Eclipse Path – EyeSpark Weekly (August 14, 2026)

This has been a pretty good week! I definitely did more stuff than I have the previous weeks, as I've played more games, done more different things, and even spent some time with friends!

It's always a good sign for me whenever I write things without much preparation. This kind of happened for both of my posts this week, the one about the HL2: Deathmatch map, and even the one about the eclipse, which despite knowing about I didn't think to write on until the day of!

As for the other things I've done this week, I've been cubing again and I'm really focusing on 5x5 as that's the event that I haven't competed in yet that I'd most like to. I also ordered myself a Dayan Face-Turning Octahedron as I'd really like to learn how to solve one now that it'll be added to the WCA. I've also been sketching out some projects that I am working on, one of which is related to cubing, though I'll keep them secret for now.

Lastly, I wanna bring up the games I've been playing! Nothing exactly new, but I have gone back to playing a bit of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe after playing it with my friend on the weekend, and I've also been playing a few of the older mobile games on my 1st Gen iPad again like Tiny Tower and Fruit Ninja.

The main thing I've been playing the last few days, though, is Exit Path by jmtb02, which is one of my favourite flash games of all, and I've been speedrunning it a lot. I have tried this casually before, with my best always being just under 6 minutes, but this week I've decided to really lock in and my best so far is 4m 17s, which I never thought I'd manage! I am figuring it all out on my own, I haven't seen any other videos, and even if it's not optimal I find it very fun to do it this way! The game is great, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes platformers, it's very fun and it's accompanied by a great setting.

Anyways, onto the media I've engaged with!

The only usual I have for today is Yahtzee's new Semi Ramblomatic episode. I would've never guessed in a million years he'd actually play Dead By Daylight, much less that he'd like it, but I'm very glad he has! (Also there's the new Game Changer episode of course, but y'know).

Earlier this week I found a channel called Punchy2nd, specifically from their new video finding out how fast you can crash or softlock yourself in each Silent Hill game. I love silly challenges like these in any game, both trying them myself and watching others do them! They've also previously made videos on how fast you can find a toilet in every Resident Evil and Silent Hill game, which are very silly.

I randomly stumbled upon a video about why certain songs are so good for road trips from PBS's Sound Field show, and I found it very interesting! It's one of those questions that seems so obvious to ask and yet I never thought of, and I find it quite interesting!

Lastly (kind of), I watched jamiedoestv's video on why the US attempt at Taskmaster failed. This is one of the things that fascinates me the most about Taskmaster, and I'm glad to see a more comprehensive and recent video about it!

Lastly (for realsies) I saw quite a few things about the eclipse, both photos and videos, and I want to share my favourites, so I've grouped them all together for the special occasion!

• First, perhaps most obvious, I have to share NASA's Astronomy Pictures of the Day of the last two days, both of which are very pretty! August 13 / August 14
• Alasdair Beckett-King took a pretty good photo of it from Greenwich! In the replies someone also shared how their dad!
• Emma Mitchell on BlueSky also shared a very pretty image of how the shadows formed by a tree reflect(?) the eclipse! This is the same thing that happened with the telescope (or any similar hole), and I still find it cool every time.
• Emily Zhang of Rabbit Hole shared an incredible video of what a total solar eclipse looks like while it's cloudy, and despite what you might think it still looks incredible!
• Olympic skateboarded Danny León shared on Instagram an incredible stunt where he performed a trick from afar in front of the eclipse, which ended up with undoubtedly one of the coolest shots I've seen the whole year!

I think it's pretty obvious that most of what I saw this week was eclipsed by one thing, but still! I did a lot of fun things and I do have some more posts coming up soon, and in general I've had a pretty good week. I hope you've all had a great week as well and continue to find cool things yourselves!