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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.

No Contest!

An Invitation to Show Some Love for a Perfectly Likable Fan Page

Warning: The subject of this post concerns a very powerful Web site whose promotional guidelines may or may not prohibit what I'm about to discuss. Here's my apology in advance. Now, sit back, relax, and watch me dance!

Hey, Kids! Kicking the Seat has a fan page on an insanely popular social networking site. The page itself, though, is not insanely popular. Crimes and tragedies abound!

So, here's the deal: The page currently has 50 "fans" (technically 49, 'cause I have self-esteem).

The 101st person to show his/her support by clicking the hyperlink above and pressing the button at the top of the destination screen that begins with the letter "L" and ends with the letter "e" will have crossed the threshold of Kicking the Seat's Non-promotion for the Movie Fan Page that is in No Way Officially or Unofficially Associated with any Social Networks or Corporations and Whose Alleged Prize is Neither Conditional, Guaranteed, Nor Implied ContestTM!

As threshold-crosser, this person may or may not be entitled to receive an item or items via mail whose impact upon receipt may or may not imbue the recipient with a sense of achievement best described by the popular buzz-word made famous in 2011 by a pre-career-downturn Charlie Sheen--which begins with the letter "W" and ends with the suffix "ing".

The item or items may or may not have been written on by one or more people of note, and may or may not be suitable for display. As noted in the title of this non-promotion, the item or items ("alleged prize") may or may not exist; if it/they did, it would be up to the discretion of Kicking the Seat to send it/them to the threshold-crosser via mail.

So, why even bother?

First, you or a friend/acquaintance may or may not receive something via mail (so retro!).

Second, the fan page is a great way to keep up with Kicking the Seat. Sure, there's the RSS feed, but that doesn't alert you our exclusive polls, postings and random snark!*

There's no time limit on this. I mean, I'm not running a contest here. But, please, spread the word and help Kicking the Seat cross a relatively insignificant threshold with a person who may or may not experience positive feelings when opening his/her mailbox in the future!

As always, thanks for reading!

P.S. To current "fans" of the Kicking the Seat fan page, I greatly appreciate your support and apologize for your ineligibility. Actually, I suppose you could become eligible if you stopped being a fan and waited for the numbers to creep closer to 101 before jumping back in--like some radio call-in contest. But that's just silly, 'cause I'm not running a contest.

Don't worry, though, KtS will have plenty of opportunities in the future for you and/or your friends/acquaintances to possibly receive items via mail.

*Technically, the polls aren't on the fan page, in compliance with the aforementioned very powerful Web site's policy. But they're announced, with links to the actual voting.

Turn On Your ArcLight!

The KtS Interview: Cory Udler