I dont konow why everyone is afraid of MEL,MEL will be yours best friend when you get to know him. I'd have thought it was a she with the name... Definately learn mel because if its anything like C++/Python/Perl/PHP etc then you'll be learning skills which you can apply to creating websites etc which could be handly for when you need your own showreel site. I've not tried yet but it looks soooo powerful