#but it seems entirely possible to me that growing up in small town florida may not have given her the best opportunities to explore

[biblicalhorror]

this past weekend I was at a bachelorette party and I was smoking weed with this girl I didn't know very well and she was like "yeah everyone assumes I'm a lesbian because I work in construction and I don't wear makeup" and I was like 🫣 girlie I thought you were a lesbian because you just told me verbatim your type in men is "when they're silent and leave you alone" but it reallyyyyy doesn't seem like you're ready for that conversation yet

[livingcorner]

37 Garden Border Ideas To Dress Up Your Landscape Edging

This collection of garden edging ideas will help you define garden borders, highlight an area, add texture and dress up your landscape.

Often overlooked, lawn and flower bed edging can play an important role in your landscape design plan to improve your property’s overall curb appeal. Edging comes down to simply separating two distinct areas.

You're reading: 37 Garden Border Ideas To Dress Up Your Landscape Edging

Not all of these landscape edging ideas will fit your garden. You may love the look but they simply are not practical, affordable or the style of your garden.

Keep in mind as with many things in the landscape and garden there are NO RULES. Landscape edging comes down to your style, creativity, materials and budget.

The materials used for edging come in a wide range of choices and combinations: stone, concrete, brick, wood, tiles, metal, plates, glass, gabion, logs, and all kinds of things recyclable items.

Let’s face it, upcycling is popular for use in the garden. Many of the garden edging ideas below incorporate some type of upcycled material and most of the ideas include sources to tutorials.  Let’s get started!

Concrete Edging And Curbing

Broken concrete makes for great garden edging.

The word “concrete” can sound very hard and cold, but a concrete edge offers lots of design opportunities.

source: livingcorner.com.au

The arrangement of these flat stone or “broken concrete” around the corner of the house draws attention to the hostas and other foliage planted against the foundation border edge of the house. It’s always a good idea to install landscape fabric and edging in that order.

Poured Form Concrete Garden Border

source: pinterest

This edging comes uses concrete to form a curbing. The construction of these concrete landscape borders is made onsite and very permanent. The concrete can also be stained or painted. It’s a nice way to edge around a tree.

If you’re curious on “how much does concrete curbing cost per foot”? HomeAdvisor estimates $4-5 per square foot.

Brick Garden Edging

When we think of edging materials in most yard landscaping projects we think of brick edging and as you’ll see, bricks and pavers can be used to create a landscape edge in many ways.

source: gardeenworld.blogspot.com

Neatly assembled stone tiles placed flat in a shallow trench make a garden edging which forms a nice barrier between the garden bed and grass. A neat clean look which provides uniformity to the landscape. A way to edge a flower bed with bricks that makes mowing easier.

source: flickr

What’s interesting about this garden edging idea is that it is very symmetrical. The square shapes made of 4 bricks makes the edging look clean and distinct. However, the center of each “square” carries a different design.

source: buzzfeed

How can you dress up brick edging during the evening hours is by having a rope lighting strip tucked away on the inside of a rock lawn edging. This is a very simple way to bring a lot of style to the garden.  It looks almost mystical in the way that it seems to generate light from nowhere.

source: thechicsite.com

We see bricks used as edging all the time to separate the lawn edge from flower beds. Turning the bricks on their side creates an entirely different look in the garden design and give yet another way to lay brick edging for front yard and backyard landscaping.

Read more: Winter Garden Florida: Quaint Town On The West Orange Trail

source: ny times

It is an old style look that has a new style when it comes to the brick. It almost looks like a wave that is leading the way for you.

source: pinterest

A beautiful eye-catching brick garden edging idea due to the symmetrical shape. The tiny blocks inside the edging give it a very suburban look.

Metal Landscape Edging For A Rustic Look and Feel

By raising the height of the garden and installing metal landscape edging this winding “rusty” steel edging gives a contemporary look that calls your attention.

Corrugated Steel Panels Installed Vertically As Garden Edging

source: homeimprovementpages.com.au

I love the neat look of this landscape edging idea. It gives a very minimalist garden feel, looks clean and simple. The colors are not too busy and makes the yard feel peaceful. As a bonus the panels used full size did not require any cut of the metal landscape edging.

Metal Edging Laid In A Zig Zag Pattern

source: smallgardening.com

The short and long metal edge gives it a very simple look. It’s nothing extravagant or eye-catching, but it gets the job done. Paint the thin steel edge sheets if desired.

Gabion Wall Used As Edging

source: greenlandscapestoenvy.com

This kind of garden edging called “gabion” offers lots of possibilities. It looks natural yet structured but blends in well with the natural environment. It’s also quite sturdy, and should hold up well.

source: livingcorner.com.au

This gabion garden wall edging works as a retaining wall holding plants and soil. This edging serves as a garden focal piece.

Garden Edging Stone

Stone edging ranks right up their with brick edging as a popular material to separate areas. Generally, stone carries a low cost but does require some “heavy” labor to get it all in place. However, stone edging does produce impressive results.

Stone and rocks come in so many shapes, sizes, colors, looks and textures. This allows the use of stone as a stand alone in edging or combined with different stones to achieve interesting looks.

Stacked Flat Edging Stones

source: hoselink

This shows a nice way to edge a flower bed using short flat tiled rocks stacked on top of each other. A simple design with a casual look and feel separates the lawn edge from the mulch and flower bed.

Garden Stones Used As Simple Clean Edging Of A Deck

source: amazing gardens.co.uk

This uncommon way to differentiate the deck from where the garden starts, but adds a “polish” to the design.  The small garden stone rock border makes a world of difference when stepping out to take in the view.

 Crushed Rock Filling In Between Bricks

source: belmanliving

This lawn edging idea provides a contrast with brick and a wide strip of crushed rock. The small height of the stone but the sudden change of color makes it a clear boundary but doesn’t intrude in the landscape design.

source: modernindenver.com

The contrast of light and dark stones along with different sizes complement each other quite well next to the concrete stepping stones. It gives a concrete definition of where the walkway ends and where the border begins.

Stones Combined with Brick Edging

source: pinterest

This edging made up of smooth rocks and bricks gives off a very natural but not too manicured and perfect look. Simple yet the way it spirals gives it an impressive flair. As you can see… no complicated “install stone landscape edging” instructions. The stones were laid edged right up to the bricks and followed the garden path.

source: homebn.com

The graduated stone bed is an excellent contrast. The small stones create a nice transition border, while the large stones make up the bed. It’s a very pleasing way to implement a natural border.

source: secretgardenlandscaping.com

Bowling ball size rocks compose this edging The rocks and plants make you feel walking to or from a beach!

Wood Landscape Edging

Wood like brick and stone comes in many form. The most common edging using wood is the raised garden bed but as you’ll see… more types exist!

Railway Ties As Garden Borders

source: gardeningschool.org

This garden edging happens to be one of my favorites. Railroad sleepers placed at angles to the fence and ONLY one plant (like a sago palm) in each “growing area.” The biggest issue I see comes with maintaining the grass.

Vertical Railway Sleepers

source: kilgraney.com

These railroad ties cut at uneven lengths make this garden edging unique. It adds a casual look and feel.

source: pinterest

We often think of the garden edging being the accent. In a twist, this edging gets an accent with stones resembling two small feet next to each other. It shows how using the resources around you can turn simple into beauty.

source: farmandfoundry.com

This garden edging looks like a miniature fence. It does serve as a symbol saying keep out of my plants but in a playful way.

source: growingdesigns.co.uk

This garden bed looks similar to the uneven railroad ties, but uses a landscape timber and this edging does not vary in height but also deliver a very attractive and natural feel.

Scrap Treated Wood As Garden Edging

source: theownerbuildernetwork.co

The mini boards from possibly a pallet of this garden edging are high enough to define the garden bed. Not my style but that’s OK.

Cut Tree Trunks Laid Out As Edging

source: hometalk

This edging you don’t notice due to the bottle walkway. Lots of detail when into the walkway bit the edging looks to me like an afterthought.

Read more: 9 Japanese Plants for a Zen Garden

Garden Edging Made From Pallets

source: lovelifesimplified

The look of this garden edging looks very “homey” as though the creation appears to be part of a project. The cut apart pallets give a very western feel.

Woven Garden Hoses Used As Edging

source: karapaslaydesigns.com

A unique and beautiful way to create a one-of-a-kind fence. The best part is breathing new life into old garden hoses destined for the dump.

Braided and Woven Vines

source: sad.co.ua

This woven garden edging gives off a rustic feel. A lot of work involved in thing edging idea.

Manufactured Landscape Edging

For some the easiest method to edge the flower bed or lawn sits on a shelf down at the local garden center. Pre-made, usually manufactured plastic edging makes for quick installation. All come with “how to install landscape edging” instructions.

EasyFlex No Dig Edging

source: amazon

This manufactured plastic edge material delivers a simple, minimalist look. Perfect for a quick fix and barely noticeable in any garden.

Grey Cobbled Stone Plastic Garden Edging

source: pinterest

This manufactured garden edging is thin, made of a plastic material with a brick edge design face. The extra room allows you more space to plant flowers and shrubs. The color does not take away from the beautiful colors of the plants and is easy to install.

Flexi-Curve Garden Edge

source: menard’s

The edging in this garden makes it look spotless. The beautifully crafted designs are very eye catching.

source: haddonstone.com

This manufactured garden edging looks beautiful in white. It almost looks as though it is made from marble. It has a bit of a slope where the plants lay on top.

Landscape Border Ideas We Can Only Call Unique!

Glass Bottles Recycled Into A Garden Border

source: thegreenbacksgal.com

Glass bottles catch the eye and help provide a landscape border to keep certain pests out of the yard. It’s a good craft if you have multiple, uneven-sized bottles – any size or shape can easily fit the wall! Not sure about the safety level though!

China Plate Garden Edging

source: 33barefootlane

These dinner plates make a very uncommon way to set up a garden border. Using plates that would otherwise sit in a china cabinet is an excellent way to make use of items that usually remain “off limits.”

Terra Cotta Pots Fashioned Into A Garden Border

source: om mig 

This garden edging is very different from others. The terra cotta pots laid out make for an interesting, whimsical look. The tubular shape also adds a nice effect.

Collected Bowling Balls Used As An Edging

source: beth evans ramos

Not much to say about this landscape edging design. Just an excellent example of quirky garden edging with no rules.

Collected Hubcaps Made Into Edging

source: beth evans ramos

This edging made from hubcaps is a great way to reuse and recycle. These hubcap flowers offer another idea. A fun conversation starter, and unique design. Not sure how much work it would take to collect them all!

Recycled Bicycle Wheels Used As Garden Edging

source: reciclaedecora.com

The bicycle wheels provide a great use for older bikes. They also ensure that plants along the border get enough exposure to the elements needed to grow. This edging would be a difficult “assemble” in many areas to acquire the bike rims.

Border FAQ’s

What are some good perennials for planting along the front of the border?

Alyssum saxatile compactum

Dianthus plumarius

Statice longifolia

Plumbago larpentiae

Dwarf Asters

Veronica spicata nana

Arabis alpina

Silene maritima

Tunica saxifraga

Veronica rupestris

Nepeta mussini

What are some medium-height perennials to use on the center of the border?

Campanula persicifolia (Peachleaf Bellflower)

Artemisia Silver King

Achillea ptarmica

Aquilegia coerulea

Paradisea liliastrum major

Dicentra eximia

Eupatorium coelestinum (syn. Conoclinium coelestinum)

Veronica longifolia subsessilis

Gypsophila paniculata compacta

Which are some of the best tall-growing perennials for a border?

Macleaya cordata

Thalictrum aquilegifolium (meadow rue)

Phlox paniculata hybrids

Helenium autumnale

Rudbeckia purpurea

Delphinium hybrids

Asters (tall named varieties)

Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohosh)

Campanula pyramidalis

These edging ideas are only the tip of the iceberg… just use your imagination!

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/37-garden-border-ideas-to-dress-up-your-landscape-edging/

[letscuttothefeeling]

season three episodes nine & ten

Okay everyone, after a short hiatus, I’m back and ready to reenter the world of Siesta Key, much like Alex after his long-awaited return in episode three of this season. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, (over yonder and hither north), and a lot of bare ass to see. So let’s just cut to the feeling!

The summer’s third most important event on the Key, following closely behind Alex’s birthday which didn’t happen, and the Kompothecras Autism fundraiser which has yet to happen, is the Fourth of July. We all know how much the cast loves a themed bathing suit party and an excuse to take as many blueberry and watermelon Smirnoff Jello shots as possible, so this day is an honored tradition! But this year, we discover Juliette will not be participating in the annual debauchery. She’s under the impression that Alex and Alyssa will attend BG’s pool party, so in a rare moment of maturity (sorry Jules, but you know it’s true), she decides to work the holiday instead so that Blend, the boutique she works for, will be ready for its opening party. We love to see her contribute so thoroughly to Florida’s flourishing haute couture scene. But she’s mistaken – Alex and Alyssa are actually planning to head to Alyssa’s lake house in Georgia. (Go Dawgs! Sic em! Woof Woof!) Alyssa has invited Alex’s self-proclaimed “posse” consisting of JJ, Jared, Amanda, and Chloe. Her best friend Madi will also be there. I love being introduced to cast members’ friends because the company people keep is very telling of their overall aesthetic and vibe. Madi’s Instagram bio says that “chaos makes the muse,” and from that, I can assume that she’s a basic white girl who is obsessed with Show Me Your Mumu and uppers. How fitting!

Every girl who exclusively wears Show Me Your Mumu’s feed

While everyone is finalizing their FOJ plans, Madisson is enjoying a romantic evening at Ophelia’s On the Bay with Ish. This classic Siesta Key establishment is reserved for special occasions, so I’m already at the edge of my seat wondering what is going on in Ish’s shiny, bald head. Ish pulls a small jewelry box out of his pocket, and I’m breathlish. I mean, breathless. Is Ish going to propose?! Madisson’s face lights up, then falls when she sees the box has a necklish in it instead of a ring. Bummer! But rest assured, the jovial grin returns to Madisson’s face moments later when Ish asks her to move in with him! I mean, she’s quite literally giggling with excitement. Whatever happened to playing it cool? In fact, Madisson is SO jazzed that she suggests Ish come to lunch with her entire family soon, since her older sister, Paige will be in town. You may remember Paige as the girl who hooked up with both Pauly and Canvas, two major SK players. Fabulous track record. I can’t wait to see her again.

Country roads, take me home! We have arrived in Albany, Georgia and are ready to hit the lake and celebrate America! But before the celebration can begin, everyone must decide who is rooming with who. Chloe quickly nixes the possibility of Amanda rooming with JJ, and later chastises Amanda for even thinking about rooming with her toxic ex. Between you and me, Amanda looks quite peeved with her friend’s overbearing orders. After everyone gets settled, and Jared makes a connection with Alyssa’s friend Madi, Chloe walks inside and sees Alyssa shucking corn, something Alyssa apparently thinks only happens in the south, even though everyone literally everywhere who eats corn needs to shuck it. Alyssa confides in Chloe about Alex’s recent shuck up – his confession that he was on the phone with Juliette for six hours. Chloe lets it slip that Alex only admitted his wrongdoing to Alyssa after Chloe pushed him to do it, which makes Alyssa angry. She confronts Alex about it, and all I have to say is that if this is any indication of how Alex responds when presented with damning evidence, I do not want him representing me. He immediately gets defensive and angry at Chloe, and as much as I hate to admit it, Alyssa holds her own. She gets mad at Alex for attacking Chloe for simply telling the truth. Instead of just owning up to what he’s done wrong, Alex stammers out a half-apology and looks ready to fight Chloe. Oh no.

Cut to JJ and Amanda, grilling up some burgers and a hot conversation! After discussing their rekindled flame despite their tough past, Amanda tells JJ about another wrench in their road to romance – Chloe’s blatant disapproval. JJ looks really annoyed with the intrusion. I mean, he’s had to deal with BG, the fact that he cheated on Amanda multiple times already, and now this?! It’s so unfair. Speaking of BG, back on the Key, Brandon’s party is in full swing. You know what else is in full swing? The bare ass of a girl attending the party. Listen, I know the show loves to transition scenes by showing close-ups of scantily clad females, but this is just not something I can get behind. (Ha!) In all seriousness though, readers, please consider using something more than floss to cover your asshole if you ever find yourself on national television.

There’s more than one ass at this party, and her name is Kelsey. Sorry Kelsey stans, but this scene is just so violently cringe-worthy that I almost threw the remote at my screen. Kelsey can be so off-putting when she tries to flirt. But she’s hot and on a reality show so I’m not too worried about it. G Baby approaches Kelsey and asks her where “Jakey-poo” is. It’s worth noting that the robots controlling Garrett are becoming increasingly upsetting as well. Kelsey informs the Robot Garret that Jake is “over yonder, hither north” and then giggles/hiccups. I’m actually grimacing as I type this. Their nauseating display reminds me of why they’re actually perfect for each other. Foreshadowing, maybe? Kelsey then asks the question we’ve all been wondering – are Cara and Garrett still talking? Garrett says that they are not talking anymore, which is exactly what BG says about Amanda when Madisson asks. And as the fireworks explode in the night sky, I can’t help but think about the lack of fireworks in the love lives of our beloved cast. 

Back at the lake, tensions are rising faster than the current unemployment rate. Chloe seems to be the common denominator in everyone’s annoyance, and at dinner, everything comes to a head. Looking directly at Chloe, Alex asks, “Chloe, I know you like hanging out with us, but are you more of a team Juliette girl?” Chloe warns him “not to go there,” but Alex keeps pushing, accusing Chloe of being “finnicky.” Alex Merriam- Webster Kompothecras back at it again with the BURNS! Nice try buddy, I guess they don’t have vocab in law school. (I believe Alex meant to say “fickle,” but let me know your thoughts.) Chloe fires back by asking Alex a question – why hasn’t he made things official with Alyssa yet? Future Lawyer Alex blesses us yet again with a genius rebuttal: “Why? Because… I’ve… learned that… you shouldn’t push things. And when… the time is right...” Chloe cuts him off by reiterating that Alex still continuously hits Juliette up. At this point, I feel so bad for Alyssa who is just sitting there like a vegetable. But before I can focus on how painfully awkward she must feel, Amanda randomly starts butting in and yelling at Chloe for inserting herself in everyone else’s relationships. Chloe inserting herself in other people’s lives is literally the core theme of the show. Please get over it. Amanda keeps yelling because she’s clearly annoyed with Chloe’s criticism of JJ, and as JJ sits there, harrowingly silent, Chloe tells Amanda to fuck off and storms out of the lake house. Let’s all pray she didn’t drive home. The night isn’t all bad though – after the fight, Jared ends up sealing the deal with Madi, who insists that she “usually doesn’t do this on the first night.” Okay, sweetie. After Jared is unable to perform, the night, which began on an explosive note ends on a rather underwhelming one.

The fourth may be over, but the aftermath from the day remains. And what better way to catch up on the day’s events than over lunch? As Chloe meets up with Juliette to explain what happened at the lake, Madisson takes Ish to meet up with her entire family and break her news to them. I predict that while Chloe and Juliette’s lunch will go swimmingly, Madisson and Ish’s lunch will turn sour quickly. And I’m right! Juliette drinks in every last detail of Chloe’s public fight with Alex. I’m proud of her for steering clear of the drama this time, but I’m not naïve. Juliette can only be on the Key drama-free for so long. Let’s check in with Madisson. As anticipated, this is not going well. After Madisson’s mom asks if she is pregnant, and Madisson’s Dad refuses to acknowledge that she and Ish are anything but “just friends,” Madisson tells her family that she plans to move to Los Angeles with Ish. They appear less than pleased. It is a stark contrast from Madisson’s giddy reaction when he initially proposed the idea. Ish gently reminds her family that while Madisson would like their blessing, she is a grown woman and can make her own decisions. He knows their situation is “so unique”, but hopes they will grow to accept their relationship. Paige, Madisson’s sister, breaks her silence. While Madisson was hoping she might be an ally for their relaysh, she turns out to be team parent. “Unique…?” Paige questions. “Isn’t this more of a cliché? The old Hollywood producer sleeping with the actress…” Ouch! And here I thought her father was the harsh one!

While Madisson’s relationship becomes increasingly rocky, Alex decides to take things up a notch with Alyssa. During a bizarre conversation in which he essentially admits that he still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Alex seals the deal with Alyssa and asks her to be official. I wonder what prompted him to take the next step! Could it have been Chloe point-blank asking him why he hadn’t made things official with Alyssa the night before? We may never know. Regardless, Alyssa accepts the clearly sincere offer and Siesta Key has a new power couple. “Wait,” you might be thinking. “New power couple? But what about Ish and Madisson?” Oh, thanks for the reminder. Alex and Alyssa are only able to overthrow this couple because…they’re done. Gasp! In a shocking scene, Ish breaks up with Madisson on national TV. If I’m Madisson, a stunning 25-year-old girl who is D-List famous and kind of intelligent, I’m furious. How dare my old, overweight ex-producer dump my ass in front of all of America. But after Ish says he needs space and doesn’t think they should be together, Madisson just starts to softly cry and runs off-screen, away from her now ex-Father ex-boyfriend. I am torn because I know that Ish means well. It’s like that time in Stephanie Meyer’s classic American novel, New Moon. When Edward realizes that his relationship with Bella puts her safety and ability to lead a normal life at risk, he knows he must leave her. Even if it’s the last thing he wants to do. He must act out of selfless love. Eventually, though, he comes back to Bella…we can only hope for the same fate for Dadisson.

Speaking of exes, let’s check in on everyone’s least favorite exes, Boring Robby and Juliette! Boring Robby is throwing some sort of strange soirée, and it’s a little awkward that Juliette is there considering the last time these two saw each other it ended rather abruptly. But Juliette, on a mature streak, pulls Boring Robby aside and apologizes for the harsh convo. She invites him to the Blend opening as a peace offering, and even though he accepts, Boring Robby can’t help but push for a few more answers. He asks Juliette why she would ever say she loved him, and Juliette responds by explaining that while she did love him, she wasn’t in love with him, because she felt like he was “fatherly.” Okay y’all, you’ve heard of getting friend-zoned, but today we’re introducing you to a new dating trend, getting “dad-zoned!” She ends the talk by saying that she’s ready to make her own decisions without the influence of any man. Yas kween! The only other notable thing that happens at this party is that Garrett refers to himself as the “G-Slanger,” which to me, is really thrilling.

But not everyone is dartying today. Despite their blowout, business aficionados Chloe and Alex must meet at the Crescent Club to “work.” Before they hit the books, Chloe expresses her frustration with Alex. She explains that Alex is now doing the same thing Juliette did at the beginning of the summer. He’s mad at Chloe for continuing to be friends with Juliette. And WHY can’t she be friends with both!? Alex vehemently denies this claim but agrees that they need to find a way to smooth things over with everyone. On a more somber note, Jake comes over to Kelsey’s house and tells her that his father passed away, so he needs to return home. He also breaks things off with her. :( One of those rare actually intense moments in this show.

Blending business and pleasure never works, so when Alex shows up at Blend’s sign hanging, Juliette looks less than amused. Instead of gearing up for the opening party that night, Alex whisks Juliette away from her boss and coworker to have a chat with her. The chat goes absolutely nowhere – they’re literally talking in circles, saying the same things we’ve heard for three seasons. Juliette tells Alex she’s going to pretend like he doesn’t exist, and Alex responds with a menacing smile and says, “see you later.” I’m scared.

It’s time for the official opening of Blend! While I’m still confused as to how they were able to pull it together in time when Juliette went to Greece instead of helping out, I’m so proud of Juliette, Juliette’s random friend Kelly, and Juliette’s bitchy boss Courtney. Great job, ladies! Everyone seems to be having a good time until Alex and Alyssa waltz in. The party crashers, making their debut as an official couple, make their way across the venue. But while Alyssa passes Boring Robby without a second glance, Alex, who has yet to see his “ex-friend who dated his ex-girlfriend,” stops in front of Boring Robby and flicks him on the face. If I’m Alyssa, I’m breaking up with Alex then and there. He might as well take the microphone and scream “I’M NOT OVER JULIETTE” into it. But of course, Alyssa turns the other way and pretends to barely notice it. Boring Robby is still visibly reeling from the flick. Even though he’s trying to pretend like it was funny, you can tell he’s taken aback. Alex approaches him AGAIN, slaps him on the ass, and threatens to “knock [his] fake-ass teeth out.” In true Boring Robby fashion, he simply walks away, refusing to engage and keeping things as boring as possible. Luckily, Boring Robby’s spunky friend Joe is there to keep the reality show on track and talk a lot of shit. He starts by flipping Alex off and saying that Alex “hides behind his money.” Alex responds by bringing up Robby’s penis size. Maybe we’ve gotten it wrong this whole time. Maybe Alex is really into Boring Robby, and is mad at Juliette for getting in the way. Eventually, Alex lunges at Joe and threatens to fight him. As a future lawyer, Alex should know better than to physically attack anyone in public, specifically someone who is a literal walking hate crime, but then again, Alex isn’t known for his intelligence.

The next day, Kelsey heads to Boring Robby’s to make sure her job is still secure in light of all of the chaos that has ensued. (Remember that he’s randomly her boss, lol.) He assures her that all is okay, and has no problem with “continuing to use and abuse her.” I don’t think he got that quote from his collection of bizarre inspirational sayings, but it still made me cringe just the same. When Kelsey brings up the fight, Robby describes it as “par for the course.” I cannot get enough of his expressions! They’re never-ending! Later, when Juliette checks on Boring Robby to make sure he’s okay after the fight, he also assures her that he’s okay, that the fight was “par for the course,” and that “some zebras never change their stripes.” I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Boring Robby is truly the Confucius of our generation.

In the wake of the big fight, Chloe, resident shit-stirrer, is more determined than ever to mend all of the strife in her friend group (that she primarily caused.) Summoning her inner Mother Teresa, Chloe sends out a text to her friends demanding they meet up to hash things out. The text ends with a sweet message – “YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BE THERE SO I DON’T WANT ANY FUCKING EXCUSES.” Chloe certainly knows the way to people’s hearts!

In the final scene of this lengthy, two-episode extravaganza, we see the OG crew plus Jared at a bonfire. It’s nice to see all of the original cast together. Madisson kicks off the meeting by explaining how important everyone is to her. She breaks down, detailing how badly she needs a support system since her family hasn’t been there for her and Ish is gone. Chloe quickly glazes over the heartfelt cry for help and changes the direction of the conversation towards Alex and Juliette. As she tries to get them to see eye to eye, a very wasted Juliette calls Alex a “piece of shit” while Alex laughs in her face and tells her to go “bob her head” in the corner. I hate myself for laughing, but Juliette definitely nods her head weirdly when drunk. They peel off and have an emotional conversation that everyone can hear, and it ends with Alex holding a sobbing Juliette, assuring her that he would jump in front of a bullet for her. I don’t know about you, but I probably wouldn’t be chill with my boyfriend doing that with (or for) his ex. Either way, at least they aren’t screaming at each other.

The episode ends with Brandon announcing a trip to Nashville. He’s going to record a song and wants to bring everyone along for a vacation. The two-part finale will take place in Nashville, and I cannot wait. In the words of Alex Kompothecras, future lawyer, “Sara-nara!” See y’all in Nashville next week!

[steveholley]

Farewell, Rod Bramblett

If you grew up in the 80’s or 90s in the Deep South as my generation did, you grew up surrounded by college football every Saturday.

If we’re being honest, it wasn’t just Saturday’s. In the state of Alabama in and other SEC states in particular, college football — Southeastern Conference football — was and is a 7-day-a-week event.

But nothing was more exciting than game day Saturdays and the night before leading up to a big conference game.

Things are still that way today and always will be, but it’s different now. The biggest difference between us is how we followed our teams back then and just how reliant we all were on the radio broadcasts of our team’s games. This was before the days of 740 channels (or even 60) and before every single game on the schedule was televised nationally. Before ESPN expanded to eleventy billion spinoffs and FOX launched regional sports networks and conferences began launching their own networks. Before you could get instant notifications on your phone letting you know every first down, change of possession, scoring update and red-zone alert. Before Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and the whole internet in general.

If you were lucky in those days, you had basic cable — all 30 some-odd channels — and could watch your team on ESPN. If not, you’d better hope they’d be in the ABC Game of the Week with Keith Jackson or Brent Musburger and Frank Broyles and Bob Griese.

But the only real, sure-proof way to stay in touch with your team on a weekly basis was through radio. In my hometown, we had an FM station that carried Alabama games each Saturday and a smaller, AM station that broadcast Auburn games. Birmingham and Tuscaloosa each had their own Alabama affiliates to choose from depending on which had the best signal reception on a given Saturday.

And there was nothing — absolutely nothing — like the feeling of being in the car with your parents and listening to your team on the radio. For me, that was Eli Gold, now in his 30th year as the play by play voice of the Tide, the late Doug Layton and the always colorful Jerry Duncan.

Games that weren’t on TV — ABC, CBS, ESPN and the late dearly departed Jefferson-Pilot Sports — left us strictly reliant on radio unless you wanted to shell out $40 for Pay-Per-View. My hometown’s Alabama radio affiliate even had a setup where you could call the station’s number, be put on hold and listen to the broadcast over the telephone. Looking back, I suppose it was the precursor to listening through smartphone apps like Tune In, iHeartRadio, Radio.com and Sirius.

But whether the game was on TV or not, there was always radio, and nothing made you feel closer to your team than being in the car or sitting around the house listening as Eli Gold or conversely Auburn’s Jim Fyffe describe each play as it happened — the excitement in their voice as David Palmer broke free on a punt return or Sherman Williams made a man miss to make it a foot-race to the end zone.

The first Iron Bowl I ever watched as a kid was in 1990. The game was on CBS, which in Birmingham had always had the weakest of all the over-the-air network TV signals and was hard to catch in a lot of homes more than 30-40 miles away from the city. Alabama had gone up 10-0 in the game before a late first-half Auburn score made it 10-7 at halftime.

I vividly remember my 9-year-old self getting sick to my stomach that day and had to be taken to the urgent care center a good 30 minutes away. My father loaded all of us into the car and we drove into town with the game on the radio. By the time we’d arrived and Auburn looked as though they were about to score following an Alabama turnover inside their own 10-yard line, my father couldn’t take it any more. He snapped off the radio dial right as we pulled up and didn’t find out until he was in the doctor’s room with me later that night that Alabama had won. As Tide fans will recall, it turned out that Auburn had fumbled the ball right back to Alabama on the very next play, the pivotal turning point in the game.

The Tide won, 16-7, off three Philip Doyle field goals, snapping a four-game losing streak to Auburn that had cost Bill Curry his job. (Fun fact: the first time I ever heard my father use profanity as a kid was when he’d yell at Bill Curry during the middle of a game while sitting on the couch. Until I was 9, I thought Curry’s full, legal name might actually be, “That Goddamn Curry.”)

As years went by, I listened on the radio as Alabama came from behind to beat Mississippi State after trailing late in the game in their championship season of 1992, and a few weeks later when Antonio Langham — my favorite player growing up — intercepted Shane Matthews’ pass and returned it for a touchdown to beat Steve Spurrier and Florida in the first ever SEC Championship Game at Birmingham’s Legion Field.

A year later, I was in the car with the radio on when Auburn’s Patrick Nix found future NFL great Frank Sanders for a touchdown that lifted the Tigers to a victory over ‘Bama to cap an undefeated regular season. The following year, Auburn came from 21-0 down to get to within a score of possibly tying or winning the Iron Bowl when Sanders was tackled one yard shy of a would-be first down to end the game.

When we reached our teenage years, my brother and I gathered around a small, table-top radio in my grandparents’ home and listened as Alabama suffered one of its most embarrassing defeats in program history to Louisiana Tech on a 4th-and-goal from the 26 yard line that Tech’s quarterback somehow converted into a touchdown pass. Those are just a few of the memories I have of listening to football games on the radio growing up.

Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner’s late fourth-quarter fumble at Neyland Stadium to keep Tennessee’s undefeated, championship season alive in 1998? The car radio on an AM station out of Knoxville after sunset, when many AM signals from hours away become possible to catch.

Vanderbilt games on WSM in Nashville, the home of the Grand Ole Opry, on 650 AM? The car radio. An occasional Ole Miss game on a station in East Mississippi? A (long-wave) radio that picked up signals out of Columbus. It was always a feeling of excitement when another team’s broadcast signal found its way to your radio at night.

In the summer, we could listen to Skip Caray and the Atlanta Braves but that was nothing; at least three radio stations within our area carried the Braves broadcasts. After dark, you could pick up KMOX’s strong overnight signal out of St. Louis and listen to the Cardinals and occasionally, on clear nights, the Cubs on WGN Radio out of Chicago and the Tigers and Ernie Harwell out of Detroit. But college football in the Deep South was and is the king of all kings.

So why the trip down memory lane? The sudden, tragic passing of Auburn broadcaster Rod Bramblett Saturday night has got me to thinking about all of the ways Mr. Bramblett and his colleagues have given us the gift of college football via the radio dial over the years.

My heart is aching over Mr. Bramblett and his wife Paula’s untimely and almost unthinkable death in a fatal car accident in Auburn. As I always have when trying to process sadness, I sat down at my computer and began to write.

When you’re an Alabama fan, it’s only natural to go behind enemy lines and tune in to the Auburn broadcast whenever they’re not playing at the same time as your team. I was drawn to this as a kid listening to the late Jim Fyffe call Auburn games on the radio with his patented pro-Tigers slant and signature nails-on-the-chalkboard yelling of, “TOUCHDOOOOOOOOOWN AUBUUUUUUURN!” after every score.

When Mr. Fyffe passed away suddenly in the summer of 2003 following a brain aneurysm, Rod Bramblett stepped into his chair and picked up right where his predecessor had left off. It may seem strange coming from a rival fan, but as legendary as Jim Fyffe was, I never really noticed a difference when Rod Bramblett took over his vacancy. That’s a credit to Mr. Bramblett, whose style offered the same mannerisms; the same audible grunts and groans when his team was playing poorly and equally the same jubilation and swag when they were winning.

I won’t pretend to glorify the late Mr. Bramblett or claim that I was a lifelong fan. That would only cheapen the man. What I will say is that what he meant to the Auburn community and its fan base and how much he gave to the school — both on and off the air — is something that precious few broadcasters can do and something that no one will ever forget. I have many friends and colleagues in the journalism industry in Alabama and in radio who met Rod Bramblett and never once did I ever hear that he was anything but a genuinely nice and pleasant person to be in the room with.

I don’t know who Auburn will hire to take his place and it is too soon to even begin to speculate on that. But with Mr. Bramblett’s passing, an unmistakable void is left in the hearts of true fans who appreciate college football that goes well beyond just his loyal listeners on football, basketball and baseball broadcasts; it affects not just “The Loveliest Village on the Plains” but the entire state of Alabama, which is in mourning today, and indeed the college game we love so much on a national level. Tributes are pouring in from all over the country and will continue in the days, weeks and months ahead and rightfully so — beginning with the finale of today’s SEC Baseball Tournament in Birmingham. Mr. Bramblett has earned them.

Life and Auburn football games on radio will go on after Mr. Bramblett’s passing, the same as it did with Mr. Fyffe’s sudden passing 16 years ago. But I hope that for a moment anyway, we can set aside all of these suddenly silly and trivial sports rivalries — as reasonably as we can — and remember that there are real people involved in these rivalries and that they have lives, character, family, friends and so much more. So, so much more.

One last thing before I wrap this up. As painful as it can still be to relive for Alabama fans, even with two championships and a 4-1 record vs. Auburn in the years since, I sat down Saturday night and early Sunday after the news of Mr. Bramblett’s passing and pulled up his two most famous radio calls via YouTube, both from 2013: the “Miracle on the Plains” catch by Ricardo Louis on a Hail Mary pass to beat Georgia and Chris Davis’s “Kick Six” return in that year’s Iron Bowl.

The latter will forever be one of the most memorable calls in sports history, period. The sheer pandemonium and jubilation in Bramblett’s voice as he screams from the top of his lungs: “THERE GOES DAVIS! OH MY GOD DAVIS IS GONNA RUN IT ALL THE WAY BACK! AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME! AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!” And in his best Bob Uecker from ‘Major League’ voice, “OH MY GOD AUBURN WINS IT! OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN!”

“They’re not gonna keep them off the field tonight,” Mr. Bramblett exclaims.

Nor will they keep Rod Bramblett off the proverbial fields henceforth, or from having a lasting memory and a special place in those same peoples’ hearts and many others that will always live on.

We are none promised another day. Mr. Bramblett and his wife's sudden passing is yet another painful reminder of that. Be kind to each other while we’re all still here and let love win.

From one radio loyalist to another, rest in peace, Rod Bramblett.

[sammysreelreviews]

How Dead Hannah Baker keeps the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope Alive

*pictured above: Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) from 13 Reasons Why

***SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 13 REASONS WHY, PAPER TOWNS, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. AND ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND!***

I know that some of you may be wondering what exactly is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Well there’s no text book definition but here’s one I found online from urbandictionary.com:

“A Manic Pixie Dream Girl or MPDG, is a term coined by film critic Nathan Rabin after seeing Elizabethtown. It refers to "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." A pretty, outgoing, whacky female romantic lead whose sole purpose is to help broody male characters lighten up and enjoy their lives.”

Now that you have an idea of what this is I’ll start by giving you examples. Usually the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, MPDG for short, is only there so the nerdy usually white male that is obsessed with them can grow from the experience with them. Now I know you’re thinking “how exactly do I spot one of these creatures?” Well guys it’s very easy and I’ll give you some tips. Most MPDG’s are white, have a wild outlook on the world, and are deemed gorgeous by the general public. 

*pictured above: Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) and Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The first MPDG I can think of is Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. She is a wild says whatever is on her mind kind of girl and meets poor Joel on the train. This film happens through flashbacks and dreams showing how happy she made him. The relationship went sour which it usually does with a MPDG and they both have each other erased from their memories. Dramatic, I know, but losing her and getting her back helps Joel in some crazy way. It’s like without her he can’t fully live his life and that’s just sad.

*pictured above: Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) in 500 Days of Summer

People love this movie and don’t even realize that Summer is problematic as fuck. Summer is this cool girl who doesn’t believe in love and basically drags poor Tom around for you fucking guessed it, 500 days. Tom thinks that Summer is the one for him and tries to date her and show her love exists. Even though they do end up dating things fall apart because cool, secure, witty as all hell Summer is still scared of love. I mean I thought that was a LA thing. It doesn’t take Tom to realize how pathetic he is until he sees Summer at a park AND REALIZES SHE FUCKING GOT MARRIED. Summer’s excuse is that she wasn’t sure about Tom but she was sure about her husband now.... LOL need I say more? 

*pictured above: Margo (Cara Delevigne) and Quentin (Nat Wolff) in Paper Towns.

Last example is John Green’s book turned film Paper Towns. Quentin has been in love with the popular girl next door Margo. One random night Margo climbs into Quentin’s window and asks him to get revenge on her now ex boyfriend. They spend the whole night at the store getting supplies, ruining the boy’s car, and looking over the city they live in. Margo feels stuck where she is and unlike feels different tan her friends. Spoiler alert: she’s not. At the end of the night they both go home and of course nerdy Quentin is blissed the fuck out. Before I go in on this, we have to acknowledge that all of John Green‘s main characters are MPDG’s. It’s basically his forte. But I digress. Quentin wakes up and, surprise, Margo has gone missing. Quentin is determined to find her and believes that she left clues for him. Quentin his two friends and Margo’s bestie go on a roadtrip from florida to upstate New York and find themselves while trying to find Margo. His friends eventually leave him because no way in teen rom com hell are they going to miss the prom. Quentin stays and eventually finds the girl of his dreams. Turns out Margo didn’t want to be found at all and just like Tom in 500 days of Summer Quentin looks like a fucking dumb ass. Quentin makes it home in time for prom and enjoys it with his friends cause in the end that’s all he really needed... but it took a cross country road trip trying to find a selfish teen girl who doesn’t care about you to figure that out. Nice!

*pictured above: Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) and Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) in 13 Reasons Why

As we all know Jay Asher’s book 13 Reasons why has been turned into a tv show on Netflix. The premise is that high schooler Hannah Baker has killed herself and left 13 tapes for certain people to listen to. If you’re on this tape, you’re one of the reasons why she’s gone. Creepy right? Well in the book, which is only 288 pages, Hannah is a sweet girl who seemed to have the worst time of her damn life. The book is short so it seems like every event that happened to Hannah happens like one day after the other. Clay listens to his friend’s tapes in one night and it really hits you in the gut. Personally I like the book better but I am here to address the show. If you want to read my full opinion on the entire show you can do so by clicking here. 

The problem with the Tv series is that by stretching the fuck out of this book they have to add on to the characters. Unfortunately Hannah is made into a MPDG from beyond the grave. In the show Hannah is deemed pretty by everyone around her. If the high school jocks think you’re hot, you’re golden am I right? What makes Hannah a MPDG is the way she treats poor Clay Jensen. Clay is the main character in the show and you find out what happens to Hannah by watching him listen to the tapes. SInce it takes Clay fucking weeks to listen to 13 DAMN TAPES only through flashbacks do you get to see what Hannah is truly like. Hannah on the show confused me after I watched it. I was like “Why don’t I like her?” Don’t get me wrong I felt for the girl and everything that happened was horrible but something was just off. She talked to Clay all the time in witty banter and even gave him a nickname. There were so many chances where she could have just kissed him or got alone time but she didn’t. The other problem with Hannah Is that she was so confident and cool, and filled with teen angst, it didn’t make sense for her to care about what people thought. It’s like she had two personalities. When we see her with Clay she’s this smart funny girl who seemed unattainable but when we see her with virtually anyone else she’s insecure and dying for attention from any popular boy in school. Hannah makes it seem as if Clay isn’t good enough for her when in reality he’s the only person she has. In the 12th episode while Hannah is taking a walk she ends up at a house party where all the popular kids are. Even though she thinks Clay hates her at this point she could’ve tried to talk things out with him. It just frustrates me that she would go to a rapist’s house cause she’s that desperate for attention. Why fight for these douche bags that have done nothing but hurt you instead of fighting for Clay? 

Clay shows character progression only when he’s listening to the tapes. Hearing his dream girl tell the stories before her untimely death makes Clay a better person to people around him. I mean that is the point of all this but at the same time, it shouldn’t take tapes from a girl who has committed suicide to realize that hey, high school is hard don’t be a fucking asshole to people. Clay also grows some balls while listening to the tapes. He basically yells in the middle of the school hall and even lowkey bullies this kid Tyler. I mean Tyler was a creep but bullying someone would be the last thing on my agenda while listening to a dead girl’s tapes. I wrote this for me to get my thoughts out cause everyone keeps asking me about this show. Every conversation I have I always say that I didn’t really like Hannah so if you think Hannah kind of sucks I’m here with you. Hannah is the most twisted MPDG ever and yes it’s because she’s dead. Clay only grows while listening to these tapes which is kind of in a way fucked up. Even though Clay, unlike the book, gets justice for two sexually assaulted girls and Hannah’s life it shouldn’t take Hannah’s 13 tapes to grow. Hannah killing herself should’ve made everyone change and grow on their own.

I know at this point you’re probably saying “ I read this long ass article what is the point?!” The point is that women are not objects. Being a woman is hard and having to grow up is truly a journey. You have media constantly showing you how the perfect woman acts or talks or dresses. Going through high school you have to deal with the pressure of society and unfortunately care about what your peers think. I grew up from my own damn experiences. I didn’t just find myself cause I left a boyfriend or cause I cut my hair I learned that I am what I am and I can’t change that and I’m very happy with who I turned out to be. This is especially hard to do when you’re a black girl like me raised in an all white community. Why must men in these movies need a girl for them to realize who they are? I’m not saying it’s easy to be a boy but come on dude the girl of your dreams isn’t gonna finally give you this sense of Omg I know what my purpose in life is. Your dream girl is not your mom teaching you about life. You know what’s right and what’s wrong without a girl whispering you to the right direction in your ear. You can only figure out who you are by being you and it is completely possible for films and TV shows to show this without a MPDG. I know the show 13 Reasons Why is supposed to show how small things matter and can snowball into this big thing. I get it I really do. The problem is that they could’ve shown that making Hannah solely the victim and not a jaded Manic Pixie Dream Girl. 

[bestmovies0]

20 Oscar-Nominated Movies You Can Stream Right Now

From baby motorists to libidinous mermen, 2017 was a very good–and somewhat strange–year at the movies. And yet not even the pulse-pounding excitement of watching Daniel Day-Lewis consume yet another mushroom omelette could match the collective jaw-dropping that came in the final moments of last year’s Oscars ceremony, when the makers of La La Land handed their Best Video statuette over to the makers of Moonlight–the award’s actual winner–in what will likely go down as the weirdest instants and worst mix-ups in Academy Awards history. Could it happen again during this Sunday’s ceremony? Doubtful, but never say never.

Even still( or in cases where) you shouldn’t miss out on any of this year’s nominated films. For those of you planning to invest this week( and weekend) engaged in a non-stop Oscar marathon, here are 20 of this year’s nominated movies you can stream right now.

The Shape of Water

If you thought the merman sex was the most compelling thing about Guillermo del Toro’s fantastical fairy tale, you weren’t attaches great importance. The Shape of Water is much more brilliant than all the talk about its aquatic lovemaking let on. With its mingle of real-life and fantasy, it’s likewise pure del Toro. Sally Hawkins suns as Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaning woman at a top-secret government research center who one day stumbles upon an amphibious creature, falls in love, and smuggles him into her bathtub where their affair goes to the next degree.( It’s much more heartfelt and passionate than it sounds .) The film, which is nominated for 13 Oscars, might be most notable for its cast–most of whom, including Hawkins, Richard Jenkins( as Elisa’s BFF and neighbor ), and Octavia Spencer( as her coworker ), earned nominations for the performance of their duties.( Though Michael Shannon, amazingly, did not .) Folks “was talkin about a” Shape because of its more prurient aspects, but strip those away and it’s a narrative about adoration and otherness with a wonderfully humanist, if not entirely human, soul.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Though writer-director Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was met with a joyful standing ovation following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, it had now been gained as much backlash as it has accolades( largely because Sam Rockwell’s racist cop character is redeemed in the end ). Still, there’s no denying that it’s a film full of powerful performances–Rockwell, Frances McDormand, and Woody Harrelson are all vying for gold–and a story worth instruct: a young lady is raped and murdered in small-town Missouri. When it seems as if the local police have given up on ever observing the perpetrator, the young girl’s mom takes justice into her own hands, largely by shaming the local authorities. Though it would be easy to paint this kind of tale in broad-spectrum brush strokes–an angry woman gets even–playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh doesn’t go for easy.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Lady Bird

Like most teens, Christine “Lady Bird” MacPherson( Saoirse Ronan) doesn’t ever feel like she quite fits in with her fellow classmates. Hankering for something more than what she has, the movie follows Lady Bird through her senior time of high school, where even the smallest aggravations( like, say, one’s mother) feeling immense. While with hour and distance, it’s easy to see that the interesting thing don’t matter so much, it doesn’t feel that style when they’re pas, which is part of what stimulates Lady Bird so unique. Writer-director Greta Gerwig, who is now one of a small handful of women to be nominated for Best Director, manages to capture the reality of the transition into adulthood with all the pain and humor that comes with it.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Call Me by Your Name

Though set in 1983, there’s something totally modern about Call Me By Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino’s dreamy modification of Andre Aciman’s acclaimed coming-of-age novel. A precocious teen( Timothee Chalamet) observes himself both embracing and fight with the universal awkwardness that comes with giving oneself over to a first love, which is stimulated even more difficult by the fact that it’s with a 24 -year-old grad student( Armie Hammer) who is living with his family and interning for his father. The film’s dreamy sensuality will stick with you long after the end credits roll, and you’ll never look at a pitted peach the same route again.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Darkest Hour

Though director Joe Wright may be best knows we attaining lush interval dramas starring Keira Knightley, his unwavering attention to detail and the past induce him a perfect fit to recount Winston Churchill’s earliest days as Prime Minister, and the history-altering decisions he was faced with inducing when it came to dealing with Adolf Hitler. As far as biopics or historical movies go, Darkest Hour is rather straightforward–which isn’t a knock on the movie. Yet where it truly stands out is in the acting. Though Gary Oldman is far from the only actor to ever play Winston Churchill( he’s not even the only person to play Churchill in the past time ), the quirky gravitas that has celebrated the actor’s job seems perfectly suited to the part.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Get Out

Having reached the “meet the parents” stage in its relations, Chris Washington( Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose Armitage( Allison Williams) head off to an upper-class suburbium to expend the weekend with her folks( Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener ). But from the get-go, Chris senses that something’s not OK with the situation. He’s right. With Get Out, Jordan Peele managed to simultaneously redefine the modern horror movie, while making a statement on race in America–and the timing could not have been better.

Where to stream it: Amazon, HBO Go, iTunes

Dunkirk

Watching Dunkirk on your iPhone isn’t truly the behavior that Christopher Nolan envisaged audiences experiencing his IMAX-ready World War II thriller, which details the hectic evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France as Nazi armies began closing in all around them. So if you can at least watch this one on your TV, that’s preferrable. Like with his previous cinemas, Nolan once again demonstrates himself adept at blending action and nuance. But in the case of Dunkirk, it’s composer Hans Zimmer who is tasked with ratcheting up the nervousnes as the destiny of the film’s seemingly fated soldiers hangs in the balance.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Blade Runner 2049

While it may not have built the financial impact that Warner Bros. was hoping for, much like Mad Max: Fury Road before it, Blade Runner 2049 is only one of the few sequel/ reboot hybrids that isn’t simply cashing in on a cult following for instant brand-name acceptance. Whether you connect with Denis Villeneuve stark, dystopian vision of the future or not, there’s no denying he’s a natural born filmmaker( assure: Hostages, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival ). While it’s technically a sequel, it seems more like a spiritual comrade part. Ryan Gosling is perfectly cast as Agent K, a young blade runner urgently trying to track down Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford’s blade runner from the Ridley Scott original, who has been missing for 30 years. When they do satisfy, watching the two performers try to out-dry each other more than makes up for the two-hour-and-4 5-minute operating time–as does the brilliant camerawork of frequent Coen friends collaborator Roger Deakins who, with 14 Oscar nominations and zero wins, has become the Susan Lucci of cinematography.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

The Florida Project

While growing up mere minutes from Walt Disney World may sound like the dream of every child, for Moonee( Brooklynn Prince )– a profanity-spewing six-year-old who lives in a motel with her mommy( Bria Vinaite )– and her motley group of friends, the Sunshine State is still far from The Happiest Place on Earth. The Florida Project details a summer in the living standards of these children, who are often forced to grow up before their day. In a different time, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project might have been the Oscars’ favorite little indie movie that could, with its brutally honest depiction of life in Donald Trump’s America. For now, we’ll have to be satisfied with Willem Dafoe’s well-earned Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing Bobby, the motel manager who understands Moonee’s plight and does his best to look the other way.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Abacus: Small-scale Enough to Jail

Hoop Dreams director Steve James has dedicated much of his job to shining a light on the underdogs, and his newest documentary is no exception. While, in the wake of the 2008 fiscal meltdown, many of Wall Street’s biggest players were deemed “too big to fail” despite their many intentional misdeeds, person needed to be made an example of. And that someone was Abacus Federal Savings, a family-owned and operated community bank that was indicted for mortgage hoax by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. This engrossing documentary shows the truth of the matter( the bank’s 0.5 percent mortgage default rate was a tenth of the national median) and the personal toll that it takes for David to go up against Goliath.

Where to stream it: Amazon Prime, iTunes

The Big Sick

There’s something to be said about writing what you know, as husband-and-wife writing team Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon proved that with The Big Sick, a semi-autobiographical accounting of the evolution of their relationship. What started as a possible one-night-stand developing into a relationship, then a breakup, then a near-death experience that brought them back together, in part thanks to Emily’s( Zoe Kazan) parents, Beth and Terry( Holly Hunter and Ray Romano ). Just when you thought every romantic-comedy trope had been discovered and done to death( no pun aimed ), The Big Sick manages to avoid them all, yet still have some “aww…” moments.

Where to stream it: Amazon Prime, iTunes

Baby Driver

Somewhere between Drive and La La Land is Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s car chase-filled heist flick that introduced The Fault in Our Stars star Ansel Elgort to the non-Y-Aloving world. Elgort holds his own and then some against much more seasoned performers, including Jon Hamm( getting as far away from Don Draper as he can) and Jamie Foxx( who channels a bit of his character from Horrible Boss, and then some ). Kevin Spacey also stars, which could explain why the movie didn’t get as much Oscar attention as some predicted.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Beauty and the Beast

When word came down that Disney was killing a live-action version of its beloved Beauty and the Beast, there were essentially two reactions: Yay! and Why? While, in the end, it may have all seemed a bit unnecessary to those who remain devoted to the animated version, there’s no denying the appeal of Emma Watson as Belle, a kind of anti-princess Disney princess. Even if you had no affinity for the original, or desire to watch its live-action offspring, witnessing what the actors–in particular, Dan Stevens as The Beast–had to endure in order to bring it to the screen at the least deserves a few minutes of your attention.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes, Netflix

Icarus

If there was an Oscar for Best Accidental Documentary, Bryan Fogel would be the only challenger. In his effort to make a little cinema about the growing issue of performance-enhancing medications in the sports world, Fogel ended up get in touch with Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory–and together, they slowly realized that their “research” has left them with clear proof that Russia had spent decades conspiring to game the Olympics. While its focus is on doping, the overarching themes speak loudly and clearly to the current state of disenchantment and propagandizing people are reading more and more about every day.

Where to stream it: Netflix

Last Men in Aleppo

At the 2017 Academy Awards, The White Helmets–a 41 -minute documentary about the brave men and women who volunteer as first responders in search and rescue efforts in portions of rebel-controlled Syria and Turkey–won Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara an Oscar for Best Short Documentary. This year, Feras Fayyad and Steen Johannessen’s feature documentary, Last Human in Aleppo, will once again shine a spotlight on the heroic organization, with boots-on-the-ground footage that was shot over two years, and immerses the spectator in what daily life is like for those living in the midst of the Syrian Civil War.

Where to stream it: Netflix, Amazon Video, iTunes

Logan

James Mangold has entered the realm of superhero filmmakers, by sheer morality of represent one of the few who has managed to not only craft a deep nuanced character drama that violates the shackles often associated with the genre–but by being recognized by the Academy( alongside co-writers Scott Frank and Michael Green) for doing just that. It’s a well-deserved tribute for Hugh Jackman’s last outing as a retractable-clawed mutant.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, HBO Go, iTunes

Loving Vincent

CGI is all well and good, but there’s something to be said for pushing the boundaries of centuries-old techniques, which is exactly what Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman have done with Loving Vincent. The movie pays the ultimate tribute to its protagonist, Vincent van Gogh, by recruiting a squad of 125 artist to tell the story of the lord painter’s life … with oil painting. 65,000 frames worth of them.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Mudbound

Netflix continues to show it can play with the the major studios with Dee Rees’ epic, post-WWII drama where class and race collide in rural areas in Mississippi. Accommodated by Rees and Virgil Williams from Hillary Jordan’s book of the same name, the movie depicts the unlikely friendship that develops between two soldiers–one white( Garrett Hedlund ), one black( Jason Mitchell )– as they resume their lives in the Jim Crow South, and are forced to deal with the PTSD that haunts them, and the racism that surrounds them. The film’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer, Rachel Morrison, had now been lent her eye to the year’s biggest movie in so far: Black Panther.

Where to stream it: Netflix

On Body and Soul

Director Ildiko Enyedi won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for this intense, albeit sometimes bizarre, Hungarian movie in which two shy coworkers at a slaughterhouse in Budapest forge a relationship in their daydreams( they keep having the same ones) and attempt to translate that to the waking world. Rating another win for Netflix.

Where to stream it: Netflix

The Disaster Artist

After spending more than a decade as a Hollywood punchline, Tommy Wiseau–the eccentric novelist/ administrator behind the so-bad-it’s-kind-of-amazing cult film The Room–finally got his critical due when James Franco decided to turn the construction of that movie into a movie all of its own, which is equal components funny, bizarre, and curiously moving. Eat your nerve out, Ed Wood.

Where to stream it: Amazon Video, iTunes

Oscars Overdrive

How Mudbound’s Rachel Morrison, the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for cinematography, took the world by cyclone with the stunning Black Panther

Dive deep behind the scenes of Blade Runner 2049, as told in our October 2016 cover story

Can a fish-man be emotionally appealing? The Shape of Water dares to find out

Catch up on reviews of Get Out, Logan, and Mudbound

from https://bestmovies.fun/2018/03/01/20-oscar-nominated-movies-you-can-stream-right-now/

[threeorphanpilgrimage]

Chapter 59 - Firestorm

Clementine tensed up as she heard another loud rumble off in the distance. It had been the third time this afternoon and she still found it unsettling. Dim clouds canvassed the entire sky, but it still looked too early to rain, but the sounds of thunder far off in the distance suggested that would change soon. It was a little warmer today, but not much, and the constant bursts of cool wind kept causing the girl to shiver as she tried to keep watch from on top of the Brave.

The overpass they were parked on kept them out of reach of most walkers, and the thunder in the distance seemed to be drawing what few there were left further away. Using the telescope to scan the nearby area, she saw a few walkers moving south through the heart of yet another small and abandoned town off the interstate. Other walkers, possibly too rotted to hear far off noises anymore, remained in place, simply waiting for a victim.

The dead had been growing more common as they had moved west across the region, yet food and supplies were as scarce as ever. Even though they were few and far, Clem couldn't help feeling nervous at just the sight of the walkers below her, and found herself worrying about the ones she couldn't see. Even with her raincoat on, the presence of the dead was unnerving for the girl, a constant reminder that death was always only a single mistake away.

"Patty? Anthony?" said Sarah into her radio. "Are you two okay?"

Clem looked over at the older girl, who was sitting next to her on top of the RV, her atlas spread out on her lap.

"We're fine Sarah," assured Patty over the radio. "We just arrived. The map may say this is an airport, but really it's just a single runway. I have my doubts you could land one plane here, let alone five."

"Really?" asked a disappointed Sarah. "Dammit…" Sarah crossed out a town on her atlas. Peeking down at the map, Clem herself felt discouraged by the series of black marks that spanned the entire state of Louisiana.

"I don't know why we're still bothering with these tiny podunk towns," said Anthony. "As if salvation is gonna be in bumfuck Louisiana."

"Actually this town is in Texas," informed Sarah as she started flipping through the pages of her atlas. "We crossed the border when we crossed that river a few miles before we got here, we're in Orange, Texas."

"God, I really hope the answer to my prayers isn't in Texas," said Patty. "That's the kind of thing that would give me an existential crisis."

"Well if it is, it's not here in goddamn 'Orange' Texas and its shitty one runway airport," grumbled Anthony. "What kind of idiot names a town Orange? And then what kind of idiots waste time thinking they'll find jack shit in a town called Orange? We should just go to Houston already, that's the next big town west of here."

"It's because it's the next big town we're checking the stuff along the way," said Sarah. "We might find out something about Houston if we check these towns around it first."

"We just went into New Orleans, and that worked out." Clem cringed upon hearing that. Looking at Sarah, she seemed bothered by that comment as well. An awkward silence lingered for few seconds before they heard a voice on the radio again.

"And besides," Patty said. "Houston is a lot bigger than New Orleans."

"How big could it be?" asked Anthony.

"New Orleans has—or had—about three-hundred thousand people in it according to to the atlas," informed Sarah. "There were over two million in Houston."

Another few seconds of silence followed. "Okay, that's pretty big," admitted Anthony.

"It's bigger than anywhere any of us have been since shit fell apart," said Patty. "Even Miami only had about a fifth as many people as Houston, and shit wasn't exactly great there either. And it's over twice the size of Jacksonville, Florida, which the girls told me was so tore up they couldn't even get into it."

"How many people did you say used to live in Savannah?" Clem whispered to Sarah.

"I think the atlas said a little over a hundred-thousand?" Hearing that made Clem cringe as she realized Houston could be equivalent to twenty Savannahs. That thought alone made Clementine feel sick, and another even louder rumble in the distance just made her feel even worse.

"Jesus that sounded close," reported Patty over the radio. "Even closer than the last one."

"I want to know where the hell the lightning that's making those noises is," said Anthony. "You think we'd be able to see it by now."

"Well we're not waiting for it," announced Patty. "You two hang tight, we'll be back in a few minutes, and then all four of us can drive out to somewhere secluded to wait out the rain that's coming."

"Got it. We'll be waiting for you." Clem folded up their telescope while Sarah used the ladder to climb back down to the road. This was the third airport they had checked today, and they were still no closer to a solution. Moving to the edge of the RV, Clem noticed Sarah looked discouraged as she took the telescope Clem passed down to her. "Are you okay?"

"I guess," said the older girl as she adjusted her grip on the telescope. "It's just, it's been almost a week now and we still haven't found anything, and before long we'll have to check another big city—the biggest city we've seen yet—and it just feels like…"

"I know," consoled Clem. "It feels like we'll never find anything."

"Or if we do, it won't be good," sighed Sarah. "I should get back inside and make sure Omid doesn't need anything."

"Maybe tomorrow will be better." Clem's words of encouragement seemed to do nothing to lift Sarah's spirits as she shuffled away. Finding no comfort out in the cold, Clem climbed down herself. She was going to head into the Brave when she heard something off in the distance. It wasn't thunder or anything that loud this time, but it was still distinct. Turning out to look over town, Clem could tell what direction the noise was coming from but not what it was. It sounded almost like a bee buzzing around, but too loud and distant.

After listening closely for a few seconds, Clementine realized it was an engine she was hearing. Her first thought was she was hearing Anthony's truck in the distance. It seemed too soon for that, but Patty had said that the airport wasn't far and they'd be right back. But as the noise of a running engine drew closer with every passing second, Clem realized it didn't sound like a truck at all. Panic begin to creep into the girl's thoughts as she felt her feet moving backwards without even thinking. A thunderous cracking erupted across the area and the girl spun around and tried to flee.

"Whoa, Clem," said Sarah as Clem ran head first into her friend. "What's wrong?"

"Do you hear that?" asked Clem.

"The thunder, yeah I—"

"Not that, I heard an engine before that," said Clem.

"I didn't hear any…" Sarah suddenly became very quiet. The older girl's eyes widened and she moved past Clem to the edge of the overpass. The engine noise was back and louder than ever now. Looking out on the road below them, Clem felt a chill shoot up her spine as something burst into view.

"That's… that's not Anthony's truck…" Clem watched in stunned silence as a silver luxury car came into view on the road south of the overpass. It was barreling towards them incredibly fast and Clem felt as if she couldn't look away. At the rate it was going, it would zoom right under the overpass they were standing on in seconds. The girl felt a twisted tinge of relief as the car swerved suddenly to avoid hitting a walker that had stumbled in front of it. The vehicle skidded across the road, it brakes screeching loudly as it tried to correct its course, then jumped the curb and violently slammed into a utility pole.

"Oh God!" exclaimed Sarah as the pair continued to watch the car with great interest. It had crashed about three blocks from the overpass the girls were standing on and was now making churning noises as whoever was in it was clearly trying to start it again. Clem used this opportunity to grab her binoculars while the car was stationary and quickly found it in her sights.

Seeing it better, she noticed the car's paint was stained with odd black marks that looked like burns, and the front windshield was covered in some kind of gray soot. The driver's side door suddenly burst open, only to hastily slam closed again as a walker tried to lunge at whoever was inside. Putting her binoculars down, Clem saw more walkers were stumbling towards the car, throwing their rotten bodies against the vehicle and pounding on the windshield with their arms.

"They're going to kill whoever's in there." Clem looked over to see a wide-eyed Sarah staring back at her. "We gotta do something!"

"Right." Clem pulled her gun from its holster. She couldn't possibly hit the walkers from this distance with it, so she aimed it into the sky instead. She pulled the trigger twice for a couple of quick shots and waited for the walkers to start moving, but they didn't. Only a lone one near the overpass turned around, the rest of the corpses kept closing in on the lone car to join the ones that were already pounding on it. Even from the overpass, Clem could hear the annoying racket of walkers banging on metal and it occurred to the girl that they couldn't hear the gunshots over the noise they were making.

"We need to get closer," said Sarah, having reached the same conclusion.

"I don't know, if—"

"Clementine! We can't just let them die."

"Right," said Clem, already feeling ashamed for her hesitation. "Let's go." The pair hurried back into the Brave; Sarah wasted no time starting the vehicle while Clem hurried towards the closet

"Be careful," warned Clem. "If you see a lot of walkers, like in Titusville, you—"

"I'll get us out of here," promised Sarah as she shifted the Brave into drive. "But there's not that many right now."

"Not that we can see…"

Clementine pulled the closet door open and looked at the machine gun, rifle, and automatic rifle stacked against the corner. Thinking it would make the loudest and most noise of the three, Clem grabbed the automatic rifle. The girl hurried over to the cupboards and retrieved the gun's magazine along with the belt clip that held spare magazines for her pistol. Just as she equipped them, she felt the Brave slow to a stop and heard a loud blaring sound. Turning her head, Clem could see Sarah was leaning on the steering wheel to sound the horn.

"Some of them are heading towards us," reported Sarah. "But not all of them, we—"

"We'll just need to kill them all, because whoever is in that car won't have a raincoat like us," concluded Clem as she threw the rifle over her shoulder, which felt awkward on her back. "They already know we're here, so I might as well just shoot them. If I climb on top of the Brave, they won't be able to reach me and I can just take my time."

"And if more show up I can just drive us away," concluded Sarah.

"Just give me a warning when you do so I can grab onto something first," said Clem as she headed towards the door.

"Hang on, I'll pull us over to a spot further away so you've got more time to get to the ladder on the back."

Clem kept her eyes glued to the door as she heard the Brave's motor start. The breaks squeaking, the engine roaring, every little noise sounded louder than ever, tying the girl's stomach into knots as she felt herself moving with the RV. Part of Clem was telling herself that gunning down walkers on an open street for the benefit of a stranger was a stupid risk, but the rest of her was thinking about all the times she had nearly been eaten alive only to be spared that fate by someone who cared more about others than themselves.

"Okay, go!" Clem already had her hand on the doorknob when Sarah said go. She threw open the door with one hand and pulled her pistol in the other. Just outside was a parking lot leading up to a quaint brick office building advertising tax returns in the windows. Leaning out to make sure there were no walkers just out of sight, Clem leapt outside and slammed the door shut behind her. The girl then raced as fast as she could and rounded the back of the Brave in mere seconds.

Now behind the vehicle, Clem spotted some walkers clumsily chasing after the Brave from the direction of the overpass. Still well out of arm's reach, Clem took aim and put down the nearest corpse with a single well-placed shot to the head. The girl then turned and hurried up the ladder, not wanting to be on the street when the other walkers closed the gap. Scaling the ladder, Clem briefly stopped and looked through the back window. She could see Omid standing in his crib, looking around in confusion. The girl felt a sharp pang of guilt for not being there to comfort him, but then forced herself to keep climbing.

Reaching the top of the Brave, Clem immediately turned around to find another walker had nearly closed the distance from the overpass. A bullet to the head however made sure it would never complete that unremarkable journey. Checking the left side of the vehicle, Clem found another walker already pounding on the RV. Shooting straight down from the roof made its head an easy target and the corpse was dispatched with ease.

"Clem," spoke Sarah. "There's—"

"I'm on it." Clem headed straight to the front of the RV next and found two more walkers banging against the vehicle’s grill. Clem made a couple of loud bangs herself, silencing the meddlesome cadavers for good.

"There's still a lot of them attacking the car," said Sarah, clearly worried. "I think they've broken one of its windows."

Clem saw the silver car in the distance, still stuck to the utility pole. There were at least five walkers still beating on it, one of which was trying to force itself head first through a large break on the driver's side window. Clem nearly jumped as she heard the Brave's horn again, it sounding much louder outside than it did in.

The girl watched as a couple of the walkers abandoned the car, but not all of them, and certainly not the one still trying to climb in through the broken window. She holstered her pistol and removed the rifle from her back. Clem located a switch and flicked it from 'SAFE' to 'AUTO'. The girl knelt down and braced the rifle against her shoulder, preparing herself to strike. Clem initially took aim at one the walkers attacking the car, but then realized the shots might go through the windshield and hit whoever was inside, so she aimed to the right of the walker instead, hoping the gun was louder than the Brave's horn.

Clem pulled the trigger and immediately felt a series of sudden painful kicks against her shoulder and stinging blows against her right hand. She tried letting go of the trigger as the rifle bucked upwards and out of her grip but it was too late. The gun slipped from her hands, tumbled over the side of the Brave, and plummeted onto the pavement below.

"Clem?" called Sarah. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she assured, barely able to hear her friend's voice over the horrible ringing in her ears. "I just dropped the rifle."

"It worked though, look."

Clem saw the last few walkers, including the one at the car's window, had finally abandoned the vehicle and were heading towards the Brave, which Sarah was honking the horn for again to keep their attention. Looking down, she saw a couple had already reached their RV and were pounding against the windshield. Clem pulled her pistol and quickly put them down, then remained vigilant as more walkers started lurching towards their position.

The walkers were scattered and kept reaching the RV only a few at a time, much to Clem's relief. She shot the closest walkers on one side, then would check another side and repeat the process there, then kept moving until she checked every side, then would start over. It became fairly monotonous before long, with every check revealing a couple more walkers closing the distance that needed to be shot before changing sides to find the same thing all over again. After eliminating a couple more walkers near the back, Clem's gun clicked when tried to kill the last one behind the RV.

The girl quickly ejected the empty magazine and stuffed it in her pocket. Trying to remove a spare from her belt proved more difficult than she thought, having to fumble with the clip that secured them for a few seconds, then wasting a few more seconds finally finding her grip on the magazine before quickly slamming it into her gun. She cycled the pistol then shot the remaining walker, only to return to the front to find four more that needed killing.

"I'm going to pull forward," warned Sarah as Clem shot the last walker directly in front of the RV. "Their bodies are starting to stack up and it's going to be harder to drive away if we wait."

"Do it." Clem holstered her gun and laid down so she could grip the edge of the Brave as it slowly lurched forward. There were a couple of sickening pops as they moved, but then the familiar squeak of the brakes sounded and Clem stood up. Immediately the girl spotted a couple more walkers she was obliged to deliver free bullets to, and then she found herself repeating her routine from a few seconds ago. This trend continued for a few minutes longer until Clem finally killed what appeared to be the last of the walkers in the immediate area.

Sarah pulled the vehicle forward again over a few bodies, then parked again, putting the Brave a mere block away from the silver car still clinging to the base of a utility pole. Not seeing any walkers nearby, Clem removed her binoculars and surveyed her surroundings for any stragglers in the distance, but found none.

It was eerily quiet now, and the only thing of interest in sight was the silver car. Looking closely, Clem discovered the windows were all tinted, making it impossible to see through the glass from this side. She could also see the vehicle's windshield was cracked and smeared with bits of rotten flesh left from walkers who had literally broken their arms against it. The window on the driver's side of the vehicle had been partially broken open, but enough of the glass remained to block Clementine's view.

"Clem? Do you see any more lurkers?"

"No," reported Clem as she did one final check of the area.

"Okay, so, what do we do now?" asked Sarah.

"I… I'm not sure." Clem moved the binoculars up to her face to study the broken vehicle a little more, then made her decision. "I'm going to check out the car."

"Are you sure?" asked Sarah. "You killed the lurkers, and—"

"More might come," concluded Clem. "And whoever is inside would get eaten because they don't know how to get past them, which would mean we did all this for nothing."

"Well, yeah," concluded Sarah. "But…"

"I thought you wanted to help."

"I do, but… I don't want you to get hurt either." Clem could hear Sarah sigh over the radio. "Let me just check on Omid, then I'll get my rifle and come with you."

"Okay."

Clem clipped her radio back to her belt but hesitated to draw her pistol. Now that the danger had passed, the girl had become all too aware of how incredibly sore her hands had become. She couldn't ever remember firing that many shots in such a short period of time and found herself wishing she wouldn't have to shoot anymore today, but knew there was a good chance she would.

Reluctantly, Clementine ignored the pain in her hand and removed her gun from its holster. She noticed it felt lighter than usual, then realized it was probably nearly out of bullets again. Clem swapped the magazine out for the last spare she had, hoping she wouldn't actually need to use it. Moving down the ladder, Clem spotted the automatic rifle she dropped earlier was just sitting on the road about ten feet behind where the RV was parked now.

After confirming the rifle still had bullets left, Clem located the safety. She moved the switch from 'AUTO' to the 'SEMI' setting in the middle, hoping that would make it only shoot one bullet at a time. Thinking it would be more intimidating than her pistol, Clem kept the rifle in her hands as she headed for the Brave's door.

Sarah emerged from the Brave shortly after, a rifle now gripped in her own hands. She closed the door, locked it, and then placed the keys in her pocket. The pair looked at each other for a moment, then started moving towards the car. Clem kept a watchful eye out for walkers. They had made a lot of noise, and the dead move slowly, so more could be on their way this very moment. But she couldn't focus for long on what may be out there as they closed in on the car that was right in front of them.

The girls kept their rifles gripped in their hands, but kept the barrels aimed at the ground, not wanting to appear threatening to whoever they were rescuing. Clem felt herself growing tenser as they moved in closer to the car. She could still hear a ringing sound leftover from all the gunfire pounding against her eardrums a minute ago, and with every step it seemed to be getting louder somehow. Just this horrible ringing getting louder and louder until it was all the girl could hear anymore.

"Stay back!" The words punctured the ringing like a shot itself, bringing a trembling Clem to an immediate halt as her finger seem to instinctively seek out her gun's trigger. "Who are you with?" Hearing the voice again sounded almost as harsh as hearing it the first time, but this time Clem could detect a hint of fear in what was clearly a man's voice. "Marines? Army? Navy?" Listening to him speak, Clem noticed the man had what sounded like a mix of two different accents, neither of which she recognized. "Well? Who… who are you people?"

"I'm Sarah," the older girl finally yelled back, clearly nervous herself. "She's Clementine. You looked like you needed help."

"You're… you're just children." Something in the way the man said children irritated Clementine, as if he was relieved now because he thought they could never be any threat to him.

"We just killed all the walkers attacking you," stated Clementine with as much authority as she could. "We told you who we are; who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?" asked the man. "What do you want?"

"We just want to help. Are you hurt?" Clem found herself inching forward as Sarah spoke. "You didn't get bitten by a lurker just now did you?" By moving towards her right, Clem found herself gradually getting a better view through the opening in the busted window on the driver's side of the car. "Because if you did, that's really—"

"That's close enough!" Clem froze again as she could clearly see the top of someone's head briefly moving in the opening. "I didn't ask for your help, just leave me alone!" The fear in the man's voice was more noticeable now than before, and Clem suddenly realized she had raised her rifle without thinking about it. "Please, I'm begging you, just leave… leave me alone." Hearing someone begging for mercy was a completely alien experience for Clem; it made her feel sick.

"We're not going to hurt you," promised Clem as she lowered her rifle. Finding the pain in her hands growing the longer she carried this heavy weapon, Clem switched the safety back on and threw the rifle over her shoulder. "You're not going to hurt us, are you?"

"Why would I do that?" asked the man, sounding genuinely confused.

"I don't know," said Clem. "We don't know even know who you are."

"Maybe you could come out and talk to us?" suggested Sarah as she surveyed the area. "There aren't any lurkers in the area."

"All right," said the man, still clearly afraid. "Please don't shoot."

"We won't."

Clem felt her hand moving to her pistol as she saw the car door slowly creak open, but resisted the urge to draw it. She felt nervous as she saw someone move past the door, only for her apprehension to evaporate upon finally seeing who they were speaking to. The man was older than they would have thought, his hair gray and his frightened face creased by wrinkles. He wore a blue jacket covered in soot and the glasses on his eyes highlighted his scared dark eyes as he raised his gloved hands over his head.

"You can put your hands down," assured Clem in an apologetic tone.

"Does… does that work?" The man pointed at the RV.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Clem, making no effort to conceal her suspicion.

"We need to get out of here," insisted the man in a desperate voice. "We need to leave, right…" The man stopped suddenly as he looked to his right. Following his line of sight, Clementine saw a familiar old red truck with a camper attached to its bed barreling towards them. It skidded to a sudden stop and out came its occupants in a flash.

"Don't move!" ordered Patty as she raised her shotgun, prompting the man to raise his hands again.

"Well well, whatta we got here?" asked Anthony with a certain eagerness as he brandished his baseball bat.

"Patty, Anthony, stop!" ordered Sarah.

"Are you—"

"We're okay," assured Clem. "We were just helping…" Clem turned to the man as she realized she didn't even know his name.

"Sin."

"What?" asked Patty.

"My name is Sin," said the man a little louder, sounding annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"For real?" asked Anthony with a chuckle.

"Yes, for real," said Sin in a derisive tone. "If you people are willing to help me, then we should leave, right away."

"Why?" asked Patty.

"It's not safe here. If your vehicles work, we should head east until—"

"East?" asked Sarah.

"We've been heading west because there's nothing left east," said Clem.

"Only death awaits you if you go west," spoke Sin in an ominous tone.

"Why?" asked Patty.

"Just trust me, we—"

"Trust you?" repeated Anthony. "We just met you, and you're literally named Sin." A loud rumble suddenly erupted in the distance.

"Shit, the rain's coming," said Patty. "We—"

"That isn't thunder!" exclaimed Sin, appearing more anxious now than he did a moment ago.

"Then what is it?" asked Anthony.

A noticeably annoyed Sin spun around in place, looking for something, then gestured to a water tower just a short walk away from where his car had crashed. "There," he said. "Go up there, and you can see what it is."

"Is this a joke?" asked Anthony. "We go up there and you—"

"I'll go myself." Sin slammed the door to his car shut, then stood there oddly quiet for a moment before turning around. "If one of you stays here and watch my car, I'll go up that tower and show you why none of us want to go west."

"Protect your car? Are—"

"Shut up Anthony," ordered Patty as she approached Clem and Sarah. "What do you two think?"

"He sounded really scared when he came out of his car," informed Clem.

"And he crashed it because he was driving really fast," added Sarah. "Like he was trying to get away from something."

"And you two came down here to rescue him?" asked Patty.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Sarah.

"We really didn't want to leave someone to die," said Clem.

"All right, well if you guys already did the hard stuff, I guess the least I can do is go for a walk… or climb I guess with this guy, see what he's talking about." Patty turned away from the girls and approached Sin. "All right, I'll go with you, but we need to do this quick."

"I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary," assured Sin as he looked at his car again. "And you'll make sure nothing gets to my… car?"

"You're really worried about your damn car," noted Anthony. "You—"

"We'll make sure," promised Clementine.

"All right then." Sin looked at Patty. "Come, let's hurry." Patty threw her shotgun over her shoulder and started running towards the water tower while Clem moved in closer to the car.

"Well like hell if I'm staying here with my thumbs up my ass," groaned Anthony. "You two can watch a car, I want to see what's so damn important we have to take a trip up a fucking water tower just to see it."

Before Clem could say anything, Anthony took off running towards the water tower, which Sin and Patty were already climbing. The young girl briefly looked around, suspicious of more walkers, but she didn't find any. She looked over at the water tower again to find Anthony had just reached the ladder. Looking at Sin's car momentarily just caused the girl to look over at the water tower again and wish she was over there instead.

"You want to check it out too." Clem looked at Sarah, who had clearly already devised the girl's intents. "Just do me a favor and take my camera, that way I can see… whatever it is you see up there."

"Okay."

Sarah gave Clem the keys to the Brave. "And check on Omid real quick while you're at it."

"Sure thing." The girl hurried back into the RV as fast as she could. She unloaded and stored the rifle before sprinting into the bedroom.

"Kem-men," greeted Omid with a smile.

"Hey there OJ," said Clem as she moved to the dresser to collect Sarah's camera. "You doing okay? All that noise isn't bothering you is it?"

"Dah-bah-dee-dah," said Omid, sounding less enthusiastic now.

"You're such a brave boy, we just need you to stay put a little bit longer, okay?" Clem checked the counter on the back of the device that indicated how many pictures it had left. "I'll be right back."

"Kem-men!" pleaded Omid as she headed for the door.

"I know OJ, but…" Clem remembered the camera in her hands, then got an idea. She held it out as far as she could and pressed the button. A bright flash caused her to briefly see spots, then the camera ejected a photo. "Here, why don't you hang onto this?" said Clem as she offered the boy the picture. "That way I can be here with you while I'm out there too."

The toddler seemed reluctant to take the photo at first, but then the image of Clementine slowly begin to fade in and the picture immediately became fascinating for Omid's young mind. As the boy awed at the photo now in his hands, Clem quietly headed out of the room, then hurried back out the door. She locked the Brave, then rushed back to Sarah.

"Be careful," said Sarah as she took the keys back.

"You too." Clem hurried towards the water tower, equally curious and nervous about what there was to find. She looped the camera's strap around her neck, then started climbing as fast as she could. Her hands were still sore, but not so much they were slowing her down. This didn't appear to be particularly tall for a water tower, but then even a short water tower was pretty long climb. Half way up, Clem made the mistake of looking down, and felt her stomach drop as she briefly pictured herself falling the fifty feet back to the ground.

The girl forced herself to face forward and stare at the metal rungs in front of her. It took a few moments to muster the nerve to resume climbing, but Clem continued her ascent, moving more slowly as she gripped the ladder as tightly as she could. The wind picked up as she continued her climb, with a strong gust sending another shiver down her spine while also pushing with just enough force that it felt like it was trying to shove Clementine off the ladder.

The girl soldiered on, ignoring the cold, the wind, and the pain in her hands as she climbed even higher. She could hear the others talking now, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Realizing she must be nearing the top, Clem hurried and shortly afterwards found herself emerging onto a small walkway that ran around the water reservoir, along with a handrail that Clementine was grateful for. Following the sound of the other's voices, she found herself close enough to hear their conversation now.

"Jesus Christ…" awed Patty.

"Let me see dammit," said Anthony. "I didn't bring my binoculars."

"You see now why we need to leave?" asked Sin.

"Why?" Everyone looked at Clem in response to her question as she inched in behind the group, who had all gathered near the handrail just a few feet away from the ladder.

"If you're here does that mean there's only one of you left protecting my car?" asked Sin in an irritated voice.

"Hey man, I don't think you have to worry about anyone stealing it; it's a wreck after all," mocked Anthony.

"That's not…" Sin eyed Anthony with contempt.

"Clem, look at this," said Patty as she waved the girl to come closer to the rail. "Out there, where the sky is the darkest, you see that?"

"See what?" asked Clem as she removed her binoculars from her belt.

"The darkest clouds over there aren't clouds." Clem followed the blackest clouds she could find on the horizon. They did look unusually dark, even for rain clouds, and scanning them carefully, Clem noticed something unusual.

"You see it, don't you?" asked Patty. "It's not clouds, it's—"

"Smoke," Clem realized as she followed the dark trail connecting the clouds to somewhere out of sight past the horizon. "But… there's so much of it."

"Sin was telling us it's—"

"A refinery," he announced. "Up in flames."

"Refinery? But…" An earth-shattering rumbling filled the air and Clem watched in shock as a pillar of fire erupted on the horizon. It shot right out of the ground and arched upwards like a massive flaming limb clothed in black smoke reaching into the darkened sky.

"Okay, I saw that one, even without binoculars," said Anthony, sounding uncharacteristically unsettled. "Jesus Christ, I thought that didn't sound like thunder earlier."

"Holy shit…" spoke Patty in a quiet voice.

"It's just going to get worse," warned Sin in an anxious voice. "They won't be able to contain the fire, it'll just keep spreading until every distillery and tank is burning, sending literally tons of chemicals and heavy metals into to the atmosphere, which will eventually come back to the ground in the form of acid rain, and that's assuming the the weather isn't right for it to turn into a literal firestorm."

"What the hell do you mean by firestorm?" asked a frightened Patty.

"Wait, back up, who the hell is they?" asked Anthony.

"Why is it on fire?" asked Clem. "What happened?"

"Please, if we could just go somewhere—anywhere away from here, I'll tell you whatever you want," pleaded Sin. "But we must leave."

"Yeah I… I think that's a good idea," spoke Patty with a stutter. "Come on everybody." She and Sin headed for the ladder while Anthony took a step forward for a better look.

"God damn…" he said in awe as he watched the plumes of smoke on the horizon. "That is one hell of a fire." The young man watched the distant flames for a few moments longer, then headed for the ladder, leaving Clem alone now.

Not wanting to stay much longer herself, the girl grabbed the camera hanging around her neck and raised it to take a picture of the disaster unfolding in front of her. Stopping to place the photo and camera in her backpack, Clem couldn't help but take one last look at the horror in the distance. Staring directly into the smoldering flames rising over the horizon, the girl could swear she could feel the heat coming off of them.

After putting her backpack on, Clem hurried towards the ladder, eager to return to the ground. Going down was much easier than coming up, and before she knew it she had arrived back on the grass where everyone was waiting on her. Patty merely tilted her head in the direction of the road and everyone started walking.

"I can try getting your car started," offered Patty as they headed away from the water tower. "But if I can't fix the problem in a few minutes you're just gonna have to ditch it and ride with us."

"It'd be better just to forget the car and leave with you right now," insisted Sin. "We shouldn't stay out here any longer than we need to be."

"Well if you feel that way, then why the hell did you ask us to guard the damn car in the first place?" asked an annoyed Anthony.

"It's not the car itself that I was worried about," said Sin as they crossed back into the street.

"What then?" asked Clem. "Is there something inside?"

"Um… not something."

Patty's words prompted Clem to look away from Sin. Just ahead of them she could see Sarah sitting on the curb next to Sin's car, along with a dark-haired boy. He was about the same height as Sarah, was carrying a bag in his arms, and had a forlorn look on his thin face. Turning to the others, he immediately looked at Sin.

"I'm… I'm sorry," said the boy in a pitiful tone as he looked away. "I… I just really had to go to the bathroom."

"It's okay," Sarah told Sin. "I let him use ours."

Sin turned to the others, his face an odd mix of irritation and exhaustion. "This is my grandson, Jet."

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