in which i couldn’t resist throwing a little zooey in here.

By Jasmine on February 8, 2010

who am i crushing on this week!

Name: Paul Andrew Schneider
Occupation: Actor, Pawnee City Planner
Status: No clue, man. The guy’s a pretty private dude; he could have six wives and twenty kids and I don’t think we’d know.
Most known for: starring alongside a blonde-ish Zooey Deschanel in the indie hit-of-sorts, All the Real Girls, and continually supporting hot dudes in major films (i.e. Orlando Bloom in Elizabethtown, Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Ryan Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl)
Recently known for: wearing sweaters and being Jim Halpert-ier than John Krasinski as Mark Brendanawicz in NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and winning Best Supporting Actor alongside former Crush, Christoph Waltz, from the National Society of Critics for his role in Bright Star
Up next: basically, just continuing to cute it up on P&R, and nothing else (according to his IMDB)
Why you crushin’?: well, the first time I saw this guy was in Elizabethtown, a movie that, despite its reviews, I frigging loved. And I frigging loved him. Not only was he that shy kind of adorable, he fucking played the drums! When I first heard he’d be a regular on an NBC sitcom, I had some reservations. Not because I didn’t think he could do it, but it’s just always strange when a known movie actor makes the transition to television. But it’s been swoon-city getting to see him every week! As for films, though, I’ve since seen him in the aforementioned films (except for Bright Star, though I’d like to), as well as The Family Stone. And, now that I remember he was in Away We Go, I’m suddenly feeling the urge to break that open and drool all over the place.

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in which we deserve better villains.

By Jasmine on February 6, 2010

Remember those months ago, when I promised to get my large rear into shape and try for landing a spot on a roller derby team? Well, I’m sure you’ve realized that I haven’t done so. Any of it. I’m still pudgy and haven’t gone near a pair of rollerskates since, I’m assuming, some random sixth grade birthday party. I haven’t changed my mind, though, I swear! I am just as excited about these things as I was when I felt the urge to write about them. I’ve got my name picked out (provided no skank steals it before I can get it registered) and I plan on actually attending some fucking bouts so I can really get this nasty, eternal case of laziness out of here. But I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve suddenly rekindled my flame? Well, I finally saw the movie Whip It!.


Recent-crush Bethany and I had a work/school-week, Wednesday night movie date at her place (complete with root brewskies and the most delicious calzones I’ve ever had!). I brought with me (500) Days of Summer (something she hadn’t seen), Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (something I haven’t seen), and Whip It! (something neither of us had seen) – we both sort of jumped at the idea of watching Drew Barrymore’s cinematic directorial debut and immediately loved our decision. This movie, it was delightful.


Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar (p.s. I wasn’t a total fan of the names in this movie, but I digress), your typical town misfit but with a shy demeanor who’s too chicken to tell her mom what she doesn’t like (probably because said unliked things are her mom’s favorite things). She’s wasting away in high school and at her part-time job (poop, I forget what’s it called, but it had a big pig on the roof), along with her best friend Pash (see what I mean about the names?) – played by future Crush, Alia Shawkat – who dreams of attending an Ivy League school in any place but Texas. Cut to Bliss being introduced to the wild world of derby, and angst, love, and transformation abound.


Throw in Kristen Wiig, Eve, the aforementioned Drew, and Juliet Lewis playing the “villain” (who, of course, doesn’t end up so bad after all), and I don’t know how you could make a movie more perfect for me (and Bethany at that!). Oh, you could probably also have one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard. That could help.

So, yeah. This is happening, dudes. I’m still dreaming of earning a spot on any of the Philly Roller Girls teams. They’ve got auditions once per year (I actually attended the last one, but didn’t try out; I just wanted to see what it was like), which means I must get it together, Tyrone! I wonder if any buddies of mine would want to join with me. Or just sponsor me or support me or kick my ass into frigging doing it, finally!

Anywho. Here are more stills from the movie because these girls are beautiful. And a big ol’ “well done” to Drew for making this thing look amazing! (I know she reads this.)






This kind of reminded me of that scene at the end of Labyrinth (another movie I saw recently and for the first time with Bethany!).

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in which the world celebrates something i’ve celebrated daily.

By Jasmine on February 5, 2010


Did either of you readers know that today is World Nutella Day? I didn’t either!! I just happened to shmear some on some bagels yesterday and proclaim to the Facebook world that Nutella was my best friend, when Jaime of Cream & Sugar Kitchen (who I dedicate this entry to!) informed me of the celebration.


left: mom, me, Uncle Pete, Opa, Oma; right: Oma, me, Opa

I’ve been enjoying the chocolatey-nutty flavor of Nutella for as long as I can remember. I’d only ever had the chance to indulge in this wondrous spread whenever I stayed overnight at my grandparents’ house. For breakfast, we’d have sandwiches of all kinds (I don’t know if this is a German thing or a “my Oma and Opa” thing, but they like to switch breakfast and lunch). There’d be meats, cheeses, jams, and Nutella. For the longest time (like, up until about ten years ago, maybe?), I was under the impression that my g-’rents were the only people in the country in on the secret of Nutella. I thought it wasn’t sold here, and they’d have our German relatives mail it over to us. When I finally learned the truth (re: saw it in grocery stores), a little part of me wept, but I digress.

It’s nearly eleven in the morning and I’ve already made myself four mini-bagels-with-Nutella. This is going to be a great day.

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in which i hate that this month is short and that this post is late, but i love her!

By Jasmine on February 4, 2010


I’ve got another real-life Ginger coming your way, reader! This one goes by the absolutely awesome name of Erin Winterbottom (though I’ve dubbed (I’M SO CLEVER) her “Dubs” or “Bottoms”, when chatting about her in conversation), and she is just as great as any celebrity would’ve been this month.

There are infinity reasons to equally love and envy this girl, aside from her breathtakingly good looks. For the short run of it, she worked on It’s On with Alexa Chung (while simultaneously bumping elbows with the celebrity guests), interned at bestweekever.tv before that (BEING NEAR DAN HOPPER, Y’ALL!), and is so good friends with BWE-blogger Michelle Collins that they, like, text message each other and stuff.


As with my screenwriting bff, Dave Finkel, I met Bottoms through Twitter. Ms. Collinz started an account and #followfriday’d her one day, and I obliged. We had a back-and-forth flirtation through tweets for a few weeks until, one day, we sort of just happened into a tweet-up at a Decemberists concert at Radio City Music Hall. It was delightful! Of course, there was the initial, “hi, this is me in real life and that means I’m incredibly awkward!”, but it quickly turned into everyday type of talk. She must’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of family and friends I had in tow, but she didn’t miss a damn beat! She fit in with the humor and dialogue as if she’d been there all along. (Of course, there is plenty of time to work your way into familiarity when the subways are super-delayed, but I digress!)

Since then, she’s come to visit me in Philadelphia and I’ve gone to visit her in New Brunswick (and for an Audrey Hepburn mini-marathon no less!). I haven’t seen her yet this year – omgosh, not even since the summer, right?!?!?!?! – but I can’t wait to. She’s a darling person to be around and was one of two amazing girls (you’re the other one, Tammi!) who forced urged me into Harry Potter-dom. For that, I am forever grateful.


She’s singing Pat Benatar here. I wasn’t there for it, but I really wish I’d been!

I chose her, specifically, as February’s Ginger because the lucky duck was born on the love-iest day of the year – Valentine’s Day (along with former and current-again-friend, Laura)! And, if you need more proof as to why you should try to be her best friend, here are just two recent-ish tweets she wrote that sum her up with the utmost perfection:


If neither of those makes you want to kiss her straight on the mouth, I don’t understand you.

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in which i accidentally lie to bethany about who this week’s crush will be, but i didn’t mean to!

By Jasmine on February 1, 2010

who am i crushing on this week!

Name: James Andrew McAvoy
Occupation: Actor, Narnian
Status: Married to actress Anne-Marie Duff (*whimpers*) who is recently pregnant with their first child (*cries*)
Most known for: portraying the half-goat/half-human, Mr. Tumnus, in the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and playing opposite Keira “Big Jaw” Knightly in the Academy Award-winning (for Best Score) Atonement
Recently known for: he action-starred it up alongside Angelina Jolie in the film Wanted in 2008, and will star in the upcoming Leo Tolstoy-biographical film The Last Station, which also stars his wife (*shoots self*) and Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy himself
Up next: he’ll voice Gnomeo in the animated film Gnomeo and Juliet (out next year), as well as his star in The Conspirator and the Seth Rogen-produced I’m With Cancer (both out this year)
Why you crushin’?: well, I had someone else pegged to be my Crush this week, but then remembered how utterly heartbroken I am over this pregnancy announcement. Dudes can always get divorced, but children are forever. But really, the preview for The Last Station aired before I saw probable-Oscar-nominated Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) and my heart skipped one billion beats. I first saw him in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and have since seen a good number of his films (opinions: he should’ve been nominated for Best Actor (not Supporting) for The Last King of Scotland, Becoming Jane is a fine film if you stop watching it around the middle (same with Romeo + Juliet), and he was scrump-tious in Penelope). He’s a splendid actor and, of course, cute to boot. And that accent!!!! (*recovers from gunshot and swoons*) Actually, should I have saved him to be a Ginger? It’s only really his beard that’s red, yes? Poop, I don’t know.

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