At first we were mildly excited by the news that an oversize Rubik's Cube would be floating in New York Harbor today in honor of the iconic toy's 40th birthday. New York City never scored that giant Rubber Duckie, so this was to be the next best thing, a whimsical burst of retro color to close out the week. But you should never let yourself look forward to anything, because you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. See above, and below:
Instead of brightening our day with a surreal Rubik's Cube floating merrily wherever the current chose, we were forced to look at a big balloon lashed sloppily to an ugly barge farting around the harbor for staged photo ops. Come on, man. You can't even pivot the faces on that!
This sort of phoned-in half-measure is unworthy of New York City. Go big or go back to Jersey—which, in fact, is where this abomination is from. Yes, the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City is to blame for this eyesore, and they owe all New Yorkers an apology in the form of a gigantic glow-in-the-dark Pac-Man water ballet. With REAL ghosts.
To be fair, the Liberty Science Center's Rubik's Cube exhibit, on view this weekend, does seem pretty damn cool. They'll be celebrating the cube's birthday all weekend, and have promised a variety of delicious Rubik's Cube cakes. But after this travesty, do we dare trust them? We had so much riding on this cube.
