We apologize for the 12 or so hours that News Askew was down starting last night. The GOOD news is that this was in noway related to the new code or the new site. The Dogma Movie website, which shares a server box with us, had its log files grow to enormous proportions, which threw the entire web server into a lockup. This shouldn’t happen again.

However, if there ever are technical problems that keep us from getting the news to you, we ALWAYS surf over to the View Askew WWWBoard and post a report. We post the latest information there regarding any downtime, along with estimates on when we’ll be back.

Oh, and one more thing…GO FLYERS!!! Though if any more of our players get injured, they may hafta start recruting people off the street to play against the Devils…

Just a few quick notes today before we get this update started. First of all, when you post a TalkBack, do NOT press the submit button more than once. We know a lot of you get impatient (heck, we’re guilty of it as well), but a talkback post will take a good 10 to 15 seconds (maybe more at peak hours), due to the massive database calls that need to be made when you send one online. If you continue to push submit, not only do you end up double or triple posting the same message, you also start the clock over for your post (so, you’re actually making your wait LONGER by doing this). We’re sorry it takes so long, but we’re doing the best we can here.

Hopes are high tonight as the Philadelphia Flyers try to knock the Pittsburgh Penguins out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The game’s in Pittsburgh, which is actually a good omen for us since Philly was successful in their last 2 games out there.

Please: For the love of GOD, all of you, STOP sending information on the Star Wars website poll. We saw it. We posted about it last Friday. We appreciate the e-mail, but now, you can stop. We got about 8 more mails on this today (in addtion to the 25 or so we’ve gotten since posting the story last week). So please use the new search feature on this site or just read the recent news closely before sending in big stuff like that in the future. It makes our job a lot easier. Thanks.

Today we’ve got some bad news regarding the Amy DVD (and we really ARE sorry too, not only did we really want to own this one but, even worse, now we’re sure we’ll get e-mails every day asking about the disc again). In addition to that, there’s a new file and some newsbites for you to take a look at. Hey, at least it’s our second update in a row this week! Let’s go:

• A new Dogma theme has arrived, from the creator of the original Dogma theme! You can snag it at out new and improved Files Askew page.
• A new fansite for Drawing Flies (read the summaries!) & Tail Lights Fade director Malcolm Ingram has surfaced. Check it out. And Malc, if you’re reading this, we need your new e-mail address!
• Jason Lee is mentioned in E!”s column the Awful Truth, complete with photo.
• Here’s an odd one. A Hunter Thompson fan site, The Great Thompson Hunt (www.gonzo.org) has a review of the Chasing Dogma trade. Ummm…Okaaaay.
• And finally, we’ve been getting SO many e-mails on this week after week that we decided we’d just mention it in the hopes they might stop. The WCW’s Monday Nitro (a wrestling program for the uninitiated) has featured a commentator who continues th use the phrase “Snootchie Boochies” every week, usually when a beautiful woman appears on the screen.

Hey all. Wow, it’s a new week and we’re still kinda in shell shock over having the new site online. After spending an incredible amount of our spare time on it, and keeping it mostly a secret, it’s almost hard to believe that everything is done and online. It’s a great feeling, though, seeing the site work and all of you using the talkback areas and stuff. Thanks for sticking with us. We’re starting to fall back into our old routine again, and it’s nice to see ya here.

Well, we’re in the middle of a heatwave now here in Pennsylvania, but it’s a nice change from the unseasonably cold spring we’d had just a couple weeks ago. Still, Spring’s the best season and it seems like this year went from winter right into summer. And the heat doesn’t make all the yard and landscaping work outside any more fun, that’s for sure.

We’ve got a couple good stories for ya today, including the latest on Dr. Kevin Smith’s commencement speech (yep, you heard that right, DOCTOR SMITH)…And an interesting mailing regarding the Clerks Cartoon series. Let’s have a looksee:

• Dammit, why couldn’t Kevin have been at MY college commencement? Sounds like a fantastic speech was given by the man. We received quite a few accounts of the speech but all were quite similar, here’s one [from Jade] we thought summed it up pretty well. Thanks to all our scoopers above for sending in their reports from the scene, too.

Another scooper [Nate] says, “I was deeply honored that he was present at my graduation.” All we can say is that sounds like the way a commencement SHOULD be! Congrats on the honor, Dr. Smith, and on another crowd-pleasing appearance. We’re betting colleges all over the place are gonna be jockeying for the guy to speak more than ever.

• It turns out that all three parts of Kevin’s iF interview ARE online. The links are on the left hand side, right below Kev’s quote about having to have stars cast.
• Stuff Magazine (the counterpart to the very cool men’s magazine “Maxim”) has this to say about the Clerks Cartoon:

• Finally today, a scooper created a funny little Jay & Silent Bob animation based on a scene you might remember. You can watch it HERE.

Hey folks. Just wanted to finish watching the Flyers game today (and what a game it was! Go Flyers!) before getting the update to ya. As usual, not much going on at the moment, though we expect Kevin will check in soon since his commencement speech in Illinois was today.

The new site continues to run smoothly, and we’re quite pleased about that. Again, we’re happy so much of you like it, and hope that those of you that don’t will grow into it a bit. As for the countdowns, they will stay the way they are. We may improve on things a bit in the future, but for now, the applet is staying. Again, remember, the most recent event that’s on the way is always first in the list. Unfortunately it’s tough to modify the application to let you regulate the speed, it’s a hard coded variable on our side. We haven’t tested it on much less than a pentium, so we dunno how slow it can get. At any rate, we’re not going back to the list format of countdowns. We like the new way. Sorry.

Okay, well, let’s take a look at what’s going on in the Askew world today then with some…

• Another damn fine interview with Kevin appears on iF Magazine’s web site, which focuses on the controversy surrounding Dogma. There’s some really fascinating stuff there, including some of the alternate casting choices for some of the roles…

Surf over to their website to read part 1 — parts 2 and 3 are on the way. We’ll let ya know when they’re posted.

• Seems that an editor at Ambercrombie & Fitch’s catalog isn’t a big Smith fan. Check out the angry letter a fan wrote in and the mag’s response:

• This is an unconfirmed report, but we hear that Jay Mewes is going to appear at the Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. Other guests include Lloyd (The Toxic Avenger) Kaufman and Tom Savini. The Con is held June 29 – July 2.
• In the new Entertainment Weekly (May 12, 2000 with Russel Crowe on the cover) on page 66 in the television section, there is a bit on the upcoming Kevin Smith interview on the Sundance channel, complete with picture, and a great line: “Only Dogma director Kevin Smith would dare refer to an actor’s process of emoting as ‘artsy fartsy nonsense,’ but that’s exactly why you gotta love the guy.” They give the interview a B+.

• And finally today, we present a shot of the girls of the “Coyote Ugly”. The flick opens August 4th. Enjoy, fellas.

Okay, made a few changes. Dates will now display in the countdown application. Hope that makes some of you a bit happier. We know it’s not the same as a big list with everything in it, but that’s the way it’s gonna stay. You’ll get used to it.

Talkback posts will display from oldest to newest. It just makes more sense to read forwards rather than backwards. Sorry for the out of order talkbacks in previous items, from now on they won’t get mixed up (the mixups were due to us changing the configurations).

A submit scoops button is now on the left sidebar.

We’ll have some real Askew news for ya tomorrow…Just not much going on to report. Thanks for stopping in!