in an attempt to increase traffic flow and the overall sexiness of our blog…greg and i believe that we need to become as polemical possible, our rubber needs to hit the asphalt of hot topics:
Topic 1
how stinky must cheese be before everyone acknowledges it to be little more than rotten, moldy milk?
it is a profound question that makes us reconsider our cultural preference for “cheese foods”, that is lab-fab foods,
it calls into question our love contra natura for chemically produced and enhanced cheese stuff
...rather than God given, naturally caved-aged cheeses. 
it brings to fore questions of infrastructure, superstructure, and the means and processes of production. it also deals with how we handle waste…it’s environmental.
but most important of all, it is a social question. how should we treat those lovers of real chese when they come into our midst? is offering them, irrespective of their very real, very physical revulsion against cheese foods, an insult, a slap in the face, or is it what we should really be about? i mean can we really love canned cheese and not force it upon others? and how do we handle their accusations of this love being unnatural and unhealthy?
But it’s obvious that cheese is more a state-of-mind—a choice, if you will—rather than a born preference. One only chooses cheesiness, whether cheese or cheese-food, and may give it up at any moment, in spite of cheese’s overwhelming popularity in general or of mozzarella in particular.
by greg—Dec 29, 10:30 AM
The question of cheese in this case is really one of production, isn’t it? When it’s made to be puffballs, it’s not the same as when it’s made to be brie.
But I’m okay with cheese or rudolph eventually being separated from production. Cheese must be tasted; rudolph must be known today or left behind for good. Intent isn’t meaningless, but that’s a statement that turns a lot of directions at once.
by greg—Dec 29, 01:20 PM
see, now we gotta say to the non-readers of our solipsistic, solecistic world that they should read the last, of course, assuming no one else comments on evan, post on evan to get the rudolph quote…but, that assumes we have readers.
but it’s also a question of categories…roquefort and stilton, though similar, are not the same cheese and they have distinguishing tastes. that, though might be too refined a difference. but, let’s say brie and l’edel de cleron (which we et last night and was marvelous and stinky…t almost didn’t want it but tasted and said it was good)
and, now i’m almost sounding like e.d. hirsch and wanting there to be validity in interpretation…and maybe the problem is intent…the desire to ascribe a subversive intent to the story…but daughter is on lap and will jeapordize what i’v got so bye
by Jeremy—Dec 29, 01:41 PM
Dude, this is hypertext! It’s supposed to be nonlinear! Which is why it’s easy to link to the previous conversation.
and we do have some readers: several via RSS feeds, I discovered yesterday, but we’re probably too insular for them to feel comfortable commenting…
is this a good place to point to Louis Menand’s review, linked at right about, literary value?
by greg—Dec 29, 01:53 PM
yeah, i haven’t read that, yet
by Jeremy—Dec 29, 02:02 PM
It’s about established reception, specifically, as it relates to literary awards. Awards create value, and they also create anti-value, such that Tolstoy is great because he did not win the Nobel, and so forth. The first book in the review sounds better, although the second might interest you more because it’s about transcontinental value and influence (i.e. Faulkner influences Marquez & everybody else).
But the point is that reception has as much to do with making art great as art itself. Likewise, television, or movies.
by greg—Dec 29, 02:19 PM
Ok, after thinking it over all afternoon, I have to admit I’m not a big cheese aficionado. I like it, and I eat more than my fair share, but we rarely have the good stuff in the house. there’s a town in Iowa that makes Martha Stewart’s favorite blue cheese, and I’ve never tried that. I can even buy Wensleydale locally, and can you believe that I’ve never had it, either?
by greg—Dec 29, 03:04 PM
well, there’s levels cheesophillia… just like there are gateway cheeses… just like there are ocassional cheesers… and, of course, cheeseheads… and then there are monogocheesers (only eat cheddar, say)... and last of all there are the non-cheese cheese eaters…those that eat cheese which is not cheese (like velveeta)
by Jeremy—Dec 29, 03:11 PM
I used to be a non-cheese cheeseater: I ate a lot of Velveeta. But I am no longer that. I enjoy cheddar and pepper jack and provalone on sandwiches; I like brie and gouda and many other varieties on crackers; I love feta on pizza, and who doesn’t like mozzarella?
It’s just that my palate is limited, and it doesn’t crave the smell, or the taste very often. I eat it like most Americans—on something else.
by greg—Dec 29, 03:16 PM
you should try some blues and some stinky cheeses with a very good tawny port….ahhhhhhh!!!!!
by Jeremy—Dec 29, 03:20 PM
That would require that we buy a good tawny port! Which, come to think of it, isn’t a bad idea… :)
by greg—Dec 29, 03:35 PM