Mt. Rushmore Podcast

This Sunday is Oscar night, and you know what that means! Well, yes, trying to figure out which celebrities are half in the bag while walking the red carpet and which ones are hopped up on goofballs. And also, yes, rubbing it in your friends' faces because you got the Best Documentary Short AND Best Animated Short right in your Oscar pool.

More than that, though, we're talking about your God-given right as an American to boo and throw things at your TV because the Best Picture winner CLEARLY wasn't the best picture of the year. But why wait until Sunday? You can hear us rant and rail on the worst choices for Best Picture from years past while you throw something at your smartphone or car stereo.

Joining us to bring some much-needed sanity to the proceedings is Erik Anderson of AwardsWatch.com. Few people know more about the history and behind-the-scenes drama of the Best Picture race than him, so who could be better to explain why the best film didn't always win?

Meanwhile, Jeff is interviewing all the stars on the red carpet while wearing his snazzy bejeweled vest while Michael is the arm candy for the latest ingénue and Richard is trying to crash the party with a boozy Sally Kellerman in tow.

SHOW NOTES

5:58 - Crash (Joint Choice)

16:05 - Oliver! (Richard and Michael's Choice)

23:22 - Dances with Wolves (Erik's Choice)

35:24 - Forrest Gump - (Richard and Michael's Choice)

43:18 - Unforgiven - (Erik's Choice)

49:48 - Rocky - (Richard and Michael's Choice)

1:00:01 - Gladiator - (Erik's Choice)

Everyone wants to be the headstrong hero who jumps into battle to save their friends in spite of the tremendous danger looming in front of them, ensuring fortune and glory!

But what about those better angels on our shoulders who are warning us that maaaaayyyybeee we should cool our jets? This week we debate which Logical and Sensible characters are most justified to be on our Mount Rushmore.

SHOW NOTES

• Jiminy Cricket (Michael's Choice)
• Spock (Joint Choice)
• Frank Grimes from "The Simpsons" (Richard's Choice)
• C-3PO (Michael's Choice)
• Nicholas Angel from "Hot Fuzz" (Richard's Choice)
• WOPR (Michael's Choice)
• Mike from "The Monkees" (Richard's Choice)

It's amazing how large a world can be created around a show about nothing. Yes, we watch Seinfeld because of the wacky, misanthropic adventures of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer, but often it's the characters outside of the Core Four who wind up stealing the show.

Join us this week as we debate who belongs on the Rushmore of Secondary Seinfeld Characters. Some of them can match the gang awful action for awful action, while others are innocents caught up in their wake. Either way, make sure you stay tuned until the end immediately following Jeff's Airing of Grievances for Richard and Michael competing in the Feats of Strength and then yada yada yada.

SHOW NOTES

• Newman (Michael's Choice)
• Puddy (Richard's Choice)
• Jenna (Michael's Choice)
• Frank Costanza (Richard's Choice)
• The Bizarro Gang (Michael's Choice)
• George Steinbrenner (Richard's Choice)
• J. Pederman (Michael's Choice)
• Bob Sacamano (Richard's Choice)

It's a rare breed of people who can be really good at multiple things. Heck, it's pretty rare to find someone any good at one thing. Most people are like the sandwich "artist" at my local Subway who always puts too much oil and vinegar on my sub even though I ask for just a dash.

This week we're celebrating some of the most famous - and sometimes surprising – polymaths in pop culture and history. These are the Swiss Army Knives of entertainment. Especially in the case of Nick Offerman, who can probably make a canoe out of a log using a Swiss Army Knife.

SHOW NOTES

Leonardo DaVinci (Michael's Choice)

Hedy Lamarr (Richard's Choice)

Nick Offerman (Michael's Choice)

Steve Martin (Richard's Choice)

"The Joker" from the Steve Miller Band song (Michael's Choice)

Magic Johnson (Richard's Choice)

Oprah Winfrey (Michael's Choice)

Paul Newman (Richard's Choice)

Phil Hartman (Jeff's "Borglum's Bag" Choice)

This week we're joined by Jim Hanke from Vinyl Emergency to explore all of the strange, cool and unusual designs found in classic and current albums. We cover everything from edible EPs to covers featuring pictures of pants with fully working zippers (even if it did sort of ruin the physical album inside.)

Jim brings his fantastic wealth of information, while Michael and Richard team up with stuff they found on Wikipedia. Who will win? Only Jeff knows, but honestly, the answer is pretty obvious.

Make sure you follow Vinyl Emergency on Twitter and Facebook along with checking out his show, where he has interviewed big shots including Matthew Sweet and Roseanne Cash.

SHOW NOTES

• 8:41 – "Gummy Song Skull EP" by the Flaming Lips (Jim's Choice)
• 15:30 – "Sticky Fingers" by the Rolling Stones (Richard and Michael's Choice)
• 22:26 – "Vitalogy" by Pearl Jam (Joint Choice)
• 38:30 – "In Through the Out Door" by Led Zeppelin (Richard and Michael's Choice)
• 43:23 – "Lazaretto" by Jack White (Joint Choice)
• 55:15 – "Friday the 13th (Original Motion Picture Score)" by Harry Manfredini (Jim's Choice)
• 1:00:01 – "Yesterday and Today" by the Beatles (Jeff's "Borglum's Bag" Choice)

Here it is: the episode you've been waiting for! No, it's not our final episode – it's our 100th episode! We're as shocked that we've made it this far as you are, so to celebrate, we decided to throw ourselves a big ol' celebratory spectacular*.

There's no way we could have done this without our friends and family, which is why we hosted a gala BBQ at Jeff's house and invited people who have meant a lot to the show. We ate, drank and invited people to come up and try to debate us on their on-the-fly Rushmore topics. Needless to say, we were up to the task.

And even if you couldn't make it to the party, we still want you to know how much we appreciate our loyal listeners, whether they are friends we've known for years or people we've never met. We vow to try better over the next 100 episodes and maybe we'll get one right eventually!

*Not guaranteed to be spectacular.

Depending on your point of view, the Rashomon Effect is either one of the most ingenious plot devices ever created or a crutch for a lazy screenwriter who has run out of ideas and is ready to get multiple storylines out of just one idea. Then again, the question of whether it's being done by Japan's most visionary filmmaker or a guy writing an episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" could also make a big difference.

Join us as Michael and Richard provide their own very unique perspectives on the Mt. Rushmore of the Rashomon Effect, while Jeff acts as the voice of truth with the honest perspective...or so we think.

According to pop culture, there's nothing as heartwarming and comical as alcoholism. For every serious portrayal of the damage that alcohol addiction causes, there are three examples of wacky lushes who are permanently soused but always get the best lines.

So let's open up a bottle of your favorite adult beverage and indulge in moderation as we plow through this week's episode on Lovable Drunks in one sitting!

Look, based on 2017, "aliens land on Earth" is only about the 20th least-likely thing that will happen this year. (Right behind "Trump admits it was a joke" and ahead of "Andy Kaufman admits it was a joke.") So in case it does happen, as a people we need to have an ace in the hole: movies that we can show to aliens to prove that we're cool.

This week Michael and Richard take different paths to cool, and it's up to Jeff to separate the Fonzies from the Potsies. And if you aren't too cool for school, beam yourself over to iTunes or your other favorite podcast listening service and give us a review.

SHOW NOTES

• 3:04 – "Rebel Without a Cause" (Richard's Choice)
• 7:13 – "Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Michael's Choice)
• 11:59 – "Shaft" (Richard's Choice)
• 17:00 – "Mars Attacks" (Michael's Choice)
• 23:45 – "Guardians of the Galaxy" (Jeff's "Gutzon Borglum's Bag" Choice)
• 25:45 – "The Professional" (Richard's Choice)
• 32:01 – "Wall-E" (Michael's Choice)
• 38:41 – "Amateur" (Richard's Choice)
• 46:22 – "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" (Michael's Choice)

As we look forward into 2018 we must first look back on the ruinous hellscape that was 2017. In spite of the world burning around us, we do manage to find some bright spots on the podcast. As always, Michael and Richard feel the unnecessary need to put this into competition form and let Jeff judge his ass off over who chose the best best-of episodes from Season Two of Mt. Rushmore.