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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.

Ep500: Secret Origins w/ Dann Gire!

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast celebrates its milestone 500th episode with the man who started it all. Dann Gire co-founded the Chicago Film Critics Association in 1990 and stepped down as its president in 2018. He also invited a struggling young film critic to apply for the CFCA in 2013, which changed the course of Kicking the Seat and breathed new life into this very show.

In this extensive conversation spanning Dann's fifty-year journalism career, he talks with Ian about how he got started reviewing movies for The Daily Herald; how the film and film criticism landscapes have changed over the decades; the myth of work/life balance; and inspiring new generations of moviegoers to think deeply about art.

Also, Ian shares some cool movie-related events coming up this week, including a High Fidelity-themed pop-up shop at Reckless Records; an advance screening of Hulu's High Fidelity streaming series with special guests; and Dann and Raymond's Movie Club--in which today's guest will discuss "Sex: Code and Pre-Code" with Raymond Benson at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library!

Episode 500 is just getting started!

Show Guide:

Intro Music: 0:00 - 0:14

Intro: 0:14 - 7:30

Transition Music: 7:30 - 8:24

Dann Gire Interview: 8:24 - 1:48:27

Outro Music: 1:48:27 - 1:48:43

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Ep501: The Slowdown: MAN in the Mirror

Ep499: Toxic Femininity