So I’ve gotten to all these posts (and read the posts from when I was away). I’ve heard and appreciated your thoughts on the Mtv special, the comic, and everything generally Askew. Many thanks – for both the praise and the flames.It all gets put to use, in one fashion or another.

Just got got from LA. It was a productive trip. The Golden Apple signing was a blast, and very successful (Apple owner Bill Liebowitz said they hadn’t had a signing with that large a turn-out in quite a few years – back to the early days of Image Comics). To those of you from the board who showed up, thanks for coming.

But thanks chiefly to the cat who gave me the statue. The guy (who took off without giving me his stats) crafted a one-of-a-kind gem: the Genie from ‘Aladdin’, as if he dressed like Silent Bob. It’s cherished already, and sitting on my Pittsburgh office desk.

Saw many folks out in LA-LA, not the least of which was one of my ten favorite people on the planet: you, you, you oughta know.

Malcolm was out there casting ‘Taillights Fade’, and I’ve gotta say – they were seeing a fairly heady calibre of talent. We thought we saw young Hollywood for the ‘Rats’ auditions? Malcolm’s audition sign-in sheets read like a who’s-who of the up-and-comers (and some who’ve already arrived). I’ll let him share when he returns.

As you might’ve noticed down below, I interviewed with the lovely Jennifer Schwalback for USA Today, for a piece that’ll either run this week or next, I’d imagine.

Also did a piece on ‘E’ for the Oni stuff.

But most importantly – I rehearsed with some of the cast.

Both Rock and Salma came over and spent some time going over the script. Mind you – this was the first time I’ve heard any of this dialogue read aloud by anyone other than me.

It was beyond thrilling.

Both of them are working extremely hard on the mouthfuls of dialogue they’ve gotta be able to spit out like it’s no biggie, and both are doing this local youth-made-good proud.

I can’t wait for ya’ll to hear them.

Our D.P.’s been hired. His name’s Bob Yeoman, and he seems like a good enough cat. You might’ve seen his work in ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ and ‘Bottle Rocket’, not to mention sundry other flicks. We’ve gone over the flick, and whether or not to shoot anamorphically or just plain ol’ Super 35. I think we’re leaning toward the latter.

Gary, our stunt coordinater, also signed on, as did Jim, our First A.D. Gary’s done so many shows, his resume reads like a filmography of the 20th century (he was the guy who did the actual swing with the Princess in ‘Star Wars’). Jim’s AD’ed on everything from ‘Dazed’ to ‘Fargo’, and has already come up with some good suggestions.

I caught ‘The Wedding Singer’ out there as well. Man, is Drew Barrymore not good. Enjoyed the film enough – sort of as much as I enjoyed ‘Romy and Michelle’ (the flicks’re more about moments than the whole).

Finally got to see the ‘South Park’ Christmas episode while I was there (“HOOOOOOWDY-HO!!!”) – quite funny, that.

All in all, it was a good trip, Charlie Brown.

Mosier continues to steam-roll through the storyboards (which maybe we’ll post, mid-way through production), and man are they looking gorgeous.

Now for some Oni News: spurred by the swift sales of the ‘Clerks’ comic, the Oni Double Feature #1 has completely SOLD OUT. That means we’re going back to press, folks – A SECOND PRINTING!!!

It may not mean much to the comics-inclined, but it’s a big deal to me.

We expect to go back to press on the ‘Clerks’ book in the next two weeks as well.

So we’ve changed up the pricing on the signed copies.

Oni Double Feature #1 first print are jumping to ten bucks. The second print (which says “Second Printing – Naga Nooch.”) will remain at five bucks. The ‘Clerks’ book is going to be ten bucks for first printings too. If you order both first prints, it’ll be $17.00 (including postage and handling).

I’ve seen some of Duncan Fregredo’s (sp?) early sketches for the Jay and Bob series, and man are you Mahfood-bashers going to be ecstatic about it.

On that subject, I love what Jim did with the art for ‘Clerks’. And when you consider my dense script left him unable to utilize as much of the panel as possible oftentimes, you appreciate him even more.

I gotta say, we practically owned last week. from Mtv to Golden Apple, it was a week Askew.

Thanks for making it all possible.