Last night wa a marathon 4.5 hour session, where Kevin courteously answered every question he was given, many followed by long and amazing stories. I won’t relate all the night’s activities, but thought I might submit a top ten things that might be taken from last night’s event:

10) Kevin’s enjoyment of the comfy chair provided him for the event.
9) Kevin convincing a girl from Owensborough, KY to say to him, ‘Oh Fuck me Silent Bob’ in her sexiest Southern accent.
8) Multiple male members of the audience voluntarily asking Kevin to do the same.
7) Vermont? Kevin and the rest of us are still unsure why you would take a finished film to Vermont to be distributed…
6) Kevin calling Jeff Anderson on the cell to ask how the screening of “Now You Know” fared.
5) Calling an audience member’s roommate to say hi, and then giving the fan on the phone hell for not attending the Q&A.
4) Kevin noting that Kentuckian’s are very orally fixated.
3) Also noting that Kentuckians are also tactile people, as everyone wanted to shake his hand.
2) Kevin’s gracious gesture to pay for everyone who wanted to attend ‘Changing Lanes’ at the next day’s showing, saying ‘I’ll pay for your tickets, but you pay for your own popcorn and drinks’
1) Kevin saying as soon as he appeared, ‘Man O’ War Boulevard? I can’t get a street named after me in Red Bank, but here you guys name your streets after horses!?’

Kevin mentioned last night that in exchange for him not being able to sign autographs, that he would pay for anyone who wanted to see ‘Changing Lanes’ the next day. I was lucky enough to attend the screening at the Lexington Green Cinemark, and not only did Kevin pay for our tickets, but he stood for photographs with fans and also spoke before the movie. In summary he said (not a quote, just paraphrasing):

‘Thanks for coming. I’ve been wanting see this movie, since I havent seen it yet and Ben’s in it. It’s not my movie, though, so feel free to heckle it if you want. Also, let ‘s thank Cinemark Theater for their graciousness and lobby them for a credit card machine. It was incredibly embarrassing to go to the box office to tell them I wanted to buy the next showing of ‘Changing Lanes’, only for them to come back with, ‘That’s great, but we don’t take credit cards’. Luckily they took a check that’s ‘in the mail’. I’ve always wanted to buy out a theatre. Pretty cool. Thanks again and enjoy the show.’

Thanks again for Kevin to donate his money and more especially his time. It was a very enjoyable time.

I was able to see a month-early screening of Affleck’s Jack Ryan flick, ‘The Sum of All Fears.’ It was an unfinished print, so it made note the music may be unfinished. All the special effects were there, but the lighting wasn’t 100 percent. In any case, I hope this film gets some good critical reviews. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be, and Affleck handles the role of Ryan nicely. Fans of the old flicks may not be pleased, though, because they are basically restarting the franchise. The film takes place in the present day and Tyan is a CIA historian/researcher who gets pulled into the President’s inner circle by Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman!) because of his expert knowledge on the new Russian president. Without giving any surprises away, the story concerns Nazi sympathizing terrorists who seek to pit U.S. and Russia against each other in war to weaken the U.S. and allow a rebirth of the Nazis. It sounds preposterous, I know, but it’s well done and with a few good shocks. In another, albeit weak, Kevin Smith connection, Bridget Moynahan from “Coyote Ugly playes Affleck’s girlfriend. She does a good job, too. Anyway, Affleck’s on a nice roll. I liked “Changing Lanes” quite a bit and I think this goes down as the second best Ryan flick after The Hunt for Red October. So, I think View Askew and Affleck fans won’t be disappointed. Can’t wait to see it again!

SCI FI Channel 5/12/2002 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

Filmmaker and Star Wars fan Kevin Smith (Dogma) will host a SCI FI Channel original special on the saga in anticipation of the May 16 release of Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones. In the one-hour special, Smith will present a collection of fan-made, Star Wars-themed spoofs and documentaries, each competing to win a Star Wars Fan Film Award. Categories will include the Young Jedi Award (films made by directors under 18), animation, Audience Award (selected by online viewers) and a special George Lucas Selects Award, which will be announced by the Star Wars creator himself. The special will also feature clips from Episode II.

I just returned from a great weekend of filmgoing at the Taos Talking Picture Festival (www.ttpix.org) and was lucky enough to be in the audience for the world premier of Joey Lauren Adam’s new movie “Grand Champion.” This film is apparently so new there isn’t even a listing yet for it in the IMDB. In the film, Joey plays a single mom who is trying to raise two children with no income on a farm in Snyder, Tx. The story follows her son Buddy as he and his sister raise a calf named Hokey to be a Grand Champion steer. When Buddy wins the Grand Championship he auctions off Hokey to raise money to support the family. Buddy soon finds out his steer is going to be barbecued and kidnaps him back from the new owner, played by Bruce Willis. Joey Lauren Adams performance rang very true and heartfelt as a mother, a role I was surprised to see her play. She was on hand for a Q and A with the director Barry Tubb but! she looked very uncomfortable standing at the front of the room so she was very quiet. Julia Roberts was in attendance in support since her niece Emma Roberts plays the role of Joey’s daughter in the film. I believe Julia’s presence may have overshadowed hers a bit but it was great to get the chance to see her in person and this was a fun family flick.

Anyone going to the University of Kentucky show tonight? I think I might.

Beautiful country, this. Actually, the immediate area of Lexington that I’m in is right up my alley: strip malls, movie theaters, and decent hotels. Granted, one can see that almost anywhere in America, but that’s what I’m all about: geographical generic sameness. It makes me feel safe.

So let’s see, what’s been going on? Last week, I popped by the “Daredevil” set again, this time solely as a looky-loo, and what I saw, I loved. The DD costume is pretty fucking bad-ass. T’was awesome to see it, particularly in the setting (Josie’s Bar, for those of you into the comics). I cannot wait to see this flick – with or without my scene. One of my favorite actors playing one of my favorite characters. Color me a geeky fan-boy.

Speaking of being a geeky fan-boy, the Sci-Fi Channel asked me to host another “Star Wars” Fan-Film special. Those of you who lurked or posted pre-”Jay and Silent Bob” might remember the first Sci-Fi “Star Wars” special I hosted from the Secret Stash, about two years ago. Well this time, we taped the thing at “Star Wars” uber-enthusiast/chronicler/collector Stephen Sansweet’s museum out near Skywalker Ranch. You wouldn’t believe this place – literally every piece of “Star Wars” merchandising is accounted for, as well as artwork, props from the movies, promotional tie-ins, and costumes. It was mind-bending to stroll down memory lane with all the toys and fringe licensed products (the Dixie Cups I had for years in our kitchen cabinet, because I wouldn’t let anybody use them; the Yoda tin bank with combination lock that, in my high school years, would be home to the first joint I was ever given). Not sure when the show’s going to air, but I’ll give you a head’s-up when they tell me the dates.

Saw the commercials we shot a few weeks ago, all edited and whatnot. Very cool.

But I guess the big news is that Miramax gave “Jersey Girl” the green light – which really only means they’ve started cash-flowing the flick. It’s a small and not very surprising point, but cool nonetheless. We are now official.

Hope to see some of you tonight, and others of you Wednesday night, in Cincinnati.

And as soon as I can, I’ll hip you all to some “Jersey Girl” casting stuff. Some interesting and cool stuff is afoot.