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[Neff]

The car ride

We had the idea to message Takeshi on the way and see if we could pick him up on our way 
He was not available but was sad he could not come.  Frowny face.



I brought some #2 plastic to donate to John M's cause.  Long ago he described the tedious process of cutting the plastic up into little bits, I marveled at his dedication.  I was pretty sure he had developed a better method by this time, but Daveid and I cut some of it up on the car ride over.  Daveid's method exponentially increased our production, but we were not able to cut all of it up.  Alan Gray's car now has bits of green plastic all over the floorboard.  Sorry Alan :/  I picked some up on the car ride home and packaged it up to send to the hall of fame...



Other bits and pieces of the car ride may come up later...

[Neff]

John M. in his natural habitat

Our first major stop was the University of Cincinnati Physics Department, to see the all-powerful and amazing man behind the curtain; John Marcus.  He took us to several rooms, each one filled with items to stare at; spin top related and otherwise, with pipes and dials and knobs and lights and large strange tanks and indiators and intimidating equipment.  It took a while to notice there was #2 plastic and/or aluminum in some sort of state pretty much everywhere you looked.  Everything was amazing and it was hard to remember to take pictures.  Even his chalkboard was intensely interesting to me.



I think Daveid may have more pictures of the John M. experience.  WaxyAxle joined us after a while to help us cope with taking it all in.  We did not do much top spinning there but Alan and Daveid and I each picked out our fabled John M HDPE top; a long awaited and somewhat surreal moment for me.  I also pounced at the chance to buy a John M. 5" Jumbo HDPE spin top!  He is selling some 4" and 5" to fund the purchase of a piece of equipment.  (There are special conditions to get one of these, I will leave it to John to outline this as he wishes).  It is an extraordinary top, perfect in every way.




I just can't say enough about John Marcus.  He has Wizard-like skills with spin top fabrication, and as we all saw in person the following day, equally mind boggling skill with a spin top... no matter the size 

[Neff]

The Event!


We got to Mike's house very late but he was wide awake and greeted us at the car.  I was dead tired so I don't remember much until the next morning when we went out for some breakfast.  Tasty!



Mike's event did not start untill later that afternoon so the plan was to spin tops for most of the day next to Mike's church.  When we arrived we were not the first ones there.  Can you find the top spinner in this picture?



We set up shop and soon the Hickersons arrived and Kirk and his wife shortly after.  It was a blast.  I broke Alan's top somehow.  It was fixable but no longer fit for spinning until repairs were made.  Sorry Alan :/  I don't think anybody else was able to throw it... an excellent source of entertainment to watch people try   I got some video while we were outside the church, I hope to make a compilation video soon.



We ate some lunch just before Mike's festival started.  We met the mayor and watched as folks began to show up in good numbers.  The event itself is a carefully organized spin top battle between kids grouped in teams of three.  We were in a shady grassy area adjacent to the action where we served as sort of a side show to the main event.  Other than that we were not much help to Mike during the contest, but it was difficult to find a way to help since Mike has done this for 14 years in a row and had it all running quite smoothly.  I think I got some video of a typical battle.

[Daveid]

i really hope chris has better footage than this, i know he got some of it, but i don't think he got the beginning, i was just taking some footage with my nintendo 3ds, i'm going to learn (from online instructions) how to convert my 3ds footage to a format capable of being uploaded to youtube that maintains the 3d-ness soas it'd be capable of being viewed in 3d if you have an ability to view 3d (youtube aparently has quite a bit of 3d material) but until then here's some really low quality but still rediculously amazing fantastic... well, mr. neff picked a good word when he said wizard, so here's some wizardry...

[poptop]

WOW, that is just crazy impressive...wizardry indeed!  Thanks!

[Daveid]

yeah, it makes me think, well.... you know those two threads that are permanently at the top of the message board? "how to post pictures on this forum" and "registration of new members"... we really need a third one titled "why johnm is the man" and we could just fill it with pictures and videos.

[Daveid]

and before i forget, this was the greatest adventure i've had in... well... since the last time i went to world's ... so... since '07... and it's easily up there on the same level of those adventures.... maybe exceeding... but i'd prefer not to designate which was better... Mike is the best host in the world, Johnm is easily worth the time, the fact that Alan was driving and i didn't have to do anything, how did i get on this list of people to pick up? this is a dream, the whole experience is fantastic.

THANK YOU to Mike, Alan, Mr. and Mrs. Neff, and all of Miamisburg, Ohio for this fantastic weekend.

[ta0]

Thanks for sharing those pictures.  It lets me at least taste some of the adventure. 

Wow! What a regeneration run with a 10" top!  Just the idea of switching Figaro to fixed tip makes me sweat.  Really, I did not think you could do those Mexican style regens with a 10" top, at least not while looking so relaxed. Ha, I think John also included Spinning Spider there 

A few questions:

Is iTopSpin.com John's computer home page? 
What everyday materials did daveid used in his tops?
Will John's tops come with Neff's string?
What happens if you fill a top with liquid helium before throwing it?
What did you have to leave behind (e.g. body growths, soiled clothes) in the Hall of Fame?

[the Earl of Whirl]

I got to see johnm with his magical 10 inch top skills right before worlds.  I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  It was so amazing I could not even talk about it.  I decided to let him disclose his wizardry in his own time and his own place.  I am so glad it came out the way it did.

Guess why I will never look at paper clips the same again?

We had a big first at our festival.  A girl threw up!  We talked about what if it had been one of the all-stars from out of town.  I did have a glass container with me.  Scooping it up and putting it in the Hall of Fame would have made for some great conversation!

I believe there are many more secrets about johnm that he has yet (or will never) reveal and that includes his home page, what is in some of those closets at the University of Cincinnati, what is in his closets at home and what new amazing tricks he has up his sleeve.

Thanks for the great pictures and write up, Neff.  And I love Daveid's video and his laugh!

[Daveid]

OH! I forgot!... Thank you to Mrs. Hout!!

mike's house is totally awesome.

[ta0]

Two more questions:

Did Neff get a special "soda" HDPE top? (from the photograph it looks like yes).

The Ball Spinner written on the blackboard has nothing to do with spintops, doesn't it?

[lincolnrick]

Just watched davidids' video of johnm, pardon me for a moment while I scrape my jaw off the floor!!

Looked like a great,fun time for everyone, thanks for the pics, keep 'em coming.

[Dick Stohr]

Mike, you are really going to have to work hard to top this in 2014.  I want to be there!!!!!!!!!!!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

You are right, Dick!  This was one special moment for top spinning in Miamisburg.  My wife did not quite see it the same way I did.  She knew it was special but I don't think she realized how special.  For example, the last several days she has been asking me about all those finger tops on the back deck.  When was I going to pick them up?  She doesn't go out there.  She just sees them from the window and sees a mess.  I see them from the window and have fun memories!  It has been enjoyable to walk through them and think back on all the good times. 

Just a few minutes ago I finally picked them up.  Dawn will be happy.  I have some  melancholy as I have to turn my thoughts to the future and start dreaming of what Topland could be in another year.  If the Hickerson's come again with all their energy, that will certainly influence my thoughts and preparations!

For the record, I put over 200 Toysmith finger spinners in that pinata.  Most escaped unharmed but 29 of them were broken.  They will now find their way to a special container where they can spend the coming years as martyrs for the cause.  They join Salvador's top, light bulbs from a world's battle, a wooden top from the first spinnings in the basement of the University of Cincinnati physics department and many other obscure items.

[Neff]

Did Neff get a special "soda" HDPE top? (from the photograph it looks like yes).

No I just put my top and the BK in the picture for scale.  I saw a John M. sodatop in his office and for a moment thought it was mine

Here is a picture of the Topyata the morning after: