The High Tech Low Life Podcast: A Cyberpunk Media Retrospective

In the year 20__, Theodore is a lonely man in a lonely world spending too much time on his computer.  Then he purchases Samantha, a new AI Operating System with a fun personality and a sexy voice, which leads to him spending too much time ON his computer.   It's a real situationship between Man & Machine, in a world without belts.  That's Spike Jone's Her. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retro...

Last week set the stage, this week we dive deep.  Ancient sumerian myths, the bicameral mind, sword fights, and some suuuuper problematic sex stuff.  We talk about it, we hash it out, some of it we really love, some of it we viscerally hate, but that's Snow Crash for ya.  Thanks, once again, to Geoff from the Astronomica podcast for joining us on this sleigh ride.  Get it?  Cuz snow?  You get it....

I don't even know where to start on a summary of Snow Crash.  Basically imagine a book about what the world's biggest dork would think was cool.  That's a start.  This book contains multitudes, good and bad, so we are giving it two parts.  The first one sets the scene, describes the world, and introduces the characters.  The second one will get real weird. Also, we have a special guest! Geoff from...

This week's podcast starts with a pretty heavy intro discussion, then abruptly segues into our recap of one of the dumbest movies I've seen in years.  Cyborg is about a muscly man (who is not a cyborg), trying to protect a woman (who is a cyborg) so she can get to Atlanta and cure the plague ravaging the world.  The cyber is minimal, the punk is minimal, the plot is minimal, but there are a LOT of...

In the year 2058, a racially ambiguous mercenary (Vin Diesel) is hired by a very French sexual harrasser (Gerard Depardieu) to smuggle a young girl (Melanie Thierry) and her Warrior Nun bodyguard (Michelle Yeoh) across the Bering Strait and into America. Pretty cool setup, right?  I know I'm intrigued!  Surely this will payoff big time!  Spoiler alert:  They do not.  Another spoiler alert:  Things...

In the near future, a Tokyo slum is about to be bulldozed to make way for a Nuclear Power plant.  The wasted and forgotten gangs of mutants and youths that live there are the only thing that can stop local business interests and Yakuza from destroying their home.  Their strongest weapon: Punk Rock. Burst City is a proto-cyberpunk art film from 1982 that is violent, offensive, and above all, very v...

We recorded this because the survivors no longer envy the dead. This week's podcast is cruising into unknown territory with our first music review.  We picked Unicorn, the latest album by the popular synth-wave band: Gunship, and though it may have started out a little rocky, I think we found our stride and ended up making a pretty good episode.  If you're new to synth wave, maybe this will whet y...

There's a slight possibility we bit off more than we could chew this week as we attempt to cover the 9 hour adaptation of the highly regarded manga: Pluto.  Join us as we recap what we understood about the show, and try to make sense of what we didn't, all while keeping it to a nice, tight 150. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film,...

With the earth gets too polluted, and too full of poors, the rich fly off to their heaven-in-low-orbit: Elysium, to... do whatever rich people do in space.  Inject children's blood?  I don't know I'm broke as hell, but I do know that only robo Matt Damon can save us from this dystopia...  Matt Damon and Pablo Escobar. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across al...

You've probably seen it, you probably love it, you don't need us to tell you how good it is, but maybe you need us to recap it scene by scene and make commentary on each little bit of it?  Yeah?  Sound like fun? Escape From New York may not be traditional cyberpunk, but the vibes and inspiration are very much there, and much of what the genre came to be might not exist without ol' Snake Plissken b...

This episode we recap and review the novel Trouble And Her Friends by Melissa Scott.  Imagine what you thought the internet would be like in 2060, but you're imagining it in 1994.  The glorious dream that died a slow death throughout the mid aughts is alive and well in this book that, though it may not get everything right, does really capture a certain vibe that some of us dearly miss. Also, it's...

Through all the minutes of all the episodes of the Johnny Mnminute podcast, not one of them is actually dedicated to the source material that the movie was based on.  We rectify that situation this week with our in-depth recap of the original Johnny Mnemonic short fiction from the Burning Chrome anthology.  See the origin story of your buddies Johnny, Molly/Jane, Ralfi, Lewis (who?), Dog (wtf?), a...

In the filthy, destitute future, crime runs rampant, and only the thin red X stands between the citizenry and criminal scum that seeks to exploit them.  The "thin red X" in this context being Judges, and one Judge in particular: Judge Dredd.  Dredd loves the law.  Like REALLY loves the law.  Sound problematic?  Yeah, we talk about all that. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cybe...

In post-climate disaster Miami, a memory-dealer hawks nostalgia to people too desperate for the past to look toward the future.  When one customer leaves her mark on his heart, and her earring on his machine, he falls down a rabbit hole of drugs, deception, and wet, wet, watery wetness, that can only end in well... probably water.   Anyway whether knowingly or not this movie lays the schmaltz on t...

We set the stage last week, this week we make a valiant attempt to recap a very long novel in a tight 90 minutes.  Spoiler alert:  We fail.  But we do our best to bring you the tale of Marid Audran and his adventures in the Budayeen, and add our own thoughts, opinions, and insights into the story.  Once again with special guest, Mike the Sailing Guy! The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospecti...

It's another book episode!  When Gravity Fails tells the story of Marid Audran, a hustler trying to make it in the unforgiving streets of The Budayeen.   While just trying to make a buck, Marid finds himself witness to a murder, which sets him on his first steps down a rabbit hole leading to international espionage, sadistic murders, and hopefully a little cash if he plays his cards right.  In Par...

We heard you liked goo, and lots of moist sucking and crunching sounds?  Baby we got you!  This week is David Cronenberg's weird 1999 biopunk film: Existenz.  Basically a celebrity video game designer is on the run through virtual reality worlds of her own creation, but that's not really an accurate synopsis.   It's weird, and gross, and pretty fun, if confusing.  So... enjoy! The High Tech Low Li...

After an Artificial Intelligence designed for a Police training simulation goes rogue, the only hope to capture him is an ex-cop turned convict named Parker Barnes, currently serving life... for murder. Sounds a lot cooler than it is.  This is a very standard, somewhat boring 90's action movie with a little bit of a cyberpunk skin wrapped around it.  We both remembered it with fondness, but that f...

Dade is a hacker with a notorious past, but all that is behind him as he moves across the country and starts school in NYC.  However, an online encounter with a mysterious hacker draws him into a world of intrigue, camraderie, and some of the craziest fashion choices you've ever seen.  Also Fisher Stevens spends a lot of time on a skateboard, which is pretty cool. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is...

The HTLL main feed remains on summer break, but so as not to leave our listeners completely high and dry, here is a taste of the many delights that await you on our Patreon.  This is our initial discovery and reaction to the film Cyber Vengeance, it is candid and relatively unedited, so if you aint into that, then feel free to take a pass on this one.  If, however, you want to witness the horrors...

The exciting finale of the podcast covering the exciting finale of the book dictating the exciting finale of the Sprawl Trilogy is upon you!  Mona, Angie, Kumiko, and Slick Henry find themselves in a tight spot, will they get out?  How much blood will be shed in the process?  Will murderous robots be involved?  You might be surprised at the answers!  Or not, if you've read the book, which I kind o...

This week we tackle the first half (ish) of the final novel in William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy: Mona Lisa Overdrive.  Mona is a down on her luck teenage prostitute looking to get out of her awful insect-infested life in Florida.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, Angela is the hottest sim star on the screen (?).  Kumiko is the daughter of a Yakuza boss, exiled to London while her father fights...

In the mean streets of Night City, a kid can't survive on wits alone, he needs chrome.  And when David gets his hands on a military grade implant, he doesn't hesitate to start his new life as an Edgerunner.  Augmentation, however, is addictive, and if the road isn't travelled carefully it can have violent repercussions.  This week Josh and Eric watch, recap, and SPOIL THE CRAP out of Cyberpunk: Ed...

In a dystopian future, private prison corporations merge with high tech virtual reality companies to form the ultimate in for-profit incarceration.  One man takes pity on the poor condemned inmates, and by combining his love of VR video games and his knowledge of history, will take on these corrupt powers, from inside the machine.  Sounds pretty cool when you write it out huh?  Unfortunately that'...

After being discovered in a scrap pile and reassembled by a kindly cyberdoc, Alita, a super-sophisticated cyborg berserker, struggles to remember her origin, navigate new relationships, and combat various threats plaguing those she cares about.  All while motorballing her way to destiny. The High Tech Low Life Podcast is a retrospective of cyberpunk fiction across all forms of media. Film, Televis...