• How about that Bluntman & Chronic photo, huh? Nice stuff there! Rumor has it that it’ll be running in a Wizard book next week so we wanted to get it out there first, so the fans of the site once again got to see it before the rest of the world. The sight of Kevin and Jay as Bluntman & Chronic has sparked quite a bit of speculation around its role in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. Want to discuss your theories? Visit the spoilers board over at the News Askew forums!

We actually meant to get that pic up earlier for ya yesterday, but a few things kept that from happening. First of all, our server is STILL acting up under heavy trailer downloads, believe it or not. We’re moving to a bigger better box next week, so that’s good news, but until then, you’ll see problems with Talkbacks, the forums, and yes, you will see double news posts from us on the front page. What happens is that a news story gets submitted through the news database, the database lags and takes 20 minutes or so to update, and we’re not sure that it’s made it through. Second, I (Brad) stupidly sprained my ankle pretty bad last night while landscaping a steep hill out back. The pic was on my PC, so Chris wasn’t able to post it until I sent it on after I crutched back in from the ER. Anyway all that aside, our new server will be shared with View Askew, and we plan to keep trailer downloads localized to another server if things get busy again.

The pic itself is doing quite well, with plugs over at Dark Horizons, Coming Attractions, and Total Film already showing up to name just a few. As for other news, today brings us more minor stuff as we empty out the News Askew mailboxes:

• Kevin will be the featured guest live on this Sunday night’s Ground Zero radio show with host Clyde Lewis. They say “You can call in toll free 1-866-797-8360 (1-866-SYSTEM-0) from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Pacific time to ask Kevin Smith your GREEN ARROW questions.” You can also listen on-line at the GROUND ZERO website: www.clydelewis.com. We’re not sure if they’ll take questions about the new flick or anything, as it might become a free-for-all, but ya never know. Kevin’s not usually one to pass on any questions posed to him. Tune in and check it out (you can always tape those Sopranos and X-Files season finales).

• Here’s three more pages straight from the notebook of Mike Oeming to your computer screen. The first look at 3 more pieces of artwork and panels from the upcoming Blutman & Chronic Graphic Novel this summer. Enjoy, and we’ll see ya back here with more shots next Thursday.

• Inside DVD issue #6 has a featurette on the Dogma Special Edition DVD, which sounds like the same one that was featured on the Total Movie DVD from a while back. It shows some of the menus, some clips from the film, deleted scenes and a snippet of an interview.
• Canoe reports:

• Finally today, ever played that fun game where you can see what your Jedi/Star Wars name would be? A little list of Jedi names and alter egos was compiled by theforce.net. Included in the list were: Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Jason Biggs, and Chris Rock. Go see what yours is!

Another list, for Sith names, including Mark Hamill, Jason Lee, Shannon Doherty and Alan Rickman can be found HERE.

• As if the traffic on the trailer wasn’t ALREADY bringing this site to a standstill, here’s another bandwidth-buster for ya, the first photo revealing Jay & Silent Bob AS Bluntman & Chronic! We’re going to pass this graphic around to the other web agencies as well, so it should be popping up all over the place. Click the thumbnail for a better look, and remember, you saw it here first. Enjoy, folks.

• Wondering what to expect this summer when Kevin appears at Wizard World’s con? The latest issue promised this:

• The last page of the newest issue of Jane magazine has a full color shot of Shannon Elizabeth with her arms full of food from the J&SBSB craft services tables on the set. If someone has a scan, send it on. By the way, next month we hear that Jason Lee will be doing a piece for next month’s celebrity issue.
• If you wanna see more of that Bluntman & Chronic art we’ve been posting, join artist Mike Oeming’s mailing list to get more of it! Surf HERE and check it out.

• Here’s the Mad Magazine pic we mentioned in newsbites the other day.
• The guys over at The BackStage (The Backstage ) are premiering there latest masterpiece entitled “Pave the Whales” on July 13th. Also, along with the Premiere, they will be showing there film, The Blair Clown Project: The Special Edition. This new edition features 15 minutes of new footage and a new “making of” feature at the end of the film. Now, we all know that Jason Mewes has a small role in the film, but now, Kevin Smith has a role in the Special Edition. He appears at the beginning of the film’s introduction.

• Finally today, those of you who’ve seen the game “The Sims” might enjoy what folks have been up to with the new Jay & Silent Bob skins that were released for the characters. Ya gotta wonder about that Silent Bob…And especially that first photo of the duo there. Yikes.

• Well, it seems trailer downloads have calmed down enough again to get a few news items out here for ya. Posting updates has been an incredible chore since coming back from the weekend. Downloads from moviepoopshoot.com have picked up again, and the sites that are linking directly to there rather than our mirrors page are what the major cause of the problem is. Any download on that site puts a strain on our server as well. The server upgrade is still due to happen, but we have no timeframe to give you on that. You’ll know as soon as we do, though. Anyway, if you see strange stuff going on like missing talkbacks, e-mails bouncing, and the like, there’s not much we can do about it until the server gets this upgrade. Hang with us, though, and keep trying to get through, the site’s not going anywhere. It just might be REALLY slow for a while.

That being said, it’s still been relatively quiet, all things considered. The following NewsBites should catch things up for us. By the way, don’t forget to vote in this week’s new poll if ya didn’t already see it:

• Reel.com‘s summary of J&SBSB is either guessing or has an inside line on that Superhero cameo that will appear in the flick. Wanna know who it is? Swoop below to read their synopsis if you’re interested:

• Empire Magazine is holding an online vote over who should run the British political empire, and you guessed it, Silent Bob is one of the nominees. To vote, click HERE.
• The new issue of The Comics Journal (#233) has a piece poking fun of Kenneth Smith, TCJ’s uber-intellectual columnist, and Kevin Smith, via an Onion-style point-counterpoint. There’s a link to the piece on their web site, located HERE.
• A TV Guide online article has given a bit of information on “Uncle”, an upcoming flick with Jason Lee, directed by Kid In The Hall Bruce McCulloch:

The film is due out in Spring 2002.

• Stuff magazine (bastard child of Maxim) lists Jason Mewes in their list of favorite movie lines. They really liked the Dogma line: “I feel like I’m Han Solo, you’re Chewie, and she’s Ben Kenobi and we’re in that fucked up bar.” Our boy even had a little pic of his head next to the quote.

• Finally today, a couple of scans for ya. First, a scan from the June 2001 issue of Men’s Health. The piece appears in a section on how to get the most from convenience stores. There’s also a bonus Bluntman & Chonic scan from Mike Oeming’s latest e-mail newsletter. See ya next time.

• We’ve been meaning to post this, but it kept slipping my mind in the rush to get some news up here. Anyway, as many of you know, author Douglas Adams passed away this past weekend at the age of 49. Adams is most famous for his “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” series of books, which influenced countless other books, movies, and computer games that followed it over the years. In fact, I became familar with Adams’ work while playing the classic Infocom text game on my Commodore 64 many, many years ago (Now I feel old). Play it free of charge online HERE by the way, if you like. You may also recall that Kevin listed Adams in his “Thanks” section of the Dogma credits. Adams himself had been attempting to get the Hitchhiker’s Guide motion picture made over the years. Hopefully this will still happen but without his influence, it just won’t be the same. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Mr. Adams. So Long, and Thanks for all the Laughs.

• Yep, it’s Monday morning, you know what that means! Three new exclusive pics straight from the set of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. First comes a pose that we’re surprised isn’t popping up all over the promotional circuits, Jay & Bob certainly speak for themselves in that pose. Then there’s another neat shot of the Mooby’s exterior, done by Ratface and crew. Those 2 shots come to us courtesy of DP Jamie Anderson. Finally, yet another of the Mosier classics, a great shot of Kev. Enjoy these, and we’ll of course see you back here with more great shots next week!