I got mah cubies!

So, my cubes came in. If you follow my other blog, you'll know that.

So go there.

As a basic recap, I have cubes. On the agenda for the next week or so, I plan to merge my blogs, to do a serious update (because my blog needs one), and perhaps get some more cubing in. I had two pretty important tests due today, so the past weekend has been cuhrazy. I do have another test of lamost equal magnitude due next Tuesday, so I'll probably be pretty busy between now and then too, but hopefully I'll have time to focus on blogging/cubing. I also have an unboxing video for my new cubes that I should probably post.

So yeah. Stay tuned, ladies and gents.

Hecks to the yes.

Just saying, this is a beautiful thing:

So, they finally finished all of their shenanigans and have given me the money for the book.

I'm placing the cube order as we speak.

:D

Grr...

Hey guys!

Not much to day as far as cubing goes.

Amazon STILL has not decided that they do in fact have my textbook. It was scanned as being delivered 2:00 am on Friday, which means that, unless UPS is lying, they've had it for nearly 120 hours, or 5 full days. Granted, they probably don't do much on Sundays, and hey, I'll even give them Saturday (who doesn't need some days off here and there?). But really guys, what the hell did you do Friday? Monday? Tuesday? I mean, really, I'm not even asking that you have appraised it already (although you totally could have; I'm sure the department it's sent to exists solely to do just that), but just for you, Amazon, to let me know that you're processing it. I'm getting both pretty frustrated and apprehensive about this, the last thing I want is my book valued at $78 dollars to have gotten lost in your bull.

So, clearly, I don't have the money in my Amazon account yet, and so have not been able to order the cubes I mentioned earlier.

As far as cubing goes, I really haven't had much time to cube lately. But, I have actually done some cubing during my breaks on campus, and so far no one has kicked sand in my face and called me a dork, so hopefully that continues.

Also, my other cubes like trying to eat the stickers off of my V-5. Apparently, the stickers' adhesive is not as good as it once was, because more than once, this has happened:

Usually, the culprit is my LanLan 4x4, but this time it was my QJ Mini 3x3. Sometimes it's an orange V-5 sticker, it's been a black one before, and this time it's clearly my red ones. There will be another cube, one of which's stickers is slightly coming up. I guess the corner of that slides under the V-5 stickers (and always with the sticky sides facing each other), and then I have a cube with V-5 stickers stuffed guiltily in its mouth. Like above.

Moral of the story? I need to place a CubeSmith order soon.

Til next time

I know, I know...

Hey guys!

So it's legit been a week since I've posted.

I'm sorry.

As much as I don't know how you've made it these last 168 hours or so without any new content from me (unless you've been checking out my other blog, which is only slightly more recent), I'm glad you survived.

There's really not much to say now, I just wanted you guys to know I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. I will do my absolute best to post tomorrow; I have a break in the middle of the day and I'm not sure that I'll rally have anything to do in that time, so hopefully you'll be hearing from me.

But, just in case you were wondering, this is one of my favorite puzzles right now:

Both because of the kind of puzzle it is and because of the brand of puzzle. V-cubes are really good quality (despite what the chipped, play-doh looking stickers suggest), and 5x5's are just fun in general. They're a significant enough puzzle that it takes satisfying amount of time to solve (about 4 minutes, as opposed to the 40 seconds for a 3x3), but much more practical than my 15 minute solves for the 7x7. Plus, this one is so much fun to solve because its such a great quality cube.

So, that's it for now. Sorry for the kind of lame update, but it's better than nothing.

P.S. Amazon, although having received my textbook, have yet to appraise the book and deposit the money into my account, so I have yet to place the cube order mentioned in the last post.

Another Cube Order

Yet again, I've fiddled with the display settings on the blog. Hopefully you like them. I've added a couple polls, they should be displaying to the right as we speak. Please answer them. :D. I've also updated my About Me section, added the picture at the top right, and have changed the font and tweaked the width settings. Let me know what you think.

Also, I started a WordPress blog. I'm going to try to get a feel for it, maybe blog there for a while (don't worry, if I blog there about cubes, I'll have identical posts here). Maybe, I'll have a personal blog there! I've been feeling like I needed one. So, maybe I'll start a personal blog there, and then perhaps I'll like one or the other (Blogger or Wordpress) a good deal more and will decide to move to one exclusively. We'll just have to see.

So, the main point of this post is to talk the next cube order I'm going to place! I'll be mailing my linear algebra book from last semester to Amazon soon (hopefully tomorrow), and with the credit I'll get from that I plan to get a few cubes. Yay!

So, let's take a look that cubes I'll be getting.

The first cube I'll talk about is this one. It's an Eastsheen brand 2x2, and, as you can clearly, annoyingly see, it's from Sara's Toy Store. It's also white, which makes me happy: I really prefer white cubes. The colors pop more, whereas with black cubes everything looks dark and muddled. I just wish companies would stop putting white stickers on white cubes; while sometimes it's nifty, black on white is gorgeous. Hell, replace yellow with white if you really want white stickers, but really, keep black on there.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about this one. My brother's new Eastsheen 2x2 is kinda tight, but it's also not broken in yet. I've heard they're pretty good once broken in. Also, I have but one, single 2x2 (unless you count my Rubik's Jr., which sucks).

The next one I'll mention is also an Eastsheen, and also, obviously, from Sara's. This one, though, is a 4x4, and is also white (just in case you can read but are blind to pictures). I'm pretty stoked about this one, too. My brother's new 4x4 is nice, and, while it still needs some breaking in, is almost better than any of my 4x4's. If not already.

Eastsheens are also just known for being pretty high-quality puzzles for their price. I've been getting more into bigger puzzles lately, which has increased my desire for variety as well as better quality puzzles. I like having the same puzzle from a few different manufacturers, because they're always at least slightly different. They feel different to turn, and also to solve. So, this will provide me with some 4x4 variety as well as with a better quality 4x4.

Next, I'm finishing off the set and getting the Eastsheen 5x5. They only make 2x2s, 4x4s, and 5x5s (does anyone else find it odd that they don't offer 3x3s?), and so this way I'll have all of them. Plus, there's the same variety factor. I've only got 2 5x5s (my V-Cube and my new pillowed QJ), and so this will give me a third, different one. I don't expect it to be better than my V-5, but I think it'll be pretty nice and I'm just interested in their's.

The next puzzle I'm getting is called the 'Out-of-Focus-4x4.' Just kidding, it's just a crappy picture. It's the YJ 4x4. I have the YJ 3x3, as well as the Axis cube and the Fisher cube by them. I know, I know, knock-offs. I honestly did not know what a knock-off was or how to identify them when I ordered those, I was just looking for some interesting puzzles. But, oh well.

 YJ puzzles tend to have a light, airy feel to them, seem to have dry, but nearly resistance-free, turning, and, once lubed with silicone, turn pretty fast. I'm pretty stoked about it, and it will satisfy the aforementioned need for variety.

Next up sort of goes along with the previous one: the YJ 5x5. I'm pretty excited for this one as well, because of many of the same reasons above.

It surely wont be as good as my V-5, and it could be as good as, slightly better than, or worse than my Eastsheen 5x5. Hopefully it will have the same proficiency at corner-cutting that my YJ 3x3 has, which is a bit but not a lot.

Another thing to note about this puzzle is that it's small. It's the same size as the YJ 4x4, with a side length of 6 cm. I wonder how that's going to feel to solve.

 Finally, this one has the potential to be the best of all of the puzzles I'll be getting in this shipment. It's the DaYan + mf8 4x4. Both of those companies are pretty respected, as far as quality goes, and I'm excited to try out the fruit of their combined efforts.

This is also just ranked as a pretty sweet 4x4 in its own right, regardless of the reputation of the manufacturers. I've seen more people raving about the Maru 4x4 and the X-Cube 4x4, but I've seen my fair share of positive praise for this one.

It's funny, it's going to stand out from my others in this order in a few ways. First, it's supposedly going to be the best one I'm getting. Second, it's the only black one. And third, it's the only one that isn't part of a pair or grouping (Eastsheen 2x2, 4x4, 5x5; YJ 4x4, 5x5).

All in all, I'm really excited. Writing this post motivated me to really try to get my book out tomorrow so that I can get these cubes sooner. I can't wait to try them all out.

Also, as far as a status update goes, I know I still need to post the corresponding posts for the two Tutorials on my channel right now, and I know I need to get a Master Skewb tutorial up. It's just hard to find a solid chunk of free time between work and school, but I promise, I haven't forgotten about it.

So check out this video, which is of another one of Oskar van Deventer's awesome puzzles, and don't forget to vote in the polls to the right and leave any feedback on the blog layout, the post content, or any other thoughts or opinions in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

Pillows?

Hey guys!

So, today I'm going to tell you about my most recent cube order. Wont that be fun?

First, there will be an unboxing video (I just need to edit it), and when there is, it will be on my YouTube channel. Keep your pants on. I'm busy.

So, on to the cubes.

This order was mostly initiated by my brother. Once upon a time, he had, each an Eastsheen, a 2x2 and a 4x4. Both of these, however, quickly were no more. His 2x2 was in his pocket, or something, and he fell on it. I don't believe that that broke it, just caused some of the pieces to pop out and disassemble. However, in the process of trying to reassemble it, one of the core arms broke. It may or may not have cracked in the fall. His 4x4, however, didn't break; he was simply solving it outside, somehow got it to pop, and lost one of the tiny internal pieces in the grass. Either way, within a week, neither cube was functional.

So, upon being paid for a job caring for my neighbors pets, he decided he wanted to order replacements, which is understandable. But, since he doesn't have an account on Amazon, I decided that I couldn't order him cubes and not get some for myself. Duh.

He also decided to get a 3x3x1, like mine, as well as an Eastsheen Double 2x2 (his is white: this is, I believe, the only instance of the colors being switched. He tends to favor black cubes; I, white. But, my double 2x2 is black, and his is white), and finally, a QJ Pyraminx Crystal. This is the first time he has ever owned a type of puzzle that I don't (he'll have different brands than me, but never a different kind of puzzle). And, he actually can solve almost the whole thing by himself. Within a day of opening it, he had all but the last layer solved. It eventually thwarted him, but still, I was impressed.

So, anyways, the two cubes I got were two QJ pillowed cubes, the 4x4 and 5x5. I do already have a couple 4x4's and a 5x5, and I did not get them because I thought that they would be better (although I have heard some good reviews of the QJ Mini 4x4), but rather, because I thought that having a pillowed 4x4 and 5x5 would be awesome. And, I'm right:
 

I love them. They're so cool looking. Something about them bulging out, as if all that coolness was itching to free itself, just makes them visually striking. And, they feel good to hold. I'll do a few solves on the 4x4, then switch to my cubic one, and even though the quality of the LanLan is greater, I definitely prefer the feeling of the pillowed one.

Speaking of quality, they're pretty good. The 4x4 turns smoothly, especially the 2-layer turns. It does have some friction when you're going to turn a layer perpendicular to one you just turned; it's as if the inner pieces that have to slide around each other have sharp edges, and very tight tolerances. If you've ever turned a void cube, you know what I'm talking about. It's like that. But, it is fun to turn, and, while it's not as good as my LanLan, it's still fun to solve, mostly because of the curve.

The 5x5, however...Hmm.

The funness of the curved shape is still there, and it's not a bad quality turn. Each layer turns pretty smoothly and easily, especially the two layer turns. However, because of the way it's pillowed, the outer layer turns are a little picky. Let me explain.

On a V-7, the edge and corner cublets are larger than the others. This is partially done for the same reason it's pillowed in the first place: to avoid having the corner cublets fall off when the top layer is turned 45 degrees. I do believe that there's another reason, though. Pillowing it like this, making the edges and corners larger cublets, helps them from being tiny. Think about the corner of a square. If you rounded the edges slightly, the way you would to pillow a cube, you remove some of the square. The curves start on the straight lines that intersect to form the corner of the square, but then curve inwards, meeting each other on the bisector of the corner, but pulled in some from where the corner is. So, by making the corners and edges from larger original cublets, the finished, pillowed cublets are closer to the same size as the regular cublets than they would be if you started with regular cublets and then shaved them down into a pillowed shape. You following me so far?

On the QJ's, however, they chose the latter; they pillowed standard sized cublets.

In this picture, you can see how the corners on the V-7 are about the same size as the center cublets, because they chose bigger 'original' cublets. The QJ, however, used normal 'original' cublets, and thus the corners are about a quarter of the size of the center cublets.

I can't speak for the 4x4, but my brother has a normal QJ 5x5, and if you hold it next to my pillowed on, the distance between opposite centers is the same, but then it pillows down. It's the same shape you'd have if you took a normal cube, peeled off all the stickers, pillowed it yourself with a sander or Dremel, and then restickered it. Because of this, the corner cublets are noticeably smaller. On the 4x4, this presents no issue. On the 5x5, though, the outer layers are positively tiny. Not only does this make turning feel a little odd, because the layers aren't really the same size, but it also means that the relatively smaller pieces in the outer layer have a tendency to get caught on each other and lock up.

I realize that that may sound odd. I agree that it doesn't make sense that modifying the outer surfaces of the cublets should make the internals catch more, but that's the only thing I can think of. Again, my brother's normal 5x5 is the same size, and because of this, I feel like they're basically the same puzzle; the internals should be identical, with them just using molds that differed with regards to the shape of the outer cublets. So, the only difference I can think of is that mine's pillowed. His doesn't lock up this way.

It could be a result of breaking in and lubrication. His has been broken in, through use and Vaseline, and is lubricated. But I don't remember his locking up this much. I plan on lubricating them and breaking them in with Vaseline, and I feel like that will help the tension on the 4x4, as well as the catchiness of the 5x5. My brother's is pretty good. We'll just have to see.

So, that's about it for now. All in all, I really like solving them, and hopefully breaking in and lubricating will help.

Thanks for reading, and check this out. It's pillowed, but it's an 11x11 (notice the larger edge pieces!).

An Algorithm in Time

Hey guys!

So, the other day I did some pretty sweet timed solves. And by 'some,' I mean that I did 72 back-to-back solves of 3x3's. Wow.

My main goal was, like last time, to both see which of my cubes is fastest, as well as to see how fast I was in general. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

So, the set-up was this: I solved each cube 12 times, again using CubeTimer. I solved my Sheng-En first, and also last. I wanted to see if solving it so much would affect me in either of two ways, or not at all. I thought that, maybe, the second set of 12 would be faster because I had warmed up more. Or, that doing that many solves would sort of make me get a little worn-out, and would be slower. These would be good things to know for competitions. I will provide all 12 solve times, with the best and worst for each set in green and red, respectively. The average listed will be of the 10 remaining solve times after the best and worst are dropped, as is done in competition. So, here are the results:

Sheng-En:

46.24

36.52
37.81
37.18
38.11
38.36
45.76
40.21

33.85

40.37
37.73
38.08
Average: 39.01

 

LanLan
40.03
42.96
35.46
36.00
32.69

45.49

39.64
39.82
44.34

27.03

39.69
37.39

Average: 38.85

YJ
35.98
39.41
37.01
42.55
40.73
35.73

33.66

43.09
38.54
37.59
46.12

47.11

Average: 39.68

Mini QJ
45.94
31.73
37.08
35.12
40.52
35.63
46.42

31.35

48.04

48.06

40.49
46.85

Average: 40.78

Rubik's
43.44
35.77
33.82
43.75
42.53
43.21
41.80
36.10
41.79

48.82

47.03
31.61

Average: 40.92

Sheng-En Round II
41.08
39.03

31.56

34.56
42.37
41.54

44.15

42.00
39.42
34.12
34.53
41.78

Average: 39.04




Lots of numbers. Lots and lots. But, some interesting results. I did have a slightly slower solve the second round with my F-II, but the difference is negligible (in fact, when I tabulate the average of all 12 solves, the second round is faster than the first).

The comparisons are a bit different and odd this time, with my fastest being....drumroll please....my LanLan! What? Yup. It had both the fastest average of all 5 cubes, as well as (and those of you that are observant may have noticed) I actually set my new personal best with it! That's crazy...because I would have thought that the F-II would have been best. It's known as being a really fast speedcube, and it feels like it should be the better cube. Really. It takes almost no effort to turn, it cuts corners like mad, and it just feels quick. Granted, it pops a helluva lot, but when it doesn't, it's fast. The Lanlan, however, seems like a good, solid, stable cube, but it doesn't really feel like the fastest. But, you can't really argue. Not only did it have the best average, but it had the best single time out of these and the best single time I've yet to record. So, yeah. Wowzers.

I'm pretty happy with these times though. I got a new personal best, which is nice. But, nicer is the fact that I am now officially sub-40 as an average. This is really, really exciting to me.

I'd like to get to have my average between 30 and 35, although the closer to thirty the better, at which point I'm going to begin the monumental task of trying to learn the Fridrich method. I figure that if I can get to that speed with just the beginners method, once I learn Fridrich I'll be really, really fast.

So, that's going to sum it up for this post. I have more (read: LOTS), but I'm going to save that for another post. I'm now officially sub-40, I have a 27 second solve under my belt (all with beginners method), and my LanLan is my fastest cube (without lubing or adjusting). So yeah.

Til next time!

Sean's Post Part I

Hey guys!

It's been sooooo long since I posted, yeah? Haha. About 7.5 hours.

I'm posting again because I have free time for a bit, because I'm in a bloggy mood, and because, now that I've specifically mentioned that one of the posts I've been planning was for Sean, I felt that I needed to go ahead and get the post up before he read that so he'd still be surprised.

Before that, though, I have a bit of an update. I changed the design of my blog! It's not super different, but I like it a little more. It feels more serious. While I liked the cubic background on the last one, mostly because it related to the subject matter of the blog, I didn't really like the font. It was all caps, and kinda blocky, and it just felt childish. I feel like, all in all, the blog has a slightly more serious look to it. I also widened the vertical band that the posts go in, which is awesome, because it felt super narrow before. There was enough room for like, five words before it carried onto the next line, and there was huge amounts of empty space at the sides. Completely unnecessary. So, that's done. I may even widen it more than it is now, because there's still some room. I'd have widened it all the way before, if I could; for some reason, as I adjusted the width of the right-hand column, it updated the preview, but it wouldn't for the overall width, so I had to apply it and exit the editor. I also decided to keep the black background for a few reasons, the first being that I tend to like looking at light text on a dark background. Sometimes a white screen can feel like a lightbulb, and isn't fun to look at for periods of time. Plus, this way I'm saving you electricity/battery life! That's right, switching from white to black background knocks power consumption a good deal. Finally, whenever I post pictures of puzzles, this'll make the colors pop more.

Okay, so, onto the actual post, the bit that's directed at you. That's right, You. Although this will apply to anyone who's beginning to cube.

I realize that on our skype convo, when I tried to explain some tips and tricks to improve your 3x3 time, it was probably a bit hard to follow and remember, so I'm gonna link you to some videos that you can watch again and again, all of which are about improving your time. You'll be sub 1 before you know it. There are some tricks that I use that I don't think are represented here, so hopefully you'll remember those, but if not, I can show you again.

The first two are MeMyselfAndPi's two videos on 'shortcuts' for the 3x3. There's Part 1 and Part 2. I have watched both of these, and most of the ideas he puts forward I'm aware of and use, although there are a few that had never occurred to me (like, when getting the fake cross, reversing the algorithm to get from the little l to the cross, rather than progressing the line, then the cross), and that I still haven't implemented, although that one specifically I'm going to try to.

The next video is by Dan Brown, of pogobat. This is the guy who's video I originally learned to solve the cube from, and he makes great videos. He's really good at teaching and laying it out in an easy to understand manner, and I recommend him. But, this is his video on how to get a bit faster. Granted, one of the things he recommends is lubing the cube, which you've already done, but hopefully you'll be able to find something that does help you a bit.

Finally, I'm going to recommend this one. This guy is one of the best cubers I follow. While, this video is part one in his series, I don't feel like hunting down all of them, and from this one you can get to the others. Granted, this one isn't a video on how to get faster, but rather a video on how to solve it, but there maybe some bits in there that you don't use that could come in handy. It can never hurt to see other people explain it, or see other ways to do it.

Which brings me to another point in this goal. I highly recommend learning as many other methods as possible. Ever. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that other methods will most likely make you think about the cube differently. This will greatly improve one's overall grasp and understanding of the cube, and make everything on the cube more intuitive. You will just understand how everything is related better be more in-tune with it. It will get you more used to looking at the cube in different ways, to thinking about the cube in different ways, and to turning the cube in different ways. The more sets of moves, ways of turning, and kinds of algorithms you can get your hands used to, the better. The second is that it can give you some alternate algorithms. There are literally limitless algorithms that are possible, and a great many that do the same thing but in different ways (two separate algorithms may both flip the same to corners clockwise, but one may disturb the other corners while the other effects the edges, or one may be longer but consist of easier turns and therefore be faster). I know that how I solve the cube is the beginners method augmented with an algo from edges first, and sometimes I use an algo from corners first, if I notice the case in time. My brother, in fact, for a while (and may still) used a hybrid method which was about evenly beginners and edges first.

Eventually, there are some really advanced methods you should learn, like the Petrus method and the idolized Fridrich method, but for now I recommend watching the aforementioned videos (fazrulz1 also has a great series on how to get faster at the cube, and is literally one of the fastest in the world. Just look him up on YT), as well as this video on edges first (he's not the best teacher, its kinda confusing, but I can help explain it), and looking up a corners first method (I can't seem to find the one I used right now and am pressed for time, but I still have my original notes and can show you if none of the videos you find are good).

And, unfortunately, the last tip for now on how to improve is to PRACTICE! :D. Hopefully these will help, and hopefully this wasn't boring but rather something that you'll like.

Update

So, it's been about a week since I updated.

My bad.

I've been pretty darn busy. School started this week, and I've been working at two stores at 40+ hours this week, so I've had literally no free time. At all. I haven't even had much time to cube. Yeah, it's that bad.

But, there WILL be more posts this weekend. I promise. I have tomorrow off, and a huge chunk of free time in the afternoon. I have a post I'm going to be making for this guy, as well as a post accompanying my most recent video. Plus I want to post about my current times (which are a good deal better than the last time post). And I need to post because I have some new cubes in the mail... So yeah, I really need to get on that. And that doesn't include any of the videos I've currently got queued up.

But, I just wanted to post to let you guys know that I'm not dead, nor have I forgotten about this blog. I have to go now, because I have to work, but enjoy this. I really like Pi's creativeness when it comes to videos.

New Cubes!

So, it's been a while since I've updated, but it's been a little bit crazy lately. What with organizing school, my car dying, and getting a new one, I haven't had as much time to post things. Have no fear, though; there have been massive amounts of cubing going on. I have really improved my times. On CubeTimer, I've improved my best to 33.10 seconds, with 14 under 40 seconds. As far as 4x4 goes, I've got a best of 2:25.50, with more than half of them sub 3, and my average for the last five solves 2:35.83. Two and a half minutes for a 4x4. That's no where near competitive, but it feels pretty fast for me, considering I use the beginner reduction method. For the 5x5, my best is 4:21.37, with an average of 4:49.36.

However, in the last few days, I have done some other things. Over the past few nights, I've disassembled my 7x7, and sprayed it down with silicone (in stages). However, when I reassembled it, it felt really gunky and stiff. So, right now it's disassembled again and is sitting in front of a fan that's blasting it on full, and when I reassemble it I'm going to wipe it all out and hope that the excess lubricant is removed, because if I ruined my $40 puzzle I'mma be pissed.

In other news, I got my new cube order! It's pretty sweet, I'm really excited about the puzzles.

The first one I'll talk about is my LanLan Octahedron. This thing is beast. I thought that it would solve like a normal 4x4, and I guess it functions mechanically as one, but it's so much more difficult. To start, you have to know how to think about it. Looking straight at any vertex, the four cublets directly around that are the center 4 pieces per 'face'. The two trapezoidal  ones to the left, the right, above, and below those are the edge pairs (they are the edge pieces of the actual edges of the octahedron). Then, the little tiny triangles in the middle of each face are akin to corners. However, that's not that bad; that would just make it similar to my UFO octahedron. The thing is, as you can see, in it's solved state, each center 2x2 group is not one solid color, but in fact four. This is where the difficulty is. When solving a normal 4x4, you can clearly see which 2x2 center groups and which 2x1 edge groups are solved. This is not the case for this demonic puzzle. With enough thought, you can figure that it's 'solved', but when you see it it doesn't jump out as solved, and the thought that's involved to figure out when something is solved adds a considerable amount of time and frustration to solving it, with 6 center 2x2 groups and 12 edge 2x1 groups. Another problem is that any two layer turn on a solved puzzle, as you can see with a bit of mental effort, will change the orientation of the colors with each other without making the cube unsolved, so there's no real color scheme. So, when solving the puzzle, you have to come up with a color scheme, remember the relationship of the colors to each other, and then bear that in mind when solving the puzzle. And you have to make sure everything stays in these nearly unrecognizable relationships. And did I mention the odd parity you can get?

Suffice it to say that I have yet to figure out how to solve this puzzle, but I'm hoping I can get to it eventually.

Next, I received a Black LanLan 4x4. This was not for me, however. My brother and I both started with Rubik's Brand 4x4's. They both still work, but are vastly different in quality. It's kind of odd; we bought them both at about the same time, but we must have gotten different versions of them. Mine has these weird little track rails which are on the edge pieces and are missing from his. Mine, however, doesn't really have many problems, aside from that those rails can cause some misalignment problems if you turn it sloppily. Still, it's not a bad cube, just not a very good one either. His, however, is awful. It's super loose, yet still manages to lock up, over-turns, and all in all is just so frustrating to try to solve that it's honestly not fun.


Ages ago, he broke one of the center pieces on mine. The face-bit broke off from the anchor stalk (which I have since fixed). So, I bought a new 4x4, and decided to get a LanLan, because I figured that it would probably be better than the Rubik's ones we'd had. I was right. It uses the same ball core structure, does not have rails, but is better than either of our Rubik's ones by far. It's super smooth, no one can believe that I've not lubricated it, and its really nice. Lately I have been getting frustrated with it, because it tends to 'glide' and overturn a bit, getting itself misaligned, but it's still pretty good. I'd rank his Rubik's 4x4 a 3 of ten, mine a 5, and my LanLan a 7.

So, as I was ordering my cubes, I saw that LanLan 4x4's were on sale for about $6. So, I decided that I could spare that much and get him a new 4x4. Plus, I had the selfish motivation of knowing that it would allow us to be able to face off with 4x4's, which we hadn't been able to do for a while. With my Lanlan and his Rubik's, it just wasn't even close to fair.

He likes it a lot. Clearly, it's better than his Rubik's one, but it's a pretty good cube in general. It turns really well, and you can get some pretty fast solves on it.

The interesting thing about it is how it compares to my LanLan one. Mine's white, and the plastic feels hard and smooth when you're turning it. Like, it's got a very glossy shine to it, and it when it turns it feels like you'd expect something shiny like that to turn. His, however, has a more dry, lighter feel when it turns. The plastic has more of a matte finish on it, and there's this light, dry, almost scraping sound when you turn it. It doesn't sound bad, though; that's not what I mean. It's very similar to how my Cube4You 3x3x7 turns, if that helps. It also tends to have must less of that glidey feel to it, which is probably related. I don't know if these differences are because his is newer or because his is black, but I honestly like his a bit more than mine. I'd probably rank it a 7.5 of ten.

Next up is my, again a LanLan, new 3x3x3. I didn't buy this because I really needed another 3x3 (although it can never hurt), nor because I really expected it to be better than my F-II, but simply because I really tend to like LanLan puzzles (my 2x2, 4x4, new 4x4 Ocahedron, Void Cube, Master Skewb, and probably some others are all LanLan), and I was interested to see their take on a 3x3. I was hoping it would be similar in quality to my Master Skewb or Void Cube; solid construction, really smooth turning, and just a good feeling puzzle. In that regard, I'm slightly (but only slightly) disappointed. It's got a rough, dry feel to the turns, and while that will probably dissipate once it's broken in, it's kind of annoying now. It also feels like it's almost going to lock up sometimes, mostly during corner cutting. But, it definitely feels very solid when using it, and it does feel well constructed. It's just not as smooth as I'd have liked. Still, I am happy with it, and I would certainly recommend it, especially to a beginning cuber (I'm looking at you, bro), because you're definitely not going to pop this cube, ever, and it does turn as well as, if not better than, a Rubik's brand, which is what most people start with. After some lubrication, it'll certainly outperform store bought cubes. It also cuts corners better than Rubik's. It's just a very solid puzzle, and so would be a good stepping stone between inferior store bought cubes like the Rubik's and higher tech cubes that are more likely to pop, like my F-II (cubers who are working on trying to get better from just starting out would probably be a bit too rough with an F-II and pop it. I still do, when I don't focus on using less force with it). It's also a cube I wouldn't be afraid to hand to a kid or to a noncuber without fear that they'd damage it at all. While it's slightly worse than the high expectations that I had for it, it's a really good cube.

Lastly, onto my favorite of the bunch; my Cube4You 3x3x4. This puzzle is gorgeous. The stickers are bright, the white is white, and it just looks very eye-catching because of its non-cubic shape. It also just feels great to hold. I don't know what it is, but there's something about the odd shape of it that makes it so much fun to whip around and turn. It's just tons and tons of fun to play with. For real.

It was a little loose out of the box, which I'd heard from other cubers, so I was expecting it. It wasn't unsolvable, but it definitely popped quite a bit. I tightened up all the tensions, and it's a lot tighter now. I mean, it's still loose compared to other cubes, but it's a lot tighter than it was. I may still adjust the tensions a little more, just because it has popped a couple times since I tightened it. One benefit to it being so loose, though, is that it cuts corners like nobody's business. Holding it the way it is in the photo, it'll cut if you misalign either the top or the top two layers. If you hold it sideways (so that it's longest from left to right), it'll cut a one layer U turn with a one or two layer R turn. And it'll cut a lot; almost a full cublet no matter how you're doing it. I've never had a puzzle cut that well. It makes me super excited to get a Cube4You 3x3.

In any event, I absolutely love this puzzle. The construction's great, even though it's loose at first, because that's easily remediable. It cuts amazingly (duh), and its just so, so much fun to solve.

That about wraps up this (ridiculously long) post. I've got a few more queued up for the next couple days, though, along with at least two or three vids I'd like to get posted by this weekend. So, there'll be a blog for each of those, along with at least one other blog that wont have a video along with it. So I have a lot to do. :D. This post is super long, though, so I wanted to go ahead and wrap it up instead of tacking on other things.

Hopefully this was enjoyable, and if not, oh well.

P.S. This is the next cuboid I've got my eyes on. I'd like to get the C4Y Cubic 3x3x5 shown to the right, but I also want to make one that's fully proportional. This will be the first real, involved puzzle build/mod, so I hope it goes well.

Update

So, there's not much to say right now, but I figured that I'd post something.

I'm planning on skyping with my friend tonight. It's going to cubetacular. He's planning on taking apart his new 3x3 and lubing it. I need to reassemble my Rubik's Jr., but I may actually lube it tonight, I'm thinking about making a trip to Lowes to get some CRC or Jig-A-Loo. I don't really like my Jr., but it fell apart on me last night, so is disassembled, and I need to test out the lube. So yeah. I also may try to re-glue the piece from my 3x3x2 Pie. We'll see.

More later. As per usual, check this out. It's not Oskar, but it's amazing. It looks to be of really, really high quality, which is awesome for a custom made puzzle, and the functionality itself is amazing. It's the face-turning tetrahedron version of a 9x9 (note, a pyraminx is a vertex turning tetrahedron). It's just gorgeous.

Timing is Everything

So, this will probably be boring, but I decided that I wanted to see how much my times had dropped since I haven't really been focusing on my cubing speed for the last few months.

Before, my best recorded time was 35 seconds, with my average about 44. So, not bad overall, but it could be better. But, in the last few months, I've been focusing more on variety rather than speed. Especially with the 3x3. I've been solving 3x3's, but in the form of the Mirror Blocks Cube, the Octahedron UFO, and the Axis and Fisher Cubes. I know that my 5x5 and 7x7 (and perhaps 4x4) times have improved in the last few weeks, mostly because I know that I have been doing them a lot.

Regardless, I was interested in seeing two things: the first being how bad my 3x3 times were now, and the second being which of my cubes was fastest.

So, to start this off, let me explain the process. I used:

1. My Rubik's Brand 3x3. Store-bought, owned longest (and therefore broken in longest), but not the best rep for speedcubing. Lubed with Vaseline (I know, I know).
2. My YJ 3x3 White. My second 3x3, this one's interesting. It has a very light, airy feel, but right now is a bit gunky feeling because of the Vaseline, so it doesn't work as well as it used to.
3. My mini QJ 3x3 White. I have three of these, but I figured that they should all turn about the same, so I only used one. These have a very loose, fast feel to them, but I'm not ever really worried that they're going to pop.
4. My ShengEn F-II White. This is my highest quality cube, and it turns like a dream. Cuts corners amazingly, even reverse cuts a bit, requires next to no force to turn, it's just awesome in general. Only downside, it tends to pop if you're overly rough with it.

So, the set up for the timing was as follows: I used CubeTimer as the timing source. You use the space bar as a start and stop, and it even offers and randomly generated scramble algorithm. For each puzzle, I allowed myself a warm-up solve to try to get used to the feel of that puzzle.

YJ 3x3x3:

00:45.26

01:04.63

00:54.79

00:53.09

00:50.14

Average: 00:53.58

Best: 00:45.26

QJ Mini 3x3x3:

00:50.21

00:44.30

00:44.30

00:59.57

00:41.80

Average: 00:48.04

Best: 00:41.80

Rubik's Brand 3x3x3

00:52.13

00:54.42

00:51.93

00:49.81

00:45.15

Average 00:50.69

Best: 00:45.15

Sheng-En FII

 

00:39.23

00:55.92

00:55.59

00:45.71

00:51.03

Average: 00:49.49

Best: 00:39.23

So, this yielded some interesting results. Going by averages, my fastest is the QJ, with the Sheng-En next, the Rubik's after that, and the YJ being the slowest.

However, going by fastest times, my Sheng-En is the fastest, followed by the QJ, then the Rubik's and then (barely behind it) the YJ. But, something interesting happened... my warm-up solve of the Rubik's brand 3x3 (arguably the one that would be considered the worst brand for speed cubing of all of these) was 39.42 seconds. Not quite faster than the Sheng-En's best time, but negligibly close. Granted, it was a lucky solve, but still, that shows that with my Rubik's broken in the way it is, it's pretty damn fast (it's main downfall is that it can't cut corners very well, but I'm thinking about a mod to fix that).

Another note I want to make is that I feel like these figures reflect poorly on my Sheng-En. I know it got the fastest time, but the averages are awful, and I feel like each time I tried it I got clumsier. So, I don't think they're very representative.

Finally, I'd like to rate them myself.

1. The Sheng-En. The key to this puzzle is getting used to the slight amount of force required, and not letting the adrenaline of solving fast make you get sloppy and rough. If you stay calm and controlled with your turns, this cube will effortlessly get you some sweet times.
2. The mini QJ. These little puzzles are damn fast. They're loose, though, but I've never popped a cublet. It's so forgiving that it will accept really sloppy, quick turns. This is the exact opposite of the Sheng-En; for that, you need to be calm and controlled for the fastest times, for this, you can be quick and dirty.
3. The Rubik's brand. This is close behind the other two, and I feel like once you get used to the feel of this one, it can be pretty sweet. Mine turns really smoothly, and it's pretty easy to turn. The downside is that there's practically no corner cutting, so it feels kinda tight. Still, once you get used to that, it's definitely respectable.
4. The loser is the YJ. It's been a while since I lubed it, so I don't remember exactly how it felt, but I know it was a good deal smoother and lighter. Once I take the Vaseline out it should return to normal, or even smoother than it used to be, but right now it just feels like it's full of honey

I'm also pretty happy with my times. They're not quite as good as they used to be, but I returned to being pretty close again after 30 or so solves. Pretty sweet.

That's all for tonight. Sorry if this ended up being another long post, and I'm sure that it was boring at parts, but hopefully the pictures helped. If not, hopefully this will help. Damn, he's fast.

Alright, well, goodnight, and thanks for reading!

Master Skewb and the News (Sorry Huey)

So, I realize that I'm getting this out a bit late. I do apologize. I posted this video reviewing the Master Skewb a few days ago, but I'm only now getting the post done. Whoops.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep that video, though... the quality isn't that great, I keep looking off camera, and the cuts are not quite as smooth as they could be. Oh well. My motivation for getting it posted quickly rather than waiting to be able to make a better video was because I really just wanted to get my immediate thoughts and responses on the puzzle. There really isn't all that much on the Master Skewb on YouTube, and most of it is really just unboxing videos and videos displaying the puzzle; not many people have actual reviews on it (and even less have tutorials, but more on that later! :D). So, I decided I wanted to get my immediate, accurate thoughts on it. So, I recorded that video literally seconds after solving it for the third time.

It's actually a really fun puzzle. I'm not as into the Skewb family as I am into face-turning cubes (not that I dislike the Skewb, I just don't really have that many), but I had a lot of fun solving it. It's basically analogous to a normal Skewb as such: the 2x2 is to the 3x3 as the Skewb is to the Master Skewb. That, however, refers to operation only. The solving is not quite like that. The method that I used (which is the only method I was able to find at all, and isn't a video) is basically three steps. The first is to solve the centers and the corners as a normal Skewb. Step 2 uses two algs to cycle three edges either clockwise or counterclockwise. Step 3 uses two other algs to cycle three inner corners either clockwise or counterclockwise. And that's it! Although, it's a good deal more challenging than that makes it sound, simply because you often have to do other turns to make it work, and manipulate the various pieces in various ways. You can view these instructions here.

Anyways, I really do enjoy it. I think with time I'll get more used to the puzzle and it wont seem as challenging or take as long to solve it, and I'm pretty sure I'll figure out faster and more efficient ways to employ Jake's algs. I do plan on making a tutorial video for solving the Master Skewb soon, only because it's so underrepresented on YouTube. Don't worry; I'll be giving full credit for the method to Jake Rueth.

In other cubing related news, I have a new shipment of cubes on the way! It will most likely ship tomorrow. because I ordered it this morning, and for the last few hours it has said that it was "Shipping Soon," so it'll probably ship out tomorrow morning. I got the Free Shipping option, which says it should get here between next Monday and next Thursday, but it's only shipping from Oregon, and I often get orders sooner than it estimates. Anyway, though, I'm sure no one cares about that crap, you just want to know what I'm getting!

1.     I'm getting Lanlan 3x3 cube in white. I like Lanlan puzzles a lot, my 4x4 is pretty good, my 2x2 seems pretty good as well, and I've really been impressed with the quality of the 3x3x2 Pie and the Master Skewb, all of which are Lanlan. I also tend to like white puzzles more, and the Lanlan white puzzles seem to be of really good quality. The plastic just has a really nice, shiny finish, it seems like it's pretty tough (rather than being soft and easily scratched), and it turns really smoothly and firmly. The stickers are pretty vibrant too. The only problem is the damn adhesive! But, I don't feel like getting into it now. I talk about it enough in my video.

2.     I'm also getting a Lanlan 4x4 octahedron, in white of course. From my understanding, this puzzle should solve pretty much like a 4x4, perhaps with a few odd problems. But, it looks really cool, and it looks like the kind of puzzle that will be impressive to non-cubers when they see me solving it.

3.     The third thing I'm getting is a Cube4You 3x3x4. I have the C4Y 3x3x7, and while I dislike that it's not proportional (which I'll go further into at some other time), the quality of the cube is really, really good. I was very impressed with it; it turns smoothly and with low friction, it feels solid and well built, and it just is a great puzzle all around (as far as quality goes; while I think the type of puzzle is also great, I'm specifically referring to puzzle quality). It is a little loud, but oh well. And, as I do have the 3x3x1, the 3x3x2, a few 3x3x3's, and then the 3x3x7 (out of order, I know), I figured the 3x3x4 should be the next one. It is also the last one I'll be able to buy that is fully proportional (the C4Y 3x3x5 is cubic, like my 3x3x7, and even the WitEden 3x3x6 I don't believe is fully proportional).


4.     Finally, I'm also getting a black Lanlan 4x4, for my brother. I have a Lanlan 4x4, as mentioned, and I really like it. He only has a Rubik's 4x4, and while my Rubik's Revenge is honestly not that bad, his is atrocious. And, the black Lanlan puzzle was a mere $5 and some change. So, I figured that for that price it was a gesture that I couldn't really pass up.

So, that about wraps it up (and this is a really, really long post. Wowzers.). The last thing I want to briefly talk about is that I've started converting my friends! One of my Starbucks friends was messing with my cubes one day (putting them into the checkerboard patterns), she gradually hinted that she'd be interested in solving them, so, a few hours later, I had taught her. The next day, she went out and bought herself one. :D. Also, this awesome guy, who's one of my best friends, has been bitten with the bug. He's always seemed interested in my puzzles and such, and so, as a going away present, I bought him his own Cube, and last night I taught him how to solve it. He seems really into it, and I really think he'll take off with it and become a pretty decent cuber. :D.

So, that's it for now. Really. No more. Honest. I'm going to put in the pictures that you've seen above (because they're not there yet), put in the link to my Master Skewb review video (because right now I've just realized that I've forgotten to actually link it), and then do a final proofread.

But, thanks for reading, and have a great one!

Also, here's a fun link to another one of Oskar van Deventer's ridiculously awesome puzzles. Fo rizzle.

QJ 3x3x2 Super Square-1

Hello, all.

So, I've just posted my second video to YouTube, the first real one about the actual topic of the channel. In it, I review the titular puzzle, also referred to as a 2-layer Super Square-1.

I think the video is pretty decent. The video quality of my camera leaves much to be desired. It's just very grainy, and is really low res. It also seems to not be able to handle movement very well. But, it's what I've got for now. I think next time I'll see if there's any way that I can manipulate the video quality post-recording to improve it. I also wondered if the file-type I converted it into could perhaps be the culprit (because YT wouldn't let me upload an iMovie project file directly). If you can offer any suggestions, let me know? I've also thought about possibly trying to make a rig that could hold my iPhone and that would attach to my tripod, because my iPhone seems to take pretty good pictures and videos. I'll have to see. Regardless, until then I'm stuck with my Nikon CoolPix camera, so it'll have to do. Hopefully I can work on the quality of the video content enough that the less than perfect video quality will be made up for. The last thing I'll say about that is that I do realize that I need to work on the camera angle; there are a few times where the cube slips a little too much off-screen, and in general it's too close of a viewing angle because there's barely enough room for the cube as is.

Other than that, I feel like I tackled it well. I talked about the quality of the puzzle, the quality of the stickers, and gave a basic bit of information on how solving it compares to other cubes in the Square-1 family. I will be posting another video later (but perhaps not later today) that will be an actual tutorial on how to solve it. It very well may be tomorrow, though, because I'm off of work and my girlfriend is busy all day. We'll see.

But that's that for now. If, after watching the video, you have any comments or suggestions for me, especially one's I've not already identified, or alternate ideas about what I've already identified, you can leave them as comments here or on the video.

And, as always, thanks for reading.

So, It's Been a While...

So, clearly it's been a while since I've posted on this blog (with the only current post being the original one). I have since finished the computer course that I started this as an assignment for, so from now on it's up to me to update it. Speaking of that course, I wonder if any of the people will ever see this blog again, after that assignment. Hmm...

Regardless, I'm writing to say that I'm going to be hopefully updating more frequently. I had planned on possibly posting a new video to the channel mentioned in the previous post today (this sentence has a plethora of 'p's... did anyone else perhaps perceive their popularity?), but obviously I did not get around to it. But, I think I may tomorrow. I spent some time this morning learning how to use iMovie, and while I'm a long way away from knowing all of its ins and outs, I feel like the ability to edit out thinking pauses and misspeaks will help a good deal in making the videos more watchable. I think tomorrow I'll post a video on the 3x3x2 Super Square-1 I mentioned last post, again because no one has posted a tutorial on it, or even a review, so far as I can tell. Perhaps after that I'll post one on how to solve the Master Skewb, because that one has been even harder to find videos on, and the only tutorial I've found has been text, not video, and I feel that video is the best, and really only merit-possessing, method for learning how to solve puzzles.

I think how this is going to work is that I'll perhaps post on the blog to accompany the video posts; a review video would have a complementary blog post that would perhaps be more in depth, for example. Who knows. We'll just have to wait and see, wont we?

Until then, have a great night, and enjoy checking out the craziness that is the biggest cube yet.

Initiation

I'm rather hungry.


But that's beside the point. The reason you're reading this is because you've stumbled upon this blog. Cool beans.


I'm making this blog for an assignment in my computer class, although I've been meaning to compose this blog for a while, with the intent of it being an accompaniment to the new YouTube channel I've created.


The purpose of these two outlets will revolve around Rubik's Cubes, and other twisty puzzles.

3x3x3 Cube

There will most likely be reviews, perhaps a few tutorials (I've just recently gotten a few new puzzles for which I don't believe there exist tutorials), maybe solve videos, and just an overall discussion about Cubing. I've got a pilot video up on my YouTube channel, you can view it here.


In the next few days, I plan to upload a review of my new Mf8 Square-1 cube, as well as my new (and relatively unknown) QJ 3x3x2 Super Square-1. I'd also like to hopefully get a tutorial up there for that puzzle, simply because none exist on YouTube. It's not a particularly difficult puzzle, merely requiring an understanding of the central circular mechanism and a knowledge of how to solve the standard Square-1.


Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you like the blog!