@Lithroe @Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse Socrates, we're going to take your freedom to destroy the Monkees?

@Gallen_Dugall  @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, we're going to take your freedom and spank the monkeys?

@Lithroe @Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, you're going to take out freedom and pet the monkeys?

@Gallen_Dugall @Lithroe @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, you're going to take our freedom and get the monkeys?

@Lithroe @Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, you're going to take our orders and get the monkeys?

@Gallen_Dugall @Lithroe @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, you're going to take over minds and get the monkeys?

@Lithroe @Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse So, Chris, you're going to take over furniture and get the monkeys?

@Ford_Thundercougarfalconbird @Someguy @doctor_mindbender Yes, I went through a lot of them.  Sad thing is, as you can see, not one of them was really that funny.  A lot of work for a short payoff.   *Insert dating, marriage, or sex joke here*

@Someguy @Ford_Thundercougarfalconbird @doctor_mindbender Strangely enough, I received 4 emails of reactions from you.  Although, family friendly? The Manson Family maybe. 

@Ford_Thundercougarfalconbird @doctor_mindbender @Ford_Thundercougarfalconbird @doctor_mindbender There goes our friendly family feel.http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwv0eVClX1rnvwt1.gif

(If only you guys knew how many different jokes I tried that Voice's commenting system seemed to think I could have done better before posting.)

@Ford_Thundercougarfalconbird Thank you

I hope it works.

@louieatrest @Someguy yep, always reminds me of the Heisenberg Principle - once you observe something you change it - probably even more so true with art and fandom than science as there are various feedback loops between audience and artist

@Someguy We get to decide..."art" is a dynamic term and will not mean exactly the same thing over two discussions, but you can always talk about what you think its for or about, and as long as you are honest, it will be right.

@Someguy art is largely a matter of mob rule

I know from personal experience in south Florida in the '80s that the government art grants were mainly going towards  subsidizing heroin addicts who would in the last hour or so before a show randomly throw together a pile of found garbage or smear random colors on canvas and submit it as an art project so they could get their check and buy more heroine.  Meanwhile at the art shows they presented at the educated intellectual art crowd would oh and ah and hmm and cogitate meaningfully over the artists meaning. For them is was art even though they largely imposed meaning upon it, and frequently someone in the  art crowd would purchase the work.

This experience taught me that even the educated intellectual art crowd aren't above humanity's prime flaw (the other one - not the horrific stench) in that they will see meaning where there is none simply because they were expecting or wanting to see meaning there.

@louieatrest Once again I don't think there's anything wrong with the definition although I disagree with it as being unnecessarily narrow - that's just my opinion. Leonardo Da Vinci did some stunning drawings of fabric simply as a very mechanical way to learn how to draw and paint fabric with as much realism as possible, but I don't think most people would look at them and consider them "not art". I feel that sometimes art is an unintentional product of creative forces with no artistic intent behind them.

@louieatrest @Gallen_Dugall I always heard that Art is subjective but I've always wondered if just our definition of art is subjective. 

Does an art piece need beauty, aesthetics, or meaningful?  To like a piece of work do we have to find it beautiful or can it be vile, repulsive, have it bring us to anger, or just be pointless? 

I wonder what are the boundaries of the definition of art or beauty for that matter and who will get to decide them?     

@Gallen_Dugall @louieatrest @Someguy You do not have to like it to agree that it is art, nor does something become art just because people like it. I think that for something to be considered art, it has to be intentionally meaningful or involve a conscience effort above and beyond its (or any) utilitarian purpose. Once that is achieved you can feel free to think that it is shit.

@louieatrest @Gallen_Dugall @Someguy that is a valid definition, but I feel it's in the same territory as popularity contest as art

@Someguy @Gallen_Dugall idiocy as art?

Ultimately the products of emotion - art, politics, religion - are (at best) second hand interpretations of the world made third hand through our own interpretation. paraphrasing James Burke I think