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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep305: Page2Screen: READY PLAYER ONE

Today, The Kicking the Seat Podcast and ColeTries.com are proud to present a new ongoing series called "Page2Screen", in which Ian and Cole compare books to their big-screen adaptations! We're kicking things off with one of the year's most anticipated films, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One--based on the novel by Ernest Cline.

The very premise of this endeavor requires a deep dive into both the source material and the film. In other words, turn back now if you don't want to be spoiled. The tricky part is, whether or not it's more important to read the book or watch the movie, and in which order. As you'll soon hear, this is one of the loosest adaptations Ian and Cole have ever encountered, and the results ain't pretty--especially for fans of the pop-heavy novel about a dystopian future in which people scour a virtual OASIS in search of a lavish, Wonka-style prize.

Also, Ian reminds listeners that if they're dead set on seeing Ready Player One in theatres, there's really only one game in town: The Music Box Theatre's exclusive 70MM engagement.

Lastly, Ian shares a brief interview with filmmaker Michael Glover Smith and producer Layne Marie Williams, who've just launched a Seed & Spark crowd-funding campaign for Michael's new film, Rendezvous in Chicago! Yes, you can help complete the Chicago relationship trilogy that began with Cool Apocalypse, continued in Mercury in Retrograde, and will conclude in a feature-length anthology of interconnected comedic shorts!

You don't state-of-the-art haptics or fancy goggles to enjoy Episode 305's virtual madness!

You can keep up with the latest seat-kicking goodness by following, liking, rating, and subscribing to us on TwitterFacebookInstagramiTunes, and Stitcher!

Ep306: We're All Ears!

Ep304: The GIANT and the FLOWER