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.