• The Dark Horizons website reports that IMDB has George Carlin and Joey Lauren Adams on Jersey Girl. Kevin previously confirmed Carlin and Affleck’s casting, but nothing was official on Joey Adams (and Kevin’s still yet to make that announcement).
• The February 12th Hollywood Reporter ran a nice one-page story on Jay & Bob’s DP (Director of Photography), Jamie Anderson. Kevin and Scott compliment him quite a bit on the DVD commentary, and plan to use him on future flicks (including Jersey Girl). Here’s the text:

Earlier in my career, I was lucky to work with some great cinematographers. Now, when I’m shooting a film, there’s always at least one of them looking over my shoulder, still teaching me. That’s an important part of who I am as a cinematographer. Every day on the set, we are trying something for the first time, and still drawing on some earlier experience. It’s the way you interpret a feeling, a mood or a character that provokes a response. There is something organic about film that is hard to define. It’s a warmth and smoothness of the image. Maybe the right word is alchemy-the way it all works together, the light and dark, the colors and movement, light projected through crystals. There’s a kind of magic that happens. There are infinite possibilities. The movies that mean the most to me are the ones that teach us something about the human condition, and sometimes just the experience of making them can teach you something too.”

Jamie Anderson’s credits include Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Gift, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, The Temptations, Small Soldiers, Grosse Pointe Blank, What’s Love Got to Do With It, The Juror and Unlawful Entry.

You can check out a Q&A with Anderson HERE.

• This month’s Cinefantastique has a two page article devoted to the animatronic Scooby Doo that appears mostly in the deleted sequences of J&SBSB. We don’t have the article, alas, but you can check it out at your local newsstand if you’re intersted in learning more. It’s supposed to be quite detailed.
• Jason Lee appears in the film “American Cuisine” on the Women’s Entertainment network on February 22nd at 8 P.M. The film is rarely seen, so you might wanna tune in or tape it if you’ve got the channel. Thanks to the Jason Lee Online Fan Club for the scoop.

• Due to the name similarity, we have been receiving quite a bit of mail regarding the untimely death of actor Kevin Smith. Though he shares a stage name with Kevin Smith of View Askew Productions (for whom we run this website), they are not the same individual.

Smith starred in many New Zealand stage, television and feature films and is perhaps best known for his role as Ares in Xena: Warrior Princess. News Askew would like to send our condolences to his friends and family. More news later.

• Those 7 Clerks Cartoon Mini-Posters that folks have been talking about have arrived at Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash! You can pick and choose your favorites and order them single for $10 each, or get the full set for $59.95 and save yourself 10 bucks. Each feature a character from the animated series, the funniest having to be that famous bear famous from the “Oh my god bear is driving how can that be?” line. These are perfect for framing and hanging on your wall! Check them out above, and surf over to the Stash to place your orders.

• According to a new report from Yahoo News, director McG will be shooting the new Superman picture, with Alias/Felicity creator J.J. Abrams writing the script. Kevin’s script is likely not to be involved with this project, so will this be the end of it once and for all? Kevin had previously mentioned being impressed with what McG did with “Charlie’s Angels”, maybe if circumstances were different a couple of years ago, and Burton had never come on board, his script never would have gotten changed. Oh well, at least now Jon Peters gets another chance to get his giant spider (unless his Wild Wild West spider was enough).

• Finally today, here’s a picture of a promotional J&SBSB poster from Poland. The caption says “Hollywood from the back, and without censorship. In theatres starting January 4th”. Click the thumbnail above for a larger version.

• Howdy folks, just a quick piece of news here but we wanted to give it a headline so it wasn’t missed – We just got word from Gail that Kevin’s Tonight Show appearance this month has been RESCHEDULED. Don’t fret though, as it’s been moved UP a day, from Thursday the 28th to Wednesday the 27th! As you may know, this time around Kevin’s going to debut the new “Flying Car” short, featuring Dante and Randal! Do NOT miss this appearance. We’ll remind you as the date gets closer, of course, but mark those calendars for 2 weeks from today, Wednesday the 27th.

• Mewes in the news – Not only do Kev and Scott praise the hell out of him in the upcomign Jay & Bob DVD commentary, but Jason Mewes is also getting some rave reviews regarding his performance in the upcoming film “R.S.V.P.”. Those who have seen the flick have written some intelligent reviews over at the IMDB, noting Mewes’ performance as a highlight. The official site for the movie, www.rsvpthemovie.com, has an article posted about the premiere of the flick at Slamdance a few weeks back as well.
• Those lucky UK folk are receiving are receving their Region 1 imports of the J&SBSB DVD right now, as most importers have it in stock or are shipping over the next couple of days. Guess we’d better get crackin’ on that review of the test disc! We’re expecting to receive final copies from Buena Vista this week. Stay tuned for the full disc review, which we hope to have completed by the end of the week (it takes a while to compile all the screenshots and stuff).
• Ya can’t win ‘em all — According to Cinescape, Ben Affleck is one of the Razzie nominees for Worst Actor in Pearl Harbor as well as Worst On-Screen Couple (he and Kate Beckinsdale) for Pearl Harbor. Lots of folks out there don’t like that flick!

• Futurama, Matt Groening (of Simpsons fame)’s animated series on FOX, is apparently not going ahead with its fifth season. If you haven’t been watching the show (due to the confusing timeslot and constant pre-emptions by football and other programming), we urge you to start tuning in, especially those of you with that magical Neilsen box.

Several sites are banding together to start a petition to save the show. Please, even if you’re not a huge fan of the show, surf over to the Got Futurarma and Slashdot websites for more information on how you can sign the petition, urging FOX to keep Futurama on the air. So far, over 20,000 people have signed in under a day. The decision hasn’t been finalized yet, and movements like this have helped shows in the past, so it’s well worth your time.

If by any chance anyone at FOX is reading this, we hope you’ll reconsider this decision. For pete’s sake, air it in prime time instead of this awful 7:00 PM Sunday slot it’s been buried in, and give the show a chance to find a larger audience. The show’s never been funnier, and it would be a real shame to lose it. Don’t count on The Simpsons being around forever, Futurama has a TON of good years left!

You can find a direct easy link to sign the petition RIGHT HERE.

• Those Oscar nominations aren’t that exciting for some reason, are they? Perhaps it’s just a testament to the fact that not a lot of great cinema came out this year. Ah well. It’ll still be something to watch. It’s a shame that Sean Penn had to get a nod, though I’ve personally not seen the flick, it supposedly ain’t that great, yet for some reason the academy yet again falls for the actor playing the mentally hadicapped bait and voila, nomination. Crowe’s been very lucky with those folks in the past, is he gonna do it again? Ya never know. Again though, while his performance is good, is “A Beautiful Mind” really worthy of Best Picture? Man, would it be cool to see LOTR take home the honors, if not for the achievement alone, but chances are it’ll be a long shot. And Kidman’s got the Best Actress award in the bag, from the look of things – With Paltrow and Roberts over the past years, the mainsteam success story seems to be the fave. We’ll talk more about this as time goes on, of course, but for now, let’s get to today’s stories:

• The official press release for Drawing Flies appeared on the wire today, as issued by IndieDVD:

We’ve received review copies of the disc, and have been spinning it up this week. DVDCC has beaten us to the punch with a review of the disc, which you can check out HERE.

It’s great to finally have this title as part of the collection! Remember, you can get a copy signed by Malcolm Ingram from the Stash for under $20!

• According to this PRESS RELEASE from Diamond Comics, the 10-issue Green Arrow “Quiver” hardcover will ship on March 13th, for the very low price of $24.95! The book’s going to run a whopping 232 pages and is another must-have item for your collection.

Also, shipping THIS WEEK from Graphitti, a new Bluntman & Chronic T-shirt and poster, featuring the mock-up cover of the Image Bluntman & Chronic comic. Place your orders at your local comic shop or visit Graphitti Designs at http://www.graphittidesigns.com for more info!