• 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.

• Yes folks, we’re talking Paris, Mewes, uncensored, clear as day, and yes, even some exposed breasts — Apparently Golden Palace, the gambling website, has quite a stake in the film “Bottoms Up” for sponsorship. So much so that a preliminary reel of clips from the film where the plugs appear has been made available. So, what you’re going to see here is 3 almost complete scenes, featuring Paris and a little bit of Mewes (and, as we said, quite a bit of Golden Palace, including an ad on a barechested female model, guys). So, enjoy. We figure in making this mention you folks are gonna flood the site and it’s gonna slow down, so enjoy it while it lasts! Mewes & Paris Go “Bottoms Up” – First Live Footage Here!

• Chris Moore used his space in the Project Greenlight blog to indicate that he’s rather certain that the project, following the 3rd outing, is quite likely, dead . This is sad news, as we not only believed in the project itself, but were HUGE fans of the reality TV program that came of it — In fact, it may very well have been the best reality on TV. So, Greenlight, should this be your last run, you shall be missed. Let’s hope Feast becomes a huge success despite the Bravo ratings for the TV show (which are what Moore cites as responsible for the prognosis). Let’s not count Greenlight totally out yet, spread the word on Feast, and perhaps it can still be saved. We’d love to see a year 4.

• Just a quick note here to say thanks for all your concerns regarding the blog’s disappearance over the weekend — We’re now happy to report that the missing blog is only temporary, and those of you who wrote to tell us how much you enjoyed having that format, the RSS feed, and all that good stuff…Well, we think you’ll be quite pleased again in a short amount of time. Preparations are being made, so stay tuned, and don’t stray too far — Good things are coming. Thanks for your patience during this transition.