All Over Albany

For your yeti needs, try Troy

This made us smile: Kristofer snapped this pic of a yeti for sale in a storefront on River Street near Monument Square in Troy this past weekend.

No doubt this has been a difficult winter for local yeti, what with the lack of snow and all that. We can only hope this guy finds a good new home.

Is this your yeti? We'd love to hear the backstory.

They yeti is by Amy Pollicino. She writes in the comments:

That is right, this sweet, cuddly, well behaved Yeti is looking for a new home. Even with the mild weather and lack of snow he has remained well tempered and optimistic that he may find a good forever home somewhere in the Capital Region :) He was originally created for the Winter Wonderland window display contest run by the Troy BID. Now that the contest is over he is hoping to find a more permanent place to reside. Although he appears to be more fitting for a colder climate he enjoys troy and Upstate New York, curious to stick around to possibly meet up with one of his close cousins, the Sasquatch. If you have any interest please contact me vie FB or email PollicinoA@yahoo.com

(Thanks, Kristofer!)

Sh*t Public Radio Listeners Say

More evidence that "sh*t (insert whatever) say" is the dominant mode through which we now understand modern society: local public radio people Sarah LaDuke, Ian Pickus, and David Hopper have created a "Sh*t Public Radio Listeners Say" video.

And it's funny. Because it's true. Nicely played.

If you sit with the volunteers answering calls during a WAMC pledge drive, you will hear about half of these things in one hour. They'll also tell you that you sound taller on the radio.

Earlier on AOA: Local holiday wish list: Sarah LaDuke

Stop. No, really.

In case you were thinking this is one of the optional stop signs.

We had a laugh this week after seeing this sign at the Price Chopper Plaza in Slingerlands.

Bubbles and hugs in Schenectady

Weeee!

We happened upon what was, for a few minutes at least, easily the happiest place in the Capital Region Wednesday afternoon in Schenectady.

Why? Bubbles and hugs.

(there's more)

Innovations in pawn shop marketing

You know, the price of gold is really high right now...

Rhea noticed this sign in a pawn shop on 3rd Street in downtown Troy today.

That's one way to get back at him.

(Thanks, Rhea!)

Tiny Face

Go small.

A handful of local companies have created mobile apps. But this one might be the craziest -- and most fun.

Tiny Face is an app that tests your ability to make your face small. Yep, you read that correctly.

As its website proclaims: "The definitive mobile application for quantitative face-reduction analysis is now available to the general public." Tiny Face uses the camera on the iPhone and iPad to take before and after photos, then it measures the difference. (Just be careful your face doesn't freeze that way.) It's 99 cents in the iTunes apps store.

It's the creation of jackadam, a Troy firm that specializes in building all sorts of creative digital whatnot.

[via Renée]

images: jackadam

Help the Crandell Theater raise money -- because Parker Posey needs to pee

The non-profit that runs the Crandell Theatre in Chatham is trying to raise money to make improvements on the building -- stuff like a new roof and windows.

Also, the theater currently only has one bathroom for women. That fact is made very clear in the video embedded above, which features Parker Posey.

Posey has a house in Columbia County (Ghent, we hear) and it's not uncommon to hear that people have seen her out and about. She was even spotted in Troy earlier this year.

By the way: Showing this weekend at the Crandell: Our Idiot Brother, starring Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Steve Coogan.

Cruel and unusual

Well, at times it can seem small and confining...

Bridget snapped this pic while in the ladies room at the Newseum in DC. The walls are tiled with blooper headlines.

In this case we're not so sure it was a blooper rather than someone at the Gazette having some fun. The headline is from a 1998 story by Jill Bryce about a work alternative program administered by the Albany County Sheriff's Department.

(Thanks, Bridget!)

The cute car

If for a better look, try a larger version of the photo.

Miriam snapped this pic recently after spotting this car in the parking lot outside the Target in Latham. It pushes the Mini's cuteness to an until-now-only-theoretical level.

So... where does one get mascara for those lashes?

(Thanks, Miriam!)

Earlier on AOA:
+ The Vehigloo
+ The toy car

Don't anger the butterfly

From a recent op/ed by the Karner Blue Butterfly in The Onion:

I think people always expected that when the time came for us to go extinct, we'd go down all quietlike--that just because we're small blue butterflies with a wingspan of an inch, we wouldn't put up a fight. Well, I can assure you that before my kind dies out there will be a reckoning. Blood will run in the streets. Human blood.

I swear to you on all that is good and holy that before the Karner blue goes extinct, myself and the last remaining members of my species will take out as much of the human race as we possibly can. There will be mayhem. Children will die. People will suffer.

You can take that to the bank.

So... tread lightly in the Pine Bush. There's nothing more dangerous than a butterfly with nothing left to lose.

(Thanks, Mathew!)

Earlier on AOA: The Karner Blue and its local history

photo: Hollingsworth, J & K/US FWS via Wikipedia

New York's First Lady-friend, between takes

So, that might answer a few questions about her... cupcakes.

Possibly not safe for work.

[via Buzzfeed]

Earlier on AOA: A handful of items about Sandra Lee

Lewis Black on Albany

One of our favorite Lewis Black lines, about mad cow disease: "What were these ranchers thinking when they started feeding cows to other cows? Hey, when I eat human, I get a little crazy myself!"

Comedian and playwright Lewis Black is heading for Albany in a few months to do his stand-up act at The Palace. Black is well known for his rants and observations about politics, which is pretty much our local sport.

So we gave him a call to ask what he thinks about some of the things that have been going on lately at the state Capitol.

(there's more)

Same-sex marriage vote: corn-hold

The Daily Show takes on the state Senate's choice of issues to address.

And because we know you're hanging on every development in this state vegetable drama, contrary to that new report in the clip, only the Senate has voted in favor of corn. The grain (yes, not actually a vegetable) is backed by Republicans in the Democratic majority Assembly.

bears > local government secrecy

Ricky Gervais has a very important message for the Pulitzer Prize committee, and it involves the Post-Star:

Heh.

Oh, that's not a good sign

Ominous.

Ed noticed this sign today at Swan and Lancaster near the ESP in Albany.

Yep -- it's one way, right down the drain.

(Thanks, Ed!)

photo: Ed Lass

The funniest thing Elisa Streeter has ever seen

It involves Coors Field, an infield tarp, and a man tripping last week.

Thank goodness Caporizzo was there to save the end of newscast.

The AOA Limerick Contest

Okay, we know -- as a form of poetry, the limerick appears to be only tangentially connected to Ireland. But we're presenting it here as a way to get into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day without the need for rioting. And you people are just so clever, we know you'll come up with something great.

Our limerick contest will be judged by Daniel Nester. He's a poet himself -- and we have a feeling he's enjoyed a limerick or two. (Did they ever involve a small island off the coast of Massachusetts? We wouldn't rule it out.)

And yes, there shall be a prize. How's a $20 gift certificate to the Ginger Man strike you?

Rules -- and a few sample limericks -- after the jump.

(there's more)

Fascinating ice cubes and other promises from advertisements past

It's ice. In the shape of a cube.

We live in an early-1920s Tudor Cottage in Niskayuna, which sounds lovelier than it feels. There are many elements of its history that we don't appreciate, like its knob-and-tube electric wiring or the dark little alcove near the stairs that leads nowhere and has become the cat's room.

However, we occasionally enjoy its charms, like when we discovered some c. 1926 newspapers up in the attic. By the time we'd discovered them, they had mostly mouldered away, but I was able to salvage several advertisements. I thought that I'd share a few of my favorites...

(there's more)

Skidmore in The Onion

Worth a few smiles: Skidmore makes an appearance in The Onion this week. From "ExxonMobil CEO Really Hurt That College Student Is Talking About Him Right Now":

IRVING, TX--According to sources within ExxonMobil's global headquarters, Rex W. Tillerson, the company's president, chairman, and CEO, was completely devastated Wednesday by what 18-year-old Skidmore College freshman Samantha Huestis was saying about him in her dorm room.

It seems he really took her comments about polar bears to heart.

Heh.

Update: Drew confirmed with Skidmore that Ms. Huestis is, in fact, fictional.

Tangent: Have you ever heard the This American Life segment about The Onion writers' room? It's great.

Perhaps not the spot we'd have picked

Hey, it's between the yellow lines.

We spotted this parking job at Crossgates Commons the other night and it made us a laugh a bit.

As Cory and Angelos pointed out on Twitter, bonus points for the donut spare on the back wheel.

AOA, now with more snow globe

Our Monday was little feeling a little gray, but this has brightened things up a bit. It's an AOA online snow globe -- go ahead and check it out.

On some computers (Mac with Firefox), you can actually make the snow globe "tilt" by tilting your laptop side to side. In other browsers, you can direct the snow with your mouse.

We've been keeping this open in a tab and switching to it every hour or so. It's made the day pass a little faster.

Right back @ you, governor

UAlbany nanoscience grad student Nick Fahrenkopf noticed this past weekend that the Twitter account originally linked to on Andrew Cuomo's official gubernatorial site didn't exist. So he created the account. We go to NYT for the rest of the story (links added):

And Mr. Fahrenkopf's first few Twitter messages seemed right out of the governor's press office, providing links to the first executive order that Mr. Cuomo signed on Saturday, the transcript of his inaugural address, and a Web page to enter the lottery to receive tickets to the State of the State address on Wednesday.

But the tone eventually got less statesmanlike, as the subjects veered toward his dislike of the Executive Mansion (not enough parking for his muscle cars), possible staff appointments (including his predecessor, David A. Paterson, to write jokes for his speeches); and plans for the next snowstorm (shoveling people out in Albany, à la the Twitter-friendly mayor of Newark, Cory A. Booker).

Of course, word got around that the account wasn't actually Andrew Cuomo (if only). But it was (and continues to be) fun. And as Nick tweeted (on his own account) yesterday: "To be fair- Cuomo has his hands full. There is a lot to be done. But don't do Web/Twitter/Social Media half ass."

Could the fake world already be a view into the real world? Because Fake Shelly Silver is already annoyed with Fake Andrew Cuomo.

By the way: the real Andrew Cuomo Twitter account is @nygovcuomo.

Where do they get the dinosaur meat?

Emily created this cartoon after an exchange on Twitter this week about the new Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Troy. It may or may not include a cameo by AOA Greg.

Emily's site has a bunch of other cartoons drawn from her daily life.

Bonus exchange: Our tweet about seeing a Christmas tree in the window of a shop along New Scotland prompted a "that's what she said."

(Thanks, Emily!)

Meanwhile at Rent is 2 Damn High HQ...

In the skit above, local comics Matt Kelly and Mary Briwa imagine the reaction back at campaign headquarters to Jimmy "The Rent is TOO DAMN High" McMillan's performance in the gubernatorial debate.

And in what only seems like a skit, the real McMillan is now shilling for an online shopping site. [TU CapCon]

Earlier on AOA:
+ "Jimmy McMillan" on SNL
+ Other things that are too damn high

"Jimmy McMillan" on SNL

SNL took on Jimmy "The rent is TOO DAMN high" this past weekend. We wouldn't be surprised if some of this skit was already written before the gubernatorial debate was over...

It's funny enough. But it points to the difficulty of parodying a process that has already successfully parodied itself.

NY Mag asked McMillan about the skit -- his response: "That put me over the top. It's over. This election is over."

Fox23 went to Brooklyn last week to follow McMillan. It found that he's pretty good at staying on message, not so great at math and that people in the neighborhood call him "Papa Smurf." Also, if elected he says he would turn the Governor's Mansion into a dojo.

And that bit about McMillan not paying rent? He told NYT last week that he hasn't paid rent for the last decade because he and his landlords are "like family."

Earlier on AOA: Other things that are too damn high