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A lot of us want to know: was Jim Carrey being creepy or funny when he sent Emma Stone his video love letter? In case you’ve missed the story, a video circulated yesterday in which Jim Carrey declared his love for Easy A actress, Emma Stone, saying that if he was a lot younger, he’d love to have, “chubby little freckle-faced kids” with her, and went on to describe their imaginary future in his mind.

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNqnjHrRscs

Today, Huffington Post ran an article declaring it a joke, and yet, there are still a lot of people waiting to laugh.

It’s a new school year, and you may be brainstorming what you can do to make it the best year yet. We here at loveisrespect would like to help you with this by offering some

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ideas for possible new school year resolutions:

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If MTV’s Real World has taught us anything, it’s that when strangers cohabitate, things get a little interesting. As you meet your first roommate, register for classes and move away from home, here are some changes in relationships to keep in mind to have an awesome first year away at college.

Dorm Life

Whether you’re living with one roommate or a group of suitemates in a same-sex or co-ed residence hall, dorms supply you with plenty of interaction with other people at all hours of the day. In addition to making friends during late night games of pool and ice cream socials, you’re likely to hit it off with someone from your dorm and maybe even begin dating.

We here at loveisrespect were deeply saddened by the death of Massachusetts teen Lauren Astley. Astley’s phone, during her shift at a clothing boutique, was “blowing up” with text messages from her ex-boyfriend, her supervisor said. The texts were so unrelenting that she agreed to meet with him after she finished work. Read more about it here.

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The most dangerous time for a partner in an abusive relationship is when the relationship is ending. As the power and control is slipping through the fingers of the abuser, the anger and hurt they feel over the break-up often translates into very serious violence. We get a lot of calls and chats from abused partners wanting to break things off, but fearing of what happens next. Come up with a plan. Here are some things to think about:

Texting is currently the most instant form of communication next to talking one-on-one. Though many people have grown accustomed to texting rather than dialing up their significant other for an old fashioned phone call, texting can feel impersonal, or even anonymous, since it doesn’t convey tone or emotion the way a voice can. While texting might be the perfect platform to send cute love notes to your partner before bed, there are some things to look out for in a textual relationship with your partner.

Does your partner text you too much?
You’re at a family dinner on a Friday night and your phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since you sat down to eat and your family is starting to look at you funny. You told your girlfriend that you’d be at dinner until nine, but she keeps texting you anyway, wondering when you’ll be done and demanding that you respond in the next five minutes or she’s breaking up with you.

This kind of texting is not only irritating, but unnecessary. Keeping in touch with your significant other throughout the day can be thoughtful, but the constant need for contact is over-doing it. Maybe it’s time you talk to your partner about giving you a little bit of space by suggesting that he or she text friends to hang out instead of blowing up your phone.

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Summer romances can be fun. Maybe you finally got together with your school crush just before school ended or maybe you met someone while away at summer camp. Summer temperatures are only getting hotter, but have you checked the temperature on your relationship lately? Here’s a little quiz from us here at loveisrespect to make sure things are still going swimmingly.

Ten Check-In Questions

Dating violence doesn’t just affect the individuals in a couple. Rather, a community of support is necessary to help a survivor reach safety and peace. Whether you are a parent, friend or unacquainted bystander, you have the ability to become involved. Here are some dos and don’ts to consider when you’re in a situation where you can take action and interrupt a violent situation.

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Starting around 11 p.m. on Saturday, a flurry of tweets were being sent out with the hashtag #reasonstobeatyourgirlfriend. Early into Sunday morning, it became the top trending topic and remained on the list of trending topics for a good part of the day Sunday.

Tweets with the trending hashtag were often sexist jokes, references to the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident from last year and references to women cheating. Some tweeters responded by questioning the trend and offering support to victims of domestic violence. Some even mentioned the National Domestic Violence Hotline, @NDVH, as well as our number here at the National Dating Abuse Helpline.

Twitter as a company was also called out by users for its refusal to remove it as a trending topic. The company policy states that topics with obscenities are removed, but gives no guidance on offensive content. The trending topic soon sparked a debate over Twitter’s ability to censor the topics on its site.

Sometimes love can be blind, but it helps that friends and family are able to recognize symptoms of an unhealthy relationships that you may miss. Listen for these verbal cues and others from people around you to detect when things with your partner might be going south.

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I can’t believe he did that to you!

When you’re retelling an incident with your boyfriend to a friend, she responds with a shocked gasp and expresses worry for your safety. Your friend is surprised that you let him humiliate you like that. Maybe you brushed off his disrespect towards you before, but having someone else recognize it is a sign that you may be in a controlling relationship. This is a good opportunity to confide to your friend about what you have experienced and reach out for help.

Every call and chat to the Helpline comes from someone different. Some callers, both girls and guys, identify as survivors of abuse, some as abusers, and some as concerned parents and friends seeking help for someone else. While every call is specific to the individual, here are some phrases and questions that advocates consistently communicate to best help each caller.

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“Thanks for reaching out.”

Calling or chatting our Helpline can be nerve-racking, especially if you haven’t reached out for help before. Our calls are completely confidential and anonymous and our advocates have extensive training in dating violence matters. Reaching out for help is the first step to improving your situation, however that may be. We say this line to let you know how happy we are that you’re getting the help you deserve.