Tirzah “No Romance” with Mona Chalabi & Cyberattack

On this latest LIVE episode of the show, we sit down with data journalist and illustrator Mona Chalabi (Guardian US, BBC, FiveThirtyEight) to discuss the song “No Romance” by Tirzah. Since she’s currently not seeing a therapist, Mona asks us to try and give her insight on what this song means to her. This is a first for us and we end up talking a lot about romance, whether or not it’s a necessary part of life, logic as it relates to romance, and what we’re told about love growing up. How much does love matter to Mona and what does the word even mean? She answers these questions while admitting that she is a “really really really hard person to date.”

Mona also tells us what’s on her love life spreadsheet (she’s a data journalist, after all) and we exchange worst date stories, in which, predictably, Pat and Evan’s worst dates don’t even come close to Mona’s (or any woman’s for that matter). This is a woman who specifically attracts broken penises, after all!

Among the less romantic fare, we discuss Mona’s wonderful data visualizations, why she’s taken to them, and her desire to reach people who do not identify as geeky or nerdy. We also ask what else comes on Mona’s Discover Weekly playlist and we hear about the time he met Robert Downy Jr. Finally, we chat with Mona about the massive importance of friendships in her life. All that, plus we learn what UK garage music is, heal Mona’s psyche, and get a special performance from Ivan Anderson of Cyberattack!!! Make sure to check out his instrumental cover of “No Romance” on our Soundcloud.

Follow Mona:
@monachalabi on Instagram and Twitter
http://monachalabi.com/

Keep up with Cyberattack:
@cyberattack_world on Instagram
http://cyberattack.world/