Rubik’s Cube Becomes Online Video Meme

Aging Gen-Xers may see the Cube as a blast from the 1980s past, but videos of various people solving the puzzle – from director Michel Gondrey appearing to work the Cube with his toes to YouTube’s “3-Year-Old Solves Rubik’s Cube in 114 Seconds” to a guy that does it while blindfolded – are popping up all over the Web. The short vidcasts are “part of a larger genre of popular online video: the ‘solving spectacle,’ which typically shows a soloist in a modestly appointed room trying to work out a problem – an intricate guitar solo, a speed painting – that is largely in his head.”