• HBO is launching a couple new cahnnels, one called HBO Zone, aimed at a young adult audience. “HBO Zone, which the network hopes will attract young adults with an alternative sensibility, will feature primetime movies at 9 p.m. each night. May’s titles will include “Clerks”, “She’s Gotta Have It”, “Wayne’s World” and “The Grave”. Sounds like a perty cool channel to us.
• Finally today, in the “amusing news” department…It looks like the Clerks “snowball” isn’tthe only one flying around at the Disney offices…Coincidence?

• Clerks Campaign Update: It appears that many (if not ALL) of you are now getting “bounced” error messages from the Disney server about the mail you sent – So either they cut it off, we somehow overran it, or it’s been down all along. We’re not giving up that easily though. If anyone has a better suggestion for a more direct e-mail OR snail mail address we can send our polite requests to regarding the Clerks DVD, let us know. Thanks to all of you for helping out so far — Even if nothing comes from it, at least our voice was heard (or read anyway). We’ll keep you posted.

• Sounds like they’ve got a great show lined up in the great white north this summer, including Kevin, Joe Quesada, and (*shiver*) Jeri Ryan…Ooooh…

Sounds like something NOT to miss! We’ll have more info on the event for ya as it draws closer.

• Kevin ALSO managed to explain what went wrong with Buena Vista’s proposed distribution of the Clerks DVD. Again, we totally forgot we were dealing with DISNEY here. Check THIS out:

We’re CONFUSED, considering, as Kev says, the film’s got this stuff in it to begin with — Hell, the term is DEFINED in the film. Anyway, we don’t like the idea of a third party picking up the DVD – In fact, we dunno how or if it’ll even happen. So, we wanna take a shot at getting Buena Vista to reconsider their position on relesing the DVD. It’s not too late! So, if you like, cut this text below, Click HERE, change the subject to other, enter your e-mail, and paste the the following into the text box over at Disney’s site. Be sure to put your name at the bottom, and send it along (We know it’s confusing, so if we find a better, more direct e-mail method, we’ll post it):

Feel free to use the letter above OR, better yet, write your own, but REMEMBER: Don’t yell, swear, or be crude in any way. Just send them a kind note requesting that they release the Clerks DVD in so many words. Intelligent, coherent e-mails are more effective and accepted than those that insult. Also, if you know of a site that may want to join the cause, feel free to inform them. Good luck, and we’ll keep you posted on Buena Vista’s response. We CAN make a difference!

• It’s normally our policy here at News Askew to stay out of the personal lives/affairs of the Askew crew, out of respect, admiration, and just to show that not all press outlets hafta leech on to EVERY single piece of news that they can dig up (though we do come pretty close from time to time).

That being said, we’re going to break that policy, just because it’s too big of an occasion, and say a heatry CONGRATULATIONS and very much happiness to the newly wed Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Smith – To quote an old wedding adage…May all your ups and downs be between the sheets. Read Kev’s post about it HERE –He got married at the Skywalker Ranch, of all places. Cool.

Count on a similar break in our policy in about a month or so, too…

• Wow. This ain’t good. DVD File reports back today with even more information on the Miramax Collectors Series DVDs and, most importantly, singles out Clerks with some information right from the source. We chopped that part out for ya and have it below:

Quite frankly, the only thing we can possibly think up about the Clerks DVD is the Soul Asylum video, since all the other material does seem to be owned by Kevin and Miramax (the commentary & deleted scenes). Plus, all of it’s out on laserdisc already and, frankly, we’re confused why a DVD with similar material would be a problem. We’ll dig a little deeper and check with some sources on clarifying this issue. Hopefully, it’s about possible 16:9 enhancement that’s being mandated by View Askew, which would be FANTASTIC — Hold out until they do it! Anyway, we’ll get to the bottom of it. For now, sit tight.

• It’s always interesting to hear what kind of crowds and success some of these screenings of View Askew flicks do in other parts of the country. Our scooper, who caught Clerks and Mallrats out in Indianapolis this past week, checked in with some info on the audience type, size, and how things went in general.:(Amy on 5/14)

Good too see the flicks are packing them in. By the way, Chasing Amy plays out there on May 14th to close out the trilogy.

• Just a few final thoughts for today: First of all, Indepedent’s Day, a documentary that Kevin appears in for a bit, hits video shelves tomorrow, April 27th. And finally, we forgot to credit Mpresscom@aol.com for the poll topic idea last week – So thanks!

Catch ya next update…

• HEY Internet Explorer 5.0 users – Ya wanna see something neat? Remove us from your FAVORITES list and re-add us (if you’ve got us there at all). You should see a nifty little icon that’s much more attractive than that stupid white paper with the blue E on top of it. Just something cool we discovered we could set up – Thought you might want to take advantage of it as well.
• And so…We being another week with a milestone, some corrections, NewsBites, as well as some beautiful weather here in Central PA (making it tough to sit inside as we work on this update!). Never the less, we figure it must be ugly out somewhere, and in those places you fine people trapped at your PC screens wanna hear SOMETHING…So here we go:

• Wow, who’d have thought THAT number would ever be atop our page? Not us, that’s for sure. Earlier today, we celebrated our big 900,000th hit! Yow. That’s quite a number. And ya know what’s next – ONE MILLION! We’re excited about getting close to that milestone, but are equally pleased that we were able to come even THIS far. Thanks again to all of you for your continued support, including your visits, scoops, notes of praise, and the like. Couldn’t do it without ya.

Oh, and by the way, we’re hoping to cook up something really special for big #1,000,000 when it happens, but we’ve got no idea what that’s gonna be as of now. But there’s time. Stick around, it’s gonna be exciting!

Congrats, by the way, to Kelly Majchrzak for being number 900,000!

• Vincent was kind enough to check in with some corrections on a story that we posted here a while back regarding Dogma’s FX. Apparently, we somehow crossed companies on who exactly was working on certain digital effect for the flick. By now, you probably know that 2 companies are working on different shots, Station X Studios and Threshold. Many of you were treated to 2 such shots (of Ben’s wings and NoMan) at the Stash Gala, which we mistakenly attributed to Station X. The truth is, these were actually shots that came in from Threshold studios — They were excellent, and we just wanted to make sure they got their due credit. Vincent explains: