• After years of inquiry regarding that comfy coat that Silent Bob wears and loans to Rufus in “Dogma”, it looks like one clothing company has taken the matter into their own hands.

AbbyShot Clothiers Limited, who specialize in recreating custom coats from the film world, are in the process of gathering the fabrics necessary to mass-produce the coats. They’ve already got a spec version done, which you can see above, as well as more shots at their website.

AbbyShot uses top of the line fabric and custom builds each coat BY HAND, to your exact measurements. The ‘sample’ you see above is yet unfinished. The finished coat will have topstitching, smiley face button and other finishing items. The production sample coat (and hopefully the future production coats) is made with Tight dense-weave Wool which is suited for ‘hard-wearing’ outerwear garments. They aren’t prepared to offer this coat as product yet, as they still need a reliable fabric source and a better estimate of demand. That’s where you come in.

If you’d be interested in a coat, be sure to e-mail them and let them know, via this Question Form at their website. If demand is high, it should allow them to obtain fabric in the quantity they need to keep the price as low as possible. Right now, estimates have the coat under the $500 mark, which may seem a bit pricey to some of you, but considering the uniqueness and quality build of the coat, which should last a lifetime, it’s sure to interest some of you, perhaps for your 2003 Christmas wish lists.

We’ll keep you posted on the status of the coats, until then, feel free to check out this thread at their forum to learn more about the company and what they do.

• Our sincerest congratulations go out to the team behind “Trooper Clerks: The Animated One Shot: Part 1”. The short won “Best Animation” at the Official Star Wars Fanfilm Awards at this past weekend’s San Diego ComicCon.

• The Day 3 gallery at TheOneRing.net features a couple photos of interest from San Diego — One of Kevin intervewing a couple of Klingons, and, if you dig deeper, some more Jay & Bob look-alikes.

• A HUGE Ben/Jen interview is up at MSNBC.com. No mention of Jersey Girl except for the text at the end, but we thought some of you might be interested to read it, all the same.

• Friday’s edition of popular webcomic “Drawing The Line” references Clerks very overtly. Check it out HERE.

• A News Askew reader was lucky enough to win the autographed bra signed by Jennifer and Kevin Smith — He was kind enough to send us a photo of the item framed with note of authenticity. That must have been a fun conversation at the framing shop. We’ll catch ya next time, folks. Happy Monday.

• Wanna see something REALLY cool? A surprise display item at the currently-happening San Diego Comicon took us by surprise. Dogma inaction figures! Not all the figure models have yet been completed yet, but for those they’ve got cardboard cut-out models on display (don’t worry, they’re not going to be so inactive that they’re FLAT). Yes, soon we’ll all be owning Jay with Uzi, Human Loki, Bartelby with Wings, and, our personal favorite, the immense Golgothan. The cut outs include Silent Bob w/ hockey stick, Metatron, and, of course, God (because what would a set of Dogma inaction figs be without God?). A new shot of the soon to be released (this October) Mallrats action figures is also on display, which includes Renee, Willam, Brodie, Jay & Dork Knight. And don’t forget, San Diego is currently the ONLY place to get your exclusive Steve-Dave and Walt figures!

Click the shots above for a better look, and thanks to Ming and his snappy digital camera for getting us these exclusive images.

• Jersey Girl continues to have the occasional test screening — A recent one held in the state for which the film gets its name inspired a couple folks who saw it to send us some reviews. We’ve edited out the spoilers so these are safe to read. It sounds like a few more edits and changes are being made, and the film is testing better than ever:

There ya have it, folks. The film continues to please. We’re anxious for the day that you all can see it.

• Meet Clerks artist Jim Mahfood this Friday night (the 18th) in downtown Chicago at the Comic Con Funk Party! Check out the Mahfood-designed flyer HERE , which has all the details.

• A custom made Askewniverse action figure is up for auction over at eBay — A one of a kind “Leonardo Leonardo”! Check him out and place your bids, but remember, this isn’t our auction, so bid at your own risk. Right now the figure’s at a very affordable $5.99, though we expect that’ll go up from this mention.
• Commercials are now airing everywhere, but you can also see the Gigli trailer in Quicktime HERE. Ben & Jen appear on tonight’s Dateline (NBC) to promote the film (and maybe even get a mention of Jersey Girl out there!).
• If you show up at a bad link at this NCAA football site, the Buddy Christ apparently lets you know.
• Want to LISTEN to “Clerks” in its entirety? The Lab 360 website gives you a chance to do just that, as well as the same for other films. Could be something to pass the time on a slow workday if you’ve got headphones. Catch ya next time. Thanks for stopping in today.

• We’ve got a bunch of scans and photos here for ya today. You know the drill. Click ‘em for a better look. Let’s start it off with some photos from the fun at the Stash late last week. Kevin was on hand to film a portion of the latest Roadside Attractions for Jay Leno, and even stuck around to chat and sign autographs for all the fans who came around to watch and hopefully get their mug on national late night TV.
  View Askew’s own StashCam was online that evening taking its regular shots, many of which have been catalogged online HERE.

We’ve also got some exclusive photos of Kevin as he appeared for the taping. Click away.

• Next, we’ve got direct scans from The Aquarian of that article we mentioned back on the 10th. It’s a spotlight on The Stash.

• And last, but certainly not least, Jay & Silent Bob get spoofed in MAD Magazine, as #6 in the 50 worst things about movies.

• Ming was kind enough to post these exclusive first look snapshots of the Steve-Dave and Walt figures in their packaging. Man, these guys look fantastic. You might just want to buy two sets of these guys, one to take out and put on display, and another set to keep intact. Notice that all five remaining Mallrats figures are shown on the back as part of the 2003 wave, with the set due in OCTOBER! So there ya have it. Better clear some room off your desk for more of these things.
  Remember, this limited run is only guaranteed to be available in San Diego. Once the supply runs out, that’s the end of Steve-Dave and Walt (not literally, mind you, but FIGUREatively). Pun very, very much intended. Thanks. We’ll be here all week. Two shows nightly.

• Video Store Online reports that Kevin will appear the the invitation-only VSDA show in Las Vegas on July 29th:

More than 100 exhibitors have confirmed their participation in the VSDA’s Home Entertainment 2003, July 29–31, in Las Vegas, including 27 companies who are new to the event, according to the VSDA.

• Here’s your chance to own a BIG piece of the Askewniverse: Banky & Holden’s table from “Chasing Amy”. The table is repeatedly seen holding Banky & Holden’s Sega. It was also featured in a key scene at the climax of the film. Both Matt Dickinson, the artist and View Askew Studios have authenticated the item as the original Kannex table from Chasing Amy. A certificate of authenticity signed by Kevin Smith will also be provided to the buyer of the table. The item will be available for the next 8 days or so, and bidding starts at $100. Congrats in advance to the lucky buyer, hopefully it will end up in a fan’s home and receive lots of TLC.
  Bid on the item HERE at the frighteningly addictive eBay.

• Back on May 28th, we reported that a contestant on the UPN reality show “America’s Next Top Model” was a big View Askew fan and quoted the films all the time. Well, guess who WON THE COMPETITION? Congrats to Adrianne Curry, our favorite contestant. The previously linked E! Online story has a mention of her love of all things Askew, and the Chicago Sun-Times also had this in an article about her:

Ya see that? It pays to be a View Askew fan these days. We love our peeps.

• Today’s most popular submission: A new game by Capcom that is due for release on the Nintendo Gamecube next year, “Killer 7”, deals with a man with multiple personalities (7 to be exact, hence the game title). According to Gamespot.com, the 7 characters all have the same last name, Smith. And one of the first names? Kevin. We’re doubt there’s any relation. The article reports that the game is only 30% completed as far as coding goes, so maybe it’s not too late to throw in an easter egg that makes the dude look like everyone’s favorite director? We’ll see
• Mallrats babe Claire Forlani returns as Maxim’s “Girlfriend of the Day” today. ‘Rats scores a mention:

Alright, hey, at least she said we looked cool. And teen-aged. Love you too, Claire.

• “Matt & Ben”, the off-broadway play performed by two women that spoofs Damon & Affleck, re-opens on July 28th.
• The Mac news site MacSlash is currently running a Kevin Smith related Poll: “What is your favorite Kevin Smith DVD?”. Glad to see there’s some fans over there in the Mac world, as we all know how big of a fan Kev is of the Mac.
• The latest edition of the Aquarian (a local Jersey rock magazine) has a feature that focuses on the Stash. If anyone’s got the article scanned or keyed in, send it on.

• And finally today, on the light side of things…We’re not sure this story from the UK Sun is truly legit, but we think Brodie would have found it fascinating. Until next time, brave readers. We’ll see ya.