Beijing Boyce

Four times, I went to Phil’s Pub last month. Four times, I enjoyed it. For a great neighborhood feel, go to this spot near the southernmost end of Sanlitun South. / Thanks to Martin, Shayne and Karen for passing on my newsletter. / Channel V just showed Wham!’s Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. Is it just me or did George Michael and Princess Diana have the same hairdresser? And wouldn’t it be fair to say that Ricky Martin was the George Michael of his generation? / My co-worker Kate treated me to lunch at Riverside Cafe to celebrate my first year in Beijing. What a pleasant spot, with a lounge, dining area and good selection of wines on sale. We had the daily special — a tasty steak that I decided would be better marinated in Guinness (I accomplished this by pouring two pints of this most excellent brew down my throat). The visit’s highlight: finding 16-ounce wine glasses at RMB20 per piece, which I used for my Schandlicious party. Excellent value! / I attended the oriented.com event at Bodhi’s Terrace, across from Outback Steakhouse. The spa inside was pretty fancy, for all you massage maniacs. / The next Chopschticks is 7:30 PM, November 19, at Icehouse, with comedians Al Lubel (Letterman, The Tonight Show, even back when Johnny Carson was host: “Al’s so old school he’s new skule, peoples!” writes organizer Rich Robinson) and Joe DeRosa (Late Night with Carson Daly, Comedy Central). Tickets: 250RMB at the door; 220RMB before November 17. Email Tickets@TheComedyTour.com. (I’ve been to two shows so far and they’re good, clean – well, maybe that’s the wrong word – fun.) / Monday, October 31, 2005: Remember that as the day HBO put on consecutive movies so horrendous that the universe almost imploded. Catwoman was a farce, but at least was somewhat Halloween-esque. But to follow that up with – IRON EAGLE! This movie ranks among the ten worst of all time and there it was in all its bad plot, bad acting, bad special effects glory. And there I was watching it because the soundtrack has that great Queen “One Vision” song. The horror! / Not much to report on the First Cafe / Midnight situation. I’ve passed both about 20 times during the past two weeks and judging by the window, Midnight is averaging zero to five customers. Time shall tell. For now, I can’t bring myself to visit either place. It’s like (and non-baseball fans, please forgive me) you are a Boston Red Sox fan and the team trades its heart and soul player, Big Papi, to the New York Yankees. You can’t go to the Boston games anymore because the management screwed up and let Big Papi go and you can’t go to the Yankees games because that stadium just doesn’t feel right. You know what I’m saying? / I’m putting together a charity event that will involve people getting tipsy and helping children, all at the same time. More details to come. Cheers.

(From Beijing Boyce III, first emailed on November 3, 2005)