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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.

Ep411: Page2Screen: DIRT Poor

Today, Ian welcomes back Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com for a new "Page2Screen" look at The Dirt! Mötley Crüe owned the 80s with big hair, bigger personalities, and antics both comical and criminal. Earlier this year, Netfilx turned their massively popular, decades-spanning 2001 book (co-written with Neil Strauss) into a dramatized Greatest Hits compilation.

Yeah, there's plenty of drugs, debauchery, and ant-snorting in Jeff Tremaine's small-screen adaptation, but the rich characters and cultural context have been acid-washed out--along with the relationships that helped turned these out-of-control L.A. rebels into (sorta) adults.

Ian and Nick dive into the differences, and also talk about how Nick wrote the Vulturearticle that inspired this conversation!

Episode 411 has a thing about needles!

Show Guide:

Intro Music: 0:00 - 0:15

Intro: 0:15 - 3:13

The Dirt Trailer: 3:13 - 5:43

The Dirt Discussion: 5:43 - 1:06:24

Outro Music: 1:06:24 - 1:06:40

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Ep412: Late Screening: The REAL King of the Monsters!

Ep410: Rub & Tug