"TAOPA"

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

Ah, this explains why you didn't get my Arthur Westover joke I made last
week!

There's been a major set of flame wars on the APD in the last few weeks
about the use of "art" in aquascaping.  A "homer simpson" like guy claimed
that Amano is a con artist, and anyone who disagreed with him was
obviously in collusion with "the industry".  Arthur Westover baited
everyone by repeatedly stating that American aquascaping stinks, and
managed to turn half the list from friends into thinking he's a real jerk.  
James Purchase, who initially was very supportive, went to pieces with
Arthur over the AGA Aquascaping Contest, and finally Arthur retorted by
starting his own list called "The Art of Planted Aquaria", where artists
share about aquascaping as art without having to be bothered with all the
technical posts about algae and will be protected from flames of the
unenlightened masses.  Since then, there have been a number of intriguing
subtle references to this by old timers on the APD, such as Tom Barr
posting a wonderful set of tips for getting a tank ready for show or
photography that should be considered for TAG.  Even Neil dropped an
editorial wisecrack (in the midst of a very good and highly technical
discussion about Eusteralis nutrient preference).

Meanwhile, on "The Art of Planted Aquaria", there have been a few
interesting points (actually quite a few I must confess), but mostly
attempts to come up with some form of "guidelines for aquascaping" that
nobody can agree on.  I am still suspicious that several of the
notoriously noxious participants (Roger Miller, Robert H, John Wheeler and
Arthur himself) are biting their nails at some of the comments they are
making to each other, but can't really start flaming because the list is
supposed to be flame-free.  Kind of like a bunch of rival housewives
trying to one-up each other at a fancy dinner party. It will be
interesting to see how long it lasts.

Oh, and in the first day, someone suggested they needed to have a magazine
that featured beautiful aquascapes.  Someone further suggested an E-zine
for it so they could save money on printing.  (This is where I suggested
people contact you and get it in TAG).  As always, one week later, that
particular interest seems to have completely vanished.

  - Erik

On Sun, 24 Feb 2002, Karen Randall wrote:

> Erik wrote:
> 
> > Wim's talk is very relevant to the new "artists"
> > on the Aquascaping Utopia list... there's a discussion going on about
> > dutch tanks and lack of a single focus.Boy, shows how little I've been
> able to keep up with the APD... Didn't know there was such a list.  Who's
> running this one?
> 
> Karen
> 
> 
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-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

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