Snob

 
This is a guest post from Jason Toon

Socialist skinhead soul outfit The Redskins were so conceptually perfect, that they seemed like something someone made up. And they sort of were. Head ‘skin Chris Dean wasn’t some snaggletoothed bootboy urchin from a cement skyscraper. Dean wrote for the NME, he was a member of the Socialist Workers Party, and he had a head full of ideas about youth culture, Trotskyism, and the power of the proper trousers. It was from those ideas, not from the “streets,” that The Redskins sprang.

But The Redskins were a real band, they did inspire a real (if small) left-wing skinhead movement, and most importantly, they did make real (and really great) records. Their 1982 debut single, “Lev Bronstein” b/w “Peasant Army”, paired a post-punk-soul A-side with a chugging Oi! B-side, all produced by Jon Langford of The Mekons and released on his CNT Records. Intriguing enough, especially considering the strident left-wing poetry of the lyrics, but The Redskins really caught fire with their second single, “Lean On Me,” a hyperfast take on ‘60s soul analogous to what the 2-Tone bands did with ‘60s ska. It hit #3 on the UK indie chart, and made The Redskins an electric presence in the ‘80s left-wing pop ferment. When the miner’s strike heated up in 1984, The Redskins’ socialist stance resonated like a brass section.
 

 
If you found Crass too tuneless, if Billy Bragg was too quiet, if The Style Council was too slick, The Redskins were your band. And Dean wasn’t afraid to call the others out for insufficient ideological rigour: “If there’s a tour organized by the Labour Party, one thing you can be sure of is that it’ll sell out,” he said about Red Wedge, Labour’s attempt to mount a travelling anti-Thatcher pop circus. And Dean called Bragg “Neil Kinnock’s publicity officer.”

Touche! But the people in those acts are still around, still doing something. Where’s Chris Dean now? It didn’t take long for his revolutionary fire to burn itself out. After a stack of classic singles and one great LP (Neither Washington nor Moscow), The Redskins fizzled out by the end of 1986. Dean was great at writing stirring anthems like “Keep On Keepin’ On!” and “It Can Be Done!”, but alas, failed to walk the walk. He reportedly retreated to a reclusive life in Paris, leaving the rest of us with a totally unique example of how to weave a handful of diverse cultural and political threads into a thrilling band. Whatever you think of The Redskins’ Trotskyist politics, music could use this kind of commitment, imagination, and style today.

The Redskins perform “Lean On Me” live:

 
Chris Dean and Martin Hewes talk about the band and show the video for “Keep On Keepin’ On!”:

 
During a performance on the UK TV show The Tube, the band are joined onstage by striking miner Norman Strike, but his mic is cut by the producers of the show:

 
A live clip of their cover of Billy Bragg’s “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”, from the last Redskins show, in Munich on September 15, 1986:

 
This is a guest post from Jason Toon

Seguro que non fun o único ao que sempre lle sorprendeu que a capela do Castelo de Pambre -que é varios séculos anterior á fortificación- estivese tan pegada ao muro da fortaleza. Desde o punto de vista militar parecía un estorbo. Pero ao mellor había razóns importantes para mantela aí. O equipo de restauración do Castelo de Pambre está fascinado con todo o que está aparecendo no subsolo do castelo medieval, e non é para menos. Aí se revela a enorme complexidade do mundo medieval galego e as súas orixes, pero tamén os esforzos desde a arquitectura contemporánea por concebir os monumentos como proxectos “abertos” á hora de planear a súa recuperación. Esta historia que publiquei en culturagalega.org o 16 de xaneiro de 2013 aínda é só o principio. Falta moito por saber, analizar e aínda escavar en Pambre.

Foto da capela de Pambre: Sole Felloza

A Xunta, a través da Secretaría Xeral de Turismo, está financiando a restauración do castelo de Pambre. No transcurso das obras están aparecendo máis sorpresas das agardadas: “pensabamos que tiñamos un monumento que comezaba no século XI pero de súpeto estamos indo mil anos máis aínda para atrás”, asegura Mario Crecente, o arquitecto director do proxecto de rehabilitación con tanta sorpresa como entusiasmo. As escavacións arqueolóxicas, aínda non rematadas, ofrecen unha nova perspectiva, aínda non definitiva, sobre a ocupación dun dos castelos mellor preservados de Galicia.

Nun país no que os castelos se adaptan á topografía dos montes como poden, de xeito irregular, o castelo de Pambre é unha xoia dun especial valor. “Estamos ante un edificio que busca un ideal, unha perfección. É o máis belo exemplar da Idade Media galega”, asegura Mario Crecente, quen sinala como no baldaquino do veciño mosteiro de Vilar de Donas como un modelo a pequena escala desta prodixiosa construción levantada por Gonzalo Ozores de Ulloa a finais do século XIV. A Xunta adquiriu Pambre en 2013 aos Irmáns Misioneiros, logo dun controvertido e complexo proceso.

“Para preparar este proxecto vimos moitísimos castelos, e é dificil atopar esta calidade construtiva, extraordinaria que hai aquí”, asegura Crecente, “na que a traza ideal é a súa maior singularidade: unha torre da homenaxe de 22 metros de alto, nunha pranta de 11×11 metros, que se vai ampliando nun recinto con catro torres que respectan a proporción orixinal, que parece que está implícita”. As súas escasas transformacións desde o modelo orixinal concibido por Gonzalo Ozores de Ulloa son tamén definitorias. “Os historiadores indícanos que, moi posiblemente, é un dos poucos castelos que non sufriron o embite irmandiño, ou que realmente fora atacado”.

Preservar a identidade do castelo

A restauración de Pambre vai concebir ao castelo como unha peza de museo que se pode visitar por dentro. Haberá unha distinción clara entre os espazos de uso público, instalacións auxiliares e servizos -que se ubicarán nas vivendas campesiñas adosadas á muralla exterior ou na que se coñece coma o “pazo”, e o espazo visitable do castelo, que comprende o seu núcleo, o primeiro e segundo recintos desde o interior, con itinerarios prefixados para a visita libre para todo tipo de públicos, ou en áreas máis inseguras da fortificación coma o adarve, a través de visitas guiadas. O proxecto de rehabilitación ten un custe de dous millóns de euros con cargo a fondos europeos.

É dicir, non se contempla polo momento a reconstrución do interior do castelo -como era o habitual nas restauracións de pazos e fortalezas galegas nos 80-, senón unha visita a partir dos restos complementada coas instalacións de servizos ubicadas onde antes vivían os caseiros e os propietarios do complexo. A intervención, que tocará só o recinto concreto do castelo, pero non contempla polo momento os outros edificios do contorno do complexo fortificado, tamén tenta preservar a identidade visual de Pambre. “Hai moitos muros cubertos de vexetación. Non pensamos tocar as pátinas, pero si imos facer unha poda selectiva da vexetación, porque temos a idea de manter esa imaxe do Castelo arborado, da ruína vexetada”, sinala Mario Crecente, “obviamente, debemos retirar aquela vexetación que afecte aos muros, pero eliminar as árbores de Pambre é retirarlle parte da súa identidade”.

Cando a arqueoloxía redimensiona un proxecto

“En restauración, se tentas ser responsable, tes que traballar sempre en aberto”, sinala Mario Crecente. O equipo multidisciplinar que traballa no castelo de Pambre (historiadores, arqueólogos, enxeñeiros, arquitectos, restauradores….) sabía que unha parte do proxecto é literalmente imprevisible: é a que deriva das escavacións arqueolóxicas. “Mesmo deseñamos un sistema de pasarelas ao que chamamos ‘Ulloa system’”, bromea Mario Crecente, “adaptable e configurable para poder visitar calquera sorpesa arqueolóxica que apareza”.

A integración de restos arqueolóxicos non contemplados inicialmente é algo habitual en proxectos deste tipo, pero o que non se agardaban era todo o que ía pasar. O equipo arqueolóxico dirixido por Santiago Vázquez Collazo comezou a traballar ao redor da capela do século XI. Sempre chamara a atención a disposición da capela ao lado das sólidas murallas da fortaleza medieval, ou máis ben que o castelo medieval se erguera deixando extramuros, e nunha posición moi incómoda para a defensa da praza forte, esta capela que fora sede parroquial de Pambre na Alta Idade Media. Agora os arqueólogos xa saben que a capela debeu ser reconstruída varias veces ao longo destes mil anos de historia.

En primeiro lugar, apareceron un gran número de tumbas excavadas no afloramento rochoso da capela. Os historiadores prevían a existencia dunha necrópole, como é lóxico nunha capela parroquial. A necrópole é especialmente rica: “aparecen enterramentos de diferentes épocas e tipoloxías, dentro e fóra da capela”. Pero hai moito máis. Crecente sinala que tamén apareceron “estruturas murarias de porte” de época “tardoantiga e sueva”, o cal é especialmente significativo porque é un dos periodos máis descoñecidos a nivel arqueolóxico de Galicia . Pero os niveles aínda van máis abaixo, porque aparecen materiais de época galaicorromana e mesmo materiais castrexos, “pero non é un castro”, asegura Mario Crecente. Os materiais tamén son especialmente abundantes: moitísima cerámica, moedas, pero mesmo tamén un puñal de antenas -arma característica da Idade do Ferro- “moi ben conservado”. Os achados arqueolóxicos son de moitísima relevancia, e serán contemplados no proxecto para ser introducidos dentro do itinerario de visitas do xacemento, pero o director do proxecto aínda é cauto para explicar a funcionalidade dos restos arqueolóxicos agachados baixo os alicerces medievais de Pambre.

As escavacións arqueolóxicas están permitindo tamén localizar traballos rupestres que poden apuntar á xestión da auga do castelo. “É unha cuestión moi relevante para un castelo medieval. Onde está a auga?”, sinala Crecente, “ata o momento están aparecendo unhas canles, pero no interior do castelo aínda non aparece ningún espazo definido para almacenala”.

Os traballos ao redor de Pambre amosan a complexidade cronolóxica do poboamento medieval galego. “Este é un edificio que nunca tivera unha intervención científica ata o momento”, asegura Crecente, “e o noso reto e o interese da administración é que todas esas edificacións forman parte da historia do complexo e todas deben ser integradas”. O equipo arqueolóxico aínda debe traballar agora no interior do castelo. Entón Pambre desvelará aínda máis segredos da súa construción como emblema do señorío das terras da Ulloa ao longo das centurias.

Aquí tes moito máis sobre o castelo de Pambre en Capítulo Cero

Like sleek architecture or a beautiful Rothko, this video is a Minimalist work of art.  There’s something delightful about the sound, the expression, the joy that the cat exhibits with its new friend the vacuum.

Oh, and yes, insert an obligatory “pussy” and “suck” joke here.  Also, insert an “insert” joke here.  Basically, all the jokes have already made themselves, so there.

Anyway, here’s the video.  Enjoy this sweet, adorable, hilarious simplicity.

via YouTube

En Vice fueron muy aplicados al fijarse en los datos que nosotros mismos recopilamos y el resultado ha sido muy productivo: una de sus redactoras ha conseguido que Lisa Ann, la reina MILF y pornstar más popular de internet, le conceda una entrevista que no tiene desperdicio. La Sarah Palin de la industria del mete-saca filmado se muestra humilde, prudente y hasta cierto punto sorprendida de que las cosas le vayan tan bien y de que su público esté loco por ella. A nosotros, amiga Lisa Ann, no nos extraña en absoluto.

  

His vicious insecurity will encourage him to spend his money on you.

If a guy is buying the bottle of champagne before he’s even hit it, you can trust that the dick game is WEAK. But this is a good thing. You can get sex anywhere, what you really need is the kind of guy who is going to be reserving rooms at the W hotel for your six-month anniversary trip. We shouldn’t settle when it comes to what they’re willing to spend, and the best way to guarantee it is dating a guy with no self-worth.

He is guaranteed to be a beta.

I know what you’re thinking: “I would rather walk barefoot across a river of hot coals than be seen in public with a BETA MALE!” and, in theory, I agree with you. But let’s think about this rationally: The “attraction” period of a relationship is going to last, what, two years maximum? Once that fades away — and two years is not that long to wait — you’re going to want someone who isn’t going to put up too much of a fight when it comes to getting his way. Do you really want to be hashing it out tooth and nail every time you want to renovate the kitchen on his dime? No. You want the kind of guy whose credit card you can take while walking out the door, with only a brief kiss on the cheek in return.

His standards are low.

If you aren’t that much of a catch — and let’s be honest, most of us aren’t — our sexual power is still enough to net a top-tier guy, provided he is cripplingly embarrassed about what is going on in his pants. Date up, date better, and date someone who is going to feel lucky to have you. We can’t be spending our whole lives improving ourselves and worrying about how we appear to our partners, right? Settle down with the flaccid guy and put on those sweatpants, life is much too short to work for the approval of anyone you are genuinely attracted to.

He’ll be easier to cheat on.

This should go without saying, but come on. It just makes sense. You can’t spend your WHOLE relationship stewing in your desire to be with the man he could never be, you have to act on it at least once in a while.

He’ll always be trying to prove himself.

Sure, it can be nauseating to have someone’s entire self worth dependent on an offhand compliment from you, but if you toss him a bone of “yeah, that was good,” after an elaborate oral sex session, or tell him that you love him unprovoked, you’ve made his whole week. They’re sort of like dogs, in that “running to the door to greet you when you come home from work” and, honestly, it’s a pretty nice feeling. They are aware of their leper status, they know that the fact that a woman is touching them is a pretty big compliment, and they’re going to do everything in their power to earn a position of respect in your eyes. He’ll never get it, of course, but it will be cute to see him try.

A que probablemente sexa a fotografía máis antigua de Galicia feita en negativo. Formaba parte do agasallo de catorce fotografías da capital a Isabel II, con motivo dunha visita desta coa intención de impoñerse a un puxante movemento rexionalista. Unha especie de feira de mostras foi organizada a tal efecto, e é motivo desta fotografía de mediados do XIX

A Comissom de História está (como podedes observar) a ultimar a montagem da nova ediçom do baralho suevo. Após a boa recepçom da primeira ediçom decidimos editar de novo traduzindo os textos ao inglês e (como nom?) ao suevo moderno, o alemão.

Para isso contámos com a colaboraçom do José María Durán (na traduçom para o alemão) e da Anke Pätsch (na correçom da mesma) e do Juan Lago (na correçom da traduçom para o inglês feita pola própria Comissom de História), desinteressadas colaboraçons que aproveitamos para agradecer publicamente.

(Image: Wit Studio)

Attack on Titan is an anime series which premiered in 2013. It's set in a world in which, 100 years previously, humanity was almost annihilated by the sudden appearance of giants which swarmed over human settlements, feeding on people.

The remaining humans built enormous stone walls and retreated behind them. They are, presumably, the last remnants of the human race. They've lived there for a hundred years in safety. Then a new type of titan--their term for these giants--appears.

(Video Link)

Richard Eisenbeis, Kotaku's anime critic, calls Attack on Titan "the breakout anime of this past year." Having watched the series, I can understand why. It's a show about suffering, courage and perseverance. It has compelling characters and mysteries that have seized the interest of many fans around the world. Here are some of the works of art and crafts that they have made in response to the show.

Illustrator Ron Chan made this funny piece mashing up Attack on Titan with My Neighbor Totoro. Hange Zoë stands next to a friendly Colossal Titan, waiting for the bus.

This latte by an unknown artist shows a Colossal Titan attacking one of the walls.

Titans want to eat you, so you eat them right back! Here's a bento made by Emiko. It's made of rice, imitation crab meat, sausage, seaweed, fried eggs and pickled plums.

And for the hungry titan on the go, here's a bento that looks like the unflappable Captain Levi.

There's no shortage of Attack on Titan cosplay photos online. This one really stands out. Here's yukigodbless's dog dressed up in full battle gear, ready to take on the titans. I think that he's supposed to look like Armin Arlert.

It wasn't Santa Claus who visited Snow Tigra last Christmas! She made this stocking showing a Colossal Titan peering over a wall.

Want to show your love for the destroyers of human civilization? Try this playfully romantic cake on the next Valentine's Day.

Adventure Time and Attack on Titan are both post-apocalyptic stories. Here's Finn the Human as the great hero Eren Yeager as drawn by Simon Adventure.

Attack on Tintin--a cute pun by Courtney. Captain Haddock, Tintin's friend, has been hitting the sauce a bit too much again. He's probably modeled after Hannes, since he wears the insignia of the Garrison.

Attack on Ice King by Jamie Sutherland imagines Finn as Eren Yeager and the Ice King as a titan.

There's a lot of My Little Pony and Attack on Titan mashup art online. Here's kel's drawing of Rainbow Dash fighting a Colossal Pony that, for some reason, reminds me of Pinkie Pie.

Artist Liu Yan has a great idea. Desmond Miles from Assassin's Creed would probably be an excellent soldier in the war against the titans.

So would Korra from The Legend of Korra, as Ann illustrates. Here's Korra using the 3D maneuver gear that humans use to fight titans.

Titans range between 5 to 60 meters tall. The largest are known as Colossal Titans. Perhaps AnnoyinglyCute could make a set of nesting dolls to scale.

I'm currently watching The Devil Is a Part-Timer, an anime series in which Satan loses his powers and is forced to work at a McDonald's. It's a funny show. Here's zipskyblue's mashup of that show with Attack on Titan. He made another one featuring the Ace Attorney series.

You can't wear your uniform everywhere. If you're going out on the town, try this pinafore by Amadna Marin. It shows the insignia of the 104th Trainee Squad.

 
On that long list of those sadly departed musicians, singers, pop stars and what-you-will, who I wish I had seen in concert, Mister Otis Redding is up near the very top. It’s not just because I like Redding, and think he had immense talent, or that his band played like “some well-oiled machine,” or that together they lit up the stage when they played, but because Otis always looked like he truly enjoyed what he was doing, and wanted the audience to enjoy it just as much as he did.

Take a watch at his appearance on Ready, Steady, Go! from 1966 and you will see what I mean. Otis gives a powerhouse performance and his guests, Eric Burdon and Chris Farlowe, both look awe-struck.

Otis begins with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” then goes into “My Girl” and “Respect,” before Eric Burdon sings “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and Chris Farlowe tries on “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” for size. Then it’s back to the main event, with Mr. Redding joined by Messrs. Burdon and Farlowe, finishing up with “Pain in My Heart,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” and “Shake,” which understandably gets the audience up and dancing.
 

El año pasado se celebró en Praga el festival de cine erótico Kino Praha Erotic Fil Festival. Para la ocasión se realizaron estos preciosos carteles promocionales.

The post Parodias eróticas (pero finas y elegantes) de carteles de pelis clásicas appeared first on .

Son las diez de la noche y por fin sales del trabajo con una hora y media de retraso, cansado, jodido, sudado y odiando mucho. Te espera el trayecto en tren hasta tu casa, siempre lleno de músicos ambulantes y gente que grita. Confías en sumergirte en la lectura de un libro y abstraerte del gentío, pero se presenta el señor dolor de cabeza y te dice que hoy te toca aguantar. Miras por la ventana al borde de la depresión y en la oscuridad distingues algo que te arregla el día.

  

You know those “lyrics websites” that pop up when you google song lyrics? Most of them are illegal, since they lack the proper license to publish lyrics, which are the property of the musicians.

Last year singer-songwriter and professor of music business David Lowery helped the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) round up a list of 50 of these illegal sites. All sites were sent take-down notices by the NMPA and either bought their rights or ignored the warning.

But here’s the rub: these ubiquitous websites are an incredibly helpful resource for anyone who cares about music. In an era where you’d be hard-pressed to find an artist who still includes full lyrics in the liner notes of their CDs and LPs, where else are we supposed to find them? And that would be assuming most people have a physical copy of the CD or a legal mp3 download featuring a digital booklet — wishful thinking.

Remarkably few bands post lyrics on their official websites. Phoenix is one, but they don’t appear to archive them, and thus the lyrics for their latest album “Bankrupt!” displaced past lyrics, a bizarre choice. These lyrics websites are ill-maintained, teeming with pop-up ads, and full of errors — but they’re the best we have.

Starting in 2008, MetroLyrics.com became one of the few sites that converted to a fully legal database, and it’s pretty good. Nice interface, semi-encyclopedic format that lists details like the songwriter, good selection — their “about” section brags of having over a million titles — they’re even trying their hand at music blogging with their bustling News section (emphasis on trying). And their ads are squeaky clean: they don’t support “adult, tobacco, alcohol and gambling advertising.” And, because it’s legal, you can trust that the lyrics are correct!

But if MetroLyrics doesn’t have a certain song, and the illegal websites get taken down, well, then we’re all screwed. It’s shocking that it took this long to figure out a database for free, legal lyrics until now, given that people look up lyrics every day. While free, legal music streaming has venues like Spotify, Pandora, and Bandcamp, as well as a dozen or so scheduled to launch this year like Beats Music, lyrics have one legal website. I’d like to see some more options on the horizon, just because I think the hot pink accents and adorable attempt at music journalism over at MetroLyrics will start getting annoying soon.

Image: Shutterstock
H/t American Songwriter

(Image: unknown)

Other signs include a second cell phone and money suddenly disappearing from your joint account.

If the plane ticket is one-way, well, then you know what's going to happen.

It's hard. But believe me: once you get through this rough time, you'll be better off. You can do better anyway.

-via Pleated Jeans

The second season of Kroll Show, which premieres tonight, brings back tons of popular characters from the first season with the return of sketches like “PubLIZity,” “Rich Dicks,” and “Too Much Tuna.” The focus on building characters and telling stories separates Kroll Show from other sketch shows on air, which caused Seth Meyers’ to coin the term “sketch-uational comedy" when discussing the show.The audience becomes invested in the storylines of the characters as the show masterfully connects the sketches together, which will be extra exciting to see this season since Pretty Liz is pregnant and Dr. Armond is arrested for murder. While Nick Kroll himself stars in nearly all of the sketches, he works with equally talented guest stars. The show’s list of guests starts off impressive since mainstays include Jon Daly, Jenny Slate, John Mulaney, and Chelsea Peretti, and Season 2 adds Amy Poehler, Bill Burr, Katy Perry, Craig Robinson, Seth Rogen, Laura Dern, Will Forte, and more.

I recently talked to Kroll about the new season, the show's penchant for narrative, and Zach Galifianakis in a baker’s outfit.

I was able to see the first three episodes of Season 2 of Kroll Show, and things are even funnier and bigger and crazier than in Season 1. How has Season 2 evolved from Season 1?

In Season 1, you’re just always trying to figure out the show. You don’t know what it is until it’s done and then you have the ability to sort of take a look back after finishing it. We waited for it to come out and got to watch it with fresh eyes and also see what people responded to. We were able to go into Season 2 and say, “Okay, people seemed to like the characters, the longer-form storytelling stuff, and also seeing me with my friends in real life.” You know, me talking to Jenny [Slate] or talking to Jon Daly, so it might be fun to see more of that kind of stuff. We focused more on that. There’s a term that Seth Meyers coined when he did an interview with us, half-jokingly, but I think is very good, which is “sketch-uational comedy.” It sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s actually a really good way, I think, to describe what we’re doing with the show, which is sketch but it’s really more narrative and long-form storytelling.

Where we mostly saw your standup between sketches last season, now there were more conversations. You mentioned that there was a demand for that. Was that the reason you added more of those conversations between you and the guests?

Yeah, Comedy Central really liked the moments with me and my friends. And there’s still moments of standup in the second season, but really, it felt like the more interesting thing, fresh stuff that was making people laugh and wasn’t making me cringe was the stuff that was just me chatting with my friends. And that’s really what the show is – it’s me and all the people that I’ve come up with or people that I admire just messing around both in the show and then in between. It’s just like why not see what we’re all like just when we’re kind of hanging out in a really sort of loose format? Almost none of the things that made it into those in-between moments are things that we had planned out or scripted. It’s just literally us joking and messing around.

I really loved the sketch “Cake Train,” which was the first of the new season. Why did you decide to open with that particular sketch?

We shoot the show, and then we start to put it together based on any number of factors, based on what seems like a cold open, what feels like there’s some sort of connection to other things going on in the episode, and so on and so forth. And so, “Cake Train” was something that we’ve been trying to make since the pilot, and we finally got a chance to make it. It’s pretty big and cinematic and fun and kind of absurd, which is sort of what we’re doing on the show, but also different from a lot of the stuff we’re doing on the show. It’s something that we wanted to do since the pilot and so the fact that we finally figured out a way to make it – I think we were all just really excited by it. And it’s really beautifully shot, and I can say that because I had nothing to do with actually shooting it. It looked great and it’s fun. And who doesn’t want to see Zach Galifianakis in a leather baker’s outfit – a pink leather baker’s outfit – throwing cakes off a train?

How much do you stick to the script versus improvising dialogue?

There’s a ton of improv. We fully script most things, but there’s always a pretty large deviation from the script. That’s sort of the background that I have. It’s not like someone like Bill Burr took improv classes at UCB, but he’s a super funny guy and is improvising on his podcast or improvising in live shows and so there’s always room to improvise. But I think there’s some scripted jokes in there for sure and then there’s always a lot of improvised stuff that gets in there. So me and Chelsea Peretti shooting Bobby and Farley, there’s some jokes that – really every single sketch, besides “Cake Train” which is really not many words being said, there’s a ton of improv in them.

I was glad to see so many of the characters return in Season 2. What do you think is the benefit of adding more information to the characters we’ve already seen? 

I personally don’t want to see characters come back and repeat the same jokes that they said last season. The fun of what we get to do is keep adding information when seeing a character. Like in Season 1, you only saw one “Wheels Ontario.” Now, not only do you see more “Wheels Ontario,” but you meet the characters who play those characters, like in “Show Us Your Songs Toronto.” So I think there’s those kind of elements that just keep letting the characters and the storylines grow and change and evolve. I think with any kind of entertainment, hopefully you keep getting more and more information about these people and worlds.

Who are some of the new characters that will appear throughout the season?

There’s a character last year who we saw briefly named Nash Ricky who was the game interrupter. He was the guy who would sings sort of like heavy metal songs during timeouts at football games. He’s sort of a Bret Michaels kind of character. We meet him as he puts his band back together called Sloppy Seconds, and so we see a rockin’ reunion with Jason Mantzoukas, Brian Huskey, and Peter Childs. “Pawnsylvania,” which is sort of making fun of those pawn shows. I own a pawn shop in Philadelphia and Jon Daly owns a pawn shop in Pittsburgh, and then they switch pawn shops and are totally out of their elements in these totally different cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. And that’s because more than half our writing staff is from the state of Pennsylvania for some reason. Christine Nangle, Gabe Liedman, Jon Daly, and Joe Wengert all hail from Pennsylvania, weirdly. It’s bizarre. Jenny Slate not only plays Pretty Liz but also Liz’s niece, Denise, as well as Ruth Diamond Phillips, the prosecutor in the Armond murder trial. If you watch the new trailer that’s out, you see a bunch of the guest stars we have this season.

Are you a fan of the shows you parody? Does “Wheels Ontario” come from a love of Degrassi? 

I was not a huge Degrassi fan, but Jon Daly was obsessed with Canada and Joe Mande loved Degrassi. Our editor Dan Longino loves Degrassi, so we handed him last year’s “Wheels Ontario” and he was so excited to be able to cut that together. And then Gabe Liedman who wrote for the show this year wrote some of the “Wheels” stuff, and I think he was a fan. So it really evolved out of people’s love of Canada and love of Degrassi, and then also simultaneously a love of making fun of Canada and Degrassi.

Do the sketches follow narrative arcs in order to more closely reflect the shows that you’re parodying?

You know, I think it depends. With something like “PubLIZity,” the idea that Liz is pregnant is fun for storytelling. One thing is that John Levenstein, who is our showrunner and executive producer, comes out of the sitcom world. He worked on Arrested Development and a bunch of other shows, and I met him doing the The Life & Times of Tim, so he really was always focusing on, even though I had these partners on a lot of these things that are playing similar characters. Whether it’s me and John Mulaney as George St. Geegland and Gil Faizon, me and Jenny Slate as Liz and Liz, or me and Daly as Aspen and Wendy, there’s always a power dynamic happening between them. They always have a different take on their life or their relationships. So it’s always about trying to create these distinctions between them and a believable relationship. We’re always trying to add information and the struggles between them and make these relationships as nuanced as possible so that even though they’re these broad characters, they’re having emotions and dealing with stuff that is real.

Reality show stuff, like the shows that we’re parodying, does that as well. Our goal is to make fun of them, but also use what they do well and what makes people want to go watch Degrassi, which is high drama and crazy, real high-stakes stuff. Or the conflict of the techniques that a reality show uses of a teaser, like a cliffhanger to see what’s gonna happen next, and you stick around and watch even though they’re gonna tell you in the promo what’s happening next and when they come back from commercial they told you what just happened, you stick around and watch because there’s something interesting about it and intoxicating. Our goal is to make fun of those shows, but also use the techniques that work for them successfully – get people to really engage with the shows.

Since many sketches follow storylines, I was wondering what the writing process is like. Will you know how a particular narrative will tie up before you’re writing the sketches and thinking about them in terms of how they’ll fit into the episodes?

It depends. At the beginning of the season we’ll talk through big storylines for people. Like the season, it was like, Liz should get pregnant by C-Czar and we’ll see that play out. But we don’t know what the order of the episodes are yet, so every episode Liz is going to reveal to Liz that she’s pregnant and it’s going to seem like a surprise every time. And that will serve to give us flexibility about when things would air. But also, in reality shows they’re constantly reinforcing these premises that they’re dealing with. I haven’t watched The Kardashians this year but I’m sure every episode is about whether Kim is feeling good about her body or not after having had a baby. You know what I mean? It’s like every episode is that.

And then, we decided early on it would be fun for Armond to go on trial for murder. So then it’s building the story out about how did we get there. We want to see him get arrested, we want to see “Armond of the House Arrest,” and we want to see the trial. And then certain things evolve as the season goes on. As we were building the season and Jenny did her niece Denise, which we really fell in love with and wanted to bring back. And John Levenstein pitched the idea to – when you see the final episode, all of these worlds start to collide. That’s based off of what was exciting to us, what was who we had access to – whether it was Seth Rogen or Katy Perry – and we integrate Seth Rogen’s character into this larger storyline. That’s the real fun part, starting to put together the puzzle and piecing things together and allowing things to organically evolve. So, you have some storylines and you have some ideas but then also leaving room for these characters to sort of dictate what happens to them.

There’s such a payoff from watching all of the sketches. They all really come together in the end.

Yeah, I think you definitely benefit from watching more of it. I think the viewer is rewarded for watching the show. The more that you watch, the more that you see how interconnected things are and how many things are crossing over and that worlds are intersecting or that things are coming up in multiple spaces and culminate in a fashion that – I think our goal is to make something that’s really the funniest show you can make but also that is really satisfying. The more you watch it, the more I think it becomes satisfying as a whole.

When we spoke to you last year about Season 1, you said you had started working on Season 2. Have you started anything for Season 3?

We started to bat around ideas. I’m in New York right now; I’m about to make a movie and as soon as I’m done with that, we go back and start writing Season 3, so we’re definitely starting to throw around ideas. I don’t want to give you away too many spoilers, but Liz might be talking about getting bangs.

Speaking of the movie, you’re playing your first starring role in a film. Is there anything you can tell us about Brother’s Keeper?

It’s something I’ve been working on for a long time and Mark Duplass from The League is helping produce it. It’s me and Rose Byrne plays my sister and Bobby Cannavale plays my brother-in-law. We’re shooting it in New York and Westchester. I’m just really excited about it. I think it’s really a funny story but there’s some more dramatic moments to it. And we’re putting together all the folks who are coming in to do it like Joel McHale’s gonna do some stuff in it, I think Mike Birbiglia’s gonna do a bit in it, Josh Charles – so it’s a bunch of really fun, smart, funny people are gonna come up and do pieces in it. I’ve been a big fan of Rose and Bobby for a long time, and I’m really excited to be able to just get in it with them. I think they’re both really funny but I also obviously think they’re both really good actors so I’m excited to kind of learn from them.

Kroll Show premieres tonight at 10:30 on Comedy Central.

Jessye McGarry is a writer living in New York.

For the first time in a while, “The Simpsons” actually managed to offend someone for what feels like the first time since the 1990s. This time, it happened to be notoriously sensitive fans of heavy metal.

According to Rolling Stone,

[Judas Priest] had appeared on the January 5th episode with an updated version of “Breaking the Law.” In the show – in which the FBI investigated Homer’s proclivity for illegally downloading movies – the group set up camp outside the Swedish consulate, where the Simpsons were hiding out. But instead of encouraging outlaw behavior, Priest frontman Rob Halford sang, “Respecting the law/Copyright law!”

“There’s only one surefire way to get fugitives out of a foreign building,” an FBI agent said. “Blasting death metal!”

“Swedes love death metal,” the Swedish diplomat who was aiding them said. “It reminds us of death.”

Which is true — Judas Priest were one of the first bands to guide heavy metal away from its cheesy ’70s hard blues rock roots, towards what we now know and love today, the stuff that “reminds us of death.”

On Sunday’s episode, Bart apologized to the band via his opening credit chalkboard gag, the unofficial spokes-thing for the show.

The show can now add Judas Priest fans to the list of people offended by the cartoon, which already includes Barbara Bush, Christians and the entire city of New Orleans.

h/t Uproxx