• Just to let you fine folks who employ our handy RSS syndication feed, when the new site went live, the feed address CHANGED. We temporarily still have the old RSS file up to allow folks and sites time to switch over, however, that will soon go bye-bye. So, if you have any subscriptions, please update them. Also, if you make use of any RSS syndication sites out there (Feedburner and the like), please drop them a line and let them know that our address has changed. We assume this eventually happens automagically, but if there’s a quicker way to help that along, cool. We notice a ton of RSS traffic in our new hitlogs, so we know a lot of folks have been using it. Most modern browsers will pick this up on their own, however, outside websites and external RSS applications won’t, so please update your devices and software.

So, note the NEW address, http://www.newsaskew.com/feed. And tell your pals. Thanks for shopping with us at the new News Askew today. We’ll have a news update for ya later — Just been spending the day categorizing for our new Live Archive. Have you checked them out yet?

• Tomorrow’s it, folks — 10 years of News Askew’s existence in this world becomes official on Saturday, 7/7/07! Despite some technical issues that we discovered with older versions of Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, tomorrow’s launch is still a GO — Though we may be rolling back a few visual cues on the site to something more simple until we get the kinks worked out. The important thing is that tomorrow’s site works for you and looks right, especially that fancy news engine. So, while tomorrow remains the official launch day, we’ll be continuing to launch new features and visuals AFTER tomorrow, and of course will let you know when that stuff’s on the way — Especially so those of you with older or just plain weird browsers can let us know if you’re having any problems. The goal here is the cleanest, most compatible News Askew yet — Yes, even on the iPhone (Despite the fact Apple hasn’t sent us one to “test” the site with yet…ha!). Do check yesterday’s news for some free links to upgrade those dusty old browsers, if you have the means.

So, let’s just take a look at some statistics, shall we? To date, News Askew has logged a staggering 6,726 news stories…And that’s only counting those muli-story NewsBites as just ONE each. Since the ball got rolling, our busiest month ever was August of 2001, when we logged 147 stories in that 31-day period. Yep, that’s the release month of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. In fact, we always see spikes around flick release time. In March of 2004, we posted 122 news stories (Jersey Girl) and, back in May 1999, 105 (Dogma). Our slowest month ever? The great lull of January 2004 with just 22 stories posted. Big difference, huh?

Over the past 10 years, we’ve enjoyed over 21 million hits to the front page, give or take. Our new hit statistic software at News Askew X is going to tell us a lot more than that — Our busiest days, daily averages, popular browse times, and lots more. Not only will it allow us to serve you better, but it’ll give us some cool stats to share with you every once in a while.

What inspired us to start News Askew? Believe it or not, it was “Chasing Amy” that put us over the line — We’d been fans since Clerks, but after the brilliant trifecta of flicks, and especially that moving conclusion to Chasing Amy, we knew that Kevin was onto something great with View Askew Productions. We wanted to get our voices out there. 10 years later, here we are — Proud to say that we remain the home of the biggest and baddest View Askew news database on the web. And things are getting better all the time.

We’ll see you tomorrow with a new site — Some of you will immediately fall in love, some will say “go back to the old site!” and some will just say “Huh?”. Give it some time, browse around, and watch for continued updates, enhancements, and features — We think you’ll agree that this is, by far, the best News Askew yet.

• We’re scrambling to get as much of the new site ready for the 7/7/07 launch date this weekend, but are YOU ready? While we’ve taken every precaution to ensure that the new News Askew will look and work the same in any version of any web browser of any computer type, it never hurts to be running the latest in web browsing technology. Plus, our testing has focused mainly on those new versions. So, no matter what you’ve been using, why not check and take a few minutes to upgrade? They’re all free.

Our main browser of choice on the PC platform is Mozilla Firefox. Speed and the ability to add heaps of cool plugins have made this the power user’s favorite. Version 2.0.0.4 is the latest and available free at the Firefox website. By the way, they’ve got a Mac version that works pretty good, as well.

Of course, for PC users, most folks stick with old faithful, Internet Explorer. If you haven’t updated in a while, you’re probably using version 6. Version 7 is now final and fixes a ton of bugs — Get it at the Microsoft site. You’ll notice a nice difference.

For Mac OSX users, Safari continues to be the browser of choice — Macs come with Safari pre-installed, so you’re aces there. If you want, though, try out the new Safari 3 beta, free of charge. They’ve even got a PC version as well, for the first time ever.

	FIREFOX 2.0.0.4 (Windows) FIREFOX 2.0.0.4 (Mac OSX)
	INTERNET EXPLORER 7 (Windows)
	Safari 3 Public Beta (Mac OSX)

So there ya have it. That’s the big 3 these days. One of the toughest tasks of designing a new site continues to be the variety of ways that web browsers display the content. Make it easier on you (and on us designers) by using the latest. We realize, of course, those of you work surfers might have some stipulations against installing your own software — But hey, do your best. We’ll see you with a fresh, new, News Askew in just 2 short days.

• Jason Lee’s the live action comic relief in the upcoming CGI’ed Alvin and the Chipmunks big screen flick. Empire Online ran a story with our first look at the creatures…Along with Lee, of course, whose presence seems to give them comfort. CGI/Live Action flicks are hit or miss, but we’re hoping Lee can bring this one home. It’s currently set for a Christmas release.

And, in other CGI Lee news, there’s a new trailer for Underdog that just recently showed up in Quicktime format. We liked the blooper teaser, so again, Lee could help elevate the idea. We’re big Lee fans and support anything the dude does, so you can bet we’ll be tracking both of these projects for ya here at the site.

• Kevin’s becoming a regular caller again to “Opie & Anthony”, it seems — This week, he talked a bit about Joel Siegel and “Live Free Or Die Hard,” though mostly just hung out with the guys. Thanks to our scooper, we’ve got the complete clippage for ya right here, in crystal clear MP3 format. Click and enjoy the main man on XM’s biggest talk show.

• Here’s another photo and article regarding Kev’s wait on line for the iPhone late last week. We’re still sitting here trying to resist buying this device, which we hear is worth every bit of the hype it’s gathering up. Must…resist!
• And finally today, a View Askew mention in the most unlikely of places, a 2007 BMW 650i review from “Car and Driver” magazine. Yep, it’s that ‘ol Volkswagon line again…Check out the review and mention for yourself. See ya soon!

• In the past, when we’ve rolled out new versions of the site, we’ve been concentrating on the visuals, but not much more. This time, we’re going about ten steps further — Let’s run down just some of the new stuff you’ll see starting this Saturday.

Most importantly, we’re moving into a brand new content management system called WordPress. This impressive system allows us the ability to fully manage our news database, as well as a lot of other aspects of the site, in one simple interface. For the first time, we’ve got the ability to categorize stories in more specific ways. Wanna see stories just relating to “Chasing Amy”? We can do that. However, going back through the news database is going to take some time, there’s a LOT of stories out there in our new database. But we’re making progress every day.

What are you here for every day? Why the news, of course. So we’ve been giving the MOST care to the actual news, past and present. That includes spelling fixes, link corrections, formatting, optimizing, categorizing, and the like. We’re still NEWS Askew, after all — So we’re going to go out on a limb here and say this is the best news database we’ve ever offered you. In fact, we’ve got some cool stats to share with you later this week, just to demonstrate how far we’ve come in the last 10 years.

So what else? A new events system is being built, which will offer up a calendar that allows you easy access to all View Askew related events, past and present. Heck, we’re even working on building some iCalendar integration into it for you Mac users out there.

A highly improved archive search will be available on launch day. You’ll have a much zippier interface letting you jump right into any month, any year, and any category. Headlines available in a very readable format with the click of your mouse.

Restored news — A chunk of our database was lost in a crash last year. All that news has been restored thanks to our backups as well as the fine folks over at the Wayback archives.

Polls – Polls will be back, functional, and regularly updated with new stuff for you to vote on. We’ve also entered several years of past polls into our new poll system, and hope to have every single poll available for viewing by launch or soon after. Yep, not only will we give you new stuff to vote on, but we’re also going to let you look at our incredible poll history.

Interactive comments – We’ve always encouraged user comments here at News Askew — The new site is no different. In addition to offering up a free, open registration for commenting on each and every story we post, our new comment system supports the OpenID platform (allowing you to use one ID and password on a large network of sites). We’ve got a lot more in store for the comment system, including the potential to add your own avatars, like you do at the forums.

And finally, interface — News Askew will look a LOT different for you this weekend, and at first it’ll be a bit of a shock. We’re developing this new site using the “Web 2.0” style of design — Fairly minimal, colorful, simple. The test site’s looking a lot different than our current production site, and we’re currently working on adding some of those elements back. The key for us will be finding a balance between bland and overload. We’re also striving for a site that looks and works exactly the same regardless of your device and platform — Yep, that means regardless of if you’re surfing us on Mac or PC, iphone or big screen monitor, News Askew should look and work the same. As developers, it’s a challenge — But it’s one that we welcome and we feel will bring News Askew up to today’s technology, and beyond.

Are we tired? Yep. Are we excited? Even more so. More news on what’s coming this weekend with the next update. We’re working overtime to get things as pretty as we can. Stick around for an exciting week, and a milestone weekend.

• Sorry this one took so long, folks — We had trouble tracking down a manageable clip of this one for your download — At any rate, we’re now very pleased to present (both for you, and our muiltimedia archives), Kevin’s June call-in to the “Opie & Anthony” radio program. Keep in mind, this is satellite radio and uncensored. We’ve taken the clips and shrunk them down into an optimized MP3 format for your downloading and listening pleasure. Click away and enjoy.

• Kevin’s doing some radio press these days, in promotion of “Live Free or Die Hard” as well as what he’s been up to lately with the new scripts. As you know, press is sometimes last minute, though we’re going to run down this first big appearance, which is scheduled to run a full TWO HOURS — Here’s where and when you can listen to hear the man himself (along with the great Scott Mosier, who’s joining Kevin this weekend in what looks like an almost-live SModcast):

You can find out more details, live links, etc and their website, www.971freefm.com. Don’t miss it, this Saturday at 7 PM PST!

• Hey Canadians and those of you with the means to cross over — The Brian O’Halloran starring “Drop Dead Roses” will have a benefit screening at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto this SATURDAY, July 7th, 9:30 PM, to raise money and awareness for Dark Features’ next flick — We attended a big NYFF screening of this, and it’s a fun flick, definitely worth the trip in to see — Best of all, cast and crew will be on hand, possibly even Mr. O’Halloran himself (not yet confirmed). The theater is located at Bathurst and Bloor. Admission is $8 (CDN, of course, which doesn’t make much difference when compared to USD these days).
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• On July 7, 1997, when the web as we know it was still in its infancy, we began a crusade to track all the latest news relating to Kevin Smith, View Askew, and anything ancillary. We called it “News Askew”. This Saturday, July 7th, 2007, we celebrate TEN YEARS of continued service to fans like you. With .com sites coming and going, changing interests, eveolving lives, most sites like ours either disappear, change hands, or just lose popularity. So, to be where we are, 10 years later, we’re extremely proud to say that we’ve kept News Askew running for this long, and that the site’s more popular than ever before.

So, we thought, how do we celebrate such a major event? This Saturday, we’re going to mark it with the unveiling of our most ambitious project yet — News Askew X. The new site will not be a mere redesign, but rather, a completely new basis of news presentation. We’ve taken all the stuff that’s worked over the past 10 years, and (hopefully) made it even better. There’s a lot to talk about, so we’ll be spending this week teasing you with some tidbits each day. Tomorrow, we’ll run down a bunch of the new features that you’ll find at the site.

Now, a word of caution, as well — When we began this project, we had no idea how involved it would be — For lack of a better phrase, we bit off more than we could chew. Plus, the more we looked at things, the more ideas we kept getting. So, what we’re rolling out this weekend will not be feature complete. It should be quite workable, without taking away anything that’s currently available. However, the features and redesign will continue, even after this weekend.

More details on the way tomorrow – News Askew X, coming your way in just 5 days.