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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.

The KtS Contest: Survive the Night!

UPDATE: This contest has ended. Congratulations, Sarah Rugg!

Attention, citizens!

On Friday, June 7th, Universal Pictures' The Purge invades theatres, and Kicking the Seat has teamed with Partnershub to give away an official prize pack to one lucky reader! 

In an America wracked with crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity--including murder--becomes legal. The police can't be called. Hospitals suspend help. It's twelve hours when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this particular night in 2022, plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking. 

When an intruder breaks into James Sandin’s (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear his family apart. Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide.

For a chance to win the "Survive the Night" Contest, simply answer the following question in the "Comments" section below:

"What is your favorite 'home-invasion' movie?"

Your answer can be as old-hat as A Clockwork Orange or as out-there as Home Alone. Feel free to have fun with this one. I'll pick one winner at random to receive a Purge t-shirt and mask!

Contest closes at 11:59pm on Tuesday, June 18th, 2013.

In the meantime, check out the app below for the Purge trailer, and take the "Would You Survive the Night?" Quiz! And be sure to catch The Purge in theatres nationwide, beginning Friday, June 7th!

Thanks again, and good luck!

All prizes for the "Survive the Night" Contest and the Purge Blog App are provided courtesy of Universal Pictures. Prize will be sent via FedEx or UPS. No P.O. boxes, please. Kicking the Seat will attempt to contact the contest winner within twelve hours of contest close. If no response is received within twenty-four hours, an alternate winner will be chosen.

The KtS Contest: Imagine That!

The KtS Contest: Orbit or Bust!