Spudkins!

I've been neglecting Junji Ito of late, so I took 90 minutes and watched Uzumaki (Spiral), the movie from 2000, not the recent anime. It was suitably creepy with some interesting effects from the manga interpreted in live action, no easy task.

If you have nothing better to do, give it a look.

Did you watch it? This guy has an interesting take on the film.

Okay, enough Junji for today. Moving on to my daily Yokai. We get the Baku, which is chimeric creature using a lot of spare parts from other creatures. The baku is a strange, holy beast that has the body of a bear, the head of an elephant, the eyes of a rhinoceros, the tail of an ox, and the legs of a tiger. Despite their monstrous appearance, baku are revered as powerful forces of good and as one of the holy protectors of mankind.

Nice to see a benevolent guardian spirit for a change.

They feed on the dreams of humans—specifically bad dreams. Evil spirits and yōkai fear baku and flee from baku-inhabited areas. Because of this, health and good luck follow baku wherever they go. 

Dream-Catcher, anyone?

Legend has it that when the world was new and the gods were making the animals, the baku was put together from the leftover bits and pieces at the end of creation. That explains its bizarre appearance, and why it is considered a favorite of the gods.

You can see why the Tapir has been named after this Yokai. There are similarities.

I discovered something today. A raw Sweet Potato is very tough to carve. 

I did my best and though I've never seen the show, I thought I'd attempt a Mr. Potato Head of a different kind. Enter: Frylock!

The magic marker goatee didn't turn out so well.

Oh wait, that's how I can add the fries.

I can't figure out how to share the video. I'll take another later after I solve the beard problem.

I bought a bag of a half dozen spuds for my students to try their hands at carving. I think I'll nuke them for a few minutes first to soften them up.

No Gatcha today. I'll dig one up from the archives. Groot has veggie roots, doesn't he?

I tried twice more and got duplicates of the above.

I've also neglected my comics collection. Let's see if I have anything appropriate.

She's the poster child for Flower Power!

You find a little magic over at The Manhole Cover or be sure to try any of the other bloggers participating in the Countdown...

I have another wedding early tomorrow, so it's off to bed for me.