Flightless Bird

"Today on Flightless Bird: Imagine if you have fulfilled the American dream of buying your dream home… only to find there’s a problem. A big problem. You can’t see it or taste it - but you can hear it. There’s a mysterious sound and it’s out to ruin your life. That’s what this week’s episode is about. Rob and David also look at feedback to the Death Doulas episode from a few weeks back.

Links:

Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

Contact David and Rob: [email protected]

Jimmy Fallon and Jon Hamm recreated “With Arms Wide Open”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dku7mCv76cU

Susie “I threw my grandma a death part that went viral!”

Article: https://torontolife.com/life/threw-grandmother-assisted-suicide-party/

Dr’s Tweets: https://x.com/DavidJuurlink/status/1129811903776198659

UCLA's body donation program: https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/donatedbody

How the body of an Arizona great-grandmother ended up as part of a U.S. Army blast test:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodybrokers-industry/ "

In this weeks Flightless Bird, David and Rob discuss their thanksgiving plans, before hearing from indigenous leader Crystal Echo Hawk about the true meaning behind thanksgiving in America. They then use this holiday week to give thanks for two older Flightless Bird episodes, revisiting the Shower Curtains and Porn episodes from many moons ago. David tries to get to the bottom of my America loves shower curtains so much, before visiting the set of a porn film. In the feedback section, David’s mum writes in.

Links:

Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

Crystal Echo Hawk: https://illuminative.org/

Finding out whose land you’re on: www.native-land.ca

Peter Singer’s “Consider the Turkey”: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231686/consider-the-turkey

NY TIMES: The Best Shower Curtains: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-shower-curtain/

Pornhub’s election day stats: https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2024-presidential-election

Contact David and Rob: [email protected]

In this week’s episode, David calls his friend Rosabel to see what she thinks about dying, and learns that Rosabel has put him in her will! Rob and David then attempt to face their own fear of death by looking at death doulas in America - a profession born in the USA in 1998, when a foundation in New York sponsored a conference on end of life care, where a Jewish professor talked about the importance of helping the “seriously ill” during the dying process. David meets several doulas, including Alua Arthur and Kathleen Hasay. David also speaks about his experience attending a death workshop, and asks Rob some questions from the Death Deck of cards - which uses humor to talk about death and dying.

Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

Flightless Bird t-shirts: https://www.webworm.store/merch/flightless-bird

Contact Flightless Bird: [email protected]

Alua Arthur’s Death Doula School: https://goingwithgrace.com/about/

Alua’s book Briefly Perfectly Human: https://www.aluaarthur.com/

The Death Workshop David attended: https://onedowndog.com/event/workshop-death-awareness-1024/

CA Advance Healthcare Directive: https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Advanced-HealthCare-Directive-Form_031620.pdf

The Death Deck: https://thedeathdeck.com/

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look back at the last week since the election, trying to make sense of what happened. Farrier attends a Trump Watch party in Long Beach, California - taking in Trump’s voter base. Hundreds of listeners submitted voice memos documenting their election night thoughts last week, and today a selection get played out.

Links:

Flightless Bird t-shirts: https://www.webworm.store/

Hayden’s column: It’s OK To Feel Shitty: https://www.webworm.co/p/its-ok-to-feel-shitty

Sydney: Tickled at the Orpheum: 7pm, November 27: https://www.orpheum.com.au/movie/tickled-qa-event-with-david-farrier-live-on-stage

If you ever want to get in touch with show feedback or ideas, we are [email protected]

This week on Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at some of the defining conspiracy theories of this election cycle. They’re joined by conspiracy theory experts Mike Rothschild (author of “The Storm is Coming”) and Joseph Uscinski, who literally wrote THE book on conspiracy theories, called “Conspiracy Theories”. Rob and David talk about what they’re expecting November 5 to look like - and the weeks that follow. They then go through feedback to last week’s episode on Catfishing. Email Flightless Bird with your election night recordings: [email protected]

Links:

Matthew Logan Vasquez: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ndN8LWSsLWQqbWVJD8miG?si=EBK0hBnuTC2FII2EeENvCg

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob sit down with American documentary maker Erin Lee Carr and the subjects of her new film “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara.” Erin, Tegan and Sara, and producer Jenny Eliscu talk about the deeply unusual catfishing story at the heart of the film, and the relationship between artists and fans. As usual, Calvin weighs in at the end of the episode with his insight and knowledge.

Links:

Pig butchering: https://www.wired.com/story/pig-butchering-scams-go-high-tech/

Email to submit your election night audio: [email protected]

Alanis Morisette got her start on You Can't Do That On Television: https://www.tiktok.com/@80sdeennice/video/7326222806553857323?lang=en

DND’s ""very famous"" Gelatinous Cube: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16869-gelatinous-cube

Winter’s Starbucks project: www.starbuckseverywhere.net

In this week’s episode, David Farrier goes and dines at the Olive Garden as he tries to figure out what makes this place such an American Institution. Inside he is swept away by the antics of Olive Garden’s PR team, wondering if he’s possibly been brainwashed into joining some kind of cult. He also talks with three Olive Garden megafans, one who got Olive Garden tattoos - the other two who say they owe their love story to the restaurant chain.

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David explores the resurgence of interest in slime on Instagram and TikTok - an incredibly American phenomenon that's slimed its way into American culture since the 1970’s. He meets professor Christopher Michlig, author of File Under: Slime to discuss how slime has an even wider meaning and context within the United States. From The Blob to Ghostbusters, Garbage Pail Kids to skateboarding - slime is bigger than you might think.

Links:

File Under: Slime (the book): https://hatandbeard.com/products/file-under-slime-by-christopher-michlig

Lucy Jones’ Creatures That Don't Conform: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/creatures-that-dont-conform/

A Natural History of Slime: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/720858/slime-by-susanne-wedlich/

Oliver Payne’s 2022 short film, A Brief History of Slime: https://vimeo.com/684376655

MGMT video for Bubblegum Dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX5NIs8bV54

David Farrier heads to Missouri two days out from the execution of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams. He embeds with “Missourians To Abolish the Death Penalty” who are desperately trying to petition Missouri Governor Mike Parson for a stay. Along the way he meets locals who feel passionately about the death penalty, before traveling to Bonne Terre - and the prison where Missouri carries out all its executions. Farrier questions why 27 US States still insist on killing certain prisoners, and why this is a practice that continues to this day - and why statistically you’re more likely to be killed by the state if you’re black.

Show Links:

Donate to Missourians To Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP): https://madp.salsalabs.org/donationform/index.html

Donate to The Innocence Project: https://innocenceproject.org/ways-to-give/

Robert Roberson could be the first person in the US to executed based on the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis: https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/call-on-gov-abbott-to-stop-robert-robersons-execution/

A selection of Marcellus Williams’ poetry:

https://innocenceproject.org/marcellus-williams-on-death-row-poetry-is-a-lifeline/

https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2024/09/25/66f488bfe4b0b663235f1864.pdf

David Farrier’s photos from St Louis / Bonne Terre:

https://www.webworm.co/p/marcellus

Capital Punishment statistics:

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/

https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/pdf/FactSheet.pdf

John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on death row drugs issues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOn3wba8c-Y

Tickets for Webworm’s Tickled + Q&A screenings in Sydney and Melbourne:

https://www.webworm.co/p/australia

Cruise Ship documentary - Meet the Happiest Guy in the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBzOesw7sc

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier takes a darker, weirder deep dive into America with a story that is very specific, niche, and dangerous. This is a story about two Americans who were strangers to each other, until they decided to move in together. One man was in his 30s, the other rapidly approaching 80. One man was called Noah, and the other we’ll call “Spaceman Barry”. This is their story - and how it went wrong. LINKS: "Spaceman Barry" - photos and more information and discussion: https://www.webworm.co/p/spacemanbarrypod "Gary" - the story of a man whose housemate killed the neighbor: https://www.webworm.co/p/garypodcast