Journey of the Monkey King

By: Caoimhe & M.J.
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  • Summary

  • Journey to the West is one of the most influential books ever written and has inspired countless stories, including Monkie Kid, Dragon Ball and BBC’s Monkey, but has been obscure in the West. Caoimhe hosts a lighthearted chapter by chapter discussion of the novel with her friend, comedian M.J. Stokes. New episodes come out every second Wednesday.
    ©2020-2024 Caoimhe & M.J.
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Art Comedy & Humor Literary History & Criticism World
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Episodes
  • Introductions

    Introductions
    May 12 2020

    Caoimhe and M.J. talk about the novel Journey to the West and why they wanted to make a podcast about the incredibly famous novel that no one has heard of.

    Links:

    • “List of media adaptations of Journey to the West” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_adaptations_of_Journey_to_the_West

    • Episode artwork from A Modern Journey to the West by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: https://yoshitoshi.net/series/journeywest.html

    • Journey of the Monkey King on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/monkeykingpod

    • Journey of the Monkey King on the Fediverse: https://mastodon.ie/@monkeykingpod

    • M.J. on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emjaystokes

    • Caoimhe’s website: https://oakreef.ie

    • Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/monkeykingpod
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    14 mins
  • #1—Laser Monkey & Chinese Unicorn Giraffe

    #1—Laser Monkey & Chinese Unicorn Giraffe
    May 13 2020

    Caoimhe & M.J. discuss the first chapter of Journey to the West and get side tracked by laser eyes and what exactly the word “unicorn” is a translation of.

    Links:

    • “Qilin” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin

    • “Ming treasure voyages” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_treasure_voyages

    • “Buddhist cosmology” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buddhist_cosmology&oldid=955126741#Earthly_realms

    • Episode artwork is a 1666 painting of a Qilin by Kanō Tannyū, as photographed by Sailko: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Periodo_edo,_kano_tan’yu,_uccelli_volanti_e_animali_che_corrono,_1666,_02.JPG

    • Journey of the Monkey King on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/monkeykingpod

    • Journey of the Monkey King on the Fediverse: https://mastodon.ie/@monkeykingpod

    • M.J. on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emjaystokes

    • Caoimhe’s website: https://oakreef.ie

    • Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/monkeykingpod
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    35 mins
  • #2—The Secrets of Immortality & Self-replicating Monkeys

    #2—The Secrets of Immortality & Self-replicating Monkeys
    May 20 2020

    Journey to the West chapter two, featuring immortality, unwholesome meats and the Epic of Gilgamesh being gay.

    Spoilers for The Good Place between 3:18 and 04:45 when we discuss some existential issues.

    Links:

    • “Epic of Gilgamesh” from In Our Time by BBC Radio 4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080wbrq

    • “Chinese units of measurement” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chinese_units_of_measurement&oldid=952184981#Length

    • “Wu Cheng’en” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Cheng’en

    • “Flann O’Brian” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flann_O’Brien

    • Episode artwork from A Modern Journey to the West by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: https://yoshitoshi.net/series/journeywest.html

    • Journey of the Monkey King on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/monkeykingpod

    • Journey of the Monkey King on the Fediverse: https://mastodon.ie/@monkeykingpod

    • M.J. on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emjaystokes

    • Caoimhe’s website: https://oakreef.ie

    • Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/monkeykingpod
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    51 mins

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Profile Image for Ijw

too many digressions

less personal philosophy and more information about The monkey King. I'm interested in the story but they keep heading into personal and baseless conjecture.

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Profile Image for Cherry

Good story but they talk to much

I really like the story but they don’t go deeper into the details of it and I’m lazy so I don’t want to read it myself which leads to lack of information for me.

Ps I do like some of the digressions though

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