Lead the Way - Chapter 047 - Merry Christmas
I realized something about Rebecca Black the other day. Turns out that's quite a long rant so you'll find it under the first cut.
A while back Syccas made a flip comment about a line in an upcoming chapter. I didn’t get it and she asked if I hadn’t heard of Rebecca Black before. I said, no, who’s that? And she sent me this link:
Now I sat there watching the video and found myself thinking over and over: Is she for real? Where is that rapper coming from and where the heck did they find all these kids where not one of them manages to look like they’re having fun?
The comments are vile and cruel. Go die in a hole. I hope you get an eating disorder and so on. Although I wouldn’t go that far I generally agreed. What right did she have to pollute the airwaves with this crap and who was going to reimburse me for the four minutes of my life I wasted on this?
Then I saw an interview where she responded to the hate. And it got me thinking. First of all, she’s 13. That will be more important later. And second she sang a few lines from the US Anthem. Didn’t do too bad. Okay, so maybe she had 10 weeks of practice for 2 seconds of singing, but the fact remains, that it wasn’t the singing that bugged me.
I went back to watch the video again. If I have a strong opinion about something it helps to know what that opinion is about. Yes she uses Autotune. But she’s neither the first nor the worst. It bothers me much more when they do it on Glee for example. And uhm who said Madonna can sing? Still a huge success.
So if it wasn’t the singing… what was it then?
Well the most offending part of this was the text. We we we so excited? … And Sunday comes afterwards… And the beginning… Gotta make up my mind which seat can I take?
Yes there is something to say about turning every day life and situations and things into art. There’s this song where a guy gets his newspaper stolen and instead of getting upset he remembers a self-help book and imagines himself to be a flower. Hilarious.
But this lacks that quality. It is simply and utterly without any meaning. It is furthermore presented in a way that leads you to thinking that these really are the questions that keep this girl up at night. Should she have a bowl of cereal (which in her world rhymes) or go to the busstop?
This is basically an ad for stupidity. Add to that her wardrobe, general expression, the friends and their acting. Okay, I use the term extremely loosely. They look and act as bored and uninvested as only teenagers can… Or possibly New Yorkers.
And who is that rapper? Where is he coming from? And what drugs did they pump into his system for trying to give this clusterfuck some “street-cred”? Was he even aware of what he was singing?
Which brings me to my actual point. Clearly this isn’t some kid playing with her Mommy’s guitar, posting shit on YT because she’s bored. This isn’t a “Country’s name”-Idol contestant who makes an ass out of herself in front of million viewers because no one has had the heart to tell her that what she does looks more like spasms after an electric shock than dancing.
No. This girl had a song writer, an agent, a film crew, a director, a manager and that rapper guy in her corner. Presumably. Maybe just one stupid guy. The point is that somewhere in there was a grown up person with money.
No matter how many, no matter how rich, no matter their favorite bubble gum flavor. If you have lived longer than 13 years (and this is where I’m getting back to this) you know perfectly well that the internet is not a fluffy castle up in the clouds where the princess in the pink, puffy dress gets Prince Charming’s sister to love her.
It is a place where people hide behind what they think is anonymity to (sometimes) let all their cruelty and hatred come out. No one is excempt from this. No one gets only lovely comments and: Awesome job type of replies.
They knew it. They might not have known it would get 130 million hits, they might have expected some people to like it, but that the vast, vast majority of people would not like a song that told them the order of the days in the weeks in horrible grammar couldn’t have been a shock.
They set her up to be the target of hatred, leaning back and counting their money (because in the internet every comment and viewing and click is good, no matter the actual content) and didn’t prepare her for it. She was stupid maybe to fall into their trap, but for Heaven’s sake she’s 13. The real question is: How is this kind of cruelty socially acceptable and almost invisible?
But this is not the "What Lady Rashida thinks about things she found on the internet" blog. This is the love story of Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau, even though there might not be much loving going on at the moment... :)
Lead the Way - 047 - Merry Christmas
On Christmas day, JJ woke up around nine in the morning. She was grateful that her brother and his kids would arrive in about an hour and had not decided to wreak havoc in the morning by staying the night.
She noticed that her mother had taken Henry out of his crib already and smiled. She was a great grandmother and JJ felt a sting of guilt as she realized that she probably couldn’t spend as much time with her grandson as she wanted to.
She got dressed and made her way downstairs. Brad and Audrey had just arrived and the kids had already made their way to the tree and their presents before anyone could object. The noisy party moved to the living room and JJ ducked away, getting a cup of coffee.
In the kitchen she found Will. He was just giving Henry his bottle and smiled broadly.
“Good morning, Jay.” Although it wasn’t her favorite nickname, Jay was better than Baby.
“Good morning, Will.” She smiled at him. As long as the rest of the family was out of earshot JJ took the opportunity for a quiet talk.
“I’m glad you could make it.”
“I’m glad you let me.”
“Of course. He’s your son too. I told you I’ll always honor that.”
“What about…?” He was still hopeful that Jay would change her mind on that, but he knew better than to pressure her.
“She understands that. She’s not trying to take your place.” JJ didn’t admit that she wanted her to.
“Right.” He smiled at his son again, hoping they would eventually be a family again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As promised, Emily showed up at Garcia’s door at noon on Thursday.
“Are you ready?”
“I was born ready.”
“Good.” Emily’s smile broadened.
Downstairs in the cab Penelope asked:
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
No matter how much she pleaded, the profiler wouldn’t reveal any more.
She had expected the cab to stop at the airport. After all, Emily had told her to pack for two weeks. Remembering that she hadn’t bought a ticket, Garcia wondered where this might lead. As it turned out, Emily was not heading for check-in.
Instead she led her friend through an isolated hallway, onto the airstrip and into a private plane. Garcia whistled.
“My, my! I had no idea you were such a nice catch.”
“It’s not mine,” Emily said hastily. Quickly she made her way to the back of the plane to the other passengers. She urged them not to tell Garcia where the plane was headed and introduced them to her.
“Garcia, meet Helena Hamilton and Sara McClinton.” Unknowing how these two women had caused JJ to doubt Emily in every way, she shook their hands and tried not to look too impressed by what she saw.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At night sleep wouldn’t come. JJ thought of Emily and whether the function at her mother’s was already over. How was she? Should she call her? She had nothing to say really and if Emily asked how Will was, she had no idea what to answer.
She missed her girlfriend and she wanted to hear her voice. That had to be enough reason for a call. She got up and dialed the number. Much to her surprise, Emily’s phone had been turned off. Sure, it was Christmas, but what if they had gotten a case? There was just one team on alert around Christmas. The teams were rotated out every three years. Last year it had been their turn but fortunately nothing too pressing had come up.
There was no way of telling though, if this year two cases would request the B.A.U.’s assistance. Maybe Emily had left Garcia a number where she could be reached in that case. JJ was even more surprised to hear that Garcia’s phone was turned off as well.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have Kevin’s number and she didn’t want to call Morgan or Reid, or they might think there was a case. Besides, she wasn’t sure Morgan would know where Emily was anyway.
JJ got back to bed and thought about what that meant. She had no idea where Emily was or who she was with. She couldn’t be reached and she had not contacted her in four days. JJ sighed and rolled to her other side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After an extremely long flight Garcia had learned two things. One: wherever Emily was taking her, it was far, far away from home and two: she really disliked Helena. The jury was still out on Sara but she was leaning towards a no.
Helena evidently came from money, as her foster parents would have put it, and although she didn’t own this particular plane, Garcia had been quickly told that Helena’s own was even more comfortable. Unfortunately, it was currently being repaired.
The British woman was arrogant, cool and nosy. She was also gorgeous, sophisticated and intelligent. More than once Penelope had caught her staring at Sara and Emily. She didn’t have to be a profiler to know that these two had history.
Emily came back and told her friend to go and sit by the window. It was dark now and the city beneath them sparkled in all its mesmerizing lights. As the pilot turned over the city, as Emily had requested, Garcia finally saw where she was. Right there among all the other lights she could see the city’s trademark silhouette. Squealing she jumped up and hugged Emily who quickly moved her back to her seat and told her to keep her safety belt buckled up until the plane landed.
Beaming Garcia looked out the window eager to catch another glimpse of the Eiffel tower.
A while back Syccas made a flip comment about a line in an upcoming chapter. I didn’t get it and she asked if I hadn’t heard of Rebecca Black before. I said, no, who’s that? And she sent me this link:
Click to viewNow I sat there watching the video and found myself thinking over and over: Is she for real? Where is that rapper coming from and where the heck did they find all these kids where not one of them manages to look like they’re having fun?
The comments are vile and cruel. Go die in a hole. I hope you get an eating disorder and so on. Although I wouldn’t go that far I generally agreed. What right did she have to pollute the airwaves with this crap and who was going to reimburse me for the four minutes of my life I wasted on this?
Then I saw an interview where she responded to the hate. And it got me thinking. First of all, she’s 13. That will be more important later. And second she sang a few lines from the US Anthem. Didn’t do too bad. Okay, so maybe she had 10 weeks of practice for 2 seconds of singing, but the fact remains, that it wasn’t the singing that bugged me.
I went back to watch the video again. If I have a strong opinion about something it helps to know what that opinion is about. Yes she uses Autotune. But she’s neither the first nor the worst. It bothers me much more when they do it on Glee for example. And uhm who said Madonna can sing? Still a huge success.
So if it wasn’t the singing… what was it then?
Well the most offending part of this was the text. We we we so excited? … And Sunday comes afterwards… And the beginning… Gotta make up my mind which seat can I take?
Yes there is something to say about turning every day life and situations and things into art. There’s this song where a guy gets his newspaper stolen and instead of getting upset he remembers a self-help book and imagines himself to be a flower. Hilarious.
But this lacks that quality. It is simply and utterly without any meaning. It is furthermore presented in a way that leads you to thinking that these really are the questions that keep this girl up at night. Should she have a bowl of cereal (which in her world rhymes) or go to the busstop?
This is basically an ad for stupidity. Add to that her wardrobe, general expression, the friends and their acting. Okay, I use the term extremely loosely. They look and act as bored and uninvested as only teenagers can… Or possibly New Yorkers.
And who is that rapper? Where is he coming from? And what drugs did they pump into his system for trying to give this clusterfuck some “street-cred”? Was he even aware of what he was singing?
Which brings me to my actual point. Clearly this isn’t some kid playing with her Mommy’s guitar, posting shit on YT because she’s bored. This isn’t a “Country’s name”-Idol contestant who makes an ass out of herself in front of million viewers because no one has had the heart to tell her that what she does looks more like spasms after an electric shock than dancing.
No. This girl had a song writer, an agent, a film crew, a director, a manager and that rapper guy in her corner. Presumably. Maybe just one stupid guy. The point is that somewhere in there was a grown up person with money.
No matter how many, no matter how rich, no matter their favorite bubble gum flavor. If you have lived longer than 13 years (and this is where I’m getting back to this) you know perfectly well that the internet is not a fluffy castle up in the clouds where the princess in the pink, puffy dress gets Prince Charming’s sister to love her.
It is a place where people hide behind what they think is anonymity to (sometimes) let all their cruelty and hatred come out. No one is excempt from this. No one gets only lovely comments and: Awesome job type of replies.
They knew it. They might not have known it would get 130 million hits, they might have expected some people to like it, but that the vast, vast majority of people would not like a song that told them the order of the days in the weeks in horrible grammar couldn’t have been a shock.
They set her up to be the target of hatred, leaning back and counting their money (because in the internet every comment and viewing and click is good, no matter the actual content) and didn’t prepare her for it. She was stupid maybe to fall into their trap, but for Heaven’s sake she’s 13. The real question is: How is this kind of cruelty socially acceptable and almost invisible?
But this is not the "What Lady Rashida thinks about things she found on the internet" blog. This is the love story of Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau, even though there might not be much loving going on at the moment... :)
Lead the Way - 047 - Merry Christmas
On Christmas day, JJ woke up around nine in the morning. She was grateful that her brother and his kids would arrive in about an hour and had not decided to wreak havoc in the morning by staying the night.
She noticed that her mother had taken Henry out of his crib already and smiled. She was a great grandmother and JJ felt a sting of guilt as she realized that she probably couldn’t spend as much time with her grandson as she wanted to.
She got dressed and made her way downstairs. Brad and Audrey had just arrived and the kids had already made their way to the tree and their presents before anyone could object. The noisy party moved to the living room and JJ ducked away, getting a cup of coffee.
In the kitchen she found Will. He was just giving Henry his bottle and smiled broadly.
“Good morning, Jay.” Although it wasn’t her favorite nickname, Jay was better than Baby.
“Good morning, Will.” She smiled at him. As long as the rest of the family was out of earshot JJ took the opportunity for a quiet talk.
“I’m glad you could make it.”
“I’m glad you let me.”
“Of course. He’s your son too. I told you I’ll always honor that.”
“What about…?” He was still hopeful that Jay would change her mind on that, but he knew better than to pressure her.
“She understands that. She’s not trying to take your place.” JJ didn’t admit that she wanted her to.
“Right.” He smiled at his son again, hoping they would eventually be a family again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As promised, Emily showed up at Garcia’s door at noon on Thursday.
“Are you ready?”
“I was born ready.”
“Good.” Emily’s smile broadened.
Downstairs in the cab Penelope asked:
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
No matter how much she pleaded, the profiler wouldn’t reveal any more.
She had expected the cab to stop at the airport. After all, Emily had told her to pack for two weeks. Remembering that she hadn’t bought a ticket, Garcia wondered where this might lead. As it turned out, Emily was not heading for check-in.
Instead she led her friend through an isolated hallway, onto the airstrip and into a private plane. Garcia whistled.
“My, my! I had no idea you were such a nice catch.”
“It’s not mine,” Emily said hastily. Quickly she made her way to the back of the plane to the other passengers. She urged them not to tell Garcia where the plane was headed and introduced them to her.
“Garcia, meet Helena Hamilton and Sara McClinton.” Unknowing how these two women had caused JJ to doubt Emily in every way, she shook their hands and tried not to look too impressed by what she saw.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At night sleep wouldn’t come. JJ thought of Emily and whether the function at her mother’s was already over. How was she? Should she call her? She had nothing to say really and if Emily asked how Will was, she had no idea what to answer.
She missed her girlfriend and she wanted to hear her voice. That had to be enough reason for a call. She got up and dialed the number. Much to her surprise, Emily’s phone had been turned off. Sure, it was Christmas, but what if they had gotten a case? There was just one team on alert around Christmas. The teams were rotated out every three years. Last year it had been their turn but fortunately nothing too pressing had come up.
There was no way of telling though, if this year two cases would request the B.A.U.’s assistance. Maybe Emily had left Garcia a number where she could be reached in that case. JJ was even more surprised to hear that Garcia’s phone was turned off as well.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have Kevin’s number and she didn’t want to call Morgan or Reid, or they might think there was a case. Besides, she wasn’t sure Morgan would know where Emily was anyway.
JJ got back to bed and thought about what that meant. She had no idea where Emily was or who she was with. She couldn’t be reached and she had not contacted her in four days. JJ sighed and rolled to her other side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After an extremely long flight Garcia had learned two things. One: wherever Emily was taking her, it was far, far away from home and two: she really disliked Helena. The jury was still out on Sara but she was leaning towards a no.
Helena evidently came from money, as her foster parents would have put it, and although she didn’t own this particular plane, Garcia had been quickly told that Helena’s own was even more comfortable. Unfortunately, it was currently being repaired.
The British woman was arrogant, cool and nosy. She was also gorgeous, sophisticated and intelligent. More than once Penelope had caught her staring at Sara and Emily. She didn’t have to be a profiler to know that these two had history.
Emily came back and told her friend to go and sit by the window. It was dark now and the city beneath them sparkled in all its mesmerizing lights. As the pilot turned over the city, as Emily had requested, Garcia finally saw where she was. Right there among all the other lights she could see the city’s trademark silhouette. Squealing she jumped up and hugged Emily who quickly moved her back to her seat and told her to keep her safety belt buckled up until the plane landed.
Beaming Garcia looked out the window eager to catch another glimpse of the Eiffel tower.