zombies

atthequillsmercy

Finally Watched It: Happiness (2021)

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It’s been a while since I did a Finally Watched It. I decided to talk about shows or movies that whenever I mention them, nobody really knows what I’m talking about. Plenty of people talk about All of Us Are Dead. I have watched that, which means the almighty algorithm feeds more stuff like it. That’s how I found this show. Here’s the blurb:

“Happiness takes place in the near future, where the release of a failed treatment drug “Next” has caused a worldwide pandemic known as the Lytta Virus, a.k.a. “mad person disease”. Those infected by Lytta experience short bouts of insanity and bloodlust, before completely regressing into a zombie-like state. The South Korean Military and Police forces try to contain the spread of Lytta and Next through extensive investigation and authoritative quarantine measures, while civil rights groups protest against them, believing the infected are still capable of normal human interaction.”

The best parts of this are Yoon Sae-bom and Jung Yi-hyun, our two main leads, before their apartment complex goes into lockdown, and their neighbors join the cast. They are very capable, clever, and have great chemistry together. It’s cool that the zombies are not zombies all the time, and while all the normal tropes for the genre are there, it was fun to watch! Except for the ending. I finished episode 11 and thought, “How the heck are they gonna wrap all this up in one episode?” Then they kinda tossed all out in there as rapidly as possible since there was only one episode left. Things were so evenly paced before that this felt like whiplash. I bet if they had one more episode or maybe made the last episode longer, they could have made it more satisfying. I didn’t feel like I wasted my time, more like there was some wasted potential. Worth checking out if you want some zombie in your K-Drama.

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Today’s Workout: Taking advantage of laundry day

It’s probably not a good idea to admit how many workouts I’ve done that were spurred on by dirty clothes. Back when I only had one decent sports bra, I would literally put the damn thing on first thing on the morning to make sure I felt gross enough to do a workout to justify a shower because I let that filthy thing touch my skin. This isn’t the case these days but still, if I’m gonna have a morning to kill, I might as well mess up a sports bra with the promise that it would be clean by the end of the day. The method to my laundry madness is I do my bedding first since making the bed sucks. Hey, I’ll take any type of motivation. I’d used that back in lockdown; I’d put on my workout clothes first thing, then make sure I’d had a reason to put them on. Using my aversion to being filthy to workout is a little hack I’ve discovered. I dunno if I’d recommend it to anyone else.

I will freely admit that part of my motivation to run in the morning was that once I was done, I’d pop by my favorite bagel place for that and an iced coffee, only to find that they were closed. Look, my very Pagan Witch self forgets what non-Pagan holidays are happening sometimes, but I hid my very inconsequential problem by having a salad after my run. I did chores for the rest of the day and had the very lame victory of an empty hamper by bedtime. I had some steak and a potato laying around. I made myself some hand cut fries that were damn good! It’s pretty easy to have fries soaking and drying to fry properly when you’re doing a bunch of other cleaning around it. I even double fried them! Gosh, I’m so fancy. Or I’m seeing what cost-cutting measures I can take as the world burns down around me….

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Lenni Reviews: “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” Vol. 16, by Haro Aso & Kōtarō Takata

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The group heads to Mount Aso but their vehicle runs out of gas. Takemia and Izuna head off to find some and end up at the infamous Yamagami Family Manor.

This volume has a horror movie vibe, specifically in the killer family genre so, while I was blindsided by the included sex scene, this is going for a slasher movie tone and sexed up couples are a trope. I’m just not used to it in this series. Considering how everything’s been going, they worked in zombies as the threat again very well. It was easy to spot the cannon fodder characters and I’m glad we’re keeping the core cast I can rely on for now. You never know if the creator will change their mind about that but this was clearly not the volume he was gonna do it. 4 out of 5.

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Today’s Workout: Dodo’s?

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This series always has some strange turns. Fun turns but also strange.

I had to cover for someone on vacation so, I have two nights at work this week. Confusing for my brain but great for getting up to run before work without having to drag ass outta bed before the sun comes up. It was a good run and it made me feel accomplished first thing on a Monday. That’s always good.

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On Sunday, I made a pot of sauce. Its a pretty big pot so, I’ll be eating a lot of pasta to work my way through it. A tragedy, I know. For dinner, my friend had extra arroz con pollo with some chorizo and brought some for me. It was just the right amount of spice for me. I thought I’d save some for my kid but nah, I ate it all.

I also tried to make it a point to move around more during the day. I’ve been noticing some hip pain and I haven’t done any workouts to justify it. My lazy Google searching found that sitting too much can cause hip pain. I have a movement reminder on my watch and I’ll be doing my best to get up and walk around more often during the day and take time for some extra stretching. That should do the trick but I plan to talk to my doctor regardless.

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Lenni Reviews: “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” Vol. 11 by Haro Aso & Kōtarō Takata 

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The group goes on a pilgrimage to visit 88 temples in order to cross that off of Akira’s bucket list. Along the way, Beatix is captured by thieves and the rest rush to save her. After that adventure, the group ends up on a yacht full of rich people who only want to party.

Sometimes it feels a little forced when they have to deal with the zombies. I get they have to since that’s the entire point but it’s getting predictable. I still enjoy our group but cramming in zombie attacks feels formulaic this time around. 3.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” Vol. 9, by Haro Aso & Kōtarō Takata

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Rumors of a vaccine prompt Akira and his friends head to Osaka but encounter a different kind of zombie and an old friend.

This volume has the group in one spot longer than before in a settlement where cans of food are used as currency and Akira wants to cross “own a bar” off his list. Since we have more downtime, there’s more character work and some day to day running of this bar happening here. It’s not bad but if you’re in this for the zombie action, there isn’t much here. I like this one because there is come conflict in the group to be resolved instead of them getting along so perfectly all the time. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” Vol. 8, by Haro Aso & Kōtarō Takata

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Akira and his friends are headed to the sea side to check out a sake brewery while crossing more items off of his bucket list; including digging up dinosaur bones.

I like that the group keeps the robot butler and somehow, this volume became a quick lesson on dinosaur species. I enjoy how this series twists and turns and has so much energy but the still have the zombies feel like a real threat. Our main cast seems to have plot armor and I’m fine with that. They play off each other well and I don’t want that dynamic broken. 4 out of 5.

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Today’s Workout: I got caught…

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If you’re not familiar, if you have chases on in Zombies Run and you don’t make the speed, you don’t die just lose supplies. It was close but, I didn’t go fast enough and I ended up losing some stuff. On Friday, I bet I’ll do better. I wasn’t cramping nearly as much today as on Monday and my posture felt on point.

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Tonight’s dinner was an old classic since I had some snow peas to use up. I cooked the steak first then added the veggies in some soy and hosen sauce. And I love me some chili crisp. I don’t like to think about how much MyFitnessPal rates it as a red food. It’s bloody delicious.

I still need to do my body weight workouts and stretching before I go to sleep but today felt strong. Good way to end out the month.

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Lenni Reviews: “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” Vol. 7, by Haro Aso & Kōtarō Takata

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The group heads to Hokkaido but they run out of gas and decide to race (on foot) to the nearest gas station. They get chased by a horde to a hotel that’s staffed by robots and too good to be true.

I like how they’re stumbling through things off their list and having these misadventures. Zombie stories can get so angsty and sad so it’s nice to enjoy these characters as they try to survive and thrive through an apocalypse. This volume feels a little too light, like our characters aren’t in real peril but I’m okay with that. I’m still having fun reading it. 3.9 out of 5.

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Today’s Workout: Buried

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Yeah, not my fastest time (that would be around a 14 minute mile) but I’m getting back into the swing of things. I could feel my calves cramping more than they used to since I’ve been cycling instead of running for so long.

Not gonna lie, even though I’m not at my lockdown levels of jogging for 20-30 minutes straight (working from home had its advantages…) I can feel the muscle memory returning. It was even instinctual for me to adjust my posture to make sure I wasn’t hunched over and my abs were engaged.

There were no chases this time (I don’t think there was supposed to be this time in the Zombies Run 5k trainer) but I had some self imposed intervals since I am a huge geek and I’m invested in the story. I slowed to a fast walk during the story parts.

At this point, my main concern is just to get my stamina back up so that a 30 minute run is easy again. I want to get to the point where an easy run is a 5 min warm up, 30 minute jog at the same speed, then a 5 minute cool down. And of course I didn’t forget my bodyweight workouts. I had the apps running while I did my own thing so I’m not posting the images from those apps. It’s not an accurate calorie burn in my opinion since I’m not doing what the app says. Does that make any sense? Probably not….

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