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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.

Change in the SOPA

It's January 18th, and you may have noticed that Kicking the Seat is still up and running. This doesn't mean that I've sat out today's SOPA/PIPA protest. I'm all for it, and hope that you'll give Congress an earful regarding these horrible pieces of legislation.
The reason KtS hasn't gone dark is technological: this site was built using SquareSpace, which doesn't currently have a simple code solution (that I could find) for instituting the blackout. I contacted SquareSpace's tech support team, who pointed me to some options that would likely work if I were proficient in advanced CSS scripting--which I'm definitely not (who has time for that when there are so many movies to watch?).
For my part, I simply ask that if you support the killing of SOPA/PIPA, which would effectively use copyright laws to restrict all unlicensed use of imagery/content on the Internet (effectively killing digital free expression), that you spread the word and be heard.
If enacted, this kind of law won't just prohibit you from using a picture of Justin Bieber as your ironic Facebook avatar. You'll also have to make sure that people appearing in your YouTube videos aren't wearing t-shirts with logos or images on them--unless you're the copyright owner. If they happen to be performing a skateboarding trick in a cineplex parking lot, you'll need to scrub the footage for movie posters in the background, too.
It's that serious.
So, please, keep Kicking the Seat from ending up a scrolling Word document, and kill SOPA/PIPA today!

The KtS Interview: Cory Udler

Vamping and Revamping