Flightless Bird sees journalist David Farrier learning about what makes America special, from his unique perspective as a Kiwi accidentally marooned in the Land...
In this week’s Flightless Bird David is on the ground in Australia, looking at topics that are distinctly… Australian. Australia has, relatively speaking, a lot of shark attacks. So many there’s a whole Wikipedia page called “Shark attacks in Australia”. Of the 69 “unprovoked shark bites” around the world in 2023, 22% of them happened in Australia. David meets with two men who survived shark attacks - who share their motivational stories of recovery, and talk about an elite members club called “The Bite Club”. Rob and David also discuss the LA fires.
Links:
-Flightless Bird is looking for first hand stories from Californians affected by the fires. First responders, or those who’ve had their lives changed by these fires. Please send your voice memos to: [email protected]
-MALAN Fire & Wind Storm Resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/htmlview?gid=439359427#gid=439359427 / Displaced Black Families GoFund Me Directory: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/htmlview
-Brett Connellan - shark attack survivor and motivational speaker : https://www.saxton.com.au/speakers/brett-connellan
-Reach the Bite Club’s Dave Pearson (shark attack victims only!): [email protected]
-Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast
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1:18:10
Black Box of Doom
In this week’s episode, David talks with author Jason Pargin (John Dies At The End & I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom) about what TikTok and the modern internet is doing to our brains. David and Rob also discuss their New Years’ (David saw Creed in Las Vegas, Rob ate a yummy meal and went to sleep), the Cyber Truck explosion outside Trump’s hotel, and how much a blimp costs.
Links:
-Email Flightless Bird: [email protected]
-YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast
-Jason Pargin on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jasonkpargin?lang=en
-Jason's Novel, ""I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom: A Novel"": https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Worry-About-This-Black/dp/B0CT43CN6B
-Tropicana hotel destroyed: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/10/09/tropicana-hotel-casino-implosion-las-vegas/75347373007/
-Cyber Truck blown up: https://apnews.com/article/trump-hotel-explosion-tesla-cybertruck-5c5a8fd13a50e2bcde46370ae926d427
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1:11:57
Lord of the Rings Revisited
This week on Flightless Bird, David calls his friend Leon Wadham who plays "Kemen" in Amazon's Rings of Power series. Rob and David then look back at one of their favourite Flightless Bird episodes, when David visited Hobbiton. Calvin then reviews the first two Lord of the Rings films, and Rob gifts David a birthday present!
Links:
-Dave Kloc: https://www.instagram.com/davekloc/
-Flightless Bird Shirts: www.webworm.store
-Email us: [email protected]
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58:36
Leaf Blowers Revisited
This week on Flightless Bird, Rosabel slips on a leaf and David and Rob look back at one of their favourite episodes and what’s changed since it first aired: Leaf Blowers. They also read feedback on the American Girl episode - and there is a lot of it, including horror stories, and trips to the American Girl doll hospital. David also learns that there is a place you can go where Cabbage Patch Babies are birthed.
Links:
-Cost to convert entire Greenwich fleet to electric leaf blowers 'shellshocking,' officials say: https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/greenwich-leaf-blower-electric-cost-19972096.php
-The Leaf Blowers Will Not Go Quietly: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-11-08/cities-that-banned-leaf-blowers-are-getting-an-earful-from-landscapers
-Town of Huntington to begin banning gas-powered leaf blowers in January: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/huntington-gas-leaf-blower-vaubzdxa
-NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-leafblowers/
-Angry Hugh Grant: https://youtu.be/DF-9R_yCUBw?si=ccwRRA-FfRAMwfTx&t=484
-Angry Cate Blanchett: https://www.tiktok.com/@katewheeeler/video/7358794083625717025?lang=en
-Flightless Bird Shirts: www.webworm.store
-Email us: [email protected]
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1:03:38
American Girl Doll
In this week’s episode, David visits the American Girl store in Los Angeles, attempting to learn what is so American about the American Girl doll. There he meets Alyson Campbell, the Senior Events and Marketing Coordinator at American Girl - who explains how the store works. He then gets Jamie Cygielman on the line, senior vice president and GM for American Girl. He discovers the doll is the invention of Pleasant T. Rowland - an American educator, writer, and philanthropist. She spent some time as a TV news reporter - anchoring KGO-TV in San Francisco from 68 to 71. By the mid 80s, Pleasant had saved over a million dollars from selling the textbooks she’d written for students - and started American Girl, hoping to teach kids about American history through the medium of 18 inch dolls. With all this in mind - David heads up to the restaurant to dine with his own American Girl doll, meeting both kids and adults who are fans.
LINKS:
Flightless Bird Live in Seattle Feb 8: https://www.stgpresents.org/events/flightless-bird/
Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast
Flightless Bird merch: https://www.webworm.store/merch/flightless-bird
Contact Rob and David: [email protected]
Flightless Bird sees journalist David Farrier learning about what makes America special, from his unique perspective as a Kiwi accidentally marooned in the Land of the Free. Infinitely curious but never judgmental, each week David seeks to understand what makes America so unique, strange and wonderful.
USA