Hermana Muerte (Sister Death)

Hoy toca hablar sobre una película, española en español. Salió en Netflix y es de Paco Plaza, que yo no ubicaba, pero me puse a investigar y se aventó la chulada de Rec (la primera que es la que más me gusta, claro está), yo no quería verla porque “ash España, monjas, si, seguro es el diablo o algo así”.

Y que me callo toda la boca, porque ayer se terminaba la membresía y yo estaba un poco apurada con ya ver lo que fuera, le di play y la verdad es que empieza con muy buen ritmo, o sea, sí me interesó seguirla viendo.

Algo que me pareció muy acertado fue el uso de la música, que a veces puede ser muy genérica, con los acordes inesperados para el jump scare y todo eso. La ambientación la sentía bastante bien lograda, claustrofóbica, algo sucedía o sucedió pero no sabía todavía que, se puede intuir algo, claro, pero yo no soy tan buena en ello, lo que me gusta porque me deja más espacio para sorpresas.

Yo no soy de aprenderme los nombres de los personajes o de lxs que actúan, pero les voy a decir que la hermana/novicia Narcisa me atrapó con su interpretación. También el hecho de que yo iba a la escuela de monjas de niña y escuchar los rezos, lo hizo un 70% más creepy.

Al final, lo que fácilmente pudo ser otra peli de monjas en un convento/internado resultó en uno de los filmes más atrapantes e interesantes que he visto este año, muy bien merecido el revuelo que tiene. El final me encantó, así como la música, si pueden denle una oportunidad, es una maravilla.

Journaling and mental health

I decided to keep this blog a bit less personal, so I started a journal account in Penzu. I did a little research and apparently journaling has many benefits, I want to say how it’s been for me. I’ll sort of document my experience now and then in a few months.

On the first day, I wrote 3 posts, it’s so liberating when you don’t have to think much, just write, write, word vomit everything out. It really helps me to stop ruminating and also to get a different point of view when reading it once I’ve calmed the fuck down.

So now it’s day 4, I usually find myself journaling first thing in the morning and 1-3 more times depending on what happens, one of those times is before sleep, it feels like freeing up space from my mind! I can sleep so much better after “unloading” it all into words.

So in short, the benefits I’ve found so far are:

It helps me declutter my brain
Stops the rumination
Helps me see things from a different angle
Gives me time to calm down and process
I can look back and see how my feelings/ideas change
It helps me to remember to look into subjects of interest
Can sleep so much better!
I’ve felt less anxious about recurring thoughts
It’s aiding me to be more present

So just give it a try, I am using Penzu because it has a mobile version and I definitely use them both!

Upper/Lower/Full body

I found ONE single page on the internet with this split, I’ll link it here Eevo split. I am a bit shocked to see that many people don’t seem to like it, but, as usual, by many people I mean guys, and most guys, if not all, want and can handle much more weight with their upper bodies, so I think that makes sense, for them.
But me… I’m a 1.50 girl, for crying out loud,I like training both upper and lower body, but for many reasons a 4-day schedule is overwhelming for me, I was doing a “traditional” upper/lower, of 4 days, but honestly, I didn’t adhere to it as I would have liked to.

I’ve heard that the best split/workout routine is the one you actually follow, so for this I decided to try a different approach, I knew hitting a muscle 2x times a week was pretty good, so I thought, “Well, I can certainly do a lower day, an upper one and then combine it all with a full body day, that way I hit’em twice, got time to rest, less stress, I will most likely stick to it, what’s not to like?”

I hopped on Google to look for ideas, but as I mentioned, it’s not a very popular split… So I took some ideas and made my own, keep in mind I do not own gym machines, I have a home gym with barbells, kettlebells, some plates and of course, some dumbells.

Full body: Full body
Lower: Lower
Upper: Upper

I am sure there are many ways to tweak this, but all in all, I am pretty happy about it, I will test it out for 2 months and then do a follow-up report. I also do the daily stretching routine to do a split and the plank challenge. Ah, I forgot to mention I do 1 day of dedicated abs since the planks should take care of that.

We’ll see how it goes!!!

“Best worst manga ever”

You know it, I know it, in most “worst manga” lists or “manga to never read” there are usually the same titles, I am going to sort of talk more about genres with a few titles thrown in, WITH MASSIVE SPOILERS, like INSANE SPOILERS AHEAD, so if you do want to check out some of these, well words can’t do justice to the drawing, so you still can, but you’ve been warned. I’m leaving out the infamous “concrete girl” Junko Furuta, since it’s an old, real-life case and it is actually very sad, now that I think about it, most of the manga I’ll talk about here is quite sad in a very unique way…but I shall offer a song about the Furuta case.
Taion – The Gazette

Now the actual “list

Mai-chan’s daily life
Sexually tortured girls
One I can’t remember the name, but plot
Guro works
Metamorphose/Emergence
Boku no Pico
Toddlercon in general

That is enough, now let’s go into each one, shall we! I wanna mention, I think I read most of these in SadPanda, I have since then stopped using the site, this stuff puts me in a bad mental state like it’s legit sad and I wanna live well. I like my horror, but this is a bit too much. I am aware this is all fiction and I usually don’t care but there is something…

Mai-chan’s daily life: This one is the easiest to talk about, a girl who somehow can regenerate after being horribly tortured and hurt, think about making burgers with your own arm style. The “sad” part for me wasn’t that, but her one and only friend, a limb-less girl who I recall couldn’t speak, Mai was being hung with a knife stuck somewhere and her friend (think of her like a weird sex doll pet slave style) was kind of waiting for her underneath the tree or something and the knife fell eventually and killed her, a bit far fetched but that part was owww. The baby fuck was shocking to some but I didn’t care for it.

Sexually tortured girls: The title itself lets you know what to expect, I mean, the whole story has an actual good ending because they dismantle some pedo/murder web or something, I don’t remember, but the way they tell the backstories… “She was raped by a corpse for 3 days!”, it’s like a very value shock cheap magazine thing to write, lol it does sound stupid actually..anyway, this is longer.

Weird one about abducting women and making them have kids: This was I actually felt repulsed, it was this girl trying to improve her life or something, got sold,I mean engaged to this freak in a freak family where all the males freely raped the females, incest is in order, she eventually gets even raped by her own lil bro who is also raped until he starts to like all of it and well, she’s pregnant and if she has a girl, she’ll be raped by just anyone and everyone, if he’s a boy, he’ll end up doing the same to his mom and any female. Why did I finish it? I somehow expected something to happen..but most of these titles end like this, “bad”, cos well, let’s say she was rescued, what kinda life could she possibly have? I don’t think there’s enough therapy in the world for that.

Guro works, especially Uziga Waita: So, guro and ero guro, ahh! lots of dismembering, disenboweling, chopped heads that can still contemplate their joined bodies having sex (far fetched!) ,I remember one where the whole school graduation was everyone getting beheaded lol. So, it can get gruesome and of course graphic, but some are even kinda cute.

Metamorphose/Emergence: Ugh, this one, the damn ending! Enter shy honor student with a poor social life meets a random guy who gets her into drugs and sex, enter domestic abuse and rape, enter more drug addiction and prostitution. She gets STD’s and pregnant, but some people bully her and she dies of an overdose in a public filthy bathroom , that is after they make us think she changed her life around! BUT NO, SHE WAS HALLUCINATING IN THE MOMENT OF DEATH. I mean, at least she went like that…

Boku no Pico: Shotacon, some dude “dates” a younger kiddo who kinda looks like a girl, it’s a 3 parts OVA.

Toddlercon: This one is weird, a lot of what I saw were like shorter stories, in some everyone is willing, in some they learn to like it in others they don’t seem to understand what is actually going on. Since it’s drawings and sometimes with “provocative” clothings, but still round weird small ones…it’s weird and gross but not as disturbing perhaps.

There you go! Enjoy or avoid! I am staying away from those.

Goodbye my love

Salem chose to leave today, I am not sure if it was this morning or last night, I woke up to run into his lifeless body. His brother MaoMao was trying to cuddle him, meowing at me, I probed his legs and head, he wasn’t breathing and his jaw and eyes were open. He wasn’t here any longer. I then called out to my mom, to let her know, and we both cried.

Salem had feline leukemia, not as aggressive as it can be, but he did live a good 6+ years after his diagnosis. He started to feel ill on October 5, this month seems to be a favorite for beings to cross, it’s said to be more peaceful.

Sadako vs Kayako (repost)

I was finally able to watch this in the original version ( a dubbed version in Chinese was available before, but nope) I have to say it was glorious, as a movie of that sort can be.

What started off as a joke, cos who in their right mind would put bad evil spirits to fight..~~ah Jason vs Freddy happened once~~..ok never mind that. An April fool’s joke, the idea seemed so welcomed the producers decided to go with it.

I love Asian horror, Japanese, Chinese, from Vietnam, Korea, etc, and I’ve watched most of the Ringu and Ju-On movies (Sadako comes from Ringu and Kayako comes from Ju-on) so I was so excited about this, and it delivered.

The plot is as amazing as it sounds, a girl is cursed by the video tape (with logic and common sense horror movies wouldn’t exist, seriously, who willingly watches a freaking cursed tape and has the audacity to make a DVD copy!?) and another one is cursed by entering this house,so, the super cool spirit fighter guy along with snarky blind gifted girl come up with a plan.

Let’s make them fight! It’s easy, curse the other one with the opposite foe and then let’em fight over ya, what could ever go wrong?

I shall not spoil you, please do watch, I loved it to bits, the ending is a bit “…really?” but considering the plot, it’s just as expected. Tons of fun to be have here.

Oh I’ve had an epiphany… I’ll make my top 10 Asian horror movies !!!

Nancy’s ultimate top 20 anime (yes repost)

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DISCLAIMER: I’m not so good at making short reviews without spoilers, this is spoiler free so it’s..well, nothing seems as epic as it truly is, so please do watch them all and enjoy.

It’s true, how can one choose 1, 5 or 10?! I was thinking about using proper categories like, my top 5 yuri, top 5 wtf, etc but… some titles make a good mix of 2 or more genres ( Claymore what in the world) so, I’ll just write down the names of the best ones for me, with no particular order,I think, then sorta state why and a lame summary that’s it.

1.- Yuri Kuma Arashi: Lesbian bears from outer space, brought to you by no other than Mr. Kunihiko Ikuhara, genius among geniuses. You have it all here, accompanied by the excellent music created by Miss. Bonjour Suzuki. It’s funny, it’s deep, it carries meaning, it’s the best yuri I’ve seen. T-h-e best. The metaphor with the invisible storm and a society that despises or even negates some form of sexuality is on point. Sadly only 1 season but there’s manga drawn by one of my favourite mangakas, Miss. Morishima Akiko !!

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2.- Shōjo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena: They used to broadcast when I was way younger, I don’t know why but I never got around watching it, until yesterday, it’s marvellous, it’s just truly out of this world, again Ikuhara-sensei has translated whatever is inside his head onto a vivacious and unforgettable story. PS The shadow play girls have to be the very best characters after Utena herself, seriously. 39 episodes, a movie and manga.

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3.- Jigoku Shoujo: Yes, it may be slightly repetitive at first but, a “little girl” that offers contracts to send the one you hate to hell? Come on! Of course…when you do this 2 graves are dug. It has 3 seasons, I loved each of them, I had to cry so much with the last one, but Emma Ai is one of the few characters I can actually recall their name, that says much. Also one of the best catchphrases of all time “Ippen shinde miru?” aka “Would you like to see what death is like?” gives me the chills

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4.- Boogiepop Phantom: What in the actual fuck? A city with little colour, where memories entwine with the day to day life, and someone is known to be the equivalent to death itself. It’s confusing, it has a somehow slow pace, but it’s brilliant how they tie it all up together and bring up matters about life, death, existence and meaning.

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5.- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Oh good grief, what to say about one of the most interesting creations in anime so far? Let’s see, if you know at least a bit about eastern religions you’ll notice the multiple references ( the angels come to attack earth for crying out loud) but it isn’t so simple, if you wanted something existentialist that questions the very point of being alive in the way we know it, please do check the series, the movies and the OVAS (the story is a tad different in the OVAS but still a must see).

6.- Serial Experiments Lain: Oh dear Lain, a world where you can LIVE on the net, literally, cold gazes and un-engaged family and friends, one of those titles that really make you wonder. I’m only aware of 13 episodes series.

7.- Sasami-san@ganbaranai: So you have a hikkikomori girl, her older brother who seems like the ultimate siscon, a cyborg and some old deities. If you like to be told about japanese mythology in a less formal way, come on board. I loved this to bits. I’m aware of the light novels and anime only, I am sure there must be a game too though.

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8.- Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei: Goodbye Mr. despair , it’s pure black comedy, this protagonist, a teacher attempts suicide often and is met by the most unthinkable characters, for example a hikkikomori girl who then he convinces to leave her house, so then she becomes a hikkikomori at her school. Name puns are used often, I believe it’s 3 series.

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9.-Watamote (Watashi ga motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!): GEEZ speak of freaking long titles! Tomoko Kuroki is a very socially awkward girl, actually she seems to have legit social phobia, yet she wants friends, usually doesn’t end up too well, I have to mention the seiyuu, she’s FANTASTIC Izumi Kitta really really good. TV series, 1 OVA and manga.

10.- Wixoss: Oh my, I like trading card games, when they involve granting a wish it seems even better, until you learn how much that wish really costs,that is. You like sorta dark magical girls (Madoka you’re next) ? Well, you’ll love this, series 1 with 2 seasons, a movie that tells it all in a quicker way and a new series with 1 season but apparently there’ll be another one.

11.- Another: Oh how I loved another, I have a slight yet irrational fear of dolls, so this nailed it, also the mere idea that a whole classroom could agree to do something so… low. The atmosphere is great, you can breath the tension, the characters are all awesome, Misaki Mei is another name I don’t need to Google! Watch it all in one go with lights off.

12.- Madoka aka Puella Magi Madoka Magica: I got to watch this after watching Wixoss, oh boy, it’s all magical girls and happiness until the guilt trips and the killing begins isn’t it? Enjoy the series AND the movies for a better view.

13.- Excel Saga: What is this about? Hmm let me see, an “evil” organization wanting to take over the city, yes city first then the country then the world…but in reality it’s a huge ass parody, you should had watched a massive amount of B movies and anime with heavy cliches to get it, it’s pure genius I looove it specially cos Miss. Kotono Mitsuisihi (aka Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon, Misato Katsuragi NGE) lent her voice for such nonsense. She looks epic, she even dies a few times!

14.- Higurashi ni Naku koro ni: Oh good lord, this is pretty confusing, honestly I have to re-watch it all, I *think* it’s 5 series, so yeah, need to watch again, but the thing is it’s spooky, the characters are fairly young so it gives this killer loli vibe, the music, specially the intro in the first season gives the chills, and it’s very interesting cos seriously, you should watch it all in a row to try and make sense. It’s just a bunch of little girls, it’s not like they are gonna go insane and torture and slice you up…or are they?

15.- Kill La Kill: I watched this recently and I instantly fell in love with the oh so over the top tone, the ultimate exaggeration of cliches and the music soundtrack, it honestly has been one of the best (after Cowboy Beebop that is) plus the villain is so cool I liked her!! All action,all nudes, all comedy, all in all!

16.- Black rock Shooter: Oi, this one, hmm, mix some drama, with alternate realities with messed up lives, with psychological issues, throw some action in, cool suits and an amazing soundtrack. Inspired by Hatsune Miku, in a darker version, this was born, the visuals are one of my favourites so far.

17.- Madlax: I like a good share of wtfness in what I watch and read, and I like weird ass shit that goes on in the mind, sadly I can’t say much about this without spoiling, but beware of 3 very different people and how they are related, also one of the worst villans’s name ever .. Friday Monday. yeah that’s the name . Bee train delivered well.

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18.- Noir: So well it delivered Bee train they made it on the list with another title! This is more realistic, guns and secret organizations + secrets story, it’s not bloody but it does keep you on edge, plus the soundtrack is astonishing! It wasn’t yuri or shoujo ai even but there’s some les yay! in there.

19.- Claymore: Dark fantasy and action comes to mind, women in shiny armours, hacking and slashing each other and some phenomenal foes. If you like some blood and a deep backstory, this is for you. Sorta makes me think of Berzerk.

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20.- Yuru Yuri: WHAT? you list nightmare fuel, wtf, epic action, guns and you come up with this? Yes I surely do, this is a very light hearted comedy, surely there are many others, but NO OTHER has managed to catch my attention for so long, and Gods I’ve watched so much anime. I even read the mangas (I love reading manga but I don’t always read the manga for a series I watched) , the characters are a lot of fun, you have the yuri that is not there but it is there, you get a lot of possible pairings, the siscon elder sister because come on, she’s the best. There’s puny jokes and anything they do is fun, even getting lost in the woods.

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So this is far from over, I just listed my personal favourite 20, but I want to add a special mention to the series that brought to us the greatest yandere of all times (at least for many of us) Mirai Nikki or Future Diary, it’s about some diaries (duh) that can tell you about the future and you have to win and blah blah ,the good thing is Gasai Yuno, she is batshit crazy, she’s skilled AF and she’s disturbed AF, but she also seems like a nice person and the end(s) are really heart warming.

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A big thanks to everyone who made the fan art that I included here, I don’t know any names but I’m sure it’s all created by wonderful people, also I want to say there’s tons of lovely and awesome anime I’ve watched, the first titles that got me hooked, around 17 years ago, like Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, those hold a special place in my heart, and every show I’ve watched that made my day even better.

Thank you Japan!

Ryeong a.k.a “The ghost” /”Dead friend”

Thank you South Korea, you have yet again brought an amazing movie for me. If you’ve watched “the grudge” and “dark water” and liked them, you are gonna love this one.

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After I’m done with my Asian horror movies watching fest, I’ll most definitely add this one on my new top chart. You get a girl with amnesia, a confusing past, revengeful spirit , mysterious events and a very nice plot twist, as expected from Asian films.

I have to confess I am in no way used to Korean names so it got confusing at times, also cos they all seem more similar to me than Japanese do, I’m sure that is cos I’m silly.

Anyhow, I don’t want to spoil you, but I want to recommend it, I enjoyed it so much, it has a great atmosphere, it keeps you interested and it’s an overall pretty good movie. Plus the lead character is…well, the twist was really nice, seriously.

Nancy’s ultimate top 8 Asian Horror Movies!

I just watched Sadako vs Kayako so I now must present to you my top 8.

Before anything, I won’t be including movies such as: Ichi the killer, Audition, Battle Royale, Sympathy for lady Vengeance and so on, because those are violent and bloody surely, but they lack the supernatural component,so they belong in another list! Along with most of Takashi Miike’s films.

I am leaving many movies out, yes, cos these ones are the ones I can recall most of what happened without having to watch again and made a bigger impression, but of course there are tons of good movies, like Whispering corridors, The stair of wishes or something like that, Tomie, etc.

1.- A tale of two sisters: Let’s begin with Korea, they bring to us this awesome and surely confusing tale, of well, two sisters, things are surely not what they look like. After spending some time in a mental institution the sisters come home.

2.- Ringu (The ring): Japan’s turn.What can I say? One of the first movies of this sort I’ve watched, the premise is simple, watch a tape, get cursed in X days, proceed to die. Ah vengeful spirits.

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3.- Art of the devil (Long Khong): Thailand, why are you like this? Black magic, voodoo, hella lot of revenge, seriously one of the most gruesome films I’ve watched, and damn I’ve watched such things…Yikes! The one I remember the most is the part 2, my favourite, but any of the 3 will make it hard to sleep in peace.

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4.- One missed call: Japan surely is something else. I think this is one of my all time favourites, I must had watched it about 15 times, through the years. You get a call, from your own phone, well, you get a voice message, then you die in X days (why won’t you kill people more quickly!) it’s interesting cos it tells a lot about how people make their relations and are using technology and blah blah. Plus the ringtone is cool AF.

5.- Sick Nurses: Oh another Thai beauty. I love this one because it feels like a parody, I think it’s one..I’m not sure. It’s really over the top, it presents the most commonly seen tropes in Asian horror movies, long hair, revengeful female spirit, deadly water, etc. Towards the end it turns really original and I just had to love it for it.

6.- Train to Busan: This is not what I would call terror, but it has zombies, plus it made me cry when I watched it alone in the cinema theater. Not cos it was so scary, but cos , as usually, Asian horror movies have a very sad part/backstory/ending. I loved every single minute of it. Another jewel from Korea.

7.- Shutter: From Thailand, ghosts and cameras, a perfect match. It’s really creepy, I got to watch it in a cinema theater and loved it , (in Mexico we don’t always get this sort of movies shown on the big screen, sadly)

8.- The eye: This amazing title comes from Hong Kong/ Singapore , a blind woman who gets a cornea transplant and gets to see the world sounds lovely right? Yeah, except when you can see ghosts and terrible things. (hey it reminds me of Misaki Mei from “Another” anime)

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Tomie ( manga/ Unlimited ) (repost)

This is a repost from my old blog that I lost access to.

Ah, behold the masterpiece of Junji Ito-sensei: Tomie! Which is pronounced Tomi-e Not “Tommy” as I thought, lol. Ok some may say Uzumaki is his masterpiece, but I happen to love the idea of this annoying, selfish, maniac, woman who just won’t freaking die, more so, she will come back and expand and multiply.

So I was watching episode 9 of the Junji Ito collection anime and I saw this so beautiful girl with a mole under her left eye… who could that be I wondered…? TOMI-E of course!!! They surely waited an awful long time to animate a Tomie chapter, I guess that’s normal since she has a lot. of material. It was a very nice one and it made me want to read the manga, so I read all the chapters I could find translated , then I remembered there were movies…9, so yes I’ll have to watch those as well.

The plot is Tomie is INCREDIBLE beautiful and men go mad for her, literally insane and wish to murder her, which is not a problem cos she can heal, regenerate and multiply just fine, this of course makes for quite interesting stories.

I started with the last movie it seems, it’s called Tomie Unlimited, sounds like a cool brand name..haha, I gotta say she’s my favorite actress so far, cos she’s very similar to the animated Tomie from today’s episode in Juni Itto collection, take a look!

See that??? Isn’t she nailing the character? Omg and the voice and the acting, I read some comments saying the movie was stupid but..come on, it’s a damn load of body horror, quite hard to achieve without some heavy CGI, plus the animated hmm “stages” of Tomie are faithful to the illustrations in the manga, so shush people! and I usually don’t say this about women, not specially Asian women, but this one actress, Miu Nakamura, at least in this one movie, is one of the hottest girls I’ve laid eyes on . Damn sexy, a bit scary tho, ah dreamy!!

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