• Clerks 2 gets major theatrical screentime today, as it’s tied to the start of Scary Movie 4 which moves into 3,600+ theaters today. Go see Scary Movie 4, and you’ll see our trailer. Early reaction has fans and audiences loving the trailer, and shocked at what it gets away with tied to a PG-13 movie. No online copy is available just yet, so you’ll hafta buy a ticket to see it today OR watch Access Hollywood tonight. Kevin says:

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD airs
At 7:30 PM on WNBC, Ch 4 in NY, repeating at 4:00 AM
At 7:30 PM on WNBC, Ch 4 in LA

Check your local listings for station and time. We’ll get a capture up as soon as possible.

As someone lucky enough to have seen the film, I can say that Kevin’s online trailer presents a spoiler-free look at the film’s events, while the theatrical definitely does contain some major spoilerage (including a plot point from the film’s opening moments that’s been carefully kept under wraps until now). So, if you want to go in cold, you might want to TRY and skip the trailer, though if you’re like us, curiosity will get the best of you.

If you see the trailer, we’d love to hear what you and your audience thought. Talk back and let us know!

• On April 12, Kevin was honored by UCLA with the 24th Jack Benny Award For Comedy. The Westwood, California event was a private one, but we’re once again happy to present photographer Albert Ortega’s high resolution shots from the event. The award celebrates Kevin’s “Outstanding Contribution to Comedy”. News Askew would again like to congratulate Kevin on this distinct honor.

• The tale we originally thought might take two, possibly three postings to tell has now spanned into its eighth amazing volume, and will continue on into at least a part nine, possibly more. Kevin’s touching recount of his life and times with Jason Mewes continues, with part eight of “Me And My Shadow”. A sampling from this segment:

Don’t miss this compelling tale, continuing online, free for your perusal, at Kevin’s Myspace and Boring Ass-Life blog sites.

• Fangoria Magazine has a nice article on “Dead And Gone”, the new horror flick starring Clerks’ Marilyn Ghigliotti. Here’s a snippet:

“When I read the script for the first time,” says Sasson of his directorial debut, “everything flowed like greased lightning. It’s a mix of THE SHINING, TWIN PEAKS and a lot of EVIL DEAD and DEAD ALIVE. I loved it immediately. Unlike with a lot of other independent horror scripts, it’s virtually impossible to get ahead of the storyline. Without sounding too philosophical, the movie is about reality and how we perceive it. On screen it is the story of Jack Wade [Jones], a Hollywood trophy husband who is forced to take his comatose, ex-Hollywood-studio-executive wife Frankie [Bates] to a small cabin in the Nevada mountains. The solitude begins to take its toll, and he starts to question reality, and his sanity. Is his mind playing tricks on him? Is his wife faking the coma? Or is the whole place simply haunted?”

There’s a ton of new pics and the full story waiting for you at the Fangoria website!

• In the upcoming (April 26th) Dark Horse comic, “Star Wars: Tag & Bink — Revenge of the Clone Menace”, you’ll find a cameo of two very familiar looking Jedi! Check out the two pages where these guys appear.
• Mark your calendars! According to the latest issue of Stereo Sound Agency’s newsletter, Jason Lee is scheduled for an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 10th. We’ll remind you when it gets closer.
• Stan Lee will be starring in and hosting a new reality show for the Sci Fi Network called ‘Who wants to be a Superhero’. The show will feature 11 contestants, dressing as custom super heroes, competing in challenges that test their bravery, honor, self sacrifice and others. Each episode, Lee will say goodbye to some contestants (ala Donald Trump). The winner will recieve a comic book based on their charecter, and a possible TV movie. The show will begin filming in May. Details HERE.

• In the Newsweek dated April 17th, with Katie Couric on the cover, there’s a mention about Kevin’s “Me and My Shadow” series. Page 18 in “The Technologist” section, at the bottom in their Blog Watch:

The series continues this week at the MySpace and Speaks blog sites. Honest, moving storytelling at its best. Don’t miss it.

• Our good friend, photographer Albert Ortega is back with another series of photos, this time from Kevin and Scott’s April 5th appearance at “Film Indepedent’s The Director’s Series with Kevin Smith & Skywalker Sound”. The event took place last week in West Hollywood. As always, these are highest quality, high resolution photos you can get, so be sure to click for crystal clear views of the event. Check out that Mosier beard-age! More thumbnails can be found at the WireImage site as well.

• Viva la France! Check out these photos that Kevin passed on today (via a poster at the View Askew Board), showing a VERY classy French video store window. We hope any of our French fans who are in the area give their patronage to this place.
• An early Clerks II teaser trailer (featuring only Clerks 1 scenes) is currently 6th on the list of top previews at major film website “Coming Soon”. Keep spreading the word, folks!
• Stan Lee still wants a shot in front of the camera again with Kevin. Check out this excerpt from a recent Newsarama interview with the man:

NRAMA: While you didn’t get to play JJJ, Stan, you’re now a big-screen veteran, having appeared in several Marvel film adaptations and Kevin Smith’s immortal Mallrats. Anything coming up on the silver screen in the future?

SL: Well, I’ve got a cameo in X-Men 3, but it’s not exactly the kinda role that’ll qualify me for an Oscar nomination. Of course, I’m still hoping Kevin Smith will do a sequel to Mallrats and that he’ll let me play myself again—or anyone else, for that matter. I’m easy to please.

• Kevin is mentioned in Monday’s Podcast over at CinemaBlend. In it, they chat about Jersey Girl, Clerks 2, and the direction of his career. You can skip 20 minutes in to get right to the Kev stuff.
• The Quick Stop and View Askew inaction figures make an appearance in a web comic over at the “Wrestling Fan” website.
• The Fine folks at joblo.com have Mallrats in their weekly Ten Spot colum. This week they are counting down the best rabbit appearences in film. Jay and Bob beating the hell out of the Easter bunny clocked in at #7:

You can check out a shot of this and other moments HERE.

• And finally today — Since we’re in the Holiday spirit and all — And it’s sort of a fun Mallrats tangent to the story above — We suggest you give a watch to “The Easter Bunny Hates You”. Some laugh-out-loud good stuff in that clip. Enjoy, and Happy Easter!

• Due to some issues with the unrated Clerks 2 trailer being out there, it’s likely going to be removed from the YouTube site — But before it is, Kevin’s asking you ALL to watch it a few more times to get our numbers up! If you haven’t seen it yet, or just not in a while, give it a look – Doesn’t get old to us! And don’t forget to post a comment, as well. Here’s Kevin:

There’s a full update on the way later today — So stay tuned!

• Just a reminder, folks — If you’re in the Northeast and up for a memorable evening, you can’t go wrong with a trip into Stockton College for Kevin’s Q&A gig tonight. The event kicks off tonight at 7 PM in the Sports Center.

Tickets are are true bargain for the show: $3 for students w/ID, $10 general admission; Call 609-652-9000 to pick yours up. Kevin promises some Clerks II clip action, yet another reason you don’t want to miss what’s sure to be a laugh-packed evening. Get there!

UPDATE: Kevin missed the early flight out this morning, and reports the gig will not being until sometime in the 8 PM hour tonight. Feel free to adjust your arrival times!

• Kevin’s MySpace blog continues to be the popular spot for catching updates from the guy lately. Here’s a summary of the past few days’ activity:

• Kev celebrated the addition of his 10,000th friend.
• The continution of the brilliant “Me and My Shadow” has been delayed until Monday.
• Kevin asks you hit YouTube to watch the Clerks 2 trailer a few more times. His words:

  “I need a favor: There was a glitch with the “Clerks II” trailer at YouTube. We were about to hit 100,000 views, and now, that version got locked for some reason. We uploaded a new version, but it’s only sporting a paltry 2000 viewes. Gotta get that number (and the comments) up, to keep the clip somewhere near the front page. I know you can peep the trailer on this very MySpace page, but can you do me a solid and click on the link below and leave a message, please? You’d really be making my day.”

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeAgPiCi94o&search=clerks%20II

We’ll keep you posted on Kevin’s latest blog entries here, though you can always join his MySpace page as well. Also, at presstime the YouTube service seems to have been down all weekend. No idea on uptime for that again.