Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The first of (far too) many “trapped on the holodeck” episodes. Exhausted while preparing for a high-stakes diplomatic ritual, Picard takes a break in a virtual-reality simulation of a 1940s detective novel. I remembered enjoying Brent Spiner’s portrayal of Data adapting to the noir setting,…
Sometimes people get the name of my school wrong. On a whim, I searched Google for “dennis jerz seton hall” and found a recent letter to the editor that referenced one of my handouts: Verify or Duck: Good Journalists Confirm Details They Didn’t Witness Dennis Jerz of Seton Hall University writes “Good journalists confirm details they…
Similar:Happy ice cream turkey cake day. AestheticsPippin! Last show today at 2pm.CultureSlow flyby of a scout shop. Starfield backdrop; particle-based engine exhaust; hull uses a…More progress as I continue to level up …AestheticsFamily outing to the Pittsburgh National AviaryPersonalWhat a great time everyone had at the "Cabbies."CultureThe chief engineer does not know where the floating…
Similar:Not bad for a couple hours of work. #blender3d #blender3dart #steampunk #neovictorianNot bad for a couple hours of work. #ble…AestheticsBlender 3D Flyover of Fantasy Steampunk Spacecraft When my kids were small, at bedtime …AestheticsOver the years I have leveled up my Blender3D skills.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNLArSlF…AestheticsAnother 10sq cm of a beautiful #steampunk control panel for a personal #neovictorian…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. This low-stakes, character-driven rom-com pulled off everything it set out to do — fill out the romantic backstory between Riker and Troi, showcase Patrick Stewart’s comic timing, and set up an apparently unrelated B plot as the surprise resolution to the A plot. In her…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The powerful, unpredictable Q conjures a Napoleonic scenario from Picard’s mind and takes the rest of the bridge crew there, leaving Picard on the Enterprise. Memorable not for the fuzzy-faced toy soldiers that get way too much screen time, but for a Shakespeare quote battle…
Similar:My wife reports: “There was one smart aleck walking along the street who exclaimed: “Look,…PersonalHere's to the grim-based photojournalist who saved my bacon ~35 years ago Here’s to you, grim-faced photojournal…AcademiaIt's Friday night in July, and I'm jamming with my fall course preps.The dean sends me an email at 9:07pm. In…AcademiaPluto FlybyWhen I was about…
Similar:Getting in the Christmas spirit.PersonalLovely set for @prime_stage Frankenstein. The daughter joined this cast less than a week a…PersonalRichard Scarry unfinished manuscript to be publishedSome of my happiest memories of fatherho…AestheticsTop deck of a #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser needs an airlock at the top of the spiral s… AestheticsOn Office Hours and Student Contact at…
Similar:York Corpus Christi Pageant, Toronto, June 7I’ll be in Toronto next week to observe …AcademiaThe ballroom of my #steampunk fantasy space cruiser is now a less lonely place. Thanks to watching many, many YouTub…AestheticsThe daughter opens another show. This weekend only.The daughter opens another show. This we…PersonalHooded faculty and staff are loaded into the launch…
A Ferengi set on revenge tricks Picard into lowering the Enterprise’s shields and unceremoniously beams him into space.
Uh, no, actually the Ferengi plan involves finding a derelict starship Picard abandoned nine years ago and slipping a beach-ball sized “thought maker” into his personal effects, so that when he stops by his old cabin and gets a headache he can’t finish packing, so his uninspected trunk is brought to his quarters on the Enterprise, where opening the lid tips over a bucket, causing a marble to flip a little man into a tub, in which Picard re-enacts the Battle of Maxia and triggers the jittery vengeful descent of a little plastic cage.
She ended up waiting out the light cycle directly in front of me. When I looked straight ahead I was looking at her profile. With an innocent expression she continued to pretend not to notice she had cut me off, but I guess guilt or curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced to her left. I was ready.
In which Wesley commits a crime on the Legalistic Planet of Blond Joggers. (Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break.) We get right into the story by having an away team return to the bridge and briefly report on their first contact with the Edo, a peaceful people who seem to spend…
Similar:Dress rehearsal for Mamma Mia. This weekend only.PersonalInterior Detail of Steampunk Convertible Gazebo Spent much of Tuesday wrestling with co…AestheticsSigma Tau Delta English Honors Society induction ceremony. Congratulations new members. #s…PersonalOut & About: Stage Right holds its annual Heart of the Arts Gala Source: Out & About: Stage Right…CultureI played Pseudolus freshman year in college.…
I had a complex model that I created in Blender 2.79, and imported (with some tweaking) successfully to Unity 2018 a few months ago. When I switched to Blender 2.8 and Unity 2018.2, I found big problems with my model. Blender 2.8b tells me that all the normals are exactly what I expect — the…
Do you have a regular news-consumption routine? Facebook doesn’t want you to leave Facebook, so it’s algorithm favors posts that will keep you on Facebook, rather than links that will send you elsewhere. I listen to a 5-minute podcast from NPR News Now about once a day, usually while I am doing my morning exercises.…
Conflict between two species who petition for membership in the Federation turns out to be the B-plot. On its way past a mysterious optical special effect, the Enterprise picks up a strange glowing spark via the sensor array, and as such entities tend to do in Star Trek, it starts wreaking havoc. We get a lot of exterior shots of the ship, some alien character designs that would have worked better in background shots, a glimpse at a sensor relay room we’ve never seen before (though it’s pretty obviously a redress of Engineering), and some glimpses of the Crushers at home.
When she’s grown and flown, I will miss the thick deposit of glitter in my back seat. Similar:My students were awesome. So many thoughtful final projects. So much growth. A stressful, …PersonalFont vs Typeface: bold and italics are fonts, but Arial and Times New Roman are typefacesAestheticsTime Squared (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 13)Rewatching Star…
Until next term, I have zero more unmarked assignments. #fistpump Similar:I had a blue checked shirt in my hand this morning, but she nailed the khaki pants.PersonalShy Preschooler Won't Say Her Lines in "Peter Pan" Rehearsal (Stage Right! Greensburg)Little Maggie isn’t so sure she wants to…DramaCandlemas, by John Henry Newman (read by Dennis Jerz for…
Similar:Safety is a good thing.PersonalHere I am sketching spaceships like I’m 12 again. I feel like re-reading the novelization …AestheticsWhat if I design a #steampunk fantasy cruiser and there aren’t enough chairs? How do I kno… AestheticsThe chief engineer has a forward-facing station, on a platform above the technical staff c…PersonalStar Trek Beyond was an…
Similar:Beam me up, Chewie!AwesomeIt appears there may be some audience participation in this outdoor production of Richard …PersonalHappy Easter 2016PersonalFor God's sake John, sit down!CultureNerdling spots typo in space exploration textbook.PersonalHandshakes Really Do MatterMonday night handshake/eye contact pract…Culture