• We’re here in Red Bank eagerly awaiting Kevin’s big 37th birthday Q&A. There’s quite a big crowd here at the Baise Theather — unfortunately some heavy traffic got us into town later than we expected, so we missed most of the pre-show festivities (including the Dublin House). Luckily we found a wifi hotspot so we figured we’d drop a quick line up on the site. We’re about to pick up our tickets, though we are unsure if we’ll be able to report from inside the theater. If we are, expect updates in a little while and as the night progresses. If not we’ll write up a full report and see you back here tomorrow.

• Let the celebration BEGIN! We’d of course like to start the day by wishing the dude who makes it all possible a very joyous 37th birthday today. Today’s a big milestone in the Asknewniverse, as you know, the number figured prominently in Clerks and now has become the most famous in the View Askew lexicon, appearing even on some of Kevin’s famous attire these days. Though this birthday today is a famous one, it’s likely to be Kevin’s busiest, as well.

  This week kicks off probably one of the busiest for Kevin as well as the die-hard View Askew fan. Last night, Kevin and Jen hosted a poker game that ran all night long.

  Today, we’ve got the big Q&A at the famous Count Basie. Over 1,500 seats, SOLD OUT. We’ll be there! Ming’s invited loyal fans from the web (that’s you) to stop up the street to the Dublin House (2 ½ short blocks away) for some pre-show drinks and apps starting at 5 PM. You’re responsible for your part of the tab, of course, but it’s a great crew and a very cool spot in Red Bank. We hope to get out of here early enough to drop by, as well, but it’s a bit of a drive so a lot depends on the traffic today. Also, take note – They’re being restrictive with cameras this year. From what I hear, no video cameras or still camera photography at all. Last time, they did let us bring in cameras, but we’re sure they don’t want flashes going off due to the taping. We’ll see how restrictive it is, but you’ve been warned. When these things get filmed professionally, a lot of the rules change.

  Tomorrow, it’s poker game number two with the fans, this time, a big tournament of 4 tables or more. Wow.

  And then, the event of the weekend, to cap it all off – VIEW ASKEW PROM this Saturday! Lucky fans will show up in tuxes and dresses to celebrate Kevin’s birthday with Kevin and Jen, eating and dancing the night away. With its 80’s theme, this should be one to remember.

  When all’s said and done, this one will go on the record books as the biggest fan-oriented week in View Askew history – All in the beautiful Red Bank, New Jersey area. We look forward to seeing some of you today. Have a safe trip into town and enjoy any or all of the events you’re attending.

  Happy Birthday Kevin, and thanks for allowing us and the fans to celebrate this one so closely with ya.

• It’s been a while since we’ve seen Kevin do the Q&A thing live, due to the remote locations that he’s been visiting lately — So, we’re STOKED for his triumphant return to Red Bank, New Jersey’s Count Basie theater tomorrow night, for a SOLD OUT Q&A at the Count Basie theater. Kevin’s celerating his 37th birthday with what’s sure to be one of the most memorable Q&A appearances in View Askew history, and we’ll be on hand to cover it all. The last appearance at the Basie set records, this one’s likely to do the same. With Zak and Joey behind the cameras to record all the action for an upcoming DVD, arrive early and stake out a place in line for your chance to be immortalized in DVD history.

  
  We’ll be hanging out for the duration, so do stop by and say hello if you manage to see us among the masses. And look for a complete report this weekend, though obviously due to the recording, we won’t have audio or lurid details on all the anecdotes (we’ll save that for the DVD). However, if any major news breaks, we’ll of course be dishing that up right here for ya exclusively at News Askew. We look forward to seeing you there — If you can’t make it, we look forward to seeing you HERE!

• The con news continues to filter in! The excellent folks over at one of our favorite sites, Cinematical, have an audio interview with Kevin that was record an hour after the Q&A this year. They say:

This one’s a great listen, folks. Get on over to Cinematical and check it out.

• The venerable DVD Review website DVD Talk has GREAT things to say about the upcoming DVD for “Small Town, Gay Bar”. Some interesting tidbits from their review:
  Co-financed by Kevin Smith, “Small Town Gay Bar” arrives on DVD with a full “View Askew” assortment of extras, giving the viewer a basic understanding of how this meager indie documentary came to be.

  Shot with an accomplished visual palette (by Jonathon Cliff), using both stark and affectionate film and HD sources, “Gay Bar” induces a strong feeling of location and welcoming personality, which Ingram uses as clay to create this lovely snapshot of people gathering to celebrate themselves and an infrequent feeling of freedom. It’s an accomplished documentary, thankfully showcasing Ingram’s growth as a filmmaker, and provides a hopeful encapsulation of muted struggle inside a larger, overwhelming portrait of intolerance.

• The DVD for the hilarious “Hot Fuzz” hit stores yesterday, and is of course loaded with special features. One of them happens to be a 30 minute piece featuring the boys’ trip to America when promoting the film — In the last 2 minutes, you’ll catch a brief clip of the Q&A that Kevin hosted in New York, as well as a brief clip of him talking to the guys. “Fuzzball Rally” extra on the “Hot Fuzz” DVD. The extra is the documentary called “Fuzzball Rally”, and for the record, they refer to him as “Young Mr. Smith”.
• Matt Damon briefly mentions Kevin during this interview he did for Latino Review. Here’s the clip:
  In terms of my hetero life mate, as Kevin Smith once said in one of his movies, we’re [He And Ben Affleck] not working on a script right now, but we’re talking about a bunch of different things. And his career has gone in this new and exciting direction because I’ve seen the movie that he [Affleck] directed and it is really good. It’s fantastic. And the performances are great. Every actor is going to want to work with him [Affleck] after they see this thing.
• After Elton (the male version of “After Ellen”) has a blurb from Kevin about directing the Heroes: Origins pilot:
  Kevin Smith to handle the first episode of Heroes: Origins. Smith says that when he was offered the job, he said, “I would love to write and direct an episode about the two gay heroes…you know, the Japanese dudes. They’re gay, right?!” He also added, “If you can do an autopsy on a cheerleader, you can show a couple of heroes making out.”

• A few scoopers dropped us a line to let us know of a webcomic featured at Drunk Duck called “BLACKOUT DRUNK”. It’s filled with View Askew references, including a Clerks poster and the Quick Stop in the background, as well as a couple memorable quotes on pages 26 and 29. Viewer discretion advised, this is an adult-oriented web comic from what we’ve seen.

• The weekend’s over, as is the biggest Comic-Con of the year — Kevin was a major factor at the event this year, with the big breaking news of his involvement with the new “Heroes” spinoff, details on a new “Chasing Amy” DVD, major love for “Reaper”, and more. Here’s a complete rundown of all of the Kev-centric happenings from this weekend:
  
  • NBC has been kind enough to post beautifully shot video of their “Heroes” panel from the con. About 4 minutes into part three, Kevin’s introduction begins. This is the first moment that the world learned that Kevin will direct the first episode of “Heroes: Origins”. This is the new show from the “Heroes” creators which will run next season, introducing NEW Heroes, one of which we’ll be able to vote into the regular cast. We’re hopeful that Kevin might be given the opportunity to write some or all of his installment, too, though we’ll have to wait and see what comes of that. The show will start airing in April, following “Heroes” season two. For still photos of the cast, check out Superhero Hype.
  • Kevin mentioned a planned start date for January 2008 for “Zack and Miri Make A Porno”. This would allow him to film around the coldest time of the year to suit the film’s winter theme. A shooting locale has not yet been confirmed.
  • Instead of forcing folks to re-buy “Chasing Amy” on DVD, Criterion will release a new supplemental disc containing the new Q&A and some other goodies. We thought this one was pretty major so we’ve got a full story for it just below this one.
  • Nisha Gopalan from EW has been doing a post on each of her days at Comic Con; Kevin made his appearance in Friday’s recap :

    The day ended with what is now a Comic-Con ritual, the panel hosted by geek god Kevin Smith. In the main conference hall, Smith screened the full pilot episode he directed of the upcoming TV series Reaper (airing this fall Tuesdays at 9pm on The CW), and then brought a few cast members and the show’s creators onto the stage — to watch Kevin Smith answer questions that had nothing to do with the (quite well-received) show. Practically all of it was absolutely hysterical — and completely unprintable on a family blog. Suffice it to say, the audience learned far, far more about the sexual escapades of Smith’s new daschunds than they ever could’ve expected.

  • Phasekitty wrote an excellent blog post on Kevin’s Comic Con Q&A for the Team Sugar blog (they have the Pop Sugar, Geek Sugar, etc. sites). There’s a full review of the Reaper re-shoot along with a re-cap of the talk. She also has some nicely snapped pics from the show.
  • How about a look at some other press from around the web that discussed Kevin’s appearances…Shall we?
    BuddyTV: 2007 Comicon: ‘Reaper’ Screening and Panel with Director Kevin Smith

    
    Zap2It: Kevin Smith to Direct ‘Origins’ Episode

    TV Squad: Comic-Con: Heroes panel – BREAKING NEWS

  Finally, don’t miss Kevin’s own post/wrapup that he just released today where he runs down more major press outlets who had great things to say about his appearance as well as the hilarious “Reaper” pilot. Wow, we gotta make it to this next year, as Kevin urges. If anyone’s got more to say, something we missed, photos, or stories, we’d love to hear them — Or, share them via our comment system for the world to see.

• One of the top questions here at News Askew has always been “When’s Chasing Amy X coming out on DVD?” This tenth anniversary set was something that we just assumed would arrive much like Mallrats X did, with a jam-packed edition including the film as well as that Q&A we watched them film at Vulgarthon LA, along with some other stuff. Well, we have the answer for ya now, sorta. Once again, View Askew is blazing the trail and looking out for the fans, by allowing us to get all that great NEW stuff without having to buy the film all over again (no “double dipping” here). We think that IGN said it best:
  During his panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Smith confirmed that a supplementary DVD will be released next year for his 1997 Spirit Award winning Chasing Amy. To keep the style of special edition versions of his movie going, Smith’s opus will get a special edition treatment, but rather than being packaged into a new “collectors edition” DVD set, a single disc will be released that is set to include a slew of extras to act as a counterpart to the Criterion Collection DVD released in 2000.

  Set to be included with the new disc is a Chasing Amy documentary found on the web, a post-screening Q and A from a film festival as well as interviews and reflections from the cast and crew of the film.

  Smith said to expect this new disc to be available sometime next summer.

  So, there’s your answer. We’re sorry to say you’ll need to wait another year to see this stuff, but we’re sure it will be worth it — Criterion doesn’t mess around when it comes to their DVD work, and neither do Kevin and View Askew. It’ll be here before ya know it. As for a dual-disc set, at this point nothing’s been announced, so it looks like you’ll need to buy them seperately (if for some crazy reason you don’t already own it). We’ll let you know as we hear more.

• We’re constantly entertained and thrilled by SModcast, easily one of the most cleverly-produced, fun podcasts in all the land. This week, Jen Schwalbach returns in Mr. Mosier’s absense, and we’re treated to another fascinating round of husband/wife dialogue that you just wouldn’t expect to be made public — Yet, these two take to the mic so naturally that you just feel like the third person in the room, listening in on their discussions on past partners, upcoming events, and, of course, the joys of the San Diego Comic-Con. Kevin writes it up as such:
  

  SModcast 22: Schwalcast

  The return of the distaff, in which our heroes talk about the likelihood of running into former intimates at ComiCon, the bending of the space/time continuum in an effort to bed a younger version of your spouse, why divorce is not an option, inappropriate hugging of the famous, Marion Ravenwood: gender traitor, shame-shorts, insecurities both founded and unfounded, middle-aged proms, the world wide hairshirt, and Shecky.

  SModcast remains the exclusive offering of our own Quick Stop Entertainment. It also remains FREE. Get on over there and download it now — Or, set your iTunes or MP3 client of choice to subscribe, and be among the first to hear SModocast week after week. Enjoy!

• Congrats to Matt Damon who was just honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ah, we still remember the days of his brief appearances in the MTV shorts and “Chasing Amy”. Good on ya, Matt, you’ve come a long way. Here’s hoping we see Damon back in a future View Askew project some day, too. In the meantime, catch his critically-acclaimed turn in The Bourne Ultimatum in theaters this weekend.
• A brief “Dogma” mention comes up in AOL’s list of “The 77 Most Unforgettable Movie Songs” :
  75. Alanis Morissette, ‘Uninvited’ (‘City of Angels,’ 1998) One year after Alanis penned this heavenly, Oscar-worthy song for a syrupy film about angels, she was cast as God in Kevin Smith’s brilliantly blasphemous ‘Dogma.’ Coincidence? — M. Tye Comer
• Moviehole gives “The Shark Is Still Working” (Kevin has a “narrated by” credit) four out of five stars in this DVD review.

• Kevin gets a mention in the July 29th Austin American-Statesman in a question about Askew alum Claire Forlani. This scan comes from that newspaper.
• CBS sportsline.com has this article about Prince’s love of basketball, with an alternate history if he had become a basketball player. It quotes Kevin telling the story of filming in Paisly Park from “Evening”:
  Kevin “Silent Bob” Smith spends a half-hour of his An Evening With Kevin Smith DVD spilling some of the secret life of Prince he learned while filming a documentary at Paisley Park. The chunky filmmaker was obsessed with the funky hitmaker’s fashion sense. Why all the Shakespearean getups and high heels?

  One of Prince’s assistants assured Smith that Prince wears warm-ups and sneakers when he plays basketball. Nothing hand-made. Typical store-bought stuff. From Nordstrom’s.

  Norstrom’s sells stuff in Prince’s size? Smith asks. Yes, the assistant explains — in the boys department. “That is so (effin’) cute!” Smith marvels.

• Jason Lee gets a bit of vindication for his Emmy snub in EW’s “Yay Emmys, Boo Emmys” list :
  BOO, EMMYS!

  Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) doesn’t make the cut

  Where’s Jason Lee? I understand there are only [a few] nominees per category, but [Lee and Lauren Graham] are the leads of long-running shows who consistently do GREAT jobs. —Dio_K

  The nominations stink this year…. Jason Lee is about a 100 times funnier than [Charlie] Sheen. No wonder the ratings for the Emmys has been dropping, they have no clue as to what is good TV. —Tisa

• Kevin promised a big scoop from the San Diego Comic-Con and now we have it! Kevin will be directing the first episode of the Heroes spinoff, titled Heroes: Origins. Each episode of the springtime companion of the runaway hit Heroes will be directed by a different director and focus on the origins of minor characters from the Heroes universe. Tenative plans have the episode airing in April. We’ll be sure to have more news as it comes in from San Diego…