New to me ...

Milk. AP photo... is the Got Milk? TV commercial with actress Holly Hunter doing the voiceover.

Apparently this spot has been on air for a while but since I do not watch many programs with ads, or if I do I mute them (the ads, that is ... unless they feature the Geico gecko or the E-Trade baby or a cute dog or a ferret or Johnny Depp), until recently I had missed it.

Miss Hunter's is a voice I do not understand.

Raspy. Mannish. Strangely inflected. 

A near-lethal mix of sandpaper and barbed wire, with a handful of thumbtacks thrown in for optimum discomfort.

Practically unlistenable-to.

Did I mention strangely inflected? What is she SAYING already, and why is she saying it that way?

In the practically unlistenable-to aspect, the Got Milk? voice is very like that of Rachael Ray ... whose unsettlingly hoarse prattle I was obliged to endure today as I waited for my car's oil to be changed.

By the way, why did that take nearly two hours?

When grease-decorated mechanics were standing at the dark openings of their vacant cave-bays, smoking, watching me, when I drove up and walked into the office?

These are questions for the ages.

I went outside to wait.

And why, when I took a seat in the waiting area, instead of being tuned to Turner Classic Movies or even the Hallmark Channel, was the off-off-off-name-brand flatscreen plasma TV on the wall bleating Rachael Ray's talk show?

I thought she was a cook.

Instead she was practically rapping with some Wayans brother or other in what appeared to be a daily spot entitled "Stump the Rach."

???

In which said Wayans brother showed "the Rach" objects that were nearly unidentifiable, and it was her job to identify them.

???

Who watches such tripe in the middle of a beautiful spring day?

Well, if the silly grin on his face was any indication, the guy sitting near me in the vinyl chairs was getting a big kick out of it.

Go figure. 

Comments

[Mari]

I don't think I've seen the Holly Hunter add, but if it's reminding you of Rachel Ray it would drive me crazy. I have a hard time listening to her voice too.

[Jennifer]

Mari, I knew you'd be the voice of sanity, LOLOL! Some voices just annoy me. Mine probably annoys some people too, though ... and there's no mute button for it! HAHA.

[rosezilla]

I am so with you on this one. I am hyper sensitive to people's voices. And I cannot stand Rachel Ray. And it's not even because of her voice. And I am sick to death of being "tranquilized" by a television every blessed place I go. To say I am not a t.v. person would be a gross understatement. I don't even watch it when I'm lying in a hospital bed. I'm tired of going places, like the doctor's office, where I wait forever for the privilege of paying gobs of money for unpleasant procedures, and while waiting, I am assaulted by television. Ok, I'm done now. Thank you, I feel better.

[kev]

I, too, am unfamiliar with the Holly Hunter commercial, but I know all too well the horrors of Ms. Rachael Ray. I've never watched her talk show, but I can just imagine. I've seen her on the Food Network, where she is competent, but sometimes nerve wracking. She's competent when she talks about food. She's annoying when she tells one of her endless stories. On her talk show, I can just imagine the horror. Oh, the horror...

[Jennifer]

Tracie, I had a feeling we'd be on the same wavelength on this one. I guess the only answer at such a time is a good set of earplugs and a good book.

Kev, you have been warned about the HH milk commercial ... when and if it does come on and you hear it, you'll now be morbidly fascinated as I was. But like a bad taste, it's difficult to get the memory of her voice out of my ears. Same with the brain-numbing voice of RR (do all these people have alliterated names?) ... I don't mean to be rude, honey, but shut up and cook. There now!