"Why don't you ever let me tear up the room like that?" I asked my wife during a scene in Citizen Kane. I then proceeded to ponder what is widely regarded as the greatest film of all-time and how it fit into the larger context of society. Yeah I know. How wonderfully entertaining.

A friend of mine teaches architecture at the University of Montreal and we were talking about his industry one day. One of the things he does with his class to better understand the relationship between architecture and humans is to show Alfred Hitchcock movies. He feels that Hitchcock was a master of interpreting time and space, and how humans fit into those confines.

Interesting stuff. Thanks to him I was able to look at the Orson Welles' classic in a slightly different mode. Indeed, it was interesting to note how humans felt small next to Xanadu; how he used vast amounts of space to convey how people communicated with one another; and how small we really are when we consider the bigger picture. It was a moment of genius.

It was my second viewing of the film, and this time around I noticed its beauty on another level. I could not stop but repeat the words, "They wouldn't have the audacity to write like this anymore." Would it be profitable to do so?

Once long ago, it seems as though high quality and profitability were mutually inclusive. You could not have one without the other. What made it to the screens or on vinyl was the best artists had to offer. There was no room for mediocrity.

I also began to ask myself questions. Are we seeing this in contemporary arts? Are there too many mediocre people stealing the spotlight? Do I have enough M&M's? Does the Oprah Machine only contribute to this mess? Why does Hollywood have the image of selling a product rather than art? Just because we don't see films of Kane's caliber does not mean they are not being done. Right? When is the plumber coming tomorrow? Is it a question of marketing and distribution? Is the talent pool bigger? It probably is, but we are not encouraging it to develop.

In other words, the conditions under which a great piece of artistic work is accepted are all but gone. What is needed is a Renaissance of sorts.  There is no doubt there are great artists out there — in whatever manifestation — but one has to dig them up behind the junk that graces our magazines and TV programs.

In a similar vein, is individual opinion for its own sake more valued than knowledge today? What I see today is opinion that is being passed off as knowledge.