adventures in cubing

I remember learning the V Perm early in my PLL progress and being quite proud of myself. I even wrote this dedicated post containing a video showing my unimpressively slow execution. Unfortunately, the execution never got that much more fluid. Although it was an average speed perm for me when I did my (kinda sorta) PLL attack, it always was one of my clunkier ones.

Last weekend, jskyler91 posted a new Cubing World video showing a “non-standard” V Perm execution based on this algorithm:

z D’ R2′ D (R2 U R’) D’ (R U’) (R U R’) D (R U’) z’

No awkward re-grips and much smoother than the traditional approach. He bemoaned the z rotations; I was intimidated by all the D layer moves. Still, the fact that he could sub-1 the perm led me to believe that I could do it in 2. As this video shows, I’m close:

I decided to try a split-screen approach in order to make it more effective as a tutorial — especially given all the left-hand D executions not visible from a standard angle. The first half has my very good DSLR with a pro lens on the left (stacked on a container of crackers) and an average HD camcorder on the right (on a tripod); the second half has a good point-and-shoot on the left (on a can of soup) and my DSLR, slightly out of focus, on the right (on the tripod). The lighting isn’t great on the backside and is a little blown-out on top/front. Bummer.

Whereas jskyler91 executed the first D’ and D with his right hand (and the others with his left), I found it much easier to do them all with my left hand. I use my ring finger to push back to do D’ and to pull forward for D.

Even if I never get this one to the speed of an H or U Perm, having this one under my belt means one less re-grippy PLL — and one of the more fun ones, to boot.