Leonid Nemchik recently joined the Aufheben yo-yo crew. This announcement video is fantastic! I love the tricks, editing, and videography.
Leonid Nemchik’s new yo-yo video
Yet Another Gondola (tutorial)
Hey y’all, I have a new tutorial for a trick called Yet Another Gondola. This trick is real nice to do after a Jade Whip or Iron Whip and I got a lot of requests for it. It even has a theme song!
If you like the theme song, you can download it from my Patreon page.
PopCast Yo-Yo Vlog: Parkour!
The newest episode of PopCast is all about a trick by Danyllo Barbiero called “Parkour”. In this video, I show my version of this slacky yo-yo trick.
New Thumbnails
Every now and then, I like to hire an artist to make some thumbnails for my videos. I really got a kick out of this new batch, so I thought I’d share them here.
These thumbnails are for the following videos:
- Whipped Cream tutorial
- Simply Mike learns Eeby Deeby
- An Oral History Of Slack Tricks with Josh Yee and Connor Scholten
- Orbital Decay tutorial
- Hanging Out With Abby Brodsky
I sort of like these thumbs, but I always wonder if they clash with the overall style and vibe of the show. What do you think?
PopCast: Skin The Gerbil
The newest episode of my PopCast yo-yo vlog is all about Skin The Gerbil. Skin The Gerbil is one of my most popular tricks, so I’m really excited to dedicate an entire episode to it. I talk about how the trick got its odd name, what is “alpha style”, and more yo-yo history. I hope you enjoy it!
Huge shout out to Clifton B. for editing this video, Noel von Joo for shooting it, an dall of my Patreon sponsors for making it possible.
I’m in the National Yo-Yo Hall of Fame
Over the weekend, I was inducted into the National Yo-Yo Hall of Fame! What an honor to be featured amongst so many other influential yo-yoers! I really appreciate it! Shout out to my fellow 2021 Hall of Fame inductees; Valerie Oliver and Andre Boulay.
Here is Dr Lucky’s video announcing the winners:
Lil Beeb Wooden Counterweight
Lil Beeb‘s are a wooden counterweights that are great for beginner freehand players. They are easy to install, durable, an ideal weight, and made in America. To use a Lil Beeb, simply open up your finger loop, slide the Beeb inside, then tighten the loop back up.
Lil Beebs are available on my store now in various colors.
“Do Something Cool” Yo-Yo Shirts on Threadless
I’ve just added a new shirt to my Threadless shop. This awesome design was illustrated by Ben Passmore and is based on my “Do Something Cool” video on TikTok. Ben and I are donating our portion of proceeds of this shirt to The Bail Project.
People always ask what my opinion of these Threadless shirts are, so I’ll just say that I love them. I’m a big fan. The prints are high quality and I love their “premium” tees the best. They are twice the cost, but holy crap are they comfortable. I have a lot more yo-yo designs over on my Threadless shop too, so check them out here.
PopCast: Simply Mike learns Eeby Deeby
This is a fun episode of PopCast where I hang out with Simply Mike, who does a yo-yo show called The Definitive Yoyo. Mike and talk about a newer trick called Eeby Deeby, which is inspired by my old Gondola trick. We also share some tips on Gondola too. I hope you enjoy!
Like I said, this video is pretty much just the two of us hanging out and chatting. If you’d like a shorter tutorial for Eeby Deeby, check out this video:
The origin of “Alpha” and “Beta” style yo-yoing
Connor Scholten, a yo-yo historian, recently asked me about the origin of the term “Alpha Style”, which I used to describe tricks like The Matrix and Skin The Gerbil. Here is my response:
As far as the terms go, I know I really loved the Matrix around that time, so I think Alpha and Beta just sounded techie to me. My trick “The Matrix” was maybe the first time I started thinking of the concept of what elements can be linked together and what can’t, so that kind of goes to prove that whole “this term sounds computery” origin story.
Doctor M. Popular
Alpha Style?
Some elements of yo-yo tricks can be linked together to form a single fluid chain of movement. This means allowing the movements of one element to carry momentum and flow into the next element without any pauses or redirections. This style of yo-yoing is called Alpha style. However, not all elements can be linked together. Some elements may necessitate a pause or a change in direction, which would bring the Alpha flow to an end. Some elements may require a pause or change in direction which would end the Alpha flow. The point between two elements that requires the yo-yo to change direction is called a Beta move.
The Matrix (seen above) can be put together almost entirely in Alpha Style, but Skin The Gerbil (below) is constructed of both Alpha and Beta moves.