Episode 37 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2010’s SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, directed by EDGAR WRIGHT and based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, presents us with the adventures of Michael Cera’s slacker musician Scott Pilgrim - who discovers that in order to win the heart of foxy new girl in Toronto Ramona Flowers he must fight and defeat her seven evil exes in combat!
Kevin and Mike are joined by Preston Masterson from KISSING KONTEST (who, among other things, does the music for Gleaming the Tube!) to discuss the film, the comics, the skateboarding character Lucas Lee, and weird insular music scenes like you find in the film and in our collective hometown of Providence, RI.
Be sure to stay tuned to the very end to hear an unreleased KISSING KONTEST cover of Sex Bob-Omb's "Summertime", from the film. We are Gleaming the Tube and we are here to make you think about movies and skateboarding and music scenes and stuff!
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Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 36 - Jackass Forever
Kevin and Mike are back and watching "Jackass Forever", the latest installment in Johnny Knoxville and company's ongoing efforts to engage in the most ludicrous stunts imaginable. Discussed in this episode: the Jackass franchise as a whole and its roots in skateboarding culture, what this latest installment says about aging, our favorite Jackass segments, and where we think all of this may be headed. We're Kevin and Mike and this is a podcast.
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Here’s the Esquire article Kevin mentioned: Johnny Knoxville's Last Rodeo
Episode 35 - Blue Crush
Blue Crush tells the story of Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) and her friends as they prepare for the Pipeline surfing contest and navigate life, love and surfing the waves of Hawaii. Kevin and Mike are joined by the great Guy Benoit to discuss the intersection of surf and skateboard culture and lay out the reasons why Blue Crush is one of the greatest American movies ever made. (Yes, we're serious.)
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 34 - The Amazing Spider-Man
2012's The Amazing Spider-Man may not be the most beloved cinematic outing of the popular comic book hero but it's the only Spider-Man movie that has our Friendly Neighborhood crime fighter doing some sweet kickflips on a skateboard. This time out Kevin and Mike are joined by special guests Joe Crowe (co-director of Dragon Con's American Science Fiction Classics Track) and ToniAnn Marini (of the Geeky Devil blog) to discuss all things related to Spidey on film, with a focus on this first Andrew Garfield film and his skateboarding stunt double William Spencer. Face it, tiger - you’ve just hit the jackpot!
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Joe Crowe can be found at the Facebook page for the Dragon Con American Science Fiction Classics Track!
ToniAnn Marini’s blog: The Geeky Devil
Check out the article Mike mentioned about Spidey’s skateboarding stunt double here: THE REAL SPIDER-MAN SKATEBOARDING
Episode 33 - La La Land
2016's "La La Land" is a musical about an aspiring actress and a jazz bro who sing and dance while chasing their Hollywood dreams and falling in love, and it has the bare minimum of skateboarding in it to qualify it for discussion on this podcast! Kevin and Mike talk about the movie's relation to the grand tradition of movie musicals and settle into a wider conversation about musicals in general, a genre they both love. Mike and Kevin mention their favorite musical films, Mike talks about his experience as a recent transplant to Los Angeles in relation to the movie and whether or not jazz is indeed dead. It's an all-singing, all-dancing episode of GLEAMING THE TUBE!
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 32 - Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Kevin and Mike are joined by special guest Shaun Rosado to discuss 1989's time-travel classic Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure! Together they cover the film, the very tiny bit of skateboarding contained therein, its two sequels, Jane Wiedlin, Mike's experience living in San Dimas, Spicoli, "surfer talk" and quantum mechanics. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, and Gleaming the Tube is here for it.
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Kevin and Shaun are occasionally panelists for Dragoncon’s American Sci-Fi Classics Track, you can see their series of “Battle of the Fictional Band” quarantine panels on the track’s YouTube page.
Battle of the (Fictional) Bands: American Sci-Fi Classics Quarantine Panel
Battle of the (Fictional) Bands 2: Hot Sci-Fi Classic Nights!
Battle of the (Fictional) Bands 3: Electric Mayhem Or We Riot
Battle of the (Fictional) Bands Part IV: Soggy Bottom Boys, DethKlok, Electric Mayhem
Episode 31 - Bad Santa
Bad Santa stars Billy Bob Thornton as a department store Santa who is, as the title suggests, bad. Bad at being Santa and bad at being a person. Will he discover a modicum of holiday spirit? Kevin and Mike investigate and discuss the great performances by John Ritter, Bernie Mac, and Lauren Graham, mall security, and what all of this has to do with skateboarding for our 2021 holiday themed episode. See you in 2022!
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Kevin was part of the Dragoncon American Science Fiction Classics Track’s online panel Rankin vs Bass: Christmas Cartoon Characters Collide!
Episode 30 - Grind
2003’s GRIND, directed by Casey La Scala, tells the story of four skateboarding pals who try and get sponsored and go pro by roadtripping through various competitions and discovering that the real sponsorship is FRIENDSHIP ITSELF! Kevin and Mike discuss how much they hated this movie, how representative of skateboarding in the early 2000s it is, and why there's a weird detour to a clown college run by Randy Quaid. Hoo boy, this one is rough.
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 29 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child finds the be-sweatered nightmare killer Freddy Krueger attempting to enter people's dreams through the unborn child of Alice the Dream Master. We think. The movie doesn't make a ton of sense but Freddy does briefly ride a skateboard in one sequence which is why we're covering it on our show. Beth VanDusen from the great podcast EXECUTE CHAPTER 66 joins Kevin and Mike to figure out where this entry fits into the overall Elm Street canon but wind up spending half the episode discussing the Kool Moe Dee/LL Cool J rap feud instead.
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
You can hear Beth VanDusen on her great “Star Wars” podcast here: EXECUTE CHAPTER 66
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 28 - The Skateboard Wiz (1978 episode of Wonder Woman)
We're breaking format a little bit this week and discussing an episode of a tv show instead of a movie but we think you'll feel it's justified: Kevin Eldridge from The Flopcast joins Kevin and Mike to chat about "The Skateboard Wiz", from the third season of Wonder Woman, which finds the amazing Amazon (played by Lynda Carter, who is unimpeachably great in the role) investigating an underground gambling ring, making enormous leaps in the air, and generally being great. And it all climaxes in a skateboard chase complete with Wonder Woman's special skateboarding outfit. Add in a creepy subplot about a degenerate gambler trying to get a teenage girl to count cards for him, secret doors, and a skateboard contest and you've got a prime example of late 70s action television nonsense.
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
You can hear Kevin Eldridge talk about weird old pop culture and other strangeness every week on The Flopcast!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 27 - The Search for Animal Chin & Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
It's a double feature this week as we take a look at the seminal 80s skateboard crew The Bones Brigade! Kevin and Mike watch the famous 1987 skate video "The Search for Animal Chin" (the first video of its kind to have an overarching plot) and also check out Stacy Peralta's 2012 documentary "Bones Brigade: An Autobiography" to get a larger overview of the Brigade and their place in skateboarding history. From Lance Mountain's goofball antics to the eccentric genius of Rodney Mullen our intrepid hosts endeavor to discuss it all.
Spotify: Listen here!
Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin and Mike’s “Moonlighting” podcast, Let’s Get Chatty About David & Maddie, is here: moonlightingpodcast.com
Episode 26 - SKATEBOARD
We're back for season two! And we've got a doozy of a skateboarding movie for y'all: 1978's SKATEBOARD is a "Bad News Bears" ripoff featuring skateboarding instead of baseball and Allen Garfield instead of Walter Matthau! Garfield plays a down-on-his-luck talent agent who sees dollar signs when he starts a professional skateboarding team with Leif Garrett and Tony Alva. Kevin and Mike dig into what may be the very first feature length motion picture to revolve around the world of skateboarding!
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Episode 25 - Foxes
For our season finale we take a look at 1980's "Foxes", which has a young Jodie Foster trying to navigate the world of high school and boys and a young Scott Baio trying to navigate the world of Vans t-shirts and skateboard car chases. Also discussed: Mike's crush on Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid's giant KISS poster, the keytar, and where this film fits into the pantheon of both skateboard movies and 70s and 80s coming of age teen films. Coming of age film enthusiast Liam Gray (of Snack Report fame) joins us for this episode. We'll be back in September with more Gleaming the Tube!
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Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Check out Liam’s Snack and Shack Report here: Snack and Shack
Episode 24 - Skater Girl
2021's Skater Girl tells the story of Prerna, a teen in rural India who discovers a life-changing passion for skateboarding. How do the tropes of skateboard cinema work when transposed to a different continent? Is this movie any good? And what happens to the goat who mysteriously disappears partway through the film? Kevin and Mike tackle these questions and more as they dive into Netflix's first foray into international skateboard cinema.
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Episode 23 - North Hollywood
2021's North Hollywood tells the story of Michael, who wants to become a pro skateboarder despite his working class Dad's objections - it's a plot unlike anything we've yet seen here on GLEAMING THE TUBE! Rejected from Sundance and spurned by distributors, North Hollywood went on to become a surprise hit on iTunes. Kevin and Mike dig into Illegal Civ (the production company behind the movie) and how well the movie plays for people who like skateboarding and how it plays to people aren't hardcore skating enthusiasts. (Basically, Mike liked this movie a lot more than Kevin did.)
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Episode 22 - The Simpsons Movie
2007's "The Simpsons Movie" took the beloved television program to the big screen - Kevin and Mike chat about how the movie compares to the show, engage in the time-honored tradition of figuring out when the show stopped being as great as it was at its height, and work in some skateboarding talk both around Bart's big skating moment in the movie and around Simpsons guest star and all-around legend Tony Hawk. Join us for the best of times and the blurst of times for one of the greatest shows to ever air and its good-but-not-great movie adaptation!
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin was a guest on the strange and wonderful podcast The Flopcast this week, talking about 90s concerts in Providence, RI! Go check it out!
Episode 21 - City Hunter
1993's "City Hunter" features the great Jackie Chan in a bonkers action comedy based on a popular manga series. (And yes, Jackie does jump on a skateboard at one point.) The film is sort of like a live action cartoon with impressive stuntwork and martial arts - it sounds great on paper but is it any good? Tune in to see what Kevin and Mike think of this one. Also discussed: which character from "The Love Boat" do we think was most likely to have ridden a skateboard?
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Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Kevin is going to be a guest on The Flopcast on May 30th!
Episode 20 - The Skateboard Kid
1993's "The Skateboard Kid" has everything you'd want in a movie about a magical talking skateboard voiced by Dom DeLuise - Timothy Busfield playing a hapless television station manager, the mom from "My So-Called Life", disputes about whether or not a water tower should be classified as a utility or a dwelling, YOU NAME IT - and yet it's somehow still not a very good movie. If it was the early 90s and your local video store was all out of "Jurassic Park" and "Aladdin" then your family probably made do with this dud. Let's relive the magic.
Also discussed: Which characters on "The West Wing" do we think ever rode a skateboard at some point.
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
Episode 19 - Citizen Kane
"Citizen Kane", the debut feature from the legendary Orson Welles, is considered by many to be the finest motion picture ever made, and its pioneering use of deep focus camera shots and really sweet kickflips and ollies has entranced fans of both the cinema and skateboarding since its initial release in 1941. Kevin and Mike go deep and discuss the film's impact on both the world of cinema and the world of skateboarding. There have been many famous cinematic images of skateboards, but none as iconic as Charles Foster Kane's beloved Rosebud.
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Theme music is by Kissing Kontest
“Rosebud” illustration courtesy E.K. McDonnell Illustration
Episode 18 - Hardflip
2012's "Hardflip" tells the story of Caleb, a troubled 18-year-old played by a clearly 30something actor, who seeks solace in skateboarding before discovering that the sweetest kickflips of all can be found in THE BIBLE. That's right, it's a Christian skateboarding movie! Kevin and Mike delve into this movie, which features born again pro skaters Christian Hosoi and Brian Sumner in small roles as well as former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider as Caleb's estranged father. We usually try and meet art where it is but in this case we do spend most of the episode laughing about how terrible "Hardflip" is. Hoo boy.
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Apple: Go get it!
Theme music is by Kissing Kontest