On this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at the history and current trajectory of Topps Trading Cards. They talk baseball cards and baseball cards, before looking at all the strange trajectories this bubblegum company went in - including War trading cards, Garbage Pail Kids, and Mars Attacks! cards. They look at the most expensive cards of all time, and the act of wonderment that delving into this topic brings. Rob also calls his dad to find out about their card investment, and David talks about seeing a weird dead deer and the reaction it got from Americans.

Email us: [email protected]

Merch and links: www.flightlessbirdpod.com

Links:

- Swedish Mom Fined for Cracking Egg on Daughter’s Head: https://townflex.com/mom-fined-for-cracking-egg-on-daughters-head-in-viral-tiktok-prank

- Why Are the Menendez Brothers on a Basketball Trading Card? https://people.com/the-menendez-brothers-basketball-card-8718273

- American Pope Topps card: https://www.topps.com/products/pope-leo-xiv-2025-topps-now%C2%AE-card-pope

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In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob visit the last Blockbuster videostore in the world in Bend, Oregon. On the way they stop off at the Overlook Hotel (sort of) and discuss their love of physical media. This week’s feedback is all very emo (in a good way).

Email us: [email protected]

LINKS:

- Robin Hood change: https://nichegamer.com/robin-hood-film-censored-to-remove-anti-establishment-intro-message/

- The Last Blockbuster in New Zealand?

https://web.archive.org/web/20201021165435/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2020/01/credits-roll-on-nz-s-last-blockbuster-video-store.html

- https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/small-business/final-credits-dargavilles-blockbuster-dvd-and-video-rental-store-blue-2-video-is-closing/EJVFKWDEV5TONP6VFR2C7CUHAQ/?c_id=3&objectid=12301650

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In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at emo music in the United States, from its origins to where it is today. Rob presents David with a lesson in emo bands and reaches out to them to ask whether they consider themselves emo or not. David plays some of his old emo reporting from back in New Zealand in the mid 00s, before attending an infamous Emo Night event in LA where he talks to founders Morgan Freed and T.J. Petracca. They also interview Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil and discuss the war between punks and emos that broke out in Mexico City in 2008.

Email us: [email protected]

Merch: www.flightlessbirdpod.com

LINKS:

Rob’s emo playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zwXnoiAe2Ja18nhvnSsCY?si=e5c8ca80a9a2434eTheme song performance: Nick Thomas of The Spill Canvas https://www.thespillcanvas.net

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In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to Lisa Didion, an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas. Lisa wrote in after the Fake Seizure Guy episode, saying that Flightless Bird should take a deeper dive into autism in America. With RFK Jr’s recent unhinged comments on autism, it felt like the right time to clear up some misinformation. On top of this - David got invited to an Autism Reveal Party. What is that? Well, listen to find out.

- Email us your feedback to: [email protected] Merch: www.flightlessbirdpod.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

Links:- RFK Jr. exaggerates share of autistic population with severe limitationshttps://www.politifact.com/article/2025/apr/21/rfk-jr-exaggerates-share-of-autistic-population-wi/ - Kennedy announces new studies to examine environmental factors linked to autismhttps://thehill.com/homenews/5252236-kennedy-announces-new-studies-to-examine-environmental-factors-linked-to-autism/ - Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Autism Research—Even As It Aims to Find the Causehttps://time.com/7279068/trump-administration-autism-research-cuts/ - NIH autism study will pull from private medical recordshttps://www.npr.org/2025/04/23/nx-s1-5372695/autism-nih-rfk-medical-records - The Pitt’s Dr. Mel King Is a Small but Meaningful Step Forward for Neurodivergence Onscreen:https://time.com/7275814/the-pitt-mel-neurodivergence-autism-adhd/

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This week’s episode is from our live show in beautiful Portland that happened on April 13. David and Rob share stories from their time in Portland, before turning their attention to Bigfoot - talking to Cliff Barackman, the man behind the North American Bigfoot Center. Cliff has been doing bigfoot field research since 1994. His expeditions have taken him to 46 states and five continents in search of evidence supporting the existence of undiscovered hominoids worldwide. From there, Flightless Bird turns its focus to the urban beavers of Portland, talking with Matt Guziejka, a beaver researcher from Portland State University. Matt has spent the last few years knee-deep in data and also mud studying how people feel about beavers living in cities. David and Rob then meet Philip Bouchard, the man responsible for taking the Oregon Trail video game mainstream. Plus, a special live performance from Suzzallo.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

- Suzzallo - www.instagram.com/suzzallo_music

- Cliff Barackman - https://northamericanbigfootcenter.com / BigfootandBeyondPodcast.com

- Matt Guziejka

- Philip Bouchard

- Paxton Gate for sharing their beautiful taxidermied birds

- Local artist Mike Bennett: www.mikebennettart.com

- Steven Smith Teamaker for the custom tea and hospitality.

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In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob visit one of America’s most iconic restaurant chains: The Cheesecake Factory. They discover its humble origins as a small cheesecake shop in 1940’s Detroit - eventually launching an empire with one of the lengthiest menus in the USA. They discuss decor, the toilets, and of course - the cheesecake.

Links:

Email us: [email protected]

Upcoming live shows and t-shirts: www.flightlessbirdpod.com

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In this week's episode, David and Rob take calls from Flightless Bird listeners, who pitch the topics they want them to investigate! From a man who tells of being woken up at age 13 to two men in his room with zipties who abducted him to a controversial “Wilderness Therapy Camp”, to someone involved in competitive air ballooning, to an intern involved in the infamous “Kony2012” campaign, we hear from Birdies with stories to tell.

Links:

- Flightless Bird live in Portland on 4/13: https://bit.ly/lostkiwiPDX

- Flightless Bird live in San Francisco on 4/18: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiSF

- Flightless Bird T-Shirts: www.flightlessbirdpod.com

- E-mail us with your feedback at [email protected]

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices