shown in the same theaters that houses Vulgarthon, so it’s easy to find (and a block away from the Stash!). See ya next time, and thanks for stopping by today.

• The long-awaited Bluntman & Chronic figures are shipping out to comic stores (and your homes) THIS WEEK! Diamond lists their official ship date as TOMORROW. In case you missed it, be sure to check out our exclusive first look at the toys HERE, and order your set from the Stash or ask your local comic shop about them today.

• Something very cool to share with you today — There’s more and more amazingly talented artists sending stuff in here lately! The above covers come from Fernando Goñi and are his envisioning of what he thinks the new “Black Cat” should look like. Definitely a different style from what we saw on the official cover, but some fantastic work. Click above for a better look. He’s looking for work, so if any of you comic type folk out there need some talent, drop him a line.
• Jason Mewes is still set to host NAZZ 2002, a radio station’s local music festival. You can visit the event’s official site for more details.
• Finally, a fun fact for today: A website called “Live Journal” lets people record their interests and hobbies, and allows you to do a search on the statistics. One users did a “popular interest search” and found the following fun statistics: Kevin’s name came up 4639 times, and Tim Burton’s at 4432. Kevin also slightly edged out alchocol at 4539, and even Jesus at a mere 2777! You can check stats yourself HERE.

• Above you’ll see the full-page, color ad that Ventura is running for A BETTER PLACE on VHS and DVD in their next month’s VIP booklet. Also, according to Don May, “Suncoast/Musicland/Sam Goody/Media Play are officially in. they are running a Kevin Smith promotion and the disc is a part of that..”, so A BETTER PLACE will soon be showing up on DVD at all of those stores very soon! That’s right, folks, you’ll be able to grab this excellent film on DVD and VHS at your local mall very, very soon. We’ll keep you posted. If you don’t own a copy yet, you definitely need to check it out. It’s a must-have for your collection. Visit the official ABP site for more.

• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back has been confirmed as rental only in the UK. The DVD (with no features) and VHS will be available to rent from May 27th. The film will not be available to buy in the UK until October 2002 at the earliest.
• WiggyWorld’s has a new poll: This onel asks which animated film are you looking forward to the most. Clerks: Sell Out is an option and is currently winning. The site can be found HERE.
• Dogma composer Howard Shore is appearing on NPR’s “Fresh Air” today. The Real Audio feed should be upby this evening.
• Mallrats alum Claire Forlani appeared on Europe’s MTV Top 20 and revealed she’ll be playing the role of med student Kate in Terminator 3.