Mika: Pop Up! - 2011年3月號xL Repubblica的每月專欄 Monthly Column in xL Repubblica, March 2011

Mika在意大利月刊xL Repubblica，2011年3月份的專欄

Mika xL Column 11, March

In life certain things happen which make you realise that no one can or should exist on their own.

On 10th October last year, my older sister Paloma had an accident after a house warming party in her new apartment, which she had only moved into the day before. The move had been an important one. Born with a disability which left one side of her body significantly weaker than the other, she had resisted moving out for a while but had finally made the move. Having helped prepare her flat for the housewarming, my brother and I stayed for the party. The mood was simple and friendly and I went home at midnight having had a great time.

At 5am I was woken up by screaming and banging at my front door. Paloma had fallen out of her fourth floor bedroom window and landed on the railings below. I ran out of bed and to her apartment. I could have killed anyone in my way, but when I saw her I stepped back. I didn’t want her to know I was there. Surrounded by ambulance and firemen, she lay crumpled on the railings, the tops of which had gone through her body in four different places. I could see one coming out of her leg. She looked so broken but was amazingly still conscious. I hid with my brother in an ambulance and called my family around the world to have them come home. It was my father’s 60th birthday, and when I called him in Dubai, he thought I was calling from the airport and had come to surprise him. It took almost two hours to remove Paloma from the railings. Unable to lift her off them, for fear of too much bleeding, the railings were sawn off and kept inside her until they could be removed in an operating theatre. She was conscious the whole time. I watched paramedics lay her on a stretcher and anaesthetise her in the street. By the time I touched her face she was asleep. The neighbourhood was awake and in silent shock. Paloma was taken by the helicopter unit to the Royal London Hospital, where over the course of 14 hours surgeons managed to save her life. Incredibly, the railings which had caused horrendous damage were the one thing that saved her. Having been kept from falling into the basement she incurred no damage to her head and brain.

Today, Paloma is still in hospital. Once she is eventually discharged she will be transferred to a residential rehab where she will re-learn to walk and encourage the nerves in her legs and hips to recover. Her full recovery will probably take years. Growing up in France and the UK, I have always known a nationalised health care system. But my sister’s accident made me truly value it. We are cared for from cradle to grave by a healthcare system that feels like it has always been and always will be there. To say that we take it for granted, I think is an understatement.

Having an American father, we have always had US passports. If this accident had happened in normal circumstances over there, my parents would have had to sell their house by now. The US Government sends troops abroad to ‘defend’ its citizens’ rights but leaves its people ‘defenceless’ when they’re injured at home. If you fall out of a window in America – you’re on your own. This is terrifying. Another family member who fainted in LA a year ago, was treated in the nearby Cedar Sinai hospital for 14 hours, only to leave with a $19,000 bill that she is still paying. We have never grown up with health insurance and my sister as a UK resident is proud of the fact that she did not need to.

As budget cuts are made in Europe, the two sectors under threat which are of the greatest importance are strangely the ones that we take most for granted – education and healthcare. Has my sister’s experience made me appreciate the UK more? Without a doubt! I can’t understand how the USA got itself to a point where healthcare is reliant on private insurance companies concerned more with profit than treatment. Obama’s healthcare reforms are a step in the right direction, but what will it take to not only change the system but the entire culture a country has for taking care of its people. Many Americans see nationalised healthcare as a foreign threat to the private system they have grown up with. Looking at America, it is much easier to go private than it is to go back to being free and public. With the second best healthcare system in the world – , despite all the problems that we hear of, on a daily basis – Italy, like the UK, has a lot to defend; and more than ever, it looks like something we may have to do in the future.

Translation in Progress

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by Mika via xL Repubblica

Mika: Pop Up! - 2011年2月號xL Repubblica的每月專欄 Monthly Column in xL Repubblica, February 2011

Mika在意大利月刊xL Repubblica，2011年2月份的專欄

Mika xL Column 9, February

I was 22. I had left college a year before. I had just signed my record deal and had lost myself completely in my music. For one year I did not go on a single date. One night however, at 9pm I received an email on my personal myspace page asking me out. I had no idea who it was and two days later I went. The romance was short lived. Two weeks and four dates. It was perfect, and heartbreaking when it ended. “That’s the way it goes…” I was told, “didn’t you know?”. Internet dating etiquette was something I was truly naive about. A one night stand was one thing. This was different. It felt unresolved and messy. Emotional lines had been crossed and I was angry. In truth it was all my fault, but I still felt like a slut.

That was my introduction to internet dating. Myspace, the Facebook of yesterday. Where our pictures were always better than the reality and our words typed always more entertaining than the ones spoken. Since then internet dating has become so much the norm that out of five of my close friends who have been going on dates in the last twelve months, all of them have been out with someone they met online, and two of them exclusively so. In a coffee shop in London the other day, I over heard a guy my age hitting on a brunette he met in the queue, saying he wanted to see her again he asked her if she had a Facebook. She quickly rebuffed that she “preferred reality”. After that, he just gave up. I thought she was just making conversation, but obviously her comment made him feel lame, as if he wasn’t man enough to date her in the real world. I think he was better off, she seemed like a bitch and he was better looking.

Isn’t that the best thing about the internet? You can approach someone that you would never be brave enough to, or even have time to in real life. And let’s face it, anyone with an internet connection does it in some way. Even if you meet someone for the first time in the flesh, if you’re interested you go online and see what you can dig up. We find ourselves piecing together their life, from holiday snaps with drunk friends, to whether they have children or if the pictures of them alone seem too egocentric or staged. At the end of all the online digging you might as well had met online. Perhaps there really isn’t a difference any more.

I admire people who shy away from all forms of internet dating. Mainly because I wonder how they do it? A friend of mine asserts that internet dating breaks down social barriers, that you can meet someone regardless of their profession or wealth. Funny thing is, she only ever wants to go out with people who earn at least 40 grand a year, and will rifle through someones dirty laundry online until she can assure herself of his “status”.

I guess the internet hasn’t changed dating much at all. Even if some people say that everyone is doing it, it doesn’t mean they’re going to ‘do it’ with everyone, and that’s what I didn’t understand the first time round. The fact that I knew so much about the person before going on a single date, accelerated the relationship. All this information made me think I would be with that person for a long time. It enabled me to become close, even obsessed very quickly. What I didn’t understand was that knowing more about the other person didn’t make me a more suitable partner and I should have been more guarded.

As the film maker David Lynch says, we are in a download age. Not one decision or transaction doesn’t involve a download of information of some sort. The internet is part of our reality, that’s what the brunette in the coffee shop got wrong. What she was really saying was that she didn’t fancy him. He didn’t fit her criteria and the Facebook jibe was a cheap one made to make him feel like a dork. I’m glad he walked away.

Translation in Progress

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by Mika via xL Repubblica

Mika: Pop Up! - 2011年1月號xL Repubblica的每月專欄 Monthly Column in xL Repubblica, January 2011

Mika在意大利月刊xL Repubblica，2011年1月份的專欄

Mika xL Column 12, January 2011

You’ve obviously realised by now that this issue is about Glam. By the time you’ve finished reading this magazine (or just looking at the pictures) you would have had enough bright coloured lipstick, smeared sequins and alter egos to last you the rest of 2011.
Imagine if you had woken up in the early hours of 2011 lying on the floor, dressed in a blue catsuit with glitter in your hair and a puddle of drool under the corner of your mouth. Well that mess was me on the 1st of Jan and the Glam rock themed new years party which preceded this ugly scene was to blame. That is the reason why I don’t feel like writing about Glam. Instead this article will be far more traditional; the ultimate new years resolution list. Trust me, I need one.

Resolution Number ONE; I shall find myself a canon. After the death of the legendary american writer Hunter S Thompson, his ashes were exploded out of a canon on top of a mountain in Colorado. None other than Johnny Depp lit the taper. This is a very very good way to go. Forget Johnny Depp tho, I don’t know him. Why spend so much money on a burial plot when a story like that will travel for so far and for so long. Please note, my resolution makes no implication that I will die in 2011, I just want a canon. A little post life theatre can’t be a bad thing.

Resolution Number TWO; Be Kind Not Nice. Who likes Nice? Nice isn’t sexy nor is it honest. People are only nice when they want something or when they just want to get you out of the way. Being nice is like being drunk too many times in a week. You feel tired, anaesthetised and very angry underneath. Kind, is sincere and takes more effort. The plus side is that you don’t have to do it as often. It does take a lot more control however, and that takes discipline. But we all know that discipline makes you feel better about yourself. So, being nice makes you feel like shit and being kind makes you feel good and zen like. Be careful to not be too pious however, then everyone thinks your just a self satisfied prick.

Resolution Number THREE; Embrace The Posse. I went to see a play about Onassis recently and one thing struck me. Very rarely during the two hour show was he ever shown without an entourage. He reminded me of my Arab friends who always go out it groups, or of rappers who’s entourage impose a sense of importance and inconvenience on everyone around them, which is the point I think. I come from a Lebanese background, with a big and very close family. Hardly ever do I go anywhere for work or play, where I am not surrounded by at least 3 or four people. Often this entourage has made me feel uncomfortable. As if, more could be achieved or observed If I were more subtle in my movements. This year I shall embrace my crew. Even if my entourage is not as cool as a rapper’s or as powerful as Onassis’, I shall walk walk around with my sisters, friends, dog, a couple 80 year old family members and of course my mother, all in line and with our heads held high.

Resolution Number FOUR; Find A Henchman. Ok so this is a bit of a continuation of number three but still merits its own resolution. I want a chinese looking, quiet and elegant, quite small gentleman, in a suit and tie, preferably in his mid thirties, to follow me around, everywhere. He shouldn’t say to much but must have a doctorate in something obscure, like the behaviour of a subspecies of amazonian red ant. He will be my confidant, the other part of my brain, my filter to people I cross. He will frighten the seedy and reassure the wise. Aplications welcome.

Resolution Number FIVE; Work All The Time. You know those self help guides that tell you to take lots of holiday and spend time away from work? Well, their bullshit. Those guides are written by self promoting workaholic who want you to buy their books, feel crap again and then buy another one. When you don’t work enough you fell like terrible. The things that you used to look forward to, like a drink after work or a favourite TV show, no longer have the same appeal. The more you work the more you value everything and everyone around you. At my age how could this be a bad thing?

I hope I inspire you. I think I’ve inspired myself. Feel free to borrow some of my resolutions and make them your own, just stay away from the henchman idea, if everyone gets one, it could get a little confusing. Happy new year! Nota Benne, that was said with kindness, I’m not being nice.

Translation in Progress

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by Mika via xL Repubblica

Mika: Pop Up! - 2010年12月號xL Repubblica的每月專欄 Monthly Column in xL Repubblica, December 2010

Mika在意大利月刊xL Repubblica，2010年12月份的專欄

Mika xL Column 6, December 2010

News Flash! The British have cracked!

On the morning of the 10th of November British students in their thousands took to the streets of London to march in protest of a major university fee increase. This government plan would see the cost of university rise to over 10,000 Euros a year by 2012. At a time when cuts are being made all over the world, internationally, this is not a very big story. With a few broken windows and a rather pathetic looking bomb fire, this story turned into front page news of the Wall Street Journal. Over the past few months we have seen countries in their true colours, as each nation have reacted accordingly to cuts in public funding.

In comparison to the violence of the Greek protests and the scale of the recent French demonstrations, the UK student protests seem almost meek. it is the fact that there has been any public violence and protest in the UK at all, that is important.For the first time in the past two years, the stoic patina of the British public has been cracked. Even Schwarzenegger, in his own way, has been holding up the UK as an example of a nation who are making appropriate sacrifices and dealing with them in the right way. Basically, that we’ve been keeping our mouths’ shut. How very English…
Over the past year, a few countries have started to represent the varied European responses to economic cuts. Like protagonists in a serialised novel, France, Greece and now the UK are all stars. But where does Italy sit in all of this? Obviously the Italian economy is suffering as much if not more in some ways than its European counterparts. But why do the French get all the attention and manage to make themselves heard around the world? The answer is Unity. The French public has a way of unifying itself against what they consider unjust. If the English are seen as keeping their discontent to themselves then Italians are seen as doing nothing about it.

Stories of classrooms in some parts of the country being so over full that students are being asked to bring their own chairs, are not uncommon. Extra curricular activities at schools have been slashed and university professors are increasingly being poached into other industries with more prospects.
Italian universities no longer appear in the top 200 Universities of the world, even though they were created in Bologna in the middle ages. If these kinds of troubles were to start affecting primary education in the UK, the discontent would be so widespread that the demonstrations would be front page news because of their scale and not their violence. A close Milanese friend often speaks to me about these such problems but admits to have never taken part in a rally of any kind. When asked why, he says its “just not done”.

There is no shame in making problems heard. How can they be rectified otherwise? That same Milanese friend emailed me last week furious, after Berlusconi had made a comment in the press saying that it was “better to be passionate about girls that being gay”. How I ask myself can a prime minister ever get away with a comment such as this without any consequences? In other countries such a statement would lead to a resignation. Its not funny, its not true, its pathetic. Again, my friend apart from emailing me did nothing. Clearly others felt angry too, just like they do about the education problems.

But what will spark a fire and burn away the complacency which stops people making their discontent heard? On the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, perhaps the marches should not just be ceremonial and for the sake of making leaders look even better but should be real people making themselves heard.


Translation in Progress

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by Mika via xL Repubblica

回顧 Lookback - Mika在法國雜誌TÊTU上照片拍攝的幕後花絮 Mika photoshoot for French magazine TÊTU 2009

Mika喺阿根廷Hot Festival嘅演唱會啱啱完咗之後，又到咗今個禮拜嘅回顧！
今個星期我哋會睇返上年Mika幫法國雜誌TÊTU第147期，拍攝硬照嘅幕後花絮。
當然都會畀支持Mika同Mikamaze嘅你睇吓嗰期雜誌上嘅相啦！

至於佢啱啱同聽日演唱會嘅消息同相，我哋會盡快更新！
祝大家有個愉快週末！(^O^)/


After the end of Mika's Argentina gig at Hot Festival just now, let's have a litte Lookback of the week!
This week we'll be watching the Making of session of Mika's photoshoot for French magazine TÊTU #147.
Of course we will share the photos of it to you all Mikamaze readers too!

For photos and news of the gig just ended and will be held today in Brazil, we will keep you updated as soon as we have any news!
Have a nice weekend! (^O^)/


MIKA pose pour TÊTU
Uploaded by TETUMAG. - Explore more music videos.






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Photos by Nicolas Wagner via TÊTU

Mika: Pop Up! - 2010年11月號xL Repubblica的每月專欄 Monthly Column in xL Repubblica, November 2010

Mika在意大利月刊xL Repubblica，2010年11月份的專欄

Mika xL Column 3, November 2010

My mother was a hippy. Or at least I think she was for a while. Then she became an anthropologist and before being a hippy she was a dedicated follower of the Rolling Stones, “before they were even famous”, apparently. She was even asked by the band to head their fan club in the USA. Each phase of her life seemed to take a couple years. Each phase of mine seemed to last a few months. As I’m writing this, over a hundred books are on shelves to my right. Books that cover different periods of music, art and style. From the clothing of the punk era, to the costumes from freak shows that toured America in the 1920s. Phases and trends of different cultural periods have fascinated me since my teens. Around the age of 19, I spent a few months tracking down the only professor in the world who specialised in the science and study of trend. He called himself a trendologist. I wanted to study with him but music came more naturally. Looking back on my choice it seems strange that I could have been interested in both music and trend at the same time. Good music is only created when you forget about the world around you and start to create your own little world. Trend and fashion can kill creativity.

About a year ago I went to see an early show of Lady Gaga’s in Los Angeles. I had just finished recording my second album and had become very curious about what she was doing. Back stage at the Wiltern theatre I ran into Kanye West and we decided to go for a drink after the show. Over the course of the evening Kanye spoke a lot about fashion. He discussed almost every type of trend in art and style that you could think of. I was amazed at his knowledge but completely confused. How can he keep on creating if he is so immersed in the “now”. He seems to be able to do both, I can’t.

When I write, I am lost. I loose contact with my friends and throw relationships in the air. I become desperate and really quite dirty. A shower is the last thing on my mind, so it’s a good job I don’t see anyone. That’s because I choose to focus on myself, my ideas, and create my own thing, far away from the current trends. I admire Kanye enormously, but the clothes confused me. I think he thought I would have something interesting to say about fashion and brands, but he quickly realised I was ignorant. Growing up with my hippy/ anthropologist/ groupie/ dress maker mother, meant that we always made most of the clothes we wore. Buying them was offensive to her.

I am not obsessed by trend in the way that I used to be. Trend has changed. Its not that trend is dead, its just that it moves too fast to be interesting. We are fed information so quickly nowadays and of course we consume it just as fast. But do we really remember all the things we come across? Trends are not just about the cut of a dress and the height of a heel. Trends are the result of a massive collective feeling and can shape art, culture but also history. If a trend moves too quickly however we are left with nothing more than a passing fad. I guess you could say that Trends are not made by pioneers of counterculture any more. The image of the London punk or the New York fashionista has never felt more dated. The trend makers are in front of a computer. Probably not very well dressed and on appearance would look terrifically unimpressive. But trends are made in forums and online. When Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash in 2003 whilst studying at Harvard, he had no idea that what he had created would turn into Facebook and would spark one of the biggest collective trends of all time. Love him or hate him for intruding on your privacy, he is one of the leading trend setters of the century and he still dresses like shit.

Looking back on my mother’s various phases its clear that she was doing her duty; spreading her beliefs and in turn helping spread a trend. Her efforts and the time it took made her value her involvement, she felt like a pioneer. Now that trends spread so quickly, no one has time to develop a sense of attachment to them. Trends without soldiers who care are never going to win the battle against time.

Translation in Progress

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by Mika via xL Repubblica