Episode 154 of the Still Spinning Podcast begins with fall weather, torrential rain, and Riot Fest turning a Chicago park into several inches of mud. Dan and Nicole wonder how many shoes were sacrificed, what might be found with a metal detector, and who gets stuck with the world’s worst post-festival job: emptying the portable toilets.

Then Dan explains how Ed Sheeran’s concert tour became a logistical nightmare because of his opening act, Macklemore. This leads to a larger conversation about the responsibilities of an opening act, respecting the headliner’s audience, and how Dan has apparently been boycotting Macklemore for years without even realizing it.

Merriam-Webster has added 1,400 new words and phrases to the dictionary, so Nicole quizzes Dan on everything from “trash panda” and “vibe coding” to “Sunday scaries,” “California sober,” and “cuffing season.” Things take an unfortunate turn when Dan hears the phrase “Asian buns,” and somehow they end the episode investigating whether AsianBuns.com is available. It is not. Please do not visit it.

Also this week, a collector buys a painting at a Michigan estate sale for $30 and discovers it may be worth $250,000. This is excellent news for anyone who believes the next garage sale will finally deliver their retirement fund. The story also leads Dan to reveal that he owns Civil War letters written by a Wisconsin soldier who later died at Andersonville Prison, while Nicole reveals that her household owns more than 1,400 Funko Pops. These collections may not have equal historical significance.

Finally, a moviegoer gets pepper-sprayed for using his phone during a film. Dan does not endorse the pepper spraying, but he understands the sentiment. He also shares his firsthand experience with both pepper spray and a Taser before proposing a new system in which every American receives three “attitude adjustment” tasings per year.

It’s Episode 154 of the Still Spinning Podcast with Dan and Nicole: muddy festivals, dictionary quizzes, accidental treasures, questionable collections, and the enduring mystery of Asian Buns.

Dan loses his audio ten seconds before going live (again), so Nicole flies solo for the intro while he wrestles his own computer into submission. Once he's back, the two dive into a genuinely rough week for celebrity deaths and somehow land on Tim Curry trivia neither of them saw coming (we won't spoil it, but "It" will never be the same).

From there it's straight into the AI spiral: a deeply unsettling "ChatGPT and Grandma" commercial, Dan's ongoing feud with chatbots that gaslight him mid-argument, and his real-life horror story about Amazon letting itself into his garage. Yes, you read that right. Then things get truly unhinged with "Oreo Gate," the kindergarten mom-group scandal currently breaking the internet, before Dan closes things out with a bedtime story about a doctor, a dream, and a bat that nobody asked for.

Buckle up, it's a bumpy, hilarious ride back into orbit. Catch up at stillspinningpodcast.com, and note: no live show next week for Labor Day, but a "lost" bonus episode drops Wednesday.