Skyline is the Cheesiest, Most Predictable Movie EVAR!!

Hey all,

I made the poor decision to watch Skyline last night.  There was absolutely nothing special.  From the get-go, I knew the ending.  As the movie progressed, my predictions were confirmed, and the ending came and went seamlessly.

Skyline is a sci-fi thriller taking place in New York City.  One momentous day, an alien infestation storms the city and kidnaps people who, we later find out, fuel the aliens.  Classically, there are 4 survivors, who later meet-up with a couple more people in an apartment.  Following Jurassic Park, they get picked off one by one leaving only the two lovers alive.  It's all very quaint.

I leave out the "twist" at the end, because it's something you should be able to figure out ten minutes into the film. 

I suppose I'll say one good thing before giving out the verdict.  There were actually plenty of cinematic symbols I rather enjoyed.  The following lines may "spoil" the repugnant movie but I'm sure you'll live.  The tentacle-aliens live by feeding off of human brains.  The shape of the head looks suspiciously familiar to female genitalia.  The twist is that the creature lives when a brain is thrust into the structure and dies when organs are pulled out, as is shown in one of the last scenes.

Another profound symbol is that of water.  Most movies use water to show baptism or some type of change.  In this movie, it's surprising to see that the protagonist persistently wants to go to the harbor but never reaches that place (and he eventually gets harvested, oops, spoiler alert).  The aliens, on the other hand, never touch the water and use it only to dispose of carcasses.  It actually goes further.  When the protagonist is harvested, his brain travels through something resembling a water-filled fallopian tube.  Essentially, the protagonist reaches water, and that's where the end scene starts to get "interesting."

The cinematography wasn't anything special, and the sound mixing was decent.

With it's continuity goofs, and various plot flaws, this thriller is possible the most opiate film I've ever seen.  The ending was too story book and took ten minutes to execute when thirty seconds would have been sufficient.  Having a B-grade line of actors and a C-grade plot, I can only give this film a

C+

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Hey Oh PB

This is really just for me :)

Average of 5: 14.71
1. 14.69   B2 D B F R' D2 F' D' L2 F
2. (11.32)   D2 L2 B L' B' L R' B2 L' B'
3. (19.37)   D2 B F D2 R B F' R' D' B
4. 14.45   L U' B L' B2 U L' U' R L2
5. 15.01   R U F2 U2 R2 B2 U' B U' D'

This One's for Him

Hey all,

Haven't posted in a while due to school and other things, but I've gotten faster.

I've been getting sub 18 second averages for awhile now, but recently (yesterday and today), I've been getting sub 17 second averages.

Two new PB's today:
16.38 a5
16.84 a12

I've also recently broken my single a couple times.
9.91 lucky
11.73 lucky
12.93 lucky?
13.xx many times non lucky.

I hope to get a sub 15 second average of 5 by the end of the year.

This was more for me, but I thought I'd share with you anyway!

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

He's Gotten Faster

Hi all,

I've been cubing plenty the past month, and as many of you know, I have achieved sub 20.  A few days ago, I got a 16.66 second average of 5 with 17 being my high and 14 as my low.  That being said, today was sort of monumental - I achieved three 16.xx second solves.  The overall average of 12 was still only sub 20, but nonetheless, it felt good to get so many good times.

The surprising part of this is not that I all of a sudden learned more algorithms, but instead, I simply slowed down during F2L.  As I've said before, going slow and looking ahead is important - 3tps will get you sub 20.  However, I was not expecting 16's to pop up from going slow.

After my average was finished, I thought back about how I did that, and I realized two things.

1.  My "slow" turning was around 4 turns per second, and
2.  I went 3/4 speed on cross, 4 tps on F2L, and full speed (roughly 6 tps) on OLL and PLL.

A few days ago I timed each step of my solves -
1.  Cross - 1.5 seconds (3 seconds max)
2.  F2L - 8 seconds (11 seconds max)
3.  OLL - 2 seconds (2.5 seconds max)
4.  PLL - 2 seconds (3 seconds max)
This brings my times to between 13.5 - 19.5 seconds.
However, this excludes pauses.  The only place I pause is between each entire step, not each F2L pair.  And I usually get anything from 15 to 23, so you can see that I have around 3 seconds to improve on.

As a current goal - my goal is to get my maximum throwout time to be 20, and thus ALL my solves will be sub 20.  The average will naturally decrease from there, if my maximum is only 20.  Furthermore, I'm going to try to shoot for a 16 second average of 12 this week, and see how I do.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

His YouTube Channel is Now Complete!

Hi all,

I made a new YouTube video declaring what my channel is about.

I'll take the time to overview the video, but also declare my goals as a cuber on this blog (at least the cubing portion of the blog).

1. It's a series of videos/blogs to help people reach sub-20 on the Rubik's cube with CFOP Fridrich method

2.  I have not connected enough with my audience, so I have decided to attach a poll using Google Moderator on my YouTube Channel to get viewer suggestions.

3.  I am open to really any video idea, so long as it is not profane, etc, etc.

That's really about it!  Happy cubing, and

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Sub 20 is Easy/Update

Hi all,

I've finally reached sub 20 on the Rubik's cube, and it really wasn't very difficult. I actually achieved this milestone two days after my previous post, but I doubted myself and called it luck. However, by now, it's pretty much consistent with rare quirks of 25 second solves (insert facepalm emoticon here). At any rate, going slow really helped. At this point, I'm thinking of purchasing an F II and go for sub 15...just a thought.

Now for more housekeeping related updates.

My YouTube channel has been updated. I added the moderator module to get viewer input, and also a "Check out these other cubers" box which is still under construction. All in all, this is my way of saying thanks to all my viewers for sticking with me this long.

Also, expect the "Movies" tab of the blog to be updated in the next few days - I've watched some movies as of late that I haven't yet reviewed, so stay tuned.

That's all folks!

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Slow is Fast

Hi there.

Yes, I am here again with yet another cubing related post.

I've been practicing cubing lately (more so than before) and I've made a few breakthroughs.

1. 3x3 average of 5: 20.50 seconds
2. 3x3 average of 5: <20 seconds, but not recorded
3. 5x5 single: 3:12.49

 In case you didn't know (I don't think you do), the 20.50 is nearly 2 seconds faster than my last PB. Furthermore, I usually averaged around 24-25 seconds, and in one day I dropped that to 20-21.

 My secrets? Here's a few things that might help you:
 1. Take a break - as said in the Karate Kid - "Too much of something is bad for you"...or something like that.
 2. Slow is fast - Slowing down for F2L is essential as many people know, but it can be taken throughout the solve. A slower cross helps recognition for the first C/E pair, and smoother/slower turns are faster than choppy/fast turns that are prone to lock-ups
 3. Use a storebought - that's right, use the Rubik's brand cube. Reason? Using such a cube forces you to slow down (to eliminate lockups) and look ahead. It helps. TRY THIS!

 Just a note on turning speed - when I say "slow," I don't mean 1 turn per second. You should still aim for 3 turns per second to get sub-20. Additionally, 3 turns per second means ABSOLUTELY NO PAUSES, including the OLL and PLL stage. This should be even easier for two look, since you can predict the cases before finishing the previous insertion/algorithm etc.

I'll post more frequently and give some reviews. Lately, through my cubing escapades, I've noticed some things that may help you (if you are beginner/intermediate/kinda advanced).

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx