Grain Theory Prospect Mods
March 17, 2015 By Steve Brown
Grain Theory kendamas finally destroyed the universe and made what is possibly the best kendama video ever. It's got killer tricks, art by Paul Escolar, bears, Japanese astronauts, and cosmic brainsplosions.
Ladies and gentleman, the winners of all time: Grain Theory!
Filed Under: Kendama, Video Tagged With: grain theory, kendama, paul escolar, video
5 Unbelievably Underrated Midschool Tricks
April 2, 2014 By Matt McDade
Paul Escolar, Jason Lee, Chris Neff, Steve Brown, Jeffrey Longoria, and others at BAC 2000
Ah, the era of the "midschool" yoyoing. Videos were more grainy, hair was more spiky, and cargo pants had more than enough pockets to tote around Renegades, Freehand 1s, and Spinfaktors as opposed to the more slim denim options of today. "Midschool" can be defined exactly how it sounds, and in the yoyoing world it generally means the era just before, during, and after the "boom" of 1998. It was an era of innovation in absolutely all facets of yoyoing, including tricks, contests, yoyos, and the integration of the recently popularized internet into the yoyoing world.
The most popular tricks of the midschool era are some of the tricks that you may have seen or learned from André Boulay's YoYoExpert tutorials. Some significant ones include White Buddha (Paul Escolar), Superman (Jason Lee), The Matrix (Doctor Popular), Spirit Bomb (Jeff Longoria), and Kwyjibo (Taylor Whitley). What some players may not not know is that these tricks were learned by André during the era in which yoyo videos had to be downloaded using the dial-up connections of the time. Similar to the recent explosion of the #trickcircle hashtag today, they were created by and shared with enthusiasts and those truly in the know dedicated many hours to staying current to the tricks and trends of the time.
Back then, there were no GoPro tutorials in which you could see the trick as well as the pair of socks that the yoyoer has chosen to wear for the day. Tricks had to be learned through text, and if you were lucky, text and illustrations along with a short video. If you do enough digging, it is still possible to find some of the old tutorials and learn some old tricks if you have the dedication to do so.
In the years after the boom, the numerous tricks of the era were still discussed and learned on message boards of the time and were still some of the hardest tricks to learn. These days, yoyoers have all they could possibly want as far as learning tricks goes, and the tricks from the midschool era that do not have current tutorials of their own are old memories or completely unheard of by most yoyoers. Therefore, there is a goldmine of old tricks that many yoyoers may have never heard of and would probably break their knuckles attempting on one of the tug-responsive yoyos of the time. Yoyos then had to sleep for a long time, not "catch" the string in the middle of a trick, and still be reliably tug responsive.
Think old midschool tricks can't hang with the tricks of today? Think again.
5. Orange Tulips (Red Clover II)- Paul Escolar
If you get the chance, head over to the Sector Y Archive and watch some of their videos in chronological order. Not only can you see yoyoing itself advance, but you can also see the members of the Spindox Yoyo Club push great concepts further and further with each video. At the release of their "Wish We Were at Worlds" clip video in 2001, the Spindox members were at the top of their game.
The most widely-recognized trick from "Wish We Were at Worlds" is probably Breath, by Spencer Berry. Another elusive-but-amazing trick in the video is Paul Escolar's sequel to his his slightly-less-elusive trick, Red Clover. Red Clover II, otherwise known as Orange Tulips, combines interesting and still widely unexplored Houdini Mount concepts with a a Wrist Mount ending that makes for a fairly fluid, and pretty hard, trick. Check the video above for the trick, starting at 1:58.
The first move of Orange Tulips is taken from Red Clover, but after that, Orange Tulips makes it's own identity and features a pop through a triangle string segment that is pretty difficult when first attempting the trick. The pop is necessary to complete the trick properly, and you'll only know it's done right when the yoyo lands and creates a Wrist Mount-esque segment that is situated on the fingers as opposed to the wrist. The end of the trick basically does the same thing as the ending of Superman by Jason Lee but in a significantly different way. An extra kink through the Wrist Mount is undone, and as the yoyo lands in a regular Wrist Mount, a normal dismount followed by a return to the hand completes the trick.
The trick is still difficult, and when doing it you can see that Paul was clearly connecting trick segments to do-and-undo each other. Even when performing the trick on a modern, unresponsive yoyo it has a midschool feel and completing it successfully definitely feels great.
The video of Orange Tulips in "Wish We Were at Worlds" is literally the only video of Orange Tulips that is currently online. While obscure, it is definitely underrated in my opinion and is honestly a great trick. Learning and performing it on a modern, unresponsive yoyo proves this, and it's a shame that it hasn't received more recognition within the community (A Cabin Tutorial, maybe?).
4. 8 Diagram Pole- SAGE
Coming to prominence around 2001, Black Hops is a trick that is mainly based around "hop" concepts that still remains somewhat relevant with players. SAGE (Albert Gonzales, inventor of the Iron Whip.), a yoyoer from the East Coast who was also doing grinds and slacks early in their creation, created a similar but significantly more difficult trick with 8 Diagram Pole in 2001.
I have yet to learn 8 Diagram Pole, but those that have speak of it's difficulty. It doesn't appear that it would be any easier on an unresponsive yoyo, but anyone that has thrown responsive and has seen the trick can most likely see it's difficulty during the time it was created.
The concept behind the hops are somewhat similar to Spencer Berry's "Insta-Mounts" (which Adam Brewster has been creating and sharing via #trickcircle lately) and despite lacking the flashiness and fluidity of today's popular tricks, 8 Diagram Pole definitely deserves a place on this list as well as a place in trick history. SAGE has not been involved in yoyoing since the early 2000's but his contributions undoubtedly left a mark on yoyoing.
3. TimeTwister- Gabriel Lozano
TimeTwister is probably the least underrated trick on this list, but it is still fairly underrated in my opinion and not necessarily known as well as some other tricks from the era. While it does have some "modern" exposure, TimeTwister is still a trick that some players may have never heard of or may have forgotten about. I actually learned TimeTwister early in my yoyoing career, and it's remained one of my favorite tricks since.
In watching a lot of of old Spindox videos, you can see Citadel (Gabriel Lozano) playing around with a lot of concepts that are very similar to the ones in TimeTwister and you can also eventually see him throw TimeTwister itself, too. Everybody had their own elements to mess with back then, and Gabe chose twisty 1.5 mount concepts, rolls, and a sort of flowy trick that's different than a lot of other stuff from it's time and stuff from now as well.
In a non-cynical way, my favorite part of TimeTwister is the end. The part at the end in which you manually untwist the strings that you twisted a step prior really blew my mind when I first started yoyoing. The sideways barrel roll/hug movements within the trapeze towards the end were especially tricky for me to hit when first learning the trick too.
Pulling off TimeTwister feels really good, even on a newer yoyo. It's a pretty long trick, and remembering all of the moves and doing them just right is definitely impressive.
2. Water Bomb- Steve Brown
I'm pretty sure that innovative frontstyle stuff was just about as common, if not a little more common, in the midschool era as it is today. Steve Brown had this frontstyle mount called the H20 Mount which was basically a Split Bottom Mount with an extra segment that allowed a little more creativity within frontstyle yoyoing. Water Bomb is my personal favorite that utilizes the mount, but another trick of Steve's that utilizes the mount and is equally badass is Chinese Water Torture. Another yoyoer, throwing under the alias "Spiky Haired Raver" had a trick called Spring Water that utilized the mount as well.
Water Bomb definitely makes use of the extra segment within the H20 Mount, along with some rolls and boings to complete the trick. I just really like the midschool-esque fluidity of it all. It may sound obsessive, but I really think it was a combination of the yoyos, concepts being explored, and general climate of the late 90's/early 2000's that made for some really, really great yoyoing despite being outdated today.
I first saw Steve throw Water Bomb in the How to be a Player video by Duncan, and was impressed because at the time I had just learned Split the Atom and Mach 5. It really impressed me at the time, and it would still probably be a great challenge to learn today if a proper tutorial existed for the trick.
1. Havoc- Spencer Berry
It was genuinely hard to think of the #1 trick for this list. I didn't necessarily write it in any particular order, but in any case "#1" should typically be exciting in some way or another. Well, what's more exciting than a trick called "Havoc", right?
It's hard to believe that Spencer Berry invented in this trick in 2001. In my interview with Spencer, he said that Havoc was all about pushing complexity and he definitely did it with this trick. I first saw Havoc quite some time ago, and couldn't even begin to get a grip on how to do it. Even now that I can do it quite well, it does not feel like any other yoyo trick that I've done before.
In my opinion, Havoc is the perfect trick technically, visually, and difficulty wise. Not only is it hard to learn, but it also hard to actually smooth out because all of the moves are so obscure that even a seasoned yoyoer will have trouble figuring them out at first. It follows the great tradition with it's string segments doing-and-undoing themselves and lots of subtle movements being necessary to do in order for the trick to be performed properly.
Havoc is 1/3 of Spencer Berry's Destruction trilogy of tricks (alongside Enigma and Cataclysm) and the reason that I chose Havoc out of the 3 is because it's simply the most different and most difficult in my opinion. Luckily, Chuck over at CLYW dropped a Cabin Tutorial for it last year and if you're interested in learning it, doing so is only a click away!
Hopefully you enjoyed this look at some obscure yoyo tricks! I actually didn't start yoyoing seriously until 2011, but in the amount of time that I have been yoyoing I've definitely enjoyed learning about the vast history of our great hobby. Shoutout to Gabe and Spencer for letting me use their old videos, and shoutout to Steve for hopefully not feeling really old after reading this! If you have any stories, tricks, or anything to share feel free to email me at: throwplaza@gmail.com!
Filed Under: Trick Theory, Video Tagged With: featured, gabe lozano, mid school, paul escolar, sage, spencer berry, steve brown, trick theory
Preserving History: Paul Escolar
February 4, 2014 By Drew Tetz
Daniel "Zammy" Ickler put together this supercut of one of the finest trick innovators of all time, Paul Escolar. In Zammy's own words:
"This video was made out of respect for Paul and all his material he made between 99-01. These tricks are the staple of 1A and everyone should see them. … Gabe also had re-recorded tricks that was for his PSY project but it was never seen the light of day in a more centralized manner… until now."
Paul truly is a formative force for modern 1A, it's always good to watch the Spikey Haired Freak in action.
Filed Under: Players, Video Tagged With: Duncan, paul escolar, zammy ickler
Duncan Crew Worldwide 2013 – Chapter 1
September 24, 2013 By Steve Brown
Duncan Toys has a new video showing off some members of their worldwide team, featuring Paul Escolar, Jeff Coons, Lim Aik Hwee, Gabe Lozano, and Bryan Jardin. Since this is listed as "Chapter 1" I think we can expect more installments, probably featuring Hank Freeman, Rafael Matsunaga, Janos Karancz, and more.
Filed Under: Manufacturer, Players, Video Tagged With: bryan jardin, duncan crew, duncan toys, gabe lozano, jeff coons, lim aik hwee, paul escolar, video
Interview – Paul Escolar
August 26, 2013 By Matt McDade
YoYoNews Interview – Paul Escolar
Editor's Note: This interview first appeared on Throw Plaza. We were so impressed with the work that we invited interviewer Matt McDade to join the writing team at YoYoNews, and he accepted! We're excited to have Matt on board, and are re-publishing his fantastic interview with Paul Escolar to welcome him to YoYoNews. – Steve
Whether you're familiar with Paul Escolar or not, chances are you've learned, are doing, or have at least heard of some of his tricks and concepts. Paul is the genius behind Magic Drops, Kamikaze, White Buddha, Green Triangles and countless others. He is a long-time member of the Duncan Crew and currently still does demonstrations and more for Duncan. He is also a fantastic artist, and he can often be found sharing his art on social networks like Facebook and Instagram. Paul was generous enough to do this interview and share some information about the art of yoyo.
Paul, thanks for agreeing to do this! Back when I was first learning Kamikaze and White Buddha, I never thought I'd be interviewing the man behind them. Not only are you still appearing in clip videos today, but you of course are also featured in SuperYo's infamous Kickin' Tricks VHS from the late 90's. How did you get your start in yoyoing back then?
Those tricks are so old now, that I actually am the "man" behind them! I made up most of those tricks when I was 16, and I pretty much only actively thought about yoyo tricks and combos for a couple years – 1999-2001. I'm still around obviously, I'll usually just peek my head into people's clip videos, or do old tricks and hope no one has seen them yet. Most of the time you can find me at the judges table. I would love to make more appearances in yoyo videos, but most of my "new" tricks have all been in progress for over 10 years. I'll finish them one day, lol.
Someone at a demo recently asked how long I've been yoyoing. I said "15 years." Then I had to pause and redo the math in my head because that sounded hella long. Whoa… that's older than the kid I was teaching a trick too. Like a lot of us, I started in 1998 during the 90's boom. SuperYo came and did school assemblies, Yomegas and ProYos were in every store, Team High Performance reigned supreme and yo-yos were the coolest sh*t I've ever seen. I was friends with Gary and Jeff Longoria, who would later create "Seasick" and "Spirit Bomb". We joined David Capurro's yo-yo club, the Spindoctors and there was no stopping us. That played a big part in how I stuck with yo-yos. We were fortunate to be around legends like Grand National Master Bill DeBoisblanc and legendary manufacturer Tom Kuhn. Spindoctors YoYo Club is responsible for developing some of the most influential players in new school yo-yoing; Gabe Lozano, Gary Longoria, Johnnie Delvalle, Augie Fash, Spencer Berry and others. And Sector-Y was there to capture everyone and share our tricks to the yoyo community.
Wow, well not to make you feel even older but I'm actually only 16. I'm definitely a fan of the of the old Spindox videos, I feel they were the equivalent of todays clip videos that are nothing but "bangers", and it's cool to watch those videos and see tricks that are now common premier for the first time. Do you think the Spindox kind of ushered in the whole concept of long, sidestyle tricks that really weren't just transitions between mounts? Some of my other early favorites from you are Pure 143 and Red Clover.
Back then you could get away with doing very little and still have something very unique. The ball bearing yoyo allowed us more time to mess with string tricks, constantly explore new ideas, and run into a lot of "happy accidents". I don't think we intentionally tried to make yo-yoing predominately sidestyle, side style tricks were just more physically comfortable and just seemed to have more potential – uncharted territory.
I think a lot of us were just fortunate to be experimental at a time where New School yo-yoing was still at it's infancy. Actually, I consider my era "Mid-School" yo-yoing – that's the end of fixed axle / beginning of bearing transaxle BEFORE Non-responsive Binding (which I consider actual "New School"). There was a huge wave of creative players coming from California; NorCal had the Spindox and SoCal had the DXL crew, but of course anyone who was anyone repped them too, including myself – DXL WORLDWIDE!
Photo by Fatlace
I definitely know what you mean about sidestyle tricks having "more potential", still you've definitely had your share of cool frontstyle tricks that I've seen. Speaking of "happy accidents", is that how you invented the Magic Drop? What did you think of the Magic Drop at first?
Oh, and also speaking of "happy accidents", do you also think Bob Ross really could've gotten down with a fixed-axle yoyo?
"Happy accidents" are a big part of many of holds and mounts I've used in the past. I think when you're curious, willing to explore and dissect string tricks enough, you're bound to discover something new. "Magic drop" was an accident, doing it I noticed the yo-yo's spin forcefully throwing the string out of its plane and landing in a different hold, so I practiced it until I could control where I wanted the yo-yo to land. I consider "Magic drop" the simplest and earliest form of String rejection, and there's still so much potential to explore it.
A lot of trick elements happen when exploring, making accidents and trying to duplicate them again. "What happens if I hit this string instead?" "What happens if I do this trick this way?" After all the layering, and plucking, you always find something that's different and you have to keep experimenting! "Green Triangles" was also a trick I came up with to say "hey this mount is inside of a knot, whatever, lets do tricks with it."
Haha, Bob Ross probably does have a copyright on "Happy Accidents". R.I.P.
It's cliche to say that yo-yo tricks are an art form, a lot of people say that, but I really believe it. Bob Ross would've been amazing at it. He goes with the flow, and if he makes a mistake, he figures out a way to fix it as make it look even better- that's what yo-yoers should do. Embrace the mistakes and try to make something new and different from them.
In terms of combinations, I also use music as a metaphor for what I think makes a trick, combination, or routine look good. I haven't competed or created a trick in a very long time, but I've done a good share of Judging and watching over the years. I think that every trick element visually has its own distinct sound and rhythm. What makes a good looking trick or combo is the players ability to "compose" them tastefully. Dumb that sh*t down as much as you can, keep similar sounds/elements together and make sure your combo has a beginning chorus and end. And your trick combo will surely make a greater impact and be more memorable.
That's all so true. I look at it a similar way, and while I feel that today's players have less of an excuse to explore things (it seems like everything's already been done), great players are still coming out with extremely innovative stuff that blows my mind (Janos Karancz for example). Another advantage we have today is checking out older clip videos for inspiration for tricks. Twisting and bending elements to make them you're own, building tricks with flow, all help with building a good library of your own tricks for sure.
I'm pretty much a fan of all of your tricks, but three of my favorites appear in the "Wish we were at worlds" clip video. White Buddha 2nd Generation, Yellow Airplanes, and Orange Tulips which are all sequel tricks, in my opinion, are some of the most creative work to come out of the "Mid-School" of yoyoing. What was the story behind that video & those tricks? So much good stuff in there.
Yeah. Janos is on another Level, his tricks are from the future, real New School sh*t – mind blowing. Most things have been done, but a lot of older tricks and concepts still have some meat on the bone. A lot of newer yo-yo players are easily amused by certain tricks, and there are frequently trends that get started and get more play during those times, leaving other trick concepts in the dust to be soon forgotten. If you watch an old/mid school player, we won't be doing the most technically complicated combo, but I guarantee you might still see something you like or haven't seen before. In a rare time when I am actually yo-yoing, sometimes I hear "That was kind of cool, is that new?" and then I laugh because I've been doing the same sh*t for the last 10 years. haha. It just goes to show that trick trends come full circle, and a lot of older concepts still need to be explored.
Well, I and a lot the Spindox owe a lot of credit to Gabe Lozano (created of Shockwave and other tricks) and his website, Sector-Y. "Wish we were at Worlds" is exactly that, none of our crew had money to go to Florida so we just filmed a bunch of videos back home instead, lol.
The Sector-Y clip videos allowed many of us to get some internet attention, gain recognition outside of contest, and make some noise in the yo-yo world. I was never a real competitor, never a national or world champion, I just liked playing with string tricks. I was very fortunate to have been awknowledged in our community without having to dance around on stage (No Offense to competitive players, Freestyles were VERY different back then). I should really relearn some of those old tricks…
Exactly. I've only been throwing for a little over 2 years but even I've seen some trends in tricks come and go. Some of my my favorite videos are the "BeFree" videos on Sector Y which are from 2002 and feature a bunch of players I've never heard of before. The tricks in those videos are absolutely insane and some of them really remind me of things coming out today. Speaking of White Buddha 2nd Generation, I learned that around December of 2011 and I remember learning it and thinking that the part in the middle after making the 1.5 where you swing the yoyo all around reminded me of Figure 8.
I definitely know what you mean about those Sector Y videos, and they definitely made noise outside of contests in that they were the place where so many famous tricks first appeared. I've even seen some of Johnnie Delvalle's very early freestyles back when he was throwing a FH1 and doing White Buddha and Superman on stage..definitely a different time.
The early Spindox videos show almost all of you guys throwing Superyo Renegades, but as time went on you guys (and everyone else basically I think) started throwing Freehand 1's and Spinfaktors. What was your favorite yoyo back then? What do you think of the modern yoyo itself, and all of the hype surrounding some current releases?
White Buddah 2nd Generation actually had elements of 3D/plane distortion/off plane – It may be hard to see, but the 1.5 elements are less of a Jason Lee/Scott Coyle Figure 9 and more of an actual 3D Figure 8. I wish the camera footage could've captured it better. Maybe I should relearn the trick and have it refilmed, lol. I think there's still potential there as it went under the radar 10+ years ago.
JD is legendary, he is a fellow old school Spindox, trick innovator, and also one of my co-coordinators in running the Bay Area Classic Yo-Yo Contest. He also pretty much put his signature on yo-yo grinds and slack whips – do your history kids! But JD throwing a Freehand 1?! That's amazing, I don't even remember that.
I mention the Spindox Club and Sector-Y a lot, because it was the main reason I progressed in yo-yoing earlier on. We were and are a tight crew and always had new sh*t to show off to eachother. We also went through a lot of yoyo phases as far as what we were throwing. After starting on Yomegas like most kids, I was really into Team Losi for a bit because one of my idols, Steve Brown was working for them at the time. I even saw his freestyle debut of Freehand/5A using a Team Losi Cherry Bomb – one of my fav. FS of all time. I don't remember how I started using Renegades , but it became The Official Spindox weapon of choice for some time. I think we might have been responsible for making those popular within the community , we definitely were the first to do the "Oreo" Gade mod and "Terror Gade"!
Gary Longoria and I were fortunate to actually have been sponsored by SuperYo and Arne Dixon and got to travel and do tours around Hawaii and the states via HPK marketing. Later, around 2001, I was picked up by Steve Brown and the Beginnings of the Duncan Crew and that's where I've been ever since!! DCWW – Throw Duncan!
Definitely! That video of JD is actually his 1st place California yoyo contest video from 2001, I'm pretty sure it's a yellow FH1 anyway. That's sweet, I've never thrown a Renegade or a FH1 (I have a modded Hyper Freehand though, and my stock FHZ's have been my weapons of choice lately) but it seems like there's something about those old plastics that todays throws don't have. You're also an artist, and have done work for yoyo companies such as Save Deth and CLYW. Any new projects coming up? And any last words/advice/anything?
PLASTICS! When it comes down to it yo-yos are just toys, we should be able to play with them and not worry about beating them up or loosing them. Newer Plastic yo-yos are sufficient enough to still be a fun toy and whilst still being a useful tool for Modern yoyo tricks.
I've done graphic work for almost every yo-yo company. They're all my friends, and I always take any opportunity to get my art out there, make sh*t look better and help their brands grow! I've been focusing mostly on my personal art recently but I have a few yoyo related graphics coming out, you'll see them when they drop. There are so many talented artists in our community, it's quite awesome and humbling to be a part of it. It's very obvious that yoyos and creativity come hand in hand.
So to all the new players out there, BE CREATIVE! Yo-Yos are Toys, have fun with them. Practice your skills constantly, build flow and persistence, avoid trends. EXPLORE and EXPERIMENT!
Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 5a may, duncan toys, Interview, paul escolar
box_ac13
August 5, 2013 By Steve Brown
Matt Fernandez just dropped a solid video, filmed at the 2013 Bay Area Classic in San Francisco, California. A great combination of contest and hanging-out footage, this clip really gives you a feel for this amazing event.
Featuring David Ung, Anthony Rojas, Harold Owens III, Elliot Jackson, Charles Haycock, Zach Gormley, Doc Pop, Paul Escolar, Palli, Jake Wiens, and Ky Zizan.
Filed Under: Players, Video Tagged With: Anthony Rojas, bay area classic, box, charles haycock, david ung, doc pop, Elliot Jackson, harold owens III, jake wiens, ky zizan, palli, paul escolar, video, Zach Gormley
The BAC Experience (NSFW)
June 5, 2013 By Gabriel Lozano
This video is recommended for audiences 18 years and older.
Youtube version here.
Because it is my regional contest, The Bay Area Classic is dear to my heart. Currently held in San Francisco, CA, the BAC always manages to bring together many of the world's greatest players.
Since I personally never compete, I am always a spectator on the sidelines. I don't mind this. In fact, I embrace it. Very rarely do you see me without my trusty camera. Since 1998, I have shot video at pretty much every yoyo event I've gone to. Some people have said that my work has documented the growth and change of yoyoing over the past 15 years. While I don't feel I'm worthy of such high praise, I do feel that my videos have made a large impact in the yoyo community. That is why when the BAC committee asked me if I was willing to help shoot freestyles for the event, I gladly accepted. This acceptance, however, came with a downside.
This year, BAC ran freestyles throughout the day (as opposed to the end of the day). While this made everything run much smoother, it meant that I was unable to film tricks for a clip video since I would be busy with freestyles all day. I was pretty bummed, as I really enjoy making clip videos. So, to get my "documenting fix" in, I decided to shoot photographs and maybe hope that I could grab some good video footage at the Official BAC BBQ on Sunday.
My initial video plan was to make a video that showed people hanging out at the BAC BBQ. I wanted to make a sequel to last year's BAC video, but this time focus on the players themselves, instead of their tricks. I wanted to show all of us hanging out, laughing, having a good time, making up and sharing tricks, and relaxing after a tough competition. This was the plan until I got home and realized that the photos I had taken all weekend showed a much more interesting story.
Over the course of the weekend, I shot approximately 2000 photos using a combination of my iPhone, Lumix LX7, and Sony NEX-5N using (primarily) a 8mm fisheye. If you were in my vicinity at any point this weekend, odds are I took your picture.
Inspired by Kohta's EYYC 2012 video, this BAC 2013 video shows a different side of the contest filled with friends, family, spirits, camaraderie, yoyoing, and kendama.
Filed Under: Video Tagged With: 2013, Alex Kato, Alex Smith, Andrew Daugherty, Ann Connolly, Anthony Rojas, bac, bay area classic, Ben McPhee, Boxthor, Boyd Seth, bryan figueroa, Caribou Chris, daniel dietz, Elliot Jackson, elliot ogawa, eric koloski, eric tran-ton, Erik Thatcher, featured, Francis, Gabriel Lozano, Gary Longoria, gentry stein, Graeme Steller, guy wright, Harold Owens, Harrison Lee, ibrahim rahman, Isaac Sams, jacob jensen, jake wiens, JD, Jeff Longoria, joseph harris, Josh Yee, JT Nickel, kendama, kieran cooper, kiya babzani, Kristi Lozano, luis enrique, Markmont., michael nakamura, Nathan Crissey, Nickie Cardano, nsfw, palli gudmundson, patrick mitchell, paul dang, paul escolar, paul han, paul kerbel, paul yath, rocky mountain, Sam Lopez, seth peterson, Stu Branoff, Trevor Moreno, tyler severance, Yoshi Mikamoto, Zach Gormley
YoYoRadio.net – Spencer Berry, Drew Tetz, & Paul Escolar (5.10)
May 8, 2013 By Steve Brown
The roster for YoYoRadio this weeks is pretty well stacked!
Spencer Berry talking about his new yo-yo, Walter; Drew Tetz talking about the special BarraDREWda from Duncan Toys and also the one and only Paul Escolar, legendary innovator from days of yore.
Listen live on Friday at 9:30 pm (EST) at YoYoRadio.net.
Filed Under: YoYoRadio Tagged With: drew tetz, internet radio, paul escolar, spencer berry, YoYoRadio
The 2013 California State YoYo Championships
April 4, 2013 By Gabriel Lozano
The California State Yo-Yo Championships is one of the larger yo-yo contests in the United States. Players travel from across the country to show off their amazing tricks and combos, hang out with friends, and compete for thousands of dollars in prize-money.
This video showcases several amazing yoyo (and kendama!) tricks that were filmed at the contest.
Music: Luv(sic) Part 5 featuring Shing02 by Nujabes
Vimeo version here.
Filed Under: Contests, Video Tagged With: Andrew Daugherty, Ann Connolly, Anthony Rojas, Boxthor, california state yoyo championships, Caribou Chris, Clint Armstrong, Donavon Bearrunner, eric koloski, featured, Gabriel Lozano, gentry stein, ibrahim rahman, jake wiens, James Reed, JT Nickel, kendama, Miles Gibson, Nickie Cardano, paul dang, paul escolar, Sam Lopez, sector y, seth peterson, tyler severance
Top 10 YoYo Players on Twitter
February 2, 2013 By Joe Mitchell
Everyone loves a Top Ten list, right? The kids go crazy for the Twitter these days, so I thought it was about time someone ranked the best yoyo players on Twitter. Because, you know, if it's not ranked, does it really exist? And besides, all the cool blogs have Top Ten lists, so here's ours!
10 – Ann Connolly – @annmayy
Best Recent Tweet: I woke up to bloody toes with bruises and remnants
of neon paint all over my body. I just @ Coral Bungalows http://instagr.am/p/Te94izG3Tj/
Ann's arguably the world's best known female yoyoer. She's been traveling quite a bit recently and her Twitter feed has taken a bit of
a travelog feel about it.
9 – Drew Tetz – @drewtetz
Best Recent Tweet: clippers died halfway through my haircut. i look like two-face, or an urban outfitters employee. please charge faster.
Drew's one of the good guys of yoyoing. He tweets about yoyoing, art, design, and his many creations including lasercut yoyos and kendamas.
8 – Paul Escolar – @paulescolar
Best Recent Tweet: My recycled plastic/wood composite desk chair just cracked. Sh*t just got real. going #GREEN is not for #FATTIES .
Runner Up: WOW, That was a Good Belch! I don't remember the last time i had one that was more than a mere Burp. #BOOGERWOULDBEPROUD
Fabulously funny Paul really rarely tweets about yoyos, but his tweets are funny and, yes, fabulous. And for good measure, follow him on Instagram for peeks at his sketchbook.
7 – Ed Haponik – @kinopah
Best Recent Tweet: more and more, i find the overall quality of my
original tricks to be inversely proportional to their length. http://vimeo.com/56491225
A school teacher by trade, Ed is almost poetic in his writing. OK, strike the 'almost', he IS poetic. He even avoids capital letters in a nod to poet e.e. cummings. Smart, thoughtful feed from a good guy. If
you're looking for a role model in yoyoing, you could do worse than Ed
Haponik. For example, Steve Brown. See? Definitely worse than Ed Haponik.
6 – Hiroyuki Suzuki – @HSJPN
Best Recent Tweet: Christopher Chia met Ludacris when he was shooting
ANGLAM Ver.CC Video! pic.twitter.com/uyp5B86s
Multi-time world 1A champion posits on his store, his yo-yos, mainly in Japanese, but sometimes in English.
5 – Takahiko Hasegawa @Taka_yoyo
From what I could find, Taka is the world's most followed yoyoer on
Twitter. (Keep in mind my study consisted of a bored Sunday afternoon
on the internet). That's the good news. The bad news is Take tweets solely in Japanese. Still, there's lots of pics of cool yoyos!
4 – Daniel Ickler – @ZammyIckler
Best Recent Tweet: I wish they made pizza on a stick, like how a corndog is like.
Runner Up: Merry Z-Mas and Zammy New Year to all! Sorry if as Zammy
Clause is delievering yoyos that he breaks a door..or chimney.
Endlessly entertaining feed, some of which was actually intended to be
funny! The personable Zammy will tweet about anything and everything..
.be forewarned, he's liable to put a 'z' in just about any word. In the immortal words of Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids – "And if you're not
careful, you may learn something before it's done!"
3 – Chris Mikulin – @clyw_canada
Best Recent Tweet: Oh ya FYI we're making a plastic return top!!! Lol … Soooo stoked 🙂
Chris has proven time and time again to be one of the sweetest guys in the industry, and his Twitter feed shows the results of that….a nearly endless stream of love and support from CLYW fans, peppered with news about CLYW releases and videos.
2- YoYoFactory – @yoyofactory
Best Recent Tweet: Just saw the @yoyoskills award list. Lol. Not sure who is kidding who. #undeniable
Ben McPhee's in charge of the Twitter feed at YoYoFactory and he's
quite a personality. The guy that everyone loves to hate weighs in on style, life and (occasionally) yoyoing.
1 – Steve Brown – @unklesteve
Best Recent Tweet: I'd love to write a sequel to The Vagina Monologues
made of stories from male audience members who didn't know what they
were going to see.
The never-shy Steve Brown is always entertaining and often polarizing.
He's been around long enough to know just about everyone in yoyoing and at some point has pissed off all of them.
Steve also maintains @365YoYoTricks (one new yoyo trick every day), @sbgallery (his online art gallery), @triplecrownyoyo (official Twitter account for the Triple Crown of YoYo contest), and @shinbonetweet (his company that handles digital sculpting and prototyping).
YoYoRadio – @YoYo_Radio
Shameless self promotion. The world's first internet radio show about
yoyoing called yoyoradio.net. Yes, there is a second internet radio show about yoyoing called yoyoradio.net. We were first. We are best.
TAKE THAT, copycat Japanese yo-yo radio!
Dishonorable Mention:
World Yo-Yo Contest – @wyyc
Best Recent Tweet: Testing the WYYC twitter feed.
Runner-Up: No, that's it. It's the biggest yo-yo contest in the world
, and their Twitter feed amounts to one tweet that's over two years old. And they wonder why people want the contest to move out of Orlando…
That's all, folks! And don't forget to follow @YoYoNewsBlog on Twitter for the latest updates on stories just like this one. How incredibly meta!
Filed Under: Players Tagged With: Ann Connolly, chris mikulin, clyw, daniel ickler, drew tetz, ed haponik, hiroyuki mickey suzuki, paul escolar, steve brown, takahiko hasegawa, top ten, twitter, world yoyo contest, yoyo, yoyo radio, yoyofactory, zammy