Putting and End to that

After a recent posting on Yoyonation's forum regarding shmooving and beefcaking, I received an interesting email from Lorenzo Bassani from BrokenYoYos team in Milan. Lorenzo is planning on releasing a yo-yo with grooved insides and wanted to talk with me about it.

As it turns out, Lorenzo posted the idea of grooves to reduce the yo-yos inner surface back in July of 2005 on The Yo's forum, complete with description and diagrams. Read the full thread here.

Thats 3 months earlier than Phil and I made our first shmooved yo-yo out of a Bolt.

To clarify that, Yes, Absolutely. was the first company to produce a shmooved yo-yo, but I believe it's obvious that Mr. Bassani was beat us to the idea and deserves credit for his innovative design.

Risky Busine$$

Anti-Yo will soon be releasing their newest yo-yo, and they have asked me to design and manufacture the bags for it.

The "Risky Busine$$" should start shipping this week. It is an updated version of "The Busine$$" that is made from X (wherein X represents some ungodly expensive rare metal that I can't recall the name of).

The yo-yo holsters are of course made from raw denim with a red and white selvage line. To match the selvage, I used red thread and white buttons. I actually learned how to make button holes just for this project, and Shan was really cool and hand stitched the buttons on to help save time. These holsters use a nickel plated "scissor snap", the same as you would find on a high quality wallet chain.

On a similar but different note, check out my blog entry regarding the raw denim messenger bags I'm producing.

Results from the World Yo-Yo Mod Contest

In case you missed it, be sure to check out Eric Wolff's fantastic photo set from this year's World Mod Contest (as well as his excellent summary of the entries here).

Eric, a wonderful yo-yo modder in his own right, has been one of the Mod Contest's judges since it's first year and posted a brief summary of this year's entries here.

From all accounts, Shinobu Konmoto's "Nostalgia" was the clear winner and perhaps one of the most amazing entries the contest has ever seen. Shinobu's creation was a scratch built recreation of a vintage car wheel. The outer rim is connected to the ball bearing hubs via spokes.









Shinobu (or "s.kon") has been one of the contest's top modders since 2004 with entries like the Carbon Battler mod, the bicycle bell based Ting Aling, a monster truck tribute to Big Foot, and his leather covered magnesium yo-yo the Revlover. If you get the chance, check out his Coca Cola can yo-yo, his yo-yos made from yo-yo strings, and his recap of the Japanese mod contest.

One of this years most innovative mods came from Yoshitaro Kudo who added free spinning out rings to the rims of his yo-yo for longer palm grinds.





Takahiko Hasegawa entered a yo-yo called "Buddah's Bell" which I believe he also used in his Artistic Performance entry. From what I have been told, at the beginning of his routine, Taka threw a sleeper with his yo-yo than hit it with a stick. The entire performance was based around the sound that his yo-yo made. The vibration of the bell was probably affected greatly by the spinning motion, with only surface air friction and a piece of yo-yo string dampening the sound. That must have been cool.




I thought Dave Poyzer's Kickside/Purpleheart wood/Zombie was a mod that really captured the modder spirit. Dave took the best attributes of different materials and put 'em all together. The metal Zombie rings for outer rim weight, wood for smooth-ness, and the a celcon Kickside hub for working with YoYoJam's awesome response system and bearing set up.



Thanks Eric for posting your pics. Check out his photo sets from 2006, 2004, 2003, and 2002.

Bizarre yo-yo listings on eBay from China.

On a recent eBay search, I stumbled upon a seller named penptech. I first noticed that penptech had a slim metallic yo-yo with slight butterfly shape and rubber rims. This bizarre yo-yo was listed as a "Metallic Missile" and was further described as "This is the flagship in Yomega's High Performance fleet". Most striking was the yo-yo's low price; $.99.

I've seen many scams on eBay, but this item seemed legit. Shipping was about $7 and there was good buyer feedback, so I went ahead and bought two of these "Metallic Missiles" and one of their "Power Brain" yo-yo.

A few weeks later, the yo-yos arrived. I couldn't believe. Yeah, they are totally cheap POS's, but it wasn't a scam. One of the metallic missile knock offs was missing it's bearing, which wasn't a big deal since the first thing I did was but Buzzon SPR guts in it anyway. The Power Brain knock off was just a cheap ball bearing butterfly yo-yo. Not great, but worth 8 bucks. To be honest, the Metallic Missiles actually play really well with SPR kits in them. Do yourself a favor and pick up some of the remaining stock. You could also feel free to buy the size 44 Valentino Jacket for me while you are at it. It's only $.99!

Project 213 part two

My friend Terry Trimble just sent me a link to Active People's (from Switzerland) new toy, the [YO]2 Delta.

The Delta is a yo-yo top hybrid. From the video, it appears to be a very well balanced yo-yo, but for some reason they did put a groove on the top tip, which would have provided for a better blend of yo-yoing and top tricks, but whatever.

Obviously the shape is a little similar to the old yo-yo tops I used to put together.



I should also mention that Active People have a complete yo-yo line. See if you can identify where each of there yo-yos got their shape from.

For anyone intersted, LetsHaveFun.biz has the full line of Active People toys (as well as carrying Vulto's Yo-yos).

Popular Science

In my time spent yo-yoing, I've created a few tricks and a few mods. In my mind, if a trick catches on, it's a success... but I guess if I create a trick that doesn't catch on, but I love, it would also be a success.

In terms of mods, I guess I feel pretty much the same way. My mods are mostly created for me, but when they catch on, I'm doubly happy. A few years ago though, Spintastics and a few other companies started releasing "beefcaked" yo-yos.

Beefcaking was something I created for modding Vipers. Viper bearings are tiny, but if you put two side by side, you can get some great play out of it. Beefcaking was a total fad mod, but when companies started using me technique and the name I had given it too, well I felt a little cheated. I mean if someone would have simply called and asked, I would have said sure.

What I'm getting at, I suppose, is just a reminder that if you are basing something you manufacture on the works of someone else, it's a good idea to at least let them know about it. Give them credit, maybe even offer them a prototype, or a discounted price or something.

It's just sort of common sense, not just in yo-yoing, but through any other hobbies your life may come across.

If anyone would like to make a small run of beefcaked or shmooved yo-yos, feel free to contact me and at least say "Hi, do you mind if we do this?" Of course, if you are just doing a single mod or something you totally don't need to let me know, but I'd love it if you feel like sharing the results with me.

Reach me at doc at doctorpopular.com

Oh, and Dave... where's my Save Deth DVD? I've been getting emails and instant messages about my Moebius section, and I'm dying to see it for myself.