The Readirect Podcast

Noah Kahan Songs as Books

• Emily Rojas & Abigail Freshley • Episode 94

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Today we're deep-diving Noah Kahan's new album, The Great Divide, and discussing the books we'd pair with some of his songs. 

Mentioned Books: 

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Follow us on Instagram & TikTok @readirectpodcast. Abigail is on TikTok @fabigail11 and Instagram @fabigailinsta. Emily is on all platforms @emilyrojasreads. 

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Cold Open Fandom Brain Rot

Abigail

How did we as like a community take honestly like 10 minutes worth of footage from seven Harry Potter movies plus like I don't know, a handful of other clips of different fan cast actors and then make them? It's like the same things over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00

It hits. It hits. You know why? No. Because the 10 minutes of footage are the gayest 10 minutes of footage in this stream.

Abigail

Welcome

Welcome And What We Do

Abigail

to the Redirect Podcast. I'm Abigail Freshly. And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is the show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in our real lived experiences. On today's episode, we're gonna answer the burning question that I know is in all of our minds. What should I read if I'm really obsessed with listening to Noah Khan's music?

Reviews Follows And How To Support

Abigail

But before you get to that very important endeavor, we would love for you to support the show in a few really simple ways. First, you can go onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave us a five-star review, and tell us about how much you love our show. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at redirectpodcast. You can follow Emily everywhere at Emily RuhouseReads, me on TikTok at Fabigale11, and on Instagram at Fabigail Insta. You can also go to redirectpodcast.com to view our whole content library, shop our adorable merch, and um send us an email or read our bios or I don't know what else, whatever, whatever else you can do on our website.

unknown

That's pretty much it.

Abigail

But we'd love for you to do that. Um, but if you really, really, really love the show, um, of course, we would love for you to share our show with a friend personally, because that is by far the best way to help us grow our community of book loving nerds. Um, and yeah, uh, that is our intro, and we're so excited about this episode. Your part gets longer and longer every time we do it. I keep on like getting lost in the middle right now. I know, I know, and I love it. We need a better way to do it. No, I think you do a great job. It just continues to lengthen, but we're here. Um we are here.

How We Build Song To Book Picks

Abigail

We are here to do an uh episode idea that you had, which I think is really good. Um, which is like, hey, we did this with Taylor Swift. It was whenever she released Tortured Poets. Tortured Poets Department, yeah. Which we didn't do it exclusive to that album, but it was just like songs that are Taylor Swift affiliated in our minds. And books, which was fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Books that were Taylor Swift affiliated. Yeah. Um and so I'm excited to do that this time. I'm I'm so curious to hear what you have to say. Me too. I am also um, I think so like some of my songs, so some of my associations are direct like song to book. Some of them are more just like concept. I like it. I like that. Yeah, like vibe. Like I would say probably the vibe of this. Yeah. Yeah. And as I was prepping for this episode, I was thinking two problems. Number one, um, we kind of discussed this in TikTok DMs. My brain is so deeply rotted in two ways, heated rivalry and wolf star, which is that I can associate them with everything. And fortunately, that's the blinders on me because I'm like, wait, I have to think about other books. I can't just recommend Heated Rivalry and Wolfstar fanfiction, so I won't. That will be for a later TikTok post, probably. But uh number two, I realized that this like Noah K's writing pretty much hits the vibe of what I'm often looking for in a book, which is like complicated characters, melancholy, you know, uh place as like a character, the setting is like a separate character. So if you guys have any raps, please feel free to send those my way. Because I was like, dang, this this would be great. You know, I really had the thought. I was like, you know what the true book that is associated with um Noah Khan's catalog is? Yeah. The DSM. I do. Then like there are some songs on the new album, um The Great Divide. Yes, that I'm like respectfully, if you have a book that feels like this song, keep it from me. Don't tell me. Send it to me, please. I don't want to read it. I know that's fair. Because purely because a lot of the content of this album was written about his real like estrangement from his sibling. Yeah. Which I have lived experience with. So I'm like, I don't actually need to read a book about what's happening in my own life. In your actual life, yeah, that's fair. That is fair. Yeah, and they're super specific. I'm like, yeah, I like I am totally like, yeah, music can be about anything. Like, if you relate to it, then that's what it's about. And so many people on the internet are relating to um to a couple of the songs in the new album about complex relationships that they have in their life with various family members. And I'm like, from the first listen, I knew that was about a sibling. Yeah. Like from the first listen. And then I guess it got confirmed that he wrote some of the songs about a sister. And I'm like, yeah, I knew that.

unknown

Yeah.

Abigail

So um didn't need to tell me. Keep those for me. Yeah. Keep those for me. I don't need to read it. But uh, yeah. I would generally think that you and I may have some overlap in our lists, and so I'm feeling competitive about who gets to go first. Oh, I tried to pick ones that I wasn't sure if you had read. So actually, I'm not sure that we overlap. But I imagine that some of yours would be what I have on my like backup plan list. So, but if you want to go first, go first. I want to hear what you have to say. My yeah, I feel like first of all, this is more your culture, so you're gonna have a better list. But I'm feeling really competitive about this piece. Okay,

Doors As A Character Study

Abigail

and that is like the one happy song on the Great Divide is Doors. Yeah. Oh no, do you think Dan is a happy song? I think Dan is a happy song. But also he does talk about his other friend dying.

SPEAKER_00

Correct. That's why I love it. That's happy to me. Um, I would say I do not find doors to be a happy song.

Abigail

I find doors to be deeply relatable and anxiety. Uh it's like anxious attachment love. So that's real. Yeah. I actually took that as avoid an attachment. Because I feel like if you if it was like an anxious attachment song, it's like maybe both. Get closer to me, get closer to me. But like, okay, anyways. I interesting. What do you think doors? Doors is Ilya Rosanoff's theme song. And you know what? That's my one heated rivalry mention for this whole episode, but I had to get it out there. Extremely valid. Um, for those who are unfamiliar with the text, uh, let's read you some of the lyrics here. I grew up pretending sticks were little guns. I would point them at my dad and he'd get mad because God forbid I hurt someone. I'd hurt anyone I loved. Anyone who got too close, anyone who wouldn't look. Um and then he said, I'm the trouble ahead that I scream in my sleep. You're putting money on red. I'm sure I'm a sure bet at a losing streak. I keep showing you doors, but you can't open them up because it gets harder to see me the closer you try to look. And then he later he and then um he said, How does it feel, babe, that you're the one who decided to knock? And I feel like that is so Ilya Rosanoff. Like, he's like, I have a lot of pain, I have a lot of problems. I want to be seen so badly, I want to be known and loved and cared for, but um I'm hiding behind like this armor of being like this asshole, this like tough guy, whatever. But really, I'm covering up all of the softness within. And like, I feel like I'm a dangerous person who's who can hurt someone. I feel like I have the ability to really hurt your heart. Um, but gosh, I like I really want you to like risk it anyway. Like, I really want somebody to knock on the door and like so that I can open it for them. And uh, I just feel like that's his song. I really like that that interpretation. So, yes, I I uh one of the best edits I've seen is um the the Ilya song. The what am I saying? The Ilya edit to this song, which I did send you, and um it's it's that is him, and I think that's part of I think what will be so interesting about season two of seeing a lot of uh discourse that I tried to avoid um about season two, but like in the book in the long game, you're so like stuck in Ilya's head that it feels like Shane, you idiot, how could you not notice like he's struggling? But I think in the show it will be more like he doesn't really open up, he doesn't show Shane those parts of himself, and so I think it'll be interesting how it's like portrayed um from an outside lens instead of like being in his head and yeah, and like I'm particularly thinking about the scene from season one and also in book one, where they're in the hotel room at the all-star game, and Shane is like, I like you. And he's like, No, you don't like me. You don't like me. I'm not and then he's like, you don't like me, I'm not, and then it's like he can't finish saying he's like what he's trying to say is like I'm not good enough, I'm not right for you. Yeah, I like I have too much going on. I've got this baggage with Russia and my mom and my dad and my up family. Yeah, and nobody ever really likes me. Yeah, no one likes me. They like when I'm useful person. Yeah, they like that I play on good hockey on your team, they like having sex with me, but like nobody's ever liked me except my mom. Yes, who's gone, who left me. It wasn't even enough, yeah, for her to stay. Yes, and like, and then Shane being like, No, I think I like you a little too much. Yeah, you know, it's like that's the knocking. You decided to knock, you knocked, like I'm sick. I cut I could make it like again, we used to you when I said this off mic, we can make literally anything about them. Every single song on this album could be about them and is and will be. But and I can't, but I'm not gonna do that through this whole episode, but I had to do just that one because I genuinely like when I hear that song, like he is in my brain. Yeah, that's I see him behind my eyes. Anyways, okay, your turn.

The Everlasting Time Travel Romance

Abigail

Okay, my first one is actually a book I just read that I thought fit perfectly, not only with a song, it's not the one you're thinking of, it's the main one because I wanted to save the one. Yes, I wanted to save the one you're thinking of for the recent reads discussion. Okay. Um however, this book, first of all, I want to say I hesitate to recommend you romance books because I'm never sure where exactly our tastes overlap. I have never been so certain that you will love something as I am about this. I didn't realize there was a romance book. It is romance, it's romanticy, I guess. Technically, I would say it doesn't fit that vibe. Is that it is The Everlasting? The Everlasting by Alex with an Eye, Harrow.

unknown

Okay.

Abigail

So the lyrics I'm relating to this, uh, he says, Oh, I can't keep starting over, sleeping in a bed half empty, daydreaming, all love must leave. Oh, but search for you, I will. Okay, so The Everlasting follows a researcher, professor. I guess he's not really a professor. He works like at a university, but he's a researcher, um, historian. His name is Owen, which is a great name for a nerdy professor, I think. Um, I agree. I agree. Is like scrawny, cowardly. He went to war, but he got like brutally injured. And um, he has been his whole life obsessed with the legend of uh Sir Una, the female knight of everlasting. And he has like spent his entire career researching her, looking for you know more information about her. But the problem is there are no firsthand accounts of her life. Everything that he knows about her is secondhand. Legends pass down. She lived a thousand years ago, but her legend like lives on in everlasting, in Dominion, which is the you know nation that they live in. Um, and Dominion is currently at war with the people of the Hinterlands, and so it's a very like a tense time in their nation, and um, they like cling to the legend of Sir Una, who was this like amazing knight who could defeat anyone in battle, and she was um, you know, killed tons of people and united Dominion under the crown of the queen or whatever. And so one day, uh, as he's researching, a book appears on his desk mysteriously. Okay, and it is a first-hand account of the life of Sir Una of Everlasting, and he reads it and he's like, Oh my god, whoever wrote this loved her and mourned her, and like you can feel it in the text, and he's reading, and it's a first-hand account, and so he's reading, he's reading. And then on the seventh day, the book disappears. And in its place is a this is all the beginning. Um, in its place is a card with an address. He takes a card, he goes to the address, of course he does, and he encounters a government official there who tells him, hands him a blank version of the book and says, The book is empty because you haven't written it yet. And you need to go back in time and help Sir Una because she is at a critical point in her, like the the fate of her life that we've all heard about, and she needs you to go back and to help to help her and to um to see it to the end. Uh, this book is so good. It is so good. I am not like a romantic person, I'm not a historical fiction person. This kind of tactically feels like both, but it is insane. I love also like not only is Sir Una a female knight, um, but she's also like I feel like a worse romanticity book would make Sir Una like, or just Una, whatever. It would make her like, oh, she's surprisingly strong for her like small stature. And like, but she's not, she's big, she's strong, her back muscles are described in like very precise detail. And he Owen, like hold up, I'm telling you, you will love this book. Owen is like, he loves that about her, like he falls in love with her as she is, and it's not like, oh, well, in spite of her like giant stature, but she's like big and strong and like tough, and she has calloused hands, and like she's rough around the edges, and she's not gentle, and and she like they have this love story. It's so insane. I was not prepared. The twists, the turns. Say no more. It's one of those books, too, where you're like, hey, there's there's like 300. Okay, not that many because it's not that long, but like 200 pages left. Feels like things are wrapping up kind of fast. What's gonna happen next? And then you're not ready. You're not ready. So it's so I hate that feeling of being like, oh, things are a little too good. It's like when you're watching Survivor and they go to tribal council and there's half an hour left in the episode, and you're like, You're like, oh shh, something's about to happen. Hold up. Anyways, so but if you've read this book, I think you will understand why I'm relating those specific lyrics to the book. I don't want to go into too much more detail, but uh, I thought this was like heartbreaking, beautiful. The prose is insane. Um, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's it's on, it's on holds. It's on hold. Thank God. I really know, I know you will like it. Um and I was devastated as well to find. I went on to AO3. There are two fics under this fandom. One of them is like a massive crossover. It's like literally, there are two. There are two. And I'm so upset because it was that good where I was like, I I gotta stay here. I want to read more. I need to read more about them. And so is it a standalone novel or will there be a sequel? It is a standalone. I don't see a path for there to be a sequel. It very does wrap up everything. Um, but I've heard that there's a short story that she wrote that was kind of the original inspiration for this, so I'm gonna go track that down. Hey, sometimes all it takes is it sometimes it's a one and done. You don't not everything has to be. And it was so good, but I will read this again. Like, I want to own this, I want to reread it. It was so good. I like can't get over it. So um, yeah, I can't keep starting over, sleeping in a bed half empty, daydreaming. All love must leave, but search for you, I will. And he will always search for her. So that's it. That's my first pick. I can't wait. I can't wait. I'm so excited. I'm so sold. Yes, you had me like here's here's here's my truth. I'm imagining Sir Una as Alonomar. That's correct. Okay, so but blonde. Make her blonde. Uh, but yeah, that's it. Here's my I mean that's how I would picture her. Yeah, Alonomar lives in my neighborhood. Oh. And I'm like, if I can't, if I I I'm scared. Yeah, I don't know. Like, if that's what you really want. Yeah. No, I'm scared I will see her, and I'm scared that I won't see her. Either one is terrifying. Either way, what will I no one knows? No one knows what I'll do. No one knows what will happen. I don't. Yeah. Only God, only God knows. Um only God knows. Good luck. If you meet her, be like, hey, do you read? Would you ever want to come on her podcast? No, she does! She freaking does. Yes, okay, Alona. Maybe she's listening. If you're out there, we'd love to have you. Anyway, uh, yes, that is exactly it. Like, yes, correct. Okay, perfect. Can't wait for you to report. So there. Can't wait. That's all you know in 11 weeks. Okay. Which is the hold length. Yeah. It took me a long time to get it from the library, but it was worth the wait. And it was worth starting it again, even though I didn't. I would say if you're gonna pick this up, it did take a minute for me to get into. Obviously, a DNF the first time I read it. But wait until they meet, until Owen goes back in time. If at by that point you're not sold, then you can stop. But I would at least push through, get to that point. It's not very far in. Sure. Um so that's my recommendation. Yeah, I get it. I'm with you. Okay, okay. Um, we're next to next with

Noah Kahan Vibes In Anne Patchett

Abigail

this. I don't know. Um okay, I'm gonna go with vibes and then I'll go specific and then I'll go vibes again. So, vibes, I would say, um, particularly for the Great Divide, and actually for Stick Season 2, there are a lot of Noah Khan has a lot of songs about complicated family relationships, relationships with his parents, relationships between his parents with their divorce, um, which happened when in 2020 when he was writing Stick Season. And then um, complicated family dynamics with adult siblings and just whatever. There's just this sense of like uh, for instance, like with you're gonna go far. So there's like this duality. So in in uh his first album, there's a song about like, well, well, while we clean shit up in the yard, you'll go far. We're so happy, like, you know, we're so happy that you've left here and you're going to go do something. But then also in The Great Divide, there are several songs that are about his responsibility to take care of his family, to like be on the a song about being on the road back home to like go fix shit, like get everything straight, and just like this push and pull, the complicated family dynamic, being from a small town, and then like going and becoming the successful musician. Anyways, I think all of those vibes fit the Anne Patchett catalog of books. Anne Patchett um is just, you know, like this is not a hot take. She's just like a literary fiction white lady that is always like like I'm like, whatever. She she doesn't write genre. She's uh she writes books about families and their complicated dynamics, and particularly The Dutch House is set in New England, um, which is like you mentioned, Noah Khan has a strong sense of place in his art, and so does Anne Patchett. Um, Commonwealth is another book by Anne Patchett that's about a complicated family dynamic and involves divorce and half siblings and step siblings and kind of the web that we weave, though it is set in California. But um, I think uh uh either the Dutch House or Commonwealth um really just feel like a Noah Khan song. It's like, yeah, there's some melancholy, there's like there's some tension, there's also love, nothing is really simple, no one's good or bad. There's just like a lot of people who are trying their hardest, and that's what Anne Patchett books feel like to me. So if that is what you like about Noah Khan's music, then that's what I would recommend. Very good. I need to read the Dutch House, it's it's been on my TBR for a long time. You'll really like it. Yeah, I'll get to it. But it's like hard to even say what it's about. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? That one, the Dutch House is um follows the main two characters are a brother and sister. And in that book in particular, the brother and sister have a strained dynamic with their parents and stepparents, and it's like they depend on each other to parent each other and to raise each other. And even as adult siblings, like they're there's their network. And I think that one really feels like a Noah Khan song, even though he wrote songs about sibling estrangement. I think also just like he has some songs about friendship. And complicated relationships that are like that too. And um yeah. Highly recommend. Thank you. Thank you. Not a hot take though. No. I'm gonna do vibes as well, which is that basically, other than the two aforementioned brain rot things that I can cannot stop thinking about when I listen to this album. The person

Beartown And The Cost Of Staying

Abigail

I can't stop thinking about is fucking Benji Ovich, who is always on my mind. I knew you were gonna say that. I knew I couldn't not. I could it not. Um and if you don't know, Benji is one of the characters in the Beartown trilogy by Friedrich Bachman, which I have talked at length about. So this isn't a hot take really by me or by anyone. But especially I I thought about uh all them horses, which is like he says, um, I know I want to beat it, want to beat it bad. Everyone looks happy in a photograph. I cross the county line, I can't go back, I'm always on my own. And Benji, Benji, Benji is like, uh, if you haven't heard me talk about this before, um, Beartown is about a town in the middle of the woods, and it's a big hockey town, and so hockey plays a big role in the plot and in the setting. Place is very, very important. It's like a very isolated town, it's very cold, it's dark for most of the winter, and so like that plays a big role in the vibes. And Benji is one of the main characters. Um, if you've never read anything by Friedrich Bachman, he does a lot of like the omniscient narrator storytelling, so there's not like a singular main character that kind of jumps around. But Benji is one that appears in all three books, and he is sort of like the big fighter on the hockey team. Um, he's not necessarily the best player, but he's the guy who will fight for the best hockey player. The Ryan Price, as it were. Correct, the Ryan Price, for those unfamiliar. Um, and he has a big heart, though, very much like Ryan Price, and he also is gay and not out to anybody in his life, really. Much like Ryan Price. Much like Ryan Price, very similar vibes. Um, and uh his best friend in the world, who he's like kind of implied to be maybe in love with, uh, ends up being accused of sexual assaults in the first book, and he has to kind of make this choice with like, is he gonna stick by his best friend who he loves or do what he feels is right? And uh things get worse from there from Benji. I'm not gonna lie to you guys. It does not, it does not get well. Um it does not get better. But um, you know, he he's just such a complicated and interesting character to me. And the journey that he goes on through all these books is like deeply important to me. I also, with when I think about him, I think about dashboard, not because I think he's an asshole, but because of this lyric that says, uh, just when you think that the road's straight ahead, when the devil shows up on your dashboard again, there's a point where Benji tries to leave Bear Town and he does end up coming back. And so that song makes you think about him a little bit of like, you can leave and you can go away, but like this place is always going to cling to you, and the consequences of what's going on there are always gonna impact your life. Um, and hopefully that's not true for everyone. I hope people can escape from their complicated small towns where there might be risk of bad things happening to you, but Benji does not, and so I will always think of him. And do not send me that. It's I know they must exist. I thank God every day that not one has crossed my desk. What is the fan casting for Benji? Okay, so there is a TV show, so it's like in I, you know, wherever he's originally from, I think Finland, Sweden, one of those places. So it's not in English. Um, and there have been talks of an English adaptation, but um, I haven't seen it. I honestly don't care to. I will never reread these. Somebody, one of our listeners shout out, commented and on a Spotify post and said they reread Bear Town um as a comfort read. I will not be doing that. I will never read this again, but I love it so much, and so you should read it when you're in a solid, stable mental state, because I think it's worth getting to know Benji despite everything that horrible that happens to him. Um and there are other characters, but he's just the one to me, he embodies this album and trying to leave and not being able to, and still thinking about the complicated relationships that you leave behind. So that's tough. That's a good one. I I can tell that the vibe is raised. Correct. And I love it. I love those kind of books, so please send them to me. Just you know the trigger warnings, aggressive trigger warnings on this one. Okay, what's your next one?

Maine Is Happy Place

Abigail

Okay, this is one of the ones I thought you might pick. Okay, and that is Happy Place. Yes. And Maine, of course. Yes, objectively correct. So, um, yeah, so the lyric here I'm drawing from is, or the beginning of the song is tell me, lover, now that you've made your change, was your soul rediscovered, was your heart rearranged? Are you still taking pills in the morning? And did you lose that longing now for a walk through an ocean town? Because this town's just an ocean now. Uh we could keep going. The whole song is about the whole song. Basically, you don't hate the summers, you're just afraid of this base, asking strangers for answers to forget what they say, a boat beside the dock in the sunlight, and nothing but the water and the sunrise now, just a lack of an open mouth because this town's just an ocean now. So the song is obviously about Wynne and Harriet, and um, yeah. Um having this place literally in Maine, by the way. Oh that you go to to be yourself and to be seen as who you are, and this longing of like this is Harriet and Wynne breaking up and then reuniting in Maine at the summer house, and being like, Are you any different? Are you still the same as who you are? And like, yes, um, you know, I miss this place, your head in your heart. My dad still tells me when they're playing your songs, laughing at the way that you would say if only baby, there were cameras in the traffic lights, they make me a star. The whole thing is just like about we want to get back to this place where we are ourselves, that we can get free and that we can be known. And when we're there, we can't help but fall back to each other. Correct. I mean, the whole thing is just literally Emily Henry. First of all, when you adapt Happy Place, don't have Yulin Kwan be a part of it. Get her away. When you do it, get the rights to the song, bam. Yes. This this if this isn't the opening, the beginning guitar parts, like the beginning of the little guitar. If that's not Harriet like on the plane, I don't want. By the way, this is so unrelated, but are I am a part of the now conspiracy theory that the reason do you know his song Payton is Cold Water? Do you listen to that ever? Yeah, yeah. So it it's not released, there's only the live version. People are saying it might be on the Hunger Games soundtrack. Go away. No, because it should have theoretically been on this album. Oh, yeah, and by the way, spiritually, Noah Khan is Hunger Games. Correct. That's there too. But so is almost everything. But like, no, actually, the one of the greatest. So this isn't aside, this isn't on my list, but one of the greatest edits I've ever seen in my life that profoundly changed me in the way I was as a human being was a Hamich edit. Of course. To Algerbrook Road. Correct. The view of the villages. That's Rima Sloop in this world. Yeah, hello. Past Algerbrook Road and over the bridge. But I feel so far from it. The death of my dog. My dog? Okay, no.

SPEAKER_00

The stretch of my skin. So put it in.

Abigail

Doll washing over me and angry again. No, I mean. The people I knew? They've got me surrounded. Dude. No con. Nobody's writing some music. You know why? Like, no music. This song is about returning to District 12 and it's in ruins. Yes. And you're returning from the second quarter quail. Correct. The third quarter quail. That is what it's about. Um you know what I was thinking though about this album? Like, how what a like you can get Taylor Swift and write songs about your ex-boyfriends, but Taylor Swift is never gonna write a song about her dad. And like that's honest because it's a scary thing to do. And I just like to know a con to give us this, which feels insanely vulnerable, and to be talking in this incredibly painful and honest way about your family's actual problems, is crazy. And I love him for it. And I'm sure that it could go one of two ways. It could be a really healthy thing to do, it could be a like a horrific thing to do. So, anyways, I just think like nobody's doing it like him to this extent, and uh it's crazy. So, shout out and to keep like to to people you still have a relationship with, is what I'm trying to say. Like, it's a you can write about an ex or a family member you never talk to, but for this to be family that you still have in your life, and to write like this is really a difficult thing to do. So anyways, Maine is happy place, and that's a correct objective too. And uh, View Between Villages is Heamish is Hamage, and it also is Remus Lupin. Correct, yeah, because it edits to him like transforming to the stretch of my skin, and he's walking across the bridge in Ed Hogwarts. Honestly, it's like how how did we as like a community take honestly like 10 minutes worth of footage from seven Harry Potter movies, plus like I don't know, a handful of other clips of different fan cast actors, and then make them it's like the same things over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00

It hits, it hits you know why? Because the 10 minutes of footage are the gayest 10 minutes of footage in this stream.

Abigail

Okay, the other day I randomly had a weird edit on my feed that was um you know the movie The Holdovers, it's like a Christmas movie, okay, whatever. Yeah, it was an edit about the the main character boy from that, but Zach was just like looking over my shoulder and he was like, Oh my god. Because he was like assuming it was Wolf Star because it had the same vibe. It's not the same vibe, he's like, he's like, this is what Wolf Star edits look like to me. And he's like, random picture of one actor, random picture of another. Like, it just doesn't make any sense at all.

SPEAKER_00

The thing is though, like no one ever explained it to me. You just have to get it deep.

Abigail

You have to be so deep into this internet subculture to understand why this montage of different actors but it makes sense. Anyways, thank God. Anyways, hey, back to you, back to me.

Malibu Rising And Eldest Daughter Energy

Abigail

Okay, so I picked this one is another I've I haven't read this book in a long time. So to be honest with you, but the vibes are there, which is that I think the vibe of American Cars is an eldest daughter vibe. It is the person who's going to take care of everything. And I think the vibe of the book, Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reed, is the eldest daughter book. And it follows four siblings, they had complicated relationships with their parents, their dad was famous and kind of had nothing to do with them for a long time. And it all takes place at this big party that they're throwing, um, sort of like this annual event that they do every year. But there's flashbacks and things happening during the party, and it all comes to a head this one night. And the main character is Nina, who is like the eldest daughter of this family, and she has like taken on all the pressure that no one's really even putting on her, but they kind of are. And she feels like she has to give up her own dreams, her own life to like take care of her siblings and take care of her family and like carry on the legacy or whatever. So that's just a full vibe space. I love this book. I think this book is the most underrated of her books, and it is probably it's definitely top three for me of her books. Might be top two. It's one of my favorites of hers. It's really good. And I read it and felt, yeah, like there's the complicated sibling dynamics here, and uh, I think you'll relate to it if you relate to American Cars. Wait, is this your top two? What's your top one? I don't know. I think atmosphere is my favorite. And then you're gonna go atmosphere, Malibu Rising, and then one. Daisy Jones, but they could switch. I I don't know. And then where are you putting seven husbands? That to me is like farther down. Yeah, you're fine. To me. To me. Um, I think the Daisy Jones audiobook would be number two, and then this actual book would be number two. The Daisy Jones book on its own, I think, falls to number three. I just think the audiobook is such a experience. But yeah, I love Malibu Rising, so I think if you relate to American Cars, you should listen to Malibu Rising. They can't also the Nick from New Girl edit to American Cars.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god.

Abigail

That's sick. That was sick of you to send me. I did not like it. Uh, that episode is one of my favorite episodes of TV when he goes uh to Chicago after his dad died. And Jess is like like so like attracted to him. Yeah, because it's like, oh god, he's this we think of him as our loser friend, we always have to take care of. But he goes home and they're like, you gotta fix everything, Nick. You gotta take care of it. You're tough, you can handle everything. So that would be my other suggestion is go read Mallory Rising, watch Chicago from New Girl, and then listen to Mary Girl Cars, and you'll get the full immersive experience. Oh, Nick. Nick Nicky. All right,

All My Love And Second Chances

Abigail

this is my last one. Is um this is vibes-based, but also attached to a certain song. Uh, and this is Love in Other Words by Christina Lauren. This this is a book that is told in two um time jumps. Yeah. Uh, when the two main characters who don't ask me what their names are, don't know, don't care, honestly. Yeah. Um, they are like childhood, friends, childhood love, young love, big gap of estrangement, reconnect as adults, and slowly over the book, you are learning about what happened to them over their lives. And now they're reconnecting. And uh the song I'm most connecting this to is All My Love by Noah Khan. Um, how have things been? Well, love, now that you mention it, my folks still talk, they speak in these two-word sentences. I'm saying too much, we know how it gets out here. No winter coke, keep all the cold of your atmosphere. Um, you've got all my love while I'm still out here with the pills and the dogs. If you need me, dear. I'm the same as I was. It's all okay. There ain't no drop of bad blood. It's all my love. You've got all my love. You've got all my love. And I just think this is so them. Um like correct. We have such the vibe is we have such a rich history that it's okay. Like, if we could just go back into that pattern, if we could just, if we could just reconnect to that vulnerability, if we could drop the mask, if we could be honest with each other about how we're feeling, we could so easily go back to that and it won't matter. None of it else matters because you have so much of my love. Um, it's there's not a drop of bad blood, it's all my love. And um, yeah, I feel like this is also the vibe with a lot of the songs from his first album. Yeah. Um, like, yeah, there's just shit that happens. Like, there's just life that happens that just gets in the way. And um, like we now as adults have the opportunity to correct that. Um, yeah. So yeah. No book has ever made me cry like that book. I don't know what it was. It just like I was just like wracked. Maybe that's not true. Maybe like this uh Harry Potter, Seventh Harry Potter book, but like other than that, this one just got me. It's devastating. Oh, The Great Alone got me really bad. Yeah, that one um hit me as well. The Nightingale got me really, really bad. That one would have been worse if I had I finished it when I was at work. So I was like, I gotta shut this down. Oh Lord. Okay, okay, I can do one more. Um

Willing And Able Plus East Of Eden

Abigail

I was thinking about uh okay, like disclaimer. I know that this that Willing and Able is not a song about romantic love, but I do think it kind of sure it can be whatever you want. So I think it kind of tracks with the book that I recently read that I talked about, which was No Matter What by Kara Bastone, um, which is about a couple, a married couple sort of on the brink of divorce, being unable to like talk to each other and finding their way to communicate again after a tragic accident happens in their lives. And I think the song just like hits that vibe. You know what I've been trying to rack my mind? You probably might not know, but I feel like there's a scene in my mind from like a sitcom or a movie, a rom-com maybe, like where there's a couple and they're like, We should stay and we should have the fight instead of like not talking about it. But gym and pants.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yes, that is what I'm thinking.

Abigail

You're right. I've been searching for this like. No, I think I think we need to fight. If you come home tonight, I think we're gonna fight. I think we should fight. Yeah. Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. Thank you so much. You saved me. You're welcome. But that's the vibe of this book where it's like sometimes being willing and being able to like have this conversation is not gonna be easy. And fight like we used to fight, that line, and it's like, yeah, sometimes when there's like this distance in a relationship, you have to be willing and able and have the fight, and that's what I remind me of. That scene from The Office. Thank you. And also this book so it's so good, yeah. What kills me the most about um that song is at the end when he's like, you know, I'm willing, I'm I'm willing and able, I'll be willing and able. And he said, if you're willing, you're willing, I'm able. And that's the that's the that's the f it all. Is like if you are either unwilling or you are unable, it does not matter how willing and able I am. The other person is here. Oh, speaking of Ilya Rosanoff, you know, like he could do he could do all of his work, and his brother, his brother will still like he's not willing, or he's unable, you know, or he's unwilling, or whatever. And it's like oh god, yeah. But so theoretically, it's like another thing about his brother, who you know what's so interesting. I wonder why they decided to change his name for the show from Andre to Alexier, but I think there was a reason. I remember Jacob uh said something in an interview. Like the there's certain rules about names on TV and like how close they can be to like a real person or something. I don't know. There was something like that. Okay. Um, yeah, anyways. Anyways, I'm not like defending him, yeah, but I am saying like he also went through so much trauma. No, like correct, he has he had the same parents as Ilya, yes, and he has a kid, yeah. He's the older sibling, so who knows what and he had to order as the caretaker for their dad. Yes, so he was stuck behind. It's exactly this dynamic, yeah. Okay, yeah, and like the way he's treating Ilya is not okay. No, and also like is he willing and is he able to fix it? Because it doesn't matter how willing and able Ilya is in this situation, or anyone else who has an estrangement with their sibling, but yeah, but like it doesn't matter, yeah. Like if the other point if you're willing, I'm able, yeah, or in like a love relationship or a parent relationship or really whatever, a friendship, like how whatever connects to you about this song. Um, yeah, if you're willing and able, like we can kick this rock around. If you know we could fight, we could like we could do it like we used to do, like when we were kids. Yeah, yeah. But you have to be those two. Yeah, and like that's all it takes, but also hard. Yeah, yeah, totally. I'm actually glad if you got that much into a song. Yeah, dude. I'm glad you said that too, because I forgot to make this note, but the uh the Cain and Abel allusion to willing and able reminded me also of East of Eden, which I have also talked at length about, which is a retelling of Cain and Abel. But if you're looking for yeah, location as a as its own character, um, complicated family dynamics spanning multiple generations, uh, sibling relationships. Obviously, there's the Cain and Abel of it all, um, but not in the way that you might expect. I think you should read East of Even. So I forgot to mention that one. But yeah, those are my two for Willie and Abel. Two very different books. But two of my favorites, actually, that I've read. Um Willie and Abel is a it's a it's a hard song to listen to. It's it is a good one. I mean, it's a great song, it's a fantastic song, but wow. Also, 23. Oh my god. I can't. If you have a book. That reminds you of the song 23. Literally keep that to yourself. I'm everything else. He says, What does he say? He's like, um, if I if I never see you again, it can be anything I want. 23 clean in the engine heat, teaching me how the thing runs. Stay gone. Yeah. Stay gone to me. Like, literally, don't come back into my life because you'll ruin the only happy mirror, happy memory I have of us together. Yeah. You'll ruin that if you come back into my life because you are not willing and able. Yeah. Dude. No, 23 is not okay. It's really not okay. Yeah. Stay away from me. Stay away. Stay.

SPEAKER_00

It's another thing.

When TikTok Edits Go Too Far

Abigail

I will never watch the movie, Beautiful Boy. I will never watch it, no matter how many edits.

SPEAKER_00

No, babe.

Abigail

TikTok serves me of that movie. I know you think that that might be something I would like. Never in my life will I watch that movie. Stay away from it. While we're at it, you know what's just honestly a bridge too far for me on the TikTok edit world? And it's like, if you it's like if we're getting a bridge too far for me, is that you seen those? No. Like from um from what's that movie with Timothy Chalamet, the other gay movie? Oh, uh Call Me by Your Name. Yes. There's like a part from that. I should I think you shouldn't know what I'm talking about. Hold on. Yeah, it's not just me. Maybe I've seen it. I do get a lot of call me by your name edits. Once again, I I do understand what TikTok thinks of me. I am not unaware. Okay, so in the movie, Army Harac Army Hammer's character didn't age well, by the way. Uh is speaking, he's like, it's like the age gap love, like the forbidden gay relationship that's going on. Yes, yes. Between Oliver, who's played by Army Hammer, and Elio, who's played by Timothy Chalamet. And there's like this moment, this like deeply emotional moment in the movie where he's like, Elio, Elio, Elio, Elio. And he's like whispering his name over and over and over again to him. And people have started like overlaying that with other songs and stuff. In the I have to be mad and I don't want to. No, because it'll go from like broke back mountain. No. Okay. No.

unknown

No.

Abigail

To which it'll go from broke back mountain with like uh with Jack and um Ennis. Ennis. And then it will go to like then it will go to Oliver and Elio, and then it will go to Shane and Ilya. Yeah, no. That's sick. That's sick. Yeah, I'm good. Right now I have like a freaking every time I log into TikTok, I get a million likes because I comment. I have to stop. I have to stop commenting on your post, and I have to stop commenting on Brokeback Mountain edits because that's when I get these crazy notifications. But it's to an Ethel Kane song, and I commented, leave Ethel Kane out of this.

unknown

Please God.

Abigail

And and it keeps getting likes because I understand people relate to that sentiment. Like, stop with the Ethel Kane. Ethel Kane needs to stay away from Brokeback Mountain. Those together are too much. That's too much. Same with the LEO. It's too much. Like we've got enough. We've got enough, you know. No, the things that the ones that absolutely send me when it's like the the message is trying to say is that like Jack and Ennis had this like cursed relationship so that Shane and Ilya could have like a beautiful, happy ending. Yes. And I don't want to see that. Hey, stop. Yeah. Shut up. What are you talking about? Blocked. Oh my god. Literally delete your account. That's another one, though. If you guys have any ethyl cane. Do not give them to her. I will take them. Give them to me. Anyway.

Recent Reads Segment Begins

Abigail

Okay. Um, what have you read recently? Yeah, let's talk about what we read recently. Um, okay, how many do you have to talk about? Two. Okay, let me see what I have. And one of them you have also read. And they're both by the same author. Okay, you start, because I have given you three clues. I really just have the one I want to talk about. So you start. Okay. So obviously I read that everlasting. We got that covered. Then do you want to talk about the first, the one that you've read first or the one that you haven't read first? Of Cat Sebastian. Okay. Um, wait, wait, wait. Okay, but can I say something? I have that from the library. I haven't started it yet. So don't I won't I won't say too much. Don't say too much. Okay. Because I I have Starshipped ready to read. Okay. Okay, so I did get read Starshipped. Um

Cat Sebastian Starship Road Trip

Abigail

Cat Sebastian. And this is Kat Sebastian's first contemporary. This is her first contemporary, right? Yes, yes. Which I think this is why I love her so much. Because she's like, but I do think it'll I I don't know. I'm I'm interested to see your thoughts. Um Starshipped uh was my first book by her because it came out from the library first. And I'd actually been wanting to read it before you recommended me her other books because I kept seeing this recommended. Um it follows um Charlie and Simon. Great names, by the way. She's really good at names. She's so great at picking the right names for people. The right name. Correct. The random names. This is 100% from Simon's POV, so it doesn't flip. Um and Simon is like, he is an act. They're both actors. They both star or they co-star in a um sort of like a modern Star Trek-esque show. It's a little bit like campy, but like that's where the name Starship comes from. Yes, Starship. Um, and uh they yeah, like it's just like a little, it's not like super serious, maybe like Doctor Who, I don't know, something like that. It's like a cast of characters traveling through space, misadventures. And Simon hates Charlie because he's like a serious actor, and also he's like very neurotic and he has like a little bit of OCD, really bad anxiety, isn't really sociable, and Charlie is like very charming, very extroverted. He started his career as a reality TV show actor and then transitioned into being in this show, and so and he got off into a bad foot. When Charlie first started, he was like pause, everything. This is giving me the vibe of um time to shine, kind of. Yes, very similar. You have like this like one like really outgoing Gregory's and someone who's like, okay, I got it. Very reserved. Yes. Um, and yeah, when Charlie first started, he was 20. Um, he was possibly dealing with some addiction issues, and he got off to a very bad start on the set, like fighting and causing problems. But he's now cleaned up. It's been years, they're in like the seventh or eighth season of the show. Um, and so basically what happens is Simon wants to leave the show, but he there starts to be these rumors and these tabloids about how both Charlie and Simon are difficult to work with, and nobody wants to work with them, and that they hate each other and that they fight on all these things. And so Simon is like, Well, I want to get a new job, but nobody's gonna want to hire me if they think I'm not if I they think I'm difficult to work with on set. And so him and Charlie concoct this plan to spend time together in public to pretend to be friends so that they can, you know, dispel any of those rumors. Um, and obviously you know where this is going, but there's a road trip. Um, and she's Cat Sebastian is just good at like characters like that are specific and complicated and real. And these both feel like very real people who have very real issues. Speaking of Noah Khan, there's a lot of complicated family dynamics at play in both of their lives that impact how they show up in relationships and they're like the way that they're patient with each other when things don't always go easily. Yes, dude. I feel like we asked the universe for a new favorite author to help get us through us delivered. Yes, the universe has provided because I am like, I'm genuinely so excited to read a ton of back catalog. Yes. I'm gonna read all of her books, all of them, especially because I uh love historical romance so much. It's everything you like, and it it I don't even like historical, but we'll get to the next one I read. Um, this one is modern day, and the only reason I was like, would you like it? is because there is like Discord, like people ship their two characters, so there's like little Discord like cute chats, but it's fun and like references to fan fiction, which I obviously love. Um, because I was like, oh, Kat Sebastian knows ball. She's been in a fan fiction Discord server before because these usernames and the conversations they're having feel like I have read them, you know? Yeah. So um, anyways, it's just a lot of fun. So I had a good time with this. I love that. It was so good, but I'm so even better than this was.

You Should Be So Lucky Slow Burn

Abigail

What is it? You should be so lucky. Yeah, you should be so lucky. You should be so lucky, which you have talked about in our last episode. I texted you fully crying on page 66. That's not even exaggeration. I was crying, genuine tears, about these two characters. 60 pages in. I did I had plans yesterday. Did I do anything I had planned? No, I did nothing all day. I read the entire book in one sitting. Um, literally took me all day. Um was I right when I said this book feels like when two people's pinkies are grazing? Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, the yearning. There, I think their pinkies actually do graze at one point in this book.

Abigail

Like it no, because you get you it is a slow burn. I mean, you get halfway through the book, and it's like it is not like you when the payoff finally happens, you're like, this has been earned. Like, yes, too many books these days, they get together way too early, and then you're like, what's going on? Yes, this was my beat. This is what I like about Carabastone as well. So I would recommend her for anyone who's looking for this and Kat Sebastian. They like get together, they kiss, and they hook up all in one moment. Cat Sebastian is not doing that, and neither is Carabastone. It's like a real, like, there's these like moments. And it's like intentional too. When Eddie's like, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna Yeah, when Eddie's like you hear his mental yes, his his inner monologue of like, yes, I don't want him to think that this is just a hookup. So I'm not gonna have sex with him right now. Yes. Even though, like, I want to, yeah. I I'm gonna leave because I need him to know how serious this is to me. Yes, yes. Also, one little thing I want to say uh Kat Sebastian is a master because I text you about this as well, but there's this one theme, thematic thing that is actually so minor, but led to me crashing out, which is at the very beginning of the book, Mark is thinking about his grocery list and how he used to cook and he doesn't anymore. And the only thing he buys every week is the same thing, which is like bananas, cornflakes, and milk and coffee, maybe like everything for his breakfast, and that's the only thing he buys, and then he just eats out. He like used to be such a good cook and then he used to be a good cook, and then it's like not, it's a sminer thing. Then Eddie comes over as a friend for the first time and is like, Hey, do you have orange juice? Okay, and and uh Mark's like, No, I'm sorry, I have nothing basically here, some alcohol. And then the next time Eddie comes over, it's just one line and it's like, oh, he grabbed the orange juice from the fridge, and it's like a worse author, most authors I feel like would have pounded you over the head and said, Hey, look, Mark bought orange juice for Eddie because he noticed that he asked for it, but she doesn't even do it, it's never even mentioned again. It's just this one line, and I'm sitting there staring at the wall, like freaking out because I'm like, he bought him or like he changed his grocery list for him. Dude, what about whenever he found the cherries in that? I know the cherries, and he's and and Eddie's like, am I supposed to be jealous? Like, this is a part of you. I don't I love you, and like you loved him, and that's that's okay. Oh I actually want to die. This book was so you are I I what I'm telling you. I'm not ready for we could be so good. You're not ready. I'm scared. It's better, it's better. I'm I don't know how that's possible, but I'm so excited. I just got it from the library, it was there on the shelf. I didn't have to notice for it. I did I wasn't paying attention because I wasn't aware of we could be so good when I read this book. But um, what are their faces? Andy and Nick and Andy. And did were you paying attention for them? Yes, and then it was yes. I think we have like dinner with them at the end or something like that. Yeah, Nick and Nick gives advice to Mark at one point and then they all have dinner together. Um, so I'm hopeful there'll be more. So this one, these two books are the only ones right now it in like the I think this the series is like called mid-century New York or something like that. Yeah. Um, but I'm hopeful she'll have another one. I would love one about the lesbians. I forget their names. Maureen and something. I would love one about the lesbians. Yeah, but they're already together, so I guess you have to do like a dog. She can do time, but yeah. Yeah, sure, why not? And you can do everything you want. Yeah. I'll read, I'm gonna read every book she's ever written, by the way. I'm on this quest now. I just no, she has the formula, right? Like she she gets it, she has the right ingredients. She fully gets it. So this is exactly what I was doing. For you to read it we could be so good. I mean, it's so exciting. It's so unbelievably good. I don't even know. Okay. I'm ready. Anyway, all right. Uh, is it my turn? Yeah, what have you read recently?

Trad Wife Thriller And Twists

Abigail

Okay, all right. So this is not a romance, but I think you would badly like this. Okay. It is if you haven't already read it, it is um Everyone is Lying to You by Joe Piazza. I have not read this. All right. Uh, this is a thriller about uh that's told from two points of view. Um, one point of view is Lizzie, who um, and the other is uh Rebecca. They were best friends in college, and they had a mysterious falling out, like that was really abrupt, and they haven't talked in a long time. They went on different paths in life. Rebecca ends up being a journalist, she gets married to another journalist, they have a couple of kids, and at the time of this story, she's writing for a women's magazine. And uh Bex uh is now going by the name Rebecca, and she is a trad wife with millions of followers. Oh my god, on social media. Say no more, say no more. So Lizzie follows her on social media, and she's you know, like as you would with your friend, like if you had a falling out with and like got super famous, and um, she still has no idea what's going on with them, whatever. Randomly, one day, Rebecca reaches out to her and is like, I need you, uh, I want you to write a story for me. Like, I have this like really big thing launching, and I can't say it to you over text, but like I because I'm keeping it really close, but like I'm going to this, um, they have this, like, there's like this uh conference called Mom Bomb. It's like a bunch of mom influencers are coming, and like, I want you to come and uh I'll tell you about it there and you can write the story. Okay. She goes to the conference and they have dinner together, whatever. She realizes things may not be quite as they seem in Rebecca's life, and she's whatever. The next day, she's at the conference, she's looking around for Rebecca. Rebecca is not there, and the police bust in, and they're like, uh Rebecca's husband, I forget what his name is, is dead. He's been murdered. Oh my god. Yes. And so you're like, wait, what's going on? So you're told from both of their points of view, you're trying to figure out what happened. She's trying to write a story about it. Um, and I mean, was it like an incredible work of art? No. Is it like a good standard thriller? Yes. And yeah, the um, like the it's it's I mean, this character is like based off Ballerina Farm. Sure. I mean, that's like the whole thing. I read this because I'm really interested and excited to read Yes Your Year. Have you heard about this? I've been seeing a lot about this, yes. Okay, so I was talking about that at um book club last week, and someone recommended this uh while I'm waiting. But um, this is uh Yester Year is also a thriller that's basically based off baller uniform. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay, let me put that one on hold too. Yeah, so but this is a great place to start. Um, I think you'll I think you'd really like it. And um, I think the characters are complicated. Like I didn't walk away being like I felt I still felt complicated about everyone at the end, but I love that. Yeah. I am placing yesteryear on hold as well, but that one I also just put on hold. Yeah, I'm excited for you to read that. I'm so excited. Yeah, uh yesteryear was one of the ones that I'm in like a work book club. This was one of the options for this month, but it's not the one that ended up winning, so I won't be reading it for that, but I will read it for me. And I can't wait to read books. It's hard when you're trying to do a book club and there's like a bunch of like there's like a hold for the book. So it's hard for people to get the book.

unknown

Yeah.

Abigail

I think everyone in my book club pretty much buys the books. I don't. I'm like, if I can't get it at the library, I'm just gonna come and not sit out for the book, to be honest. Yeah, but most of the time I can get them at the library. So anyway. I'm actually going through right now and canceling some of the holds I've had because my library changes so that you like you just you know you suspend your hold or whatever if you can't read it. And I'm there's some of these books I'm just not gonna read. Yeah, I've been doing that as well lately. Um, you have to know thyself. Also, I've been like not wanting to read a lot of e-reader books. I've been only wanting to read physical books. Um I get it, which is just the vibe I'm in right now.

Library Holds And Closing

Abigail

So a lot of times my Libby holds come in on my that are e-books. I'm like, eh, I'll wait till I can get this in my hands. Yeah. Great episode. All right. Everybody go read that Sebastian. I'm excited. I'm also like, I'm taking it slow, but I'm still working through Paladin's grace, and I'm looking forward to I am really enjoying it, and I'm looking forward to giving full readout on our next episode. Great. We'll see you guys then. Cool. Well, that's all for now. Bye.