• Probably our favorite Newsbite in quite some time. If you’re watching “Lost”, like so many of us, you know about those mysterious numbers, to which we’ve still yet to find the exact meaning. Well, USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson has been playing around with Lost’s numbers and the cool Google Maps system. Last week, she discovered that entering them in a certain way gave you an island location outside of Australia. HOWEVER, when you enter them in directly, without spaces, to the system, you’re gonna LOVE the location that it comes up with. See that? The Askewniverse really DOES touch everything!
• More Kevin sightings on that new deluxe Batman DVD: He also appears in the premiere documentary, LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: THE HISTORY OF BATMAN, in more than a few segments and actually has the dubious honor of closing out the featurette. You can also see him in Part 3 of SHADOWS OF THE BAT.

• Now that the ‘ol scanner’s fixed, we can finally bring you this one — In the most recent Wizard (#169), Kevin does a one-page interview in which he talks about his Spider-Man/Black Cat comic, Moon Knight, and answers rumors about the Star Wars TV show and a DD2 film. Note that the Clerks 2 start date in there is wrong (went to press before it changed to this month).
• That Jason Lee segment ran on yesterday’s Don & Mike show, by the way. We hope you caught it. If anyone’s got an audio cap for us, we’d love to share it. Pass it on if you do, please.
• HBO reports than George Carlin has another stand up special coming up. “Life is Worth Losing” debuts Saturday November 4th. Details ahead:

• Here’s scooper “Rob” to tell us of an interesting sighting he came across in a popular new online game (complete with a photo):

I play a game called Second Life, it’s pretty intense and is probably one of the most realistic alternate worlds in the way that things are run and the way the economy works, but anyways. I was walking into a movie theater that someone built where you can actually watch certain flicks, litterally as your character sits in a virtual theater. As I was looking around the place I decided to walk up the ramp to see the actual theater itself and loe and behold, the image I sent you is what greeted me as I headed in.

• Seems someone has turned a Freddy Funk (who is apparently the mascot of this Funko website) wobbler into a Brodie version. Peep a photo HERE.
• Chris is running the show here for the next week, as Brad’s off to cruise what’s left of the Caribbean on vacation. Make sure to use the SCOOPS e-mail address or Chris directly if you’ve got some news or a question. Thanks!

• We’re very pleased to present, direct from Marilyn Ghiglitotti herself, some exclusive FX shots of her upcoming film “Dead & Gone”. She tells us that the shoot went very well, and that she’s even got a souvenir bruise on her shoulder which she wears proudly. You’ll see her in a couple photos here, fully made up. The cast shot’s got the film’s writer and director out front. You can learn more about the film at its official site www.deadandgonethemovie.com.

This weekend, she’ll be working in a short film which a friend of hers wrote and prodcued, based and influenced by her work as a hairstylist. The title? “Bad Hair Day”. Marilyn’s been a loyal fan of the site for years, and continues to follow the Askewniverse and welcome all of her fans from the Clerks days. We’re sure you’ll hear more from her soon, and as always, recommend you support her work!

• Kevin’s blog reveals that Monday’s shoot was a Jay & Bob-centric one, and presents us with the moment many of us have been waiting for. Here’s your first look at how the duo will look when they make their return to the big silver screen! More news later.

• A fresh week means a shiny new edition of Radio Askew with Will & Scott — The eighth edition is celebrated with a HUGE phone interview with the elusive and quippy Brian Lynch, some words about Kevin’s recent Clerks 2 bloggage, and more. As always, available for free download to your ipod or MP3 conveyance of choice at Radio Askew.

• We’re not sure of the origin, but we were sent this shot of Jay & Bob as cuddly little stuffed bears, as well as some other amusing film characters in that same format. Funny stuff.
• A very unique honor for “Clerks” — It’s being included in a new 11-disc Sundance Film Festival collection.
• Anyone by some crazy chance picked up the new Elektra director’s cut DVD today? Wondering if Affleck’s lost scene as Matt Murdock made it back into the cut.
• ABC News has picked up on the Degrassi trend even briefly citing Kevin’s appearance on the program as evidence of its popularity.

• Let’s start the scan parade! First up, some fun tibits on “My Name Is Earl” from TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. As always, click ‘em to read ‘em.
• Film Threat gives a quick nod to the Clerks 2 video diary in this article, which details the advent of the Video Ipod and the possibilities for the VIDEO PODCAST. Boy, we’d love to see these Clerks 2 clips hit the Video Podcast…Oh wait, guess we’d need to SCORE us some Video Ipods first…Drat!

• We originally expected just one or two video entries a week on the Clerks 2 site, but now, with a bit of budget, time and talent behind the project, it looks like we’re gonna get a whole lot more. Yahoo!

“Day One” gives us just that — A look at the events on DAY ONE of the Clerks 2 shoot. We see the set unveiling, Dante and Randal in (and out of) character, a peek at one of the newest members of the Askewniverse behind the counter, and even a quick look at one of the latest ads of brilliance to come out of Ratface’s shop: The original “Cow Tipper” at just $3.95. Man, ya gotta love it.

There’s a new spot there for a flick called “The Boards” too, which by the looks of the preview, appears it’s going to introduce us to some of the flick’s storyboards (always a personal favorite of ours). However, at presstime, these links are broken at the Clerks 2 site. We’re guessing they’ll be fixed shortly, and when they are, we’ll update this story right here.

As always, the Clerks 2 site is the place to go to watch these in various shapes and sizes. And the quality and download speed have never been better. Kudos to everyone involved. We’re really digging these.

• Kevin’s guest shot on UPN’s “Veronica Mars” gets some cyber-ink in this MSN TV article on the show. Here’s the cyber-clippage:

…The personal connections continued in the episode “Drivers Ed,” in which Veronica returns to the convenience store and meets clerk Duane Anders, played by writer/director Kevin Smith (”Clerks,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma”).

Smith comes to “Mars” because of his friendship with producer Dan Etheridge, who has acted in three of Smith’s films: “Dogma,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (with Smith as Silent Bob) and “Jersey Girl.”

“We were talking about the show,” Smith says, “and I said, ‘Hey, dude, I’ll be happy to go on any time you want me to come on.’ He said, ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’ A week later, he’s going, ‘OK, how about the second episode?’

“When you meet me, I’m a guy who works at a convenience store that was the last stop for the driver before he went off the cliff. I’m capitalizing on the disaster. It’s not that I’m a mean guy, but I’m kind of a capitalist.”

After filming, Smith found time to actually watch season one of “Veronica Mars.” Calling in after seeing six episodes, he says, “It’s awesome.

“It’s proof that TV can be way better than movies. It’s phenomenal. Kristen’s a great actress, cast is really tight, great writing, crisp plotting. I think it’s the best show on TV right now.”

• In celebration of their 14th anniversary, the IMDb is recalling the movie history of the past 14 years. Kevin scores mentions in both 1994 and 1997.
• Other IMDB news: Their gossip area is fishing for a story again. We’re running it for posterity, but can tell you, with all he’s got on the slate now, Affleck’s not leaving Hollywood anytime soon:

• Here’s a site we’re linking up with the first time here at News Askew – Relgious-themed site “Beliefnet” runs an article citing “My Name Is Earl” and the concept of karma on the program:

• Don’t forget, Kevin’s March 2004 appearance on “MAD TV” reruns on Comedy Central this Tuesday (October 18) at 6:00pm and Wednesday (October 19) at 1:00pm.

• It seems that no stone will go unturned as far as the Clerks 2 production, given this diary post from Kevin. By the sound of it, you can expect to see a LOT of the film in words and pictures on this site and other sites as the months go by. Here’s Kevin:

We appreciate the graciousness of the information exchange, yet also realize that some of you like going into Kevin’s films without knowing a ton about the plot. We’ll do our best to let you know when potential big plot spoilers are coming through this process, so feel free to read here and remain spoiler-free (if you choose to). However, smaller stuff, such as the location, guest appearances, and such WILL be discussed. We’ll do our best to not cross that line from informative to spoilage.

• Kevin’s “My Boring-Ass Life” blog kicked into high gear today, with over two weeks of updates, including the first week of filming on Clerks 2. While Kevin’s self-effacing title may work in some rare instances, it’s certainly not the case now. We’re learning a ton about the film and its process with these updates. Clerks 2 has taken center stage in Kevin’s life, and naturally, the blog’s going to reflect that for the next couple of months.

As always, we’re sure that you’re going to read it all, and to do so, suggest you start with the September 28th entry and move forward. Missing days will be filled in later, and we’ll let you know when that happens. Most of them seem to be complete now.

In case you’re in a hurry and just want our usual “Cliffs Notes” version of the latest batch, look no further than just below:

• Kevin hopes that the “Train Wreck” site and project will run for an entire year (full story below) and will culminate in a large documentary for the eventual Clerks 2 DVD.
• More comments and thoughts on the Aint It Cool talkback tirades.
• Wardrobe tidbits on Randal and Jay, which seem to indicate a short timeframe for the film. We’re now guessing that Clerks 2 will be another “day in the life” flick similar to the original. We’re betting a less than 24 hour period will be covered (more than likely, a single shift).
• Kevin says he’ll be getting to Ranger Danger “in the next two years”.
• Wanda Sykes and the comedian Earthquake have both filmed cameos for the flick.
• Kevin’s already started cutting the film together roughly. Scenes referred to so far: The ATM Scene, The Office Scene, The Back exterior scene, and a conversation between Rosario and Brian that’s got 10 set-ups, a huge contrast from the single angle often used in Clerks.

If you’re just a diary skimmer, we highly recommend the insightful October 9th entry. While Kevin takes a lot of time to give us all the details of his day, it’s these reflective moments that we always enjoy the most. We think you will, too. And as always, we thank Kevin for putting fingers to keyboard to share with the world.

• With the Clerks 2 videos THIS good before we’ve even reached the set, imagine how cool stuff’s gonna be when we get there, huh? Yep, we’ve got TWO MORE pre-shoot vids for ya today courtesy of the Clerks 2 blog/vlog site. The first one again takes us back to the Cast & Crew kickoff party, where the infamous Brian Johnson documents the festivities through the eyes of his videocam. This is part of a multi-part affair, full of fun and frivolity. If you weren’t there, we imagine this is the next best thing.

The second video is a REAL treat for fans of director David Lynch. Being that your webmasters here are Lynch freaks, this one is extra enjoyable. Imagine if the surrealistic director took on Clerks to recut it — Would this be what it looked like? The clip borrows heavily from Lynch “Fire Walk With Me” Twin peaks prequel film, in both score and occasional scenes. It’s a freaky mind trip of a clip that will make Lynch fans say “Oooo!” and the rest of you say “Huh?”. Dig it.

• Yes, folks, Kevin HIMSELF has let the biggest cat out of the bag, possibly EVER, regarding the plot of Clerks 2. This is no kitty, this one’s a GIANT TIGER. We’ve blurred the thumnail, but click away and you’ll see undeniably the biggest spoiler regarding the plot of Clerks 2 so far. Ok, sure, it doesn’t let you in on what happens in the flick itself, and we’re guessing that this reveal will take place in the trailers that will be ALL over the place, so checking it out isn’t ALL bad. But wow, this is one image that’s gonna have your head spinning at the possibilites for the flick.

Why post it? Kevin explains himself below, basically, that there’s just too many photo snipers out there when you shoot on location, so rather than let someone else spoil his fun, he’s gonna create the fun for us. So you, the fans, benefit. Here’s Kevin (minor spoilers in the next passage as well):

Can you say “exciting”? We knew that you could. More news later!