Fallon’s official site lists Kev as well, so we’re pretty sure this is gospel. Get the popcorn ready and set up those Tivos! Kevin on LATE night where the harbor is a little less safe as far as what’s allowed to be said on TV should be a blast. If you record it, don’t forget this is TECHNICALLY Saturday that Kev will be on, as the time will be 12:35 AM EST/PST.

• Comic Book.com ran a very nice, but spoiler filled, review of Batman : The Widening Gyre #1.
• The St. Louis Examiner also ran a little piece on the first issue right HERE.
• Today’s issue of the Toronto Star ran 2 stories about Kevin’s involvment in the latest Degrassi TV movie and Degrassi as a whole. Check them out HERE and HERE.
• The Kansas City Star is running a poll to determine the best cult film of all time. CLERKS is currently is last place, let’s all get over there and vote to correct this thing.
• And finally today, here’s a uplifting story from the set of A COUPLE OF DICKS courtesy of the Echo Press:

  A DAY WITH DIRECTION

  By: Jo Colvin, Alexandria Echo Press

  Cody Saurdiff never imagined his wildest dream would come true. But it did.

  He got to hang out in a hotel room eating cupcakes and pizza with a guy in a T-shirt, shorts and a bathrobe. What more could a 16-year-old boy wish for?

  Of course, the fact that he was eating junk food with his idol Kevin Smith, a famous film writer, actor and director, in a penthouse suite in New York City with a view of the Statue of Liberty after spending an entire day watching Smith direct a film and getting to act in a scene himself was the icing on the cupcakes.

  We got as much out of that day as we possibly could, said Cody, son of Bob Saurdiff and Barb Saurdiff, both of Alexandria. I spent from 10 a.m. to midnight with my hero. I felt so fulfilled.

  How Cody got there wasnt so fulfilling. But typical of this easy-going, eloquent teen, his quirky sense of humor and his positive attitude helped him take the bumps on the road to New York City in stride.

  MAKING THE BEST OF IT.

  I just kind of accepted it for the most part, Cody said.

  Brave words coming from a kid who just whipped cancer twice.

  Two years ago, Cody was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The tumor was removed and the cancer did not spread. About a year and a half later, a cancerous lump was found in his abdomen.

  The lump was removed, but this time chemotherapy was in order. Complicating this treatment was the fact that Cody doesnt have a very good heart.

  Born with a heart defect called tetralogy of fallot, Cody had heart surgery at 6 months old and pretty much grew up around doctors.

  His five chemotherapy sessions caused him to miss the last two months of his sophomore year. But he didnt let the nausea and hair loss get him down.

  I thought I could have some fun with it, he said of losing his hair. Eventually I had to shave my head. I invited everyone I knew into my basement and I had a friend shave my head. I tried to make the best possible out of an awful situation.

  In the meantime, Bob was trying to do the same thing. He wanted to do something special for his son, so he turned to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for advice never imagining that Cody would qualify.

  I was looking for more help than having them do it, Bob said, thinking that Make-A-Wish was only for terminal illnesses. But they called back and said he was qualified and his wish was granted.

  FILM FREAKS

  Cody didnt hesitate at all when his dad asked what wish he would like granted. He wanted to meet Kevin Smith writer, actor and director of some of Codys favorite movies.

  Referring to his family as film freaks, Cody had been exposed to all types of film in his childhood. But Smiths movies called to him, and made him want to write screenplays himself.

  He has a quiet and intellectual humor he has drawn down to a level that people can understand, Cody explained. His ideas are really fun but really out there. The guy is so articulate. Ive always thought his work was the best thing in the world.

  Only two months after Bob contacted Make-A-Wish, Cody received a letter saying his wish had been accepted. Two weeks later, it was already set up.

  Kevin Smith said yes right on the spot, Cody said.

  On July 23, Cody, his parents and brother, Dillyn, took off for Minneapolis. The next morning a limousine arrived at their motel to transport them to the airport. And when they arrived in New York City, another limousine was waiting.

  You wouldnt believe what they [Make-A-Wish] went through. There was a limousine service everywhere we went and contacts everywhere we went, said a grateful Bob. Someone was with us to help throughout the whole trip. We pretty much didnt have to do anything but show up.

  The first day in the Big Apple, the Saurdiffs played tourist visiting Manhattan, Park Avenue, Central Park, The Museum of Art, Ground Zero and Grand Central Station.

  But that paled in comparison to day two of Codys big adventure when he visited a movie set, met his mentor and acted in a movie all in one day.

  That one day made it the best trip we have ever had, Cody said.

  A REGULAR GUY

  Cody wasnt expecting much. Smith was a busy man. He was in the middle of filming a movie titled A Couple of Dicks. The teen figured he would visit the movie set, shake hands, exchange a few words, and be on his way.

  He was sorely mistaken.

  It started with a car accident and a bald guy.

  This car came screeching to a stop, and Bruce Willis got out. It turned out to be Bruce Willis and a stunt double, Cody said, noting that because Willis is bald, so were all the stunt doubles. I was right at home. Everybody was bald.

  The Saurdiffs scored the best seats on the street, right behind the directors chair. Then came Smith.

  He had a big old smile, waved to us and talked to us for a bit, Cody said, impressed with Smiths kindness and genuine welcome. Then he leans back and says, Hey, do you want to be in the movie?

  The Saurdiffs were amazed to learn that Smith had rewritten part of the script to accommodate a part for Cody.

  In the scene, Cody plays a teenage student driver who hits Willis with a car. Although it would be a 20-second scene, the Saurdiffs spent eight hours on the set.

  After he was done filming, Cody got out of the car and the film crew gave him a standing ovation.

  They took a shining to Cody, said his proud dad. They loved this kid. He was holding cameras and everything. They couldnt do enough.

  Everyone there was super nice, Cody agreed.

  When the filming wrapped up, a satisfied, overwhelmed Cody expected to shake hands and say goodbye.

  Then it got even better.

  He invited us to go to his editing room, Cody said incredulously.

  And of course, we were so busy, we said, Well, maybe, he joked.

  Smith showed the Saurdiffs the editing room and explained the process. He ordered pizza and shared the cupcakes his daughter baked. He listened to Codys cancer story and listened to his opinions. And he sat and joked around with them.

  At 9:30 p.m. it was finally a wrap. Cody had experienced the best day of his life.

  I had a crush on him before, but I fell in love with him afterward, Cody joked. Anything I experienced with him that day made everything about him better, if it could be better.

  HOT DOG!

  The Saurdiffs had one more day to tour New York City, but it was anti-climactic. Not even seeing the Rockefeller Center or getting bumped to the front of the line at the Statue of Liberty held a candle to the previous day.

  We did have this really good hot dog, Cody teased, pondering the highlight of his New York adventure. It was something. I was mesmerized by the taste.

  But the best hot dog hed ever tasted couldnt even compare to his day on the movie set and everything he learned. And it wasnt just about making movies.

  I realize how some people in this world can be, he concluded. Make-A-Wish did everything they could for us. Kevin Smith did everything he could for us. They were the nicest people we could ever imagine.

  I learned a lot about the goodness of peoples hearts.

Kevin and Scott Mosier will be recording a live podcast at The Prince Charles Cinema!

07/10/09 at 18:00 Kevin Smith & Scott Mosier

Tickets (which are going to sell out fast) will be available at

www.viewaskew.com/events/uksmod

We are not aware when these will go live

Please keep in mind this has not yet been officially announced by View Askew — But hopefully we’ll be able to confirm soon.

Speedy Coming to SMALLVILLE

The Green Arrow has become a staple player in the ranks of characters featured in ‘Smallville’. He’s been unsuccessful in one endeavor on the show though: recruiting Clark as his full-time partner in crime-fighting. Well. KryptonSite suggests there may be a remedy for that, as season 9 of the show will introduce Arrow’s original sidekick Speedy.

Well, not the original, exactly. Mia Dearden is set to appear in an upcoming episode. She was introduced in Kevin Smith’s revival of Green Arrow back in 2001 and went on to take up the role of sidekick archer.

Check out KryptonSite’s description of episode 7 for more on the ‘Smallville’ version of Dearden.

CHASING AMY: Homosexuality proved to be passing fancy and sign of sexual deviance.

CLERKS: Aimless loser remains in dead-end job, abusive “friendship.”

GOOD WILL HUNTING: Underemployed genius squanders prestigious job opportunity to chase trim.

Wanna see it? Check your local listings to catch it on the tube. OR…Even better, view it RIGHT NOW at the N’s official website!!!

Click Here for the 90-minute “Degrassi Goes Hollywood” movie, free!

Looks like the entire Degrassi cast is back, so if you haven’t checked the show out in a while, here’s a chance to catch up. Enjoy.

This second clip comes from the fresh “Reaper Season 2” DVD and features a short snippet of Kevin talking about the show, for which he filmed the acclaimed pilot episode. Enjoy. See ya next time. As always, thanks for stopping by News Askew today.

• Kevin made a quick appearance on the other other night’s NHL Awards show. Check out the video above!
• Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch ran THIS glowing review of Kevin’s Carnegie Hall appearance.
• We mentioned this a while back, but here’s CTV’s official premiere announcement for their upcoming Degrassi TV movie featuring Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes:

  PARADISE CITY: DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD (Premiere)

  * Sunday, August 30 at 8 p.m. ET

  In the first ever DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION movie, the Degrassi students venture to L.A. via school bus with hopes to score parts in Mewesical High, a musical directed by Jason Mewes (Clerks) under the mentorship of Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma). Paige (Lauren Collins), personal assistant to THE SHORES reality television star Hailey Montel (Mary Ashton), understands that in life you work from the ground up, but when Hollywood hands Paige a shortcut to fame and fortune, she jumps at the opportunity and takes Marco (Adamo Ruggiero) and Ellie (Stacey Farber) along for the ride. Back in Toronto, Manny (Cassie Steele) has immersed herself in her university theatre program and is committed to becoming an actor of substance. The star of Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?, Manny blows an opportunity to star in Mewes feature and then heads on a road trip to L.A. to win the role and realize her dream.

• In possibly the latest movie review ever, the New Orleans Examiner posted their review of JERSEY GIRL.

As for “Reaper”, the show’s pilot was Kevin’s first TV directing gig, so has quite a bit of historical significance. With a cancellation this late in the year, we’re betting that “Reaper”, like “Earl”, may also end with an unresolved cliffhanger.

“…The main thing that’s been going on is ironing everything out with Kevin Smith. When we first acquired The Green Hornet we had quite a few creators wanting to be involved and had creators asking us for up to four years to be involved. A few of the creators we’ll be working with . . . and Kevin Smith was the only person we reached out to and he was interested – but we had to wait to see if it was a definite yeah or nay. Kevin was able to bring incredible amounts of media attention by getting brought on to entertainmentweekly.com, which we gratefully respect, and with the support of the comics industry we plan on making this one of our biggest launches that we possibly can.”

“…Well, Kevin came into the picture when we remembered that he was a fan of The Green Hornet. He’s done a movie with Seth Rogan [Zack and Miri Make a Porno] and while just like the original script that Kevin did that has no involvement with the new movie script with Seth, Kevin as a creator has grown over the last five years and we were able to approach him about doing The Green Hornet as he would approach him today.”

Newsarama has the full story.

“I have really gotten into Wayne and Walter in the last six months, I’ve been reading a lot about them and found it really inspiring,” he said.

He went as far as to say he “kind of fell in love in a big, bad way” but not in a romantic sense – like so many people, he found Walter and Wayne to be very inspiring individuals.

Smith said he then felt he may be going through a mid-life crisis because “at 38 I found Gretzky to be an ideal role model” but that his admirations were solidified when he was speaking at Roy Thomson Hall and Bloor Cinema in Toronto and found those present understood his idolization.

…

So far there has been enough fan response on the View Askew message board to form three teams. The teams have been named after hockey jerseys featured in Smith’s films – The Vulgarians, The Leonardo Reapers and the Monroeville Zombies.

…

“Brantford produced Wayne Gretzky, perhaps one of the only viable role models of the last 50 years … the world needs more Wayne Gretzkys and I figure – why wouldn’t another come out of Brantford? So I thought, why not put money into Brantford athletics.”

The tournament, which is a fundraiser event for the Sports Facilities Infrastructure Legacy fund, runs June 5-7, with each ball hockey team guaranteed at least three games at Lions Park Arena.