On Flicks..

Sweet BDay gift from @RyanJReynolds (not GreenLantern RR): #CopOut banner with 1500 opening night tix: http://tinyurl.com/ryanspresenttokev

Via @artvander “Saw #CopOut. SWS has never been funnier.” Made me want to cast him in HIT SOMEBODY. But now he’s circling GOON. *sigh*

Via @Film_2_140 “has SWS read HIT SOMEBODY script yet? Is it Near done” No – been a busy month, so still on pg101. Hence he’s circling GOON.

Via @Film_2_140 “surprised he’s looking at Goon?” Nah: they’re ready to roll. HIT’s not ’til AFTER RedState – so mid-2011 the earliest.

Via @boomertl “goon and HS are very similar” Not from what I’ve been told. At all. Besides: the more hockey flicks, the better. #SellTheGame

Via @thaskizz “will you be acting in Red State or Hit Somebody?” Nah. Those days are over. Rather be in front of a microphone than a camera.

Speaking of #CopOut – SIGNED BD/DVDs! http://www.jayandsilentbob.com/copoutbldvds.html OR http://www.jayandsilentbob.com/copoutdvdsib.html

Via @YourRealDad76 “Am I ever gonna get to play a Jay and Silent Bob video game?” If any VG company had serious interest, I’d be into it…

On Live Appearances…

Via @CJDavis0605 “What’s the good word? Boston show going to be rescheduled?” I’m hearing December 12th. Will confirm that soon…

Via @dselig119 “when will your bday DVD be out?” Not a DVD; an @EpixHD 2 hour special! Peep it here on October 23rd: http://www.epixhd.com/

Via @insidehw “EPIX exclusive comedy special – KevinSmith:TooFatFor40 http://epx.ms/aeRK1i ” For press release/air date, click READ IT.

Via @MikeDuyn “didnt u tell the story of why last movie felt like work at bday Q&A?” Iceberg’s tip, sir. One day. Too soon.

Via @ValShelby “can you do another day where you answer ? 24hrs” Yes: Labor Day – to raise $$$ for http://viewaskew.com/thewaynefoundation

Via @Ptrst “How will that raise money?” I’ll Tweet the donation link all day, keeping a running tally, shaming into giving. #Tweetathon2010

On SModcast and SModcastle…

Via @Qatami “starting a podcast, could you take a pic of your personal recording set-up as example” http://tinyurl.com/WhatSModGearLooksLike

Via @deadpool60169 “Is Malcolm’s Gay Clown Show going to be posted online?” Like most @SModcastle shows, if show sells out, show get posted.

The @SModcastle exists because of @CamelToad. Thank him by supporting his pair of Friday Night shows: http://smodcastle.com/tickets.html

Via @Coreyranes “You should have NHL 10 tournament again” Coming soon to @SModcastle, via Lit101 guy: http://www.smodcastle.com/tickets.html

Via @JayMewes “Coming home next week. recording HIGHLANDS: http://www.smodcastle.com/tickets.html ” Mewes is PERMANENT Highlands 3D cohost!

@shawnwrites “what cartoons can we expect on Saturday? Old? New? Both?” This week, it’s all @Starktoons action! But in the future, we wanna open it up to submissions: if you’re an animator who wants to see their stuff on screen, contact @SModcastle or @CamelToad.

On Comics…

Via @JackBauer2417 “ever consider becoming full-time Batman writer?” Been asked, but I can’t keep to a schedule. I’m content w/ CACO & GYRE.

Via @RChazzChute “Just read Gyre #6. Delicious! Thanks! When’s volume 2?” Starts in Jan. GYRE Hardcover is just in time for Christmas: 12/8.

Via @Dedlok “by christmas meaning december-ish?” Yes – right around time of CACOPHONY soft cover. GYRE hardcover will have extras…

Via @JakeGalliher “went to Comic shop to pick up GYRE 1-6 couldn’t find 2,3″ I’m your pusher: http://www.jayandsilentbob.com/comicbooks.html

All the tweets you can handle for free by following @ThatKevinSmith.

NBC surprised everyone when it canceled “Earl.” How did you feel about it?

I definitely miss Earl and working on the show. It was a shame the way they canceled it. We didn’t get to finish the series. I was devastated; we were all confused. But I guess life goes on and now here I am working on something entirely different.

Do you guys still get to see each other every once in a while?

Yeah, I see Ethan [Suplee] quite a bit. He was a friend of mind sort of from “Mall Rats” basically. And so we got to work on “Earl”–came full circle, just about 15 years later.

Well its good to have you back.

Oh, thank you, thank you.

And “Memphis” couldn’t be more different really.

No, I mean, as an actor you look forward to that, I guess. It’s like you don’t always expect what’s coming and interesting things really come your way and kind of surprise you.

Sometimes, the sidekick can be the devil on the hero’s shoulder, as in Kevin Smith’s game-changing 1997 comedy about comic book artist Holden (played by Ben Affleck), who falls in love with lesbian cartoonist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams). Lee’s Banky objects to the relationship for many reasons, most of them bigoted and shortsighted—Banky doesn’t just have issues with lesbians; he’s such a misogynist that it’s hard to imagine him approving of a relationship with any woman. But Smith makes this character hilarious even if you wind up hating much of what he has to say. (A few years later, in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the writer-director provided a neat—and hilarious—little coda to Banky’s frothing homophobia.)

Via @TheJesseAguilar “any chance open mic/amateur stand-up and sketches at SModcastle?” Oh yes. Lots. We’re putting together programs now…

Kevin Smith’s Glory Hole will be me sitting down, SMod-style, for interviews with a surprise guest: random, well-known fuckers every week.

Via @planethooligan “recording Smodcastle events” SModcastle will be wired like I’m Nixon in Paisley Park. #EverySingleShowWillBeRecorded

Here’s hoping for a speedy birth for SModcastle – The place sounds cooler and cooler with each passing day.

Kevin Smith: (laughs) Roger Ebert is in rare form with how he keeps re-tweeting his Cop Out review. I was thinking if Roger was trying to send me a message. But he’s liked enough of my stuff in the past. He liked Jersey Girl, but I know he didn’t like Mallrats and Clerks II. He also said something great about Chasing Amy saying how he regretted not putting it in his top ten. Roger has always been so fucking fair. Even though people kept pointing out he keeps re-tweeting that Cop Out review and saying, “isn’t that suspicious?” Obviously I’m not retarded, it’s very suspicious. But he’s a guy who’s been nice to me throughout my career in particular when I really needed it. I wasn’t going to start yelling, “he did what? I fucking guested on his show!” I mean I’ve been saying a lot lately and it’s dawning on me, but I’m almost 40. Getting mad at Roger Ebert is just not in the cards for me. He’s an icon and I like the dude. He didn’t like it? That’s fine, he liked something else I did. It’s not like I don’t get it. I used to be very contentious… Shit, used to be? A few weeks ago I took on a huge corporation (laughs). That was a real thing, but getting mad about an opinion isn’t my thing. Maybe they’ll like the next one. For Cop Out, it’s a different world. A bad review for Cop Out isn’t going to fucking kill the movie. Most people going in are thinking, “we know it’s stupid, who cares?”

Read it all over at DVD Talk.

We’re talking about Dogma, the 1999 comedy in which Smith pits a pair of exiled angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) against a ragtag group that includes a Greek muse turned stripper (Salma Hayek), the heretofore unknown 13th apostle (Chris Rock), Jesus Christ’s last surviving relative (Linda Fiorentino), and a pair of unwitting prophets (Jason Mewes and Smith as, of course, Jay and Silent Bob) — all while God (played by Alanis Morissette, natch) lies trapped in the comatose body of a homeless man (s)He was using to play skee ball. Not for the easily offended, obviously — but despite what Dogma’s detractors may have thought, Smith didn’t go for cheap gags, instead using humor to leaven a thoughtful look at what we believe, and why. “Make no mistake,” cautioned TV Guide’s Maitland McDonagh, “Kevin Smith’s talky, farcical comedy of cosmic errors is clever. But it’s clever in a deeply juvenile way.”

#16: Clerks (1994)

The ’90s Film: At the time, Kevin Smith’s comedy was a defining document of no-budget slacker filmmaking, with its slapshod camerawork, shaggy-dog dialogue and on-the-pulse video store setting.

Nowadays, apart from still being hilarious, it’s a period piece. The technical ability bar has been raised for budding auteurs, and – as Clerks 2 confirmed – nobody rents anymore.

If They Have To Remake It: It should be topical. Let’s set it in the vast warehouses of Lovefilm.com, with Dante and Randall bitching and moaning all day long as they traipse to the stockroom to post yet another boxset of The Hills.

Chasing Amy (1997) – A scene that you’d expect to be at the end of the movie, but here it proves to be only the beginning. Holden spills his love for his allegedly lesbian friend Alyssa in the pouring rain, in a scene that would probably be cheesy if it wasn’t for Kevin Smith’s characteristically great and down-to-earth dialogue.

Also, DreadCentral is running a contest (for UK readers only) where you can win a copy of the Documentary “Tattoos: A Scarred History” in which Jason appears.

If you didn’t already know, this series is tremendous. Clerks: The Animated Series tackles a lot of the same topics as in the movies but thanks to the additional freedom that animation grants, the series shines like a freaking diamond. The humor found here is not fully like in the movie, where vulgarity and cruelness plays a big part. In the series, the jokes are expanded into unique ideas that were absolutely made for television. Jokes, references, and pop culture hysteria are quickly rattled off one after another in a hilarious string of continuance. Not to mention the fantastic jabs they take against popular sitcom devices: fake sitcom introductions (“this show was drawn in front of a live studio audience”), narrative recap devices (“previously on Clerks – beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”), infamous television staples (such as the clip show episode being only the second episode of the series) movie spoofs (Schindler’s List + Flintstones = Flintstone’s List), and other popular culture figures.

SMODCAST #103: Amazing Grace

In which a Mother learns the benefits of going green.

Don’t miss it, available immediately now exclusively at www.smodcast.com via downloadable and streaming audio formats.

The hourlong “Blues,” from Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures and Warner Horizon, centers on Dwight Hendricks (Lee), a Memphis police officer who lives with his mother (Celia Weston) and moonlights as a musician.

The pilot, written by Liz Garcia and Joshua Harto and directed by Clark Johnson, co-starred Alfre Woodard, Abraham Benrubi and DJ Qualls. Clooney, Heslov, Garcia and Johnson are executive producers, with Henry Bronchtein and Abby Wolf-Weiss co-executive producing and Harto producing.

Becky Scott

Actress/Film: Rosario Dawson, Clerks II (2006)

Cheating On/With: As manager of a local fast food outlet, she’s relatively footloose; employee Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) on the other hand, with whom she’s apparently been dirtying up the diner tables, really isn’t.

Alright, We Forgive You: Despite being pregnant as a result of their tryst, she tries to let Dante pursue his new life of marital mediocrity in Florida.

And, since every bloke must at some point face the abject humiliation of learning to dance, it might as well happen like [caution: swears] this.

Catch ya next time! Thanks for checking in with News Askew today.