So much for frequent updates...

I can't really describe anything I see. What are the four main forms of artistic communication? Music, writing, pictures, and the performing arts. As much as we attempt to use these forms to describe the others, they don't really come close to being able to show the same thing.

An example: I was on the bus. As it drove back to my house, I looked out my window, because what else is there to do on a bus? The sky was overcast, and incredible. The clouds looked like great, fluffy, ethreal mountains that were taking turns half-covering the sun. When sunlight managed to find it's way through the cloud cover, it streaked down in strange golden cords, highlighting trees, patches of road, and whatever else it hit. Somehow the contrast between grey sky and brilliant sunlight caused the trees to explode with unusual colour, making the whole ride home seem like some wonderful fantasy setting, designed solely to show off the glorious beauty of nature.

There. That description was not good enough. We could nit-pick, and say that it was overblown, or maybe I could have worded a few things differently, but ultimately my description is nothing compared to the visual cacophony I experienced. What I saw was beautiful. Nature is wonderfully designed, and the only way anyone can truly understand how I felt about that bus ride home would be to go back in time, and ride the bus with me.

Writing cannot adequately describe anything visual.

But this is also true for the other forms. Dance, though magical, can't actually communicate a message with the same clarity that the written word can. The most powerful piece of classical orchestration you ever heard still falls flat when it comes to providing the same feeling-soaked audio-visual experience provided by dance (except for contemporary dance. That stuff's just silly).

But does this incompatibility make any of these forms lesser? Absolutely not. Rather, it makes each the more brilliant, as it forces the consumer to use their own mind to expand upon the art presented. The imagination is all it takes for a good book to construct an exciting fictional setting, and though paintings themselves do not inherently contain emotion, somehow artists can still convey extraordinary messages through their paint.

So please, let each art form be what it is, and continue to put your wonderful mind to use when it comes to understanding and appreciating each of them.