Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu

Do you get your news mostly from social media? I check NPR, Drudge, and news.google.com.

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.…

Lonely Among Us (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 6) Crew-posessing spark roams and a droid cosplays Holmes, that’s a-homecloud

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.

Until next term, I have zero more unmarked assignments. #fistpump

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My brother, in town to see The Nutcracker, starts a chess game with my son

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See The Nutcracker!@laurelballetperformingco dancers and full @westmorelandsymphony orchestra. Saturday 2 & 7; Sunday 7.

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Nutcracker dress rehearsal montage. Carolyn plays the Dew Drop Fairy Saturday at 7.

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Carolyn featured on Steel City News for The Nutcracker

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The girl is the Dew Drop Fairy in @laurelballetperformingco The Nutcracker Saturday evening. Live orchestra! @westmorelandsymphony

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Where No One Has Gone Before (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 5) Wes’s warp-drive guru helps him save all the crew (he’s an ensign)

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The girl's entrance as Marley's Ghost.

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The Last Outpost (ST:TNG Rewatch. Season 1, Episode 4) Riker shouts from a cliff while Ferengi use whips, that’s a-facepalm

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Still in her make-up from her scene as Marley's ghost, with script in hand standing in for The Ghost of Christmas Present at today's dress rehearsal.

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Interactive Adventure Song

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The Naked Now (Season 1, Episode 2: ST:TNG Rewatch) When a script that blows chunks makes the crew flirt like drunks, that’s a-rehash

With a large ensemble, we saw many scenes of one person infecting another, which got predictable after a while. Even after they learned the intoxication spreads through perspiration, nobody thinks to put on rubber gloves.

I admit, Data’s interrupted “There was a young lady from Venus” limerick made me laugh, but what sold the scene for me was Data asking Worf, “Did I say something wrong?” and Worf huffing, “I don’t understand their humor either.”

Because this show has so many short two-person scenes, I like to think of this episode as TNG’s versions of the ballroom sketches on the old Muppet Show. (Closeup on chandelier; medium shot of couples dancing; cut to a nondescript couple of muppets; there’s a setup and a cheesy punchline; cut to another couple, repeat.)

I made some progress.

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