Visually, in terms of the cinematography: colour, balance, space, focus, movement, etc.
Other aspects of mise en scene: production design, set layout, etc.
All of these are important, and a failure on any one of them can significantly impair our enjoyment. But I wonder about their relative importance. Intuitively I feel that of all these, the single most important is the normally the story (assuming the film is not non-narrative experimental work like Nathaniel Dorsky's) because story-telling seems to be a basic fact of human nature. I recognise that story takes a back seat in some kinds of film - musicals, for example, may not use the story as anything more than a hook for the songs - but are even these ruined if the story is a complete failure? Can the other factors adequately compensate for a rubbish narrative?
Or am I drawing a general conclusion about film viewers from my own specific concerns and values?
It was here that I meant to say that story is everything. Nothing else matters as much. People make far too much of image and spectacle.
Why is theater greater than film? Human scale, live performance, and interaction that is much more demanding and thus more rewarding. Photography is not as great as painting, and live music is more thrilling than recorded sound. These are truisms which upset many, but are true nonetheless.
The problem is that I've seen far more very good movies, photos, and recorded music than I've experienced great theater, great paintings, and live music.
We are made as creatures to make sense of things. Story is what does that. We can't help making a story out of everything that is. When you meet God and discover he is all Love. That makes a story - that Love explains everything. When you meet God, and respond, Daddy! -- that is a story about truth, relationship and happiness. When you meet Jesus, and are forgiven all your evil - that is a story about a man who is God who has infinite mercy.
If you know that about story, then why in the world would anyone ever want to do anything other than tell stories above everything else?
I do agree that story is primary, as I indicated in my original post. But is it actually legitimate to claim that these comments are true in some absolute sense? These things are all art forms, and aren't art and the aesthetic experience fundamentally, inescapably personal and subjective - at least at some levels?
I love theatre, but in what sense is theatre essentially greater than film? I also find live performance (whether theatre or music) to be a more intense experience than listening at home - there's an immediacy about it, and I think that the corporate nature of being in an audience is important too (being in a cinema is also more intense than watching a DVD for the same reason). Perhaps there's something about the imperfection of it that we respond to. But does that make it objectively greater? Film offers an opportunity for repeated viewing, slow viewing , selected viewing, viewing in a variety of contexts including alone - that can lead to a profound engagement with the film that I never achieve in theatre because the performance is, by its very nature, transient.
Is 'human scale' necessarily a good thing? When I'm in the theatre, the human-scaled performance can deal well with some aspects of life. But it can't convey the beauty of the natural world in the way that film can, or the variety of environments, or the bustle of a major city, or the spectacle of a battle or all kinds of other things. Viewers are also at a distance from the actors in most theatres, which means that stage acting is a different kind of performance from screen acting. The ability to study a close up of a face showing extraordinary subtlety of emotion isn't possible on stage. Think of Bergmar's use of faces - you simply couldn't do it on stage.
Since long before the development of photography (which, incidentally, I find more satisfying than paintings) and of film, there has been a tendency to divide art into high and low, sophisticated and vulgar. These two media were very much seen in a second class category when they first appeared, and there is still a dismissiveness towards them which often seems to me like elitism. I am not at all convinced it can be justified. It's not a question of one medium being inherently better or worse than another - they are just different - but what the artist does with it that matters.
How many people, when exposed to Shakespeare jump up and down in ecstasy? Very few, and so by rights, Shakespeare stinks. The same with Sophocles. But we know that isn't true.
I've had great film experiences, but presence always adds more. The stage does cause some separation, but more, it divides the active from the passive. One of the greatest things about the Catholic Mass, and why it endures so forcefully, is that there is no division between the active and the passive since the "audience" is part of the play, so to speak, along with the priest.
The Mass is so beloved that people who don't even like what the Church teaches or believes go every week to participate.
What humans love more than anything else is the Real. We get various degrees of it here and there, but none are as impressive as the presence of the Real unmediated by artifice, but either through or with another human or by apprehending grace or God directly.
In judging art and its forms, we can only judge as a kind of descent from the mountain top in gradations. There was perfection, and now here it is a little so, and there a little more less so.
Some things are lesser, but perfect for what they are. A good joke, for example. Things can be perfect in themselves according to the boundaries or their frames. Movies can be perfect as they are, but they don't ever achieve the transcendence that the unmediated Real does.
My argument with film (or art) is when a movie fails to be perfect on the terms of genre, execution, etc. If the story doesn't work, or is evil in that it subverts truth by lie and seduction, then it doesn't matter how fine any other aspect of it is.
I heard many critics praise Brokeback Mountain as being fine storytelling with interesting characters and so forth. But if my natural sympathies and human compassion are used against me to deceptively persuade me to see homosexuality in a whole new light that wants to lead me to approval and acceptance of a hidden agenda, I'm sorry. An engaging lie, a tissue of half truths craftily made to undermine natural law and visceral knowledge is simply going to be savaged by me.
: make far too much of image and spectacle.
On the contrary, image (including, but not limited to, spectacle) is what film is all ABOUT.
Going to the theatre could never, ever, ever produce an experience like seeing Koyaanisqatsi -- and I say this as one who has seen Koyaanisqatsi with live musical accompaniment by Philip Glass's ensemble. The film ITSELF is simply unreplaceable. If you took a still image from each shot and hung them all in a gallery in sequential order, you would not be replicating the experience of watching that film. And if you replaced all those still images with paintings, you would drain them of even MORE of the qualities that give that film its very unique -- and uniquely cinematic -- power.
: more thrilling than recorded sound. These are truisms which upset many, but are true nonetheless.
No, this is not true. Painting is better FOR SOME THINGS than photography, but photography is also better FOR SOME THINGS than painting. You cannot generalize and say that any one artform is better, period.
: and the passive since the "audience" is part of the play, so to speak, along with the priest.
Hmmm, maybe theatre would be even MORE of an "active" experience if the audience had to STAND throughout the play.
Which, in Shakespeare's day, was true for much of the audience! I seem to recall being in the SRO section for at least one play, although for the life of me I can't remember which play it was.
Even if we could infer some sort of theological reason to prefer one art form over another (which seems to be what johnmark is driving at), that would hardly make such a reason "objective." Theology isn't an exact science either.
In addition, in any movie which includes sound, that sound is also what the movie is about. Images are only half of the matter.
: : Story is all that matters. And the story must be of good morality.
: What is a story?
See, I'm pretty sure that in any movie which sets out to have a story, that story must provide the governing principle. That's because of my (relatively broad) definition of a story, which holds that any work which represents a person, i.e. a being capable of choice, is a story. Thus, a portrait would probably be the simplest form of story. It represents, through the image of his or her face, the series of choices which brought the person represented to the point they were at at the moment their visage was "frozen" into an image.
For me, this creates a contrast between an ordinary painting, in which there is only one artist, and a portrait, which is a collaboration between the painter and the subject. In, say, a landscape, the artist has only himself or herself to answer to, whereas in a painting with story, the artist has a responsibility to characterize the person(s) represented fairly and in accordance with truth. The same goes for a movie, a book, or any other artform - should an artist attempt to tell another's story, that story has got to come first, in my opinion.
As for any artwork which does not have story, I'm pretty sure that we're in agreement that it shouldn't be judged as if it did.
Having not seen Koyaanisqatsi, I'll have to hold out on commenting on whether that movie has story, but I will say that this plays into my previous idea: without its music, I'm quite sure that Koyaanisqatsi would be a fundamentally different piece of art. It is the joining of sound and image that characterizes most modern movies' art.
In addition, in any movie which includes sound, that sound is also what the movie is about. Images are only half of the matter. . . .
I agree up to a point. Sound is not an essential part of what constitues film as a medium since silent films are equally part off the category of 'film'. I would also argue that even a film intended to have sound is still clearly film when the soundtrack is missing, whereas the soundtrack without the images is something altogether different. But you qualify your comments wisely to limit them to 'any movie which includes sound', in which case, although you clearly can watch it with the sound off, you diminish the experience and certainly don't engage with the bisensory experience which the filmmaker intended.
I still feel instinctively that, as you say, story provides some governing principle (when there is one). I feel more and more than we can't be reductionist about it. We can't say, clearly, that films are 'nothing but sound', and we cannot say that films are 'nothing but image' (except at a purely physical, technical level since that is precisely what films are; it's not a very useful thing to say at an aesthetic level) but neither can we say 'films are nothing but stories'. Of course there are many exceptions - Koyaanisqatsi etc - but my guess is that the level we usually value ahead of others, even slightly, is the narrative.
Most films do have some story (though I wouldn't define it as widely as you do). I haven't yet seen Koyaanisqatsi either, but given that the word apparently means 'life out of balance' (I'm rashly believing Dan Brown on this point, though most things he says about most things seem to be not quite right or jnust plain wrong!), I suspect there is something that could be loosely defined as story. I imagine that it has images which reflect the beauty of the world, as well as the mess humans have made of it. If this is so, at the least it acts as a signifier to the story of human recklessness towards our environment. Show it in a Christian context and it also acts as a signifier to the story of God creating a good world. If my guesses about the film are wide of the mark, I will go and hide in a cupboard until I've seen it.
Tony, you make good guesses.
And if memory serves, Dan Brown spells "koyaanisqatsi" differently from how the film does. But anyhoo. The thread for that film is here, if you're interested.
And if memory serves, Dan Brown spells "koyaanisqatsi" differently from how the film does.
He does indeed: 'koyanisquatsi'. Ha! But given the difficulties in transliterating words like this from one language to another, I'll let him have that one rather than adding it to my list of blunders, howlers, non sequiturs, complete inventions and faux pas!
There are many, many films I value for reasons other than their story.
Sometimes, a film's narrative isn't all that great, but the imagery is powerful enough on its own to have redeeming value.
In fact, some films with sloppy and even immoral storytelling have, against the director's best efforts, offered images and moments here and there that are worth encountering in spite of the trouble they're set within.
The Last Temptation of Christ, for example, isn't so hot as a narrative about Jesus, but there are moments and images regarding Christ in that film that speak powerfully to this viewer.
Mulholland Drive is less a narrative and more a work of surrealist art about the depravity of Hollywood narcissism; I don't recommend the film for general audiences, primarily because most viewers aren't equipped to process what Lynch is doing there; in fact, I try to steer a lot of people away from it. But, speaking from personal experience, I find its imagery and sound to fuse in profoundly affecting ways.
Looking at my all-time Top Ten, there are only a few where I'd say that the story was the primary reason I love them. Wings of Desire and Blue are much more compelling to me as visual poetry and meditations on the spirit than they are as narratives.
To say "Story is everything. Nothing else matters. People make far too much of image and spectacle." is like somebody talking about food and telling a gourmet chef that "Nourishment is everything. People make far too much of flavor and presentation."
I think God cares about excellence in visual appearance too. When he gave specifics for the tabernacle, he was careful to make precise specifications to ensure it would be beautiful, because what we see speaks to us.
Of course, as a storyteller, I would never seek to de-emphasize the importance of excellence in storytelling. Cinema is a powerful tool for storytelling, clearly, and most people go to the movies because they want to be told a good story. Many find non-narrative films alienating.
But many filmmakers seek to speak to us through what they show us with light and color as much as through story. And the more I learn to appreciate those endeavors, the more I'm drawn to richer, more rewarding films -- and the less patient I am with filmmakers who just film scripts without taking advantage of the communicative possibilities of such a large canvas.
: blunders, howlers, non sequiturs, complete inventions and faux pas!
In fact, going to the theater can produce an experience greater than the movie. Not different, but greater.
I'd like to see theater produce an effect greater... or even similar... to Koyaanisqatsi. Or March of the Penguins. Or Baraka. Those are uniquely cinematic experiences. I can imagine theater productions that are just as memorable, but for different reasons and to different effects.
: seems to be a basic fact of human nature.
I appreciate your qualification, "normally".
I might replace the word "story" with "structure" (since the most important thing about a film is not just the images but how it arranges those images), and then tack on the adjective "narrative" (since the structure followed by most films is indeed a narrative one).
That said, there are different kinds of narratives, too. Does The Passion of the Christ tell a "story" or follow a "narrative"? Well, sure, in one sense; the images are not just grouped according to a set of abstract themes, as in Koyaanisqatsi, but they follow a consistent set of characters across a straightforward linear chronology from one point in time to a later point in time. But in another sense, that film has a rather non-narrative agenda. A number of people complained that the characters weren't fleshed out too deeply, or that the events were not given enough context; but on some level, the film was meant to be a cinematic interpretation of icons, paintings, and Catholic rituals -- and so the film itself worked much more on the level of image and the expression of a certain form of Catholic piety than it did on the level of "story".
One film that got a bit of love around here a few years ago was Punch-Drunk Love, and that film also doesn't have a particularly deep or complex "story" -- but a number of us defended it as a sort of cinematic piece of music, or poetry. The film creates an experience that resonates in a way that goes beyond mere "story".
And there are lots of other examples one could cite, too.
: is a complete failure? Can the other factors adequately compensate for a rubbish narrative?
Again, there are different kinds of musicals; some weave music and narrative together very tightly, while others use the narrative as little more than connective tissue -- and I would argue that in almost any decent musical, the songs THEMSELVES help to move the narrative along (this is true even for a film like Singin' in the Rain, in which virtually all of the songs were written in the '20s or '30s and the guy who owned them wanted to revive them in the '50s by building a movie around them; the narrative -- which, incidentally, is great! -- is, in some sense, just connective tissue, but it plays to the strengths of the songs and gives at least some of them an opportunity to move the plot or the character development forward).
As for whether "rubbish narratives" can ruin things, a lot of it may depend on how the narrative is interpreted and performed by the actors, cinematographer, and director (and others).
What really delights and nourishes me is a particular pattern of events, which would equally delight and nourish if it had reached me by some medium which involved no words at all -- say by a mime, or a film. . . . In this respect stories of the mythical type are at the opposite pole from lyrical poetry. If you try to take the "theme" of Keats's Nightingale apart from the very words in which he has embodied it, you find that you are talking about almost nothing. Form and content can there be separated only by a false abstraction. But in a myth -- in a story where the mere pattern of events is all that matters -- this is not so. Any means of communication whatever which succeeds in lodging those events in our imagination has, as we say, "done the trick." After that you can throw the means of communication away. . . . In poetry the words are the body, and the "theme" or "content" is the soul. But in myth the imagined events are the body and something inexpressible is the soul: the words, or mime, or film, or pictorial series are not even clothes -- they are not much more than a telephone.
Sometimes good myth can be detected even through bad poetry, if you know what I mean.
Johnmark, I agree with a number of your points - up to a point. The problem for me comes because you keep absolutising things that cannot be absolutised. It is in principle impossible to make absolutes out of the aesthetic experience because they are culturally bound as well as being tied in with personality and experience.
I gave a perfectly good example of what I meant about a vast difference between Psalm 23 and, let's say, Cole Porter's Night and Day.
Psalm 23 is a wonderful psalm. If I want to reflect on God's care for me, it is enormously potent (though less so than some other parts of Scripture for me). If instead I want to reflect on the nature of romantic love (which is a reflection of God's love for his people as made clear by the constant use of marriage as the primary biblical metaphor for communicating the relationship of exclusivity and intimacy which ought to exist between God and his people), then Psalm 23 doesn't even feature on the radar. The Song of Songs is more the territory then, but the idioms of SoS are such that more contemporary expressions of it will have a greater emotional impact on me - Notting Hill for example.
Time lapse photography is a wonderful gimmick, a matter of spectacle. We can't be talking about gimmicks here in relation to the difference between a poem and film, per se.
You cannot simply dismiss a particular way of producing an art work as a 'gimmick'. Spectacle is part of art. The beauty of a time-lapse film of a rose budding and bursting into flower is breathtaking. Give me that rather than Van Gogh's Sunflowers or even of the Dutch still-life masters and day. I see more of the beauty of the rose in it because it takes me closer to the Real of the rose, which seems to be one of your primary criteria - and one of mine too in many contexts.
There is nothing that language lacks in conveying a truth or a wonder. The difference is medium, not effect. I mean, the wow factor is real in every art form.
But there is. Language cannot adequately convey the splendour of the Horsehead Nebula or the intricacy of the mirad of microscopic plankton, or the shimmer of light on a stag beetle's wing casing, or the peculiar quality of light that one experiences in the English Lake District, or the subtle shifts of hue in a sunset or countless other things. Language can describe them; language may be able to evoke memories of such things and thus create in us a similar emotional state - but it is not the same as the images of such things falling on my retina to be processed afresh by my brain. Language can describe the aching melancholy of Samuel Barber's or Albinoni's Adagios or the soaring beauty of The Pearl Fishers' Duet, or the joyful exuberance of Mendelssohn's Octet, or the stately grandeur of HAndel's Zadok the Priest. It can describe them, describe the feelings evoked by them, remind me of them, but it cannot even convey what it means to hear a chord or three notes filling the space in which I sit. Language simply cannot substitute for the real.
A film, however can get me much closer to the reality of all these examples by bringing the images to my eyes and the music to my ears. Yes, it's better in many ways to be at a live performance, but I will never be able to see with my own eyes the Horsehead Nebula or the magnificent emptiness of Antarctica or the courtship of blue whales.
Uniqueness in a particular form is not what impresses.
But you are arguing for the primacy of some forms over others. You have said that theatre is better than film because it is real, human-scaled, etc. Isn't that suggesting that it is the uniqueness of the form which impresses you?
Invoking wonder is impressive and I will assert that certain forms or expressions do that better than other forms.
Exactly. And as I have just set out, film is a far better medium for some things than any other form or expression.
The best means for conveyance is unmediated experience of truth. From there, we descend in order of Power to sacred literature, to poetry, to painting, music, to theater, prose, photography, film, TV and so on. It's not like I've made it a system, but there is a gold standard regarding the sacred and art.
Yes, unmediated experience of truth is best, but as I've indicated, it's not always possible. But then your ordering of forms is precisely a system that suits you and your background, personality, cultural context. Of course Scripture is the most powerful of all since it is God's inspired word - God himself speaks through it by his Holy Spirit which is an extraordinary transcendent experience.
Does anyone here yet deny that the 23 Psalm or The Lord's Prayer -- works of art, of rhetoric, of poetry, of language, of musical sound, of pictorial painting -- are not more effective in their power, their charge than just about anything you can name?
Yes, they are God's word, so for me as a believer it has a profound impact. But the problem with introducing these into this discussion is that it is no longer comparing like with like. There is nothing else that God has inspired in the same way, so it doesn't actually help us in discussing whether the experience of film is a greater, lesser, or just different thing than the experience of literature in general. But if the BIble was merely the words of human beings, then it could not in and of itself be given a greater value than anything else.
From there on your system is frankly elitist. Poetry is deeply culturally-related. You need great fluency with a language which is not your own to even begin to appreciate it, and it never translates adequately. Visual images are cross-cultural, independent of language. I would venture that this could be a criterion for saying that visual media are therefore greater than verbal media.
If I speak in absolutes, it's because there are absolutes. You may not, for example, tell me that there is any figure in literature who is greater than Shakespeare. Or in prose fiction greater than Tolstoy. If you have a different opinion, you can't be taken seriously. You are not intelligent. If that offends you, well, you have no wisdom.
These statements are so subjective that they cannot be taken seriously. We bring far too much of ourselves to what we engage with. Milton is for many people - myself included - greater than Shakespeare. What about Goethe or Dante? As for Tolstoy, no thanks. Give me Hugo or Hardy or Eliot or even Austen please. So I am not to be taken seriously? I'm not intelligent? I have no wisdom? How deeply offensive! And what about the vast majority of people in the world for whom English is not their first language? Do you think they even care about whether Shakespeare trumps Milton or vice versa? Norwegians probably prefer Ibsen.
Theater is easily able to produce effects greater than March of the Penguins et al because we are confusing what effect means if we see it as gimmicks unique to a certain medium.
The Scriptures tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and creation itself pours forth speech. I am of the opinion that a true incarnation communicates in a way that cannot be duplicated or paraphrased in any other way to convey exactly the same thing. Uniqueness in form is essential.
Nothing can duplicate the unique glory of a sunset. No theater designer can create a perfect equivalent on the stage of what March of the Penguins presents to us through its captured imagery of those frozen lands.
The story of The Fast Runner wouldn't have been the same filmed in any other context, and especially not on the stage.
The art of Andy Goldsworthy illustrates the uniqueness of a work of art, even if he tries to duplicate it. It demontrates that the particular combination of forces at work in a moment will make every work distinct, no matter how carefully he repeats himself.
Stage plays may echo a film's message, or even create an artificial frozne environment that reminds us of that, but nothing can communicate the harsh beauty of those specific images in exactly the same way. Likewise, a film can't duplicate what a stage play would make of it. There would be something unique there too.
Similarly, nothing done on the stage would have exactly the same impact and effect of the balletic imagery fused with the music and the juxtapositions of Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Similarly, if Christ had chosen other things to be the symbols of communion, something other than bread and wine, it would not have been the same thing... it would have changed the meaning. Scott Cairns has a wonderful poem about the glory of Christ's choices... bread and wine... and how their uniqueness is what completes the experience of communion.
These are my opinions, and I welcome challenges. But Johnmark, your know-it-all declarations and "my claims are immune to any challenge" statements are making this all very unpleasant and uncivil. This is a place for dialogue, not for one person to tell everyone else that their own opinions are the "absolutes" of art. And it is definitely not a place for someone to say that anyone who disagrees with them is a fool.
For those of us who are interested in dialogue, there is a function of this board quite valuable in its uniqueness... we can simply block the posts of people who are offensive. But in this case, if you don't change your approach soon, I hope the administrators will take note and then take appropriate action.
The Scriptures tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and creation itself pours forth speech. I am of the opinion that a true incarnation communicates in a way that cannot be duplicated or paraphrased in any other way to convey exactly the same thing. Uniqueness in form is essential. . . .
Similarly, nothing done on the stage would have exactly the same impact and effect of the balletic imagery fused with the music and the juxtapositions of Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Similarly, if Christ had chosen other things to be the symbols of communion, something other than bread and wine, it would not have been the same thing... it would have changed the meaning. Scott Cairns has a wonderful poem about the glory of Christ's choices... bread and wine... and how their uniqueness is what completes the experience of communion.
Yes! And well expressed. Thanks.
I just lost a reply in defense of absolutes to power outages that would have mollified a number of complaints and challenges. It will take me some time to reconstruct my very careful thesis. I had the file mostly saved, too, but the second power interruption somehow killed that.
I believe that there are absolutes, but that doesn't mean that there are absolute answers for questions of interpretation.
The greatness of art: that can be defined many ways. Are you talking about its lasting power? Its aesthetic complexity? Its layers of meaning?
If we say that we can determine what is truly the greatest work of literature, or the greatest poem, then we have just set a terrible precedent. And the person who claims to know what these absolutes are sets himself up in judgment over people and experiences that they cannot comprehend.
Who's to say what is the greatest film? Every year, different groups of critics vote. And every year, the debate continues. Sometimes, the film that seemed indisputably the greatest one year will be seen in a different light many years down the road. This isn't a useless exercise, as it is important for us to consider the characteristics of excellence, and to celebrate those works that resonate strongly with us or that take us to places we haven't been or need to go. But as we do not have access to God's system of determining greatness in such things, only some notions about what is excellent and what isn't, we would be arrogant and damaging to claim to have a ruler that measures the greatness of art indisputably.
When we talk about art, we're talking about mysteries... and everyone bring different experiences to their encounter with those mysteries. They may see the exact same photograph, but the greatness of the photograph depends partly on the thing itself: its technical excellence, the way it carries on a tradition, the way it "relates" with other photographs, the process by which it was captured, etc; its subject and how the rest of the world of art has represented that subject. But our ability to find and recognize great art depends on its availability, the education of the audience, the way that the work reveals differing aspects over time, etc., etc., etc.
I can't imagine having to sit down and decide which was Jesus' greatest parable.
: Look, film is simply another form of theater . . .
Wrong. Many films are made without professional actors, and a few without actors of any sort whatsoever.
So is a fair amount of theatre, judging from what I've seen.
I was really looking forward to this thread. Until I got into it.
Years ago, I might have said that the obvious answer to the question posed in this thread is photography. It was the invention of the camera that gave rise to the artform, after all, and they are called "films." Now, however, I'm inclined to think that film is a combination of art forms.
It's always a shame when only one or two elements are at full potential. There are films that are able to be considered good even if the script isn't brilliant, if the acting, say, or the cinematography are exceptional, but we are all on a search for greatness.
Cinematic greatness seems to be that convergence of excellence in writing, acting, filming, sound recording, editing, costuming, lighting, etc. Films are not generally the work of a single artist, and when a team of artists gets it right together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
To use a music metaphor, a high school band may deliver a 'good' rendition of Beethoven's 5th... but just as his greatness cannot completely compensate for limited skill, their shortcomings do not completely diminish Beethoven's work. But one can only truly appreciate the greatness of the composer with a performance by great musicians, and vice versa. In the same way, a great script is best appreciated in the hands of a great cast, director, cinematographer, and so on.
So -- I likely tend to care about photography more than the other elements of film-making (with the possible exception of writing, esp. dialogue). But I no longer regard it as sufficient or even predominant. I'm reminded of an old drum instructor who taught that rhythm was more important to music than the musical scale ("Without rhythm, the notes are just noises.") Well, I'm pretty sure you can't make music without both.
: about God make discussion impossible which is simply not so.
Well, now, that depends on the statement, doesn't it?
: Now does my observation about that human compulsion to try and touch the Real end discussion?
I can't say it affects the discussion one way or the other, really.
: let's say, Cole Porter's Night and Day. How that is reduced to a dogmatic assertion puzzles me . . .
If all you said was "difference", I would agree. But if you say that one is automatically "better" than the other, then, well, you have to explain WHY one is better than the other. That is, if you are truly interested in "engaging" with what the rest of us are writing here.
: rather than theoretical abstractions).
False dichotomy. It is both/and, not either/or, and this is why I myself gave you some concrete examples to SUPPORT my theories, rather than as a SUBSTITUTE for my theories.
: day of his marriage, or some other event that makes the soul fly into air and ether . . .
: . . . then compare that day, that grace with the direct experience of meeting the risen Jesus . . .
: is impressive and I will assert that certain forms or expressions do that better than other forms.
Like Sean Penn says in All the King's Men, "He said it, and he still doesn't get it." How can you say that "gimmicks" are out of bounds, when "gimmicks" actually have the power to "invoke wonder" in ways that other artforms simply cannot do?
: to poetry, to painting, music, to theater, prose, photography, film, TV and so on.
Why separate "sacred literature" from the other kind? And why emphasize only sacred LITERATURE when there are also sacred paintings and sacred music and so on?
: is any figure in literature who is greater than Shakespeare.
: you, well, you have no wisdom.
[ chuckle ] Oh, this is getting priceless. Don't worry, you have amused me more than you have offended me. I can't take posts like these seriously enough to be offended.
: their charge than just about anything you can name?
I recite the Lord's Prayer frequently, but I can't say it moves me the way lots of other things do. Part of this, no doubt, is due to overfamiliarity.
: another kind of absolute which is contradictory).
And this, dear friends, is what happens when someone ingests the "you cannot say there are no absolutes because that itself is an absolute statement" RHETORIC without ingesting its MEANING.
To say simply "there are no absolutes" is to make an implicitly self-contradictory statement, because there are no qualifiers in that statement, and thus the statement must eventually be applied to itself, with self-defeating results. But to say "there are no absolutes in this area" or "there are no absolutes in that area" is not self-contradictory at all -- UNLESS the statement itself is somehow rooted in the area that it describes, and thus must eventually be applied to itself, etc.
So the only way "there are no absolutes in art" could be a self-contradictory statement would be if the statement itself were a work of art. And I, for one, do not think it is.


text:
Turning Information Into Energy
SemiconductorsTopicTypeNews
Japanese physicists turn Brownian motion—plus plenty of external energy—into work
Peter Fairley
nanotechnologyBrownian motionthermodynamicsMEMSinformation theorymicrofluidics
Sputtering Spinner: Scientists in Japan demonstrated the conversion of information into energy by using the Brownian motion, the random jiggles of molecules, to cause a pair of particles to rotate clockwise.
16 November 2010—Energy scavenging is all the rage these days. Sensors power themselves with harvested radio-frequency radiation, and piezoelectric roadbeds are in development to turn highway rumblings into electricity for traffic signals and streetlights. Now Japanese physicists claim to have pushed this trend to a thermodynamic extreme by harvesting the ubiquitous random vibrations known as Brownian motion. The key to doing this, they explain in this week's issue of the journal Nature Physics, is to first gather a few bits of information.
Chuo University physicist Shoichi Toyabe and University of Tokyo physicist Masaki Sano, along with three colleagues, predict that their experimental system could produce smart devices that could power themselves using Brownian motion—the low-quality energy left over by the inexorable flow toward increasing entropy that is enshrined in the second law of thermodynamics. Experts in microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, say it's a worthy goal but see the Japanese experiment, at best, as a proof of principle.
In their experimental setup, the scientists use a high-speed feedback scheme to manipulate a linked pair of polystyrene beads 287 nanometers in diameter—about the size of a large virus. The beads are sandwiched between glass plates and chemically bound to the top plate at a single point, around which they exhibit Brownian motion by randomly spinning clockwise and counterclockwise with equal probability. The feedback control detects and blocks swings in one direction, thus causing the nanoparticles to consistently spin in the other direction.
The paper's primary claim is that the research provides the first experimental confirmation of a theorem named for University of Maryland physicist Christopher Jarzynski, which relates how adding information to a thermodynamic system (in this case its knowledge of the particles' direction) increases its free energy (the Brownian motion converted to work). "Their motivation was to demonstrate the Jarzynski relation, which was very hard to do, and they succeeded," says Argonne National Laboratory microfluidics expert Igor Aranson.
In practice, however, the Japanese team's experimental setup hardly looks like a blueprint for practical devices, because it takes much more than a few bits of information to set their nanoparticles spinning. To track the nanoparticles, they rely on a microscope attached to a high-speed camera that posts images every 1.1 milliseconds. Those images feed into a computer running the control algorithm, which predicts the particles' movement and decides whether or not to block the spin. Blocking, meanwhile, requires an electric field set up by electrodes etched into the bottom plate of glass.
"You're using your 110-volt outlet to power a camera and a computer, and you have to apply electrostatic forces to block the particle. That means you're applying more than just information," says Amit Lal, who directs Cornell University's SonicMEMS Laboratory. If the goal is to rotate the nanoparticles, it would be simpler to just drive them with the electric field.
However, Lal believes that it could be possible to build simple feedback systems into micro- or nanomechanical devices. In that case, such systems could become a ready source of onboard energy and more. Lal says that feedback to counteract Brownian motion could squelch the vibration-induced noise that plagues sensors or efficiently guide nanoparticles through nanoscale pores and channels where Brownian motion would otherwise randomize the flow.
Aranson agrees that it is too early to write off the team's information-to-energy system. While the present system may look like a clumsy way to spin a pair of particles, the same technology could look smarter in a complex microfluidic system where the information feedback simultaneously manipulates the flow of hundreds or thousands of particles through narrow channels. "If you just focus on one particle, it may not be very useful," says Aranson. "But if you do it in parallel for many particles, then it's a totally different story."
Peter Fairley is a contributing editor at IEEE Spectrum and the Spectrum Online blog Energywise. In the October 2010 issue he reported on conservation voltage reduction as a means to save power in smart grids.
SensorsTopicTypeComputingNews
Quantum Microscopes Could Enable Atom-Scale MRI
BiomedicalTopicNewsType
Nerve Coolers: Pain Relief Without Drugs
This Wearable Neck Patch Can Diagnose Concussions
SemiconductorsTopicMagazineTypeFeatureComputingSpecial ReportsJanuary 2023
Two Startups Are Bringing Fiber to the Processor
Avicena's blue microLEDs are the dark horse in a race with Ayar Labs' laser-based system
Samuel K. Moore
Avicena's microLED chiplets could one day link all the CPUs in a computer cluster together.
Avicena
If a CPU in Seoul sends a byte of data to a processor in Prague, the information covers most of the distance as light, zipping along with no resistance. But put both those processors on the same motherboard, and they'll need to communicate over energy-sapping copper, which slow the communication speeds possible within computers. Two Silicon Valley startups, Avicena and Ayar Labs, are doing something about that longstanding limit. If they succeed in their attempts to finally bring optical fiber all the way to the processor, it might not just accelerate computing—it might also remake it.
Both companies are developing fiber-connected chiplets, small chips meant to share a high-bandwidth connection with CPUs and other data-hungry silicon in a shared package. They are each ramping up production in 2023, though it may be a couple of years before we see a computer on the market with either product.
Ayar Labs, has succeeded at drastically miniaturizing and reducing the power consumption of the kinds of silicon-photonics components used today to sling bits around data centers through optical-fiber cables. That equipment encodes data onto multiple wavelengths of light from an infrared laser and sends the light through a fiber.
Avicena's chiplet couldn't be more different: Instead of infrared laser light, it uses ordinary light from a tiny display made of blue microLEDs. And instead of multiplexing all the optical data so it can travel down a single fiber, Avicena's hardware sends data in parallel through the separate pathways in a specialized optical cable.
Ayar has the weight of history on its side, offering customers a technology similar to what they already use to send data over longer distances. But Avicena, the dark horse in this race, benefits from ongoing advances in the microdisplay industry, which is predicted to grow 80 percent per year and reach US $123 billion by 2030, fueled by a future full of virtual-reality gear and even augmented-reality contact lenses.
"Those companies are two ends of the spectrum in terms of the risk and innovation," says Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO of LightCounting, a telecommunications analysis firm.
MicroLEDs vs. Infrared Lasers
Avicena's silicon chiplet, LightBundle, consists of an array of gallium-nitride microLEDs, an equal-size array of photodetectors, and some I/O circuitry to support communication with the processor it feeds with data. Twin 0.5-millimeter-diameter optical cables link the microLED array on one chiplet to the photodetectors on another and vice versa. These cables—similar to the imaging cables in some endoscopes—contain a bundle of fiber cores that line up with the on-chip arrays, giving each microLED its own light path.
Besides the existence of this type of cable, Avicena needed two other things to come together, explains Bardia Pezeshki, the company's CEO. "The first one, which I think was the most surprising to anyone in the industry, is that LEDs could be run at 10 gigabits per second," he says. "That is stunning" considering that the state of the art for visible-light communication systems just five years ago was in the hundreds of megahertz. But in 2021, Avicena researchers revealed a version of the microLED they dubbed cavity-reinforced optical micro-emitters, or CROMEs. The devices are microLEDs that have been optimized for switching speed by minimizing capacitance and sacrificing some efficiency at converting electrons to light.
Gallium nitride isn't something that's typically integrated on silicon chips for computing, but thanks to advances in the microLED-display industry, doing so is essentially a solved problem. Seeking bright emissive displays for AR/VR and other things, tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Meta have spent years coming up with ways to transfer already-constructed micrometer-scale LEDs to precise spots on silicon and other surfaces. Now "it's done by the millions every day," says Pezeshki. Avicena itself recently purchased the fab where it developed the CROMEs from its Silicon Valley neighbor Nanosys.
Computer makers will want solutions that will not just help in the next two to three years but will give reliable improvements for decades.
The second component was the photodetector. Silicon isn't good at absorbing infrared light, so the designers of silicon-photonics systems typically compensate by making photodetectors and other components relatively large. But because silicon readily soaks up blue light, photodectors for Avicena's system need only be a few tenths of a micrometer deep, allowing them to be easily integrated in the chiplet under the imaging-fiber array. Pezeshki credits Stanford's David A.B. Miller with proving, more than a decade ago, that blue-light-detecting CMOS photodetectors were fast enough to do the job.
The combination of imaging fiber, blue microLEDs, and silicon photodetectors leads to a system that in prototypes transmits "many" terabits per second, says Pezeshki. Equally important as the data rate is the low energy needed to move a bit. "If you look at silicon-photonics target values, they are a few picojoules per bit, and these are from companies that are way ahead of us" in terms of commercialization, says Pezeshki. "We've already beaten those records." In a demo, the system moved data using about half a picojoule per bit. The startup's first product, expected in 2023, will not reach all the way to the processor but will aim to connect servers within a data-center rack. A chiplet for chip-to-chip optical links will follow "right on its heels," says Pezeshki.
But there are limits to the ability of microLEDs to move data. Because the LED light is incoherent, it suffers from dispersion effects that restrict it to about 10 meters. Lasers, in contrast, are naturally good at going the distance; Ayar's TeraPHY chiplets have a reach of up to 2 kilometers, potentially disrupting the architecture of supercomputers and data centers even more than Avicena's tech could. They could let computer makers completely rethink their architectures, allowing them to construct "essentially a single computer chip, but building it at rack scale," says Ayar CEO Charlie Wuischpard. The company is ramping up production with its partner GlobalFoundries and is building prototypes with partners in 2023, though these are not likely to be made public, he says.
Kozlov says to expect many more competitors to emerge. Computer makers will want solutions that will "not just help in the next two to three years but will give reliable improvements for decades." After all, the copper connections they are seeking to replace are still improving, too.
This article appears in the January 2023 print issue as "A Dark (Blue) Horse Emerges to Speed Up Computing."
HPE Invents First Memristor Laser ›
Plasmonics: A New Way to Link Processors With Light ›
Linking Chips With Light ›
Processor With Photonic Interconnects Built ›
Device Requirements for Optical Interconnects to Silicon Chips ... ›
CMOS-compatible multiple-wavelength oscillator for on-chip optical ... ›
Optical interconnect - Wikipedia ›

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The trend is expected to continue into 2018 as a mix of relative affordability for condo units and price appreciation for detached homes in recent years, combined with government policy changes in both markets, has helped push an influx of buyers toward condo ownership.
In Greater Vancouver, demand for condos continues to outpace supply, resulting in the average price of a condo rising an estimated 16 per cent year-over-year, from $553,604 in 2016 to $643,778 in 2017. The GTA's condo market also saw price appreciation of 22 per cent in 2017, as the average sale price for a condo rose to an estimated $523,437, up from $429,241 in 2016. As condo prices rose, sales for single-family detached homes declined 25 per cent in Greater Vancouver and 22 per cent in the GTA year-over-year between January and the end of October 2017.
According to a survey conducted by Leger on behalf of RE/MAX, the appetite for home ownership remains strong with roughly half of Canadians (48 per cent) considering the purchase of a home in the next five years. Of those who are considering purchasing a home, the top three reasons for doing so are to upgrade on their current home, to purchase a starter home as a means of entering the housing market and to upsize from their current home to accommodate a change in family make-up. The survey also found that access to outdoor spaces was a key factor for many Canadians when considering purchasing a home, with 87 per cent agreeing that access to green space was important to them and 82 per cent agreeing that having a backyard was important.
In order to find a balance between the home features they're looking for and affordability, many buyers are continuing to look at real estate markets outside of the country's largest urban centres. These move-over buyers leaving the GTA and Greater Vancouver have contributed to increased demand and considerable year-over-year average price increases in Kelowna (nine per cent), London-St. Thomas (18 per cent), Hamilton-Burlington (15 per cent), Barrie (19 per cent), Durham region (19 per cent), Niagara (23 per cent), Kingston (eight per cent), and Ottawa (10 per cent).
Much of the activity in regional markets across Ontario was fuelled by price appreciation in Toronto during the first four months of the year prior to the introduction of the provincial government's Fair Housing Plan. The 16-point plan introduced a 15 per cent non-resident speculation tax, which slowed demand from overseas buyers in the upper-end of the market. The policy changes as a whole curtailed activity significantly for single-family detached homes throughout the GTA in the short-term.
It is expected that the new mortgage stress test will slow activity across Canada during first few months of 2018 and at the end of November, the Bank of Canada predicted that the new regulations could disqualify up to 10 per cent of prospective home buyers who have down payments of 20 per cent or more. The regions expected to feel the greatest impact of decreased buyer purchasing power are Victoria, Greater Vancouver, Kelowna, North Bay, London-St.Thomas, Barrie, Hamilton-Burlington, the GTA, Durham region, Kingston, Ottawa, Halifax and St. John's.
As oil prices continue to stabilize, both Calgary and Edmonton have experienced modest average residential sale price increases in 2017. In Calgary, the average residential sale price rose by approximately two per cent, to $487,931 up from $478,100 in 2016. Buyers and sellers remain relatively tentative, but the city's ongoing evolution into a major tech and distribution hub, as seen with Amazon's recent announcement that Calgary will house one of the company's key distribution centres, is expected to increase confidence in the real estate market moving forward. In Edmonton, sales rose by an estimated five per cent year-over-year, from $357,916 to $375,788 in 2017, with a variety of new infrastructure projects, including construction on the Valley Line expansion of the LRT system, expected to contribute to increased activity in the coming years.
A strong local economy has contributed to high demand in Victoria and, combined with limited inventory, has led to price appreciation in the real estate market. Condos were in high demand in the city in 2017 but municipal regulations introduced at the end of September restricting short-term rentals may lead to decreased activity moving forward, particularly amongst investors and developers. The new OSFI mortgage qualification rules that come into effect in 2018 are predicted to slow price appreciation and increase inventory levels across the market early in the year as buyers adjust to the changes; however, the market is expected to stabilize in the second half of the year.
Low inventory in Fraser Valley was the driving force behind price appreciation in the region in 2017 as demand continued to outpace supply. There are currently two months of inventory on the market and this is expected to remain consistent in 2018, as there is limited new inventory expected to enter the market. This is partially due to Agriculture Land Reserves, focused on farmland and fisheries, which limit residential real estate development opportunities in the surrounding region. The luxury segment of the market remains stable, with the typical upper-end property selling for between $2 million and $4 million.
Move-over buyers continue to be attracted to Kelowna, in part due to the high quality of life offered in the region, coupled with a growing tech sector and strong local economy overall. These move-over buyers are particularly active in the luxury market and contributed to strong demand for upper-end properties in 2017. Currently there are less than four months of inventory on the market, which is expected to result in fewer sales in 2018. Private high rise and land development projects are expected to contribute to increased inventory levels in the next few years in Kelowna.
An evolving regional economy helped to drive real estate market activity and price increases in Calgary in 2017, but both buyers and sellers remain relatively tentative as the city continues to recover from the ongoing downturn in the oil sector. An influx of development projects in recent years has led to increased inventory of condos, and demand has not been able to keep pace with supply, resulting in sellers adjusting their listing prices downward to reflect current market conditions. Detached single-family homes remain in highest demand, particularly from move-up and first-time buyers, latter of which often receive financing assistance from family. The lower-end of the market may see a slight increase in average sale price and activity as buyers reduce their budgets following the implementation of the OSFI mortgage rate stress test on January 1, 2018.
There is renewed optimism in Edmonton's residential real estate market as oil prices continue to stabilize and the capital region experiences slow but steady job growth. Properties in mature neighbourhoods remain in highest demand due to their proximity to the downtown core and amenities and typically favour sellers, while suburban neighbourhoods further away from the city-centre typically favour buyers. There is currently an oversupply of condos on the market due to recently completed developments, which is expected to result in declining prices in this segment in 2018. The new OSFI mortgage rate qualification changes are anticipated to make it more difficult for first-time buyers to enter the market.
Saskatoon's housing market experienced reduced activity in 2017, with the decline of oil and gas projects in the region leading to hesitant buyers and a sense of uncertainty throughout the region. This has led to roughly three to four months of inventory on the market and good opportunities for buyers across all property types. Activity in the upper-end of the market remained strong, driven by move-up and foreign buyers who are not impacted by the ongoing downturn in the natural resource sector. These buyers are typically looking to purchase luxury homes in the $750,000 to $800,000 range.
Regina was a buyer's market in 2017, with seven months of inventory on the market and good opportunities for buyers across most property types. The new OSFI mortgage rate qualification regulations that will come into effect in 2018 and the increase to the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) that were both announced in 2017 have resulted in some buyers moving to the sidelines to assess the impact of the changes in the short-term, but the market is expected to remain stable in 2018. Activity in the upper-end of the market was brisk in 2017, with strong demand for properties between $500,000 and $750,000.
Demand is high in Winnipeg due to strong consumer confidence prompted by a healthy local economy and continued low interest rates. The OSFI mortgage qualification regulations that come into effect January 1, 2018 prompted some buyers to enter the market this fall and are expected to result in a slowing of demand come the new year as buyers adjust. Purchasing power of potential move-up buyers looking for upper-end properties is also expected to be reduced in 2018 as a result of the new stress test. Foreign buyers have been particularly active in Winnipeg in recent years and this is expected to continue in 2018.
Thunder Bay's residential sales were brisk in 2017, with continued low interest rates boosting overall housing activity in the region. Young families were a key driver of home sales in 2017. This group accounted for a majority of first-time buyers entering the market, driving demand for both single-detached homes and condominiums. Higher-end home sales have slowed, due to diminished demand from Thunder Bay's aging population. This demographic has also shifted its focus to smaller homes, leading condominium sales and prices to trend upward. This trajectory is expected to continue through 2018, triggering rising condo prices and inventory.
A strong local economy in Windsor-Essex, coupled with nearby Detroit's own ongoing economic turnaround, contributed to an active residential real estate market in 2017. Low inventory levels as a result of strong demand have led to a seller's market in the region and this is expected to continue into 2018. Windsor-Essex's luxury market is expected to experience continued strong growth in 2018 as well, with new-home construction projects in high demand, particularly amongst move-up buyers. Retirees and downsizers are an active segment of the market, often looking for townhomes or one-story detached homes, and are attracted to the region due to its affordability and typically mild winter weather.
Activity in London-St. Thomas was brisk in 2017, with first-time buyers and move-over buyers from the Greater Toronto Area attracted to the relative affordability of the region. Supply has not kept pace with demand and there are currently less than two months of inventory on the market. The OSFI qualification rules that come into effect January 1, 2018, may allow inventory levels to build slightly moving forward as buyers adjust to the regulations. First-time buyers are expected to continue to drive demand in London- St. Thomas in 2018, and typically look to enter the market by purchasing a property between $300,000 and $400,000.
Rising demand and low inventory set the tone for a seller's market in Niagara through 2017. As un-affordability increased in the GTA, more homebuyers expanded their search area as far as Niagara. Speculators and investors also flocked to the area in search of real estate, further reducing inventory in the face of increasing demand. Single-story detached homes were the hot commodity in the region, contributing to a 23 per cent price increase in the year-over-year average residential sale price. Average condo sale prices increased by 25 per cent year-over-year. However, this housing type represented just 10 per cent of Niagara's housing share.
Greater Sudbury is currently a seller's market, with less than four months of inventory available, but the resale market will tighten and remain balanced in 2018. Demand is high for garden condos, especially amongst retirees and developers have responded by building more units of this property type throughout Greater Sudbury. The region saw strong price growth in 2017, but it is expected to balance in the new year. New construction in Greater Sudbury has pushed the luxury market starting point up to $700,000 and there is very little inventory for properties in the upper-end of the luxury market.
Move-up buyers were dominant in North Bay's freehold property activity, which accounted for 76 per cent of sales in 2017. However, freehold home sales were down five per cent compared to 2016. Meanwhile, a 13 per cent year-over-year increase in condominium activity signals a lifestyle shift. Popularity of bungalow-style condos among retiree buyers, and townhome-style condos among millennial buyers is expected to continue. In the luxury and recreational property segments, growing demand for waterfront properties boosted North Bay's average price point. This is attributed to an influx of buyers from Greater Toronto seeking value in comparison to Muskoka's pricey property market.
The continued low Canadian dollar combined with strong postsecondary education institutions in the region have helped attract tech companies to Kitchener-Waterloo in recent years and helped drive demand for residential real estate. Demand is expected to remain high in 2018, particularly from first-time buyers, and with only two months of inventory currently available and many listings receiving multiple offers, the market is expected to remain a seller's market for the foreseeable future. New condo development projects entering the market in 2018 are expected to be highly sought after, especially amongst first-time, single, millennial buyers.
Activity was brisk in 2017 in Hamilton-Burlington as a strong local economy, relative affordability compared to the GTA and proximity to the amenities on offer in both Niagara and Toronto continue to attract buyers to the region. The OSFI mortgage qualification changes that come into effect in 2018 also motivated move-over buyers to leave the GTA and look for more affordable options in Hamilton-Burlington in the fall, particularly in the region's upper-end market and entry level markets, and this is expected to continue in 2018. The condo market is also expected to experience strong activity in the new year from both single retirees and first-time buyers, while new-build townhomes are also in high demand.
Activity in Barrie's housing market has been brisk in 2017 as buyers continue to find great value for property types across the market. Lower prices and proximity to the GTA continue to motivate move-over buyers to enter Barrie's market. This trend is expected to continue to drive demand in the region in 2018. The condo market is expecting an increase in inventory in the new year as development projects reach completion. Additionally, development of thousands of acres of annexed land south of Barrie will start in 2018, leading to hundreds of new homes entering the market in the coming years.
Rapid price appreciation in the GTA defined the market during the first four months of the year before buyer concerns over affordability prompted the Ontario government to introduce its 16-point 'Fair Housing Plan' in April. Following the introduction of new regulations, including a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers, market activity and price appreciation slowed significantly and the market shifted towards a more balanced market as many buyers took a wait-and-see approach to assess the long-term impact of the changes. Affordability is expected to continue to be the dominant concern for buyers in the GTA in 2018.
Oakville's residential real estate market experienced significant price appreciation in 2017, driven primarily by an active spring market prior to the introduction of the Ontario government's 'Fair Housing Plan.' Despite the regulation changes, including the introduction of a 15-per-cent foreign buyers tax, Oakville's luxury market continues to see brisk activity and this trend is expected to continue moving into 2018 as move-up buyers remain attracted to the region due to its good schools and proximity to Toronto. At the end of 2017, days on market sits at approximately 30 in Oakville, while there are three months of inventory. Both are expected to remain consistent in 2018.
As in much of the GTA this year, Mississauga experienced significant year-over-year price increases in 2017, particularly during the first half of the year. The market slowed somewhat, however toward the end of the spring as buyers adjusted to the Ontario government's 'Fair Housing Plan.' Buyers are expected to take a similar wait-and-see approach in Q1 of 2018, following the implementation of new OSFI mortgage rate regulation changes that were announced in the fall of 2017. Confidence in the condo market remains strong, with the average sale price up 22 per cent year-over-year and new starts almost exclusively for condos in Mississauga.
Brampton is moving toward a balanced market heading into 2018, following significant residential average sale price and sales increases in 2017, particularly during the spring market. The new OSFI mortgage qualification regulations, beginning January 1, 2018, and expected Bank of Canada interest rate increases in the new year are anticipated to moderate demand in the region from first-time buyers. The luxury home sector is primarily driven by move-up buyers in Brampton and move-over buyers from Toronto and Vaughan, who are using the equity from the sale of their home in those regions to purchase relatively affordable homes in Brampton, thereby freeing up equity for investment and/or personal use.
Durham Region continues to be an increasingly attractive option for buyers due to its relative affordability compared to the central and western parts of the GTA and increased access to the area as a result of the Highway 407 extension and new Highway 412. Price appreciation in the region in recent years has allowed young families to sell their existing homes and leverage the equity to purchase larger homes in the region. Low interest rates and a good mix of inventory across the market are expected to keep consumer confidence in Durham Region high in 2018.
The housing market in Kingston has been balanced throughout 2017, but is expected to shift towards a seller's market in 2018 due to relatively low inventory levels. Continued low interest rates and the relative affordability of the market resulted in an influx of GTA buyers in Kingston, particularly at the start of 2017. Overall, townhomes and two-story detached homes are the most sought-after property types, a trend that should remain consistent in 2018. Ongoing luxury condo developments are expected to lead to continued strong demand from retiree buyers in Kingston in the coming years.
Ottawa's housing market was brisk in 2017 with move-over buyers taking advantage of the area's relative affordability compared to the GTA. The condo market saw increased activity as demand caught up to the high levels of supply, following the completion of various development projects in recent years. Retirees looking to downsize are expected to continue to drive demand in this segment of the market in 2018. Move-up and move-over buyers were very active in the luxury segment, resulting in a 71 per cent increase in sales for million dollar-plus properties between January and October in 2017 compared to 2016.
Typical homebuyers in Cornwall are young families looking to purchase their first home and established families upgrading to larger homes. Although tightening mortgage requirements have had an impact, steady employment has been the biggest factor for home sales and prices in 2017. An aging population has heightened demand for condominiums this year, which is expected to continue. Limited condo supply may force some of these buyers to other locations while shifting more sales to the single-family category. But with more condos currently in the planning and development phase, this is expected to be temporary.
Consumer confidence in Montreal's market is the highest it's been in the last 10 years driven by low interest rates, a strong local economy and political stability in the region. Foreign buyers, particularly from Asia, are expected to drive demand in the market in 2018 as new direct travel routes and the foreign buyer taxes implemented in Toronto and Vancouver make Montreal an increasingly attractive option for overseas buyers. Properties that are well maintained, properly priced, and professionally staged sell quickly, regardless of the neighourhood or property type. The market is expected to remain a seller's market in 2018 due to continued low inventory and strong demand..
Buyers in Quebec City are increasingly drawn to smaller, newer, and easy-to-maintain properties in neighbourhoods with access to public amenities. In part, this is a reflection of changing family structures in the region with residents preferring to "move around" instead of moving-up and a result of a gradual shift in values, with more buyers prioritizing quality of life over square footage. Recent interest rate hikes and the OSFI mortgage rate lending changes that come into effect January 1, 2018 are expected to impact housing affordability and could lead to a slowing of the market moving forward.
With a wide selection of inventory available across the market, Saint John favoured buyers in 2017. The market is expected to become more balanced in 2018, however, as young professionals and foreign buyers motivated by low interest rates increasingly look to purchase residential real estate in Saint John. Demand from both young professionals and foreign buyers has led to increased activity in the upper-end of the market in particular, and this is expected to continue into the new year. Buyers in Saint John primarily look for single-family detached homes due to the additional acreage and access to backyards that they typically provide.
Increased levels of immigration and foreign investment, largely from China, along with improved inter-province migration numbers drove demand in Halifax-Dartmouth's residential real estate market in 2017. High levels of move-over buyers attracted to Halifax-Dartmouth's relative affordability compared to other Canadian cities, coupled with a bustling local economy, contributed to the overall strength of the market. Detached, single-family homes are seeing the most activity, while condos remain an attractive investment for both retirees and young professionals. New detached home construction increased in 2017 and, combined with the completion of ongoing condo development projects, is expected to lead to increased inventory in Halifax-Dartmouth in the coming years.
Charlottetown's housing activity was largely driven by foreign buyers in 2017 in part as a result of the province's robust Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) aimed at attracting new residents to the area. The PNP is creating increased activity in the luxury market in particular, while move-over buyers from other parts of Canada are using the equity from the sale of their home in cities like Vancouver and Toronto to purchase relatively affordable properties in Charlottetown. Upper-end properties in the region typically sell for $600,000 to $1,000,000.
St. John's housing market stabilized in 2017 after several years of declining sales prices and activity due to the prolonged downturn in the oil sector. There are approximately 12 months of inventory on the market, while days on market currently sits at 77, both of which are expected to remain at similar levels in 2018. With plenty of affordable options available throughout St. John's, the market is expected to continue to favour buyers, while the slight increase in optimism about the economy overall is expected to encourage buyers to re-enter the luxury segment of the market in 2018.


I have nothing against people earning money from their books; that's how I make my living.
But look at what's happening now. Stop Online Piracy Act (S.O.P.A) may disrupt internet. This is a REAL DANGER, not only for Americans, but for all of us, as the law – if approved – will affect the whole planet.
And how do I feel about this?
As an author, I should be defending 'intellectual property', but I'm not.
Pirates of the world, unite and pirate everything I've ever written!
Those pushing SOPA and PIPA should read what this world-famous artist writes about piracy -- and maybe even try some of his novels, too. After all, they could not only download them for free, but they could do so without looking hypocritical.
i wouldn't mind betting that if any of 'those pushing SOPA/PIPA were to download any of his works, it would only be to see if there was some way they could gain copyright of it!
"He keeps on creating for the same reason that he started when he was unknown and poor: "because it gives me pleasure and gives meaning to my existence.""
Just like most content creators.
Same as me writing all those punk tunes and playing in bands.And I have had 6 different or more physical releases.I do not do it for money.And I never ever wanted to go near a Big Label.
If you like crazy old school punk go to bigmeathammer.com and download a ton of Audio 320k or Free DIVX Videos,etc.
I don't mean to be overly cynical, but when ever someone brings up the 'piracy introduces people to new works' idea, I find myself wondering what percentage of these new followers will EVER pay for your works. If they were introduce to your product on a medium that lets them view/listen for free, how many of them will ever choose to pay, and what are there motives for doing so? Is it purely Altruistic, or are there other factors like quality or security play a role. I'd like to see research data on the subject, although I imagine it'd be hard to get an accurate study on it.
Agreed. No need for copyright. Look at youtube. Do you think 99% of those videos produced by armatures do it for the money? If we didn�t have copyright, there would be more work published. Not less. Paulo basically admits this. The ones who benefit from copyright are the ones trading it: publishers, not authors. They want to sell scarcity in a world where there is infinite. My advice, get out of the publishing business: you�re doing it wrong.
I disagree, copyright is something that needs to be preserved...but not in its current perverted quasi-infinite form.
What needs to change is the acknowledgement that 'personal' use of any kind, including sharing, should constitute 'fair use'.
If I'm 'selling' someone else's work...that's a problem and that's what copyright is *meant* to protect. But freely sharing things shouldn't be the same thing as profiting off someone else.
"�Pirating� can act as an introduction to an artist�s work. If you like his or her idea, then you will want to have it in your house; a good idea doesn�t need protection. "
I agree with this. To an underground metal band, obscurity is a far bigger problem than piracy.
I agree with you, copyright needs to be preserved...IN FORMALDEHYDE!
The point isn't how many people get the work for free. The industry often plays the moral panic angle that people are getting the work for free and that is morally wrong and must be eliminated.
Think about a street musician who is doing it strictly for the money and does not get any satisfaction from entertaining people. Hundreds of people may hear him play in the subway, but only a few drop a significant amount of money in his tip jar. The hundreds who pause to listen for a few minutes and then walk on are like pirates who are enjoying the music without paying for it. From a business perspective, the musician does not care how many people listen for free; he only cares about how many people drop in his tip jar, and how much they drop in.
If the musician gets in a moral panic about the freeloaders he could stop playing in the subway. That way no freeloaders hear him, but also none of the tippers hear him, either. So his income drops to zero. As a businessman he cannot afford the moral panic. Once over the moral panic the musician may notice a few other things. For example, having a crowd standing around listening attracts people who leave tips; in effect the crowd of freeloaders is advertising. Having a crowd of freeloaders is likely to have other serendipitous effects. Someone in the crowd may inspire a new song. The freeloaders are also a focus group for testing new material. Perhaps someone in the crowd knows a band that is looking for a new musician, and the fellow gets hired.
This story is really just an illustration of the adage that an artist's real enemy is obscurity. An artist who worries about pirates is going to retract and become obscure.
how about just respect the technological enhanced fair use when it happens.
You'll never know who might have paid for works that can be gotten for free. I'm pretty certain that very few works get sold if they aren't heard first for free. You won't sell a thing *until* you're heard.
I was forced (school) to buy a book of his short stuff and Crash. After paying for Crash and the scabby moon pudding story I can't even bring myself to pirate him, even though my friends who should know tell me I will like all his other stuff. In this case what I saw as an unreasonable monetary obligation magnified my dislike so much that I have become a negative advertisement for him.
Baen Books distributes a lot of their content for free without DRM. After reading the entire Honor Harrington series for free... I did the unthinkable.
Except as proved already again, once you give anybody a monopoly those things tend to expand not stay the same or shrink.
That is why it needs to go if for no other reason for a timeout on the bench, abolish copyright and let the future deal with its ultimate fate, I very much doubt it would not appear in some form or another but it would appear with some humility in it.
I haven't bought a CD in years. However, I listen to music all the time. There are MANY artists that I have discovered online that I have paid to go see perform. Large concerts and small venues alike. Sometimes I've traveled to different cities to see a performer I discovered online. I am willing to pay for their performances but not an ethereal digital file. If you are an entertainer and want to make money, then entertain. Placing a file on iTunes and charging people to make copies of it isn't entertaining me at all.
So because you are introduced to a artist/author for free you never are willing to pay for it in the future. thats a ridiculous statement. How many people borrow library books or friends cd's and get introduced to the artist/author and then go on to BUY their own copies. I actually buy both Digital and paper versions of books! Most of the series i read I borrowed the first from friends or the library to see if I liked it. It was free and I am still spending money. So sorry but YES people will pay for stuff they are introduced to for free.
I think it was a Glazed doughnut.
That wasn't my statement at all. I wasn't asking IF anyone is willing to pay, but how many, and if they're willing to do it because they feel like they should or if because the purchased product is of higher quality or they don't trust the site providing them the bootleg version (piracy scares and the like).
That's definately true for music, but I was thinking more along the lines of 'My friend showed me this episode of The Walking Dead online. I liked it so much I'm going to buy the season when it comes out, even though I can download them all now for free off of the net,' sorta deal.
Can I stop us a moment..
"A good idea doesn't need protection".
As with any business a minority a tiny fraction of people will actually pay for anything the rest will just take it or live without it, but many will pay for it.
Pareto rule 80% of your earnings will come from 20% of your customers.
happens far more then you would think, I have a friend who has bought a bunch of shows like weeds, hung, sparticus, exct after having seen them all thanks to torrents.
but heres the kicker, hes got relatives who also got to see thanks to him uploading he files to a file hosting/streaming site and letting them watch an episode or 2, full seasons bought at full price thanks to the evils of "piracy"
much of the music, video and game content I have bought over the past 2 decades has been thanks to being able to try it before i bought it, and what hasnt been was bought due to good word of mouth, much of that due to "piracy"
hes downloaded far more then hes bought but, everything hes liked or that his family has liked hes bought legally, many times they keep the torrented files because, lets be honest, they are easier to watch on a computer of over the network via the HTPC then dealing with stupid plastic disks.
please dont blame the author for this, I know its hard to separate those feelings, I have a friend who HATED one of my favorite authors not due to his works, but because a prof at his school required one of his works for a class he was forced to take.
he was forced to buy a 2nd hand hard cover because people who knew what was coming had cleaned out every local new and used book store's copies of the paperback.
the next day, he had gone to a large used book store in a nearby city and came home with new and used copies of every work the author had ever done or co-wrote.
I dont blame you for feeling adverse to the school or teacher, or even the book, but please, dont blame the author.