QueenBigFat

Is she a Swiss something?

That is one gorgeous dawg!

Another mass shooting in America. This one killed one and injured over 20, including many children. It was at the Superbowl celebration in Kansas City. A million people and the hideous sound of an AR 15 or something like it. I am so very glad Mika mostly performs somewhere else. anywhere else.

I have a cabinet full of them.

Results of hugely significant special congressional election in my area of ny state are in. i am thrilled relieved able to breathe I went from to this From democracy To Relief. Joy. Hope.

THANK YOU CharlotteL! There are I'm sure many interesting interviews that Mika has done but so much of it all is same old same old that I just feel like the punch line from that old joke (guy come up on a fellow elbow deep in a pile of manure. What are you doing, he asks. The fellow says, I know there must be a horse in here somewhere. which now 50 years later makes no sense to me because why would the horse be deep in his poop? But the point is, I wish there could be some kind of separating or highlighting when some new info or idea is disclosed or observed.

So, Gael, I wonder if your experience of discovering Mika when you were, um, mature, was anything like mine. He performed on the American show “So You Think You Can Dance” in about 2017. I saw it. Not impressed. Then he was on the Ellen show. Saw it. Eh. One of my favorite songs of his (not “Good Wife”) was used in a very important scene of the major US tv series The Good Wife. Made no impression on me at all! Finally, last year, I saw a concert of his on tv, purely by happenstance. Nothing about him rang a bell. It was as if I were seeing him for the first time! But—He crashed into my consciousness and never let go. My life was literally changed. (I describe the experience in my intro post on August 18, “I can't believe I just discovered Mika”, and from the responses, while the particulars differ, it seems a lot lot of folks have had similar journeys! ) So what was it like for you?

I thin you were very clear!!

74. Got ensnared by the magic last June.

ACG, this is for you and the others in this conversation. One thing that has stood out for me about Mika wrt his positive effect on people has been shown on this forum. I mean, here I am, being critical of his work (specific to the new album). On his fan club. A relative newcomer; My first comments were posted when I had been on the forum for about 4 months, and on this forum I had never posted and most of you didn't know me at all. Yet everyone responded to disagree with respect, sincerity rather than sarcasm, speaking about themselves and not criticizing or attacking me at all. Can you imagine what would have happened “in any other world”? How at least a portion of almost any other singer's fans would have jumped on me! On this, the French forum, the responses were thoughtful to the point of being poetic. And that is Mika. The people he attracts, or the impact he has, the climate he creates, is sensitive, caring, empathic, and kind. Thank you all for being who you are.

I cannot separate them. Good god, especially not at this moment in history. Also what started my end of this conversation —originally— was what he had said about the name of his album, and what the term apocalypse meant to him. I posted again in response to what he said about the concerts he was planning to say that his plan changed my negative reaction to his initial statement about an apocalypse.

Well, you're one language ahead of me!

I am very heartened when I see the streets full of activists around the world. In the US, when I was young, we had our “take to the streets “ era. The 1960’s. Then students were shot and killed by our National Guard (also children) and that era was silenced. Still, over the years, millions of people took to the streets about gun control, the police shootings of Black people, Women’s control over their bodies, and queer rights. But it never had the same impact as the early civil rights and anti-war movements did. Now, right wing terrorists have also adopted and corrupted some tactics of public demonstration…. Using huge trucks to threaten other drivers, driving and shooting into assembled crowds, and generally terrorizing people. It’s not as it was any more. It’s come to a head. We are in a crisis moment and everything is on the line. And it is not just that people are resigned (that’s the word). They have been brainwashed, misled by disinformation and social pressure, and are now less interested in democracy or humanity than revenge. Yes, Mika is what we need.Hopefully his reach is long.

Ah, but it is people like you—-us all—who move mountains.

Oh are you a buzzkill.

BTW, I am not only talking about the US, and not only about that orange twice impeached 91-charges facing him orange guy when I talk about the apocalypse. A lot of people here NOTE BY “HERE” I do not mean on the forum! I MEAN IN THE US) have developed ideas and attitudes that reflect what the right wing and the bots from Russia want them to believe, about the institutions of this country, influenced by FB and X etc, without being Trump supporters per se. The goal has been to destroy this country by creating distrust of voting and government in general—to create chaos. Violence or the fear of violent disruption. This has been accomplished. But the apocalypse is international. Right wing dictators and laws are now the rule or the threat in a substantial number of democratic countries (or formerly democratic) countries worldwide, and climate change is a threat to our very existence. We are all affected. And we must all resist. Do I/we all need soothing and a break from all of that? Certainly. Can we afford to ignore it? Not on your life.

Oh, No, Mellody, I would never suggest that they are! I was talking about average people who may listen to him but not be real followers, who are not aware of or interested in the existential threats facing us right now. Listen, I get needing a break! These are terrifying painful conflict ridden times. But there are lots of people I know or have encountered who don’t pay attention to serious stuff. Don’t get educated. And don’t vote. Who don’t understand the threats. So when Mika talked about the apocalypse the way he seemed to, what I needed to hear was an acknowledgement of the seriousness of what was happening , rather than what he seemed to be saying, which seemed to minimize the seriousness and threat of the times. Not that I would want him to leave me there, but to reflect my pain and take it seriously at least. For a moment. And in this part of his quote— It's ending in.... I don't want to tell you everything, but it ends up with a tear. And then with a beauty and a renaissance. —-what he seems to say is yes, we will face the pain—-and then I will bring you up, so we can rise. I’m ok with that!

Yes! I totally agree with your last point. What I am not so sure about, after observing or talking with a lot of people in the US, is whether most people are paying attention to anything more than how much more groceries cost, or those hoardes of horrible invasive immigrants. Just as they have been trained to see things by certain politicians here. I hope Mika’s fans are different, but I have no way to know.

I cannot understand most of this forum as I can only speak American, but actually reading this, and his other comment about how people must respond to terrorism, makes me think that he is much more politically savvy than people say. Remember that passionate letter to the people of Beirut? He was criticized for waiting so long to comment; being overtly, directly confrontational politically (or in any way) is not his style, but finally he revealed where his heart and awareness —and passion—were. And said what needed to be said. I was one of the few who had a negative reaction to the implications of the French album because of some things he said about the title track. They were translations though, and getting to the real meaning was complicated. It seemed he said at one point that an apocalypse was a wonderful opportunity for pleasurable distractions. I was horrified. When I heard the title, I was at least expecting something reflective of Good Guys or In Any Other World, and in a time of existential s#$&*# -hits-the-fan, I could not understand the apparent superficially, or naïveté, or disconnect, he seemed to have. I am surprised and relieved and happy to be wrong. My faith is restored. He is saying, I hope, pay attention. I love the relief and escape and soothing that Mika brings, but was not seeing that when the stuff hits the fan, he got it and intended to deal with it, and maybe to inspire others to do so as well. I am so relieved to be wrong. I, for one, think leaving people with some sadness is appropriate, and it is perfectly Mika to look at the suffering and dangers of the times and be saddened, not enraged. And everyone needs to experience some of this sadness, at least, rather than just using his music to escape and ignore what is coming until it is too late.

What?? WHAT?!! WHAT???!! A tv series in the United States??!?! QueenBigFat dances around the living room screaming in joy and waving pompoms.

In fact I thought the movie was awful and could not watch it. Sadly I felt the same about the film of Les Mis. Both overdone and melodramatic. But I loved Jackman in that scene with K.

Ohhhhhhhhhh CJ…… This JUST popped up in my newsfeed….

Yes, subs team! Hero, did I read him right? That he wrote an early score for Showman that was rejected?

I agree. It is a beautiful and profound song. Especially in the time of covid!!!! For the live version, though, it’s the critters that are doing it to me.

Sunofabeeeeeech!