When did you begin to like Kevin and his work?

[code6enterprises]

Ok, I got this idea from a post monkeyforahead made over at the 'Fresh Talent' thread.

I was thinking abut all of the different people and different stories there must be as to how you were introduced to Kevin Smith's work. This thread is for all of you to post your story.

Example: I wanted to see JSBSB when it came out but my brother said I had to see Clerks first. I watched Clerks then JSBSB and then the rest of the series.

[ratm1966]

I watched Chasing Amy first. A friend said they watched it and it was funny, so I rented it. I then watched Mall Rats, Clerks, Dogma, and finally Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back.

[Monkeyforahead]

Never seen a Kevin Smith movie until Strike Back. Then I saw An Evening With Kevin Smith on the movie network and got hooked, interested in seeing more of his stuff. I then rented Chasing Amy, borrowed Mallrats from my girlfriends sister, and started getting into his work, explored the net for more. Realised I'd seen Dogma back when it first came out, but that was a while ago and I don't think I was really paying attention cause I was with friends, so I re-rented that too. My favourite of all. Only one I couldn't find anywhere was Clerks, for the life of me no video store in town had it available. Later came across it used in my local music store for $4, so I bought it. Didn't like it much, but for Smith's first movie it was alright.

[ratm1966]

I think I actually liked watching Chasing Amy first, then Mallrats and Clerks. It was fun watching them and remembering references in Chasing Amy to a particular incident (i.e. the one chick doing the dead guy, the girl who died in the pool).

[FanBoy]

I seen Mallrats 1st then a few years later I seen Dogma then Chasing Amy and Clerks then JASBSB

[JIM]

After I saw Clerks at the angelika those many, many moons ago...
Was a midnight showing I believe.

[Bez]

Couple of my friends said I had to check out Kevin Smith's work.

I'd seen Dogma and didn't know the Director's name, so when they told me some movies of his and I saw Mallrats in a shop, I went out and bought it. After that followed Clerks, then Chasing Amy when it was on TV and finally JASBSB.

[ELPARKINO]

i saw dogma when it first came out...was ver interested...looked up the director...and the rest is history from there

[psychofiend]

I rented Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob strike back one day with a friend , first I watched Dogma then J&SBSB. Then a week later I saw Mallrats.

[Razorback]

I had heard about Clerks in 1994 from a friend and he said I should see it. It was playing in something like one theater in the entire NYC area, or at least I could only find one theater. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif Saw it and loved it... have loved The Kevin ever since.

RB

[brycejmcewen]

I actually saw Clerks first, on video. My friends dad rented it. He was always renting non-mainstream movies. Then I saw Mallrats, then Chasing Amy on video. Then Dogma in the theater, then JSBSB in the theater.

[DangerSeeker]

I am a ground-level fan. I got a pass to a sneak preview of Clerks in college, was a fan from the get-go. I even won a promotional t-shirt from the studio at the screening. I was asked to name 6 convenience stores. I said 7-11, Royal Farm, Wawa, Highs, Circle K, then I blanked. Right as they were about to move on, I blurted out Happy Snack Shack. Apparently the guy hadn't seen Heathers, and gave me the shirt.

[Zens_7s]

My best-friend and I decided to see a film we had never heard of, and that movie was Chasing Amy. We were both blown away and talked about it for hours afterward. I had never seen a fight scene between a girl and a guy that looked real; flying spit and all. We both became fans. Her new husband hates Smith movies, and mocks us for it. Damn husband.

After Chasing Amy, the guys that lived upstairs had a copy of Mallrats and I borrowed it. Good Smith fans that they were, they bought me a copy of Clerks from the used bin at the video store and my own copy of Mallrats on VHS. Damn I miss those guys.

Then I saw Dogma in the theater with a old boyfriend, and J&SBSB with my husband.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Man, does anyone notice that generation gap between persons who first saw the Jersey Trilogy vs. people who saw Dogma or J&SBSB?

So, my first movie was Mallrats. I was in high school. The local mall where I worked was doing a promotion, and I snagged a couple of free posters (the one with the Vans promotion on the back). I was young, the internet wasn't invented yet, so I had no idea who this Keven Smith person is.

Cut to years later. I was a heartbroken 19-year-old. After dating a girl who then cheated on me with another girl when I was 18, I rebounded to an evil girl. I had felt that the girl had done me wrong and we had a fight where I got so fed up all I wanted was to make her cry.

My college roommate wanted to see Chasing Amy. I didn't want to see no 'chick flick.' We saw it anyway, and it first spoke to me because of the obvious lesbian content. Later, when Bob delivers his monologue I hung on every word. I don't know how, but I couldn't believe anyone had any expieriences on par with mine. It isn't Kev's best movie over all, but Chasing Amy is still my favorite movie. And while I've aged, and moved past the little girls and their games, Chasing Amy still speaks to that bitter 19-year-old.

Chasing Amy is also the reason I stopped writing my own screenplay, because that movie pretty much says everything there is to say on romantic relationships.

[jjcourtright]

I saw Clerks on video back in high school and loved it. I have seen every Kevin movie since then, opening night at the theatre. I really don't know how I knew about Mallrats and Chasing Amy before they came out...the internet not really being a big thing then...but I have made it to all of them opening night.

[Omaru]

I watched mallrats on tv once after it gained a cult status, I watched it and liked it, cut to sometime last year my friend gets jay and silent bob and I was epecting to not like it since it wouldn't be mallrats, needless to say I did like it. And from there I did my homework on the other films and saw them in order of chasing amy, dogma and clerks, then clerks the series.

[Razorback]

[quote[I was young, the internet wasn't invented yet, so I had no idea who this Keven Smith person is.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was on the Internet in 1991, Al. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

RB

[karmattack]

Fall of '96. I was visiting a friend who was starting his first semester at MSU. We were drinking Mickeys Ice 40's and doobing it while we were waiting for a party to start. Long story short, I got too paranoid to go to the party and I stayed in his room while everyone else went out. While flipping channels, I found Clerks just starting. I was in instant fan.

[Denyse]

Not to change the subject, but does anyone else here suspect that Karma's gotten himself a new camera and just can't seem to put it down? Dude, pick an avatar already, your making me dizzy! /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[FanGirl]

My friend sat me down in college to watch Clerks. I thought it was okay, but what won me over were the Thanks comments in the ending credits. I then went out and saw Chasing Amy in the theater and rented Mallrats. Ever since I see things the day they come out.

If it wasn't for Kevin writing comic books, I never would have picked one up. No one I knew read comics. Now I'm doing lettering work and about to self publish.

[Razorback]

I like his new one the best.

RB

[NOFX]

Well my friend had bought JSBSB and invited me to see it at his house so I went and it was great. Then one day I was bored so I started watching TV and I saw some movie so I started watching it not knowing what it was and soon I saw Jay and Silent Bob on the screen and I knew it was a Kevin Smith. It was Mallrats. Later that year I saw Clerks the TV series on DVD. It was great. I haven't seen the other one's because I only started liking Kevin Smith in the last like 6 months.

[karmattack]

Yeah, sorry about the constant avatar changing. Actually, all the pictures so far have been from different sources. One I made using Illustrator and Imageready, one was an old scan I found on my PC, one was a new scan I made just for this and the one I'm using now is a picture from a digital camera.

Thanks Razorback; I think this is my final avatar.

[Zens_7s]

You hair must have been hard to achieve. It looks perfectly symmetrical. [Thinks to self, damn people with perfectly symmetrical hair, damn them all to...]

[karmattack]

Well, I'm an arteeeeeest. It's my job. Plus, my gf who usually helps me cut it is an artist and a perfectionist too, so there's no escaping precise symmetry. Really, it all starts when she gets to cutting my sideburns. One doesn't match up, then the other is a little long, then the other. Suddenly, this is my hair.

Also the experience adds up; I can't have a mohawk at work, so I'll cut it in sporadically on weekends or random vacations. I haven't in a while because I'm going to be in a wedding this weekend. Guess what's happening next week though!

[SecretArt]

First movei i saw was Mallrats. was one of the only things in the local video shop that i hadn't seen that i thought might actually be watchable...plus had the added bonus of Mr London (big Party of Five fan....what?) ....so rented watched loved. Rented Clerks....great... Then got Chasing Amy the day it was releeased on VHS over here (someone at Uni subsequently ran off with my copy!! sob! sob! but now i have the region 1 DVD so yay1)...purchased Dogma and J&SB as soon as they were available on Region 1

have never actually seen any Kevin Smith movie in a cinema! which is strange...

ohhh and managed to pick up the Clerks soundtrack at the weekend for £3! bargin...

[Omaru]

ah a fellow region importer, features aside its just my way of saying f**k the bbfc, and why watch a film in cinema when sometimes its arriving in the mail before cinemas get it here.

[Razorback]

I shaved my head last night... the thing I always seem to forget about (when I shave my head clean) is that you seem to sweat more (an illusion really) and your head feels hotter when you have a hat on. I really need to write that down somewhere so I am not as surprised by it. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

RB

[brycejmcewen]

"I really need to write that down somewhere so I am not as surprised by it."

You just did.

[karmattack]

The sweating part I forgot about -- there's nothing to hold it and keep it from running all over the place. I almost never wear hats when my head is clean, so I've never noticed how hot they are. It's not so much that they are uncomfortable or I don't like how they look, but that my head turns to velcro and I can't put them on. /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif
I know I also have a sunburn to look forward to.

[Razorback]

I mean, in the real world. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

RB

[brycejmcewen]

Tattooing worked for that guy in "Memento". Just a suggestion.

[Razorback]

I don't like tat's. They make it easy for America's Most Wanted to identify you to the general public.

RB

[brycejmcewen]

I've always wondered why "America's Most Wanted" makes a point of telling what the criminal was last seen wearing. Don't criminals change their clothes? If I ever commit a crime, I'm gonna wear the craziest clothes, and throw them out after I'm done.

"The suspect was last seen wearing jeans and a Hawain print shirt. Over his jeans he was wearing women's underwear, a thong from Victoria's Secret summer catalogue, seen on page 75. Over the Hawain shirt he was wearing the matching bra. If you see anybody fitting this description, please call..."

[Razorback]

They mention what they were last seen wearing so that people who may have come in contact with that person on the day the crime was committed can reference their memory and that specific clothing/person.

What is rarely mentioned is how unreliable the memory of an eyewitness is and how people often manufacture memories to fit in with any given information. That is why police always hold back major facts about a case or person (and then later the news services ask things like "why didn't you tell us about this?").

RB

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I was on the Internet in 1991, Al.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wanna cookie?

[SecretArt]

yes please....

[code6enterprises]

Hey, you finally fixed your avatar.

[Zens_7s]

Ahem, *someone* fixed it for him. He thought we all could see it this whole time.

[Denyse]

Do you have to make sure his socks match, too? /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
He thought we all could see it this whole time.

[/ QUOTE ]
The lady is right. I thought everyone saw it because I could see it on my screen. Then this vision of beauty told me no one could see it. And she fixed it for me. She is truly an amazing woman. I'm surprised that no one has snatched her up yet.

Regardless, Ms Zens deserves a prize /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif when she gets home from work today.

[Zens_7s]

I do. Sometimes you should see what he leaves the house in. Remember that time he came to your birthday party wearing nothing but a lampshade and that trucker mustache?

But, sigh, I adore him anyway.

Prize! I get a prize! /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif I love prizes like that.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Remember that time he came to your birthday party wearing nothing but a lampshade and that trucker mustache?


[/ QUOTE ]
What? Every other time you tell me 'there's a surprise in store for someone' you're always being kinky. I thought this was another one of those times.

[Zens_7s]

Sorry honey, that was my bad. Next time I will distinguish between public and private suprise. As a rule of thumb, the ones that occur at Denyse's house are usually public, unless she says differently on the invitations.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I will distinguish between public and private suprise

[/ QUOTE ]
That means nothing, especially after our incident at the movie theater. At your insistance no less.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
the ones that occur at Denyse's house are usually public

[/ QUOTE ]
What about all those other times we went there and she wasn't home?

[Denyse]

So that's why all my leather...er...stuff is missing...I hope to god you guys are getting it properly cleaned before you return it! Water based, my a**!

[TomHarrington]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
the thing I always seem to forget about (when I shave my head clean) is that you seem to sweat more (an illusion really) and your head feels hotter when you have a hat on.

[/ QUOTE ]

And you can feel even the very slightest of air currents in the house.

[Omaru]

I have mine cropped short usually, I cant have it bald cause my head is too misshapen. I was born heavy-top

[Razorback]

That's nothing, I have a great shape to my skull... but I have a huge scar on the top of my head that makes people ask questions like "Is that a tumor?" /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

RB

[Omaru]

I too have a scar on mine about 3 cm long from when I cracked my skull open aged 11

[ratm1966]

Doesn't every guy have a scar on their head? Mine was from when my mom thought I was lying to her. She chased me around the house until I hit that damned throw rug. All I remember after my head hit the metal bed frame was waking up in the hospital.

[Zens_7s]

Maybe every guy does have a scar on his head. My husband has one that runs from ear to ear, and down the center to the back of his head. He was hit by a golf club during a high school tournament, and it fractured his skull. Not many people see it, because he has lots of hair and is 6'5", but it is a bad one.

[DangerSeeker]

I have a few here and there, but most of them are less visible with age. I was a bit accident prone. More accurately, I liked doing dangerous things unsupervised. With a name like mine, is that a surprise?

[ratm1966]

I would say my best scar was when I fell and broke my arm...the bone stuck right out through my skin.

[Denyse]

Anyone else having a "Jaws" scene-flashback, or is that just me?

[DangerSeeker]

Ooh, I had that too! Four years old, screamed me frickin head off. I think that's why horror and gore never bothered me after that. That scar has NOT faded.

[ratm1966]

I was either 4 or 5 too.

[code6enterprises]

A have a scar down my middle finger from a car accident when I was 14. That kinda works out cause that's my favorite finger.

[karmattack]

...never received a scar from breaking a bone, but I DO have one on the top of my head from getting pistol-whipped.

[SecretArt]

i have a small scar just above my lip where i got hit by a boomarang...as you do...

[Denyse]

Well if we're gonna compare injuries...I've had 53 broken bones in various parts of my body (all were seperate events) and a total of 147 stitches to my head, arm, lower leg, foot and hip. Only one scar still shows, the one where I caught a surfboard fin in the shin (I just realized that rhymes). And I'm still alive.

Anticipating the comments to come, let me answer the next question now and save keystrokes...No, I'm just clumsy.

[brycejmcewen]

53 Bones? 53 seperate events? How old are you? You don't seem like you've been alive long enough to break then heal bones 53 times.

[Denyse]

I averaged one break, every 6 months, from age 8 months to 19 years. I slowed down a little when my protective scales grew in...

[code6enterprises]

Ok, you're just makin sh*t up now.

[Denyse]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Ok, you're just makin sh*t up now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually...No, I wish I was. See examples below:

8 months - Mom forgot to catch me...
http://www.hostmysig.com/data/denyse/Untitled-Scanned-03.jpg
1.5 years - Why your parents told you NOT to jump on the bed...
http://www.hostmysig.com/data/denyse/Untitled-Scanned-02.jpg

Never call someone a liar, unless you're sure there's no photographic proof...

[TomHarrington]

8 months and you're already using hair spray?

[Denyse]

Hey, now...When you've got nothing to work with, you work with what you've got...

Besides...It was the 60's and my mom had a thing for big hair. Which is why she'd LOVE Zen...

[Zens_7s]

Very funny. Very fricken funny. I will have you know that I was totally bald until I was two. So it makes you wonder what my mom started feeding me that fateful year.

Invite your mom over, you know she always liked me better anyway. We could have a spa party. BYOAN...Bring Your Own Aqua Net.

[Denyse]

OK, I hereby swear to never tell another big hair joke at Zen's expense. Primarily because I like her so much...Secondarily, because she could kick the [censored] out of me in a fair fight...And lastly, because she has photographic evidence of a completely different kind, and she keeps it next to the phone number of the National Enquirer...

[ratm1966]

Well, Denyse has me beat. I've just had a total of about 16 stitches, one broken bone, and a reconstructed ankle.

[Omaru]

you all have me beat, I've never broken a bone really badly, just that head cut, I've fallen in ways that should have broken bones, but to no avail, I jsut bruise and cut really easily instead. Instead of fractures I've just got straight back up limping with a buckled leg or sprained arm.

[Zens_7s]

What the heck! Denyse, your mom came over last night, like suggested, to do my hair before the big date. Do you notice anything wrong with this picture?
http://www.evilscience.net/institutions/halloffame/edwardiso_small.jpg