• It was a big night in Austin, Texas last night, as Clerks II took the city by force with a packed screening for the Austin Film Society. First off, we’re very pleased to have some nice photos from Matt Wright, staffer of Austinist.com.

Also, scooper Eric gives us a nice, non-spoiler summary of some fun facts from the night and the Q&A

If you were there, and have more to add, let’s hear it! Talk Back or drop us a line!

• We know the flick’s been seen a few places here and there so far, but the OFFICIAL premiere screening for Clerks II took place last night at the Arclight in Los Angeles, and an incredibly cool who’s-who list of Hollywood was in attendance to celebrate along with the cast and the crew. We realize there have been some fun east coast events lately, but dang, we sure hated missing this one — Looked like a fun crowd and a nice after-party, too.

Being the highly touted event that it was, and with so much talent on hand, there were photographs a-plenty happening at both the big show and the after-party. You can peep several pages of thumbnails at the following websites, though to see larger ones, you gotta be a member:

Thanks to our good friends at the IESB, we have a nice treat…full resolution still of all the major players in Clerks II right here for ya! Click the thumbnails for a better look at all of our heroes. Expect many more full res photos from our pal Albert Ortega, as well, coming soon!

We’ll let you know if we get any reports in from those in attendance…In the meantime, enjoy the pics, and watch for more soon!

• Two new shorts from our pal Fred Topel at his new site “Suite 101″ are the first of what will be a long series of articles to promote Clerks II. First from a small story on Kevin’s “Superman” thoughts, here’s a snip:

And the second, more extensive piece delves into some pop culture references made in Clerks II. Again a sample follows:

Read the entire thing HERE. As always, watch for minor spoilers if you haven’t seen the flick yet.

• The big news this weekend is that Kevin’s not only confirmed a new stop on his nationwide tour, but that those of you in Austin, Texas now have a chance to witness the flick a whole 8 days early — That’s right, Clerks II will screen there on Thursday, July 13th, and we’re got details. Here’s Kevin:

You saw our Arclight post last night, so hopefully you did get your tix before they sold out (which we’re expecting, by the time you read this, will be)…And we also hope those of you in Texas can get into that show, which sounds like a very nice event — A great theater, the Q&A, and the chance to win swag? Has us wanting to buy plane tix to make it there next week…We’ll be eagerly awaiting your reports from all these events, so be sure to have your eyes and ears open…But most of all, of course, ENJOY a fantastic new flick and Q&A with the dude who brought it to us.

Austin tix NOW on sale through the GetTix Web site or by calling (866-443-8849). Discount ONLY available at the Paramount box office. $25 for film society members, $30 for non members, and TOTALLY worth it.

• We were having so much fun watching this over and over again when it came out that we forgot to mention it — Yes, an R-rated, or “Red Band” trailer of Clerks II is now available online. When watching the TV ads, it just proves how filthy the flick is, considering almost every line of every scene needs altered or trimmed to make G-rated TV. So this time, you can finally catch some of the uncensored dialogue the way it was meant to be heard and seen on the screen.

There’s a lot of spoilers in this trailer, so please stay away if you want to go in clean, which we do always recommend. It’s the third trailer down at this page. Two weeks until Clerks II hits screens folks!!! TWO!!!!

• Brian and Jeff continue to travel the country promoting Clerks II, state by state! Here’s a couple more shots from Kansas City to kick things off today. You’ll find our duo and a shot of our scooper and the guys with his B&W clerks figures. Brian also graciously signed his customized Dallas Cowboys jersey, #37 with Silent Bob for the name on the back. We hear that Jeff made fun of him for it.

In addition, our frequent loyal scooper Gareth conducted a one-on-two interview with the boys recently. Here’s some interesting cool snips of interest that we haven’t seen in any other interviews:

• Waaaay back on a cold November day, we had the pleasure of yet again visiting the set of a View Askew production on its last day of photography – That film was, of course, Clerks II. Much like Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II wrapped up production in Leonardo, New Jersey, in that famous block of stores. We were there for the duration, start to finish, and are proud to present full coverage, in words and pictures, of that final day as part of our ongoing “On Location” series. Enjoy!

• The MySpace promotional push hits high gear today, with the coolest promo yet — If for some reason you’ve get to get a MySpace account, this is the time — Yes, it’s now your chance to be forever immortalized in View Askew film history: Your name in the Clerks II credits.

How? Really easy, actually. Just add the new user “Mooby’s Presents: Clerks II” user to your MySpace friends list. That’s all there is to it.

This will be valid for BOTH the theatrical and DVD versions. None of the LOTR extended DVD only garbage. The news has gotten fairly big, with Variety even picked up the story in their morning edition.

“We cannot think of a better way to get Kevin’s longstanding fan base excited about this sequel,” TWC co-chair Harvey Weinstein said in a statement.

The Real Kevin Smith – Myspace Page
The Magic Mooby’s Presents Page – Limited To 10,000!

• MTV’s Overdrive is a broadband based video channel. You may need to install a plugin for your browser to access it, and of course a high speed connection is needed to use it. Right now, at the top of their queue, you’ll find three brand new interview clips with our very own Kevin Smith. You’ll ALSO find TWO EXCLUSIVE clips of Clerks II for the web. Yes, these can be considered spoilers, the first quite minor, if you’ve watched any trailers or ads, the second, a bit less so. Still nothing major of course, plot-wise. And of course, Kevin always gives good interview.

The clip tiles and info:

Kevin Smith: “A Man With Very Little Talent?”
Kevin Smith: “A $5 An Hour Mentality”
Kevin Smith: “Jason Mewes Gives His Motel Room An Extreme Makeover”
Exclusive Clerks II Clip: “Dancing The Boredom Away”
Exclusive Clerks II Clip: “Learning the ABCs”

We had quite a bit of problems with both Internet Exploer and Mozilla Firefox with the Overdrive page, here’s hoping the bugs are fixed or you folks have better luck when you try.

Apple Clerks II Featurette

• Upon visiting Apple.com’s hugely popular Quicktime movie trailer page, you’re now greeted by an in-line video from Kevin, inviting you to watch the brand new Clerks II/Train Wreck featurette (4:13). It’s a really neat chronological summary of all the Train Wreck footage that takes us from production all the way up to where we are now, and in just over four minutes. More great exposure for the flick! Check it out right now in QuickTime video over at the Apple site. Think of it as a “best of” Track Wreck.