John Higby, Yo-Yo Ninja

Hey Dudes,

I got my latest issue of ESPN the Magazine, which I heart when I get the chance to read it and they mentioned John Higby as a "lesser-known champ of 2008". I said to myself, "Dex, you sorry sonuvagun... This is the kind of thing the Dudes would want to know about!"

First a sick ass video of people yo-yoing while listening to Cold War Kids. Yo-yo is so indie hip.

Yo-Yo Television Episode Seven- DOG BITE! from John Higby on Vimeo.

I love watching people who are really good at yo-yo. I myself am nothing more than an amateur. Or as the French would say, amateur. John Higby is nothing of the sort. John Higby is, by my untrained eye, a yo-yo gong fu master. Here's a video of him at the World Yo-Yo Contest:

Not only that, but he's an artist. For my birthday, I want one of these:

via www.johnhigby.com

That right there is a custom painted by John and his wife Rebecca. It's $10 and I think that one of you or one of our readers should buy me one. Since we don't know when one of our readers will come back to the site, I insist that one of you buy it for me. Purchase the yo-yo here.

Finally, the best for last, seriously... A third video and fourth italicized word to introduce John and Rebecca Higby on the Discovery Channel's Time Warp show. Seriously, watch this one even if you skipped the other ones because you didn't trust me before.

That's ridiculous sick, right? Did you see the part where he lights the match with a yo-yo while the guy's holding the match with his teeth? I try and think of things that I can light matches with and all that comes to mind are actual match lighting friction surfaces and things that are already on fire.

Finally, John and his wife are also bloggers, which brings me endless joy. In my imagination, I daydream about an alternative universe where I am a sultan or maybe a prince of a fantastical land where I am fed grapes and the Higbys perform their elaborate yo-yo tricks when I call them forth and later, they write posts about their performances and how impressed they always are with my palace on their yo-yo blog.