Aedilred's Athanasiac Random Banter #241

[Mystic Muse]

I hated sushi, then liked it, and now something about the kind I like makes my stomach wail in agony.

[enderlord99]

Peelee, why did you add a letter T into the name of the maggot-cheese?

[Bartmanhomer]

I love sushi. I especially love eels.

[Anonymouswizard]

Today I learned about casu martzu cheese, the most dangerous cheese in the world. And I kinda regret learning about it but it was pretty interesting.

Scurries off to Google... I think I have a new addition to my next cheese board!

Also sushi is amazing. Now it's been brought up I'm going to spend the entire day hankering for nigiri.

[Fyraltari]

Peelee, why did you add a letter T into the name of the maggot-cheese?

Both spellings seem to be in use.

[enderlord99]

Both spellings seem to be in use.

Huh. Today I learned.

[Rater202]

Scurries off to Google... I think I have a new addition to my next cheese board!

...Live. Maggots.

In. The. Cheese.

On The-****ing-Purposes!

Why the hell would you put that abominable crime against cheese in your body?

[Metastachydium]

...Live. Maggots.

In. The. Cheese.

On The-****ing-Purposes!

Right? Were I not a FLOWER, I think the thought itself could act as some kind of powerful emetive for me.

[Anonymouswizard]

...Live. Maggots.

Good source of protein.

In. The. Cheese.

Yep.

On The-****ing-Purposes!

Like I'd eat cheese with accidentally placed larvae.

Why the hell would you put that abominable crime against cheese in your body?

They're in there for a reason.

As for me personally, I might either refrigerate or bag the cheese before consumption. I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle of holding my hand above my sandwich.

[Amidus Drexel]

...Live. Maggots.

In. The. Cheese.

On The-****ing-Purposes!

Why the hell would you put that abominable crime against cheese in your body?

For the protein, presumably.

[Form]

In unrelated news, apparently my friends put up on our discord chat a trailer for the film Cocaine Bear, presumably about Pablo Escobear, the animal that ate an unbearable amount of Cocaine and then acted as
one might imagine.

... The Care Bear who partied too hard?

...Live. Maggots.

In. The. Cheese.

On The-****ing-Purposes!

Why the hell would you put that abominable crime against cheese in your body?

It's apparently the best way to eat it, if not the only safe way to eat it, barring refrigeration. Honestly, the maggots aren't the worst thing about it. I think it has a special exemption from EU food laws because it counts as cultural heritage or something like that. So that you can have some nice rotten, maggot cheese with your baguette.

[Aedilred]

Casu marzu is on the list of food (like brains) that I would give a go if I could be assured it was safe. Run-of-the-mill food poisoning is one thing, but I don't fancy having eggs laid inside me by cheese flies, personally, just as I'm not thrilled about the prospect of getting CJD.

Since casu marzu is illegal I doubt it's going to come up, though, just as I'm not often given the chance to eat brain.

[Peelee]

I think it has a special exemption from EU food laws because it counts as cultural heritage or something like that.

It is not and is illegal to purchase in the EU. They are trying to get it certified as cultural but have yet to be successful in doing so.

Casu marzu is on the list of food (like brains) that I would give a go if I could be assured it was safe. Run-of-the-mill food poisoning is one thing, but I don't fancy having eggs laid inside me by cheese flies, personally, just as I'm not thrilled about the prospect of getting CJD.

An alternate method of eating it is to put it into a paper bag and let the maggots die. They are jumping maggots and so apparently one can tell when they are all dead in a similar to to telling when the popcorn is done cooking.

[Keltest]

I hate everything about this cheese.

[Peelee]

I hate everything about this cheese.

Pft. We haven't even talked about some of the things (though they've been touched on). As briefly mentioned by others, the cheese goes past fermentation into full-on decomposition. It's rotting. The maggots are jumping maggots, so when you eat the cheese with live maggots you typically hold your hand over the cheese to prevent them from jumping onto your face. The maggots are also integral to the cheese making process as they eat and digest the cheese, which is what gives it its paste-like texture - it is soft to the point of being easily spreadable. And to make it, you just start with the base cheese and leave it out until maggots get into it. Once it is thoroughly infested, you cap it and store it in a cool, dry area for several months before it is ready to eat.

There. Now you hate everything about this cheese.

[Rater202]

Pft. We haven't even talked about some of the things (though they've been touched on). As briefly mentioned by others, the cheese goes past fermentation into full-on decomposition. It's rotting. The maggots are jumping maggots, so when you eat the cheese with live maggots you typically hold your hand over the cheese to prevent them from jumping onto your face. The maggots are also integral to the cheese making process as they eat and digest the cheese, which is what gives it its paste-like texture - it is soft to the point of being easily spreadable. And to make it, you just start with the base cheese and leave it out until maggots get into it. Once it is thoroughly infested, you cap it and store it in a cool, dry area for several months before it is ready to eat.

There. Now you hate everything about this cheese.

At that point can it even be considered cheese? You're basically eating bug **** at that point.

If I ever get my hands on a time machine I'm gonna go back and prevent the creation of this monstrosity. The world will be better for having never had it.

[Peelee]

At that point can it even be considered cheese?

Yes, apparently.

You're basically eating bug **** at that point.

Eh. Bee vomit is pretty tasty. Yes, I know, and no, I don't care.

[Rater202]

Artistic Opinion:

Once you get passed technical stuff and matters of subjectivity, what breaks down a good song from other songs is content.

Music is ultimately a form of communication, so the best songs are the ones that convey a message or emotion or else that tell a story.

Which is not to say that the song itself has to be coherant: I Am the Walrus is just a bunch of gibberish, but it was written becuase the Beetles wanted to **** with people who were over-analyzing the lyrics to their songs ad you can detect that essence of playfulness in it.

If there's no story, no message, and no feeling to it... It's just sound. Not necessarily noise, not necessarily an unpleasant sound, but not something that's likely to stick in the public consciousness long term, unless it's very catchy or very well done in a technical sense.

[Peelee]

Artistic Opinion:

Once you get passed technical stuff and matters of subjectivity, what breaks down a good song from other songs is content.

Music is ultimately a form of communication, so the best songs are the ones that convey a message or emotion or else that tell a story.

Which is not to say that the song itself has to be coherant: I Am the Walrus is just a bunch of gibberish, but it was written becuase the Beetles wanted to **** with people who were over-analyzing the lyrics to their songs ad you can detect that essence of playfulness in it.

If there's no story, no message, and no feeling to it... It's just sound. Not necessarily noise, not necessarily an unpleasant sound, but not something that's likely to stick in the public consciousness long term, unless it's very catchy or very well done in a technical sense.

Eh, I disagree. Music is an art, not a communication. Its so subjective because everyone has a different takeaway. Most music is devoid of lyrics. Instrumentals can still convey a story, but that's not the purpose of music. That's just one use of it.

[Fyraltari]

Eh, I disagree. Music is an art, not a communication. Its so subjective because everyone has a different takeaway. Most music is devoid of lyrics. Instrumentals can still convey a story, but that's not the purpose of music. That's just one use of it.

But art is a form of communication. Not necessarily of ideas, like language, but of feelings and emotions.

When Rater speaks of the music piece's "content", I don't think he necessarily means the lyrics.

[D&D_Fan]

When it comes to casu marzu, if you don't want to eat too many maggots, you should place the cheese into a sealed bag, and then the maggots will suffocate and jump out of the cheese, alternatively, you can use a refrigerator to kill them. If you eat the cheese when the maggots have died inside it, then it's unsafe, but if they evacuate the cheese first, it is safer.

Then again, the maggots are a novelty and delicacy, I don't know why anyone would want to avoid them.

[Rater202]

But art is a form of communication. Not necessarily of ideas, like language, but of feelings and emotions.

When Rater speaks of the music piece's "content", I don't think he necessarily means the lyrics.

Yeah. Story, message, or emotion.

For my music appreciation final in college, I did an essay on the importance of the stalking theme from Halloween, a song that has no lyrics but is basically designed from the most basic levels to steadily increase your sense of anxiety as you listen to it with particular focus on the final scene of the orignal film where Michael has vanished after falling out of the window: Remove the music and it just looks like Myers wandered off to die somewhere but with the music playing over the scene it gives the impression that maybe he really is some invincible Bogeyman with nothing but malevolence in his soul and that he could well come back for another go.

[Peelee]

But art is a form of communication. Not necessarily of ideas, like language, but of feelings and emotions.

When Rater speaks of the music piece's "content", I don't think he necessarily means the lyrics.

I still disagree. Art is about appreciation. It does not need to communicate anything at all. Art is, essentially, creation. It does not need a message, it does not need to express feelings or emotions. Those can all be gleaned from it, depending on the person and how they interpret it, but it's not necessary for art to exist.

[Fyraltari]

I still disagree. Art is about appreciation. It does not need to communicate anything at all. Art is, essentially, creation. It does not need a message, it does not need to express feelings or emotions. Those can all be gleaned from it, depending on the person and how they interpret it, but it's not necessary for art to exist.

Are we talking about art as in "craft" or as in "fine art"? Because I would agree in the former meaning, but not in the latter.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm honestly not sure how you can create art without trying to communicate something. It might be something as simple as 'the Prince Regent isn't fat' or 'look how ****ing beautiful this sunset is', but that's still an idea.

Part of the fun of appreciating art is breaking it down and trying to work out what the artist was trying to communicate. Of course you can certainly pull unintended messages out, but as brain reading technology hasn't developed yet nobody can know what the actual intended message was (unless the artist comes out and says it, and even then we can get into arguments about memory).

I've listened to You're So Vain many times, and it took like two weeks of fairly constant listening to come to the realisation that it's talking about men caring more about themselves than their partners. It's also very important that the song is talking about men and not a man, the man in each verse is being used as an example but the song is not about them, and they're dropped for a different example at the end of the chorus.

It's why I'm not overly fond of radio edits of songs like **** You and Don't Marry Her, substitutions for the profanity can completely change the meaning of the song (I mean, it doesn't in Don't Marry Her, but it's less clear).

[LaZodiac]

I'm honestly not sure how you can create art without trying to communicate something. It might be something as simple as 'the Prince Regent isn't fat' or 'look how ****ing beautiful this sunset is', but that's still an idea.

Part of the fun of appreciating art is breaking it down and trying to work out what the artist was trying to communicate. Of course you can certainly pull unintended messages out, but as brain reading technology hasn't developed yet nobody can know what the actual intended message was (unless the artist comes out and says it, and even then we can get into arguments about memory).

I've listened to You're So Vain many times, and it took like two weeks of fairly constant listening to come to the realisation that it's talking about men caring more about themselves than their partners. It's also very important that the song is talking about men and not a man, the man in each verse is being used as an example but the song is not about them, and they're dropped for a different example at the end of the chorus.

It's why I'm not overly fond of radio edits of songs like **** You and Don't Marry Her, substitutions for the profanity can completely change the meaning of the song (I mean, it doesn't in Don't Marry Her, but it's less clear).

Yeah, this, 100%. If you're not engaging with the media you partake in on at least some level, I'm curious what exactly you're getting out of it.

It's why, as much as people may be against it, I do find value in the MCU. There's intent in them, and you can read it

To clarify; this isn't to say you can't just turn your brain off, relax, and watch something without thinking. But that if there is no reaction at all, beyond even the slightest "I liked it", then what did you even watch or read it for? If your response at the end of something is "that was a story I experienced" then something has gone wrong somewhere.

[Peelee]

I'm honestly not sure how you can create art without trying to communicate something.

Fun. I can play basketball for no communication whatsoever. Bob can watch me play and call that playing art and get some meaning out of it. That does not mean that I was communicating anything. I was bored. I had fun. Someone else looked at it and said "art!". It may not be to you. It is to that person.

Yeah, this, 100%. If you're not engaging with the media you partake in

All media is art but not all art is media

[Fyraltari]

Fun. I can play basketball for no communication whatsoever. Bob can watch me play and call that playing art and get some meaning out of it. That does not mean that I was communicating anything. I was bored. I had fun. Someone else looked at it and said "art!". It may not be to you. It is to that person.

But that's art as in "craft", not as in "fine art".

[Anonymouswizard]

Fun. I can play basketball for no communication whatsoever

Last time I checked sport was not an art.

Wait, figure skating.

Last time I checked most sports were not an art.

Wait, rugby.

Last time I checked some sports were not an art.

Wait, football.

Last time I checked football was not an art.

[Rater202]

It's why, as much as people may be against it, I do find value in the MCU. There's intent in them, and you can read it

My only problem with the MCU is that it makes weird lore changes that complicate matters when someone who mostly knows the movies tries to get into the comics.

Like, Peter Parker in the MCU is closer to Miles Morales than Comic Peter and his supporting cast was altered to match—Ned Leeds in particular is Ganke in all but name. You could replace him with Miles and literally, nothing would change, or, given that Iron Man took the mentor role, replace him with Iron Heart with minimal changes.

And using the infinity stones to tie together certain disparate concepts in the comics into something more streamlined worked... But which stone was responsible for which thing was a weird call. The Space Stone kind of works for the Cosmic Cube analog, especially since the Tesseract isn't anywhere near as potent as the comics version, but the Power Stone would have made more sense for both the inspiration for Arc Reactor technology and Carol's powers, the reality stone would have made more sense for Visions density manipulation and awakening Wanda's chaos magic, and the Eye of Aggamotto did not need to be reduced to a container of the time stone, Strange could have just... Had the time stone and the Eye could have remained an Eye.

Other than that there's no real problem with the movies. They're good movies.