Beijing Boyce

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the massive German beer pub being opened in China View. Saturday night gave customers their first taste of the three brews being made at Drei Kronen 1308 – a wheat beer, a lager, and a dark beer. In the interest of research, I tried – and enjoyed – all three. I didn’t try the food, which tends toward Bavarian, but three fellow patrons gave it thumbs up. But I did enjoy sitting at the sturdy bar, which is backed by large copper beer tanks. A good experience overall, but not a cheap one – a 500 ML mug will set you back RMB58.

Drei Kronen is in China View, on the bottom floor of the building south of Klubb Rouge.

A week ago, media experts speculated that Jared Leto threatened to overshadow the Beijing Olympics or at least eclipse the frenzy over scorpions on a stick. Well, move over Fight Club star because there is a real brawler out and about in Beijing: Evander Holyfield.

“The Real Deal” is not only a multiple world boxing champion, but also won a medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics and placed fifth on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Holyfield has been spotted at no less than five spots about town. I even saw him at the China Doll entrance out front of the 3.3 Building (Evander, I was the guy about 20 feet back fighting for a spot in line – I hope you saw my jabs.) But seriously, kudos to Holyfield, who patiently posed for a flurry of photos with the crowd.

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See also: Beijing Olympics Celebrity Watch: August 7, August 10, August 11, August 12, August 14, August 17, August 18, and Jared Leto special edition.

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Note: I’m now on Twitter. To track my account, go here and click the “Follow” button in the top left corner.

More sightings (big hat tip to Fletch!):

Bam Margera and cast of Jackass – Westin Hotel

Michael Phelps, Stephanie Rice, and most of the US and Australian swimming team – Wish

Gretchen Bleiler – Wish

Kobe Bryant – Wish

Ciro – Ciro’s

Evander Holyfield – Song

Alfonse Ribeiro – Song

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See also:
Beijing Olympics Celebrity Watch: August 7, August 10, August 11, August 12, August 14, August 17, and Jared Leto special edition.

Just a few week ago, doomsday scenarists hypothesized a Beijing nightlife scene with bar rooftops closed, outdoor seating removed, a 2 AM curfew imposed, blacks and Mongolians banned, a regime of regular ID checks, strip searches by security dressed as the Fuwa mascots, and so on. The media called it – and in some cases still do – the “no-fun Olympics.” Even a mere blogger like me was interviewed by BBC, Newsweek, and a dozen other mainstream outlets on the topic. Irony 1: My message was that the media is exaggerating. Irony 2: Numerous reporters told me off the record they agreed.

The city’s nightlife scene has by and large been “business as usual.” Yes, lady bar touts are scarcer (good news), some establishments, notably near the north entrance of Workers Stadium, are closed, and bar owners have faced onerous regulations and maddening bureaucracy. But sitting outdoors on a rooftop with your black friends after 2 AM has not yet proven to be a problem.

And if my outings are any indication, the nightlife scene is increasingly busier, which I guess is due in part to visitors getting over jet lag, going from seeing the sites to hitting the town, venturing behind their “national houses” and, well, not getting drenched by storms every night.

Two factors, however, are affecting the fun: 1) China’s visa restrictions, which have limited the number of visitors, and 2) the large number of bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels that opened in Beijing this year and spread the scene thinner. Expect both to have an enduring impact long after the Games are over.

The Beijing Olympics won’t end up as the wildest ever, but they are fun and they will end up being among the most memorable.

Another quick update:

King and Queen of Norway – LAN

Evander Holyfield – China Doll

Chris Tucker – China Doll

Quincy Jones – China Doll

Julian Marley – CJW

Glenn Close – Basketball stadium

Donovan Bailey – Bird’s Nest

Sergey Bubka – Bird’s Nest

A guy who looked like Pauly Shore – In front of Tongli Studio

David Blaine‘s brother (hmmm)- Bling

Ciro – Ciro’s

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See also:
Beijing Olympics Celebrity Watch: August 7, August 10, August 11, August 12, August 14, and Jared Leto special edition.

Foreign reporters informing readers about Chinese cuisine based on a short visit to a Beijing night market popular with tourists. Hmmm, sounds about par for the course. Here’s the latest on the scorpions-on-a-stick media monitoring project:

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Category: Scorpions on a stick = crystal meth for journalists

Candidate: Dan Steinberg, Washington Post

Clip:

Foreign media doing scorpions-on-sticks pieces is just about the lamest form of journalism imaginable. It’s hackneyed, cliched, predictable and useless. It relies entirely on the gross-out factor, and is basically Fear Factor on location. It creates an image of life in Beijing that is demonstrably fake, no different than if every visiting journalist in the U.S. sent home pieces on American food, based entirely on FedEx Field concessions or the Texas State Fair. And, on top of all that, it’s just lazy.

So here’s my version.

[Kudos to Steinberg for putting the addiction in perspective and, in the rest of this story, taking us through the process. We hope rehab goes well for him.]

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Category: America, your next Mark Twain (very poor man’s version)

Candidate: Dave Hyde, Florida Sun-Sentinel

I must confess: I ate a spot of Spot. And I feel awful about it. No, really. I physically feel awful, though the problem might not stem from that teensy-tiny bite. Nor was it probably from the stir-fry pig liver (tastes like chicken), roast young pigeon (tastes like chicken) or fried scorpion (tastes like scorpion). It’s because I accidentally swallowed the leash! Ha ha ha ha, sigh.

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Category: Duh, we’re not in Kansas any more

Candidate: Jennifer Floyd Engel, Kansas City Star

Clip:

Or maybe a place [like Beijing] where donkey and fried scorpions are considered lunch actually is just that exotic.

[Read this one if you are a fan of reporters who sound like wide-eyed tourists that did zero research before coming to China.]

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Category: Big Macs and Coke? That’s a crappy, rather than a picky, eater

Candidate: Alex Cabrero, NBC News

Clip:

Friends who know my taste in food (or lack of taste in food, depending on your point of view) started sending me e-mails of dog brain soup. Deep fried starfish. Snake. Crispy scorpions. Beetles on a stick. Every e-mail ended with Good Luck! I’m serious, every single one. I’m not just exaggerating about the emails like I am about the food in Beijing. OK, OK, I admit a few of them didn’t say “Good Luck”, they said “Good Riddance.” But only a few!

[The story title: "Picky eaters won't starve in Beijing - Forget the dog brain soup; I'm going to Mickey D's".]

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Category: The Michael Phelps of scorpion references

Candidate: Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

Clip:

[1] Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way of fried sparrows, grilled snake and turkey vulture schnitzels.

[2] One U.S. visitor, Jackie Siegel, could not resist starfish fried in shark oil, though the centipedes, worms and scorpions on offer ‘kind of bothered me a little’.

[3] So the visitor must put their ideas of good taste on hold for the duration of their visit and try a freshly fried and seasoned skewer of farmed scorpions, one of the most famous of the delicacies on offer, which costs about 50 yuan (£3.70).

[4] Scorpions are said to make your blood hotter in cold weather and to cure ‘certain conditions’, although no one seems sure what grasshoppers on a stick are a remedy for, or mixed cow and horse soup, come to that.

[5] While living in China, Dunlop ate rabbit heads, pig brains, scorpion and preserved duck eggs – known as 1,000-year- old eggs – whose oozy black yolks and ‘noxious aroma’ caused her flesh to crawl, made her feel sick and left a toxic black slime on her chopsticks.

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Category: The Michael Phelps of scorpion references II, but with a point

Candidate: Dave Barry, Miami Herald

The market was bustling with people. But here’s the thing. The Chinese people I saw all seemed to be buying things like lamb kebabs and fruit. On the other hand, the people gathered around the centipedes and scorpions on a stick were, in almost every case, tourists or American TV reporters doing fun features on weird Chinese food. These people were basically lining up to eat scorpions. A reporter would hold up a skewer of scorpions, and the camera person would get a close-up shot. Then the reporter would scrunch up his or her face, take a bite of a scorpion, chew, swallow, and declare that it really wasn’t that bad. Then, depending on how in-depth the feature was, the reporter might take a bite of seahorse.

I watched as this procedure was repeated with several different TV crews. Then the truth hit me: The Chinese don’t eat scorpions. They feed their scorpions to TV reporters. I would not be surprised to learn that the Chinese word for scorpion is “TV reporter food.”

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See also:

Scorpions in a… bottle?

Scorpions on a… cracker?

Scorpions on a stick update: Globe & Mail, LA Times, BBC, DNA India, and more

Scorpions on a stick update: Forbes, Wall Street Journal

Scorpions on a stick update: NBC

On a stick? In Beijing? No way!: ESPN, Boston Globe

I met MH and friend last night in Nanluoguxiang about 11 PM. Here are the spots at which we stopped and sipped:

12 SQM: Billed as Beijing’s smallest bar, this place has a nice stock of liquor and beers (I had Coopers Pale Ale: RMB30). Squeeze in at the lone table, short bar, or window seat, and make yourself at home.

Salud: Crowded as usual, downstairs and upstairs. MH and I tried the orange & clove and apple & cinnamon homemade rums (RMB20: large shot). A good atmosphere, though this may be the most “physical” bar in Beijing, whether that means getting jostled by fellowing patrons, banged into by drunks, or random hugs.

Bed: No taxis, so we walked and found that more than 100 people had the same idea to visit this hutong bar. Lots of action on the dance floor, lots of ice-cold Tsing-tao on hand.

Cheers: This remains a favorite Saturday night stop, with reasonably priced drinks and excellent live Xinjiang music. We met Mad Max and friends here and partied for a few hours.

Halfway through, I did a tour of Sanlitun and the place rocked. Outside Tongli Studio, a band from Cameroon played drums for a large crowd, while the street in front of Kai and Butterfly saw drinkers flank to shank (though they looked more like regulars and less like tourists). I didn’t check the rooftops at Bar Blu or Kokomo, but given the people pouring into the entrances I can imagine how busy they were, and The Saddle Cantina had a large crowd upstairs. I walked the main Sanlitun bar strip and found it to be tourist central, with Swing seeming to be the busiest – two Olympics lads stood on the bar and sang along with the band while people cheered on.

Back at Cheers, I had a final Tsing-tao, danced a bit, and called it a night…

Note: Luga, of Luga’s, has opened a new bar in Sanlitun in the former Vietnamese restaurant Marguerite.

A few notes from last night’s “out and about” (~11 PM to ~3 AM):

The Rickshaw: A rowdy crowd, no doubt fueled by beer and burritos, audible from outside The Bookworm.

Nanjie: Unusually quiet, with the balcony empty. Sister establishment Tun saw a light crowd. (By the way, someone said Tun, with its huge screen, proved to be a good place to watch the US-China basketball game.)

Beer Mania: Busy, inside and out. Then again, this place often seems to draw a crowd.

W Sports and Music Bar and Restaurant: Light crowd, with about two dozen people on the deck.

Q Bar: Bustling, but not as packed as other nights. In other words, comfortably busy.

Mesh: I peaked in the window and saw about 50 people in this newly opened lounge. I decided to come back later. Unfortunately, by that time – 2 AM – the place was empty.

China Doll in 3.3: The bar and dance floor were busy, the lounge less so, with many people in national colors. Expect a RMB100 cover charge and a wait at the elevator – it takes only six people at a time.

The Saddle Cantina: Nearly empty, with the rain no doubt clearing the deck.

Kokomo: Packed… again. Even with the rain, the rooftop rocked and the downstairs area had a good number of people, including many obviously associated with the Olympics. It also had quite a few drunks. One guy fall face first into that huge aloe vera plant near the door (he’s lucky it is a fake). Another group came downstairs and hassled the door staff at Club China Doll.

I’m spending a lot of time in the Workers Stadium-Sanlitun area, so I’ll try to take the next “out and about” a bit further from home.

Bars and restaurants continue to open in Beijing even in the midst of the Olympics. Here is an update on some openings and a closing.

Gino Café
Unlike Vics, Mix, et al, it had survived closure at the north entrance of Workers Stadium, perhaps because it sat beyond the gates. It is now closed through September 21, according to a sign on the door.

Mesh (Opposite House, Sanlitun North)
This slick lounge opened on August 11 and saw a decent turnout last night.

Drei Kronen 1308 (China View)
This massive German pub is slated to start serving its home brew – wheat beer, dark beer, and lager – tomorrow.

Bling (Solana)
Opened last week, it closed for renovations on Monday and Tuesday, and is now open again.

All Star (Solana)
Partner establishment of Bling, it also closed for two days, and is now open 24 hours per day.

Punk (Opposite House, Sanlitun North)
This B1 club with seating for 100 is slated to open August 18.

Ru Lounge (China Central Place)
Partner of Japanese restaurant Makoto, this place seems ready to go; I’m waiting for the opening date.

Element Fresh (Sanlitun Village)
This top-floor getaway seats more than 150 and is scheduled to open on September 1.

A quick update, with more to come!

Lv Yan – 798 Nike

Cindy Crawford – China Club

Evander Holyfield – Bud House

(Almost) Curt Schilling – Wukesong baseball stadium (well, it *looked* like him)

Sellapan Rama Nathan - Fraser Apartments

Qu Ying – Klubb Rouge

Yang Er – Klubb Rouge

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See also:
Beijing Olympics Celebrity Watch: August 7, August 10, August 11, August 12, and Jared Leto special edition.

(Hat tips to Meow, Fletch, Badr, m-dawg)

A few notes, on the fly, from last night…

The plan: Grab a beer or two at Bud House around 11 PM, call it a night, and be fresh for baseball in the morning. The reality: Packing it in at about 4 AM at Room 101 with the quotes, “Those Chinese gymnasts have the collective of 60″ and “the free world needs more gold medals” scribbled in my notebook. The details…

Bud House
This is a huge temporary party zone near the China Agricultural Exhibition grounds, with a lounge, a patio and pool area, and a dance floor, though the latter revealed far more people sipping booze than busting moves (I saw about five). Overall, fairly busy with a laid-back feel and, best of all, the land of the free beer (draft Budweiser and bottled Corona). The catch: you need a ticket to get in (thanks to MZ for mine).

Heineken House
Rather than go home like a good boy, I headed down the street to Heineken House in the Agricultural Exhibition Hall. This place is spacious, with retail, displays, and, off to the right, a bustling area with plenty of food, drink and people, a handful of ping pong tables, and a nice vibe. From the garden paths to the local but spic-and-span toilet facilities, this place offers more character than Bud House. Unlike Bud House, the beer costs money (you need to get a pre-paid card near the door), though entry is free (I suggest taking your passport and to expect a Dutch-first policy at the door if it is busy).

Room 101
But why come to Beijing for the Games just to patronize temporary bars? Again avoiding sleep, I headed with MH and KA (I met them at Heineken House) to Room 101. As they sipped Mojitos, I worked on a few pints of Stella, and we watched the women’s (girls’?) gymnastics final. First visit impressions: a good neighborhood bar feel, friendly management, and a nice curving staircase leading to the second floor terrace and lounge, which also has several screens. I’ll be back and I’ll also soon have more on this place.

Beach volleyball, beer, and buddies are, were, and always will be a good mix, so I headed to Chaoyang Park with two friends on Saturday night to catch some Olympic action. Here are ten awards for the night.

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Most fashionable
The volleyball pit, which – from our nosebleed seats – looked fantastic with its sand and its fringe of aqua blue signs, especially as dawn turned to dusk. The runner-up: the neon-green swimsuits of what the announcer described as “the beach girls.”

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Most famished
A friend who had skipped dinner and immediately headed to the concession booth only to mournfully return and say the hot dogs, sausages and pizzas – i.e. almost anything of heft – were already “sold out.” All he could find: crackers and sweet popcorn (“there’s one guy going crazy with a microwave!”). Where is the sponsor McDonald’s!?

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Least thirsty
Anyone with limited funds and a love of beer. Huxley – king of reasonably priced drinks in Beijing (see: Nanjie) – must be on the Olympics committee because a cup of brew cost a mere five (5) kuai. Cheers.

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Most sobering
When the Georgian players, whose country was recently attacked by Russia, came out. They stole the first set from Brazil, before eventually losing in three. Good effort.

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Most annoying, part I
The announcer, who constantly repeated, “Who’s cheering for the US!?” and “Who’s cheering for Latvia!?” After about a dozen times, it gets tiring.

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Most annoying, part II
The loud music being played between points even when the gap was only a few seconds and sometimes continuing even when the players were ready to serve. Interestingly, the vast majority of clips, covering five or six decades and innumerable genres, were English-language songs – one world, one language. Here are our picks for top five clips during our last hour at the matches:

• Billy Squire – The Stroke
• ELO – Don’t Bring Me Down
• Kiss – I Was Made for Loving You
• Blink 182 – All the Small Things
• House of Pain – Jump Around

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Most grin-inducing
When two Olympic mascots named Huanhuan (an Olympic flame) and Yingying (a Tibetan antelope) jitterbuged on the beach volleyball pit with a dozen cheerleaders in skimpy neon green swimsuits to The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” while Chinese grandmothers holding grandchildren on their laps clapped along. Anyone five years ago predict we would see that? Anyone?

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Most interesting song choice
When the organizers played Blitzkrieg Bop during the German match.

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Most exciting
When Latvia led the US 10-8 in the second set and won a spectacular point. The Latvian’s enthusiasm infected the crowd. Plus, a US player wore a backwards baseball cap – always a bad omen. Latvia went on to win.

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Most fun
When the crowd barked to “Who Let the Dogs Out?,” sang to “Hands Up”, repeated line after line of “Minnie the Moocher” (!), and throughly enjoyed itself while doing “the Mexican wave.”

After watching Olympic boxing last night (tickets available out front for RMB100), I maneuvered through the masses leaving the football match at Workers Stadium and checked out the Tongli area of Sanlitun North. A quick wrap-up:

The Saddle Cantina had a solid crowd – a huge projection upstairs featured the US-Angola men’s basketball game, while a six-piece band played downstairs.

A peak in the window of Ciro’s next door showed the place to be very busy.

Kokomo solidified its spot as one of – if not the – busiest rooftops in town. Try the Navy Grog for value for money, but beware – tis a powerful drink.

Apertivo, Higher and Higher, and Luga’s on the Tongli strip were fairly busy. China Doll in 3.3 had a good crowd in its lounge, but only a few people in the bar / dance area, as did Club China Doll, but then again i arrived quite early (around 11 PM).

Cheers had a half-dozen places, which made it calm enough for a stop. (This is one of my favorite places to catch live music on Friday and Saturday nights.)

Overall, a good turnout, and nice to see increasing numbers of Olympic visitors showing up wearing flags or their national colors.

A quick update:

China Doll reports that Quincy Jones, Chris Tucker, Venus Williams and Serena Williams will attend a VIP party at the club this Thursday. Meanwhile, word is that Evander Holyfield is in town. Look for an update of our watch either tonight or tomorrow morning.

By the way, we have yet to hear from Jared Leto. Our offer remains open.

Foreigners who more than five years ago predicted the following would happen in Beijing, please raise your hands:

That two Olympic mascots named Huanhuan (an Olympic flame) and Yingying (a Tibetan antelope) would jitterbug on a beach volleyball court with a dozen cheerleaders in skimpy neon green bikinis to The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” while Chinese grandmothers with grandchildren on their laps clapped along. Oh, and that a cup of beer would cost five kuai.

Anyone? Anyone?

(Unfortunately, the musical director later played The Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop during the Germany match.)

Last Friday ranked among the better nights of my Beijing bar crawl life – expect an update this Friday on the more than two dozen places visited during the Olympics opening. But last night ranked among the worst - or at least the wettest.

After dinner at a friend’s house, I dropped into a bustling Paddy O’Shea’s about 11 PM on my walk home. The plan: to enjoy a pint while simultaneously watching badminton, archery, and volleyball. Manager Gleann Phealan headed off as I sipped my suds and watched the unintentional comedy of a dozen drunk Australians trying to figure out how to get to Club P (they gripped a full-page ad torn from Agenda magazine: who says marketing doesn’t work). Thirty minutes later, as I continued my walk, I received a call from Phelan and dumbly answered. He had gone to check out the newly opened bars Bling and All Star, found both closed, and suggested we meet and have – note the singular – “a” beer. Here is what ensued:

Stadium
We met at Drei Kronen 1308, the huge German pub slated to start pouring its homemade brew on August 16, and found the windows darkened… but the door open. We sauntered in, ran into the security guards, gave them the international sign for drinking beer, and were directed upstairs where we found ourselves in darkness. A second visit to security resulted in an escort through that unlit third floor, across a glass walkway, and into the sports bar Stadium. Given our experience, it’s not surprising we were the only customers in this nicely designed two-floor bar. This place has potential if, you know, people can find it.

The Den
It was moderately busy downstairs (I didn’t check upstairs, which is HQ for Danish fans). We had a Kilkenny, watched the Olympics (this place provides a good mix of televised sports), shared three years’ worth of Den stories, and then headed out as the sky started to spit rain. This is when we should have – but did not – go home.

Nanjie
A visit cut short due to a second floor closed. Why? No idea.

Tun
We were the only customers (thus, no problem getting the pool table) except for two women who later sauntered down from the upstairs lounge. Tun has a decent beer selection and we enjoyed bottled Stella while Glenn showed the pool skills acquired from a misspent youth.

The Rickshaw
We arrived soaked after a 200 meter sprint from Tun in the pouring rain. I like The Rickshaw because it spent the cash to get the NBA Channel. And I suppose I can live with the recent 15-percent surcharge due to increased costs for food, logistics, and so on. But in return, it would be great if the place improved its service, which in my experience is defined by mixed-up orders, oblivious staff, and general efficiency. Take last night: given the Olympics and given this is a sports bar, you would think some TVs would show the events. Nope. Every TV was off, and even after we requested some Olympics coverage, the best the staff could do was CNN. We took that as an inspiration, and finished our beers and headed off into the night, our sneakers squishing with every step.

Bling and All Star, the two heavily hyped bars that opened in Solana less than a week ago, are closed for renovations. According to the manager, both places will re-open tomorrow, with All Star slated to open 6 AM and operate 24 hours per day.

I considered catching last night’s US-China men’s basketball game at the newly opened All Star, but given my experience on Saturday, I instead checked out a few sports bars in my neighborhood. Here’s a time line. Like China’s team, it started strong and tailed off. (By the way, I didn’t include every slam dunk by the US or it would have taken a week to write this post.)

9:45
I meet TVG at The Bookworm, where some kind of Beijing blogger meet-up is going on. We sprint through the rain to The Rickshaw, find no seats upstairs, and grab a cab for Paddy O’Shea’s.

10:00
We grab two stools upstairs. By tip off, the place is packed, but downstairs is even busier… for an Irish hurling match and the Manchester United-Portsmouth Community Shield match.

10:10
Instead of commentary, we hear “Beautiful Day” by U2. What is it with Beijing sports bars and Bono these days? Anyway, as an NBA fan, I’m psyched at having the game’s stars on one court, the China vs US dynamic, and how Yao Ming and teammates will react to the new Dream Team. And Yao hits a three from the top of the key to start the game! They better enjoy it now, cause it ain’t gonna last.

10:25
Kobe Bryant hits a three and licks the fingers on both hands. The germs, my word, the germs! Given the newly enforced hygiene codes in Beijing for salads — enclosed space, three sinks for triple washing, no co-habiting of Romaine and Iceberg – he isn’t getting a job in a restaurant here any time soon (you know, if the basketball thing doesn’t work out). The US. leads 14-11.

10:27
“I saw David Robinson go one on one with a 19-year-old Wang Zhizhia in Beijing in 1997, before Wang was even in the NBA,” says TVG. If that doesn’t merit a round of beers, I don’t know what does, especially since he later says, “I also helped smuggle Robinson into The Forbidden City.”

10:30
Behind the commentary, we hear “Happy Shiny People” by REM. Hmmm… U2, REM… is Paddy O’Shea’s sharing a music list with All Star?

10:33
TVG is waiting for the food he ordered before 10 PM. He’s as likely to see that food as we are to witness Lebron accidentally maim three people on a drive to the basket. Wait a minute… that could happen. He’s playing like a monster.

10:40
HUGE rejection by Lebron James, pass to Dwayne Wade, slam dunk. TVG’s analysis of the play: “Now, that is what I call a scorpion on a stick.”

10:45
Chris Bosh – from my favorite team The Toronto Raptors – slams home a dunk. Bosh, along with Lebron, Carmelo Anthony, and Duane Wade, were the top four American picks of the 2003 NBA draft pick. That draft might end up being the best ever.

10:47
Yao takes a breather. I read his mind: “Left arm, check, Right arm, check. Left leg, check, Right leg, check. Head, check. Thank you powers that be for letting survive the wrath of Lebron.”

10:51
Unbelievable U.S. alley oop. Speechless…

10:55
Carlos Boozer checks in. I can think of no better family name for a nightlife blogger to type while sitting in an Irish bar. Even better, he plays out of Utah.

11:32
Um, I forgot to keep a timeline for a while. We are in blue frog, it’s 72-48 US, There are about 25 people here, it’s fairly rowdy, and a pole partially blocks my vision of the big screen. The burger is juicy, but pricey at RMB75, as is the RMB45 Tiger draft. I do get a free Blue Frog T-shirt though.

11:56
Game over. US 101, China 70, wallet almost 0. We head to The Saddle Cantina for a celebratory drink.

Jared Leto is threatening to overshadow the Beijing Olympics or at least eclipse the media frenzy over scorpions on a stick. The Fight Club and Panic Room actor / 30 Seconds to Mars band member is everywhere it seems – contributors to this blog have spotted him at no fewer than five places in our fair city.

Jared, if you are reading this, I can improve your celebrity watching experience. I can produce six trustworthy people to watch you for up to 30 minutes at a Beijing bar of our choice (you have to pay for your own drinks). Let me know.

By the way, according to this site, “Jared’s favorite foods are popcorn and vegetables, and his favorite drink is hot chocolate.” He also apparently once said, “I used to like to break into other people’s houses and sit in their rooms. I found it very comforting to be in someone’s empty house.” He is of no relation to Jay Leno, even though they almost share the same family name.

When I’m in the shower
I’m afraid to wash my hair
‘Cause I might open my eyes
And find someone standing there

Rockwell, “Somebody’s Watching Me”

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Uh oh, somebody’s watching us. Sky Canaves at Wall Street Journal picked us as one of the “Best of China Blogs” for August 11. If anyone spots Sky about town, let me know, so we can get her listed in an upcoming watch. Here is the latest, with hat tips to TVG, m-dawg, Fletch, TLC, and Sherlock Homey.

• Bill and Melinda Gates – Olympic green
• David Wu – Paddy O’Shea’s
• David Schwimmer – National Indoor Stadium, Bud House
• Manny Heymans (Namibian cyclist) – The Bookworm
• Erik Hoffmann (Namibian cyclist) – The Bookworm
• Jared Leto – Boba

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See also:
Beijing Olympics Celebrity Watch: August 7, August 10