CineSpace is located at 6356 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. Doors open at 6pm and the bash will run until roughly 7:30pm. Admission is free as long as you purchase a copy of the DVD on site; an RSVP to netherbeast@cox.net is welcome, but not mandatory. Though we were not given an official list of celebrity attendees, expect many of the film’s stars and some special guests — Mewes is actually off working on a new project at the moment, so getting him there will be tough, but you never know. Still, always great to support the guy and all he does.

We’d like to once again thank the producers and creators of the film for generously offering us up 5 free DVD copies of the film to give away to our readers. Those of you who entered the contest will be getting an e-mail TOMORROW as we announce our official winners, chosen by random drawing.

The Ronalds Brothers’ Netherbeast Incorporated is an offbeat comedy with a quirky twist on the vampire tale set in modern day corporate America. By the time you are reading this, copies of the flick are available for purchase across the web at all the major outlets, as well as in stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. Grab yourself one and add it to your collection.

For full details on Tuesday’s events, check out Shock Till You Drop. We hope some News Askew readers can make it in, remember all it takes is the purchase of a DVD to get you in the door and meet with the films stars and creators. Thanks again to Rolands Brothers Productions, and we’ll be back tomorrow with a list of lucky winners as well.

Meanwhile, check out a look at this DVD cover for “Porno” that was discovered on the Amazon.com servers. This likely means we’ll see a confirmed date and some real specs on the disc’s contents soon. The cover looks like a newly composed shot to feature the entire cast, and doesn’t match any of the previous poster artwork that we’ve seen. We like it, though.

The only item giving us pause is the news that the Bluray release of “Clerks 2″ has been bumped up a week to February 3rd:

The Weinstein Company has officially announced the Blu-ray release of Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks II’, which is due to hit store shelves on February 3rd. Originally scheduled for a February 10th release, this two disc set will feature all the extras from the previous HD DVD release. No technical specs have been announced at this time.

Typically, studios like to release similar titles on the same day, so if you’re going to the store to pick up one, you’ll get both — So PERHAPS “Porno” will also bump up a week. We’ll let ya know as soon as we know.

AC - Are all three issues of Cacophony in the box already?

KS - Yeah. Issue Two ships this week. And Walt is on the last three pages of Issue Three’s pencils, so that’ll ship on time, too. I learned my lesson: no more lateness for me. No more announcements until at least 2/3 of the scripts are in.

JULY

July became one of the most exciting months of the year as far as events, especially on the west coast, where several signings and public appearances would become highlights of the year. Early in the month, we confirmed a major cast and creators signing for the new “Spaced” DVD based on the hit BBC series, happening at Stash West & Lazer Blazer. Days later, Kevin would appear at several live events at the San Diego Comic Con.

In tech news, Apple presented their new version of the popular iPhone, the 3G, on Friday July 11th. To celebrate, we rolled out an iPhone-exclusive version of News Askew, which presents a stripped down, iPhone-optimized version of the site made just for owners of the device. When we’re on the road and need to check the site, we use this version ourselves.

Also this month, Brian O’Halloran, a longtime friend of this website, kicked into full promotional mode for his horror comedy “Brutal Massacre”, visiting several local radio stations and continuing down the convention circuit. Later in the month, we gave some DVDs and posters from the film away to lucky readers.

Then, on July 19th, the news we’d been circling was confirmed - The MPAA officially revealed a current NC-17 rating for “Zack and Make a Porno”, yet confirmed that rating was currently “under appeal”. For the third time, Kevin would be taking his case before the mythical ratings board.

As the month came to a close, the “Spaced” signing at the Stash was a major success, with fans lining up around the block to meet Kevin Smith and the “Spaced” crew - Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Jessica Hynes. Days later, Kevin was entertaining audiences at the San Diego convention panels, and, in true San Diego fashion, treated us to a major announcement - Along with Walt Flanagan, he’d be making a return to the world of comics with a new “Batman” book.

“Batman: Cacophony” would arrive in the fall as a 3-issue miniseries featuring the caped crusader battling the villain of Kevin’s own creation, Onomatopoeia.



Other panels in San Diego featured Kevin sharing the stage with directorial icons Judd Apatow and Zack Snyder, as well as the entire cast of the great “Battlestar: Galactica”. And, of course, the stars of “Zack And Miri Make a Porno”, onstage together for the first time.

The press ate all of this up, with videos and stories from across the country taking over the web at the end of July — Once again, in 2008, Kevin Smith and everything he touched became a San Diego Con highlight.

AUGUST

While the kudos from San Diego continued, another milestone was taking place relating to the comic world - Wizard Magazine celebrated its 10th anniversary with a major issue, featuring tons of coverage from Kevin’s past and future comic efforts, including his breakthrough “Guardian Devil” Daredevil series, one of the flagship offerings in the Marvel Knights line.

For the first time, in an interview, Kevin confirmed that he’d be taking “Zack and Miri” before the MPAA appeals board, after trimming out footage he felt he’d be willing to lose, still finding the film slapped with that dreaded NC-17. Focus remained on that film, with funding for “Red State” not yet obtained — However, “Red State” would still remain on the radar as the next film project, hopefully for 2009.



Mere days later, Kevin once again spoke on the rating — As an R. His appeal before the board was victorious, having an MPAA rating overturned without cuts for a record third time.

That following weekend, a victorious Smith made his way back to New Jersey to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Downbeach Film Festival. Later in the month, he’d also be presented with the Vision Award from the Director’s Guild of America.

The big news continued to roll with the announcement that “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” was selected as one of the films to host its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The screening immediately became one of the hottest, most sought-after tickets in town.

Kevin’s lucky streak continued when he found himself getting quite a bit of press after revealing he’d seen “Watchmen”, one of the most highly anticipated films of 2009, and one of the most long-awaited comic book adaptations of all time. By the end of 2009, a Fox lawsuit would have the film’s planned March 2009 release in jeopardy, making Kevin’s early look all the more enticing.

In other comics news, the first issue of “Batman Cacophony” now had a release date - November 12th, 2008. Fans across the world immediately put their orders in, anticipating a fast sell on the book and its rare variant covers.

With tickets going on sale, Toronto area fans were scooping up their rare chances to be among the first to see “Porno”. Fans in the Texas area rejoiced when it was announced the film would arrive at another festival, “Fantastic Fest”, in Austin one week later. Words on a rumored New York area benefit also gave a handful of lucky fans a shot at joining the festival crowds for a chance to see the flick almost two months early.

And as fans across the country were excited to get their first look at the movie, the first of that seemingly unavoidable View Askew controversy was about to begin…

SEPTEMBER



After the longest drought for footage in View Askew history, just like that, it was over — On the afternoon of September 2nd, the R-rated, web only trailer for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” hit our sites, giving us all our first look at real jokes and scenes from the film. It was easily the most hilarious trailer we’d ever seen in View Askew history. Excitement reached a fever pitch among fans and newcomers. The R-rated trailer, unfortunately, would not make it in time to screen in theaters. A “green band” all audiences trailer would soon follow.



Shortly after, rumblings of what would soon become a much larger concern - The official poster for the movie, which showed the two leads opposite one another with the tops of their heads at a suggestive location below the waist, was deemed unacceptable for US theaters. In Canada, the poster went forward and planned. Was it the word “Porno” causing the issue? Investigations into a similar, yet more suggestive poster for “Good Luck Chuck” proved that other studios had gotten away with much worse in recent years.

With the Toronto screening, the world at large was, for the first time, witness to “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, and the response was even greater than we’d hoped. The widely-respected “Variety” lauded the film, praising its humor and the chemistry between the two leads. Many more reviews from leading websites, publications, and fans followed, with an overwhemingly positive response, the most universal we’d ever seen. Top film critic Roger Ebert couldn’t contain his excitement for the film after seeing it in Toronto, posting glowing comments for it months in advance of his official review.

With the starting line now in sight for “Porno”, interviews with Kevin started focusing on what might come next. As of September, the upcoming slate would be “Red State”, if funding came through, followed by an untitled space comedy, we were told.

October 31st was the date circled on fans’ calendars, then an announcement had us circling another one close by — On October 21st, just 10 days before “Porno” hit theaters, Kevin’s third Q&A DVD outing, “Threevening”, would become available in the US. The program was filmed completely at Kevin’s 37th birthday celebration show in August of 2007.



Hoping to put a stop to the controversy, a new one-sheet theatrical poster was revealed on the 12th of September. The poster took a simplistic approach by using stick figures to represent the leads, along with the statement “Seth Rogen & Elizabeth Banks made a movie so titillating that we can only show you this drawing”. Would it be enough to appease those who would attack the film? Time would tell.

The Austin, Texas “Fantastic Fest” screening the following week proved that the Toronto screening wasn’t a fluke - Once again universal praise on the film from audience members, a tough group including fans on some of the most critical sites on the web. This “Porno” was a true crowd pleaser, there was no doubt about it.

As September came to a close, with just a little over a month to go until the theatrical release, television spots for “Zack and Miri” started to appear in strategic time slots across the major networks. The press blitz had begun…

OCTOBER

Release month had arrived, and the talk of the View Askew world was the soon to be unleashed “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Kevin started the month appearing at a few select, special screenings of the film, including a major event in Woodstock, NY, where he was also presented with an award, the “Maverick Award”.

As we waited for the oddly MIA “Money Shots” web shorts to promote “Porno”, word came that a full length documentary was created by experts Zak Knutson and Joey Figueraa, tentatively titled “Perversion for Profit”. This would follow the tradition of their acclaimed “Snowball Effect” documentary which appeared on the Clerks X DVD, a true highlight. “Money Shots”, however, was tied up in MPAA negotiations. Much like the previous made for the net promotional materials, the videos were forced to have an MPAA stamp of approval and thus, some edits were needed. In the many years of creating web exclusive content to promote View Askew films, it was the first time this had happened. “Money Shots” would finally premiere on October 7th, with a rush of shorts appearing online almost daily leading up to the movie’s release.

Kevin continued to promote “Porno” with several new interviews and screenings. After taking the film to Pittsburgh, he revealed in a new interview that the game plan to come was still “Red State” followed by a space-themed comedy, though he had not had a lot of time to pursue funding for the former. At the earliest, a March 2009 start date was planned.



Around halfway through the month, the controversy curse once again revealed its ugly head, as activists in Boston and Philadelphia began to protest the use of the word “Porno” as well as the cartoon drawings being used to market the film, claiming it aimed itself at children. We found it ironic that the marketing images were becoming an issue, considering they would not have looked as they did (cartoonish) were there not prior intervention. As a result, billboards, posters, and even ads for the movie were pulled from public locations and some television broadcasts. Some ads would later even go as far to promote the film as simply “Zack and Miri”, causing a bit of confusion due to the dual title.

While Kevin was busy on the promotional circuit, another major Secret Stash West event was kicking off - On October 21st, Laser Blazer held a major release party in Los Angeles, celebrating the arrival of the long-awaited “Threevening” DVD. Like the two that came before, the disc once again earned glowing reviews for its humor and honesty.

“Zack And Miri” fever began to take over the web, as the first full-length clips from the movie were carefully revealed, showcasing just a few of the movie’s nonstop jokes and sequences. Meanwhile, fan reviews from the various screenings continued to indicate unanimous love for the newest child of View Askew.

And then, on October 31st, 2008 - Halloween - “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” opened across North America to positive reviews from sources such as the New York Times, Time Magazine, Roger Ebert, the Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone, and more.

NOVEMBER

With reviews from fans and critics at the highest levels ever seen for one of Kevin’s films, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” was a critical success for sure, but what would the box office numbers say? When the dust settled, at the end of the weekend, the movie had grossed a lower than expected $10,065,630. Speculation up to release weekend had projected a higher gross, so experts were quite surprised. It was later revealed that the box office has traditionally had extremely slow weekends when Halloween has falled on a Friday, a stat that no one had thought to look up previously. Plus, confusion over the film’s multiple titles and last minute changes to marketing tactics had the public a bit confused. Unfortunately, a perfect storm of problems for a movie that the industry had projected would fare much better.

Despite lower than expected returns, “Porno” would ironically go on to become the highest grossing View Askew film of all time by the end of 2008, with a domestic take of $31,205,876.

Following the release of the film, Kevin bravely made a trek to the east coast for a long-awaited return to Red Bank’s Count Basie theater, where he opened the show by discussing his thoughts on opening weekend, then went on to spend a few hours in a freeform Q&A discussion, free of planned set story pieces. It was an old school approach to the original Q&A sessions of almost 10 years ago. The following day, Kevin and artist Walt Flanagan held a signing at the historic Stash East, promoting the just-released issue #1 of “Batman Cacophony”.

As November rolled on, the “Batman” book, following in the footsteps of Kevin’s past scripting work, was acclaimed by fans and critics, continuing his track record of breaking sales records and pleasing fans in the comics world.

As he was shocking audiences by baring it all onscreen in “Porno”, Jason Mewes was in the news for two new projects coming into 2009 — Final post-production was happening on his “Silent But Deadly” where he’d play a killer, and news of a role in a high profile studio film “K-11″ starring Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart.

The Cartoon Network dug up a diamond in the rough by re-airing the classic “Clerks” animated series this month, reminding us just how ahead of its time the show was, causing us to long for new episodes.

DECEMBER

The final month of 2008 started with a glimmer of hope for the M.I.A. “Chasing Amy X” DVD, with word that Criterion was considering releasing a new Bluray version of “Chasing Amy” with all of the new extra material. The new disc would contain all the previous special edition material, along with the new documentary, reuinion Q&A, and more. Criterion has not yet commented.

With “Zack and Miri” winding down in theaters, new appearances in 2009 were announced, including a return to Toronto, Canada — Historically, one of the most popular places on the planet to see Kevin do the live show. After a record time sellout, a second show was added to the agenda.

The WB’s acclaimed “Reaper” program, which Kevin continues to exec-produce, revealed it would return to the airwaves with 13 new episodes, back to back, starting on March 17th.

With the theater to window shrinking with each passing year, a rumored February 10th, 2009 release date for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” started to make the rounds.

On December 16th, after a 2 month silence, Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith returned to the podcast airwaves with SModcast. In a forthcoming episode series titled “The Talking Cure”, the duo discussed their experiences, highs and lows, with “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”’s release.

As 2008 comes to a close, it’s now time to look ahead to a new year for News Askew and View Askew Productions. Will we see “Red State” or another project go before cameras? What extra goodies and surprises will “Zack And Miri” bring us on DVD in February? Will the success of “Batman: Cacophony” cause Kevin to continue writing comics in the new year? All that, plus rumors of some returns behind TV cameras in the director’s chair, and so much more from Kevin Smith and the entire cast and crew from View Askew Productions.

Here’s to the start of another 12 months of View Askew goodness. A very happy new year 2009 to you all. And thanks for another memorable year.

Kevin Smith didn’t make it very easy for himself with the MPAA by naming his movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and also pissing them off with an unapproved trailer. Then they gave him a hard time over a couple lousy seconds. So what did he do? He didn’t get mad, he didn’t get even, he just played their game…but only better. He poked back at the MPAA and mocked their attempts at toning down a movie with the word Porno in the title. You have to admit, even in this poster Elizabeth Banks is smoking hot.

SModcast 70: SMod Bless Us, Everyone! -

In which our heroes try to keep it about the holiday, and fail miserably.

As always, Quick Stop Entertainment or iTunes has your fast, free MP3 or podcast download, and it’s the only place you can find the greatest podcast in all the land. Head on over and and get listening, as you recover from the Christmas craziness and make those New Years’ Eve preparations. Enjoy.

“As of 2008, he is working on Marry Me To Death, which follows a suicidal man hiring a destitute woman to marry and then murder him to leave her with the insurance money.”

That’s all we know so far, though we’re fans of his first effort, “Now You Know”, so we’ll certainly keep an eye on this project and let you know here at News Askew as we hear more.

1. Booberty

The time in a girl’s life when she begins maturing into a woman, as shown by her developing boobs.

“Wow, did you see what happened to Brittany over the summer? She must have hit booberty, because she sure is filling out that tank top.”

JANUARY

2008 kicked in with quite a bit of buzz for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno”, which Kevin had recently confirmed as his next flick. Several websites started the year listing the film as one of their most anticipated for 2008. Rumors soon started to swirl around what a mythical tenth Kevin Smith film would be, many speculating it would be “Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers”, a sci-fi comedy he’d been dreaming up over the years. However, another genre-switch was first on the radar for post-”Zack And Miri”. “Red State”, a DARK horror project, would be the follow-up. It was the first time in years that we knew what the next TWO View Askew films would be, back to back.

Meanwhile, we had two high-definition DVD formats that were battling it out, HD-DVD and Bluray. While we were seeing View Askew offerings show up in both formats, “Dogma” was set to be among the first to show up in Bluray.



SModcast, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s hilarious and successful podcast, returned with a new episode early in the year, their 43rd. Before the end of 2008, they will have presented over 25 more new episodes. With the television writers’ strike showing no signs of ending, we encouraged fans to check out the podcast as an excellent source of brand new entertainment during the draught.

Back in November of 2007, Kevin had revealed Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as his two leads for “Porno”. On January 8th, the first rehearsals began, with filming of the first scene a week away — On Wednesday, January 16th, in Monroeville, PA, cameras started to roll on a Kevin Smith View Askew film for the first time in over 2 and a half years.

Mere days later, Kevin began to hint on the movie’s other cast members, sending your fearless webmasters at News Askew and many fans on a scavenger hunt by providing just small bits of photos. The cast was soon unveiled, adding Jason Mewes, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson, Ricky Mabe, and popular porno actress Katie Morgan.

As January rolled on, we felt the exciting buzz of filming, mere hours from our offices in Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh reporters tracked down some of the sets, and we learned that the film would not only shoot in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, but the movie would actually call its onscreen home there as well.

Honors were handed out as January came to a close, with producer Scott Mosier nominated for an Oscar for his work on a short film titled “Salim Baba”, and View Askew production “Small Town, Gay Bar” and director Malcolm Ingram were nominated for a GLAAD Award for “Best Documentary”.

And, of course, filming on “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” continued…

FEBRUARY

Filming continued in Monroeville, PA in February, though we learned that this would be a production like no other before — Press suddenly began to calm down, and we learned of a new “less is more” approach to the making of “Porno”. Kevin was tight-lipped and shared very little about the movie himself, leaving us with only a few quick glimpses from the set, though hardly any looks at any of the film’s characters or details on the plot. This was going to be a production like none before, especially for those of us drooling for tidbits here in the cyber-world.

In mid-February, a rogue report filed by a local Pittsburgh paper with some candid photos brought Kevin to the web to confirm and deny some statements that the article made, though this wound up being one of the only times Kevin would speak of the film or its details until quite some time following production. Quite a contrast from the online “Train Wreck” videos we’d seen from “Clerks II” our only footage from the set was a shaky pocket camera video captured by a fan at the Monroeville Mall.


With word that a test screening could come as early as April, we did some digging to compile all we could about the mysterious production so far. Along with the place the film was set, we also could now confirm it would take place in the winter, with filming to wrap in early March.

Finally, on February 25th, with filming nearly complete on “Porno”, Kevin gifted patient cyber-fans with the first “footage” from the set, in the form of a song by Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, and some of the cast — One of the funniest behind-the-scenes productions we’d ever seen, “I’m F*cking Seth Rogen” was a parody of the popular Jimmy Kimmel bits recently featuring Askewers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The film would soon be forced off the web due to MPAA regulations, heralding in a new, never-before-seen policing of web-created content in conjunction with a film promotion. Beacuse of this, we would not see the continuation of the “Train Wreck” series of shorts until much later in the year, a major change from the “Clerks II” days.

MARCH

With so many funny and talented people in one spot, several members of the cast and crew, along with Kevin, appeared at the Pittsburgh Improv for a sold out show as March began, and the filming for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” hit the final stretch.

A week into the month, Kevin broke his silence with a few more tidbits on the movie, revealig a projected 2 hour runtime for the first rough cut (confirming his edit-as-you-go strategy was in place) and throwing major kudos to the cast. On March 11th, Kevin revealed that filming was, for the most part, complete, marking the end to one of the most secretive View Askew shoots we’ve seen since starting the website back in ‘97.

“Dogma” hit Bluray on March 10th, joining “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” as the only two View Askew discs in the format (so far). With HD-DVD now officially dead, we would expect to eventually see more catalog titles hit the official winner of the format wars.

On the 14th of the month, Kevin bookended his first blog entry on the movie’s production, confirming that his intention was to “try something different this time” as far as the online marketing of the movie. Press continued to swarm for as many tidbits as possible though — USA Today led the pack with a series of “dispatch” entries featuring exclusive interview clips and quotes from the two leads.

Fans had questions, and Kevin had answers - just a bit more cryptic than usual. Now that his schedule was slowly returning to normal, Kevin took to the famous View Askew WWWBoard to answer fan’s questions about the shoot for the first time. Answers were fairly short and sweet, though it was the first exchange that Kevin had with the fans since filming had started. A fall release date had been speculated, and just like that — We had a release date. October 31, 2008. Halloween.

Kevin spent the rest of March whittling the runtime of “Porno” down, first hitting the two-hour mark he’d been shooting for. With every scene in place, he revealed the film would run almost 2 and a half hours (!!), though obviously too long for a comedy. The next steps would be to see what works in front of an audience, helping to determine what jokes/scenes can go to further reduce the runtime. By the end of the month, he’d be down to a lean 1:45.

APRIL



During more Q&A with fans online, Kevin continued to carefully drop “Zack & Miri” tidbits our way. The release date of October 31st seemed to be sticking, and Kevin continued to pay strict attention to the post-production process, adding CG, music cues, and editing together what would eventually become the R-rated teaser.

In sad news, when a fan asked about the status of the highly anticipated Chasing Amy X DVD, Kevin confirmed it may be a casualty of the Miramax/Weinstein split. By the end of the year, we have still not heard otherwise. The disc would feature an all new reuinion Q&A with the cast and heaps more new extras from the film many choose as their favorite in the Askewniverse.

Meanwhile, as a sure sign of the online Askewniverse re-aligning, SModcast returned to the airwaves with an all new episode, the first since production on “Porno” had commenced over two months ago.

Kevin continued blogging on his own sites, including Myspace and his “Silent Bob Speaks” blog, but took to a new blog venue that was not one of his own for the first time this month. For the playoff season, he would be a celebrity blogger for the NHL’s official website, chatting about his favorite team (the New Jersey Devils) and the rest of the excitement that comes with this thrilling time of the year for hockey fans.

As Kevin branched out in the blogging world, actor Jason Mewes branched out in the film world. With several horror genre film appearances under his belt (”Feast”, “The Tripper”, “Netherbeast Incorporated”), Mewes began appearing at horror and science fiction conventions across the country to meet fans, take photos, and sign autographs. At New Jersey’s “Chiller Con”, Brian O’Halloran and Marilyn Ghigliotti joined Mewes for a mini-”Clerks” reunion of sorts, as all three attended the show.

With fans clamoring for a chance to see Kevin’s famous live Q&A shows, dates across the country (and Canada) were announced for the second half of 2008. Of particular note, Kevin would return to the famous Count Basie Theater in Red Bank later in the Fall.

April came to a close with us biting our nails waiting for our first look at actual footage from “Zack And Miri”, as rumors swirled that a new teaser could show up online at any moment. Alas, we left the month dry. With the film’s release still around 6 months away, we’d have to wait a while longer before catching a glimpse.

MAY

May is sweeps month for television shows, and given the year we’d had with the writers’ strike, everything was up in the air, including Kevin’s exec-produced CW TV program “Reaper”. The show remained a crowd pleaser and a critical hit, though with so many shows having questionable returns, we started the month with the show “on the bubble”, and no certain renewal.

Kevin revealed that test audiences somewhere in the midwest would be the first to look at the 1:45 cut of “Porno”, announing an upcoming secret screening for Tuesday, May 13th. Then, on that same day, we were excited to learn that the CW would indeed bring “Reaper” back for a half-season order of 13 episodes in 2009.

Hot on the heels of the good “Reaper” news, reviews and reactions from the midwest (Kansas City) screening were in, and scores went through the roof, better than ever before for a View Askew test. With the screening, spoilers started to leak on the web, as for the first time, folks not associated with the movie directly had seen it. Reviews were all highly positive.

With the data he needed now at hand, Kevin went back into the editing room with the movie, trimming 9 minutes of “invisible cuts” in preparation for a second test screening in late June.

In late May, SModcast celebrated a milestone, with Kevin presenting the 50th episode of the popular free podcast.


And finally, after a long wait, Kevin presented his personally created teaser for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” on the 30th of May, transforming the front page of multimedia portal Quick Stop Entertainment and bringing all our web servers to their knees. We were pleasantly (though also frustratingly) surprised to see that this trailer featured NO film footage, but rather, an exclusive scene filmed and edited just for this purpose. And while the teaser contained no actual film footage, it captured everything the movie was about and showcased its two leads in a pitch-perfect way. A triumph.

JUNE

Syndicated comic “My Cage” continued to spotlight one of its characters’ journey to see “Kevin Sloth”, giving nice exposure to a nation of newspaper and online comic readers.

On June 5th, our beloved internet teaser for “Zack And Miri” had suddenly disappeared. MPAA regulations stipulated that all promotional material for a movie, even one that didn’t contain film footage, had to pass through them for a rating before it could be posted anywhere — A obstacle that we’d never seen before this film. So, just like that, poof, it was gone.

Never being one to shy away from technology, News Askew joined the social networking service “Twitter” this month, making our headlines available to those who use the popular service. Much like an RSS feed, we send all new story headlines to any users who “follow” us at Twitter, branching into yet another corner of cyberspace.

On the 12th of the month, we learned that “Kevin Smith: Sold Out” would be the title of the third Q&A compilation DVD, arriving in stores sometime in October. Unlike the past two discs, this one would encompass a single show - Kevin’s 37th birthday event which we attended in Red Bank, NJ.

In waiting for the teaser trailer’s return, we heard the first hint that “Zack And Miri” might not have an easily-obtained “R” rating, when Kevin mentioned “dealing with the MPAA on other matters” when asked about its absence. We would later learn that another NC-17 battle was about to heat up. A quote made by Seth Rogen to MTV online confirmed our suspicions.

The main focus remained on “Porno”, but another film had been in the planning phases all year - “Red State”. As of June, funding to make the film, which Kevin and Scott were shopping around, had not yet been obtained.

One of the absolute low points of the year came June 23rd, when we announced the passing of the great George Carlin. Carlin was one of the greatest comedians in history, and appeared in memorable roles in 3 View Askew productions. He is still, and will forever be, missed by all. Kevin contributed a moving piece to Newsweek magazine to celebrate his life.

Without confirmation on the NC-17 rating, other agencies added fuel to the fire, with E! Online speaking with Seth Rogen, who again speculated that the rating was heading that way.

And thus ended June, with the loss of a great actor/comedian, a missing teaser, and and NC-17 looming. Will the teaser return? Will “Porno” get that “R”? Okay, we think you probably know, but still, you’ll wanna come back and find out, as in just a few short days, we’ll wrap up 2008: The Year in Askew with Part II.

COMING SOON - 2008: THE YEAR IN ASKEW PART II!!

As always, Kevin and Scott do this for free, for your enjoyment, nothing our of your pocket at all — So surf on over to the exclusive home of SModcast, Quick Stop Entertainment, for episode #69. This one runs 1:11, still super-sized compared to the usual cast which runs under an hour. Thanks as always, guys, for finally coming up with a reason to look forward to Mondays.