My Weird Talent

Two posts in one night - how impressive am I? I'm sitting here watching Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite shows of all time, and was excited to notice that a man Lorelai went on a date with was none other than THE Jon Hamm. He looked much different than the Don Draper we all know and love today. Of course he was still handsome and debonair, but his slimmer build and post-Y2K attire rendered his voice the only truly identifiable characteristic. What's that - you want proof?

I know you're impressed with the clarity rendered by the combination of the TV in my childhood bedroom and my cell phone camera.

I think my screen shot somehow looks more like him than it did on the show, but I was still inexplicably excited when I spotted him.

This talent of identifying actors when they look fairly different or unrecognizable actually runs in the family. My mother also has this skill and we're highly impressive together - well, at least to each other. Last week we were watching one of the [awful] Jurassic Park sequels and I was proud when I recognized that one of the characters was none other than Becky of A Little Princess. I know this is an utterly useless talent (though I do impress Leon every now and then when I do something like recognize an extra as an extra from something else), but I still enjoy it. I'm good at recognizing the voices and feel especially satisfied when I identify the narrator on a commercial (See: David Duchovny on Pedigree commercials and Michael C. Hall on the Dodge commercials).

So this got me thinking: what are your absurdly useless talents? Remembering the names of obscure Vice Presidents? An encyclopedic memory of Harry Potter plotlines? Naming obscure Crayola crayon colors (Atomic Tangerine, Macaroni and Cheese, Robin's Egg Blue...anyone? anyone?) Do share and make me feel less weird about my weird and useless talent.