Webworm with David Farrier

In this Webworm podcast, a story I've been working on for some time. Just over a year ago — in March of 2024 — I got an email from Jake. He had a story he wanted to tell, and he wanted to find a way to tell it that could help others. A warning, of sorts. And so over the last year, as a court case played out — I’ve been working on this story. It takes place in and around CityLife church in Melbourne. And while this story is a warning, I also think it’s a story about the truth, justice, and pushing back against institutions that allow abuse to happen. This piece discusses emotional and physical abuse that may be distressing for some readers, so please take care when reading. For more see https://www.webworm.co This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Something is killing the birds in a sleepy Auckland suburb. The locals are on a witch hunt. Alexandria Edwards was playing Pokemon Go in her car when she saw the sparrows. Dozens of them were strewn in various states of stupor on the grass nearby. Some had passed out. Others were struggling and failing to fly. Magpies were swooping at the ones who couldn’t get away. She got out to shoo the bigger birds. Help arrived promptly. A call had gone out on the local Facebook community page. Come down, it said. The birds have been poisoned again. TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION: https://www.webworm.co/p/brownsbaybirdpoisoner This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest essay is from Kath: It’s a tough time for librarians at the moment. Here in Aotearoa we’ve just recently seen an Auckland library hosting a science performance (about the weather of all things) by a drag king stormed by black shirted thugs instructed by their leader to “shut it down”. The United States is currently facing the highest rate of attempted book bans it has ever faced, even to the attempt to criminalise librarians who loan these books. Libraries around the world are fielding an increasing number of threats, book challenges and ugly behaviour. So it’s understandable librarians are feeling it right now. For context, I have had an almost 30 year career in public libraries in Australia and New Zealand, and a lifetime lurking in them like the massive library nerd that I am. Libraries have always been a sanctuary for me. From when I was a little girl growing up in a violent household, as a teen who was mercilessly bullied at high school, and a young adult when I was feeling lost. It was inevitable that I would end up working in libraries and to become a career librarian. In the last five years, librarians have been facing challenges that were simply not an issue for the first 15-20 years of my career. Librarians have always faced challenges, and I have endless stories I could dine out on. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Joshua Drummond visits one of the last video stores in New Zealand, United Video found in Morrinsville. It's a snapshot into another time, and a part of New Zealand that’s very dear to my heart. And if you’ve ever rented a video or DVD, it might pluck on a few nostalgic heartstrings. See photos at www.webworm.co/p/lastvideoshop This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Today on Webworm I wanted you to share a conversation between two New Zealanders raised by parents who embraced Focus on the Family. Because Focus on the Family travelled far beyond America. It went global — and during the 80s and 90s in particular, millions of kids were raised in the ways of Dr James Dobson. Michael Frost and Shane Meyer-Holt are my friends, and run a podcast called In The Shift, in which they discuss coming to terms with exiting a very certain breed of Christianity. They are still Christians, just not the breed you find at the churches I tend to write about. Hearing them discuss Focus on the Family was fascinating to me, and I hope it’s fascinating to you, too. Something Michael said towards the end really hit me like a tonne of bricks. He talked about what it meant to grow a generation of compliant kids. At what that means when a country like America comes under the leadership of Donald Trump — a man who professes to be a Christian. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

An essay from Hayden Donnell arguing that according to the Bible, Donald Trump is definitely the antichrist. Hayden urges us to engage in some heavy duty Hail Marys, because if recent events have taught us anything, it’s that being an irredeemable moron with a repellant personality and the countenance of a salamander wearing human skin is, if anything, an asset when it comes to inflicting misery on a global scale. See you in the comments at https://www.webworm.co This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

I was still working for TV3 news and living in New Zealand, but had found myself in LA, working on the final stages of Tickled. I knew Cornell had an upcoming solo show back in New Zealand, so I’d reached out to the music label to see if could get an interview. He said yes. And on a Sunday morning in 2015, on a day off, Chris Cornell drove across town to my hotel and sat down for a 30 minute interview. There was no junket hotel, no label people — just a musician driving out of their way to meet some idiot from a TV station in tiny New Zealand. He had no need to — his upcoming show had already sold out. I’m not quite sure why he did it. But I’m glad he did. I played a few minutes of that clip in Seattle, but I wanted to make the whole thing available for Webworm readers today. I’d found it last year — the unaired long edit — on a digibeta tape I’d saved in a box in New Zealand. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Webworm can report that a man has been charged with “sexual assault by compelling sexual touching” and “public nuisance” in Melbourne, Australia. The charges were laid on Monday. Webworm has been in touch with the latest victim, who outlined an M.O. that sounded all too familiar: A man fell down in front of him, appeared to be having spasms, then asked to be sat on and restrained him. The man has been released on bail and will appear in Court on April 24. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

A short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now."I finished making this video essay a couple of days before the fires took over wide swaths of Los Angeles, where I live. And while it might not seem directly connected—the assassination of a healthcare CEO and wildfires ravaging LA — after walking through the wreckage of the Altadena fire to survey the damage of my friend’s home, I couldn’t help but feel all of it was endemic. American carnage.We have lived through forty-plus years of a culture built on abject greed. We’ve constructed a national ego that has rewarded this individual greed, all at the expense of the collective. We’ve built a perverted moral armature that not only excuses this greed, but convinces us that it is somehow innate or unavoidable. Or that it is good, even.It is not. It is a choice. And it is a choice we can no longer make. Like so many in our city, I’ve been overwhelmed with emotions. Not only witnessing the unimaginable destruction, but also a feckless regime of entrenched private interests masquerading as public service.I’ve also seen the best of humanity. Dedicated first responders working tirelessly to prevent further tragedy under unimaginable conditions. I’ve seen communities come together to offer support. And then I’ve seen opportunists, offering emergency housing at ludicrous prices.It’s going to take a long time to rebuild from here. But also, in this effort there is an opportunity, a choice we must make about what we actually want to build for the future.More totems to individualism?More American carnage?Or do we build community? Real community. Built on a radically reimagined moral grounding, where we recognize our responsibilities to one another. And take up that responsibility with enthusiasm, pride, and generosity." This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

I thought it was important we all have a place to chat today — a place that’s safe and sane. So — see you in the comments as things unfold. Let’s all be civil and respectful as per usual, even as things will inevitably get quite wild and gross because America. I’ll be headed to Huntington Beach in Orange County tonight — that’s where the Trump supporters and alt-right/nazi types live. I’ll be recording some audio and will report back. Let this be your Dark Tourist: Season 2. Join in the election thread over on Webworm: https://www.webworm.co/p/anelectionthread This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

My friend loaded about a year’s worth of our text history into Google’s AI (privacy, what privacy?) — and instructed the AI to create a podcast about me based on those texts. That’s what today’s podcast is — just a couple of AI people talking to each other about me, based on nothing but a text thread between me and my friend. It’s truly awful and I told Aaron as much. On top of this Joshua Drummond shares his latest big of art around New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

A conversation with someone I find endlessly fascinating to talk to — one of my favourite authors, Jason Pargin. He’s perhaps most well known for writing John Dies At The End, or a host of other books that all have amazing titles including This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It, What the Hell Did I Just Read, and If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe. His latest comes out this week, and is called — in true Jason style — I Am Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. I was reading his stuff way before I knew I was reading his stuff, later finding out he was the guy who started Pointless Waste of Time which ended up being Cracked.com. If you don’t know his writing, you might know him as “the geriatric TikTok personality” (his words, not mine) who stumbled upon Tickled recently, before moving onto Mister Organ. After watching that reaction video, I got in touch with him and fawned a little, before discovering that we have a lot of interests in common — from the chaos of social media and AI, to cults and religion, to all the stuff Tickled and Mister Organ touched on. I loved talking to Jason — and so here’s our conversation. It goes all over the place, and I hope you enjoy what he has to say. BOOK LINK: https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/starting-to-worry-about-9781250285959/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

When I was 14 I was obsessed with a band called Creed. I’d come home from school, and the first thing I’d do is go to my room, shut my door, get out my discman, and put on Creed’s 1997 album My Own Prison. Now, 27 years later I attend my first Creed show... where I find a lot of support for Donald Trump. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s Webworm is a podcast episode which tells the story of Barry. More specifically, it’s a story about Barry as told by my neighbor and friend Noah. Noah lived with Barry for six years, first as a housemate and then as a friend. This all seems pretty normal, until you realise that Barry was about 50 years older than Noah. I guess you could say it’s more a story of friendship, but one based on a fairly big secret. As usual, I will be in the comments all week at www.webworm.co if you listen and have any questions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been trying to have this conversation for about seven years now, but it was impossible due to ongoing litigation in various United States' courts, including the New York State Supreme Court.David D’Amato (the “big bad” in Tickled) died from a heart attack back on March 13, 2017. He left behind a legacy of tickling videos and online harassment, along with a couple of cats and tens of millions of dollars.I noticed that one of the key people named in D’Amato’s will (as you’ll know from the film, we had a trove of documents from D’Amato’s computer) was Robert Maher. So back then, out of sheer curiosity, I dropped him an email.To my surprise, he replied. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit webworm.substack.com/subscribe