Floating this one in honor of the 40th anniversary of Rubik's Cube.
Treasure of the Rubbermaids 12: Gleaming the Cube
The on-going discoveries of pricelFloating this one in honor of the 40th anniversary of Rubik's Cube.
Treasure of the Rubbermaids 12: Gleaming the Cube
The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.
The ‘80s were a dark time. With the Pac Man Fever epidemic sickening millions while the Soviets were invading in Red Dawn and the introduction of New Coke, a devastated nation desperately needed something to cheer it up. Fortunately, the Rubik’s Cube was there to distract us from the horrors of Howard the Duck.
My recent reading of Ready Player One gave me the urge to seek out more nostalgia porn* so it seemed like a good time to look through this little book when I came across it while digging through the tombs of the Rubbermaids.
*Copyright 2011 - Flannery
What’s that you say? Five stars for a book on solving the Rubik’s Cube seems a bit much? Well, allow me to explain my ranking. I give this book five stars because it’s one of the few things I’ve bought in my life that delivered exactly what it promised: It taught me how to solve the Rubik’s Cube.
I find the maths and the geometric thingies pretty challenging so it’s kind of amazing that I was able to read this little book back in the dark days when I couldn’t sleep for fear of Freddy Kruger and actually memorized all the moves. Back in my prime, I could solve one in two or three minutes. I had a whole routine where I’d casually pick up a cube laying around (and they were everywhere back then) and start playing with it while talking with the owner. After I solved it, I’d look down and say, “Oh, I fixed this for you.” Many is the person I tricked into thinking I was actually smart back then with that move. Of course, now I'm old and forgotten how to do it, but you should have seen me solve that cube back in the day!
And it was all the book. So if my dumb ass could use it and get that good at solving it, I’d rate it as a complete success. Of course, now you can just Google How To Solve Rubik’s Cube and get more instructions than you can shake a stick at, including You Tube videos. But back then I was just learning how to use the tape drive on a Commodore 64 so I had to make do with learning things from books and talking to people. Like a cave man.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to cut the sleeves off a sweatshirt and go watch Beverly Hills Cop....more
I’ve played just enough golf to appreciate what a difficult and evil game it is, and while I’ll sometimes watch the last round of a major championshipI’ve played just enough golf to appreciate what a difficult and evil game it is, and while I’ll sometimes watch the last round of a major championship, I don‘t spend a lot of time following it. Thanks to middle-age and sand volleyball leaving me with one good shoulder and one good knee, I think it’s unlikely that I’ll be playing 18 holes again anytime soon. Yet I bought a book about improving your golf swing.
Actually, I wanted the book because Tom Watson is one of the sports gods of Kansas City and buying this got me a ticket to see a Q&A session with Watson hosted by my favorite sports writer, Joe Posnanski. (Check out his book about Buck O’Neil The Soul of Baseball if you’re looking for something inspiring.)
Watson was one of the leading players in the world in the late ‘70s into the ‘80s. He won eight majors and dozens of other tournaments, and he shocked the world by very nearly winning a British Open at the age of 60 a couple of years ago.
Pro golfers fascinate me because it is such a tricky bitch of game and it takes an insane amount of control over one’s body to play at that level. Looking through this book and listening to Watson talk about the game was an interesting experience because it was a chance to watch someone who was once the best in the world at what he did break down his craft, and you don’t get many opportunities to see something like that.
During the Q&A, Watson stood up several times to demonstrate something in a swing he was talking about, and he showed the issues he had with his own swing that ended his dominance of the sport. He could also mimic other golfers and do accurate imitations of their good and bad habits. It was eye opening to realize the level of detail that Watson could see in a swing and how he could tell you exactly how each small change in the mechanics would impact the flight of the ball.
Watson also showed flashes of the competitive nature it takes to rise to the top of a sport. He expressed outright scorn and contempt for ranking lists saying that the only thing that made him respect another golfer was the ability to win consistently. Posnanski told a funny story about Watson’s competitive streak. They both sponsor youth baseball teams in KC for inner city children. Posnanski had stopped by Watson’s office to discuss something else with him, and they had a very pleasant chat. As he was leaving, Posananski casually remarked that their two teams were playing each other that week. Without hesitating a moment and being completely serious, Watson said, “We will DESTROY you!”
And how’s the book? Looks good to me, but I was a shitty golfer so take that with a grain of salt. Every page features large photos with graphics of Watson describing the do’s and don’ts. It’s comprehensive with dozens of pages just about the proper grip alone. It’s also got a nifty feature with tags for smart phones on some pages so that you can download an app to watch videos of Watson’s demonstrations. Watson said it’s focused towards helping break the bad habits of all the hackers he’s seen so I think it’d be helpful to any of us who have regularly watched a ball slice into the woods while using all our best profanity....more
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