Rubik's Remember

[qqwref]

Blindfold solving is impressive, but anyone can solve (and even blindfold solve) a cube if they just learn how and practice a bit, and cheating to make it look like you have a skill that you don't seems wrong to me. If you pretend to blindfold solve, and someone finds out you were looking through the blindfold, they will probably begin to think that ALL blindfold solves are fake. So this trick could actually cause damage to cubing...

On the other hand, I really respect John George (and Stryker) for having legitimately put some time in and learned to solve the cube relatively quickly without using tricks or gimmicks.


I would like to see the "Rubik Remembered" guy doing his trick to a bunch of cubers. Why? Because I want to see his face after someone puts paper between his head and the cube

 

[KevinK]

Blindfold solving is impressive, but anyone can solve (and even blindfold solve) a cube if they just learn how and practice a bit, and cheating to make it look like you have a skill that you don't seems wrong to me. If you pretend to blindfold solve, and someone finds out you were looking through the blindfold, they will probably begin to think that ALL blindfold solves are fake. So this trick could actually cause damage to cubing...

On the other hand, I really respect John George (and Stryker) for having legitimately put some time in and learned to solve the cube relatively quickly without using tricks or gimmicks.


I would like to see the "Rubik Remembered" guy doing his trick to a bunch of cubers. Why? Because I want to see his face after someone puts paper between his head and the cube

Magic is all about pretending that you have a skill that you truly don't have. David Blaine can't really levitate, but is it wrong for him to pretend that he can? David practiced very hard to make it look like he could levitate, and he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Because Mark Elsdon practiced very hard to make it look like he can do something that most people (maybe him, too) think is impossible, he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Mark has practiced enough that no lay person can detect the trickery that he is using. The people in the preview that saw Mark solve the cube blindfolded know in the back of their minds that Mark used trickery. They think that it is probably possible to solve a cube blindfolded, but they know that Mark does magic. When Mark leaves, they aren't questioning how it's possible to memorize a Rubik's Cube, but how it's possible to know where each of the colors are when you can't see them. Instead of thinking that Mark peeks from the blindfold, they might think that there is brail on the cube, though all of their theories are proven wrong when they examine the cube, leaving them with no explanation for what happened.

I found your last comment very rude. Mark probably has no idea that it's possible to truly solve a cube blindfolded. He probably thinks that everyone thinks that BLD is impossible, and he wants to entertain someone by doing something that he thinks that you think is impossible. If he was performing Houdini's famous milk can escape, would you walk on stage and pull open the curtain so that everyone can see how it's done? Mark Elsdon would never and has never peeked from a blindfold at a competition. If you don't find his talent impressive, you don't have to let him know that. If non-cubers are watching him pretend to BLD in an effort to entertain, they would be more entertained by seeing him successfully solve it than seeing someone showing that he can't truly do it. Mark tries fake the impossible, not fake the possible. If everyone knew that with a little practice, anyone can do a BLD, Mark wouldn't be doing this trick.

The difference between Mark Elsdon and Matyas Kuti is that Mark says upfront by saying that he is a magician that nothing he does is real. Matyas says that everything he does is real. Mark lies to entertain; Matyas lies to win.

 

[Swordsman Kirby]

Blindfold solving is impressive, but anyone can solve (and even blindfold solve) a cube if they just learn how and practice a bit,

Yeah, I mean, even qq can solve the cube blindfolded and he hates it.

I would like to see the "Rubik Remembered" guy doing his trick to a bunch of cubers. Why? Because I want to see his face after someone puts paper between his head and the cube

Hehehehehe.

 

[pjk]

Great, a book on how to "cheat" at blindfold cubing.

Magic is all about pretending that you have a skill that you truly don't have. David Blaine can't really levitate, but is it wrong for him to pretend that he can? David practiced very hard to make it look like he could levitate, and he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill.

There is a big difference. Solving the cube blindfolded is something that is definitely possible, and we know that for sure. Levitating is something that is most likely not possible, hence why magic comes in. Magic is deceiving the mind to make you believe something else. However, when people start using "magic" to do a cube BLD, many of us will take it as an insult, since many people spend countless hours practicing how to legitimately do it. By posting videos and publishing books on how to essentially fake something like that tends to convince the general public that it isn't true, while it all reality the world record legitimately is under 60 seconds (faster than this guy can do it with "magic"!).

I found your last comment very rude. Mark probably has no idea that it's possible to truly solve a cube blindfolded.

That isn't our problem. If he did the research, he would find that you can solve it blindfolded. As I mentioned above, many of us will find it offensive that he is playing something off as a "magic" trick and essentially faking it, when many of us here spend countless hours practicing solving the cube blindfolded, legitimately. I see him (and all others who fake it) ruining the reputation of blindfold cubing, and I don't like that.

 

[KevinK]

Great, a book on how to "cheat" at blindfold cubing.

Magic is all about pretending that you have a skill that you truly don't have. David Blaine can't really levitate, but is it wrong for him to pretend that he can? David practiced very hard to make it look like he could levitate, and he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill.

There is a big difference. Solving the cube blindfolded is something that is definitely possible, and we know that for sure. Levitating is something that is most likely not possible, hence why magic comes in. Magic is deceiving the mind to make you believe something else. However, when people start using "magic" to do a cube BLD, many of us will take it as an insult, since many people spend countless hours practicing how to legitimately do it. By posting videos and publishing books on how to essentially fake something like that tends to convince the general public that it isn't true, while it all reality the world record legitimately is under 60 seconds (faster than this guy can do it with "magic"!).

I found your last comment very rude. Mark probably has no idea that it's possible to truly solve a cube blindfolded.

That isn't our problem. If he did the research, he would find that you can solve it blindfolded. As I mentioned above, many of us will find it offensive that he is playing something off as a "magic" trick and essentially faking it, when many of us here spend countless hours practicing solving the cube blindfolded, legitimately.

First of all, although it's not important, it's a DVD, not a book. Secondly, the pupose of the DVD isn't to substitute memory skill. It's just a way of doing something that seems impossible. The purpose of competitive BLD is to genuinely do something as fast as possible. The purpose of "Rubik Remembered" is to teach magicians a trick so that they can entertain an audience. You also seem to say that passing a fake BLD off as magic is bad. In the middle of a mind-reading act, I could do a legit BLD, pass it off as more of my magic, and have my spectators more amazed than if I did my BLD separately. With good showmanship, I can make it look like I can just barely remember something but succeed in the end. From just doing a normal BLD, I can make a lay person say "Wow," but that's about it. By interacting with the spectator, I can make a spectator do what the spectators did in the "Rubik Remembered" trailer. Teaching how to do a basic solve and how to peek from a blindfold is just a way of keeping it easy so that magicians can have enough time to practice false deals, riffle passes, and other sleights.

Mark Elsdon never claimed that he can solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. He knows how to pretend to, and he has said that. I've spent many hours practicing to be able to legitimately solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded since I was 11. I know that the reward of opening your eyes to see a solved cube is amazing. I also know the reward of seeing someone's reaction to seeing something that they think is impossible, even when you use trickery. That is something that very few people on this forum can relate to.

Whenever I tell a magician who uses or has used trickery to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded that I can do it for real, he or she automatically respect my ability. He or she never changed his or her opinion on whether or not it's ethical to pretend that you can do something that is possible. This is because he or she always knows that the spectator still thinks that the skill is nearly impossible. It's not about pretending that you can do something and hoping that the spectator buys it, but making the spectator question what is possible, even if that means faking what is possible.

 

[Jai]

Kuti read this book.

Yeah, but Yish's brother gave him the book

 

[Ellis]

I wish I saw this guy do this in person, maybe while he was filming or something... when he started the solve id just be like "Hey what the... thats just LBL, and you can see through that blindfold." and then hold my hand out in front of him.

 

[qqwref]

Magic is all about pretending that you have a skill that you truly don't have. David Blaine can't really levitate, but is it wrong for him to pretend that he can? David practiced very hard to make it look like he could levitate, and he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Because Mark Elsdon practiced very hard to make it look like he can do something that most people (maybe him, too) think is impossible, he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Mark has practiced enough that no lay person can detect the trickery that he is using.

Levitating is an extraordinary skill, that's exactly the point. Nobody can actually levitate, so it must be magic. When you pretend to do a skill that people actually have, on the other hand, you are demeaning the skill by making it appear you've put a huge amount of time into something you actually have no clue about, and by making it appear that anyone who actually has that skill is just using trickery. Blindfold cubing is already something that looks impossible and we don't need magicians making that perception stronger.

Besides, I really don't think this trick requires a huge amount of practice. Adam Zamora has showed me a very similar trick, where he put on a standard competition blindfold and then solved a cube with a normal method. I couldn't tell that he could see - and he is NOT a trained magician, he did not take a lot of time to practice this stunt, he just noticed that it's not actually that hard to look under a blindfold. So no, I'm not really impressed by the practice Mark put in. There's a big difference between cool stuff like slight of hand or card manipulation, and easy tricks like looking under a blindfold. Any cube solver could do a pretend BLD solve within a couple of minutes if you showed them how... so I'm much more impressed by the basic LBL solve than the fake BLD solve.

Mark tries fake the impossible, not fake the possible. If everyone knew that with a little practice, anyone can do a BLD, Mark wouldn't be doing this trick.

I think it'd be better that way. (Someone should, like, tell him it's possible.) You have to realize that, as someone who actually can do a BLD solve [even though, as SK points out, I don't like doing it much], I'm really worried that people might honestly begin to believe that it really is impossible and only possible with trickery. The annoying thing is that Mark can do a LOT of damage. Think about it, he's a professional magician and he gives shows, and he's selling the trick to other magicians who give shows... I'm sure a lot more non-cubers will see this trick in a show (and come out thinking BLD is as impossible as, say, making the Statue of Liberty vanish) than ANY of us could show a live BLD solve to.

 

[Stefan]

Mark Elsdon never claimed that he can solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. He knows how to pretend to, and he has said that.

Please watch his promotion video again and tell me how it doesn't claim that and where it says he only pretends.

Btw, didn't anyone notice that they wrote "Rubix" and said and wrote "73 trillion combinations"?

 

[d4m4s74]

I noticed the 73 trillion, but not the misspelled rubik's

what would happen if anyone did "enchanted cube" at a competition (as a speedsolve)?

 

[Stefan]

what would happen if anyone did "enchanted cube" at a competition (as a speedsolve)?

DNF?

 

[Escher]

DNS - surely when it came to scrambling having one side stickered totally wrong would mean it would be rejected?

 

[KevinK]

Mark Elsdon never claimed that he can solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. He knows how to pretend to, and he has said that.

Please watch his promotion video again and tell me how it doesn't claim that and where it says he only pretends.

Btw, didn't anyone notice that they wrote "Rubix" and said and wrote "73 trillion combinations"?

Because he says that he's a magician, his spectators know that what he does isn't real. During a mind-reading trick, a magician might pretend that he or she figures out what card was selected by the spectators blinking patterns. The spectators like to play along and try to trick him or her by blinking at different times, but they do know that the blinking is just a way of disguising whatever the clever trickery is. In "Rubik Remembered", Mark's spectators have a good feeling that he didn't actually do the cube by memory, but they like to play along. Because he labels himself as a magician, he says that everything he does is a lie, but if you forgive the lie, you'll leave entertained.

Btw I was surprised that they made the mistakes. this DVD is distributed by Murphy's Magic Supplies, and they've made grammatical errors before.

 

[jcuber]

Can someone tell me how insta-cubes work/how to make and operate one?

 

[KevinK]

Magic is all about pretending that you have a skill that you truly don't have. David Blaine can't really levitate, but is it wrong for him to pretend that he can? David practiced very hard to make it look like he could levitate, and he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Because Mark Elsdon practiced very hard to make it look like he can do something that most people (maybe him, too) think is impossible, he convinced people that he has an extraordinary skill. Mark has practiced enough that no lay person can detect the trickery that he is using.

Levitating is an extraordinary skill, that's exactly the point. Nobody can actually levitate, so it must be magic. When you pretend to do a skill that people actually have, on the other hand, you are demeaning the skill by making it appear you've put a huge amount of time into something you actually have no clue about, and by making it appear that anyone who actually has that skill is just using trickery. Blindfold cubing is already something that looks impossible and we don't need magicians making that perception stronger.

Besides, I really don't think this trick requires a huge amount of practice. Adam Zamora has showed me a very similar trick, where he put on a standard competition blindfold and then solved a cube with a normal method. I couldn't tell that he could see - and he is NOT a trained magician, he did not take a lot of time to practice this stunt, he just noticed that it's not actually that hard to look under a blindfold. So no, I'm not really impressed by the practice Mark put in. There's a big difference between cool stuff like slight of hand or card manipulation, and easy tricks like looking under a blindfold. Any cube solver could do a pretend BLD solve within a couple of minutes if you showed them how... so I'm much more impressed by the basic LBL solve than the fake BLD solve.

Mark tries fake the impossible, not fake the possible. If everyone knew that with a little practice, anyone can do a BLD, Mark wouldn't be doing this trick.

I think it'd be better that way. (Someone should, like, tell him it's possible.) You have to realize that, as someone who actually can do a BLD solve [even though, as SK points out, I don't like doing it much], I'm really worried that people might honestly begin to believe that it really is impossible and only possible with trickery. The annoying thing is that Mark can do a LOT of damage. Think about it, he's a professional magician and he gives shows, and he's selling the trick to other magicians who give shows... I'm sure a lot more non-cubers will see this trick in a show (and come out thinking BLD is as impossible as, say, making the Statue of Liberty vanish) than ANY of us could show a live BLD solve to.

Most people think that BLD is impossible. When I tell magicians who perform or have performed Richard Osterlind's version of Rubik Remembered (he's blindfolded before the cube is scrambled), they are always more impressed than if I tell people who haven't seen the trick. When a spectator sees a magician perform this, if the magician uses proper showmanship,the magician should be able to convince the spectator that BLD is impossible. If one of the spectators turns on the TV and hears about a local Rubik's Cube tournament that has BLD, he or she will think that BLD is much harder than it really is if the magician has to cheat. He or she will then think more highly of cubing, while still wondering how the magician was able to get past the obstacle of the blindfold.

While faking a BLD is easy, making the spectator react how you want want them to is very difficult. The only difficult part about David Blaine's levitation is positioning yourself at the correct angle. the rest of the method is very easy. In Rubik Remembered, the only difficult part is making it look impossible. The first time I saw Macky do a BLD on youtube, i wasn't too impressed. he made it look very easy. Mark Elsdon came up with a script that convinces the spectators that BLD is impossible, which impresses them even more. Faking the skill is what is required to be able to solve it blindfolded without forgetting what comes next.

If I were doing a BLD as a cuber for some people to watch, I would rather DNF than cheat. If I were to do a BLD during a mind-reading act for people that don't know that I can solve a Rubik's Cube, I would peek to ensure that I finished the solve-for entertainment purposes only. You may hate me for that fact, but in the context of a mind-reading act a DNF would look horrible. It would also save time, allowing people to not get bored after a while. I would say that although most everything in the show is a lie, I can truly solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. I wouldn't say anything about the legitimacy of the solve in the performance, though. I can't tell you how cool it is to have people amazed because they saw something that looks impossible. It's something that you have to experience yourself. Faking a skill that you don't have (although the spectators know that you don't have it) is worth it.

 

[KevinK]

Can someone tell me how insta-cubes work/how to make and operate one?

Buy one from an online store. People come up with great ideas of how to mystify audiences, and they decide to let other people do the same-if they're truly interested. If you really want to do this trick, you'll spend the money on one. If you decide to try and learn it for free, we know that you aren't interested enough. The magicians that invented these tricks make money from people buying their products. By learning for free, you are literally taking food off of their tables. I hope that this post doesn't sound too rude, because I know that cubing is a world where information is free, and magic a world where information costs money. So if you're really interested, buy one.

 

[d4m4s74]

you probably prefer enchanted cube over insta cube, It´s cheaper to buy, and if it breaks it´s easier to make a new one

 

[KevinK]

you probably prefer enchanted cube over insta cube, It´s cheaper to buy, and if it breaks it´s easier to make a new one

I've heard that the Enchanted Cube can't be handed out for inspection, but Insta-cube can. I've also heard that if people scramble the Insta-Cube, the gimmick requires you to take apart the cube. Still, examinable props are good.

 

[d4m4s74]

back to rubik´s remembered, yes, it´s a real cube solve with a fake blindfold solve, I mailed the local magic shop. The dvd by John George and tyson mao does contain a real blindsolve

also, Insta cube doesn´t have to be be taken apart when scrambled, you can solve it like a normal cube.
enchanted cube is a bit more difficult because one side is always scrambled, but still solvable. personally I just solve the F2l and take appart the LL (because of doubles you sometimes get parity)

 

[KevinK]

back to rubik´s remembered, yes, it´s a real cube solve with a fake blindfold solve, I mailed the local magic shop. The dvd by John George and tyson mao does contain a real blindsolve

also, Insta cube doesn´t have to be be taken apart when scrambled, you can solve it like a normal cube.
enchanted cube is a bit more difficult because one side is always scrambled, but still solvable. personally I just solve the F2l and take appart the LL (because of doubles you sometimes get parity)

I guess I heard this from someone that doesn't know how to solve a Rubik's Cube. But still, you can only show 5 sides of the Enchanted Cube, but all six sides of Insta-cube.