• Howdy folks, how are ya today? Thanks for stopping in. Let’s start with the big news. We quietly moved into 17 million plus hits over the weekend, and we’d like to congratulate and thank Robert Bellair for hitting that milestone and telling us about it. If you asked us if we ever thought that hits would get into these types of numbers when we started, we’d have chuckled a bit. But here we are, over eight years later, and we’re going as strong as ever. Thanks for sticking with us. And to all your recently new readers — Welcome, and we hope you’ll hang out a while.

As part of our Spring Cleaning event, we’re adding new features and enhancing old ones. Our first poll topic, asking you if you intended to vote, was sort of an in-joke. After all, even if your answer was no, you voted. So, with that test run and funny business our of the way, it’s time to get into the more interesting questions. So, we’d like to present our first serious poll topic, which you can vote on via your left sidebar. Thanks to BOB KLEIN for the suggestion on this one. Want to see your own poll topic gracing the front page of News Askew? Send it on! We’d love to hear it.

Kevin’s revealing and detailed online blog continues at www.silentbobspeaks.com. If you’re not checking it as part of your web surfing routine, get started! Kevin’s dropping some intriguing info on his experiences in Canada as he works in a major supporting role for the film “Catch and Release” (obviously fishing plays a role in the film and Kevin’s part, from his entries). As always, required reading.

And finally, it’s an interesting week of TV as finales have arrived. Here’s hoping the Lost finale doesn’t disappoint as much as 24 did (a lackluster finale after a pretty great year). And if you missed Deadwood on HBO, despite a less intiguing second season, it remains some of the most creative writing on television. Entourage, another HBO guilty pleasure, returns in a couple weeks, too. At least the end of the major season will allow a few moments to leave the TV and PC screen and see the sun. Perhaps.

So, with some big news just ahead, and more site annnouncements to come shortly — Let’s get rolling here.