• In a move to help ease the strain on all of our servers, Quick Stop Entertainment will be releasing each week’s fresh new SModcast on their site first before adding the feed into iTunes about a week later. We would suggest subscribing to both feeds (FeedBurner and iTunes) because who doesn’t love seeing SModcat at the top of iTunes’ podcast rankings? Here’s the rundown of this week’s episode :

  

  
  SModcast 37: In A Row? –

  Our heroes go jumbo-length in celebration of an anniversary, using the time to explore a body-snatching scenario and the decision to pod or die, learn the boundaries of a hug, marvel at the cunning of a trapped deer, and plumb the depths of general ignorance.

• A big part of last week was spend on a trip to Canada, where Kevin took some time to meet with press, fans, and, of course, sign books. We’ve got some nice print and multimedia for you to enjoy from that jaunt up north today.

  First up, the Toronto Star prints a nice little article on the tour, the book, and “Reaper” today. It’s short, so let’s run it all:

  Boring-ass life? Not this geek

  Wearing his trademark “Silent Bob” black overcoat and Vans deck shoes with an image of Homer Simpson imprinted on them, Kevin Smith makes a sit-down chat turn into an exploration of all things geeky.

  What else would you expect from the writer/director/actor who’s been letting his nerd flag fly high ever since he broke onto the scene with ’90s indie hit Clerks?

  Smith, 37, has inspired a fervent cult audience for whatever he decides to do – from comics he’s written to guest-starring on Degrassi: The Next Generation, one of his favourite shows.

  The pop culture vulture has two movies in development, directed the series pilot for the devilishly good new series Reaper and started work on an episode of Heroes: Origins, the upcoming spinoff of the NBC hit series Heroes.

  Then there’s the reason he’s in town, doing a media blitz for his new book, My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith, a collection of blog entries from Smith’s website, ViewAskew.com.

  “It’s kind of nice to back into a book, but I was like `who’s going to buy it when you can read it for free online,'” Smith said yesterday at the Toronto offices of publisher Random House.

  “They said, `well, not everyone has a computer.’ Like really, everyone I know has a computer. So at the end of the day I didn’t have to do much for it, as it was already written.”

  Smith has been posting to his website since 1996. He says the blog/book started after one of his fans asked how he spends his days. So he started cataloguing everything he did.

  “It moved beyond the initial question, where I was like, I would like to have all this, so 20 years down the road I can look back and know exactly what I was doing on a specific day – and look at it how much I wasted my youth.”

  But like most bloggers, the idea of feeding the online beast became an issue.

  Documenting his life from March, 2005 to November, 2006, My Boring-Ass Life begins with daily writings that evolve into longer, more sporadic posts as time goes by.

  If there is a highlight, Smith says it’s the almost 70 pages called “Me and my Shadow,” where he details the journey of best friend Jason Mewes (Jay from the Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob movies) as he battles drug addiction.

  “He’s actually lived through something, as opposed to me. I am pretty boring,” Smith said. His fans wouldn’t agree, but it’s all on the page for anyone to judge.

  In January, Smith starts filming Zach and Miri Make a Porno. Afterwards he hopes to start on Red State, which he describes as “a political horror movie.”

  Other projects Smith is working on include a weekly podcast with friend, producer Scott Mosier – they call it a Smodcast – at quickstopentertainment.com.

  As for Smith’s take on this age where all things geek have gone very mainstream, he’s sanguine about it.

  He doesn’t think that there will be a backlash, but rather “people will just sooner or later just become disinterested.” Perhaps, but his career is solid evidence to the contrary.

  Kevin’s interview on the CBC’s “The Hour with George Strombolopoulos” can be seen on its website. Be sure to check out the hilarious cold open of the show featuring Kevin doing a “bit of business”, as he often likes to say. There’s other guests on the program, so you may need to skip in a bit to see Kev’s bit — The show streams in several pieces, so be patient, you may need to wait a few seconds here and there to let it catch up with you, depending on your connection speed.

  One fan was nice enough to break out a camera and film a few minutes of what went down at a pre-book signing Q&A this week, too. Watch the shaky cam though, it’s a little rough. Sounds like a HUGE turnout for the signing there, though – Canada loves Kevin! Check out a couple short clips, direct from Canada, via YouTube : Canada Book Signing, 9/27/07 – Part One and Canada Book Signing, 9/27/07 – Part Two.

• After an incredibly busy month post-implementation, we’re happy to report that bug fix and feature enhancement work has now kicked back in here at the NEW News Askew. For you on-the-go types: Those of you with iPhones should be enoying a version of the site design to display special for the device, though we’re also working on giving you folks the ability to switch back to the full, more colorful site design you see on a standard computer screen. As well, we’ve started to implement other mobile versions of the site — Those of you browsing on mobile web browsers should start seeing a friendly, stripped down version of the site to allow you to get your news on the go. Or, you can also check out the RSS Feed which is always a VERY simple way to keep on top of things when you’re on the road. But more on that in a moment.

  
  Our new tracking system’s telling us a lot of interesting facts about where ya’ll are coming from, and how often you’ve been here. We can also see that the majority of our users still use the Internet Explorer browser, which is full of display bugs when it comes to the CSS standard (the new web standard that the site’s been designed for). We’re continuing to squash those bugs, but in the meantime, highly suggest a version of Firefox or Safari for your computer if you have the means. Downloads are free, and the latest versions are VERY standards-compliant (a fancy way of sayin’ that this site will work and display the way it’s meant to). Stick with us though, IE users, as we WILL get the site as compatible as we can, fix by fix.

  Look for more design and graphics changes to come as well — The look of the site is anything but finalized — The first thing you’re likely to notice will be a cleaner story format — We’ll be going back to a “bubble” like approach so the news isn’t just floating out there in a sea of white. Look for Jay & Bob to make a return to the header, as well.

  We’re continuing to research ways to make the site a great reference as well as a great daily stop — If you haven’t used our Live Archives yet, give them a look, as we think it’s one of the new site’s “killer” features. We’re continuing to categorize old news as time permits, so you’ll soon be able to look back and dig up every story on a particular movie or other area of interest. We like that. We think you will, too. We’re also adding a new search highlight feature, as well, to highlight your search terms in the results you get back — A lot easier when you’re skimming for that special something.

  We thank you as always for stopping by, and do hope you’re getting used to the new place — There’s so much more to come, only limited by our imaginations as well as our time, so stick with us, as it’s onward and upward from here.

• Amazon.com is offering a nifty deal whereby you can buy individual episodes of the excellent program “Dinner for Five” for $9.95. Kevin appears on three separate episodes (Jersey Girl ep., Daredevil ep. and a random episode with Stan Lee, Mark Hamill and JJ Abrams.). Or, you can click on the “create custom DVD” link at the top and get eight Kevin clips from various episodes put on to ONE DVD for the price of $14.95. If you do that, you also have plenty of room to add other View Askew alum clips inclusing clips with the likes of: Janeane Garafolo, Alanis Morrisette, Stephen Root, Carrie Fisher and Tracey Morgan. The best deal is, of course, the series set, with all four seasons for $59.95.
• “Chasing Amy” is one of the 40 choices in The Advocate’s survey citing the top gay-themed films of the past 40 years. Why not go complete a survey and make your choice or choices known? You can pick up to 10 flicks.
• Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch celebrated Kevin’s birthday last week with this posting which links to a classic Q&A clip which also had some very kind things to say about his “Die Hard” turn:
  What do you say to the man who’s heard everything? You say you’re sorry that you worried his cameo in Live Free or Die Hard would be grating — turns out it was way funnier than the trailer made it look. You say that you actually tried to listen to his Catch and Release commentary track with the film’s director, but got bored waiting for them to talk about Timothy Olyphant. And you say that you’re hoping someone asks him about Olyphant tonight — when Smith celebrates his 37th birthday with an onstage Q&A at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre — and reports back in.
• For those of you who can’t get enough of that way cool recent Crazy4Cult art show (we’re one of them), G4TV has another video for your viewing pleasure. This one looks like a “must see” next year, hands down.
• Superman Homepage has posted a positive, SPOILER-FILLED review of the upcoming straight-to-DVD “Superman: Doomsday” animated movie. The reviewer states that “There’s also a very, very cool Kevin Smith cameo that I won’t spoil either, but which will rock your world if you’re deep into the mythos/behind the scenes stuff.”.
• And finally today, did you know that View Askew’s bash to celebrate the openings of the two comic stores wasn’t the only one? Check THIS out…And we’ll see ya back soon. Later!

• Freshly back from reshoots with the newly-cast Missy Peregyrm for “Reaper”, Kevin joins Scott Mosier for another edition of the immensely popular and entertaining weekly program SModcast. This week hits lucky #21 with the following loglines:
  

  SModcast 21: Little Outhouse on the Prairie –

  In which the patriarchy is restored and our heroes discuss a wide range of topics like Flushable Moist Wipes, the triumphant advent of Flushable Moist Wipes, the historical significance of Flushable Moist Wipes, dry corncobs vs. Flushable Moist Wipes, magic ice boxes vs. Flushable Moist Wipes, and “Heroes”.

  Ah, the joy of flushable moist wipes indeed. As always, free, $0.00, for your download anytime you want, exclusively through the great Quick Stop Entertainment. Download, enjoy, and be sure to comment here or at one of Kevin’s blogs with your thoughts on the show. The dude loves to hear your feedback on SModcast.

• We appreciate the feedback we’ve heard form you all on the new design and site so far. First up, we want you all to know we’re glad that you like what you’re seeing, and also appreciate what we’re doing. The site that you’re looking at is, really, in our eyes, still very much a “beta” site. We didn’t want to miss our 10th birthday, and had the site at least in good working order, for the most part, so we decided to go ahead with the rollout, figuring more eyes on it would mean more testing, and more feedback. So, we thank you for all you’re doing so far.

  The first round of bugs we plan to tackle are visual ones. We can see that a lot of you (almost 50% of the site visitors) are using Internet Explorer 7 or 6. This will definitely result in some display issues, especially in IE6. Once we get the bug fixed, you’ll see all the pretty pictures much better. We also have some toolbar overlap with the top dropdown menus that’s only happening in IE, not Firefox or Safari. So, visually fixing up the site is our top task at the moment.

  For those of you with smaller screens or resolutions, we hear you. The right sidebar is a bit larger than necessary and we’re working to take that down a bit to assist you. The site looks awesome in widescreen settings and higher resolutions, and takes full advantage, it just doesn’t scale down as nice as we’d like. We’re working on it, and we’ll ensure that you have as pleasant an experience as the rest of us. We have already started removing the sidebar from pages such as a the Drinking Games splash screen, where the large image was causing issues for smaller screens.

  Header graphics will return, either the one you know and love or a brand new design. We’re doing all the design off-site right now, so our changes don’t interfere with the site you’re viewing. When we get it looking pretty, we’ll roll out design fixes, as available. The site’s look will evolve over the next few weeks and months, all for the better.

  Iphone users: We hear the site looked pretty good on the phone’s safari browser, though with all the extra header and sidebar fluff, we worried it was a bit much. So, for now, you’ll get a special version of the page automatically when you connect via your iphone, that will just give you a plain version of the news. We’re hoping to soon add in an option that will allow you to switch between the bare bones version and back to the full colorful version, if you choose.

  Our live archive is something we love and will continue to improve over the next few weeks. It involves going back to every story and categorizing it to allow more specific searching through old posts. Soon, we’ll have an advanced search that will give you category based control, as well. But not until we have everything in its place. Categories are brand new for News Askew this time around, so it involves a lot of time and effort in reading each old post, and deciding where to put it. Even creating new categories as we see fit. The live archive is up and running but is beta software using javascript. It may not work for you. If not, please try a more recent browser and ensure your javascript is running.

  We sincerely hope you are enjoying the new News Askew, and that you’ll stick with us as the new site continues to evolve into its new form. Thanks as always for your patience and support.

• 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!

• Right on schedule, Kevin and Scott’s brilliant dialogue continues with the arrival of their seventh episode this morning, now available for immediate download/listen EXCLUSIVELY at Quick Stop Entertainment. Here’s the rundown for this week’s almost-hour of fun:

Get your butt over to Quick Stop Entertainment and enjoy! Subscribe and contribute to the site throttle-down (but hey, we love that you love SModcast) via iTunes or Feedburner!