• Austinist is reporting that Kevin will return to town to present his first major starring effort, “Catch And Release”. Many of us were lucky enough to catch this one at Vulgarthon in Red Bank, and it brought the house down — It’s full of show-stealing laughs from Kevin, and really is a uniquely written and presented romantic comedy, told from many different perspectives. Seek it out, especially if you’re in Austin for an early peek. Here’s their story:

And hey, speaking of Austin, has everyone checked out this Grindhouse footage from Austin boy Robert Rodriguez? Holy cow, we are SO THERE!

• Catch Mallrats’ Michael Rooker (and a slew of other cool horror guests) at this year’s “Rock And Shock”. The show takes places this weekend at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. Lots more into at the official site. We hear Rooker always loves meeting up with the Mallrats fans.
• On E’s True Hollywood Story this week they covered the film “Scarface”. At the very end they talked about the new video game based on the film (”The World Is Yours”). They had a brief shot of Jason Mewees recording dialogue for the game and giving a quote about it. The game’s now out on shelves, so if you spot Mewes, be sure and let us know where you found his audio.
• And finally today, pay attention, internet trash talkers – A jury has awarded a Florida woman $11.3 million over defamatory internet posts, according to this USA Today article. Maybe Jay & Bob shoulod have sued instead of beat dudes up, huh? We’re guessing Kevin could retire on lawsuits from those trolling talkbackers alone! See ya next time…

• Some of the regrets we have in having busy day jobs are not having time to run more events to get fans together online — So it’s always nice to know there’s places like Chat Askew out there, which has been hosting friendly online gatherings on a daily basis for quite some time now.

They’ve purchased a couple servers of their own and now have 6 servers networked together. Here they are:

Details on this big announcement at http://chat37.net/joomla/content/view/18/2/

The new network information can be found at www.chat-37.net. The updated FAQ section has lots of informationon their network services. And the #viewaskew room is always jumpin’ with a fun bunch.

We also want to say that Roger’s been kind enough to set us up with our own NewsAskew chat room there, which we do hope to soon use for some “official” type chats, perhaps even some special guests from the Askewniverse for your question asking pleasure. Winter months mean more time inside and in front of the PC up here in the Northeast, so we’re looking forward to bringing you some new features and activities to enjoy here at the site. Stay tuned.

• Catch Jason Lee late tomorrow night on Jimmy Kimmel live on your local ABC station — The program airs at 12:05 EST/PST. We’re assuming it’s to promote the new season of Earl, and perhaps the fantastic season one DVD box set.

• Jay & Silent Bob yet again return to the Horror Nights Halloween show in Orlando, Florida this year. Check out a photo from the event. We’re awaiting the inevitable barrage of costume photos, always a popular feature around this time of year.
• Vulgar’s made one website’s list of the top scariest clowns at #10. Patch Adams rightfully takes the top spot.

• Just a few quick weekend tidbits for ya here. First up, two new shots of the Clerks II DVD cover at beta portal site “Listal”. We don’t think that any changes have been made but you CAN see the little banner at the top indicating there will be a full screen edition of the set as well as a widescreen one. We think you’d be batty to get anything but widescreen, of course.

• Wanna see how Alanis is going to look on episode 6 of popular FX drama Nip/Tuck? Check out these 4 nice scans right here. Her character’s name is “Poppy”, described as “an athletic and perky woman who is into health and fitness”. She will play a love interest for the Liz character.
• And finally today, Kevin called in to the Opie and Anthony show on XM last week (10/4) to congratulate the boys on their second year anniversary since their return to radio. Most of the call was spent with Kevin talking about the Ebert and Roeper gig and just general chit-chat. He DID reveal that he planned to come in to the studio in November to promote the “Clerks II” and “Evening Harder” DVDs. We’ll certainly let you know when we get that info. You can also purchase the complete broadcast HERE right now. In the meantime, we’re working on tracking down clippage of the Kevin call, and hope to have that for you soon. Enjoy your Sunday NFL action, folks!

• We believe it’s for the first time, too, so we’re very pleased to bring fans in Hawaii their first chance to see Kevin Smith live and in person on these beautiful islands. Kevin will be attending the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu and will be doing a Q&A at the beautifully restored Hawaii Theater on the 28th of October. The film festival is honoring him with their “Maverick Award” as well while he’s there at the festival.

But hey, you come to News Askew to SEE this stuff, not read about it, right? Wanna go? Get your tickets for a mere $15 at this very website. Showtime is at 7:30 HST on Saturday the 28th. And hey, don’t say we never did anything for you. Now hey, who’s got some beachfront property they want to put us up at for the weekend?

Don’t believe us? The Star Bulletin. Yeah!

• Subscribers to our News Askew YouTube feed already know — But we’re happy to inform the rest of you that we’ve now got full online clippage of Kevin’s “At The Movies” stint from this past weekend as part of our library now. Watch Kevin in his second appearance on the very popular, long running movie review program on televsion, kicking butt and looking comfortable as ever in the Roger Ebert chair as he takes on the role of reviewer (instead of reviewee) for fresh flicks this week.

What’s he think of “The Departed”, “Open Season” and more? We know. And you will know soon, as well, via our YouTube Channel. Enjoy!

• Here’s a cool one – An astue scooper (Thanks Riss!) found an old scan we were asking for, yet never received, of a Simpsons comic referencing Clerks back in 2003. Here now, for the first time on this site, is the scan of said panels. Enjoy!
• Another scan of the famous recent Buddy Christ incident can be found at the San Francisco Chronicle site, in color this time.
• MALLRATS’ Priscilla Barnes will be one of the guests at the bi-annual Chiller Theater con in NJ Halloween Weekend. Con details can be found at their website.No word if she’ll be doing any fortune-telling, though we’re guessing not.
• And finally on this fine day, not only did Salma get nods for her striptease, but Jason Lee as “Syndrome” in “The Incredibles” also gets nods as the number 5 man in a cape from movies.com. A memorable role, indeed. If you haven’t watched The Incredibles in a while, do it again. The flick really holds up, and might even play better today than when it first arrived. A true classic.

• Wow, holy cow — You crazy kids sure know how to end a contest! Mere hours after the contest was announced, it seems that many fans got click-happy and sat their butts at the PC refreshing News Askew to ensure they had a shot at the big prize and the claim of being our 20 MILLIONTH visitor — Many of you tired. And yes, we’re talking to YOU Turbobadger, Ben Roffman, Chris Davis, Anthony McConnell, Chris Cutshaw, Carl Sodergen, ArrogantJon, HomerGator, Stephen Schneider, Peter Langton, James Eakins, Fatbob, Ethan Long, Mel, John Couture, Jonathon Miller, Jon Madden, Dave Turnbull, Nick Bartlett, Enden, Tom Henry, Wes Clark, Jeff Morris, Average Joe, Joshua Cheung, Alex Eschbach, Matt Lavanco, Ben Szymkow, Tim Caballero, Croth, Eddy Eddy, Jim Page

However, there could only be one winner. Alex Traynor was 20 mil plus 4. Jordan Flanagan missed it by three. Jason Huff missed it by two. Our friend Remy in FRANCE missed it by ONE. However, one man can claim the prize and the title: That man is…

JOHN HABASHI.

So we’d like to congratulate John, and let him know that a pair of Kevin’s ex-Vans will be autographed and sent his way! Nicely hit, sir. Nicely hit.

We’d like to again thank each and every one of our readers for all they do to help us keep the site rolling. For your scoops, your visits, your support. Dig it all. Thanks so much. And congrats to our winner once again as well. We hope you all had fun trying to hit the magic number.

• Almost as popular as contest submissions today is a story floating around about the famous Buddy Christ appearing in Iraq, and causing some ire amongst the locals — And rightfully so, perhaps. Judge for yourself. This story from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Why is ‘Buddy Jesus’ in Iraq?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi troops backed by American military advisers arrested a suspected Shiite militiaman Saturday, but a gunbattle at his house left a woman and a girl dead, Iraqi police said.

Afterward, angry men at the scene held up a color photo of a smiling, winking Jesus giving a “thumbs up” that they said was left by troops at the raided house — an allegation denied by U.S. and Iraqi officials.

The photo, known as the “Buddy Christ,” is from the movie “Dogma,” a 1999 religious satire in which “Buddy Christ” is part of a church campaign to improve Jesus’ image.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said the photo was a ”rather ridiculous attempt” to discredit the raid. It was unclear how it ended up at the site in Baghdad’s Shiite stronghold of Sadr City .

The scan above comes from “The Californian”.