• So, here we are! News Askew X. The site you’re now viewing represents almost a half a year of preparation, layout, and database design. And we’re still not done. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you use a modern browser, the latest version of Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. We’re still finding heaps of Internet Explorer 6 bugs, so if you’re under that browser, please upgrade or be patient with us as we work to figure them all out. Also, enable Javascript if you know how. That will ensure that some of the extra features will function as we intended.

You may notice an options console in the upper-right corner. This currently functions under all browsers except for IE (a fix is coming for that). With it, you can switch News Askew from a fluid, widescreen design to a more static, slimmer design. You can also change the main color scheme to your liking. These features may stick around, or we may force a color on you down the line. For now, the choice is yours. We have some design left to do as far as graphics go, so things are going to evolve from this point, especially in the site header.

We’re still in the process of categorizing the almost 7,000 stories here at News Askew. When we’re done, you’ll be able to use a new extended live search to interactively pull up stories by month, year, or even catgegory. For now, the general archives page will get you where you need to be.

Image handling is much nicer at the new site. If you’re using a fairly new browser, say goodbye to those images that show up in new windows. Try clicking this thumbnail image below and see how the new image expansion feature looks. Niiiice.

We’re pleased to say that our polls archive is 80% re-established, and live polling has now returned to the site. Be sure to cast your vote on the current poll question, and submit your own ideas for future News Askew polls. Yes, we’ll be asking at some point what you think of the new site, but want to get the major bug fixes before we start getting some feedback.

That’s about all we want to say about the new design, for now. As we put the finishing touches on features, we’ll let you know here at the front page. Commenting on stories is encouraged and live, though you’ll have to re-register yourself. Reserve that user name that you’ve been looking for now. As always, we have the rights to refuse any user name or comment post. So behave yourselves. Poke around a bit, try a search, and see what you think. We realize it’s a big change. We know you’re going to grow to love it, if you don’t already. Welcome to News Askew X, the new News Askew!

• Kevin’s “Live Free or Die Hard” exchange with film critic Ty Burr made the New York Post’s famous Page Six column again this week:

• Just three weeks to go until the world famous San Diego Comic-Con, who have now posted the official schedule. This is probably the biggest and best comics and entertainment event of the year. Kevin is once again a featured guest this year, and without a major film release to get in the way, we’re betting he’ll be there EARLY and willing to do the Q&A thing as long as he can have the room.

This year, you can catch Kevin doing the Q&A panel from 6:15 to 7:45 PM in Hall H, on Friday, July 27th. No word yet on if Kevin will be holding a signing, though we’re guessing that the famous View Askew swag booth will be on the floor, full of bargains on some of the fantastic stuff sold exlusively through Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.

As always, we URGE you to get to the con early, as Kevin’s appearances always fill to capacity. If they’re handing out tickets, get in line and get one, to ensure you’ll get a seat in the room.

• Leo Quinones interviews Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier tonight, live on 97.1 KLSX Free FM. You can listen and watch it as it happens via their website. Click the banner above to head over to the site. Ten random winners who visit Leo’s myspace page, add Leo as a friend, and message back “ASKEW ME” will have a chance at winning some prizes from the show (the guys are hoping to get signed scripts to offer up to fans). Also, if you login and ask a question in the chat room tonight that’s used on-air, you’ll ALSO win a script. Nice eh?

Tune in tonight, from 7 PM to 9 PM PST (10 PM to midnight EST). Exclusively on 97.1 and online!

• Malcolm Ingram’s award-winning documentary “Small Town, Gay Bar”, produced by View Askew, will be available on a packed DVD August 7th, 2007. You can bet that we’ll have a fantastic pre-order price on SIGNED copies of this film through the Stash, so stay tuned for those details as soon as we can get ‘em. Those of you lucky enough to see the film at a Vulgarthon or another film festival over the past year or two can attest to what a good job that Malc did to capture this walk of life. Read Kevin’s reveal over at the board.

By the way, sneak into Kev’s post and you’ll also notice that he’s made a MAJOR casting for “Zack & Miri” — Judging by the secrecy, we’re betting this may be for the “Zack” role, too — As we’re still figuring Rosario for “Miri”. We can’t wait to find out who’s coming into the family.

• Yep, it’s never a View Askew production unless something weird happens — Kevin has openly denied a couple’s claim that “Zack and Miri Make A Porno” is based on them.

• The voice of Kevin appears on a new DVD with a behind the scenes look at the new Superman animated movie. The disc, distributed by Diamond this week, came inside select comics. In it, Kevin appears in a brief voiceover at the end saying, “Like we really needed him to bust up a mechanical spider, LAME.” If anyone has a capture or an extra disc, let us know!

• According to IMDB.com, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are going to co-write another film, their first since “Good Will Hunting”. We’ve heard this before, from time to time, so we’ll wait for concrete news before reporting further.

• And while we’re talking Affleck, Kevin has high praise for the dude’s directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone”. You can now view the theatrical trailer exclusively over at Yahoo Movies.

• USA Today gives Kevin’s turn in “Live Free or Die Hard” the edge in this silly little story comparing elements of that film to “Transformers”.

• Jason Lee answers a few new questions for “Disney Adventures” magazine, about “Underdog”, of course, and we’ve got the scan for ya. Click and enjoy, using that snazzy new image expansion feature of ours.

• Everyone remember Afroman and that addictive tune “Because I Got High” that appeared in “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”? AP is now reporting that the artist is working on a new film titled “Waiting To Inhale”.

• Tomorrow’s it, folks — 10 years of News Askew’s existence in this world becomes official on Saturday, 7/7/07! Despite some technical issues that we discovered with older versions of Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, tomorrow’s launch is still a GO — Though we may be rolling back a few visual cues on the site to something more simple until we get the kinks worked out. The important thing is that tomorrow’s site works for you and looks right, especially that fancy news engine. So, while tomorrow remains the official launch day, we’ll be continuing to launch new features and visuals AFTER tomorrow, and of course will let you know when that stuff’s on the way — Especially so those of you with older or just plain weird browsers can let us know if you’re having any problems. The goal here is the cleanest, most compatible News Askew yet — Yes, even on the iPhone (Despite the fact Apple hasn’t sent us one to “test” the site with yet…ha!). Do check yesterday’s news for some free links to upgrade those dusty old browsers, if you have the means.

So, let’s just take a look at some statistics, shall we? To date, News Askew has logged a staggering 6,726 news stories…And that’s only counting those muli-story NewsBites as just ONE each. Since the ball got rolling, our busiest month ever was August of 2001, when we logged 147 stories in that 31-day period. Yep, that’s the release month of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. In fact, we always see spikes around flick release time. In March of 2004, we posted 122 news stories (Jersey Girl) and, back in May 1999, 105 (Dogma). Our slowest month ever? The great lull of January 2004 with just 22 stories posted. Big difference, huh?

Over the past 10 years, we’ve enjoyed over 21 million hits to the front page, give or take. Our new hit statistic software at News Askew X is going to tell us a lot more than that — Our busiest days, daily averages, popular browse times, and lots more. Not only will it allow us to serve you better, but it’ll give us some cool stats to share with you every once in a while.

What inspired us to start News Askew? Believe it or not, it was “Chasing Amy” that put us over the line — We’d been fans since Clerks, but after the brilliant trifecta of flicks, and especially that moving conclusion to Chasing Amy, we knew that Kevin was onto something great with View Askew Productions. We wanted to get our voices out there. 10 years later, here we are — Proud to say that we remain the home of the biggest and baddest View Askew news database on the web. And things are getting better all the time.

We’ll see you tomorrow with a new site — Some of you will immediately fall in love, some will say “go back to the old site!” and some will just say “Huh?”. Give it some time, browse around, and watch for continued updates, enhancements, and features — We think you’ll agree that this is, by far, the best News Askew yet.

• We’re scrambling to get as much of the new site ready for the 7/7/07 launch date this weekend, but are YOU ready? While we’ve taken every precaution to ensure that the new News Askew will look and work the same in any version of any web browser of any computer type, it never hurts to be running the latest in web browsing technology. Plus, our testing has focused mainly on those new versions. So, no matter what you’ve been using, why not check and take a few minutes to upgrade? They’re all free.

Our main browser of choice on the PC platform is Mozilla Firefox. Speed and the ability to add heaps of cool plugins have made this the power user’s favorite. Version 2.0.0.4 is the latest and available free at the Firefox website. By the way, they’ve got a Mac version that works pretty good, as well.

Of course, for PC users, most folks stick with old faithful, Internet Explorer. If you haven’t updated in a while, you’re probably using version 6. Version 7 is now final and fixes a ton of bugs — Get it at the Microsoft site. You’ll notice a nice difference.

For Mac OSX users, Safari continues to be the browser of choice — Macs come with Safari pre-installed, so you’re aces there. If you want, though, try out the new Safari 3 beta, free of charge. They’ve even got a PC version as well, for the first time ever.

	FIREFOX 2.0.0.4 (Windows) FIREFOX 2.0.0.4 (Mac OSX)
	INTERNET EXPLORER 7 (Windows)
	Safari 3 Public Beta (Mac OSX)

So there ya have it. That’s the big 3 these days. One of the toughest tasks of designing a new site continues to be the variety of ways that web browsers display the content. Make it easier on you (and on us designers) by using the latest. We realize, of course, those of you work surfers might have some stipulations against installing your own software — But hey, do your best. We’ll see you with a fresh, new, News Askew in just 2 short days.

• Jason Lee’s the live action comic relief in the upcoming CGI’ed Alvin and the Chipmunks big screen flick. Empire Online ran a story with our first look at the creatures…Along with Lee, of course, whose presence seems to give them comfort. CGI/Live Action flicks are hit or miss, but we’re hoping Lee can bring this one home. It’s currently set for a Christmas release.

And, in other CGI Lee news, there’s a new trailer for Underdog that just recently showed up in Quicktime format. We liked the blooper teaser, so again, Lee could help elevate the idea. We’re big Lee fans and support anything the dude does, so you can bet we’ll be tracking both of these projects for ya here at the site.

• Kevin’s becoming a regular caller again to “Opie & Anthony”, it seems — This week, he talked a bit about Joel Siegel and “Live Free Or Die Hard,” though mostly just hung out with the guys. Thanks to our scooper, we’ve got the complete clippage for ya right here, in crystal clear MP3 format. Click and enjoy the main man on XM’s biggest talk show.

• Here’s another photo and article regarding Kev’s wait on line for the iPhone late last week. We’re still sitting here trying to resist buying this device, which we hear is worth every bit of the hype it’s gathering up. Must…resist!
• And finally today, a View Askew mention in the most unlikely of places, a 2007 BMW 650i review from “Car and Driver” magazine. Yep, it’s that ‘ol Volkswagon line again…Check out the review and mention for yourself. See ya soon!