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Mona Lisa Overpod

Mona Lisa Overpod

Written by: justenoughtrope
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 Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in '80s and they break down its themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!Copyright justenoughtrope Science Fiction
Episodes
  • MLOP 31: Down For The Count Zero

    MLOP 31: Down For The Count Zero
    Sep 10 2025
    Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in the '80s and break down the themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

    William Gibson's Neuromancer crystallized--if not created--the burgeoning genre of cyberpunk and he's been running from that label ever since. The sequel to his debut novel presents an expansion of his singular and evocative cyberpunk world, following the experiences and actions of a trio of protagonists, caught up in a globe-spanning conflict between the human forces of capital and the nascent and puissant influence of mysterious cyberspace "gods." Not content to simply replicate the noir-tinged heist of his first work, Gibson shows us an increasingly chaotic world where class is an identity, art is a commodity, and human ingenuity is on borrowed time.

    In this episode, we discuss Gibson's inspirations behind Count Zero and his views on art, the limits of iconoclasty, how science fiction requires precision in metaphor, "Japonification" in cyberpunk, updating the Cold War for the 21st century, the flawed heroes of cyberpunk, literal ghosts in the machine, technology as a tool for immortality, and the fusion of the technical and the traditional in Gibson's work. We also talk about "spyberpunk", asking the ceiling for the answer, "higherly", being a mercury-filled spider, "Heinleining", going biopunk, villains touching grass, money as its own AI, fetal VR soap opera syndrome, reducing your motherf*cker count, being invited to the voodoo cookout, the importance of Joseph Cornell to Gibson's work, cyber colonialism, protagonist energy, and Kal goes after millennials!

    CHAPTER 14?!

    NEWS UPDATE: Anthropic settles!
    https://www.theverge.com/news/766311/anthropic-class-action-ai-piracy-authors-settlement

    The new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, is out now!
    https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/

    Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour!
    http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope

    Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body!
    http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com

    MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord!
    http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod
    http://www.justenoughtrope.com
    http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod
    https://discord.gg/7E6wUayq

    Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi!
    https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 3 mins
  • MLOP 30: The Long Tomorrow is Cyberpunk's Yesterday

    MLOP 30: The Long Tomorrow is Cyberpunk's Yesterday
    Aug 27 2025
    Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in the '80s and break down the themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

    Dense cityscapes, exotic fashions, humans sharing the streets with robots and cyborgs...the visual aspects of cyberpunk worlds are readily detectable and typically anticipated by the average sci-fi consumer. But the Blade Runners and Neuromancers and tech noir tales of science fiction owe their most anticipated signifiers to a seldom discussed comic story created by two titans of genre fiction and published in a broadly influential magazine that created from whole cloth the genre we think of as "Cyberpunk".

    In this episode, we discuss The Long Tomorrow and the story of its creators' collaboration, the powerful influence of Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal on 1970s science fiction, the heady combination of the bandes dessinées art style and American noir, Moebius's arresting creations and Dan O'Bannon's fertile imagination, and whether or not cyberpunk is a matured genre. We also talk about the "cyberpunk purity test", bromine poisoning, hi-tech Furbies, #RIPAOL, "older brother magazines", the Shinders backroom right of passage, Moebius FM, Jodorowsky's Dune, cultural dandelions, sex panels, the first cyberpunk POC main character, tempered edgelordiness, the leveling effect of streaming on culture, and The Bonfire of the Vanities gets a beatdown!

    Le pied?

    NEWS UPDATE: Anthropic settles!
    https://www.theverge.com/news/766311/anthropic-class-action-ai-piracy-authors-settlement

    Check out the totally real(?) Long Tomorrow TV pitch
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvKj_kYTMuk

    The new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, is out now!
    https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/

    Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour!
    http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope

    Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body!
    http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com

    MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord!
    http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod
    http://www.justenoughtrope.com
    http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod
    https://discord.gg/7E6wUayq

    Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi!
    https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 2 mins
  • MLOP 29: The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections

    MLOP 29: The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections
    Aug 6 2025
    Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in the '80s and break down the themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

    The first Matrix film revolutionized the world of sci-fi action films and its sequel amped up the spectacle and nearly doubled the box office returns. So, when The Matrix Revolutions premiered in October 2003, audiences expected a pulse-pounding conclusion to the trilogy. What they got instead was a film more concerned about bringing completion to its deeply contemplated philosophical themes than providing an apocalypse of kung fu. Fast forward 18 years, and history repeats itself, as The Matrix Resurrections hits theaters (and HBO Max) and once again subverts expectations, as a filmmaker attempts to comment on the legacy of her work and how it changed the way we view the modern blockbuster.

    In this episode, we discuss the two "bad" Matrix films and their impact on culture, the full court press of the 00's Matrix franchise, the way in which the philosophy of the series informs its action, the impossible task of encoring The Matrix, the fourth film's trans identity and its rebuke of internet culture, how getting older changes an artist, and why our choices may be illusions. We also talk about bad faith censorship, Agent Smith's invisible hand, believing in government the French Revolution way, getting Lockblocked, Big Baby God, the "Jaws" of '99, crappy cable-knit sweater world, kicking and causality, your boss is a dick robot, caring about the Sense8 gang, coming for Tolstoy, the suspenders of disbelief, skipping Tom Bombadil, noodle moments, and unlikeable kids!

    Oops! I'm a rock guy!

    Sign the petition to send a message to Itch.io!
    https://www.change.org/p/tell-mastercard-visa-activist-groups-stop-controlling-what-we-can-watch-read-or-play

    The new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, is out now!
    https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/

    Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour!
    http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope

    Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body!
    http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com

    MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord!
    http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod
    http://www.justenoughtrope.com
    http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod
    https://discord.gg/7E6wUayq

    Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi!
    https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 2 mins
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