By Steve Segal

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Of the current crop of young filmmakers, Kevin Smith has few equals.

Of all the celebrity sites on the Internet, his World Wide Web site, “View Askew Productions” (www.viewaskew.com) also has few equals.

Two of my greatest interests in life are the Internet and movies. As a result, I’m very familiar with most of the film sites.

I’m sick and tired of the majority of the celebrity sites. Most are just plain terrible. Talk about wasted bandwidth: just a few mug shots, some very brief biographical information and other worthless junk.

This View Askew-niverse is a virtual cornucopia of everything disciples of Smith would ever want to know. Sure, there’s your typical links to news, biographies and the like. Of course, you can order lots of merchandise – some of it even personalized.

The “View Askew” site is the best celebrity site on the Internet. Here’s why:

Unlike most other sites

First of all, the “View Askew” site is extremely well done. The Team Askew obviously care a great deal about the subject. The graphics are well designed and the text are full of information and humor. (As an added bonus for those of us with slow Internet connections, the pages don’t take forever to load.)

(NOTE: Those easily offended by off-color language should probably avoid this site.)

Comprehensive

Second, the site is so very comprehensive.

Smith’s “Chasing Amy” (1997) is one of the best movies made in recent years. It was after watching this movie that I first went onto the Internet to try and find more information.

Not only were all my questions answered, but it also answered questions I hadn’t even thought of. The site not only covers Smith’s movies, but also has lots of commentary and information about Smith, his cast and crew. There were plenty of trilogy movie and sound clips.

For those unfamiliar with Smith, not only is he a writer and director, but he also has appearances – of varying lengths – as Silent Bob. For those who want to hear the actual voice of the man who says few words, there are Real Audio/Video broadcasts.

Interaction

The site has two bulletin board-type areas for posting. One is for fans to converse with each other and one is for fans to ask Team Askew questions. Depending upon his schedule, Smith does check the site often and does respond.

Before going rushing to e-mail the site, three tips: 1. Do NOT ask for a job; 2. Do NOT ask to be in a movie and 3. Make sure to read the “summaries” before posting and making a fool of yourself.

Just plain fun

Many Web sites include easy-to-copy link buttons. Mostly, these are just HTML code which fans can include on their own personal Web pages.

Those who want to tell the world about their Smith-worship have several options. The sites has pages of very well-designed link buttons (“Steal these images”). My choice is the great shot of Joey Lauren Adams, from “Chasing Amy.”

News, news and more news

For those who want even more information, there is a link to “News Askew” (www.newsaskew.com). There’s a special breaking daily news section about “Dogma,” as well as other Askew-related actors like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

“News Askew” was created and is maintained by Brad Plevyak and Chris Alley. Based in Carlisle, the site has been online for more than a year. It grew out of an online trilogy drinking game the two invented. According to Plevyak, the site gets more than a thousand hits a day.

Smith has viewed this fan-created site as an asset, not a threat.

“Kevin’s a great guy,” said Plevyak. “He helped the site out immensely when he posted about it on his own board. Since then, he’s added links to us on that site, as well as mentioned us frequently in posts – as a good reference point. He visits the site fairly regularly to keep up with what’s going on with him in the press and has told us the site is an excellent resource for him. We couldn’t be happier.”

Speaking as a fellow Smith enthusiast, neither could I.

Smith, currently in the area shooting his new movie “Dogma,” is best know for writing and directing his New Jersey Trilogy: “Clerks” (1994), “Mallrats” (1995) and “Chasing Amy.”