• 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”.

• Seems a new era is upon us – User-modifed inaction figures, anyone? Seems one Buffy fan has taken a couple of C.L.I.T. members and turned them into two famous slayers.

• A small mention of Clerks II heads up this review for the new “Employee of the Month” flick hitting theaters this week. Scan is above.
• And finally today, congrats to “My Name Is Earl” star Jaime Pressly. Jason Lee today seemed to confirm her alleged pregnancy in a story posted over at the IMDB. Pressly hosts a brand new Saturday Night Live this weekend.

• It’s an exciting time for us here at News Askew — We’re nearing our 10 year anniversary of the site (coming this May, we celebreate a whopping TEN YEARS bringing you the latest news from the world of Kevin Smith and the View Askewniverse), and we’re also amazingly close to another huge milestone – Our 20 millionth hit to the website. That means that, on average, we’ve had 2 million visits per year here at News Askew. Not too shabby for a website that started with just a few silly drinking games back in 1997, when the View Askew canon consisted of only 3 films. My, how time flies and how things change.

So, what could we do to celebrate 20 million? Well, a couple of things, really. But more on that later. First up, what can we do for YOU? Tell ya what — How about a prize? Yep, that’s right, the hitter who e-mails us at 20 million or closest to that number AFTER the 20 million turns will get a prize from Mr. Kevin Smith himself — A signed pair of his worn Vans shoes! Will this be a pair that’s been seen on the red carpet? The Tonight Show? Perhaps even during one of the famous “Evening With” segments? You never know. But what we do know is that Kevin generously offered to donate a pair once he heard of the big milestone. And we’re looking forward to giving them to one of our lucky readers.

The contest is simple — Just capture us a screenshot of your hit and email it to us. Use your PRINT SCREEN key and then cut and paste it into a photo program, word, anything you can do to get it to us. The screen will display a special message if you’re the winner, so there will be no faking this one (or we’ll know if you did) so don’t bother trying using any Photoshop jobs to pull one over on us.

So good luck, thanks for visiting, and we’ll be back with more exciting anniversary news soon. For now, let’s hit that 20 million and work on the next milestone. Thanks to all of you who continue to make News Askew a success. We wouldn’t be here without you.

• After quite a bit of speculation, and a few runs at recent Vulgarthons, we’re happy to announce that you will soon be able to watch Jeff Anderson’s directorial debut, “Now You Know”, in your own home! Kevin’s put his own name on the flick, with a “Kevin Smith Presents” before the title, a nice tie-in to the November 28th release date. Sound familiar? It should! That’s the same date you can pick up Clerks II and Evening Harder on DVD. Yep, that’s right, it’s a View Askew DVD trifecta! The biggest release date in View Askew DVD history is now less than 2 months away.

Technical specs aren’t out yet, but DVDActive has the cover art. And yes, for those of you who loved Elias in Clerks II, this flick is the one that got Trevor Fehrman hired for the gig, and his feature film debut. Folks who have checked this one out at Vulgarthons have loved it — It’s a fast-paced romantic comedy with some excellent buddy chemistry between Anderson and Fehrman, and a worthy addition to your View Askew DVD library. Save up those pennies for November 28th, folks! We’re sensing some BIG signing events happening at one or both Secret Stash stores around that time…

• Kevin corrects that story we had earlier this week about him hosting two back-to-back weeks of “At The Movies”. A Q&A in Orlando, FL prevented him from seeing all ten of the films he would have had to screen to participate in both programs. We’ll have clippage of this week’s show for you soon.
• The lovely Salma Hayek takes the number 4 spot on movies.com’s list of “8 Great Stripteases”:

• Seems that Jay & Bob are featured at a Halloween haunt again this year, this time just down the street from the site of the Clerks II Mooby’s (pre-demolition), Knott’s Berry Farm. Our scooper reports:

• And finally today, Eliza “Duckshoot” Dushku fans take note: She’s taken on a role in a new horror flick called “Mamba”. “I Know What You Did Last Summer” meets “Final Destination,” “Mamba” turns on a group of surfer students who discover an old satanic board game called Mamba. Every time one person loses in the game, they suffer dire death. Later folks!

• The full rundown of Kevin’s appearance on “At The Movies” is now available on the official Ebert & Roeper site :

• Spoiler alert! Check out a photo of Mewes from the horror gorefest “Feast” in this Entertainment Weekly clip from the flick above.
• The new “DJ Yoda” titled ‘The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda’ arrives in the UK on October 2nd and features several samples from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. You can listen now at Myspace.
• Horror fansite Bloody Digusting reports that Rosario Dawson will star in a flick based on her own comic book “O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce”. She recently completed “Killshot” for Dimension, and is currently starring in the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez pic “Grindhouse” and will reprise her role in the “Sin City” sequel. Busy gal, great flicks!

• Obviously a favorite for his honesty and likability, Kevin will return to co-host the popular “At The Movies” with Richard Roeper for the next TWO weekend editions of the program (starting with the weekend of Saturday, September 30th). The news first broke when Roeper ran down the list of next week’s films on the program this weekend, and mentioned that Kevin would be in to help review them. The flicks: “The Guardian”, “School for Scoundrels”, “The Queen” and “Open Season”. No word yet on the flicks for week two, though looking ahead, you can probably guess.

WSCH confirms the dates and for the more official, TV Guide also has the story. We’ll work on getting information, clips, and more up right here for ya following each episode, too. Check your local listings for date and time.

• Some new scannage for ya from the UK today — This from NME magazine, promoting Clerks II in a two-page spread we’ve pieced together for ya. Tons of new quotes from Jay in the various inserts, as well. Enjoy!
• Check out Mewes in the horrofest “Feast” – Now showing in theaters for midnight screenings, and on DVD October 17th! We’ve been waiting for this one.
• Ben Affleck talks “Hollywoodland” in this new NPR interview. You can check it out in Windows Media and Real Audio formats. He remains highly talked-about for his excellent portrayal of George Reeves in the film.