• IGN wisely cites “Clerks: The Cartoon” as the 5th best movie to TV transition of all time:
  #5: Clerks: The Animated Series (2000)

  Taking place in the same world with the same characters as Kevin Smith’s hit independent film (of the same name), Clerks never quite found its audience and as such was cancelled after airing only two episodes. With the -uncensored- DVD release, however, this comedic animated take on Smith’s raucous film was given new life, becoming one of the first DVDs to find a larger audience in DVD sales than in its television viewership.

  Fans of the Clerks films, as well as other Kevin Smith movies, will recognize the main characters of the series: Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, and Jay and Silent Bob. Focusing the series around Dante and Randal, Clerks followed the same format as its film counterpart by taking in the day to day happenings of Dante (the convenience store worker) and Randal (the video store ‘worker’), while spicing it up with guest appearances by Jay and Silent Bob. While the names and the basic premise is the same, the show took drastic steps to separate itself from the shadow of the hit indie film by taking the four lead characters and placing them in wildly unpredictable and random situations. By changing up the locales and the pace of the program, Clerks became less about clever conversations and more about madcap comedy.

  With storylines such as Dante and Randal taking down their new villain Leonardo Leonardo (voiced by Alec Baldwin), Clerks was a refreshing bit of random comedy which was never given a chance by ABC. Aired out of order, hilarious bits such as the second episode of the series being a flashback clip-show, were never fully realized… leaving us to scratch our heads asking why they were remembering such arbitrary memories. These problems were solved, however on DVD, making us remember just how funny this series could have been, as well as how successfully it was able to work off of its film property. If you have never seen this series, it is worth watching for the final few minutes of the fourth episode – where the show ran out of money and was forced to send the rest of the episode over to Korea to be completed.

  We can’t get enough of the stories Kevin tells about this show, regarding aborted scripts and plans for the eventual direct to DVD films. They can’t come fast enough, we say! Pop over to IGN to check out the full list.

• Kevin made an appearance at the premiere for the hilarious “Superbad” last week. Here’s a press photo from the event. More news later! Thanks for dropping by.

• IFC declares Clerks one of their films with an alternate ending that’s worth checking out. In case you haven’t seen it yet or don’t know, the film’s originally downbeat end had one of our beloved Clerks getting gunned down, fading to black with silent credits. Here’s what they had to say:

You can check out the complete list at the IFC site.

• Here are some fresh pictures taken last evening at the Netflix Rolling Roadshow screening of CLERKS. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night, clear skies and a cool breeze. Over 2000 fans enjoyed one of the liveliest Q&A sessions in recent memory, even one fan was there in a full Stormtrooper uniform! I’d like to give some special thanks to all-round good guy Ming Chen. He got us into the gated off area when there seemed like no hope. If you live anywhere close to any remaining Netflix Rolling Roadshow events, you owe it to yourself to catch one. It was a blast! Here’s Kevin’s wrap-up of this awesome event…

• We’re sad to report that, just weeks before the big event, the Netflix Rolling Roadshow screening of Clerks in Leonardo at the actual Quick Stop has been moved, due to noise concerns. This is really a bummer, however, we do understand that the logistics of pulling this off in that small area (given the crowds expected) would have been tough. Thankfully, the town of Red Bank has stepped in to keep the event rolling. Here’s more from the Asbury Park Press:

We’ll be there with full coverage — Hope to see some of YOU in that projected crowd of 2,000 as well — It’s a great excuse to spend a summer evening to catch a free showing of one of the funniest flicks of all time, AND take in some local sights as well. See you there! Check out a similar story at Jersey’s Home Tribune News site as well.

• Respected UK publication Empire Magazine recently named their top 50 Independent Films of all time. “Clerks” had the distinction of being high up in the list among great company, and took the #4 spot! You can view the write-up HERE or start with the bottom of the list at THIS page. Here’s what they had to say about the film:

Congratulations to the View Askew gang for the kudos among some very nice competition!

• A weekend program on the UK’s Channel 4 cited Clerks as the 19th funniest film of all time, coming in ahead of the likes of Young Frankenstein, Animal House, and other classics! We’ve got the full video of the clip as it aired for you, as well as a link to the full list over at the channel 4 website. Here’s the Clerks writeup:

19. Clerks, 1994

Kevin Smith’s directorial debut is as hilarious as it is filthy, cutting to the bone of gritty American service subculture like a chainsaw. The script buzzes with intelligence mired in laziness, and observations born of the meniality of working in a grocer’s. With icons for those whose aspirations stretch to a day on the couch drinking beer, Smith has clearly defined a branch of cinema which he can confidently call his own.

As we expected, Kevin did appear throughout the program to comment on many of the other flicks that made the list. Here’s hoping we can somehow catch a full viewing of the program stateside at some point.

• For those of you fretting the loss of that previous Black Cat cover for issue four, Kevin revealed good news. That cover WILL return on the “Marvel Must Have” book that will collect issues #1 through #3 of the series, to catch those of you up who may have missed the first run, forgotten the story or, as Kevin quips, torn up your issues in anger over the delays. Click the cover for a closer look.

• Local UCF freebie newspaper/magazine “The Central Florida Future” had a very prominent scan of our beloved Buddy Christ with an article. The shot you see here is the best we have to show ya.
• In honor of Labor Day, AOL and Moviefone are running a list of “Top 10 Movie Jobs That Suck”. The hard working counter jockeys of Clerks make #5 on that list.

• We received a TON of entries for the Clerks X DVD contest (and most correct, at that!). Speaking of which, the correct answers WERE:

A handful of you incorrectly picked April 30, 1997, as the date News Askew happened. Not true. We started out as Drinks Askew first, only to change names on the date listed above.

5 randomly selected winners, chosen from a bowl of all the correct entries received, have won themselves a spiffy new Clerks X REGION 2 DVD, courtesy of Buena Vista Entertainment. They are:

To the rest of you who didn’t win, THANKS for playing. Now get out there and buy yourself a copy, best cash you’ll ever spend! Clerks X is now available for region 2 on UK DVD shelves everywhere. We might go out on a limb and say it’s the BEST VIEW ASKEW SET EVER. Don’t take our word on how good this set is? Mike Heyes sent us this highly positive, FIVE STAR REVIEW from the BBC of the Region 2 disc.

• Here’s a great new item available for preorder from the Stash just in time for the summer months, the Clerks Hat. We thought we saw the last of these hats in the Mallrats dirt mall, but we were wrong. Order yours today!

Originally created by Scott Mosier’s sister Kristin, only 4 of these hats were in existence until now. The Clerks logo hat features the ‘Clerks’ typewriter logo embroidered in white on an adjustable black hat. One the back the words, “I’m not even supposed to be here today!” reflect the famous words uttered repeatedly by Dante Hicks.

• Kevin revealed that Southland Tales shirts began going on sale at the con, after his panel. You may have seen them, black with the ST logo, around the floor.

• Aint It Cool News reports that Kevin had the honor of giving a big introduction to the greatest band in the world whilst in San Diego this weekend. We got this report from a lucky eye witness:

As the Crowd was expecting the Tenacious D to take the stage, out comes Kevin to introduce them. He admits to begging for the opportunity to bring them out. Apparently there are only 9 cocks in the world that he is interested in sucking. (There had been 10 but he topped off Affleck and is now down to 9) The 2 men he was bringing on the stage were numbers 7 and 5 on the list.

He walked off stage as Jables and KG walked on, and Kyle stopped Kevin and totally dropped trow, mooning the audience and displaying his junk to Kevin, who at least for the time being did not come through with his offer, at least not then.

• Congratulations go out to J&SBSB composes James L. Venable, who was nominated for the Emmy for “Outstanding Main Title Theme for a Series”. The main title he did was for “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” on the Cartoon Network. You can hear an mp3 of the piece at Jim’s site. Congrats Jim, well earned, and best of luck at the Emmys!
• More congrats to pass around today, to View Askew alum Ethan Suplee on the birth of his first child:

• A local theater chain (Sunrise Cinemas) in Plantation, Florida has arranged for weekends of “flashback cinema”. Coming August 12th and 13th is “Clerks”. Yep, on the BIG SCREEN. We can’t tell you what a great experience it is to see the film in a crowded theater of fans if you haven’t done it before. So if you can make it, DO IT!
• Here’s a small tidbit from last night’s “Reel Paradise” screening hosted by John Pierson that we reported on earlier last week:

We’ll let you know of more opportunities to catch the film — We’re still eagerly awaiting a chance to see it ourselves!

• Joblo.com has picked up on the Mallrats DVD release , spotlighting it in “DVD New Coolness #90″. Along with a glowing appraisal of the movie by the author, they go over some of the new (& old) features. It’s nice to see folks picking up the story, and we thank JoBlo for their continued support. You’re very kind.

• This richmond.com article ranks Clerks in their Top 5 Movie Soundtracks (yep, those top 5′ers are at it again):

• An easy to spot Clerks reference appears in this web comic entitled “This Comic Sucks”. But hey, we say any comic from View Askew fans can’t suck THAT bad! Enjoy.

• The caption writers at “Nintendo Power” magazine continue to show their View Askew fandom. In the August issue’s “Power Quiz” section, there’s a guess-the-picture type puzzle. The caption for the puzzle says “No, it’s not one of those paintis that becomes a schooner if you look at it enough.” See the scan.
• And finally today, since this film remains one of the top reasons that Kevin is making movies today, and started making movies over 10 years ago, we thought you may want to attend (not to mention, it’s the perfect chance to visit that cool new IFC Center in NYC):