My favorite horror movie

Continuing the horror theme of my previous blog,  I'm going to talk about a movie directed and written by Ari Aster 💀

Personally, I’m not a movie person. I mean, I rarely watch movies because I’m too picky and prefer to do other things. And a lot of movies don't appeal me. But, when there is a film that catches my attention, I see it right away. And that happened with Hereditary. My dad -who usually sees a lot of movies- watched Hereditary and told me to watch it because is messed up -in a good way-.

And in one night, I saw Hereditary with my sister, and yes…it was really messed up. It was so intense and disturbing! I loved it so much, and now is one of my favorite movies. It had amazing scenes, very well acted, with very cool and extremely disturbing visuals. And I feel like it has an essence similar to “the exorcist” (1973) and “Rosemary’s baby” (1968) but with something more modern and bizarre.

This movie was released in 2018, it is very recent. And the plot is about a dysfunctional family: Annie, an artist of miniatures, who lives in a big house with her hurband, Steve -their 16 years old son- and Charlie -their 13 years old daughter-. After the death of the maternal grandmother, weird events begin to happen that gradually reveal the dark secrets of that woman. And I’m not telling more because Spoilers! Also, the actors are amazing. When the characters felt despair and fear, I felt it to! Haha. I want to highlight the actress Toni Collette, her performance was unreal.

Maybe it looks like the typical horror movie of a family that lives paranormal things, but no, the story captivates you in depth. I highly recommend it to everyone! And, as a warning, I want to say that it contains a lot of violence and disturbing topics.

                            

Finally, I want to highlight the director Ari Aster, he has only directed and written two films and they are both horror, Hereditary (2018) and Midsommer (2019). Midsommer is a fantastic movie too! Is so bizarre and different from other movies of horror, it has a different tone of hereditary, it is like a beautiful world but so messed up haha, I recommend it too! 

(The promotional poster of Midsommer, illustrated by Yuki Higuchi)

And here, a short trailer:

The art of Junji Ito

Hello! In this blog I'm going to talk about something that I enjoy a lot. That is Junji Ito's work. 

       

During this quarantine, I resumed my love for reading manga -japanese comics-, and one of the genres of manga that I enjoy the most is horror. In that genre, there are many different stories with cool art that I like, but the art and imagination of Junji Ito captivated me. I loved it from the first time I read a manga by him, and that manga was Gyo. I started reading manga when I was in school, like in seventh grade, and from there my fascination only grew. And Junji Ito has been one of my favorite authors.

     

Junji Ito was born on July 31, 1963 in Sakashita. He started to read horror manga at a young age, and he had said that Kazuo Umezu, Hideshi Hino and Lovecraft are an important inspiration to his work.

          

  (Circus Kitan by Hideshi Hino)

Well, to me, Junji Ito work is amazing! I really love the grotesque, detailed and creative stories and art. I mean, the details in his art are awesome, it gives me chills. He can make horrific characters and scenarios and still, wonderful, and enjoyable pieces. I love the bizarre essence in his worlds.

                  

I would like to make an honorable mention of some of his mangas that marked me the most: Gyo, Uzumaki, Tomi, Souichi series, Mimi’s ghost stories, Hellstar remina and Black Paradox. Those mangas are a huge inspiration to me -in an artistic way-. Also, I'm going to post some nice art of him, right below ✌✌✌

(Manga: Gyo)

(manga: Uzumaki)

(manga: Uzumaki)

(manga: Uzumaki)

(from Souichi series)

(from Souichi series)

The best holidays I've had

In my life, I have had the opportunity to travel to many places with my family, and a lot of those places left me full of wonderful memories. If I have to choose, definitely one of the best holidays that i've ever had was when I went to the South of Chile. I went with my mom, dad, sister and grandma.

We went this year, in February. My parents since 2019 were looking forward to go to the south and made all the preparations early. We went to Lonquimay, a town and commune in the Malleco Province, this location is in the Araucanía Region.

We stayed there for 2 weeks, in a cottage near of the Biobio river. It was precious! An unforgettable experience because of the beautiful landscape.                                                                        

The best of this vacation was when we went to the National Reserve Malalcahuello and had the amazing opportunity to see a lot of millenials Araucarias. We were consumed by the wonderful nature. It was so exciting! The National Reserve Malalcahuello has a lot of wonderful landscapes and places to explore, to the point, that we had to go 2 days to explore. We went to the viewpoint of the Volcano Lonquimay. One of the best things a I have ever seen. The volcano is a spectacular monument of nature!

 

Other thing that I personally loved was the rain. One day a storm started with a lot of rain, and I saw something incredible in the sky, a huge thunder and lightning. We went with my sister to feel the rain and it was so heavy. It was fun! I would love to go there another time. It was so calm and beautiful.

               

 (me under the rain)

Peru, a country I would like to visit

I really would like to visit a lot of countries, but there is a country in specific that comes to my mind: Perú. And why? Peru has a big and diverse ecosystem, from the Amazon rainforest to the highplains. A lot of cities and towns have an important historical and cultural value in South America! I would love to experience the landscapes of places like Machu Pichu or Cuzco, and study their important architecture and history. 

But, the essential reason why I would like to go is to study about the Inca Empire and the cultural impact in the history of Perú. Also, i would like to know more about indigenous  communities.

(Machu Pichu, Perú)

First, I would like to "explore" the cities, visit museums, go to cultural events (like Inti Raymi) and observe the normal development of cities. And, obviously, go to see the pyramids of Machu Pichu, and do the whole route, and with that, study all I can about Inca Empire. Also, I would love to live some time in Peru with the goal of studying a specific anthropological topic.

(Cuzco, Perú)

I think one of the main reasons why I really want to go to Perú, is because I really want to know and understand the diversity of Latin America and delve into cultural identities! And i think, Peru is a good place to start because of its proximity to Chile.