Great American Opera

Our Pamina--feeding lines at a burlesque house! No wonder the Queen ofthe Night was so mad; she was still holding out for vaudeville ...

Then again, I suppose it could just be the historically informed way to stage the Act II quintet? Or is this just an argument for using women instead of boys as the Three Genii?

Seriously, though, "burlesque" was not what Emanuel Schikaneder was up to. What he was up to was fairy-tale extravaganza of a sort popular with the Viennese middle and lower classes, only with more elaborate music and more pop-philosophy than had previously been the case. Think of it as a late eighteenth-century counterpart to, say, Forbidden planet and you won't be too far off (I almost said Star wars, but that was too much a big-time commercial blockbuster; Schickaneder was a little more on the fringe of the established theaters).

I'm not sure why being a burlesque piece precludes being an opera. A lot of Prokofiev, for instance, is tongue in cheek, but nobody says Love for Three Oranges is not an opera as a result.

However, we could put aside the whole point by substituting, say, a Handel opera for The Magic Flute. Giulio Cesare and Madama Butterfly do not call for the same style of singing. Yet they are both operas.

How can my days go from so good.. to so bad..

Why should I help people who do not want to help themselves? This is the scenario:

I volunteered helping Student In Action to mentor a Pomona Youth Commission kid. The mission is to create a 5 minutes documentary about Non Violence. It was cool and I was really excited. Now, 3 weeks later I could not even contact my youth and my group member. I am just a mentor right?! So why should I bother? I wasted my time and my cellphone minutes to try calling him to work but he wouldn't. Why should I be the one needing to kick his arse? It is his project.

I just asked my supervisor to write me a recommendation letter for a scholarship with Boeing. I know I would not get it, but at least I tried. My CGPA is higher compared to average students here, but there are many other qualified students out there and why should they pick me?

Have you ever feel this before? You want to do something but then you do not feel like to? For an example, when the e-mail about scholarship came up I was excited because I am eligible at least half of the scholarships offer. Then I grow lazy because I have to write a page of shit describing why I deserve the scholarship and stuff like that. Then on the very last minute, I decided to apply it and realised that I no longer eligible because I am short of one subject. FUCK.

BUT I still have hope with the Boeing scholarship for contamination asbestos. I think my chances of getting it is as slim as 2%. Considering my ability and my contribution is so little and my results are not very outstanding either. I might be eligible to apply but it is not outstanding enough.

Maybe I should write my letter of qualification in perfection. Even if my CGPA does not look attractive but my letter would stand a chance to stand out.

Oh well, this week is going to suck.