Oh yeah, I've done that-- when you take them apart underwater, the juice squirts get absorbed by the water instead of getting all over you; also, as you separate the seedy bits from the white membraney bits, the seeds sink down to the bottom but the membranes float up, so you can skim those off and dump them before draining out the seeds in a colander. But usually I just pick at them out of a big dry bowl of pomegranate bits.

I was amazed to find out that some people carefully eat the red pulp from around each seed and then spit the seeds out, which makes for an incredible amount of work per calorie consumed. I just crunch them up seeds and all; imho the actual seeds aren't really bitter, just... crunchy and maybe slightly nutty in flavor.

The little snack annex at the local Target has raspberry-pomegranate smoothies that taste nice, but have disconcerting little bits of fiber that're the texture of wet cardboard, which is what I thought the first one was when it came up through the straw. I guess they must be associated with the pomegranate in some way? When making smoothies at home, I've had mixed results with trying to incorporate pomegranates; if the ice stays in little chunks, then the bits of seed just sorta mix in without being too noticeable, but otherwise they make for a really weird mouthfeel.