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Air guitar has been around as long as rock ‘n’ roll and bedroom mirrors, but the Air Guitar World Championships are just a dozen years young, having started out at a 1996 music festival in Oulu, Finland. There are two rounds: one in which the contestant plays a song of his or her choosing, and one with a song picked by the audience. The atmospheric instrument of choice can be acoustic or electric, but only air guitar soloists are eligible; a backing band (real or air) is not allowed. Points are awarded for energy, realism and kickassitude: winning performances include simulacra of AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, Blur’s Song 2 and Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher. This year, American Craig “Hot Lixx Hulahan” Billmeier beat Japan’s two-time winner Ochi Yosuke with his version of the Toadies’ Plane Crash. But this sport is not for the weak: Billmeier broke a thumb (presumably on an air-guitar string) during a previous performance.