As I said in a comment on the other day’s post, when the burrs in one’s undergarments just refuse to come out in the wash, it never hurts to gripe and re-gripe.
How many of you join me in hating this?
Are our furbabies not perfect and elegant and beautiful enough? Just as they are?
I’m just saying.
Editor’s Note: Here is an exception, where art and photography intersect in a happier way . .
About nadbugs
Anita loves cats. This must be because she, too, has had nine lives. She’s been dancing since she could walk, she was a commercial artist and advertising producer, she earned a third-degree black belt in Aikido, she is a drummer with the Afrique Aya Dance Company, she is an attorney, and she’s a meditator and a devoted student of Nonviolent Communication. She also spent one lifetime sidelined with a devastating back injury in 1992. Since then – FELDENKRAIS METHOD® to the rescue. The FELDENKRAIS METHOD is all about dreaming concretely – thinking intelligently and independently by way of a gracious and kind physicality. The work affords all who study it a process by which to reach, with movement, into the mind and the heart, to make nine lives into one whole being.
catself 
Yoga-cats? That pose looks really awkward!
I think I prefer the normal cute shots-calender.
I personally think a cats is the cutest/most beautiful just being himself, just like us humans.
Isn’t it amazing? You take an elegant creature like a cat and you futz with it and you just ruin it. Why? Why? Why?
Why? Money? 😦
Yup. Times are tough.
Grleomdonenrrr! Hateful. Not even funny, bad, bad, bad. I’m not sure, but the dog one may even be worse – we know dogs can’t approach the gracefulness of a cat. Ick.
I know. I was really tempted to link to the dog, which frankly looks, well, disabled. Fidelity to catz won out in the end. But honestly. Did you ever. What a world.
On the one hand, I totally know where you’re coming from. I’m not a fan of manipulated bodies of this style. But then again, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and in the grand scheme of things, there is no difference between what you’ve pointed out and what I do. It doesn’t make me or the people who like what I produce bad people. Our cats aren’t hurt, abused or annoyed when we work with them and it makes people smile. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone here and ref the post of the reflection pic you took too. It is beautiful. All the more beautiful for being natural. But I wouldn’t think any the less of it if you had created that dreamy image by merging two things to become more than the sum of their parts. But then again, in my world, art and uniqueness are not necessarily connected, so maybe it’s this logic that lets me embrace digital imagery and its possibilities so easily. And, in closing m’lud, I would remind the jury that photography is still considered an upstart medium of dubious if any pedigree by many who are valued for their opinion on such matters.
Another viewpoint heard from. Excellent. I love what you say. In the end, tho, it probably doesn’t hurt MY cause in the least that M’lud has, up on the walls of his Long Gallery, portraits of the ancestors dating back to The Conqueror. In which, needless to say but when did that ever stop me, photography has no role whatsoever. Eye rawthuh think, don’t you nee-ow old thing, that my QC will prevail.
I have no doubt that your Quirky Cat will, as you say, prevail.
What Conqueror? Or alternatively, Conqueror of What?
William. Original colonizer. Quirky Cat — GOOD one!
I wondered what your response would be! I love what you do, you let the character of your cats come through – this is just bizarre. And your PS efforts are natural – these cats’ limbs look too straight, too uniform in colour… Too weird. I don’t know: if knew PS what would I do with it? I never knew pixels could be used to create art until recently, not really. I’m torn on the photography too: I’m old enough that I’ve used a darkroom, we even had one in our garage. Now it is all digital, and manipulatable. Hubby takes wow wow wow pics now and again; and he’d love to have a show but feels that PS is both a blessing and a curse… Along with apps like Hipstamatic. I think it is art, I know I get 1 good photo out of 100.
Well — peace, no? What it all really boils down to is, what does the image evoke in the viewer? If it’s disgust, as it is with me and the yoga thing, then that’s just that. An unhelpful use of the technology.
No lack of peace here! I’m actually looking for things I can inspire the hubby with, he can be too much of a purist and should loosen up a little. I just don’t have good arguments to use on him when he says, ‘oh, someone is going to say I photoshopped that!’
Well, I can’t really join in any hating today. Still trying to get the burrs out of that undergarment and that is all the negativity I can handle. So I am not going to even look at whatever horrid photoshopped nonsense the link reveals. Instead, I will just revel in the beauty and perfection of Mr. Bugs. Just as he is. Thank you.
I just read minlit’s comment and I shamelessly confess that I enjoy her work. A lot. I also enjoy playing with free photo-altering sites online. It is fun. And I still appreciate the true beauty of nature. Nothing better.
So yes. Fun, enjoyment — or horrid disgust. Guess it’s all grist . . . . And I bow to your refusal to let the negativity get its hooks into you. And that you love Bugs. Yay.
Thank you Typist. Very kind of you! D
Bugs looks appropriately outraged.
I find it hard to believe that those are photos and not drawings. It is too unnatural for my brain to comprehend it.
I just have to say, when the photo — untouched — evokes the exact emotion I had hoped, in this case outrage just as you saw, LM — this is what really makes it for me.
Bugs has such an expressive face.
The yoga cats and yoga dogs make my spine feel all out of alignment, like I need to go do some yoga myself. My kitties enjoy yoga because it gives them many changes to trip me.
ooops, I meant chances
I love cats too much to understand such type of art. I think it uses cats as clay and makes something else of the creatures which for me are already beautiful enough. When I see photos like that I feel like something, which was originally perfect, was ruined in order to serve someone’s purposes.
I vibrate with this emotionally. It’s what comes up for me, too. Minlit has a tough case to make, given these images — which are not at all like what she does.
Ohhhh THAT Conqueror. Colonizer looks funny written down. Like it should have something to do with washing ones bowels. Has this thread just gone down the toilet? Is Spiders here? It could go from bad to worse if she is…..
No doubt about it! But looks like poor old Spiders is trying not to bite things, round about now.
Bwah haw haw! ” Colonizer! For those days when the hordes are massing!”
that was WRONG, Spiders! Minlit, why did you get her going?! (hahahahaha! I’m hilarious!)
I was waiting for you! Man, it’s hard being so far ahead time wise. I need to go to bed and not make poop jokes.
HA! Y’all are wacko — and I love it!
I have to say I enjoy it. I see a fun photo, nothing more. A WYSIWYG. I am guilty of setting up shots, isn’t PS the same thing, only afterwards? What photographer DOESN’T manipulate–shutter speed, lighting, composition, development, contrast? It’s solopsism, debating change, whether it happens prior or post image.
I hope we can see it that way! It’s a strange new world, and creativity should be embraced in any form it takes, perhaps? Quality, of course, being a constant 🙂
Ummmm — I don’t manipulate anything other than my crossed fingers? Because I’m too unskilled . . . . Point n shoot is about all I can manage . . . BTW, what’s a WYSI-thingy? Am I the only one who’s lost here? Wouldn’t be the first time . . . .
Ditto on the being lost and the point and shoot.
I just thought of this…PS is just digital drawing. What would the world be without art that deviates from reality? I’d miss the sarcasm of cartooning, for sure.
I’m thinking about it… PhotoShop is an art, you really have to know what you are doing. Saying ‘anyone could do that’ is a clear falsehood – they say anyone can knit and I can’t. My digital drawings come easy to me – sometimes! – but that doesn’t mean anyone can do them either. I’m still on the fence – it bothers me when someone passes off a digitally manipulated pic as ‘pure’ but I have no issue with playing with reality. But I still dislike the yoga cats 🙂
Check out poem “Pied Beauty” by gerald Manley Hopkins, I think.
Nice. But he forgot Bengal cats.
WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get! Say it like “whiz–ee-wig”.
Whizeewig. I probably need to get off this thing. I won’t share with you what that brought to mind.
From computers way back in 1980s(!). Used primarily to indicate that what you see on the screen is the thing that will print, not some other form of pixellated stuff.
At this point I’m pixellated from too much scrumpy.
Lost again. What’s scrumpy?
I’ve actually seen cats get almost in that position, when trying to step down a level and doing a handstand flop at the end.
To me it is just a bad job, since the hip and belly are all wrong for a real cat.
Give me a real hip belly-cat any day.
I often “photoshop” my pictures before I post them to my blog. I’m not altering the subject so much as trying to bring it out a bit better – cropping, sharpening, lightening, etc. I also retouch to get out any really horrible dirt showing its face. I want to look at my pictures and see my boys and girls, not the birdshit that I didn’t even notice was on the wall or carpet until I looked at the photo.
There is a lot of digital art I love (digitalblasphemy.com anyone?) and some that is just ridiculous (like the yoga shots). It is all creativity – and often art – to me though. I don’t particularly approve of digital art that is trying to pass itself off as the “real thing” – like what we see every night on the news and on almost every page of almost every magazine out there. I don’t think its that much different than what artists have been doing with oil, acrylic, and water colors all these years – it can be a very fun medium to work with. Its just a heck of a lot easier for it to be passed off as “real”. Just kind of boggled my own self a second – photos that aren’t shopped aren’t real either… and can be just as misleading.
I like Bean’s photo – that pink nose! And I love Min’s digital art too 🙂
I also edit my photos, for all of the reasons you gave (except birdshit, although I do have to deal with eye poo). I guess my approach to digital art is the same as my approach to other art – some is aesthetically appealing, some is not.
I admit that I was stupid enough to stare at those cat/dog yoga photos for five minutes trying to figure out how they got the critters to pose like that before realizing that it was photoshopped.
digitalblasphemy is lovely! Thank you, @Wazeau, for that tip. And @LM? Please. Never call yourself stupid! You are so not stupid!
My human’s been known to edit clutter and dirt out of photos, but that’s it.
I made the mistake of checking out the thumbnails for the 2012 cat yoga calendars. They’re so strange and creepy-looking! For some reason, I can call Minlit’s work art, but not the yoga cats. And if the reflection of Bugs had been superimposed electronically on the photo above, that would be art. Knowing that the photo isn’t altered makes it a higher form of art for me. But I’m not sure where the line is drawn…
At least we felines won’t be looking at yoga cats as role models for our bodies. The scrawny human models that are altered to look scrawnier should be printed with a disclaimer!
I’ve been meaning to get back here to add something about those awful scrawny models, and here’s your dear self doing it for me. Amen to the sentiment. Awful.
Catself may be hungover, so allow me: I believe that scrumpy is the same thing as apple jack, which is hard liquor distilled from plain olde apple juice! VERY hard liquor!
Hey Nadbugs! Ask your slave to think about changing her reply settings so we can have nested replies a little deeper, a few more levels.
@Catself was actually lucky enough to have some paying work, so she was off doing that. Not hung over. But yup that would be scrumpy. I heard some guys in England actually bury the stuff overwinter. Gets it reeeeelly concentrated. Then kills anybody unwise enough to try to drink it.
@Slave has adjusted reply settings, with thanks to you, Lahgitana, because Slave is so lame she didn’t even know there was such an option — but it didn’t seem to “take” for the reply to Wazeau and littlemiao — maybe it’s still thinking about it? And will work on the next post?
Hey, Naddie! While you are at it, howz about changing the time setting? Are you on UTC on purpose? You could adjust it to Arkansas time…
Don’t get me started on my biggest pet peeve – time zones and daylight savings time. Who are we to decide what time it is? That’s up to the sun and the moon! And why doesn’t Arizona or Hawaii do daylight savings??? The stupidity of humans is baffling sometimes!
Bean – I totally approve of whatever time zone you choose to live in!
@typist, I do nothing on purpose. I stagger around just barely. Believe it or not, when I was futzing with the nested-comments thing, I landed on the time thing, asked myself what the heck is UTC, tried to find the time in English, and gave up. Tried again, after your tip — and there it was, no problem . . . Lame. Like I said.
@mckmf, if I knew who was on first, maybe I’d know what time it is. So thank you for your understanding. Is it time for that drink yet? It’s five o’clock somewhere.
wow, paying work! I’ve heard of that! sorry for impugning your sober character, Bean.
I just push buttons when it comes to computers. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve been using a Mac since they were invented! >:-D Glad the nested replies seemed like a good idea. I find it easier to keep track….. (esp. when Minlit and Spiders start punning!)
UTC is universal time coordinated. pretty sure it’s the same thing as GMT, which is Greenwich Meridian Time, measured right there in Greenwich, England! Also shortened to just “zulu.” Now doesn’t that all make sense?! So, time zones are measured of Greenwich time, the zero marker.
Then they change the damn clocks twice a year. Don’t get me started. (Too late. Apparently.)
penultimate paragraph should have said “measured OFF” Greenwich….
Oh Lahgitana — impugn away. It’s so much fun when you do. And paying work? I find it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Without an attitude adjustment. Which as we know is difficult for me, if not even painful. I like the strategy of focusing on the paycheck, and keeping the actual earning of the paycheck in the background of my attention, in soft focus. Then I explain what I’m doing to the bank and the taxing authorities. Goes well. They seem to understand.
And if this nested thing starts working — is it working now? I think it may be? — it will give me immense pleasure to start the ball rolling and then step back and let the fur fly between the 3 of you. I’ve been frustrated by the lack of nesting & so am grateful to you.
And thank you also for helping me understand the time-clock thing. Let me see if I got it. The Zulus scared the Brits into naming the very essence of nonsense and frustration after their tribe. And so time is measured from the source and font of all things colon-ial, but the real truth of the matter — the actual naming of the thing, which gives it its power — comes from the real motherland. Which is, as we all know, Africa.
Have I got that right?
The Zulu shortcut is almost certainly from the military word code for alphabetic letters to allow them to be distinguishable in noisy conditions and over poor radios – Alpha for A, Bravo for B, and all the way to Zulu for Z.
Perhaps they picked Z because they don’t use it as much for other things.
Heck, I looked it up. Apparently sailors use Z for Zero for GMT time, probably because to figure latitude you subtract Z time from local time to find out if you are about to bump into China’s coast anytime soon.
That’s always worried me. Whether I’m about to bump into China’s coast sooner — or later.
I believe you have that exactly right!
Don’t start with the colon again! Spiders will see it and talk about having to drop the kids at the pool! (That last bit is courtesy my older brother who still acts like a 9-year-old boy!)
I’m probably going to get a spanking (clawing? MOL) for saying this, but when I clicked the link, I laughed. It was funny to me. Unnatural looking as all heck, but still funny. =^..^=
One of the best things that’s come out about grumping like this, @Julia, is seeing the diversity of opinion in our dear community. Takes all kinds, as they say. –Nadbugs
ROWL!! Diversity will not be tolerated!! –Bugs
Finally! The voice of sanity gets to speak! I’d say more but there are way too freakin’ many comments on this silly freakin’ post. Crazy freakin’ beans. They could be out herding wildebeest in our direction, or something useful, but no…
I’m telling you. You have to ask yourself why.
Beautiful picture! 😀
Undoctored! Just — The Bugs!
I’ve missed seeing Bugs’ cute little pink not-photoshopped nose this week.
Oh Pedro — me too. We’re back, though, with a new post today . . . . Always happy to see your little black-bean chin around these parts . . . . HEY!! I just noticed!! You posted the 2,000th comment, Pedro! HOOPLA!!!
Yahoo! Congrats on having so many visitors with something to say!! Did you do a little 2000 comment happy dance? Or maybe something like when someone reaches 100,000 miles in a Toyota – did you run around in a little circle around your computer?
Oh yay, this little gang of commenters is something else, isn’t it. But — I didn’t know that about the 100k-mark on Toyotas. My odometer stopped some time in the last century, at the 164k mark. I love my Toyota. My dad bought it. In 1991. So this is its 20th anniversary. I should get us a cupcake sometime. Quick, that is, before the year changes. Must do that. Awesome cupcake store here. I’m thinking lemon poppyseed.
I think lemon poppyseed is the official flavor for 20th anniversaries, according to Hallmark. And it’s my favorite! 😀
Into the center of these little beauties is snuck a little lemon-curd, or something else obscenely voluptuous. Just when you thought it was safe to swoon, through the frosting and the scrumptious cloud-like cake, you hit that. To be eaten only wearing a helmet.
Thanks for including the link to my portrait Nadbugs. It is a painting, based on photographs, but this is my recent ‘photoshop’ attempt which I’m very proud of 😀
It does help to attach the link :-S
Wow! Seamless!