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 Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy 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.
Chaos reigns. A teenager yells for a missing cricket sock. A father negotiates traffic on his scooter while a mother ties a rakhi (sacred thread) on her son’s wrist before an exam for good luck. The grandmother, seated on a swing ( jhoola ), slips a folded ₹10 note into a schoolbag “for emergency.” The family doesn't just leave; they bless, scold, and feed each other in a frantic, loving dance.
When the sun rises over the subcontinent, it does not wake an individual; it wakes a system. In most Western narratives, a "family" is a isolated unit of parents and children. In India, the word "Parivar" extends far beyond biology. It includes grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins who function less like relatives and more like an intricate, slightly chaotic, and deeply loving corporation. alone bhabhi 2024 uncut neonx originals short free