Garner's side of the truth

Jennifer Garner says she accepts that she and husband Ben Affleck are paparazzi targets, but the actress draws the line at their daughter, Violet. "My kid does not belong in magazines! She's 2!" Garner says in the May edition of Self. "People recognize her if she's in another state with someone who's not me. They say, 'Oh, that's Violet Affleck!' That's not OK." Garner, who appears in the magazine without her husband or daughter, has been in the Boston area to film "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" with Matthew McConaughey and "This Side of the Truth" with Ricky Gervais. Garner confesses that she doesn't work out as much as she did when she played "Electra" or for her role in TV's "Alias," and she thinks the discussion of her weight is silly. "Yes, everyone continues to think that I'm two months pregnant. But at this point, it's just laziness," she tells Self. "Where I used to be flat, now - when I wear a T-shirt - you see a little bit of normal person."

Matt Damon is donating his black, messenger-style diaper bag and "The View" cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck's putting up a car seat for a charity auction of celebrity baby hand-me-downs. The two are among the dozen or so A-list parents who have donated used items to Johnson's Celebrity Hand Me Down Auction, which will support March of Dimes, Save the Children, Zero to Three, Baby Buggy, and other charities. (The eBay auction begins Tuesday and ends May 9. ) "It is important to pass certain things on from one generation to the next," the Rhode Island-bred Hasselbeck said in a statement. "I still have a children's bracelet that my mother gave to me, which I will pass on to my daughter one day. There is something priceless about having certain things around you which tell a story."

Trisha Flanagan already liked her boss Larry DiCara, the former city councilor who works at Nixon Peabody, but we bet she's an even bigger fan now. DiCara entered a "Rockstar Assistant" contest and won Flanagan three days of being chauffeured by Rockstar Limo, two nights at the Langham Hotel downtown, dinner at Morton's in the Back Bay and Sage in the South End, and a day of pampering at SalonCapri. DiCara wrote of Flanagan: "She is unflappable, and has seen me through a set of triplets, the ups and downs of the real estate market, and a few high-profile clients which have resulted in my name being mentioned in the paper. Whatever recognition she gets is insufficient."

A life sciences professor at UCLA by day and the frontman for punk rock band Bad Religion by (late) night, Greg Graffin will receive Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy's 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award tonight at Memorial Church. The award recognizes a humanist or atheist who has made a lasting impact on US culture. (Last year, the group honored novelist Salman Rushdie.) Graffin, whose hits include "How Could Hell Be Any Worse" and "American Jesus," will give an acoustic concert and stick around for a Q&A session. . . . Also today at the World's Greatest University, reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee will be on campus to receive the artist of the year award for his contributions to the Latino community. (Despite his team preference, Daddy Yankee is known in these parts as a big fave of Sox slugger David Ortiz.) Also being honored this afternoon at the Holyoke Center by Harvard's Presencia Latina is Jaslene Gonzalez, a 21-year-old who won the seventh season of "America's Next Top Model." Previous honorees include Matt Damon, Will Smith, his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, Denzel Washington, Jet Li, and Andy Garcia.

Eagle-eyed viewers of Thursday night's episode of "The Office" may have caught a familiar face who gave geeky Dwight a smooch. That was Cassie Fliegel giving actor Rainn Wilson a lip-lock in a scene in a New York nightclub. Fliegel, who's appeared in "Greeks," was the salutatorian of her Cambridge Rindge and Latin class before heading off to Harvard, where she graduated in '06. How'd Fliegel get the kissing gig? A casting post was looking for a tall, athletic actress and the 5'11" former basketball player fit the bill.

Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley helped with the DVD release of "Blessed! Still, We Believe 2" about the Red Sox' 2007 World Series run. At the launch party in the Players Club after Thursday's game at Fenway, Eckersley caught up with dozens of diehard fans, including Chris Wertz, a displaced Bostonian who owns Professor Thom's - a Red Sox-friendly bar in Manhattan.

"Open Book Club," a new monthly TV show hosted by actress Christy Scott Cashman (right) and Debbie DiMasi, wife of the Massachusetts House speaker, debuts next weekend. Filming at Cashman's Back Bay home, the show premieres on NECN at 7:30 p.m. on May 4 and airs on the first Sunday of each month. The first episode includes Tom Perrotta, Sue Miller, and Andre Dubus III. Next month Cashman heads to the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of Abel Ferrara 's new film, "Chelsea on the Rocks," in which Cashman is featured alongside the pic's stars Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, and Bijou Phillips.

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.

• Searched
• E-Mailed