January 2009 Archives

says my son
doesn't have an adult tooth 
  under one of his baby teeth.
He's got a baby foot. 

That's weird, right?

The joy of
owning your own
gumball machine

is that you never feel
cheated when a
gumball doesn't fall.

Also:
the gumballs.

he said, shadows
dancing over their heads
like bones,

throwing another
pile of metal in the fireplace
to use later as
warmers,

pressing refresh
on the numbers page
of his mobile device,

"if you listen closely
you can literally

hear
the economy
slowing down."

dirty gray, piled high like
handfuls of baby sheep
stacked and teetering.

the air
sharp with cotton candy
   drift

that leaps toward
the understanding part.

you can't hold it back.

a pillow
he's reaching for it now

to prop up all
those teetering stacks,

to ease his way into
a dream of sharp fluff.

In which Tobin talks about mechanical art and what makes for a great toy, and shares ruminations from a Muppet colloquium.

Welcome to the second part of this interview with toy inventor/Director of Exhibit Development Adam Tobin. If you haven't already, be sure to also check out Part One.

On the Web: The Exploratorium; Wordle preview

Cecil Vortex: I read that you also create mechanical art. What's that work like?

Adam Tobin: After I sold the first toy company, I had a few larger-scale projects I'd always wanted to pursue. The first thing I wanted to make was a clock that told time with rolling marbles. I'd wanted to make it since I was a kid. And I started making it and ended up making a few other contraption-type pieces. It was just such a joy for me, after years of designing things to be mass produced to say, "I'm just going to make one, and I'm not as concerned about how you can make 10,000 of these." In essence, they were very large one-of-a-kind toys.

CV: Do you still work on those projects?

In which Tobin talks about growing up as a child-inventor, the Exploratorium workflow, and the challenges of summoning an "ah-ha!" moment on a deadline.

Bio: Adam Tobin is the Director of Exhibit Development at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium. Before that he was an entrepreneur and an award-winning toy inventor whose creations included Frigits, Getups, Tub Tunes Water Flutes and Drums, and SuperFort. His creations are sold around the world and have been featured in New York Magazine, Discover Magazine, CBS Morning News, Fox News, CNN, Regis and Kelly Ripa, and the New York Times.

This is the first half of a two-part interview. Jump here for the second half.

On the Web: The Exploratorium; Wordle preview

Cecil Vortex: Do you remember your first invention?

Adam Tobin: I started as an electronics tinkerer. I made a burglar alarm to keep my sister out of my room. I took an old car radio that had been abandoned from one of the old family cars and got inside it and wired up quadraphonic sound in my bedroom. I began making wooden toys when I was young as well, like whirligig and rolling marble toys.

CV: Were you raised in a family of inventors, or was it something you got into on your own?

AT: I don't know where it came from. My father can't pick up a hammer.... For some reason, with me, I was just a tinkerer from the get-go.

CV: How did your parents respond?

I've fallen back in love with the piano. In particular, I can't stop playing one of my very favorite songs -- "Time After Time" by the unbeatable Cahn and Styne. Holy cow could those fellows write a tune. There are incredible versions of this out there by the likes of Sinatra and Chet Baker. A personal favorite is by Alex Chilton, off Cliches (highly recommended).

I took a crack at recording a cover of this beautiful song this evening. As with pretty much all the tracks on the Virtual LP, this is a relatively short number -- a smidge over 60 seconds. Just piano and vocals. I even resisted my usual urge to overtreat the voice. A fun Sunday night project. The house was warm, the way houses get when it's snowing outside. Only, no snow.... Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening,
-Cecil

time: 1:06 seconds; specs: 1.6M
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