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David Farrier

Flightless Bird follows journalist David Farrier as he learns 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 (along with cohost and American Rob) seeks to understand what makes America so unique, strange, and wonderful.

Flightless Bird

In this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier explores cryonics - freezing human corpses in the hope they may one day be resurrected by future humans! We interview James Arrowood, CEO of Alcor, America’s biggest cryonics outfit, to talk about the perception of this practice and what it means for Alcor’s 250 bodies on ice. 

Email us your feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

Links

- Death To Dust: What Happens To Dead Bodies? http://www.galenpress.com/extras/extra32.htm 

- Melbourne Woman On Ice: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-16/second-person-cryogenically-frozen-southern-cryonics/105517102 

- A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/03/13/144721/a-startup-is-pitching-a-mind-uploading-service-that-is-100-percent-fatal/ 
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Cryonics

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob discuss Pokemon Trading Cards. They’re joined in the studio by Alex (@chantastic_collection) to get schooled on Pokemon fandom and trading cards (David and Rob open their first deck ever!), before David heads to New York to meet Dave Suchmann, a man who’s combined his love of Pokemon with his computer savvy to try and make a sustainable business trading Pokemon cards. Now of course Pokemon comes from Japan, but when it was introduced to America, and then the world between 1998 and 2000, it went ballistic. It’s generally agreed upon that Pokémon is the world's highest-grossing media franchise ever - leaving Marvel and Disney stuff in its wake. So, strap in and prepare to Catch ‘Em All!

Links:

- David Farrier’s Webworm update on Fake Seizure Guy: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguysentenced 

- Dave’s Galactic Collectables: https://www.instagram.com/galactictcg/ & https://linktr.ee/galacticcollectibles 

- Alex’s Pokemon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantastic_collection 

Email Flightless Bird with your feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com 

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

Flightless Bird merch and links: https://www.flightlessbirdpod.com/ 
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Pokemon Cards

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob talk about one of the most iconic American movies of all time: Home Alone. David then meets Lauren, who not only loves Home Alone - but grew up in the Home Alone house. She was there during the entire shoot, observing the whole thing through the eyes of a six year old. This episode is part of Flightless Bird’s very unofficial “Chicago Week."

LINKS: 

- Flightless Bird presents: METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER. Saturday August 23 in Los Angeles: https://www.americancinematheque.com/now-showing/flightless-bird-presents-metallica-some-kind-of-monster-8-23-25/ 

- If have any feedback we are always flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

- You can get t-shirts at www.flightlessbirdpod.com 
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Home Alone House

In this week’s episode, Rob takes David around Chicago visiting some of his favourite deep dish pizza spots. The pair check out Pizano’s, Pequod’s, Lou Malnati's and Chicago's Pizza. They also stop by Goose Island so David can try Rob’s old favourite beer.

Contact us anytime with your ideas and feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

- Pizano’s Pizza: https://www.pizanoschicago.com

- Pequod’s Pizza: https://pequodspizza.com

- Lou Malnati's: https://www.loumalnatis.com

- Chicago's Pizza: https://chicagos-pizza.com
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Deep Dish Pizza

This week’s episode was recorded live in Chicago, where Rob and David brought Flightless Bird to Park West on July 10. They share their thoughts and feelings about Chicago, before interviewing legendary documentary maker Joe Berlinger about his work. Berlinger talks about recently EP’ing a doc about the “tylenol murders” that took place in Chicago in 1982. They then talk about some of the films he’s directed, including Brother’s Keeper, the Paradise Lost trilogy, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. They then chat about the Dahmer Tapes and his narrative film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile - and his upcoming series The Son of Sam Tapes. Next the Flightless Bird stage is taken by sandwich chef Jeff Mauro who feeds David some unique Chicago food, and then Nina Salem of the Insect Asylum presents Rob and David with a live opossum. Musical guests for this episode are the wonderful drmanhattan.

All feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

T-shirts and other show info: www.flightlessbirdpod.com 

THANKS TO:

- Joe Berlinger is a documentary filmmaker and producer. Director of such films as Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and Extremely Wicked. @joeberlingerfilms

- Jeff Mauro is the co-host of the Food Network series The Kitchen, host of Sandwich King, $24 in 24, and the Come On Over podcast, CEO & Founder of @MauroProvisions @jeffmauro

- Nina Salem of the Insect Asylum @theinsectasylum

- Music by drmanhattan @drmanhattanboots

- Photos by Lenny Gilmore @lennygilmore
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Live in Chicago: Joe Berlinger, Italian Beef, and Possums

This week’s Flightless Bird is Live From Denver! Rob and David explore the sights and sounds of Denver, CO, presenting their findings to a very fun crowd at the beautiful Cervantes Ballroom. They are joined by four guests that each bring a fascinating aspect of Denver and Colorado to life: The CEO of a cryonics company who has 250 human bodies and heads on ice, the head a hearse club, an expert from the largest Ice Core story facility on the planet, and a professor deeply involved with reintroducing gray wolves to Colorado. Musician Matthew Logan Vasquez provides live music including his rendition of the Flightless Bird themesong, and Happy Cones, founded by New Zealander Hap Cameron, delivers some hokey pokey ice cream to Rob! Thanks to our audience for their wonderful questions.

Email us with your thoughts and ideas: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.comMerch & Show Info: www.flightlessbirdpod.com 

ABOUT OUR LIVE GUESTS + LINKS- James Arrowood is the CEO and President of ALCOR, a non-profit organization dedicated to cryonics here in America: They have over 1500 members, 250 who are currently frozen, waiting for science to catch up: https://www.alcor.org/ - Zachary Helm is leader of the Denver Hearse Club, and has the best haircut in the whole of Denver: https://hearseclub.com/about/about.htm - Richard Nunn is Assistant Curator at the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility in Lakewood, Colorado. There he oversees ice cores from places like Antarctica and Greenland, that are stored in a large freezer kept at -36 degrees. His primary job is to distribute samples of this precious ice to scientists all around the world - as they look at perfectly preserved gas bubbles trapped in the ice to find out what the heck is going on with global warming: https://icecores.org/ - Joanna Lambert is an environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado. She has been deeply involved with the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, and for some reason she agreed to come talk at a show that featured a Cryonics Expert, the leader of a hearse club and a mad scientist obsessed with ice: https://www.joannalambert.com/ - Matthew Logan Vasquez: @matthewloganvasquez- Happy Cones Ice cream: https://happyconesco.com/ 

- Photography: Andrew Rowley @guacarowley
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Live in Denver: Cryonics, Hearse Club, Ice Core, & Wolf Reintroduction

In this week’s Flightless Bird, Rob takes David to Vons. There they each pick their five favourite American candies, ready to taste test back at the studio. They also pick a bunch of American candy David has never tried, so he can fill his blood with American sugar and become 200% more American.

Live show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI 

If you want to contact Flightless Bird, we are always at: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.comT-shirts are available here: flightlessbirdpod.com 
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Candy

Trigger warning: Today’s episode is very much adults only. 

In this week’s episode, Flightless Bird explores incarcerated firefighters, talking to former inmate Matthew Hahn who signed up to fight fires when he was serving time. Hahn brings his lived experience to this episode, talking about his time inside and his rehabilitation and road to recovery. The episode takes a turn when we discover what led Matt to this prison term - and how he got out early. 

Links:Matt can be found @hahnscratch on social media, or at www.matthewhahn.comLive show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDENLive show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com 
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Prison Firefighters

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at Subway - breaking down what America loves about the sandwich, before dining at a Subway and ordering all things footlong. Of course, they also examine the Jared Fogle disaster - and read some of the favourite listener feedback.

Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

Live show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDENLive show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subway

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob sit down to record on June 10th - a few days after David got a dose of pepper spray to the face at Sunday’s protests outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre were members of the LAPD and National Guard were posted. David and Rob discuss what the hell is going on as Trump sends 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, along with 700 marines. They talk to a former National Guard member about what they do, before David recounts his experiences Sunday near City Hall, and Monday night in Little Tokyo.

Email us feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

LINKS:

Guardian opinion piece: We are witnessing the first stages of a Trump police state https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/09/trump-police-state-robert-reich 

Live show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDEN

Live show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI
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LA Protests

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
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Slime

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