• We missed another Askew vet who received a Golden Globe nom last week: Alanis! She’s nominated for Best Original Song: “WUNDERKIND” from THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Funny story from the IMDB to go with that one, too:

Alanis Morissette was terrified when she started receiving dozens of phone calls congratulating her on her Golden Globe nomination on Tuesday, because she thought a loved one had been injured. Morissette was stunned to discover she had been nominated for Best Original Song – Motion Picture for her track “Wunderkind” from the soundtrack of The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. The rocker will compete with Mel Brooks, Dolly Parton and Sir Elton John’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin for the coveted gong at the January ceremony. Morissette admits when she first started receiving phone calls early Tuesday morning, she thought “something must be wrong, somebody must be hurt.” But she adds, “I’m really excited. This song really touches me deeply, and so I’m excited that some light is being shown on it. I wrote the song on Friday and recorded it on Saturday and pretty Much handed it in the next day.”

Go Alanis!

• More Earl kudos! The Writers Guild nominations are out, and the show’s been getting even more notice from this group. Here’s what Earl’s creators are in the running for in this batch:

• And finally today, let’s hope this “The Price Is Right” contestant won BIG MONEY on the show with a shirt like that! You go, Elizabeth! We’ll be back again real soon. Thanks for stopping by!

• We know that you’re all eagerly awaiting the inevitable first internet-only trailer for Clerks 2, which we’re betting will come sooner than later. Until then, though, here’s some other films of interest on the web today for your viewing pleasure.

First up, you may have missed this in the Saturday post, but buried in with those 2 brilliant new Clerks2.com vids was the official trailer for “Catch and Release”, Kevin Smith’s first starring role (in a flick other than his own, anyway). Kevin steals the show in the trailer (take a look at that face following Garner’s dinnertime revelation), which you can check out courtesy The Movie Box in both Quicktime and Windows Media formats. The film will be released nationwide theatrically on April 28, 2006.

Want more? Ok, you got it. Here’s a “Bottoms Up” trailer. That’s the flick starring Paris Hilton and our beloved Jason Mewes. It’s a direct link and only in QuickTime format (sorry, non QT’ers).

And finally today, from the fan video front: This one’s a REAL slow loader, though put together pretty well. It’s a fan trailer using the new Superman trailer audio, but incorporating a bunch of Silent Bob clips to create “Silent Bob Returns”. Inline QuickTime for this one as well, it looks like.

• Happy Holidays, folks. Our apologies for the delay with updates over the past couple of days. The upcoming news should get us up to speed with all the goings-on. In addition to it being that busy holiday shopping, Christmas card sending, Christmas tree watering type of stuff, one of us was just in the presence of the coolness that IS the new View Askew flick: Clerks 2! Yep, Brad was out west on Friday to see the glory, making the cross-country trek for just that purpose. The film proves an excellent companion piece to the original, but also stands alone as its own, different film, enjoyable by folks who haven’t ever seen anything from the Askewniverse. A noble feat. A full, spoiler-free review is on the way in the near future (tough to write those things without giving away any details, which we’re contractually obligated to do). Wish you all could have been there, seriously.

That being said, let’s get on to some stuff we CAN give you the full details on: Today’s edition of News Askew.

• We always love when the web sites get press! This New York Times web piece interviews Kevin briefly about his vast presence on the web, including the very site you’re reading right now. They call it…

• The UK’s Channel 4 has started running “My Name Is Earl” promos, stating that the show will soon air overseas on Friday nights. No start date has yet been announced.

• The perfect stocking stuffer for the View Askew fan in your life – PEEL AND STICK BUDDY CHRISTS! These peel and stick Buddy Christ decals are high quality stick-ons that are fully removeable, weatherproof and reusable. Originally designed as high-quality auto decals, the Buddy can be put on any flat surface and can be removed at any time, yet they cling as tightly as a regular sticker does. Each sheet contains 1 large 8” inch Buddy Christ, 1 4” inch Buddy Christ and 2 3” inch Buddy Christs. Buy em cheap HERE!

“Rain Day”

“How To Edit a Music Video”

“Catch And Release” Trailer

• We have THREE new video clips here for you to enjoy this morning. The first clip is straight from the Clerks 2 website and it shows you what happens when mother nature isn’t cooperating with your shooting schedule. The second clip is a fun piece from View Askew master-editor Mattt Potter showing you the proper way to edit a music video. And the third clip is our first glimpse of the upcoming flick “Catch And Release”, co-starring the one and only Kevin Smith. The movie looks pretty sweet and funny. We’ll try to post a larger version of the trailer (hopefully in HD too!) once it becomes available.

• We mentioned this earlier this week, but here’s a shot from the big “Sin City” delxue DVD party at the Arclight. As you can see, Kevin was indeed on hand for the big show, along with an amazing roster of some of the coolest people in the biz (in fact, both these webmsaters wouldn’t mind shaking the hand of everyone in that photo):

“Filmmaker Kevin Smith (l.) joined Sin City co-directors (l. to r.) Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, special makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero and guest director Quentin Tarantino at a screening and Q&A of the film’s recut, extended, unrated DVD at the ArcLight Theatre in Los Angeles. Special features on the DVD, which bows in stores Dec. 13, include filmmakers commentaries, more than 20 minutes of additional footage, bloopers, making-of featurettes and an interactive game.”

• More great news for Jason Lee today: “My Name is Earl” is the highest ranked show in terms of positive buzz, says one research firm.
• A show called “Venture” that appears on Canadian TV (CBC) recently featured an interview with Kevin. The episode was busting nasty holiday shoppers, and discussing the downside to being a retail clerk. Interviewing from his store, Kevin quipped about not putting up with the evil consumers that treat the clerk poorly. Scenes from Clerks were used throughout the segment, along with a nice plug for Clerks 2. If by any chance anyone has a copy, we’d love to make some clips for the archives.

• News Askew would like to congratulate Jason Lee on his Golden Globe nomination. Both Lee AND his series, “My Name Is Earl”, made the short list of nominees for the awards, which weere announced today. We couldn’t be more excited or proud for Lee, a great guy who’s been working with us a lot of years and deserves all of these accoldades and more. Let’s take a look at the categories as well as the competition:

Lots of good competition there, but we do believe both Lee and Earl have a shot. The program is loved by both audiences and critics, though it does face some tough trials in returning competition. Our thoughts? Earl is the most original and universal new show on there, and Lee OWNS the role. Good luck to Jason and Earl’s creators! You can view a full list of award nominees at the Hollywood Foreign Press website.

• Loveline has been rotating in and out different guests/cohosts since Adam Carolla left to replace Stern in the west coast starting January 3rd. As we mentioned last week, our own Jason Mewes did the co-host thing back on the 6th of December. Thankfully, for those of you that want to hear it, the epsiodes are re-posted online. Check the Loveline FAQ for download locations, or grab the show at the Loveline Download Center. One of our scoopers has also posted another copy of the program, in RealMeda format, HERE. Enjoy!
• Last Wednesday, a screening of the awesome new extended cut of “Sin City” was held. Kevin was in attendance, and made a brief appearance at the very end. Pulp Fiction Online reports.

• Seems we’ve been handing out the congratulations all over the place lately — Today, we’d like to congratulate Matt Damon and his fiancee Luciana Barroso on their marriage. The couple tied the knot on Friday morning in New York City. Access Hollywood is also reporting that they’re expecting their first child together, as Luciana’s 3 months pregnant. Damon and Affleck, married with children in the same year! We’re sure that they’ll always find time to show up in some View Askew productions down the line, despite their new family commitments. Congratulations!
• TV Shows on DVD reports that “The Andy Milonakis Show” will be released on DVD in 2006. Longtime fans of View Askew may recognize Andy from many past View Askew events. He’s been a longtime fan.
• Chris Rock has announced that he will NOT host the Oscars again this year.

• Our good ‘ol Buddy Christ appears on the cover of PLAY, a local newspaper to New Haven, CT. Check out the photo right here.
• Stan Lee speaks about his Mallrats role in a new interview he conducted with IGN. Here’s the excerpt:

• And last, but certainly not least today, a final bit of congratulatory business – The marriages keep on comin’, with our beloved Bob Chapman also tied the knot last week! Here’s wishing Bob and his new bride a wonderful honeymoon and a happy, healthy marriage! Thanks to Albert Ortega for his always-excellent photos.

“The Boys Are Back”

“The Man With The Plan”

• Fresh off the Avid, here are two new behind-the-scenes clips from Clerks 2 for your viewing pleasure. First off there’s the triumphant return of Jay & Silent Bob. It’s a lot of fun to see Kevin and Jay preparing for their first day of dialogue.

The second clip introduces us to Panasonic guru and newly-minted professional actor Ed Janda. This clip gives you a glimpse into the kind of family atmosphere Kevin fosters on all of his sets. Make sure you check them both out by clicking the pics above! We’ll be back with more news later…

• If you can find a way to watch CBC Television in Canada on Sunday Dec. 11th at 7:25pm (to be exact), then it’s your lucky day. You’ll catch Kevin talking up Clerks 2 and reminiscing about the good ol’ days (not!) behind the convenience store counter. And yes, Kevin still wants to be Randal Graves. Kevin appears on CBC Television’s irreverant business show, Venture (yes, business show… but it’s not boring, we swear!) The Venture crew came down to Kevin’s New Jersey comic book store to pick his brain about Clerks 2, customers from hell and life behind the cash register. Tune if if you have the means.

• Panasonic is rolling out an amazing new camcorder, capable of making HD quality films. Kevin was on hand for the press event introducing the camera yesterday, which looks like an amazing piece of equipment. >From the article:

Alright, so the AG-HVX200 is now on our respective Christmas lists. Any takers?

• We hear that Jason Mewes unexpectedly filled in for Jack Osbourne on the radio program “LoveLine” on Wednesday night. The program is syndicated throughout the country and helps kids with their sex-type problems. We’re sorry we didn’t have pre-notice to inform you, though if anyone’s got clips, we’d love to share them. Congrats on a cool gig, Mewes.
• A limited edition audio CD called “The Collection” from Alanis Morissette includes an hourlong DVD documentary about her career. Keivn appears in it, where he talks about “Dogma”, her playing God, and writing “Still” for the flick’s soundtrack.
• “24” fanatic Shannen Doherty appears on an episode’s commentary track on the new “24: Season 4” DVD box set.
• And finally today…A real-life “My Name Is Earl” story? The Austin Chronicle reports. We’ll be back again with more updates, as it’s been an incredibly busy and exciting December. Those of you (like us) getting hammered with that first snowstorm of the season, stay warm and be careful out there!