I thought that PR was still partially without power. Maybe we should fix that first.

most artists are elitist insecyre snobs. just saying... I know a few.

art is something that makes you think or feel in the manner that the artist desires.

let's take a look at Christ-in-piss? Did it get you upset? Did you think it's obscene somehow?

More obscene than a statue covered in blood?

stranger in a strange land???

if you haven't connected that with the clear referne to exodus.

find a priest... well, rabbi.

what is really bother ing mE is that nooNe has mentioned the Heinlein corollary:

As a science fictio aythor gets older, he ismore likely to write about sex, explicitly, and USuallly with ans alienss

Please Note: Heinlein's first book was stranger in a strange land.

your looking for a contractor.,

a cool artist would deliver a landscape, and his message.

who knows though, I only got got art into the Smithsonian using a ball of string.

but hey, pom poms./

of course it's convenient, itp's his effing story, that won the hygo award of all hugo awards...

the really interesting thing is if you take the story in the negative,. what if you have a world that only sees the true light once every 2000 years?

if the author isn't trying to convey a Mesasge, hidden ynderneath their prose, they are a terrible artist.

see Romance genre

History?

History is scrap books written by the victors. To get behind that façade, you need to go DEEP, and quite frankly most people don't want or will ever go deep in history.

Scince Fiction goes Deep, but presents it in a plausibly deniable way.

Look at ASmimov's Econometrics. Who could possibly believe that there is a foundation out there that is controlling world events to eventually provide for the better good, even if it isn't all that good right now.

I mean, economics and psychology are weak sciences that could never be used to predict future conditions, right?

Well, I'm talking about ScFi, not shlock...

Try Stephanson's Seveneves for a good modern scifi

Or anything by George RR Martin, his short story collections are incredible.

Even GoT is about current social problems. It's an even better series if you read it as such.

Science Fiction is *always* about current social commentary, the science bits are nice, but truly just fluff.

right now Asimov's "Nightfall" should be required reading

No, its called taxation. It *is* the central part of a society.

Yes, I'm sure that the Union's will be able to match the corporations contributions.

Actually, what will probably happen is that Unions will be made illegal after all of the government is bought and paid for.

*This* is what the second amendment is for. We apparently don't have a working democracy anymore.

With Intel's restrictions on Netbooks on their Atom platform, it looks like Prima Facie evidence of restraint of trade.

Intel is going to be knocked around quite a bit, if they don't wise up.

Try L4d before you give up on Steam. Seriously, its an amazing game.