Sorry to all my loyal readers who have just been dying for some more ramblings. I've been absent from the blog for far too long, but I'm back now! Here is this week's edition of my Friday Favorites:

Favorite Quote

Favorite Commercial

Favorite Laugh

Try as I might, I've been unable to watch this without crying from laughing so hard! The chick in the red makes me lose it every time.

Favorite Movie

Favorite Random Fact

Escalator is one of many words that were originally trademarks but have become ordinary words found in dictionaries. Some other words which were originally trademarks and have now passed into common use are: aspirin, autoharp, band-aids, breathalyzer, cellophane, Coke (in some areas, at least), corn flakes, cube steak, ditto, dry ice, dumpster, formica, Frisbee, granola, gunk, jeep, kerosene, Kleenex, mace, nylon, ping-pong (also an onomatopoeia), popsicle, Q-tip, rollerblade, rolodex, Scotch tape, sheetrock, spandex, styrofoam, tabloid, thermos, trampoline, yo-yo, xerox, and zipper.

A few years ago, I discovered I have a very useless "talent". This talent certainly won't save the world, but it has helped a few frazzled friends from time to time. If you need help naming a song, or figuring out who sings it, I can find that for you. I can watch a movie with a fairly obscure actor and name at least one other movie he/she has been in. I give myself bonus points for knowing who they are, even under heavy disguise. If only I could use this gift to remember real life important facts...

The newest facet to this talent is knowing who voices certain commercials. Here are the latest examples of this amazing gift of mine...

This one may not come as a shocker to most. I think he has a very distinctive voice. Maybe it's my years being obsessed with The Office. Maybe it's the fact the ads are played all day when I listen to Pandora. Either way, it's easy to hear that John Krasinski is the voice behind the esurance ads.



I was almost certain I recognized this voice in two separate commercials. While most people, including my roommate, didn't believe me, a recent Google search proved I was right. Tim Allen is the voice for both the Michigan ads and the Chevy Cruze commercial.





I was pretty psyched to figure out I was right on this next one. Zach Woods, who plays Gabe on The Office, is the zombie on the Starburst commercial. This one makes me giggle every time.



Are there any other commercials you can think of that have a familiar voice?

I wouldn't say I have a difficult name. In fact, I probably have the easiest name in the world. Two a's, two n's, and you're done. Yet somehow, everyone has a hard time understanding what my name is. When I get coffee at Caribou, I get asked at least three times. "Ava?" "Ala?" "Amber?" "Abba?" (Yes, I actually got called Abba before.) Or I get the "What? I'm sorry, what? I'm sorry. I'm having a hard time hearing you." Whaaat? Do I have some speech impediment that only comes out when I say my name? Perhaps if that second a wasn't on there and my name was just Ann, it'd be much easier to understand.

In honor of my ridiculously difficult name, I thought I'd find every song I could with the name Anna in it. Is the name hard to understand in these songs people?? Ok. Done with my rant. :)

"Anna Begins"-Counting Crows
"Anna (Go To Him)"-The Beatles
"Anna's Song"-Marvin Gaye (I have to admit-this song made me blush. Wowza!)
"Anna"-Bad Company
"Anna Molly"-Incubus (Hey, it still has Anna in it!)

My fave out of them all