• We had a report come in today that one customer purchased the Best Buy Mooby box only to find the FULL SCREEN version of Clerks II in the box, not the widescreen. The disc was stamped as widescreen, but didn’t play that way. Be sure and check your discs! Anyone else have this problem? Ours are still sealed for collectability, so we’ve yet to break that shrink wrap.
• More DVD promotion today on G4 TV’s “Attack of the Show”. As part of their “DVDuesday” segment, Chris Gore reviews new releases. This episode, he gave the big “buy it” tag to Clerks II, Evening Harder, AND Now You Know! It’s a trifecta. G4 appears on Comcast digital cable. Check your local listings for a repeat this weekend.
• This short article came across the wire today — Some quotes from Kevin on YouTube and the impact technology like it will have on discoverng new filmmaking talent:

• Here’s an exclusive new article that you won’t find elsewhere — From the UK’s “Exposed” magazine, scans from a brand new interview conducted with Kevin on a variety of topics. Click the scans for quotes on Clerks II, Myspace, Road House, street dates, the horror flick and a possible guest spot on “My Name Is Earl” this year!
• Jason Lee makes it to number 4 on the list of “TV’s Top Mustachioed Men”:

• VH1’s Best Week website seems to have misinterprted what Kevin said regarding his iPod playlist earlier this week — From our interpretation, he’s not miffed about it, rather, just wanted it to go out unedited, instead of having to shorten his thoughts on it.
• We’re hearing some reports of shortages or missing shelf copies of Evening Harder and Now You Know, especially at some Best Buy locations. Rest assured, street dates did not slip, so check around, or order your signed copies directly from us to enure prompt shipment of your discs!

• We’re pleased to report the highly anticipated arrival of THREE View Askew related titles on DVD today. First up, the latest in Kevin’s Askewniverse series, Clerks II, which many (including Kevin) say is the likely end to the View Askewniverse as we know it. You’ll certainly want to complete your collection with this one, and read our review of the disc set as well.

Next up — Kevin goes international with 2 Q&A sessions from Canada and the U.K. in “Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder”. Another two disc set chronicles Kevin’s hilarious Q&As and anecdotes, as Kevin entertains packed houses like no one else can. Look for tons of laughs and unexpectected surprises in these no-holds-barred sessions. Now everywhere on DVD (finally caught up with you Australia!).

And finally, Jeff Anderson’s directorial debut, “Now You Know” — Not originally produced by View Askew, but now presented by Kevin Smith as it earns a place in Askew myth in its own right, due to discovering Trevor Fehrman who steals many a scene in “Clerks II”.

As we speak, fans everywhere are converging on Stash Westwood for a big signing of DVDs today with Smith, Mewes, Anderson and Fehrman. If you’re in line, we hope you’re having a blast, and look forward to your tales and photos.

For the rest of us, here’s hoping you’ve got your pre-orders in with the Stash, as it’s still the only spot to get personally signed copies of all these discs to put under your tree. In the meantime, here’s some other info on today’s releases and what special goodies you can find at various outlets:

• Suncoast Pictures are carrying the Clerks II DVD packed with the bonus DVD. The disc contains a music video contest winner, the VH-1 Special and 5 BONUS Train Wrecks.
• Many Best Buy stores are in short suppy of the Mooby’s Meal Box set. If you want one, we suggest you run and grab one as soon as you can!
• The free comic in the Circuit City version, we’re being told, is only coming packed with the Full Screen version of the film, NOT the widescreen. Be careful.

• JoBlo‘s always been great to View Askew, and celebrates our big DVD today with a wonderful piece rightfully titled “10 Reasons We Love Kevin Smith”. Sure, if you’re here we already know you’re a fan, but in case you forgot about all the coolness Kevin brings us on a daily basis, here’s some reminders (hit the JB site for photos that go with the text, yes, even including that Playboy one we see you guys searching the archives for all the dang time!):

The final 5, we’re told, are on the way!

• Kevin’s reporting in his blog that he’ll do Craig Ferguson TOMORROW night (Wednesday), not Friday as we previously reported. The CBS website still reports Kevin as a Friday guest, so we’re not sure at this point. If we get clarification we’ll post it right up here for you.
• Alliance Atlantis, the Canadian company who distrubutes Clerks II, are running a contest which gives you the chance to WIN a trip to New Jersey and Tour the stash as well as some filming sites from Clerks and Clerks II (we’re guessing the block of stores). They’re also giving away Clerks II DVDs to runners up. The contest is open to residents of Canada ONLY (excluding residents of Quebec, for some crazy reason). You can fill out the simple entry blank HERE! Good luck.
• Popular USA Today pop culture blogger, Whitney Matheson, has done a post on Kevin’s webisode series “Sucks Less”. She not only enjoys it, but could potentially provide a lot of new viewers since most of her readers tend to check out her suggestions at least once:

Thanks, Whitney!

• Finally today, Kevin made a surprise appearance on Opie & Anthony this morning, chatting about such topics as Ebert and Roper, the use of the “N” word, and the fact that he sleeps in shorts and a t-shirt. We’re working on the audio, and hope to have it available here for you soon. More news later! Thanks for stopping by News Askew today.

• You’ve waited months, and now the day is here – Tomorrow, Tuesday November 28th marks the biggest DVD release date in View Askew history, with the street date of “Clerks II”, the 2 disc special edition, “Evening Harder” (2 more discs), and finally, “Now You Know”. These all mark the first time any of these titles have been offered on home DVD, so we’re expecting that you View Askew fans are gonna have a busy week/weekend in front of the tube. We’re excited to have this much new material to watch, and especially stoked to finally catch the next installment of Evening With after hearing all the stores from those international gigs.

We do apologize for not having advanced looks at the “Now You Know” and “Evening Harder” discs, but despite our best efforts, we just couldn’t get advanced copies of these sent out to us. So we’ll be picking up copies tomorrow and watching with the rest of you, and have reviews of them up as soon as possible. If you missed it, our Clerks II review is quite in-depth and was posted a week or so ago.

We hope you’ve got the day off, or a long lunch hour set aside tomorrow to pick up your copies of all three of these wonderful discs — And for those of you in the Los Angeles area, we look forward to hearing your reports from the big signing session with Kevin, Jay, Jeff and Trevor at Stash Westwood! Remember, get there early, with this being a great holiday gifting opportunity, we’re expecting a healthy turnout. Enjoy the big View Askew DVD holiday TOMORROW!

• Now that Kevin mentions it, we actually remember at one point announcing he’d be doing an iTunes celebrity playlist — Now the true story is out there, along with the never-before seen playlist, via his MySpace blog. It’s good, too! Here’s what Kevin had to say about the list today:

To see the wonderful list in its entiretly, shoot on over to Kevin’s MySpace blog!

• One vigilant scooper from the North travelled down to a New York Best Buy last night and happened upon one of those limited edition Mooby Meal boxes, out EARLY! So thanks to him, we have some new high res shots of the contents of this beauty. We’ll be at our local Best Buy to pick these suckers up tomorrow, you can bet on that.

Of Canadian interest: Not as impressive as the Best Buy USA exclusive, Canadians get a free original ‘98 Clerks Comic book with the purchase of Clerks II on DVD. None of the other stores seem to have any deals of any sort.

• Catch Kevin as the MAIN HEADLINING GUEST this Friday, December 1st, on the Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We’re certain he’ll be there to of course entertain the audience and promote the new disc releases for “Evening Harder” and “Clerks II”. We’re sure some clippage will be shown as well. Set those Tivos!
• The promos continue! NBC ran an ad for Clerks II on DVD during the Sunday Night Football game between the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. Al Michaels re-announced the ad after the commerical break during the broadcast as well. Great exposure for tomorrow’s big disc release.

• Entertainment Weekly promotes “Evening Harder” and “Clerks II” with fair capsule reviews in their latest issue. See the scan here. We wish they’d have given Clerks II and its bountiful extras more attention, but hey, that’s what you’ve got us for, right?
• Street dates continue to break — We’re getting reports of Walmarts everywhere having “Evening Harder” on shelves, and now hear that “Now You Know” has also shown up at some K-Marts. Of course, you’ll want to buy signed copies from the Stash, as well as look for the special limited edition of Clerks II at your local Best Buy, Circuit City, and FYE tomorrow – The places that KNOW how to keep street dates solid!
• There’s a Kevin Smith/Clerks II interview in the latest edition of DVD WORLD magazine in the U.K. If anyone’s got a scan, send it on for us!
• Check the IMDB Forums for one user’s vision of what Kevin-cast “Pulp Fiction” might play like.

• And last but not least, check out a shot of our pal and regular scooper Matt Booker at the Memorabilia show in the UK last weekend – He met the lovely Priscilla Barnes at the show, and even got his Mallrats book signed, making a total of 12 cast members in there now! Not bad!

• Kevin’s popular UCLA and Secret Stash-based web class/series “Sucks Less” takes a week off due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but the gang was kind enough to still provide us with an equally entertaining installment this week: The Blooper & Outtakes Edition! Links for both PC and Mac users at the usual spot, the mtvU.com website. Watch Kevin crack up the crew, the crew crack up Kevin, and more general fun and flubs from the Secret Stash in Westwood. Sadly, only a minute and a half of this stuff, though we hope to see more outtakes in the future. They’re always good fun.

“Sucks Less” resumes regular episodes with Episode 4 this Thursday, where the gang will show you 3 more ways to kill time on your weekend.

• We’re receiving reports that Evening Harder’s street date has been broken by a ton of local Walmart stores this weekend — The OFFICIAL release date remains this Tuesday, November 28th.
• One scooper caught a funny program on Cartoon Network last night: The show “Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends” had a special TV movie for Thanksgiving, titled “Good Wilt Hunting”, referencing the character Wilt, who goes on a journey to find his creator. Kevin Micheal Richards, who did some voices for the Clerks cartoon and was in Clerks II (a the cop who notices Randal’s shirt) appeared as Wilt’s old basketball rival.

• From the Orange County Register’s “Westside Weekly – The Week Ahead” column comes this scan advertising the Tuesday arrival of the awesome Clerks II DVD. Click the pic for a better look, and of course check out our in-depth review of the disc if you missed it last week.