'Oregon Trail' Gen X Nerd

Photo from IMDB The subtlety of alcohol addiction: Dramatic treatments by Jen Davies, nerd March 4, 2026 Note: Minor spoilers here for movies Father Mother Sister Brother, Babylon 5 TV series, and  Last week I had the opportunity to finally see Jim Jarmusch's latest movie, FMSB, now that it's streaming. It is excellent. It's a collection of three stories. I ended up watching it twice in order to confirm something I thought I had seen in the Father story, especially after seeing all three stories. As with other Jarmusch movies, so much of what's good about them is in what isn't spoken about.  Spoilers start here! Each of the stories deals with those things that families just don't talk about, and in each one more than one person was harbouring something unspoken. In the Father story I had a pretty strong suspicion, and on rewatch I found what I had missed to confirm that the son, played by Adam Driver, is dealing with alcoholism. (Watch with headphones if you...

Science is observation: What I learned while walking my dog  by Jen Davies, nerd  Feb 25, 2026   About a year and a half ago my spouse and I adopted a dog for the first time. She is a black lab and boxer mix, so she wants to be everyone's friend but you have to know she's in charge. We've had cats, but this was the first dog, and walking her daily has led to some observations on my part. And as a social scientist, I realize there are lessons I can learn from my dog.  Lots I can't see  Sometimes my dog stops to sniff nothing, just spots on the road or in people's yards, and there is absolutely nothing that my eyes can see that could have drawn her attention. Clearly there's something there (probably another dog's pee from the day before), but I can't detect it. And that reminds me that human senses are so very limited: we only see a segment of the light spectrum, our noses are pretty good but we miss a lot compared to molecules that are available in the...

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos I love Alien, but I don't like horror: The thin line between scifi and horror by Jen Davies, nerd Feb 11, 2026 If you asked me, do I like horror? I would tell you that I absolutely do NOT. That said, some of my favourite science fiction films and ALL of my favourite Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) are often categorized as horror. So let me explain to you why I see properties like Alien (the things that are canon*) and also the modernized work of HP Lovecraft (which reduce the painful racism in the original work) as really excellent science fiction rather than as horror. To begin, let's look at a definition of science fiction. My own internalized version without reference to any other source is: a work of fiction based in a futuristic/alternate and consistent "universe" that leverages real scientific (hard scifi) or pseudo-scientific (science fantasy) explanations for elements of the story that help t...

Im moving my blog to Substack! https://jendaviesgenxnerd.substack.com/

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28novel%29 Why I'm a lifelong Dune lover (even the Lynch movie) by Jen Davies, nerd Jan 29, 2026 If you’re not familiar or hesitant to get into Dune , let me encourage you to start with the very recent Denis Villeneuve films. They do not follow the book in every detail but in the overall story they’re right on the mark, and they are visually mesmerizing in addition to hosting incredible acting performances. Start there, if you’re just starting. I grew up in a sci-fi loving household, but somehow we had not had a copy of Dune on hand for me to read among all the other books. The sci-fi I had read was heavy on the science, dominated by Asimov and Sagan, before I tripped onto Dune , which became the only book I’ve probably read 5 times. I discovered Dune very much by accident: I was at a garage sale and I spotted a bound book of photos from a movie I’d never heard of (the 1980s Dune ), and Patrick Stewart happened to be in t...

  Image from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/if-you-cant-say-something-nice-dont-say-nothing-at-all--3166662230787516/      If you can't say something nice… and other life lessons from films by Jen Davies, nerd Jan 21, 2026 I realize I’ve learned a lot about living life respectfully and effectively from the movies I watched in my childhood/youth. A lot of these lessons weren’t even from films that turned out to be favourites, but these phrases and the meanings behind them have stuck to me and still affect how I choose to be in the world today. I decided to share them! If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all ( Bambi ) This advice, clearly taught by Thumper’s mother, is guidance I wish would be heeded by folks who feel the need to offer unsolicited opinions on the internet, particularly when those opinions are not informed by lived experience or science. There are few life situations in which being rude is called-for, so it’s often best to keep your opi...