Talk:Kevin Smith

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Can this entry actually get MORE fannish? I don't think so —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.81.116.23 (talk • contribs)

Can you make even less of a valid point about this article? I don't think so.

I heard on the real spiel show here in Australia, that kevin smith wrote the original Scream movie. Can someone check this?

Well, I'm pretty sure he owns and operates the store. Anyone know for sure?
Tualha 07:23, Nov 12, 2003 (UTC)

Fixed it so the picture of Smith doesn't hog the page up. As far as I know, he does own and operate Secret Stash. Although, he'd obviously have people working in it for him. --Kross 21:24, Apr 2, 2005 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] RE: Ownership of Secret Stash

According to the following links, Smith does actually own and operate Secret Stash:

I'd say that this is sufficient evidence, and that any changes that were made due to lack of knowledge on this issue can be changed. --Imaek 23:49, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


He does own Secret Stash. Listen to any of the commentaries on the DVDs he references it multiple times including both the location in Red Bank NJ and the phone number. Similarly, you can find evidence at his person website [1] .

[edit] Awkward Start

I don't know if something was lost in an edit, but right now the Bio section begins with "Afterwards, Smith took a job in a convenience store." After what? This topic sentence makes no sense. --feitclub 15:50, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

  • I think that was after he got outta high school. That is if what he said on "An Evening With Kevin Smith," is correct. Magnus 20:36, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV?

From the article: "His films are known for their distinctive vision and dialogue, but are sometimes criticized for crude humor, limited attention to plot development, and technical amateurishness."

I think this gives the initial impression that his work is crappy, and could be rewritten in a nicer way. Suggestions?

--Kooky 02:33, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

Well it is technically true -- his films are sometimes criticized for that. However it would be nice to see mention of the fact that his films are also highly cerebrial, and that, while resorting at times to crude humor in order to appease the average movie-goer (who is not generally gifted with the most acute of minds), the films consistently mock the use of said crude humor, often in the same line of dialogue that such humor is used. In doing so, those few audience members who are bright enough to "get it" are treated to post-modernist, self-referential jab at the film's own assanine tactics. And while those of us who don't appreciate a post-modernist approach to anything, and cringe everytime the fourth wall is broken (like myself) may not find much humor in such blatantly self-conscious maneuvers, even they have to admit that the deftness with which Keven Smith manages to pull this off in his relentless prosecution of multi-layered humor, is something very few other filmmakers could ever hope to aspire to. The intelligence of his films is very difficult to ignore. --Corvun 15:26, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Primary disambiguation

I've undone the moves because this is a clear case of primary dismbiguation. This Kevin Smith is by far more notable than the others. violet/riga (t) 18:09, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't think notability is the only criteria. I cannot find any Wikipedia guidelines for this case. For me the other two Kevin Smiths are more notable. If I do a search on "Kevin Smith" I would get the Kevin Smith page. I would then have to click on Kevin Smith (disambiguation) and then on Kevin Smith (New Zealand). This is not a very efficient way of using Wikipedia. Alan Liefting 00:33, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
This Kevin Smith is by far more notable, as demonstrated by a google search. Type it into google and the first page is full of sites for this guy (including our own) without mention of the others. Primary disambiguation is a very common thing on Wikipedia. A few examples off the top of my head would be cricket, MTV and frog. violet/riga (t) 07:23, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] First sentence

The first sentence describes Smith as a "screenwriter, film director, comic book writer, and creator of View Askew." First of all, shouldn't the word "actor" be in there somewhere? I realize he is no Sir Laurence Olivier and that most (but not all) of his appearances have been in his own films, but IMDB does list 15 appearances (some still in production) so I think his description also should include "actor." Does anyone disagree? Zeutron 21:36, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

So why didn't you just insert the word actor instead of typing all this? Travislangley 09:01, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
Why type that in response to a person who has made 14 article space edits total, posted his message a year ago, and hasn't edited on Wikipedia in 9 months?
Also, a short link to Be bold is a bit more friendly ;)
-- That Guy, From That Show! 10:11, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] wikify

I think this article needs some serious wikification. I mean, the second half of the article is mearly called "Miscelleneous Information" and is filled only with disorganized, bulleted, paragraph-long factoids. The whole page needs to be completely restructured, chronologically or by themes, so that it can become an actual article. Maybe wikification is the wrong word, but this text needs a lot of work. -- Rmrfstar 14:23, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Yea, its pretty messy right now. I do have a copy of "An Evening With Kevin Smith", and can also use "Snowball Effect" to put everything in order. It'll take a long time though. I'l try working on it in a few weeks.Cinema Void 18:11, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comics

I think his comics writing career merits a separate sub-heading. Sure, everyone knows him as an award-winning filmmaker, but he's also a critically acclaimed comic book writer. Comic fans know him well for things like Green Lantern, Spider-Man/Black Cat, and numerous other series. Can anyone provide a more accurate section on his comics, before I just go ahead and do it? - Darkhawk (16 Mar/06 @ 17:26 EST)

He's never written Green Lantern, you mean Green Arrow. Elijya 05:54, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Primary Picture

Can we change that? Kevin ALWAYS has a beard, and it makes no sense for the primary picture to be of likely the ONE time in the past 15 years that he has been clean shaven. Elijya 05:53, 23 April 2006 (UTC)


I agree, frankly I don't even believe that to be a real picture of Kevin Smith, I think if anything its a fan dressed as Silent bob (lacking a beard)

OK how is it that we don't have a single picture of Kevin Smith in here? H2P (Yell at me for what I've done) 06:02, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] It might be long but

Kevin should have this much info he is a great filmmaker who needs allot of info on the 40+ movies he has worked on. Ralas in Chains

[edit] Wrong Person!

Kevin Smith mentioned in the article from Orange, Texas, is the wrong Kevin Smith. The Kevin Smith from Orange, Texas, is an African American male who was a star football player at West Orange-Stark High School, as well as a star football player for the Dallas Cowboys.

[edit] "ending of Spider-Man's marriage" Huh?

From the article at present:

Kevin Smith was also approached and offered a chance to write an ongoing Spider-Man book in 2002, but turned down the request when he was told that as a condition of taking the assignment, that Smith would have to have his first Spider-Man story feature the ending of Spider-Man's marriage to his longtime wife Mary Jane. Allegedly Smith, whose reputation in the comic world had become a very negative one due to his lateness problems and his killing of Karen Paige, knew that his name would be mud if he took the book and ended Spider-Man's marriage.

I remember the exact opposite - that Smith would be responsible, as part of a run on Spider-Man, for **reuniting** the then-seperated SM & MJ. His lateness on SM/BC meaning he wouldn't be writing an ongoing Spider-Man (or his also-announced ongoing Black Cat title to follow SM/BC) meant JMS did it in ASMv2 #50. If the source isn't cited, I'll remove it in a couple of days... - SoM 08:26, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Miscellaneous Information: "Bussing"

The Misc Info section includes this line: "Not long after Clerks., Smith pitched an idea called "Bussing" about bus boys, described as "Clerks in a restaurant". "

"Bussing" means "kissing," while "busing" is the correct spelling of the present-tense verb "bus." I didn't correct it on the chance that "bussing" is what the film was actually going to be called, but if that's not the case, can we please change it? It's an embarrassing misspelling. Mitchell k dwyer 19:59, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

His screenplay was called "Bussing". He even concocted a fake movie poster for it, which hangs in one of his stores: [2]. Right or wrong, that's how he spelled it.
Not that it matters, but both spellings are acceptable. And, actually, "bussing tables" gets more hits on Google than "busing tables". -- ChrisB 21:42, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Early Life

The section "Early Life" contains the following: Smith has . . . a brother, Donald, to whom Smith attributed the appearance of homosexuals or homosexual behavior in his movies. Could this phrase perhaps be translated into English by a phrase such as "Smith has . . . a brother, Donald, on whom the behaviour and appearance of homosexuals in his movies is based" or ". . . who serves as the source of the movies' portrayal of the behaviour and appearance of homosexuals"? If not, then perhaps someone would be so kind as to clarify the idea that the cited text is meant to convey. Hi There 10:08, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kevin Smith married to Jenifer Schwalback(sp) not Starfleet Ensign Ro Lauren.

I just noticed that it says he's married to a fictional Star Trek character on the page and even has links to the character's own wiki page. When I went to edit/correct this, I noticed that his real wife's name is listed in the html and not Ro Lauren's. This is over my head so i'll leave it to you more technically competent wikis out there to fix.

Desmoove 16:48, 27 December 2006 (UTC)D

[edit] 2-shot

What is this "2-shot" that kevin smith has apparantly trademarked. "2-shot" in film terminology is basically a shot focusing on 2 characters rather than one. What is this referring to in the "Mae Day" section? Paradox CT 07:41, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kevin Smith Wiki Project

Anyone interested in getting a Kevin Smith/View Askew WikiProject started up? Go to the WikiProject page and search for "Kevin Smith." DodgerOfZion 21:42, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 37

It has been mentioned that the number 37 is significant to Kevin Smith (in his Catch and Release wardrobe, and during a recent SModcast regarding his 37th birthday). Does anybody know what is up with this and would it warrant a section in the bio? Treygdor 00:11, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Try looking up 42. Darrenhusted 00:24, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
It's a View Askewniverse motif, although the 37 in Catch and Release was due to him using his own wardrobe through much of it. --DodgerOfZion 22:14, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Pardon the language following here, but, the number 37 refers to Clerks(1) where they discuss how many they've had sex with. - "37?! - My girlfriend 's sucked thirty-seven dicks(!) - In a row??" - - - Watch the movie and see for yourselves, people. - First Clerks movie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.194.197.132 (talk) 02:52, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism

this needs clean up...

His films are known for their distinctive vision and dialogue, but are sometimes criticized for crude humor, limited attention to plot development, and technical amateurishness. Some critics believe that Kevin Smith can respond to criticism in very blatant ways [1], especially in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, where the catalyst for the story begins Jay and Silent Bob trying to get even with kids that wrote negative reviews about them on a website similar to Rotten Tomatoes.

Cstella23 13:30, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

I think throwing it out would be the best thing, "Kevin Smith can respond to criticism in very blatant ways" is just poor. Darrenhusted 15:36, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

I think there should be a section noting his critics and how he responds to them, BUT the section as it is above is tantamount to worthless. Cstella23 18:56, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Haha this article is longer than the article on "God"! Damn, you wikipedians really crack me up.--68.90.61.133 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 07:09, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Filmography

This section was getting ridiculous. I moved it to its own page, where it can hopefully get cleaned up a little. As for the selected filmography on this page, I think it should be kept to feature films he's written and directed. Pele Merengue 17:48, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] smoking

About the lack of citation for the smoking thing: he tells the story in the special features for the Clerks DVD. I have no idea how to cite that, though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.56.203.101 (talk) 12:25, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] CAST

Perhaps in the table of actors/actresses and the movies they starred in, it might be a good idea to add double x's to those who played two roles, such as Ben Affleck and Jason Lee in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.210.4.193 (talk) 22:50, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other projects and media appearances citations

I've noticed that a lot of the information in this section (Other projects and media appearances) is basically stuff pulled straight out of the two "An Evening with Kevin Smith" Q&A movies. However, not knowing how to do the cite tag properly for video information, I really can't help on this matter. Anyone with a copy of either should just add them. Most of the information in that section is taken from the first one (Superman, Tim Burton, etc.) LanceHeart (talk) 00:34, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Science fiction fandom

Smith has been put into this category, but I'm not sure he really qualifies. "[O]nly those professionals who have substantially supported the amateur hobby should be included." Unlike Roger Ebert, Smith has not (as far as I know) published or even locced any science fiction fanzines, attended any science fiction conventions as a fan (WizardWorld is a commercial comics show, not a convention), etc. Should I remove the tag? --Orange Mike | Talk 14:53, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New VA project

Hey all, I recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject View Askew, and plan on getting cleaning this article up, any interested editors can add their name to the project on the project page. Thanks, Skeletor2112 (talk) 12:19, 14 February 2008 (UTC)