15 minutes of femme: zooey deschanel
I’ve been getting into the Christmas spirit this week: learning Christmas carols on the piano, wrapping the last of my presents, baking biscuits and singing along to my Christmas playlists at home and in the car. As is the tradition every year, my family’s favourite Christmas movies have come out of storage and are now atop the DVD player ready for watching. My family’s number one most popular Christmas film is Elf, so popular in fact that we own two copies of it, one for home and one for when we are away. The film itself was released in 2000 and introduced me to a very talented young lady who I immediately fell deeply in love with. Her name: Zooey Deschanel.
Although I have only been aware of her existence for just over a decade, Zooey has been starring in films and television shows since the late 90s, a career which was influenced by her mother and father who both worked in Hollywood. Her first big break came when she starred on the television show, Veronica’s Closet, at the ripe age of 17. Since this time her roles have become more impressive, including her involvement in films such as Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe), The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and indie film, 500 Days of Summer. As well as being an accomplished actress, Zooey is also a model, singer, songwriter and player of many instruments (piano, guitar and ukulele just to name a few). She’s basically what the entertainment industry refers to as triple threat and what I personally refer to as a quintuple threat (yes, I did make that term up). But seriously, I’m not sure there is anything that this woman can’t do! This year she also bagged her own TV show – New Girl – in which she plays the character of Jess, a very cute and dorky girl who moves into an apartment with three men who attempt to help her through a bad break up. I know it all sounds a bit cliché and predictable and whatnot, but from what I’ve seen it’s actually quite funny. Having said that, the show has not yet been released here in Australia and I’m not tech savvy enough to download it so I’ve literally only seen snippets on YouTube, but so far so good!
Although I do very much like Zooey as an actress, I prefer her as a singer and songwriter. As well as singing in several movies, including Elf, Zooey is also one half of the duo She & Him, in which she performs alongside M. Ward. The indie pop duo released their first album, Volume One, in 2008, featuring many amazing original songs written by Zooey as well as three cleverly crafted covers. The follow up to this album was released two years later, naturally titled Volume Two, which also featured a couple of covers. This year we have also been graced with the presence of a holiday album titled A Very She & Him Christmas, which is a compilation of 12 well-known Christmas carols done in a very She & Him way, such as ‘Sleigh Bells’ performed with the ukulele, and plenty of bluesy guitar featured throughout the album.
Not only is the album a great addition to any Christmas carol lovers’ collection, but you can really feel like you are giving back to the community this Christmas as proceeds from each album sold are also being donated to nonprofit organization 826 National which has a network of writing and tutoring centres.
So if you do need a bit of help getting into the Christmas spirit this year I suggest inviting Zooey D into your home, having a night in to watch Elf, and a sing along to A Very She and Him Christmas because I assure you that she will help raise your spirits and make your Christmas a little bit brighter.
Merry Christmas folks! X
(Image credit: 1.)
