Is photography an art or just a medium?

[astroNikon]

When you come back from your book burning, noodle on this one a little, then:

If Art is strictly individual, why are there so many works of Art that pretty large chunks of some pretty large societies seem to agree are Art, and Good Art at that? I think the answer to this could be pretty illuminating.

So your ultimate goal here is for me to have an intellecutal conversation with.. myself? Rotfl. Wow. Ok, well sorry bunky but like I said earlier just way to busy for this "If a tree falls in the woods" style silliness. The answer to your question of course is painfully obvious, not something that needs to be noodled on or even given to micro-second's worth of thought really. Frankly it stuns me that a world class intellectual such as yourself would even need to ask something so incredibly rudimentary and obvious.

But whatever floats your boat I guess. Me I have pretty much zero interest in the topic. By your definition that makes me anti-intellectual, which of course is even more ironic I suppose, much in the same way that the fact that I don't sit around discussing feminine hygiene products would then also lead you to conclude that I'm "anti-woman". Frankly if you were meaning to stun the world with intellectual prowess here, lol - well lets just say that I'm guessing more than a few of us are still waiting for that one to materialize.

Why, I'll be a monkey's uncle !!
he's right.

 

[unpopular]

getting someone to have a conversation with them self is my new goal as an internet troll.

 

[photoguy99]

Actually he's not. I'm not really sure where he got the "conversation with myself" thing but it certainly wasn't from me, and finding the conversation uninteresting isn't what shows him up as anti-intellectual -- it's his actively trying to derail it, and mocking the people having it that does. Not taking part is one thing, actively trying to shut it down and drive it off course is quite another. Of course, it's not just robbins, and it's been tons of other people over the years.

It's really a cultural thing, not a robbins thing. To be fair, he's very good humored about it, in stark contrast to, well, historical others.

But that's not really relevant to anything.

 

[bc_steve]

This one definitely leaves me scratching my head.

CBCNews.ca Mobile

 

[unpopular]

bc_steve:

if the blue ring cost thirty five bucks and a tube of toothpaste, would it be less of an outrage? for some reason when huge pricetags follow public art, we seem to try harder at devaluing it.

Sure, it's hardly my cup of tea, but what does the price have to do with anything?

 

[unpopular]

We should just be glad it wasn't in Toronto. Imagine, a giant crack pipe atop the CN tower.

 

[robbins.photo]

Actually he's not. I'm not really sure where he got the "conversation with myself" thing but it certainly wasn't from me, and finding the conversation uninteresting isn't what shows him up as anti-intellectual -- it's his actively trying to derail it, and mocking the people having it that does. Not taking part is one thing, actively trying to shut it down and drive it off course is quite another. Of course, it's not just robbins, and it's been tons of other people over the years.

It's really a cultural thing, not a robbins thing. To be fair, he's very good humored about it, in stark contrast to, well, historical others.

But that's not really relevant to anything.

So where is it that I mocked anyone actually taking place in serious fashion in the discussion? Traded a few laughs with Brainieck and a couple of the other regulars that I know would appreciate it, but to the best of my knoweldge I never addressed anyone who had a serious point to make in such a fashion, and no you really can't count my responses to you in that regard because I was responding to stuff you specifically directed at me. Other than that those who really wanted to have any form of serious dialogue on this issue, as completely beaten to death as it has been, were free to do so.

Might also want to think about that whole "conversation with myself" commentary - and the rather tremendous level of irony involved. When I did finally give you the serious response you supposedly were looking for, your response was completely devoid of anything "intellectual". After all that whining about how you supposedly wanted an intellectual discussion your response was a complete cop out, merely another question that you would have me do all the heavy lifting in answering for you - and yet supposedly your the intellectual here. That I found as pretty funny. The truth appears to be that you don't actually want an intellectual discussion, or perhaps more accurately that you want to observe such a discussion but are either unwilling or unable to actually take any active role or have any real participation in it yourself. Like I said, I rather appreciate the irony of that since your the self-proclaimed intellectual.

I also got a kick out of the constant obfuscate, side step, proclaim yourself victorious thing. That is also pretty ironic coming from someone who continues to proclaim intellectual superiority. Honestly you really need to consider a career in politics. Or maybe comedy. But I'd probably go with politics. Your stuff as a comedy routine is pretty esoteric and most people probably wouldn't get it at all, especially as a stand up act. I mean granted I find it pretty funny - but I just don't see it having nearly as wide a range of appeal as say some of the stuff Howie Mandell comes up with.

 

[photoguy99]

I'm not going to get into it. What you wrote and what I wrote are there for anyone to see. The zero people who care can decide for themselves.

 

[bc_steve]

I wouldn't like it if it was free.

I'm not from Calgary so I didn't pay for it, and there's enough money in that city nobody's going to notice a half-million dollar streetlight. I don't really care about the cost apart from making me feel like I'm in the wrong line of work.

My point is: I don't care for it, it seems silly to me. I would find a normal streetlight more visually appealing. But sure, it's art. It's a very broad term and not defined by whether you like something or not.

 

[robbins.photo]

I'm not going to get into it. What you wrote and what I wrote are there for anyone to see. The zero people who care can decide for themselves.

If you would like to see another cop out response, press 1 now.

For further obfuscation, press 2 now.

To hear about my intellectual superiority, press 3 now.

To have this menu repeated, in all it's irony, press 4 now or stay on the line ....

 

[Derrel]

I like my photography medium-rare...

 

[limr]

I enjoy a robust intellectual discussion - hell, I even get paid to be an egghead - but all I have learned from this thread is who else to consider for my ignore list.

 

[astroNikon]

So where is it that I mocked anyone actually taking place in serious fashion in the discussion? Traded a few laughs with Brainieck and a couple of the other regulars that I know would appreciate it, but to the best of my knoweldge I never addressed anyone who had a serious point to make in such a fashion, and no you really can't count my responses to you in that regard because I was responding to stuff you specifically directed at me. Other than that those who really wanted to have any form of serious dialogue on this issue, as completely beaten to death as it has been, were free to do so.

Might also want to think about that whole "conversation with myself" commentary - and the rather tremendous level of irony involved. When I did finally give you the serious response you supposedly were looking for, your response was completely devoid of anything "intellectual". After all that whining about how you supposedly wanted an intellectual discussion your response was a complete cop out, merely another question that you would have me do all the heavy lifting in answering for you - and yet supposedly your the intellectual here. That I found as pretty funny. The truth appears to be that you don't actually want an intellectual discussion, or perhaps more accurately that you want to observe such a discussion but are either unwilling or unable to actually take any active role or have any real participation in it yourself. Like I said, I rather appreciate the irony of that since your the self-proclaimed intellectual.

I also got a kick out of the constant obfuscate, side step, proclaim yourself victorious thing. That is also pretty ironic coming from someone who continues to proclaim intellectual superiority. Honestly you really need to consider a career in politics. Or maybe comedy. But I'd probably go with politics. Your stuff as a comedy routine is pretty esoteric and most people probably wouldn't get it at all, especially as a stand up act. I mean granted I find it pretty funny - but I just don't see it having nearly as wide a range of appeal as say some of the stuff Howie Mandell comes up with.

Why, I'll be a monkey's uncle !!
he's right.

 

[Designer]

And where the heck is that OP?

 

[photoguy99]

I would point out that of the 40 or so substantive, non-dismissive, relevant posts in this thread, I made between 1/5 and 1/4 depending on how generous you are, so I've actually done quite a bit of the "intellectual heavy lifting" such as it is, and there's ample evidence that I actually do (well, did) want a conversation, but it wouldn't matter. He's your friend, and people judge who is right and who is wrong by which fellow they like better. So it goes.