• Media outlets today revealed the first release dates for the new Weinstein company. You can check the story out at Yahoo News or Aint It Cool. That Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration certainly raised some eyebrows here. Overall, it’s a very, very impressive mix, heavy towards genre films which fans like us dig on.

Clerks 2 is not listed, though we assume that’s only because of the scheduling shake-up due to Kevin’s big screen acting gig happening at the moment. As soon as that’s done, or even sooner, we expect to hear the new shooting schedule, which should help with a release date. Without an inch of film shot on the project yet, though, announcing on the slate would be premature — So never fear. We’re still on.

In related news, the Project Greenlight film, “Feast”, in which Jason Mewes has a small role, has announced a release date of January 20th, 2006. With Greenlight a distant memory at that point, we hope it’ll still get some notice, as it certainly looked like a fun, kinetic flick. Let’s hope they go with an R-rating, too. So see it. Even if it’ll help get another Greenlight, well greenlit, we’re there.

The brothers don’t have a name for the new venture yet, but plan to announce one this summer. We’re sure we speak for all of us when we say congratulations and good luck, Harvey and Bob. You changed the movie industry forever, and this next phase looks to be just as promising and exciting. Thanks for continuing to make theaters a better place to be.

• Mattt Potter does it again, with a creative spin on one of the most anticipated View Askew DVD’s ever, Mallrats X! This trailer was cut together with sound from the Batman Begins spot, cleverly mixed with edited footage from Mallrats, bringing a level of drama and excitement to the film the likes of which we’ve never seen before!

Click here to check out the amusement!

Mallrats X is expected on DVD, along with An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, Fall 2005. We’ll have early looks for you here, as always. Start tossing some pennies in your piggy banks now. You’ll need to own both!

• As you fine folks know, Kevin’s in Vancouver right now filming a movie — His first major acting role (well, in a non-Kevin Smith movie, anyway). So, in the spirit of all things Canadian, Kevin’s going to be holding a mini-Canada tour this FALL. That’s right, we’re giving you a TON of early notice on this one. So, you can save the dates now if you’re in the area, or schedule a nice little vacation for yourself to coincide. Let’s kick it off with these two locations:

Keep in mind, these two dates are JUST THE BEGINNING. We’ve got more dates for the Great White North tour coming soon. And of course, News Askew will keep you posted on any other updates or news regarding this exciting development. After many years of waiting, Canadians, your time has come! Don’t miss a rare chance to see Kevin live and in person, when he takes Canada by storm THIS FALL!

• Howdy folks, how are ya today? Thanks for stopping in. Let’s start with the big news. We quietly moved into 17 million plus hits over the weekend, and we’d like to congratulate and thank Robert Bellair for hitting that milestone and telling us about it. If you asked us if we ever thought that hits would get into these types of numbers when we started, we’d have chuckled a bit. But here we are, over eight years later, and we’re going as strong as ever. Thanks for sticking with us. And to all your recently new readers — Welcome, and we hope you’ll hang out a while.

As part of our Spring Cleaning event, we’re adding new features and enhancing old ones. Our first poll topic, asking you if you intended to vote, was sort of an in-joke. After all, even if your answer was no, you voted. So, with that test run and funny business our of the way, it’s time to get into the more interesting questions. So, we’d like to present our first serious poll topic, which you can vote on via your left sidebar. Thanks to BOB KLEIN for the suggestion on this one. Want to see your own poll topic gracing the front page of News Askew? Send it on! We’d love to hear it.

Kevin’s revealing and detailed online blog continues at www.silentbobspeaks.com. If you’re not checking it as part of your web surfing routine, get started! Kevin’s dropping some intriguing info on his experiences in Canada as he works in a major supporting role for the film “Catch and Release” (obviously fishing plays a role in the film and Kevin’s part, from his entries). As always, required reading.

And finally, it’s an interesting week of TV as finales have arrived. Here’s hoping the Lost finale doesn’t disappoint as much as 24 did (a lackluster finale after a pretty great year). And if you missed Deadwood on HBO, despite a less intiguing second season, it remains some of the most creative writing on television. Entourage, another HBO guilty pleasure, returns in a couple weeks, too. At least the end of the major season will allow a few moments to leave the TV and PC screen and see the sun. Perhaps.

So, with some big news just ahead, and more site annnouncements to come shortly — Let’s get rolling here.

• VH-1 is re-aring “When Star Rules Ruled The World” quite a bit with Episode III now in theaters. Kevin was interviewed for the program and appears throughout. Check your local listings if you wanna catch it.
• Wanna give our new blog a boost? A technology site, sorta like Slashdot, called digg.com, allows you to rate stories which bumps them up onto the front page. There’s a small story on Kevin’s new blog site HERE that you can rate and “Digg” to the front page.

• We’re extremely pleased and excited for Jason Lee and his new sitcom, debuting this Fall on NBC. “My Name is Earl” has received nothing but positive marks from the network and many critics. Now Entertainment Weekly cites the show as one of the “Most Promising oft he new season, with a piece on Lee to go along with it. Check out both scans right here, for your reading pleasure.

This article, from CRFA talk radio, even mentions Lee’s View Askew ties with the show’s listing.

• Retro returns today with a really neat treat — Again, never before heard anywhere (unless you were within earshot of this radio broadcast)…A radio spot for a special screening of “Clerks”, sponsored by a radio station called “The Laser”. This ad aired right around the release of the film way back during the dawn of View Askew in 1994. Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here next Sunday with another audio blast from the View Askew past.

• With Sith now breaking records (and generally rocking the house, perhaps except for that excruciating “Nooooo!” towards the end, you know what we mean), articles a-plenty are on the web. This one, from Canoe, refers to Kevin’s way early review from a couple weeks back (which, now that we’ve seen the movie and can read it, can agree with whole-heartedly). The whole article can be found HERE.
• The London Evening Standard’s TV critic has named a rerun of Chasing Amy as film of the week on UK television for 20th – 26th June. Nigel Pizey’s excellent review of 19th May 2005 says:

• Slight correction for those picking up the Superfriends II DVD due to Kevin’s apparent appearance in the extras: While the press release of the disc claims that Kevin is part of the “Pajama-Rama Super Friends Retrospective,” he isn’t, according to a scooper who screened it. We’re waiting to hear back from Warner’s. FYI.

• Kevin’s done it again, this time with a brand new piece he’s written for Rolling Stone magazine (hitting newsstands today). In this one, titled “Darth and Me”, Kevin relates experiences from watching Sith and all the way back to his childhood love of the original Star Wars, Episode IV. As always, some funny anecdotes ensure, and Kevin tells the story of his love for Star Wars and the villanous Darth Vader like no other can.

Sure, you should pick up the issue right away. But because you’re a pal, we’ve also got the 2 pages for you right here. You know what to do. Enjoy folks. Consider it a pre-weekend present.

• JoBlo has what it’s claiming to be an official Clerks 2 theatrical teaser poster up at their site. JoBlo’s proven rather reliable in the past, so we’re not ruling this out, just haven’t heard an official word on this being done yet. If it’s actually being printed, that’s news to us, though the tagline does work and the fact it’s using archived art made it an effective brand-recognition solution. Looks like they grabbed the art from Ming’s Clerks 2 news page HERE. So, whether this is web-only or the real deal, see for yourself. We’re sure Kevin or Ming can clear this up soon.

• And finally today, an appropriate newsbite on this very monumental day in Star Wars history. From the USA Today Website:

How about that! Chewie digs the song (and Clerks!). Gotta love it. See the complete article at the USA Today website. Enjoy Revenge of the Sith, everyone. I know we’re gonna.