Journey to the West – Chapter 9.2

Now Lady Yin loathed that villainous Liu so much that she could eat his flesh and and use his skin for a bed, but she was pregnant, so she cooperated with him reluctantly. Before she knew it, they had arrived in Jiangzhou, where the officials and judges threw the new governor a banquet in welcome.Continue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 9.2”

Miles and the Spider-Society as Wukong and the Heavenly army

In case you missed it, the Chinese Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse riffs off the battle between Wukong, the Colossal Spirit, and Nezha from Chapter 4. We have Miles as Wukong, Peter B. Parker as the Immortal of Colossal Spirit, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew as Nezha, and Gwen Stacy, Miguel O’Hara, Pavitr Prabhakar, and Hobie Brown asContinue reading “Miles and the Spider-Society as Wukong and the Heavenly army”

Journey to the West – Chapter 9.1

We’re turning to the city of Chang’an in Shanxi Province, the capital city for many generations of emperors. Through the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, the flowers bloomed like brocade and waters flowed around the city. It really was a beautiful sight. It was the Tang Dynasty,1 and the Emperor Taizong had been on theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 9.1”

Journey to the West – Chapter 8.2

Leaving Wujing, Guanyin and Muzha continued East. After some time, they came to a high mountain blanketed in evil gloom. As they were about to fly over it on their clouds, for they could not climb it on foot, a wild wind arose and another demon appeared.  His nose was as an upturned lotus seedContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 8.2”

Journey to the West – Chapter 8.1

We have completed the prologue Havoc in Heaven and the narration style will change for the next five chapters. Let me tell you about the lord Buddha, who left Heaven and returned to Thunderclap Monastery on Soul Mountain, where he was welcomed with flying banners and rare flowers, precious treasures and bejeweled canopies by theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 8.1”

Leaving Havoc in Heaven and entering the Lull

We have officially completed the prologue Havoc in Heaven1 and are now entering what I’m calling The Lull, a five-chapter long series of events that sets up the actual “journey” in Journey to the West. The reason I’m calling it The Lull is because, let’s be honest, we just want to see monkey shenanigans, andContinue reading “Leaving Havoc in Heaven and entering the Lull”

Translating Poems in Chapter 7

I. Am. Exhausted. There are at least 14 poems or monologues in verse in this chapter. Now it’s not that there weren’t poems in previous chapters. There were. When we are introduced to Erlang, the description is in verse, for example. I had just made the choice to convert these poems to prose. But thereContinue reading “Translating Poems in Chapter 7”

Journey to the West – Chapter 7.3

The thunder gods, A’nuo, and Jiaye all pressed their hands together and praised him, saying “Excellent, excellent! The year the egg became a beingDetermined to find the true WayResiding in paradise for ten thousand erasChanged one morning to expend his life1   Deceiving heaven and coveting honorBlaspheming, stealing Pearls, disrupting orderThe evil-filled sees justice todayWhoContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 7.3”

Journey to the West – Chapter 7.2

On the Jade Emperor’s orders, Divine Officer Youyi and Immortal Master Yi traveled directly to the foothills of Soul Mountain, to the opulent Thunderclap Monastery and paid their respects to the four guardians1 and eight bodhisattvas and troubled them to pass on their message. The messengers followed the bodhisattvas to the gilded Lotus Platform atContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 7.2”

Bus, no bus!

I was right about the language explosion. Ro is 19 months old and we are hitting that phase where more and more sounds are becoming available to him and he is starting to repeat words that we say. He is also starting to put together subject-verb phrases like 妈妈抱!(Pick me up, mama!) and 妈妈拜!(Bye mama!).Continue reading “Bus, no bus!”