- More Lee news: The Disney Channe’s Movie Surfers is promoting The Incredibles with a featurette of Lee being interviewed by the kid
hosts, also containing clips from the film and of Lee in the recording booth. Runs a few minutes only, so check in between programs. - And finally today, the Clerks lunchbox gets a mention
in a Boston Phoenix article today. Available for purchase at The Stash of course (plug plug!). Imagine how cool you’d be toting your lunch to work in
that sucker. Plus don’t forget, they’re limited. See ya next time!
Author Archive
Two Kevin Commentaries: 2.15.05!
- Kevin’s “Donnie Darko” commentary (with director Richard Kelley) is coming to America! DVDAnswers reveals
that the “Donnie Darko: Director’s Cut” DVD (including said commentary) will be available in the US on
February 15, 2005. IGN has confirmed this as well as
The Digital Bits. The set is currently available in the UK.
And in OTHER DVD news, Kevin ALSO appears in a commentary track for the film (Track 3, according to orgazmodvd.com’s feature listings).
We’ve heard that this was done over the phone and is not feature length or scene specific in any way. Owning the flick on a special edition DVD is a long
overdue treat, though, so it’s great to see this one also has an arrival date: 2/15/2005 (SRP $19.98). I don’t think I’m gonna do Hamster Style anymore.
Kevin & Ben: Setting The Record Straight
- We have had at least 50 e-mails regarding the media runaway story that’s entailing Ben Affleck having words to say against Kevin’s
merchandising tactics. First, let’s give you this clip that the press is having a field day exploiting:
Ben Affleck has made an astonishing swipe at long-term pal, director Kevin Smith – accusing him of exploiting teenage fans of his cult films. Affleck has appeared in five of Smith’s films, starting with 1995’s Mallrats and most recently this year’s Jersey Girl. But Smith was reportedly upset Affleck snubbed the DVD launch of Jersey Girl – and Affleck has hit back while publicizing new movie Surviving Christmas. He told The Scoop, “It wasn’t enough that I went to Vegas to play in his lame charity poker tournament for the DVD launch of Jersey Girl, but I also had to go out to his f***ing store where he’s opening a st! ore where all he’s doing is selling more T-shirts of him and his jacka** friend (Jason Mewes) and he’s roped in an entire generation of kids into thinking it’s worth spending $30 on and $50 if he signs it. I mean the whole thing is a complete travesty and he wanted me to participate in it and I won’t do that.”
Let’s just set the record straight from our point of view here. We all know how sarcastic Kev and Affleck get, and reading something is a lot different
than hearing it said. And those of us who’ve watched the Jersey Girl DVD extras have seen this very exchange done, in live video, with sarcastic smiles
from both sides as the jabs took place. Oh wait, in fact, you wanna see it? Read on.
This article seems to completely leave out the relationship between the two that we all know and love — including its (at times) heavily sarcastic
nature. The press must have just needed a story that day.
So, that being said, Kevin himself has this to say about the entire thing (which originated, by the way, via a press agency called “The Scoop”):
First off, the dude didn’t tell “The Scoop” shit (because, really – who the fuck ever talks to “The Scoop”). “The Scoop” simply dug quotes out of a transcript from a Ben interview posted over at Dark Horizons (columnists cribbing from other writer’s articles; crackling, hard-hitting journalism at its finest) and presented them as Ben attacking me. It’s been picked up in a number of places, and I keep getting email asking “Are you and Ben in a fight?”
So for all the Jeanette Walls’ of the world, who don’t understand the subtlety of humor…
Click on Me for Actual Footage from the Feud
(The above is an mp4 file. PC people: right click and save file as… Mac and other more evolved people hold down option key and click link.)
Click on Me for Mov file Footage from the Feud
Write about that, dumb-asses.
Fucking Jeanette Walls. The broad would misquote Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
My Fake (yet eerily close to plausible) Version of Jeanette Walls wrote:
What Would Jesus Do? He’d Do Low Carb!
The ever-sassy King of the Jews is the lastest celebrity convert to Atkins-advocacy, as the Son of Man has apparently jumped with both sandal-clad feet onto the Hollywood diet craze. Sources tell me Jazzy J was heard shouting ‘Blessed are the meats!’ at a hillside gathering this weekend, where thousands flocked for a phase-one party of Biblical proportions, casting out sugars and starches like so many leper-plaguing demons. But someone should tell this self-styled Messiah that, while fish is okay for low-carbers, multiple loaves are not.
And there ya have it. Oh, and for the record, sure, Macs are cool, but we still love our PC’s!
View Askew NewsBites™
- PRNewswire reports that the Declare Yourself Campaign
contributed to a larger youth vote turnout yesterday. If you let your voice be heard by voting, good for you. Thanks for doing it. - Kevin’s quoted in this USA Today article on John Stewart (who made that absolutely brilliant appearance on CNN’s Crossifre the other week).
Here’s the clip:
…Other comedy pros have a different perspective. Kevin Smith, who directed and co-starred with Stewart in 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (one of Stewart’s several small movie roles), credits his friend’s success to “his Semitic good looks, for one. Also, he’s one of the five smartest and sharpest people I’ve ever met. That kind of combo will take you all the way.”
When Stewart, who for a long time was a fixture on the stand-up scene as well as on MTV and Comedy Central, took over The Daily Show in 1999, “most folks were writing it off as the show Craig Kilborn left behind. But Jon and his outstanding team of writers quickly turned the program into the best 22 minutes of television,” Smith says. As Comedy Central’s distribution has increased, ratings for the show have gone up 72% compared with 1998.
Read the full John Stewart article at USA Today’s site. Peace.
Degrassi News Conference Footage Available!
- You can click the image above to catch about 10 minutes of the Degrassi news conference that Kevin attended. Low and High Bandwidth options are available, so make sure you check it out. It’s some pretty funny stuff.
Kevin Says “The Incredibles” Is Incredible!
- Here’s Kevin’s words on the premiere of “The Incredibles”, a flick these webmasters are both highly looking forward to catching up on the big screen:
Just got back from the premiere. AMAZING flick. Best looking Pixar flick, hands-down. Great, great story/characters/action. The Missile-lock jet sequence is the most gripping action sequence I’ve seen all year. Jason Lee evokes Azrael as Syndrome, and makes us all proud. The production design in too beautiful for words. If this flick doesn’t win the Best Animated Film Academy Award, there’s simply no God.
Rush out and see it when it opens. It’s just the best superhero movie ever made.
View Askew NewsBites™
- Here’s some shots from Kevin’s Hartford Q&A last weekend. We hear Degrassi was covered quite in depth during this appearance. If you were there, feel free to TALK BACK and give some impressions or tell some stories from the event!
- Canoe’s Question of the Day has changed to a new one, but here’s a screenshot of where the results ended up towards the end of the survey (asking about interest in watching Kevin on Degrassi).
- Kevin gives some quotes in the Los Angeles Times story on Affleck today. It’s a bit on the neutral side, both noting the fact that Affleck’s box office has been down, but that he’s got potential and a lot of years to make more great flicks. We just hope they’re seeing how good the word of mouth on Jersey Girl has been, despite the box office numbers.
- The Hollywood Reporter has the complete article on Harvey and Miramax that we quoted yesterday available online now, if you’d like to give it a read.
Miramax, Kevin, & The Hollywood Reporter…
- There’s a special section in today’s HOLLYWOOD REPORTER devoted to Miramax’s silver anniversary, and there are lots of congratulatory ads from directors, stars, agencies, etc. Kevin’s features a picture of him and Mewes and Harvey Weinstein in tuxes, and one of Kevin and Bob Weinstein on the set of J&SBSB, with stills from all his Miramax projects running through the middle. Wanna see it full size? Sure ya do! Click the pic on your right.
Also, from an article about how Harvey’s personal tastes have steered the company:
Miramax then found another outsider artist in Kevin Smith, whose raucous 1994 debut “Clerks” might be the only feature shot for $27,000 that looks like it cost considerably less to make. But Weinstein possessed the instincts to transform Smith’s underdog-made-good story into an unlikely career.
With Tarantino and Smith, Weinstein has accomplished what had gone out of fashion after the maverick films of the 1970s: He has made the director the star, stoking the surrounding cult of personality. If that has meant absorbing occasional failures and indulgences, such as Tarantino’s 1995 dramedy “Four Rooms” (he was one of four directors on the project) or Smith’s 2001 comedy “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” then so be it — the brand names continue to pay dividends.
We wish Bob, Harvey, and Miramax the best of luck as they move into the next phase. Onward and upward!
View Askew NewsBites™
- Those wacky folks over at IESB again managed to get Kevin in front of a mic and camera for another impromptu interview. The usual
questions come up, including Green Hornet (Kevin definitely doesn’t seem to be expecting to direct), Clerks 2 shooting in January and hitting theaters by
the end of 2005, and the Degrassi announcements (2 more shooting in November). Watch the full video
at their site! That Star Wars gig sure continues to be an interesting premise…
- Stash Westwood continues to get some splendid press. This scan comes to us from the November issue of Los Angeles magazine. Click and
enjoy. - IGN Filmforce has posted a 4 minute featurette of The Incredibles
which features a segment with Jason Lee and his voicework for the film (among other stuff). Can’t wait to see this one. - And finally today, here’s a small article on Comedy Central’s “Secret Stash” feature that mentions
Jay & Bob as one of the fully uncut flicks the network continues to feature late at night. Gotta love uncut flicks. Catch ya again soon. Thanks for
popping by.
Kevin Says: “Don’t Miss Toronto”!
- Kevin drops some interesting details about the big Toronto gig, happening on Thursday, November 18th. Of major importance is the fact
that Kevin says it’s highly worth the drive (big things must be planned!), promises a special guest, and reveals that this Q&A and just one other will be
filmed for the next DVD (so if you’ve got a good question to rock the mic with, chances are you’ll be famous!). Here’s Kevin:
Seriously – if you wanna be one of those people who stands at the microphone and asks questions on the DVD, so that one day, you can show it to your grandkids
and proudly declare “I was inquisitive in those days…” this is the only North American shot to make that happen. We’re shooting only two Q&A’s for
“Evening Harder”: this one in Toronto and one in London, England (that’s right, GB – you’re fucking next!). If you’re an American in the northeastern states,
trust me – the T.O. show’ll be worth the drive/flight. If you’re an American in the northwestern states, I can, in good faith, also suggest making the trip – as
it’s gonna be a killer Q&A that we’re saving for posterity. And since I’m not gonna be up in Canada alone at that point, I imagine there might be a guest…
and proudly declare “I was inquisitive in those days…” this is the only North American shot to make that happen. We’re shooting only two Q&A’s for
“Evening Harder”: this one in Toronto and one in London, England (that’s right, GB – you’re fucking next!). If you’re an American in the northeastern states,
trust me – the T.O. show’ll be worth the drive/flight. If you’re an American in the northwestern states, I can, in good faith, also suggest making the trip – as
it’s gonna be a killer Q&A that we’re saving for posterity. And since I’m not gonna be up in Canada alone at that point, I imagine there might be a guest…
It’s gonna be a blast. Last April’s Roy Thomson gig was one of the greatest Q&A’s I ever attended. Don’t miss out (or oot, as they say up there).
Full details are at the official View Askew site. You don’t wanna miss this one.