When your teenagers become your fellow geeks

 I never thought this would happen or planned for it.

Back when I was a teenager, way back, buried in dog-eared paperbacks of Asimov, Herbert, and Tolkien, dice scattered across the dining room table, I figured by the time I hit middle age I’d be expected to “grow out of it.” You know, leave the fantasy novels and sci-fi shows behind for mortgages and lawn care. At the time (the 80's), parents just didn't play the way we did as kid. Video games, roleplaying games, weren't their thing.

But here I am, a dad in his early 50s, watching Arcane with my 18-year-old daughter, dissecting Andor with my 16-year-old son, enjoying Avatar or Studio Ghibli movies with the both of them. And not just tolerating these shows, but actually loving them, together. Talking about world-building, moral choices, the messy heroes, the broken systems. The same kind of conversations I used to have with friends after a late-night RPG session… except now, it’s with my kids.

I’ve been a geek my whole life. The kind or weirdo who still collects RPGs (even if they’ll never all hit the table), hoards sci-fi and fantasy books, and stacks “Art of” movie tomes next to histories of ancient Rome, the Cold War and current geopolitical non-fiction. It’s always been part of me. What I didn’t see coming was that it would become part of "us".

And that’s a beautiful thing.

There’s something special about sitting on the couch with your teenagers and realizing they’re not just humoring you, they’re genuinely into the same stuff. That shared spark makes all the difference. It bridges years, generations, and even the occasional disagreement.

I don’t take it for granted. 

I’m grateful. 

And honestly? I can’t wait to see what we’ll geek out over next.

Probably the new Avatar this coming December. 

Is this something you can relate to? Are you still playing or watching sci-fi or fantasy shows and movies with your kids, or your parents. Let me know!

Will "The Astronaut" crash or soar? Trailer thoughts

So this trailer for The Astronaut just dropped.

Kate Mara crash-landing back to Earth, Laurence Fishburne running the quarantine, and some weird extraterrestrial presence maybe tagging along for the ride? Yeah, I’m intrigued. It feels like a mix of grounded sci-fi and slow-burn horror, and I kinda dig that vibe.

I don’t know if it’s going to be brilliant or just another “alien hitchhiker” story, but there’s enough here to make me curious. I might actually go see this one in theatres when it lands October 17. Having said that, I’m a little apprehensive about the ending though, since a few (okay, a bunch of them,... okay okay, most of the) critics mentioned it starts strong but stumbles in the final act, so I’m keeping my expectations in check. 

At the very least, it’s giving me a reason to keep an eye on Jess Varley as a director, and my options open.

Anyone else planning to check it out?

Additional information:

• Wikipedia – The Astronaut (2025 film)
• Cosmic Book News – The Astronaut Trailer Release Date, Cast
• The Guardian – The Astronaut review: Kate Mara sci-fi is an underpowered dud
• The Hollywood Reporter – ‘The Astronaut’ Review: Kate Mara and Laurence Fishburne in Sci-Fi Thriller
• People – SXSW 2025: Kate Mara Teases ‘The Astronaut’ (First Look)
• FilmHounds – A Promising Outing Ruined by a Ludicrous Conclusion: The Astronaut Film Review
• Rotten Tomatoes – The Astronaut (2025)
• Letterboxd – The Astronaut (2025)

Where are the women in Asimov's Foundation?

After finishing season 3 of AppleTV+’s Foundation, I felt the itch to go back to the source material. It’s been years since I’d read Isaac Asimov’s original trilogy, and I wanted to revisit that sprawling galactic history that had so fascinated me the first time.

But here’s the thing I hadn’t noticed before, and it hit me like a ton of bricks as I turned the pages this time around: everyone is a man. Every bureaucrat, every scientist, every trader, every political schemer. Even the minor characters. Women are practically invisible in those early books.

Back when I first read the series, I completely missed it. Maybe it’s because the story itself is so captivating, with its galaxy-spanning rise and fall of civilizations, or maybe it’s because as a young reader (mid-teens) I wasn’t looking for what was missing. But now? It’s impossible not to see.

Does this revelation ruin the story for me? Not at all. Asimov was a writer of his time, and Foundation was more about ideas—psychohistory, politics, inevitability—than it was about fleshed-out characters. But it does cast a new light on the trilogy. The “future” it imagines is one where half of humanity is strangely absent from the narrative.

That’s why I think the AppleTV+ adaptation does something important. It doesn’t just modernize the story with visual spectacle or personal drama—it rebalances the cast. Strong female characters take their place on the stage, shaping the same epic narrative with voices and perspectives that Asimov either overlooked or simply didn’t imagine back in the 1940s.

So, as I reread the books alongside the show, I find myself in a strange position: still awed by Asimov’s grand vision, but also aware of the silence between the lines.

A silence that, thankfully, the screenwriters have done a great job imagining.

Revisiting Apple TV+'s Foundation, with new eyes…

Isaac Asimov was THE author who introduced me to science fiction. I devoured Foundation, the Robot novels, and pretty much everything he ever wrote. So, when Apple TV+ launched their Foundation series, I was very excited… and quickly disappointed.

The show took wild liberties with the source material and at first I struggled with that.

But recently, I went back. Rewatched the end of Season 1. Picked up Season 2. And somewhere along the way, I let go of what it wasn’t… and started appreciating what it is.

It’s not my Foundation. It’s a new interpretation. And when I stopped comparing, I started enjoying the story they’re telling—on its own terms.

If you're a fan of Asimov and walked away like I did… maybe give it another shot. 

You might be surprised.

City-Building Done Right: Learning Foundation with City Planner Plays

I’ve been a fan of city-building games for years, drawn to the blend of strategy, creativity, and the satisfying rhythm of watching a settlement grow. From meticulously planning road layouts in Cities: Skylines to managing survival in Frostpunk, I love the challenge of building something from the ground up. 

But Polymorph Game's Foundation feels different.

After finally diving in over the weekend—despite having picked it up in Early Access in 2023—I found myself completely losing track of time. Somehow, four hours vanished out of thin air. The way villages grow organically, without a rigid grid, gives the game a unique feel, and balancing resources and villager needs is incredibly rewarding. Add in its gorgeous visuals, and I can already tell this is a city-builder I’ll be spending a lot more time with.

Of course, learning a new game like Foundation can be a challenge, and that’s where great content creators make all the difference. I’ve followed City Planner Plays (@cityplannerplays.bsky.social) for years—first for his Cities: Skylines content and later for his deep-dive How-To guides in other games. His approach is what makes him stand out: clear, structured instructions, useful background context, and a willingness to show his own mistakes when they serve as valuable lessons.

This post is as much a learning tool for myself as it is a guide for anyone new to the game. 

Below, I’ve broken down City Planner Plays’ step-by-step instructions for starting a village, prioritizing buildings, and setting up a successful economy. 

If you’re diving into the game for the first time (or coming back like me), this should help you get started—and I highly recommend checking out his full video (below) for even more insights.

How to Start Your Village in Foundation | by City Planner Plays

A step-by-step guide based on City Planner Plays' gameplay.

Diving back into Severance feels just as chilling and addictive as ever!

I watched the first two episodes of Severance Season 2 last night, and it instantly pulled me right back in. It’s just as addictive, weird, and unnerving as ever, maybe even more so. That creeping sense of unease, the little details that make you question everything, the way it slowly tightens its grip without you even realizing; yeah, it’s all still there. 

I have no idea where this season is going, but I’m fully along for the ride.

Below is the a helpful recap of Season 1, courtesy of 

The not-so-hidden link between Dune and Star Wars—and why one is the more grown-up sci-fi epic

Frank Herbert’s Dune and George Lucas’ Star Wars share a striking number of similarities, from their world-building to their overarching themes. While Star Wars is a sprawling space opera and Dune is a more intricate exploration of power, politics, and destiny, both stories revolve around desert planets, mystical abilities, and intergalactic conflicts. 

The similarities run so deep that it’s hard to ignore Dune’s influence on Lucas’s work.

Let's dive into their similarities and differences!

The rise and fall of Alien (or: How Ridley Scott lost the Alien plot)

When Alien burst onto the screen in 1979, it was the kind of film that crawled under your skin and stayed there. A masterclass in psychological horror, it didn’t just scare the bejesus out of us—it haunted us. The Xenomorph wasn’t just a monster; it was pure, unrelenting terror, an evolutionary nightmare with acid for blood and a life cycle straight out of a Lovecraftian fever dream. And then there was the mystery—so many questions. Where did this perfect killing machine come from? Who was the Space Jockey, that eerie, fossilized giant slumped over in his derelict ship? What the hell had he been carrying, and why was he crash-landed on that barren, hostile rock?

Then came James Cameron, who took one look at Ridley Scott’s slow-burn horror masterpiece and said, Hold my beer. With Aliens (1986), he flipped the script, swapping dread for adrenaline. It was no longer about one crew being hunted in the shadows—it was war. Cameron turned Ellen Ripley from a survivor into an absolute badass, threw in a squad of space marines, and cranked the action up to eleven. It worked. Instead of diminishing the terror, it made the Xenomorphs even more frightening—because now there were hundreds of them, and they were organized.

Then… things got weird.

Alien 3 stumbled in like a confused drunk at a house party, unsure of what it was supposed to be. David Fincher (who, to be fair, was tormented by studio meddling) tried to recapture the original’s claustrophobic horror but ended up with a bleak, unsatisfying mess. Worse, it killed off Newt and Hicks in the first five minutes (WTF!)—a gut punch that felt more like a slap in the face to fans who had grown attached to them. 

But the real tragedy? 

The what could have been. 

William Gibson, the cyberpunk god himself, had written an early script draft that would have taken the franchise in a wildly different direction—Cold War paranoia, genetic experimentation, Weyland-Yutani versus the UPP (basically Soviet space marines), and a new breed of Xenomorphs. But nah, Fox scrapped that and gave us… a single dog-alien on a prison planet.

By this point, the Alien series had lost its sense of direction. The magic of the first two films—the mystery, the fear, the sheer brilliance—had been watered down by confused storytelling and studio interference. (And no, I haven't forgotten about Alien Resurrection (1997)—I’m just choosing to pretend it never happened. That bizarre, campy mess deserves to be locked in a vault and yeeted into a black hole. A clone-Ripley with alien DNA? A Xenomorph with puppy dog eyes? No thanks. Some things are best left unacknowledged.). 

And then, decades later, Ridley Scott returned. He promised to answer those burning questions we’d had since Alien. He promised us something epic, something profound.

Instead, we got Prometheus and Alien: Covenant—films that thought they were profound, but mostly just left us shaking our heads, wondering how some of the dumbest people in the universe got sent on space missions.

Let’s talk about the prequels.

Why does the Academy snub sci-Fi? A look at iconic science fiction films that went unrewarded

 At last evening's 97th Academy Awards, Dune: Part Two secured two Oscars: Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. While these awards recognize the film's technical excellence, they also highlight the Academy's historical tendency to limit recognition of science fiction (sci-fi) films to technical categories, often overlooking them in major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, and acting categories.​

Historically, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shown reluctance in honoring sci-fi films in major categories. Notable sci-fi classics like Blade Runner (1982) & Blade Runner 2049 (2018), The Matrix (1999), and Inception (2010) received acclaim for their groundbreaking visuals and storytelling but were largely confined to technical awards. For instance, The Matrix won four Oscars, all in technical categories, without nominations for Best Picture or Best Director. ​2018's Blade Runner 2049 won for Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography, but wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, nor Best Director.

The joy of simple, no-fuss gaming: why I miss games like Dungeon Siege

Somewhere along the way, video games became homework.

I don’t mean that in a bad way—there’s something deeply rewarding about mastering complex systems, experimenting with intricate builds, and deep-diving into mechanics. But sometimes, I just want to sit down, boot up a game, and have fun without watching YouTube guides, reading skill trees, or learning optimal button rotations.

That’s why I miss games like Dungeon Siege.

Finally diving back into Arcane: Season 2 Begins!

Finally got the chance to start Arcane Season 2 last night. Back when Season 1 first dropped, the kids and I watched it together—and, like most viewers, we were completely blown away by the storytelling, art style, and everything in between.

This time, it’s just my daughter and me diving into Season 2. 

We’ve only made it through two episodes so far, but once we're done, I’ll share my thoughts!

SOLSTICE - 5: Forgotten Archives – A haunting reflection on progress and power

 Some stories entertain, some inform, and then there are the rare few that leave you staring at the screen, deep in thought long after they end. SOLSTICE - 5: Forgotten Archives is one of those.

This short film is a stunning blend of immersive storytelling, world-building, and a sobering look at what happens when technology and ambition spiral out of control. 

THE STORY: The discovery of the planet "Solstice 5" sets off a high-stakes power struggle between two superpowers: the Continental Alliance and the Coalition. Their relentless race to control the planet quickly turns into a technological arms race, where automation becomes the key to expansion. But in their rush to outpace each other, they unleash forces they can no longer rein in.

Right from the start, the video pulls us into a future that feels disturbingly real.

The music.

The industrial space opera feel to it.

Reigniting the flame: reviving the blog, one post at a time

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might recall my countless attempts to revive it over the past decade (here, here, here, here and most recently here). There were a few bursts of enthusiasm, but never the consistency I was hoping for. So if you’re still here reading this—thank you! Life has a knack for tossing us in unexpected directions, whether it’s work, family, new games, or that latest sci-fi obsession. Somewhere in that cosmic mix, the blog ended up on the back burner.

But here I am again, feeling that familiar urge to write, to geek out, and to reconnect with all of you. I’m brushing off the space dust and bringing CrazyKinux’s Musings back to life. With the 20-year milestone coming up in about a month and a half, I’m more motivated than ever—two decades of rambling, community-building (the first decade if I’m being honest), and shared passion is definitely worth celebrating!