Dania Ramirez is August’s Garden State Playmate!

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Did you know there was a made for TV prequel to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion? Well, Dania Ramirez did because she was in it, proving that actors have to take the crap roles to get to the better ones. Now, this Dominican dame can look back and laugh at some of the movies she starred in like Romy and Michele: In the Beginning and Fat Albert.

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I first saw Ramirez as A.J’s Dominican girlfriend Bianca in The Sopranos and was surprised to find out that she went to college in New Jersey. Ramirez graduated Montclair State University in 1999 where she was a standout volleyball player. During that time she continued pursuing her dream of becoming an actress and model. Before gaining mainstream notoriety, Ramirez appeared in several music videos including ones from Jay-Z and LL Cool J.

Early in her career Ramirez appeared in the film 25th Hour starring Ed Norton which lead to several larger roles. Eventually, she became well known with fanboys/girls when she played Caridad in the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand, and Maya on NBC’s Heroes. Also, if you’re a fan of HBO’s Entourage you will recognize her as Alex, Turtle’s girlfriend.

It looks like Hollywood’s next craze will be late ’90s and early 2000’s nostalgia flicks. What makes me think that? Well, next for Ramirez is a part in the next NOT straight to DVD installment of American Pie: American Reunion.

KWT: Ethan Van Sciver’s “Guardian of Freedom”

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This week Kip Winger Thursday kills two birds with one stone. Kip and NJ all in one.

In 2006, Kip Winger called upon comic book artist Ethan Van Sciver to create the cover art for Winger’s album, IV. The art was also released for sale in poster form.

In an interview on Comics Bulletin, Van Sciver reveals that he was born in Utah but grew up in South Jersey! He also admitted to having some unfavorable jobs in the art field before becoming the prominent comic book artist he is today. He told Comics Bulletin that he “…took a much envied job at the Cherry Hill Mall as a caricaturist. I had to wear a tuxedo, but I was ‘Goth’, so I also wore eye-makeup and a big clunky ankh around my neck, just under my bowtie.”

In addition to his own creation, the Cyberfrog comic book series, Van Sciver has worked on comics for DC and Marvel including Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and X-Men. Recently he’s done work on The Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night series for DC comics.