When I get this email, I generally think, “Wow! The blog has gotten somewhere between one and 5 views in the last week.” So when I got an email regarding comment moderation, I let it get pushed down the queue. But today, I randomly decided to see if my old password worked and HUZZAH. Not only Huzzah, but it is actually buzzing here
I’ve been thinking of starting up a blog again. Not necessarily this one (see password concern) but since I’m here, I think I’ll give it a go.
“Starting up the blog? This sounds all too familiar. See you in a year with another ‘starting up the blog’ post. But I really want to try. So, here we go.
I have no idea what my topic is going to be: books, tv, movies, video games, music (I still listen to Folklore like it came out yesterday and really love a band called Waveshaper.) It’ll be here, Tuesday or Wednesday. I like Tuesday because it’s the first but Wednesday feels like a bloggy day.
I don’t think I ever really had a favourite author before. I mean, of course I loved Fitzgerald. And Hemmingway. And all those authors that you say you love when you’re in a teen or in college because they make you sound cool. (I do love Oscar Wilde, though. That hasn’t changed.) And a few select YA books. But I don’t think I ever read a book and fell in love with an author until I was like 23, 24. Not because they are a classic, but because I randomly picked up one of their books, started reading and couldn’t stop. The first was Carlos Ruiz Zafon, whose Cemetery of Forgotten Books series I will be rereading and putting on here at some point, but then I found myself reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It probably popped up on my insta feed and, like I do with every book post I see, I saved it and ordered it from the library.
That was my mistake.
I fell in love with this book. I remember staying awake until 2am, reading a crying, never wanting it to finish. It’s a book that’s always on my rec list and one I always want to come back to.
Then I found Daisy Jones.
I didn’t realise that the same author wrote them until I googled TJR to see what other books she had out. It’s been really fun reading some of her earlier stuff and seeing the growth in her writing.
There are still some stylistic similarities. From Forever Interrupted, TJR has stuck with the time-jumps premise in her books but she uses it in such different ways, especially in the last three books of her catalogue.
But this is about Malibu Rising so let’s get into the deep end:
Malibu Rising follows the Riva siblings: Nina, Jay, Hud and Kit; through a 12 hour period in the run up to and after their annual end-of-summer party. This period conjoins with flashbacks of their parents’ marriage, the siblings’ lives growing up and even up to about 6 months before the event.
While I really enjoyed this book, I felt like less time could have been spent with the past. There was a lot that needed to be said, and June’s story was pretty tragic, but I think if, down the line, June and Mick had a story all to themselves it would have served Malibu Rising better. This is Nina’s story and while it’s influenced by her past and her family history, some of the flashback instances could have done without. I felt that there was so much time and detail gone into the lead up to 1983. The twelve hours that are supposed to be the meat and potatoes got pushed to the side a bit, and the impact of the adult siblings at “present” really came from their stories growing up.
Kit and, to an extent, Jay didn’t feel as fleshed out as Nina and Hud, which was a bit disappointing because I think Kit had real potential to be an incredible character.
And of course, how could I not talk about the fifth main character – the fifth sibling if you will. Malibu. The snippets of Malibu we got were evocative, but really left me wanting so much more and I think that is TJR strength. She makes the scenes she creates so real. There are a few chapters that focus on characters outside of the core 4, and while they may seem out of place – it’s taken me a while to mesh them with the story as a whole, and the point of them, despite my enjoyment of them – they serve to create the atmosphere of Malibu at that time. The intensity and carefreeness.
If I was giving this book a rating, it would be 3.5 – 4 out of 5. It wasn’t what I expected, through no fault of it’s own, and it didn’t nearly grip me the way Evelyn Hugo did. But it was immensely enjoyable, emotional and a really fun summer read.
The last time I went into a bookshop would have been the last weekend of February 2020. Even then, I was in the city, with errands to run, people to see and helping my sister buy a new laptop. I was up Friday and home Sunday and I honestly can’t remember if I made time to pop into a bookshop or if it fell off the list for some other, more pressing excursion.
But last week, after 15 months, I finally ventured in and I did not act cool at all. I literally thought I was going to lose my shit. I went around, like, I want this this this this this this………
I was in there longer than I expected. But it was so much fun and I didn’t realise how much I had missed being in a bookshop. Ordering online is one thing. The result is the same. But I forgot how much I missed talking to the sellers about books. Browsing the shelves for books already on my wishlist and spotting the books that needed to be on there. Truth be told, it took a minute for me to get the wherewithal to actually browse. I was so excited, I couldn’t see properly for a while. I could go on wax poetic about how much we used to take for granted, but that would eat into valuable reading time.
What am I watching now? I don’t even know. I’m taking a break from the 9 season Grey’s Anatomy roll I was on and I’m watching Merlin. It’s a fun show. It’s going hand in hand with my medieval reading at the moment. If anyone has any King Arthur, The Crusade and/or medieval England and Europe, send them my way
*FAVOURITE SHOW
WandaVision. I mean really. This show was so good. It’s becoming my new comfort show. I watched the first 4 episodes like 5 times. And that bop. I want a bop like that.
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO
Music: A lot of Tay. Podcasts: See below.
FAVOURITE PODCASTS
I’m going to cheat a little and do a top list: No Such Thing As A Fish – I relistened to the entire back catalogue last year and it was such a good listen during the rollercoaster of the last year. You’re Dead To Me – Again, so funny and really feeds my need to consume history. The Grainne O’Malley episode might be my favourite. Fake Doctors Real Friends – It’s a Scrubs rewatch show but the guys spend maybe a total of 20 minutes talking about the actual episode and the rest is just shooting the shit. This started off as a workout podcast but I found myself laughing so much I started listening while playing video games. I oscilate between wanting to listen as they release and building up a back catalogue of them. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum & Work In Progress. Really terrific conversations with their guests.
CURRENTLY READING
Pillars of The Earth The Hunting Party Sapiens I’m also reading Green Lantern New 52
*FAVOURITE BOOK READ
The Flatshare – Sometimes I find myself thinking about moments from this book that made me feel something and I feel them all over again. Labyrinth – I read this last month and now I want to read all of her books. Set during the Crusades. The Bronze Horseman – I read this book in about 2 weeks. 10 days. It’s a Russian historical fiction love story set during World War 2.
CURRENTLY PLAYING
*FAVOURITE GAME Oof. Days Gone & The Last Of Us Part 2. I cried for TLOU2 and Days Gone made me feel so much. It’s got a really good soundtrack.
I was going to kick this off with a nice catch-up but I’m still getting used to how much this editor has changed so instead we’re doing a review – a nice wordy review – of a book that took me, maybe a total of a day and a half.
Natalie Kerr (O’Connor) appears to have a terrific life. A handsome husband. About 100,000 followers (103,149). A lifestyle brand (AndBreath). When suspicions are aroused, Natalie finds herself in the secluded Shanamore, booked into Shanamore Cottages, managed by Andrew Gallagher, who’s harbouring a dark secret.
Audrey Coughlan has dreams – big dreams that extend past the Entertainment section of the online news outlet ThePaper.ie. When Natalie Kerr’s Instagram account goes dormant for almost a week, Audrey’s editor sends the story her way. Seeing this story as her ticket to the Crime section, Audrey goes above and beyond to find out the truth…
To see the complete picture.
From the blurb – the actual one – not my fierce work of art above – you’ll immediately get the impression that this book is a modern retelling of Psycho if it were set in Ireland. Andrew Gallagher is the classic image of Norman Bates, at least in description – there are some changes that make Andrew his own character.
The writing felt a little judgemental. I’ll admit, rural Ireland at its best isn’t exactly Tahiti, but even in the worst weather there’s still something magical about it (I’m biased. I live there) but the writing of the scenery and locality felt a bit over the top. It’s unclear whether the judgements were coming from the character or the author. The rural characters came off terribly as well: gossipy, uncultured, territorial. While I’m sure that there are places that probably are territorial, generally if you walk into a place in rural/small-town Ireland, they will give you the warmest welcome. Plus, the author seemed really stuck on the pothole situation. I just wanted to point it out since on my rural Ireland walk over the weekend, I saw potholes being filled.
One of my favourite things was the description and general ambience of Mike. I was listening to an audiobook, and I realized how obvious authors can be when they’re setting up the male lead. Mike, though you’d expect him to be, was not that character. He’s described as handsome to the point of bland, which I thought was a nice turn.
This book did my absolute pet peeve of any book. The overused trope of the terrorised woman being gaslit. Natalie begins fearing for her safety, but for every genuine fear is the worry that it’s all in her head. I read a book a few years ago: the female character panicked because she thought something was in the room with her and her colleagues who, all male, believed she was just imagining it, but when it happened to one of them, everyone jumped to attention. Rewind used the line: “He’s gaslighting me. Isn’t that what it’s called?” which, I swear to God, I’ve read in a book before. That. Exact. Line.
It’s overall a predictable story, but a good, quick beach read.
Alright, before I get into the nitty gritty, let me take a minute to rip your hearts out.
Ok. Now for the unpopular opinion. I Will Remember You is not the beautiful love story it’s made out to be.
I’m so, so sorry.
I accept there are a few sweet aspects in this episode but as I was getting ready to watch the episode before listening to the podcast Still Dead, hosted by Lani Diane Rich and Dr. Kelly Jones, something kept nagging at me. I thought it would stop nagging me once I watched the episode. It didn’t. Actually, rewatching the episode gave me more reasons to dislike this episode.
I’m not a ‘Bangel’ shipper – actually, Angel annoys me to no end most of the time – and I can’t separate Angel and Angelus. Maybe that’s colouring my perception of this episode. Maybe not.
There are two stories happening in this episode: there’s the thread of Angel giving up his mortality so he can do what he does: save the world, and there’s the thread of the Buffy and Angel romance. These two stories on their own are incredible and, in the episode, as single entities are told so well. But combining the stories just didn’t work for me.
And here’s why
Buffy: “What is this? Some new torment you cooked up just for me?”
Angel: “No, I don’t want to torment..”
Buffy: “What is it? You can see me, but I can’t see you? What are we playing here?”
Angel: “We’re not. I’m not playing anything. I wrestled with this decision..”
Buffy: “Which you made without me.”
Angel: “I tried to do what I thought was right. It’s complicated how this all happened, Buffy, you know? It’s kind of a long story.”
The episode kicks off with Buffy walking in, big as life, looking awesome, and tears Angel a new one. She’s pissed at Angel because he showed up in Sunnydale and STALKED her, which, in itself is not so romantic. Maybe give her a call, Angel: “Buffy! Buffy, I need to come to Sunnydale. A friend of mine had a vision… Well, yes, it was of you being in danger, how could you tell?” Or maybe don’t lurk.
Ok, so Angel has ‘been human’ with Buffy for the night/day and Doyle shows up, telling Angel that shit is going down and Angel is like, ‘I won’t wake her’ and I’m like, ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!? Angel. Angel, please, just take a seat for a second. You have given her what she wants; you can give her pure happiness now that you are human; you can give her some semblance of a normal life as a human. But you are human and going up against that demon alone will get you killed and it would shatter Buffy’s world. Buffy knows you are human. Buffy probably understands that she needs to pick up the slack of what you can’t fight. Buffy saves the day on a weekly basis with an everyman, a watcher on the brink of a mid-life and who generally won’t dabble in magic, and a novice witch. So here’s what you do: you wake Buffy up; you, Buffy and Doyle go find the demon and fight it; you and Doyle get thrown around and help out; then you realise what needs to be done because you know your shit and you tell Buffy. You involve Buffy from the get go and you deal with this as a partnership. DUDE! You put yourself and Buffy in danger because you were being a stubborn little shit.
The ultimate piss off…
Angel: “The Mohra demon said the end of days had begun. That others were coming, soldiers of darkness… What happens to the Slayer when these soldiers come?”
Woman: “What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner in her case.”
Angel: “She’ll die? – Then I’m here to beg for her life.”
The Oracles turn and walk away: “It is not our place to grant life or death.”
Angel: “And I ask you to take mine back. (The oracles stop walking and turn back to him) Look I can’t protect her or anyone this way, not as a man.”
Woman: “You’re asking to be what you were, a demon with a soul, because of the Slayer?”
Man turns to leave again: “Oh, this is a matter of love. It does not concern us.”
Angel: “Yes, it does. The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause – and it succeeded. I’m no good to you like this. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please.”
Man: “What is done can not be undone.”
Firstly, the end of days are always coming. Angel, you literally walked away from her right after she averted an apocalypse. She’s a mortal. She’ll die like any other mortal. That’s always been an issue. But she has and has always had a band of mortals by her side. Join that band. Be a research guy. And she has always won. Even when she had to send your ass to hell.
Secondly, Angel, I could probably forgive your decision and you not consulting Buffy if the primary reason was because you can’t fight the fight as a man, or – and this is the one that would probably bring my estimation of Angel up higher – if you gave up the ability of being a normal human because Buffy doesn’t have that choice. A lot of Buffy’s dialogue, particularly with Angel, and especially when they’re in bed, is Buffy saying how much she wants to be normal and how she feels normal when she’s with him. If he gave up his mortality – his ‘normalness’ – because Buffy doesn’t have the option to be normal, this episode would be a lot higher on my list and Angel would be a little bit redeemed. But he didn’t.
Your main reason for giving this up is because you want to be able to protect Buffy. Angel, she doesn’t need you protecting her. She gets by fine without you. She faced you and she could have killed you, she did kill you. She is so much stronger than you. Please see above, re being research guy.
*I started writing this post all gung ho and now I’m so deflated.*
My problem with this episode is actually the same problem I have with………
Holy shit – did I just align Angel with Riley? I honest to God did not see that coming. But come with me on this train of thought. I like Riley well enough at the start. My problems start when Riley begins to realise just how wonderful and strong and brilliant Buffy really is. His demeanor towards her changes when he finds out what she’s been doing since she was 15 and it goes downhill from there, whether its him feeling lesser than her because of her abilities or because in season 5 he is not the center of her universe. Riley will fall somewhere between a partner and a sidekick in his run in the show but he can’t deal with the fact that she doesn’t need him.
Spike, tops my list of Buffy boyfriends. Spike… who gets problematic, asshole-y, and is a little shit in season 6. Spike accepts Buffy’s strength. He loves her for it. He never thinks he needs to protect her – that I remember: call me out if I’m wrong. Spike will go to Buffy for help. If he gets information, he will go to Buffy with it. He is ok with sitting in his crypt with Dawn and Joyce watching Passions while everyone else is off fighting. His reasoning might be selfish but he doesn’t feel emasculated by sitting out on the fight. He recognizes that he is helping Buffy and taking away some of the worries she has.
Angel can never be the sidekick. He is barely ok with being a partner. He has to brood and he has to be in the middle of the fight. I can never imagine him sitting out a fight, watching civilians. The closest thing I can think of is Prophecy Girl and a few episodes in season 1 when he’s not emotionally invested in Buffy – The Harvest, Never Kill A Boy On The First Date. In Graduation Day Part 2 when Angel finds out there’s going to be an eclipse, he oozes happiness and when Xander starts being like, ‘I’m point guy, you answer to me,’ Angel’s tolerance of him generally drops but he couldn’t care less because he gets to fight! Whoop.
To recap, there are points of this episode I would rewrite:
Seperate Angel’s decision and his relationship.
Have Angel’s decision be more about him and less about diminishing Buffy’s strength
If you have to make this sacrifice for Buffy, make it because she doesn’t get the choice to be normal. Make the decision to honour her and not minimalise her.
Let Angel wake her up and she them as a team taking on the Mohra – Angel will still ultimately figure out how to destroy him.
Or don’t have Buffy in the episode. Spend the episode with Angel imagining his life with Buffy; what it will be like to be human with her. Then put a character – Doyle or Cordelia, preferably so he’s really invested in their survival – in grave danger and have him realise that he can’t protect people as a man and make us watch as the realisation hits him that he can never have that life with Buffy.
And, finally, I want to hark back to one of Buffy’s first lines in the episode when Angel is talking about his decision to go to Sunnydale and lurk in the shadows: “Which you made without me.” The episode starts with Buffy angry that Angel didn’t discuss with her his role in Sunnydale, didn’t ask if she needed his help, and the episode ends with him making a decision which will ultimately break her heart again and he doesn’t include her in the decision before hand. Tell Buffy before hand about what you are going to do. Let her prepare. Let her have her say. The fact that Angel made these decisions on his own is bookending the episode spoke volumes to me and I just can’t let it go.
For me, this episode has one redeeming factor and that’s Sarah Michelle Gellar’s performance at the end of the episode. Taken on it’s own, that scene moves me to tears. Watching this scene after watching the rest of the episode didn’t have the same emotional pull for me.
Am I all on my own in this? Is my dislike for Angel and his relationship with Buffy coloring how I watch this episode? Please let me know what you think. Is there anyone else in the world who doesn’t love this episode?
*Please don’t hate me.*
*I didn’t mean for a piece of this to be a discussion on Buffy’s boyfriends but it happened. Sorry.*
Going back to Star Wars for a moment, I noticed something when I let my mind wander and that was how interesting the battle between good and evil is depicted in the Original Trilogy and, also, the Prequel Trilogy – I mean, I noticed it earlier in the PT but only just noticed in the OT.
No, not this – the good guy in white and the bad guy dressed in black. This:
The good guy dressed in black and the bad guys dressed in white!
(Ok, how late am i in getting to this ‘doy’ party?)
I just think it’s interesting, in light of The Force Awakens, that these guys might actually believe that they are fighting for the betterment of the galaxy and because of the way Revenge of the Sith went in making out that the Jedi were pure evil and the Republic was corrupt. This was the whole reason Anakin turned to the dark side. Well, and because he thought *cough*correctly*cough* that Padmé and Obi-Wan were secretly in love with one another.
It was Sidious’ call to put Vader in all black but maybe it was Vader’s call to put the storm troopers in white, because he still believed in what the Emperor/Chancellor had told him all along, the Jedi and the Republic were corrupt and if Attack of The Clones taught us anything about Anakin, aside from his hating sand, it’s that he has a certain view of how the Galaxy should be run, and he believes the Emperor is running it that way.
Well, there it is, another (possibly superfluous) post about Star Wars. Because you know what? Aside from the continuity errors (Like, you had the story in the first three movies – how could you screw up continuity???) I really like the prequels. They are a lot more complex than I used to give them credit for. And I don’t hate Anakin all that much anymore.
This week saw the return of my favourite dynamic duo, Hardy and Miller.
Yup season 3 began in full swing on Monday (America, I don’t know when you’re going to get it) and it was gooood.
The episode kicked off with Ellie and Alec responding to a call about a sexual assault. They take her to be examined and processed and it is heartbreaking. There’s a creepy scene at the end but I’m not going to spoil anything. Yet.
Olivia Colman, David Tennant and Julie Hesmondhalgh are incredible throughout the whole episode, but we also get glimpses into how other much loved character are getting on 3 years on. Arthur Darvill returns as Paul, Maggie is back, releasing her book, telling Mark’s story, Chloe is doing her exams, and Beth is working at a crisis centre and, gasp, is assigned to Trish, the victim of the crime of the season.
Alec Hardy finds out that everyone has been calling him shitface since day 1, and is struggling as a single parent, but, if ep 1 is anything to base on, there will be a lot of quips between him and Ellie for the rest of the season.
This post feels a little sharp edged. Maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t feel polished and, so, I’m sorry. But I’ve reread it and edited it and hopefully it was just the font I was using in the editor but I decided to post it because I didn’t know what else I could do to it. I wanted to do this topic justice because it’s been in my head since christmas. My OCD wanted me to get all of it out in one post but I’ve had to break it up into two parts. So maybe my OCD is to blame for it…
Ok, guys… guys… guys… This is going to be one of those posts where I write as a stream of consciousness and then fill in the blanks once I’ve gotten everything out of my system and it’s a super energized theory and analysis and just completely fantric hehe. Also, it looks like it’s going to be hella long so bear with me.
I was playing Battlefront over Christmas and my brother was explaining about Jakku and I thought, “Shit I really need to watch The Force Awakens.” Somehow I ended up googling Rey and found an article titled something along the lines of Rey is Obi-Wans relative. And then I found another one, and another, and another and decided to watch the fucking movie before I fell any further down the Rey Heritage Rabbit Hole. So, I watched the movie and, taking the entire, and I mean the ENTIRE saga (novelisations and all)* into account, here are my thoughts on just who Rey is.
Disclaimer: Before I clicked on any links I did think, “Why does it matter? Why can’t she just be Rey?” and I still agree with that but here you will see my a) acceptance to tie everything in together and then b) my complete decsent into heritage madness…
Things to know before you read on: Movie titles will be referenced as follows: A New Hope – ANH; Empire Strikes Back – ESB; Return of the Jedi – RoTJ; The Phantom Menace – TPM; Attack of the Clones – AoTC; Revenge of the Sith – RoTS; The Force Awakens – TFA; or collectively as Prequel Trilogy (PT); Original Trilogy (OT) and Sequel Trilogy (ST). Italics and all.
No. It feels too easy. The whole ‘his lightsaber calling to her’; Luke’s daughter vs Leia’s Son… If they were going to make it that sort of a reference I think they would have placed another little hint in the vision scene or they could have kept some of the Expanded Universe canon and had a slight reference to Mara Jade in there but I saw nothing. People have been trying to analyse Luke’s reaction to seeing Rey and I have my own theory about that which I will post later but for now, no. I don’t think that Rey is Luke’s daughter. The Star Wars Saga in it’s entirety have so many parallels. For example: ANH introduces a mentor who dies at the end of the movie (Obi-Wan); TPM also introduces a mentor who meets his demise before the end credits (Qui-Gon); TFA has Rey meet Han and the two quickly develop an almost familial bond. That is until Han dies. There are plenty of these: flying through an asteroid field in the 2nd movie of each… trilogy. Anyway, my thinking is the Luke will be the Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Rey.
This feels a little more likely. Rey’s connection to Han was almost automatic and, although Leia and Rey only had a handful of scenes together where they had indirect contact with each other, their hug at the end wasn’t odd or awkward. It didn’t feel like Leia was thinking “who is this random girl who got so attached to my estranged husband in such a short space of time?” It definitely felt like there was a deeper connection there. A connection deeper than she would have with Luke.
When I first saw this clip of Han looking at Rey, I did think it was a fatherly look but taking into account the rest of the movie, that thought has gone. Again, parallels, guys.
If Rey was their daughter, I’m sure one of them would have realised.
(But if Rey is a Kenobi, why would she have such a connection with Leia and Han, a Solo and a Skywalker??? Well, that theory is in part b…)
Let’s put aside the obvious – the matching colour scheme that Rey wore in TFA and that Obi-Wan wore in the PT and ANH and the accent which sets both apart as the only “British speaking” characters in the franchise (except for Palpatine), even though John Boyega is British, but he put on an American accent. And also, not even going to skim the fact that the cast call asked for “Obi-Wan’s granddaughter.” … daughter?… Any way.
“Rey’s Isolation is key to her Origin.” I’m currently reading Kenobi, a legends novel about Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine. I’m about 4 pages in. But Obi-Wan spent almost 20 years alone on Tatooine. Rey is all alone on Jakku. Coincidence???
Lightsaber. Yes, the Lightsaber belonged to both Luke and Anakin. ( But that’s technically not Luke’s lightsaber. Luke created a new one when he lost this one. ) Luke had this lightsaber for a very short space of time – not more than a few months. Anakin had it for maybe three years. It was Obi-Wan who had this lightsaber in his possession the longest. That is why we hear Obi-Wan’s voice in the vision – he’s calling to her through the force. If Rey was some connection to the Skywalkers, couldn’t Anakin call to her instead?
Dueling Scene. I’m just going to leave this here because this is all you need to see for the fight
I mean, Anakin was such a (sorry not sorry for the upcoming language) whiny little bitch in the PT (and Adam Driver mirrors him so well as a petulant teenager) it’s sad to think that the entire history of SW is based on this annoying character and the story would have so much more umph, I think if, when it’s come full circle, it was the epitome of Good vs. the epitome of Evil á la Obi-Wan vs. Anakin.
I’m not saying Obi-Wan and the Jedi weren’t flawed: Mace Windu is a prime example, as is Yoda and even Obi-Wan but what if we took the entire saga as thus:
PT– Obi-Wan vs Anakin – The Story of a broken brotherhood
OT– Luke vs Anakin – The Story of Redemption
ST– Rey vs. Kylo Ren – The return of the broken brotherhood through their decendants.
Obi-Wan could have never known about his child until after he died and then remained with Rey, guiding her in life when he found out he had descendants. 20 years is a long time to be alone on Tatooine.
I’m just waiting for her to say, “Well, hello there…”
seeriously~nerdy 
