• We’ve just heard an announcement from the UK of the planned release of two My Name is Earl-themed items that feature Lee’s voice — A talking bottle opener AND a talking keychain. The items both say the same phrases, and they are the following odd choices:

1. Ahmm, number 86: Stole a car from a one-legged girl.
2. Ah, don’t worry about it, I been stabbed by plenty of girls.
3. Sometimes ya gotta fight crazy with crazy.
4. Ain’t no use runnin’ fool! I know where your momma parks your house!
5. Woulda been more upset if I wasn’t so doped up.
6. Wakey wakey, hands off snakey!

Both items are due to arrive worldwide this June/July.

• Hey, Alanis fans — The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame website currently lists Dogma’s God as number 23 of a list of 26 potential future inductees (with your votes being considered). Her write-up:

• Last night’s episode of the struggling CBS comedy “Rules of Engagement” had a story twist where the three male leads compare their “Battle Scars” from the night before. A very big homage (though we’re not sure intential one) to Jason and Joey in “Chasing Amy”.
• The guys over at Solar Shock Pictures do a regular podcast, the latest one being titled “Aftershock” episode #20. In this cast they’ve created their own audio commentary for ‘Clerks II’. Sometimes entertaining, sometimes insightful, and sometimes, well, off-topic, it’s worth a listen for fans looking to hear a fan approach to the film.
• Attention View Askew DVD completists! The Season 5 DVD set of “Degrassi: The Next Generation” will be out on June 26th. This is the season with “Lexicon of Love Parts 1 & 2”, which are the Kevin and Jay episodes that did NOTappear on the “Jay & Silent Bob Do Degrassi” mini-set (they were aired after the set was struck). No word on another View Askew Degrassi release, so this may be your only way to own ‘em! Mark the calendar.

• Kevin took the stage in Akron, Ohio on Friday for a packed Q&A session, where he entertained crowds for a rather short session…Not by his own choice, mind you, we hear that the school pulled the plug due to time concerns at the very early hour of 10:45. So, sadly, not all those in line got the Q’s A’ed, though it does look as if Kevin did take time to sign stuff for those who asked. Check out some photos above to see the dude looking quite trim these days, the diet’s doing him well for sure! Enjoy. If anyone’s got further details on their favorite stories from the event, let us know. These are the some of the first shows after “Evening Harder”, so we’re guessing some new stories might be coming out, as Kevin does not repeat stuff that can already be found on the discs.

Thanks to Mike Kopcak of MovieMiguel.com for sharing his questions and story — He explains that his question got one of the longer replies of the night, though he didn’t know that as folks who were waiting to ask had to actually wait in line OUTSIDE of the theater for their turn! Crazy.

• Was anyone as sort of let down by last night’s Galactica episode like we were? Meh. At any rate, fans of Battlestar Galactica will really dig these videos of Kevin’s recent moderation of the show’s panel at Comic-Con:

This is sort of a geek moment come true. Even at its worst, Galactica remains one of the best on TV, so to see Kevin play fanboy and joke around with the cast while still keeping the information interesting is a true treat. Love this stuff. Some of my favorite videos of the year right here.

• Star Wars fanclub the 501st Legion inducted Kevin as a “Friend of the Legion” during his recent New York con appearance:

• Kevin gets some ink from The Onion’s AV Club in an article titled “Inventory: 13 Movies featuring magical black men” :

Thanks for popping by today. More news later, as we’re expecting a new podcast and blog post from Kevin today or tomorrow as well. Stay tuned.

• The University of Akron welcomes Kevin Smith tonight for another of his awesome live Q&A appearances, where anything can happen and, dollar for dollar, hour for hour, you ALWAYS get your money’s worth. Tonight’s show begins at 7:30 PM and with it being a Friday and all, we’re betting this will easily run past midnight. Tickets are at an amazingly cheap price (thank the University for funding most of the show), $8 for the public and $4 for students. The site still shows a live BUY TICKETS link, so we’re assuming they may still be some seats open. At this price, it’s a steal, and well worth a road trip in. So if you can make it — Get rolling! We look forward to hearing from those of you lucky enough to attend tonight. Enjoy the show!

• Moving into 2007, the biggest news we’ll be covering will be the TWO films announced for Kevin’s slate this year, first the horror flick, then the new comedy. Few details are currently available for both projects, though Kevin was kind enough to field a few questions regarding the plan for 2007 in this Board post:

There ya have it, folks. Keep in mind speculation is the key here, though that’s the current plan. We’re expecting “Manchild” will be picked up, though happy to hear it won’t push the schedule back (seems they kept that in mind when coming up with the projects). And Rosario being considered for the next comedy? LOVE that news. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.

• This was posted as the “Ask Yahoo” question of the day for today:

This is easy and documented, thanks to our News Askew archives. The term first appeared in an LA Times piece that we posted here on January 12th, 2003. Here’s the text:

For the record, that was just meant as an inside joke that grew out of control, so folks who blame Kevin for the press’s overuse of the concept (and sort-of spoiling of the joke), that’s not his fault. We think the pinnacle of the fun was Affleck’s SNL monloogue (remember “Boprah”?). After that, the press just got too carried away with it. However, who coined “Bennifer”? Kevin himself, on January 12th, 2003. Take that, Yahoo Answers!

• Where’s this week’s SModcast? Kevin’s got the quick answer:

• Mallrats in HD? You betcha! Awesome DVD supersite The Digital Bits leaked a huge list of Universal HD-DVD titles in their rumor mill, and Mallrats was one of the many cool titles included (planned for June 2007). We’d love to see this colorful, fun flick in all its HD glory. HiDef digest seems to confirm the leakage so we’re gonna take this one as gospel. The only bummer of this news? Looks like we’ll be buying Battlestar Galactica Season One all over again — Who wouldn’t want to own the amazing season one in HD? Lots of other coolness in the list, including Peter Jackson’s underappreciated “The Frighteners” as well as “Shaun of the Dead”. Gotta love HD.

• After a rather quiet news week here at the site, we’re going out with a group of nice stories, now being prepped for an update that will arrive somewhere close to 3 PM EST today. Those of you looking for a few extra minutes to kill on your Friday workday, here’s your chance. Stories on the way will cover Kevin’s upcoming appearance in Ohio tonight, status of the next SModcast, the upcoming shooting schedule, and much more. We hope to see you back here shortly!