The High Tech Low Life Podcast: A Cyberpunk Media Retrospective

Your boys are taking a break, but before they do they wanted to break down the highs and lows of their third "season" of podcasting. The Best, the Worst, and the mid of the last 30 some podcasts.  They also, as usual, discuss some current events, and talk about what they've been watching.  Why are they doing this episode description in third person?   The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospect...

This episode Sean Faust joins us to talk about a selection of cyberpunk themed music videos.  The playlist runs the gamut from Lil Nas X to Dio, and is available at the link below. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTnHLHOwgWA1dpot3__W2GS4HUccZ-K8z&si=zthlQYR4xfTj9T2k The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Television, Literature, Ga...

This week we are covering The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr.  Tiptree is a pen name for Alice B. Sheldon who wrote a number of science fiction stories in the 60's and 70's.  This one is a short but very well done story about an ugly girl who, through some fancy tech, gets to be pretty... with a few notable strings attached, or wires if you will. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a re...

This week we celebrate the Willenium by watching Will Smith's 2004 film I Robot.  And even though it may win the award for middest movie that ever midded, we still had a good time talking about it.  The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Television, Literature, Games, and Music are all on the table. In each episode we will revisit th...

Alright, we've introed the show, talked about the characters, now it's time to dig into the details of the first season of Westworld.  We go over the arcs of all the characters and try to reveal all the secrets we can.  We are joined by Stardaddy Stan of the Astronomica podcast once again. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Telev...

This episode was cursed from it's inception.  We fought connection issues throughout, and turns out we had audio issues crop up as well.  We did what we could to fix everything, but if things feel off, that's the reason.  Other than that though, it was a really fun talk with Stardaddy Stan from the Astronomica podcast about Westworld season 1.  Due to our struggles we cut it a little short this we...

What is a girl to do after losing her parents (who may or may not have been murderers), and her brother?  Become the devil and go on a quest for vengeance.  If she happens to lose her arm in the process? Just stick a big freakin' gun on what's left of it.  This week we recap The Machine Girl, the 2008 Japanese slasher that is drenched in fake blood and... tempura? The High Tech Low Life Podcast is...

Repo Man is a movie about a punk kid venturing into an exciting career in the field of automobile reposession.  When a government scientist with a super weapon goes rogue, all the repo men in town are out to find it because that's who you send to retrieve state secrets: the lowest dregs of humanity.  The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media....

This episode has a fresh intro to recap the insane antics of the week and offer up a few recommendations, then we dive back into Simon Morden's Equations of Life.  Once again we are joined by Geoff from the Astronomica Podcast. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Television, Literature, Games, and Music are all on the table. In ea...

It's another book episode, which means we are joined by Geoff from Astronomica to use our mushy little brains and read words on paper (or listen to someone else read them at us) and this time we are reading Equations of Life by Simon Morden.  The book follows a Russian refugee living in the London Metrozone and the punishment he receives for doing one good deed. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a...

If you were an adolescent in 2002-2003, Equilibrium ruled.  Equal parts Matrix-cool and not-at-all-subtle anti authoritarianism were the perfect mix for angsty young men such as your humble hosts.  As an adult in 2026 it's still kinda rules, though the flaws may be slightly more apparent.  Pre-Batman Bale, fresh off of LOTR Bean, and post Stella Diggs?  Sign me the eff up. The High Tech Low Life P...

Blade Runner Black Lotus seems like it should be right up our alley.  The problem is, it's boring.  And not in a Blade Runner 2049 boring-because-not-a-lot-is-happening-but-interesting-because-you're-watching-characters-develop way, boring in a Surrogates way.  Perhaps we were unfair to Black Lotus because we had just watched the aforementioned Surrogates, but if you don't want to be called boring...

Surrogates is kind of a bummer.  Not because it's exceptionally bad, or exceptionally squandered potential, it's just a waste of time that could be better spent doing almost anything else.  It stands for nothing, it's trying to say nothing, it offers nothing.  Most of the performances are people playing robots, and they act like robots.  This movie is AI slop before AI slop was even a thing.  Now...

This week we have a fresh intro to discuss all the fun new dystopian things happening, and then we jump back into Transmetropolitan with issues 2-6. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Television, Literature, Games, and Music are all on the table. In each episode we will revisit the property, it's influences, it's prescience, and...

This episode will be covering the first six issues of the 1997 comic book Transmetropolitan.  Transmetropolitan is a story about a guy named Spider, who is super cool 90s edgelord journalist, searching for truth in a remarkably prescient cyberpunk future.  It's a lot to cover, and this is just the first 10th of the whole series, but consider this your intro to Transmet course. The High Tech Low Li...

At last this bottom-feeding podcast gets a much needed injection of class and taste with 1981's Heavy Metal.  A film for the discerning cine-o-phile.  Ok so only about 1/5th of this movie can be considered cyberpunk, but that's good enough for us, so we are diving in.  Cut yourself a line of Niborg and Loc your Nars in baby. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction ac...

This week we are recapping 3 short films found on the internet.  The first is a French film called Lost Memories 2.0 about a man searching for his lost love after a global computer crash. https://youtu.be/4WwC6CT92qw?si=AlBiIJk6BNKKl5m0 The Second is a Serbian Film called Anima about a cool dude trying to get "juice" for a mysterious reason. https://vimeo.com/992417940 And the third is a Malaysian...

This week's property was a pretty big deal when it came out.  A film created by a legendary director who died before he could see it made, picked up and finished by another legendary director, and what these two legends created was.... fine.  It was fine.  Kind of a bummer actually.  Cool special effects and solid performances, but overall just kind of a bummer.  That's not gonna stop us from talk...

This is the second half of our Running Man 2025 recap.  What new infuriations will the second half hold?  Tune in and I'm sure we will tell you about it. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Television, Literature, Games, and Music are all on the table. In each episode we will revisit the property, it's influences, it's prescience,...

Edgar Wright's The Running Man is not a good movie.  It's so not good that all our complaints couldn't fit into one tight ninety and we had to give it two.  Episode 2 will drop later this week, but in this first episode we discuss our initial thoughts on the movie and start the recap.  That is after we review the horrors of the week, of course.  Big thanks to Kristen from Astronomica for sitting i...

The year is 202x, Kaiju are squirting out of a butthole in the Pacific ocean.  The only way to stop them is to build impossibly elaborate 30 story tall robots.  It makes perfect sense if you don't think about it at all whatseover.  Pacific Rim is not a cyberpunk film, but it does share certain vibes, and it was requested by our beloved listeners, so we are covering it regardless.  So snort yoursel...

2025 was a rough year, but it did produce some pretty top notch media.  For this special year-end episode, we will recap our top recommendos of 2025, and yes, we immediately thought of a bunch of stuff we forgot immediately after we finished recording so this is by no means definitive.  Bonus:  Start this podcast at exactly 10:26 PM on December 31st and we'll countdown the new year with you.  The...

This week we have an extra long episode to keep you warm on the cold Christmas nights coming up, even if your Christmas is forecasted to be around 65 degrees like ours is.  The Running Man may seem like a goofy action movie on it's surface, and maybe that's what it is below the surface as well, but whether intentionally or by accident, it actually ends up showing a pretty strong example of how a m...

Robocop 2 is a movie about the drug epidemic, no wait nevermind.  Robocop 2 is a movie about a man turned machine separated from his family, no actually scratch that.  Robocop 2 is about corporate overreach, actually... Who the hell knows what Robocop 2 is about, it's got cool stop motion robot fights, explosions, and some decent gags, and that's good enough dammit. The High Tech Low Life Podcast...

Welcome to Part 2 of our recap of the Ten Percent Thief.  This week we explore the second half of tales from Apex City, and ask the question:  Did Lavanya Lakshminarayan pull it off?  Once again we are joined by Geoff of the Astronomica podcast to lend his beautiful brain to the project. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Televis...