'Oregon Trail' Gen X Nerd

Here's an article I hadn't read, and found when I was looking for a photo:  https://www.gq.com/story/adam-driver-the-last-duel-unlikable-men  Few truly evil people: How flawed men in movies let us examine the social origins of problematic behaviour by Jen Davies, nerd Dec 24, 2025 TW: A range of kinds of violence, including sexual violence Note: Contains spoilers for Adam Driver’s films The Last Duel, Ferrari, and the Star Wars sequels I’ve begun hosting monthly “watch parties” in support of #savethehuntforbensolo. The group of Star Wars fans I'm working with suggested that we alternate Steven Soderbergh and Adam Driver films, since we have already watched their collaboration Logan Lucky . So we will, and I've been thinking ahead to the next few months’ worth of films in case I continue to act as host. Films that earned or were nominated for Oscars is the theme I have started with, and both Steven and Adam have been involved in quite a few of those. As I ran through my ...

  Photo from https://collider.com/who-is-dedra-meero-andor-denise-gough/ Late to Andor : Why Dedra Meero’s fate HURTS as a professional and as a woman by Jen Davies, nerd Dec 17, 2025 Note: This essay is full of spoilers. Don't read if you haven't watched all of Andor . My spouse and I were late getting to Andor , and he made me eke it out over weeks rather than letting me binge it. “It's how we're meant to watch a TV series,” he argued. Yes, and it always made me crazy to have to wait for next episodes. Things would live rent-free in my head for days, or longer after a season-ending cliffhanger. I can still call up the hollow feeling that followed the ST:TNG line, “ I am Locutus of Borg .” Months of anxiety until the new season began to air! We finished Andor mid-November, and at the end of the last episode ( last chance to avoid spoilers ) I wept for Dedra Meero and her fate. And it felt worse because I had gloated about the operation on Ferrix going sideways on her (...

Image is the cover of a novel by the TROS name by Rae Carson: https://share.google/wwSCpFcyB43lJTSxA Why The Rise of Skywalker is my favourite of the Star Wars sequel movies in spite of its (very significant) storytelling mistakes by Jen Davies, nerd Dec 10, 2025 Note: This blog was pre-scheduled, but the timing of Daisy Ridley's IGN interview in which she says she is aware of the #savebensolo campaign and appreciates the fan positivity could not have been better timing! Read it here . A week or two ago there was a flurry of tier-ratings of Star Wars movies online, I’m not sure why. It has never been an interest of mine to do such ratings for anything that I’m into, because I appreciate different aspects of movies and books and ideas for a range of reasons that make them hard to compare. Some of my favourite films of all-time include respected films like: Interstellar The Princess Bride Arrival Drive The Matrix In addition I love movies much less likely to make it onto...

Image from https://superuser.openinfra.org/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-network-mapping/ Information vs Truth in the era when gigantic information networks hallucinate By Jen Davies, nerd Dec 3, 2025 To begin, I should point out that I am a social scientist. Anyone can be a citizen scientist, but I happen to have completed a rigorous examination of a tiny slice of the human experience, had it critiqued by other scientists at various points in the process, and my analytical methods were deemed fully acceptable (which is pretty much as good as it gets in science - we don’t expect praise very often). Because I invested several years in a deep “lived experience” of the scientific process - which is to wonder about a phenomenon, make observations about it in a structured way, and depending on how you made your observations then to develop a few conclusions about the phenomenon - I often find myself questioning statements I hear.  There are two reasons I find myself questioning wha...

Art by altocello for https://sites.google.com/view/thehuntforbensolo Role-modelling through entertainment to save lives: Why Superman (2025) felt so good, and why making films like The Hunt for Ben Solo matters by Jen Davies, nerd Nov 26, 2025 Trigger warning: Suicide and mental health concerns. Spoiler alert: Plot points of the Superman (2025) film, and possibly The Man of Steel / Snyderverse. Star Wars sequels plot points. Note: I will likely use terms and fail to define them because I’m integrating a lot of ideas here from diverse contexts, for example, emotional dysregulation (which refers to being a state of unmanaged high emotion) - not something we usually talk about in literary/film analysis. At my home we are reaching the end of Movember, and I’m so glad because my spouse’s moustache is out of control. Every year for at least the last 7+ years, he has shaved his face at Halloween and proceeded to fundraise on behalf of the campaign by growing a thing on his face...