Dan Jones

Texts From Superheroes

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Google has brought another update to Maps that adds new functionality. With the latest upgrade, Google Maps will work for those who might not have easy access to a wireless network, as well as give users the ability to only use the navigation tool while connected to Wi-Fi.

Google Maps Wi-Fi-only mode is now rolling out after being tested in late July. With it, Google Maps users can restrict the app from accessing a cellular network so that it’ll only pull information when connected to a Wi-Fi network. However, as originally noted by Google, it’s possible that Google Maps will still pull a “small amount” of data from a cellular network, even when Wi-Fi only mode is activated.

When Wi-Fi-only mode is activated, and there isn’t a Wi-Fi network nearby, Google Maps will only show navigation information for offline areas that have been downloaded.

Speaking of offline areas, that’s another part of this update: Google now lets users save offline maps to their SD card.

The updated version of Google Maps is rolling out now, so keep an eye out for it.

From oral hygiene to hors d'oeuvres serving, the Dark Lord of the Sith has your back. Exhibiting an unrelenting desire to serve and protect, Darth Vader has traded in his lightsaber for a toothpick. A wad of toothpicks, actually, which Japanese toy manufacturer Bandai has rebranded ToothSabers!!!

Pull the lever on Vader's back and watch him draw ready for battle a spearer of cheese, a skewerer of salami, a picker outer of popcorn kernels lodged between teeth. Culinary Jedis, forget Obi-Wan's wishes of "May the Fork be with you," and come to the Dark Side. We have toothpicks.

Texts From Superheroes

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Kelty wants to help all the lovers out there get low. This folding chair built for two is you and your S.O.'s key to covert cuddling...and other monkey business...at backyard BBQs, campfires, open-air cinemas, and outdoor concerts.

Kelty calls the Low-Love Chair "the throne among camp chairs." Its steel frame is covered in quilted 600D polyester and features an adjustable arm rest, multiple back rest positions, an insulated beverage holder, and roll tote storage. Measurements are 44" wide x 23.5" deep x 31.5" tall; seat height is 13-1/2". Kelty also makes a full-height version of this loveseat, available here.

A pub owner in Sussex turns his pub into a Faraday Cage to encourage conversation among patrons by blocking cell signals.

http://theunderfold.com/2016/08/05/finished-projects/

Jason Snell:

I love emoji. But some emojis are more equal than others. I’d wager that there are 100 really popular emojis, and maybe 300 moderately popular ones. Every now and then, while flipping through my iPad emoji keyboard, I would find a symbol that would make me do a double-take and ask myself, “Why is this an emoji?”

There are now around a thousand base emojis and tens of thousands of variations. One day, in a dark mood, I wondered: What are the least-loved emojis? I checked out the live stats on emojitracker.com and asked Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia for his site’s least-favorite emojis. The result is this list: The world’s least-loved emojis.

My wife and I were talking the other day about this. I feel like Mormons might decide this election. Most of the things that really tend to move Mormons towards the GOP (family values, conservative social issues, etc.) are not things espoused by Trump.

If Trump can’t win over Mormons (and I don’t think he will), he’ll lose Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. And if he loses those three, he’ll likely be unable to win the election.

Gary Johnson clarifies his views on religious freedom and his intention on the example he gave several days ago.

It’s pretty clear that Johnson has a great deal of respect for Latter-Day Saints, and the utmost reverence for religious freedom.

There have also been times in our history when religion has been invoked to justify serious harm. In years past, opponents of interracial marriage, desegregation and other efforts to protect civil rights too often cited scripture and religion in making their arguments.

To be blunt, certain politicians have twisted religious liberty and used it as a tool to discriminate.

Thus, in response to a question thrown at me while walking down a street (in the rain), I expressed my reservations rather emphatically — and cited the experience of Mormons as a case-in-point where religious persecution resulted in violent episodes right here in America.

My point was that even a respected, peaceful people experienced tragic harm in the name of religion and was, in fact, persecuted by the government itself by politicians who opposed their beliefs and practices.

I am well aware of the painful history of government interference with Mormons and the practice of their faith.

In part because of this unique history, I believe Utah has found an appropriate balance in a religious freedom law that serves as an example to the rest of the country that non-discrimination and religious freedom are not opposing forces, but can instead go hand in hand.

Note: This review is spoiler-free, but it does contain a major spoiler from the ending of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. You have been warned.

When it comes to comics that center around bad guys defeating even worse guys (and gals), Suicide Squad is one of the most lasting and recognizable of the lot.

It wasn’t the first book to be about villains, of course (though this movie is the first comic book film to have a main cast of villains as characters). But it was one of the first that was actually successful. And that’s probably because Suicide Squad essentially defined the idea of reluctant heroism found in the vilest of our society.

That’s tricky territory, because it presents a philosophical debate that modern society is mostly split on: Are people inherently bad, or are they tainted by an inherently bad world? 

Fortunately, Suicide Squad doesn’t dwell on these questions for easy dramatic fodder (at least, not as much as it could have). Instead, it takes a note from some of Marvel’s recent films by emphasizing character over spectacle, at least with some of its titular bad guys.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the set up of Suicide Squad from the comics — of which the 80s run is still the best — the idea is simple. A shady black ops leader named Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) wants to assemble her own team of metahumans, like Superman, and unhinged specialists, like Batman, in the wake of Superman’s death from the end of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The team is codenamed “Task Force X,” but as one of their recruits points out early on in the film, they’re really a “suicide squad” in the sense that they’re not expected to live through the mission that takes up the majority of the film. And that’s because most members of Task Force X are dangerous villains, accompanied by a Colonel and “good” metahuman to reign them in.

As noted earlier, the structure of Suicide Squad is brazenly different from typical superhero and comic book films. It’s focused and constrained to one major location, a familiar technique if you’re caught up with director David Ayer’s other work.

And the decision to limit Suicide Squad to one mission ends up being one of the film’s greatest strengths, because by the end credits, the viewer is left feeling as if they’ve gone through a significant ordeal with these characters, even if the movie doesn’t always stick the landing with some of its big moments.

There’s as much good as there is bad with Suicide Squad, in the sense that Ayer and his team succeeded at getting this movie right where it really counts — notably with  standout characters like Deadshot (played by Will Smith). The problem is that like previous entries in the DC comics cinematic universe, Suicide Squad just doesn’t sweat the details enough.

These details include basic plot mapping (the opening scenes, for example, are a glaring mess), action set pieces (especially toward the end), and the film’s worst offense: its script. Though Suicide Squad has its moments of surprising and smile-inducing dialogue, a great deal of it comes off as hastily tacked on in order to elicit a reaction, usually humor.

For that reason, Suicide Squad practically forces the viewer to accept it in a very specific way. That is, it’s painted and executed as a guilty pleasure movie, and you get the sense that the movie has no aspirations for self-importance or melodrama. Which makes it an easy film to get lost in and just enjoy, without having to “turn your brain off,” for the most part.

One of the reasons the movie swings more toward guilty pleasure has a lot to do with the care Warner Bros. has put into better fleshing out its world of DC characters, and a good number of them are paraded beautifully. As revealed in the early trailers, Batman (reprised by Ben Affleck) has a small presence in this film, and it plays out about as well as his best moments from Batman v Superman, without any of the confusing quirks added to the character.

And it goes without saying that Suicide Squad is brimming with loving references to other DC stories, reminiscent of how shows like Arrow and The Flash insert subtle asides for eagle-eyed viewers. Put simply, this is the first DC comics movie that does a good job of establishing a coherent personality for this world of heroes and villains, while also integrating it in a more graceful way than we’ve seen in the past.

The only weak link worth mentioning is certainly the Joker (played by Jared Leto), who is balanced with the other characters in this film in a gratifying way so as not to steal the spotlight. This ends up being for the best, though, because this is easily one of the most uninteresting depictions of the Joker of all time, not just in the movies.

Granted, the movie works hard to dress Leto up as the Joker, and sparse dialogue certainly sounds like something Joker might say. But upon close inspection, this version of the Joker does virtually nothing reminiscent of what’s fundamental to the character. There’s nothing he truly does that sets him apart from a flamboyant crime boss/pimp who wants to find his girlfriend.

Yes, he wears funny costumes. Yes, he looks weird and kills people. But there is far more to the Joker than “oh by the way” scenes of him laying on a floor surrounded by knives. And that’s because his only true motivation in this film is to get Harley Quinn back. There’s no chaos, comedic insanity, or diabolical planning to anything he does or wants to do in the film. He simply acts like he is crazy, rather than truly showing it, and it’s one of the film’s biggest disappointments.

Thankfully, Joker is not the crux of Suicide Squad. Far from it. So it’s easy to overlook the shortcomings of his character in lieu of this film as its own standalone story. It’s not easy, though, to overlook the fact that too many characters in Suicide Squad have poorly fleshed out character ideologies that make sense of their own payoffs toward the end. They do it in spades for Deadshot and Diablo, but that’s about it.

Lastly, the soundtrack does little to enhance or even complement the story, instead only reminding viewers that Guardians of the Galaxy did a much better job integrating a playlist with the rhythm of its plot (as proven by the film sharing one of the same songs from Guardians). In Suicide Squad, it really just feels like the music was added out of obligation, not because it was essential to the scene it was put in.

And better thought (and edits) put into the scenes is all it would have really taken to make Suicide Squad a better movie than what we’ve gotten, which is a guilty pleasure that only looks good by comparison to the in-universe movies its attached to.

Grade: C+

Extra Credits:

• There’s a mid-credits stinger and…well, it’s not that relevant or surprising, honestly.

• I’m not a fan of most David Ayer movies, so Suicide Squad sort of defied the odds in my case. According to all the evidence, I should have hated this movie.

• The chemistry of the cast is one of the film’s biggest strengths, as emblemed by the fact that a lot of them got “SKWAD” tattoos for the movie.

• It’s not saying much, but this is my favorite live-action depiction of the Suicide Squad. That’s what full Will Smith can do for a film.

• A standalone Harley Quinn movie featuring other DC femme fatales has been announced by Warner Bros., but it’s likely that the success of Suicide Squad will still determine whether or not that actually happens.

• For once, Cara Delevingne wasn’t one of the worst characters in a movie.
  

  I’m Jon and thanks for reading this. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hey on Twitter! @JonNegroni

Keep Reading Best of the Suicide Squad

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Maya Angelou

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

Galileo Galilei

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Faye does a good Bubbles impression

Clearly Sonic is better

Mormon Life Hacker has written an article about how to explore Old Jerusalem using Google Maps street view.

“Many LDS people who’ve visited the Holy Land will tell you that it deepened their understanding of the the scriptures in a big way. Being able to walk the same places where Old and New Testament figures, including Christ himself, once walked, changes their perspective and appreciation for the culture, languages, traditions, and the events and people of those sacred books of scripture.”

Now, a new update to Google Maps offers a small taste of actually going there. Using Street View, you can now view several important Biblical places in old Jerusalem via Google Street view shot with 360 degree cameras, such as the following:

• The Via Dolorosa (the traditional route Christ took, carrying his cross)
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the traditional location for the burial of Christ)
• Western Wall (of the Temple, or “Wailing Wall,” pictured above)
• Mount of Olives
• The Port of Jaffa

Here are some hints on exploring using Street View:

1. To move around, hover your cursor in the direction you want to go.
2. To see where you might go next, look for the X. Click once to travel to the X.
3. To look around, click and drag your mouse (left, right, up, and down).
4. To zoom in or out, scroll with your mouse or two-finger zoom with a touchpad.
5. Click here for more help.

Read the article “Explore Old Jerusalem on Google Maps Street View” for a list of other places in Israel you might find interesting.

It’s working in the latest Windows builds

I know that a great many of you have been waiting a long time for VLC Chromecast support.

The good news? Chromecast support in VLC is here, and it’s ready for testing!

The bad news? It doesn’t work very well – at least not for everyone who’s tried it this early.

Nightly Only

Patchy performance and a less-than-glamourous setup are to be expected as Chromecast support is not yet in the stable builds of the versatile open-source media player.

Nope. You need to be running the very latest VLC nightly builds — read: buggy, bleeding edge development snapshots — and, right now, only the Windows version currently plays nice.

Results will reportedly vary depending on the media file you try to ‘cast’. Different formats appear to behave differently, something that’s hard to square with the usually seamless streaming the service is renowned for.

How To Use Chromecast in VLC 3.0 Nightly

Enough waffle, you’re here to know how to stream video to your Chromecast using VLC.

It’s no use looking for the familiar “cast” icon: it’s not here. Instead, you’ll need to use ye olde fashioned menus to get your streams up and running:

1. Go to Video > Renderer > Scan
2. Go to Video > Renderer > Your Chromecast
3. Open a video file and hit play
4. Click ‘View Certificate’ when prompted
5. Click ‘Accept permanently’ when prompted

That should be it. You should see something on your Cast-enabled TV screen. Will it be 100% perfect playback? Probably not. I couldn’t get anything more than a few choppy seconds to spit, sputter and fail.

But like I said: it’s very early days for this feature. If you jump in to try it this early you have to accept it’s not “end user” ready.

I hope you have more success — be sure to share your experience in the comments below.

The article Chromecast Support Lands in Latest VLC Nightly Builds was first published on OMG! Chrome!