MEET JIM LEE AND JOE CASEY

JIM LEE and writer JOE CASEY, co-creators of the new Wildstorm/DC Comics series THE INTIMATES, will be appearing at the SECRET STASH WESTWOOD on December 2nd from 6 – 9 pm.

Jim (Superman, Batman, X-men, etc.) and Joe (Wildcats 3.0, Superman, X-Men, Avengers, etc.), will be joined by other members of the Wildstorm crew.

Ale Garza…penciller for Batgirl and Ninja Boy.
Carlos D’Anda…penciller on the Outsiders, Bionicles and Deathblow.
Sandra Hope…inker on Intimates and Robin.
Rich Friend…inker on Authority and Batman.

This is Jim’s first store signing in Southern California in over four years!! Come by and check out THE INTIMATES and meet Jim, Joe, Ale, Carlos, Sandra and Rich.

So that everyone has a chance to meet our guests, signings will be limited to three (3) items per person.

We look forwards to seeing you on Thursday!!

Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash1045 Westwood Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90024

(310) 824-1364

Our Most Popular Items

Items as seen in Kevin’s movies

Signed DVD’s

Under $15

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There have been a few changes, re: the book. Harvey didn’t like the title (which was taken from the Arena column that largely provided the content for the
book in the first place) so he asked that it be re-titled to the more commercial “Silent Bob Speaks.” The release date was then shifted, too.

Now, for all you folks who’ve lamented “Man, I wanna get something signed by Kevin for the guy at work who gives me hand jobs from under the stall in the
bathroom at lunch, but all the autographed merchandise costs more than I’m willing to spend as a thanks for digital manipulation of my ‘nads…” – the
Online Stash is happy to oblige with the AUTOGRAPHED Mallrats Inaction Silent Bob! Normally $9.37 without a signature, this amazing likeness of the
pre-titty-peeping one true Bob can be yours WITH KEVIN SMITH’S WORTHLESS SIGNATURE for the low, low, get-em-the-fuck-out-of-here Christmas price of $5.00!
At that price, you can buy an army of these fuckers – with at least one to spare to toss at your jerk-off buddy as a holiday token. He’ll be so tickled, we
almost guarantee that under-the-stall hand job will upgrade to a glory-hole in no time!

Class clown

Filmmaker and obsessive Degrassi fan Kevin Smith brings Jay and Silent Bob to the set of the runaway Canadian hit

Kevin Smith swears he could have got Ben Affleck to play a high school principal on Degrassi: The Next Generation. “Ben definitely would have done it,” says the New Jersey filmmaker. But in the end, he decided to give the star a break. “Ben was like, ‘Dude, I know it means the world to you, but I could not be more high-profile at this point and they’re beating the shit out of me out there.’ And I get that, because I know he would show up and the Star and the Enquirer would be like, ‘Affleck reduced to a f—ing Canadian teen melodrama.’ “

Of course Smith, the beloved, foul-mouthed writer/director of cult hits Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy, certainly doesn’t think he’s slumming it by hanging around the hallowed halls of Degrassi and guest starring on three episodes of the popular CTV show, set to air in the spring. (And neither does Alanis Morissette who, as a favour to Smith, took on that high school principal role.) After all, it’s well-known film geek lore that, back when Smith was a Jersey convenience store clerk in the early ’90s, he became obsessed with CBC’s original series Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, which ran in the States on PBS. Friend Jason Mewes and Smith (known onscreen as Jay and Silent Bob) would watch Degrassi at the store, debating which Canadian chick was the hottest.

Last week, Smith, 34, made out with his Degrassi babe of choice, Caitlin Ryan (played by Stacie Mistysyn, one of four original cast members who have reprised their roles on The Next Generation). “I sent in a storyline where I come up to Canada to make a Jay and Silent Bob movie and I meet Caitlin, who’s now a journalist. I get involved in her life and become a third wheel in that Caitlin-Joey Jeremiah relationship. Then I didn’t hear back from the producer for a month. And I just imagined that she read that email and thought, ‘This motherf—–’s crazy; the guy’s writing himself into our mythology, and the show is all about him.’ “

The producer, Linda Schuyler, actually loved the idea, and all the details were eventually worked out. On the other hand, Smith’s wife, former newspaper reporter Jennifer Schwalbach, 33, wasn’t as keen — after all, Smith would be playing a version of himself that wasn’t married and didn’t have a five-year-old daughter. In the end, the director says she “let him do it,” knowing how important it was to him. “The show still captures my imagination,” he continues. “I’ve been making movies for 10 years, but walking onto this set, meeting a bunch of Canadian kid actors, I kind of get a little goofy about the whole thing. Plus, never in a million years would I get the opportunity to play something of a leading man. Normally I’m a f—ing clown, so the opportunity to play somebody who’s kind of charming and romantically involved is special.”

Of course, Degrassi: The Next Generation returns Smith’s love. The special episodes will only attract more buzz to this cross-border hit. It’s currently the highest-rated Canadian drama in the 18-to-49 age group. In the U.S., Degrassi is the signature series for The N (a digital and satellite prime-time channel aimed at 12- to 17-year-olds). The network plays the show about five times a day — and new episodes draw an average of 337,000 viewers, almost unheard of for a channel so high on the dial. Last October, the fourth-season premiere won its time slot in the teen demographic, beating out all the major network shows — and far exceeding the expectations of The N, which bought the series solely on the reputation of the original show. “Our tag line for Degrassi is, ‘It goes there,’ ” says Tom Ascheim, the channel’s executive vice president. “We got that from kids. It pulls no punches, wrestles issues to the ground and confronts them in an authentic voice.”

But sometimes it goes there and then some. Canadians don’t bat an eye at the way Degrassi treats serious, controversial subjects — including school violence, gay marriage and oral sex — with a unique combination of honesty and nonchalance. But in today’s political climate, The N — a liberal-leaning New York-based network — feels it has to be a bit more cautious. Last year, The N edited three episodes that featured a date rape storyline, and this season it shelved two shows that deal with an abortion, saying they were too heavy for summer viewing. “It’s a hot button topic,” says Schuyler, “they don’t come much hotter than that. Even with the original show we did an abortion story with the twins. They were Catholic, and when the pregnant twin decided to have the abortion, her sister said, ‘I don’t believe in what you’re doing, but you’re my sister, I can’t let you go alone.’ And they had to walk through a line of protesters to get inside the clinic. When it aired on PBS, they actually cut the last few seconds, so you don’t ever see them walk through the protesters and into the clinic. That was in 1989, and it was the only show out of 70 that PBS cut.”

This time around, one of the lead characters, Manny Santos, terminates a pregnancy, and there’s scant talk of religion or morality, and no regret. “On American TV, we usually seem to be very liberal,” says Smith. “But as you can see from the last election, most of the country is insanely f—king conservative. So the idea of throwing a teenage girl on the screen who has an abortion and doesn’t get ostracized or cry or ask Jesus for help frightens an American broadcaster, knowing what their constituency is. You have a lot of freedom up here — it’s so enviable.”

But the success of Degrassi is about much more than tackling taboos and flouting conventions — it works because it’s entertaining, and the characters strike a chord. “I don’t know about you,” says Smith, “but when I went to school there wasn’t a Luke Perry look-alike. I didn’t have a bunch of gorgeous people in their 40s trying to pass for 17. The kids on this show look and act like real kids, so to me it’s worlds better than anything else out there.”

That said, the new Degrassi class is pretty cute. Last summer The N took the actors on a mall tour, introducing them to the fact that, in one country at least, they had reached teen heartthrob status. “Here in Canada, we don’t really get recognized a lot,” says Cassie Steele, 14, who plays Manny. “Fans are laid-back, they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re on Degrassi, ha ha, loser.’ But in the States, you walk down the street and if people recognize you they’re like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, does anyone have a pen?’ “

The highest praise, though, came this month when Steele and the gang found out the most vocal fan of the original series has come to like the new one better. Back in 2001, Smith got a copy of the Degrassi: The Next Generation pilot and wasn’t impressed. He was excited to see that the old cast came back for a reunion but wasn’t interested in the new kids. It was three years before he checked in on the series again. “The kids had become better actors and much more intriguing and interesting,” says Smith. “I fell hard for it because it kept the old characters that I loved and then I grew to love the younger ones. The Manny-Craig-Ashley love triangle was spellbinding.”

Now Smith has his very own Degrassi love triangle. He jokes about slipping a member of the crew $20 so he’ll get to do multiple takes of the make-out scene. And even though Caitlin picks Joey, Smith’s finally lived out his fantasy of kissing a girl who says “aboot.”

At a press conference for Indie American filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Jersey Girl) held this morning at Epitome Productions in Toronto, Smith announced that not only will he be guest-starring in Degrassi: The Next Generation, but Jason Mewes will join him in the three episode story-arc scheduled to air in January.

The plotline follows the Degrassi cast as Smith, playing himself, films a fictional sequel to the cult-hit Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. For the ‘sequel’ titled Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, eh, director Kevin Smith has chosen Degrassi as the perfect Canadian high school for the shoot. In the Degrassi/ J&SB storyline, Jay and Silent Bob (played by Mewes and Smith) come to Canada to get a high-school diploma since no high-school in the USA will take them. A concept of which Smith has said, “The plot of the movie within the show is so funny, it almost makes me want to shoot the flick for real.”

Below are clips from the Oct. 20 press conference.

How this came to be

• “There is something about our storytelling that has a lot in common. A certain social consciousness. A warmth.” –Linda Schuyler, executive producer of Degrassi’

• (Schuyler’s response to Smith’s offer to direct an episode of Degrassi) “I can’t hire you for that. The show is 100 per cent Canadian.”

• (Schuyler’s response to Smith’s offer to write an episode of Degrassi) “I can’t hire you for that. The show is 100 per cent Canadian.”

• (Smith’s response to Schuyler’s offer of a cameo spot) “I don’t do cameos. How about I star in a three episode story arc.”

• (Schuyler) “That – we can do!”

• “I’ve offered to direct other things in the past. ‘Because the show is 100 per cent Canadian’ is the best excuse I’ve ever got for not letting me.” –Smith

What to expect

• (On what the shows could be about) Smith: “I want to get in between Joey and Caitlin.” Schuyler: “We can make that work.”

• “Aaron and Shelley did a great job of writing my little world into their little world.” –Smith talking about Aaron Martin, Executive Producer and Writer, and Shelley Scarrow, Story Editor and Writer

Kevin Smith on Degrassi

• (On how he got hooked on the original Degrassi back in 1994) “The first time I watched the show I thought, “this is so melodramatic,” and by the end of the episode I was weeping.”

• “Degrassi is one of the very few fascinations that I’ve carried through to adulthood.”

• “When I heard they were bringing the show back I was one of those people who said, ‘Don’t [mess] with perfection.’ But this is better. [The Next Generation] took all the best parts of the last show and put it together with a fantastic cast and great stories.” -Smith

• “I’ve always viewed Toronto as my adopted home planet.” –Smith