• It’s been a hectic week, details on that sometime early next week. Capping today off, we’ve got a MAJOR event at Stash East, the original, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Starting at 1 PM, Kevin and Jay, along with a couple of Degrassi cast members, will be signing the new Jay & Silent Bob Do Degrassi DVD. Fans are already lining the street. We’re expecting a fun, smooth event today, and hope to see all of you in beautiful downtown Red Bank. We’ll have full coverage, photos, and a story on that and the week’s other exciting events in the coming days, once we’re back to home base in PA. Hope to see you there!

• Fans swarmed the streets of the quiet town of Red Bank, New Jersey today, as over 500 people appeared for the View Askew / Degrassi DVD signing event. The line grew and grew, until chaos rushed in when the doors were open to fans, who proceeded to meet and greet Degrassi kids Stacey Farber and Jake Epstein, as well as the titular characters from the “Jay & Silent Bob Do Degrassi” DVD, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. We were on hand to watch the madness, and have photos to prove it! Yes, some overwhelmed attendees even got a little teary-eyed at the event. Producer Jim Jackman, a very good dude, can also be seen in a couple photos behind the table. Really great guy to chat it up with.

View Askew would like to thank every attendee today for their patience, as well as for taking the time out of their weekend to be a part of the release party. It was a happy union of fans of View Askew, fans of Degrassi, and fans of both. We hope you had an enjoyable day, and look forward to seeing more east coast events in the future. Jersey represent!

• In a new interview with Dark Horizons, Rosario Dawson talks up her new film “Rent”, but ALSO briefly mentions her role in Clerks 2, which is something we don’t think has been revealed before. Minor spoiler regarding that role ahead:

• Casino Askew cooless ahead! We don’t have any photos yet, but check out this entry from the latest issue of Previews:

Looks like we’ll be seeing the playing cards featured on Kevin’s exclusive Texas Hold’Em table in our own home games soon, huh? Details when we have them, though we assume they’ll be shipping sometime in December.

• “My Name is Earl” has been nominated for best new television comedy in the 37th Annual People’s Choice Awards. Even cooler? You can go to their website and vote up to ONCE A DAY! So do it! Thanks for stopping by, folks.

• You’ve been patiently waiting, reloading the clerks2.com site multiple times a day, and now, the time has come. Two new videos hit the site today in the always fun and exciting “Train Wreck” documentary series. Available in various forms of Quicktime, of course.

“Lights… Camera… Tongue!”

“You Were The Bomb In Phantoms, Yo”

Even though it’s on the site second, we recommend you watch “Lights, Camera, Tongue”: first, as its contents also appear in the second and top posting for today. It’s an extended conversation between husband and wife, those two being Kevin and Jennifer Smith, on a smooching scene of hers that appears in the film. Let it be known: This clip, as well as our second clip today, also feature the first filmed footage from Clerks 2 to see the light of web day thus far. The “replay” moment in this clip is also possibly the funniest thing we’ve seen out of this series yet. Watch for it.

Ever wonder what it’d be like to be a fly on the wall when Kevin and Ben chat it up? Wonder no more. “You Were The Bomb In Phantoms, Yo” is just that – Several minutes of Ben pontificating on his Clerks 2 cameo, facial hair, and yes, “Crossing Jordan”.

Enjoy these and all videos thus far in the series at Clerks2.com. You can also view a one page archive on our Clerks 2 production site.

• Hmmm, do we smell lawsuit? Very popular scoop today: A new recording program for computers called “Silent Bob” records all incoming music, streaming or otherwise, from the soundcard. “When the user decides to record and pushes the button, no problem. Silent-Bob has already started the recording 2 minutes earlier!” Doesn’t look that snazzy. Interesting name, though.
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back will make its premiere on the FX channel WEDNESDAY night at 8 PM EST. The flick’s previously run on Comedy Central, so we imagine it’s going to be the same bleeped cut.

• Comics Continuum ran a story over the weekend on the long awaited return of Spidey/Black Cat. Along with the usual talk about the delays, they’ve got SIX NEW PAGES from the book, complete with color and dialogue! Check out the story and every page at their site.

• Howdy there, west coasters! Bummed about the lack of Kevinage with the Red Bank signing coming up this weekend? Never fear! Wizard World Los Angeles has just announced that Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes will headline the event, which takes place from March 17th through the 19th. Expect to see some early looks at Clerks 2 if you’re lucky enough to attend. And of course View Askew will be there with the latest swag and maybe a few prototype gizmos to feast your eyes on. If the schedule stays as it usually is, expect Kevin to do a signing on Friday, and a Q&A session on Saturday. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

• Wow, when we make a contest easy, you folks sure come out of the woodwork with entries! We had an astounding amount of readers enter to nab that last Degrassi book we had, but sadly, only one could win. That winner is MIKE DONAHUE. Congrats, Mike. And thanks to everyone else who tried. More chances to win cool swag soon.
• Here’s a nice little review from a reader who attended the premiere screening of “F*ck”, the documentary in which Kevin appears for interview segments. Take it away, T.J.:

• We actually ran this one back on September 1st, but for some reason we’re getting 2 mails a day about it, so we’ll repost it. It’s cool news, anyway. Empire Online has named Clerks #4 on their list of the 50 Greatest Independent Movies of all time. It likely made front pages again somewhere, hence the resurgence.

• Our resident artist, who designed all the cool logos you see here, Matt Sullivan, has a brand new website. Check out his art and resume at candlephoenix.com.
• The entire panel of web comic “Sore Thumbs” is a big “My Name Is Earl” reference today.

• When Mallrats came out, who would have thought we’d be sitting here telling you that star Jason Lee would take over the entire Saturday lineup for one of the biggest networks in the world? Not us! But now, we’re here to tell you just that. And then some.

Tonight, NBC will air a “My Name Is Earl” marathon, TWO HOURS WORTH, from 9 to 11. It includes the 4 most recent episodes of the program this year. Then, in what we’re calling the CAN’T MISS SNL episode of this year, Jason Lee will host the live broadcast tonight with musical guests Foo Fighters. Let’s count the View Askew and Burt Reynolds references together, shall we?

After the big SNL show, Lee’s off to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Monday night, ALSO on NBC. He’ll likely be there to tout “Earl”. In related news, Rosario Dawson will appear on Conan this Wednesday to promote “Rent”. Perhaps she’ll work a Clerks 2 mention in there as well.

And, if you’ve been missing “My Name Is Earl”, you’re missing some classic stuff. In the most recent episode, Lee managed to get HUGE Smokey and the Bandit references in there, even worked a scene of him driving the car into the episode. Lee’s gotta be loving this gig!

• A familiar face takes #8 in JoBlo’s list of “Top Ten Fanboy Treats”:

Cocknocker – JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (2001)

It always seemed unfair to me that of all the major characters in the original STAR WARS trilogy, the one who made out with the least star power was it’s hero, Mark Hamill. Kevin Smith felt my pain and cast him as a evil super villain with a light sabre thingy, dressed him up like an asshole, and named him Cocknocker. Probably not what Mark had in mind for an acting comeback but hey, he did get to deliver this solid bit of dialogue – “Don’t f*ck with a Jedi Master son.” If George Lucas was dead he would have rolled over. Since he’s not, he probably just sued someone.

Note: We’re pleased to see that Chainsaw and Dave made the list, as well. Rightly deserved.

• For those of you overseas fans still using locally-coded DVD players, this may be of interest: HMV in Ireland is currently selling “An Evening With Kevin Smith” for €9.99, a good deal since it would generally be around €25. It’s a Region 2 disc but it’s encoded as NTSC so a compatible DVD player and TV would be needed.
• And finally today, we just couldn’t resist: Apparently, Michigan is having Escalator problems and needs to educate people on how not to hurt themselves. They’re sponsoring an “Elevator / Escaltor Awareness Week”. One can’t help but wonder if letting your kids sit on it will be among the covered topics. Brodie would be so proud…

• We ended up with one spare copy of the book “Degrassi: Generations” leftover from our last contest, so we thought, hey, let’s give that last copy to a loyal reader! So, welcome to the world’s easiest, fastest contest! Send an e-mail to scoops@newsaskew.com with the subject “DEGRASSI SECOND CHANCE” along with your return email address, and we’ll pick a random winner. You have JUST A DAY to do so, the box closes at 11:59:59 EST on Wednesday night (tomorrow). The book will make an OUSTANDING companion piece to the just-released “Jay & Silent Bob Do Degrassi” DVD, now shipping from the Stash (and being signed in Red Bank on November 20th by Kevin and Jay!). One entry per person, please, or risk disqualification. Good luck!