The Creamcast, Ep.14: Writers And Rum

BJC The Creamcast logo 250x250
On April 16, Alec Ash of the Anthill gathered eight writers (technically nine) to read stories at Cu Ju, a rum bar in the hutongs owned by the somewhat legendary Badr Benjelloun, who paired each writer with a rum. The result was glorious. Alec graciously allowed us to record the entirety of that event, which we now present to you as an episode of The Creamcast.

Scenes From The Beijing Auto Show

Beijing Auto Show featured image
Our friend Amy Sands sends along these pictures from the 13th Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, China's largest auto show. "Like being on the set of a James Bond movie," she says. "Couldn't decide if I found it disgusting or awesome." Bumblebee's having a good time, at least.

Poetry Night In Beijing: Canaan Morse

Poetry Night in Beijing - Canaan Morse
On March 16, we co-hosted an event called Poetry Night in Beijing with Pathlight Magazine as part of the Bookworm Literary Festival. Every Thursday, we'll post a video from that evening. This week: Canaan Morse, Pathlight poetry editor, reading about a childhood memory from Maine and a tribute to lobsters in reply to William De Witt Snodgrass.

Something Fun: Beijing Subway Stations Translated Literally

Beijing subway stations translated literally featured image
The Wall Street Journal's China blog made the cool map above, which shows Beijing's subway stations translated literally into English. They enlisted that indispensable tool, Baidu translate, to help with the task. Sadly, it's like a quarter-complete, but whatever, we all know WSJ employees aren't paid to do fun things.

The Man Who Loves Rum

Badr knows his rums 2
There's the only picture evidence you need that Badr Benjelloun's tipple of choice is rum -- pure rum, navy rum, sweet rum, fragrant Yunnan rum, Cuban rum ("love, passion")... Captain Morgan's... it doesn't matter. The man will take your rum and sell it back, likely with a historical anecdote on the side.

Poetry Night In Beijing: Stephen Nashef

Poetry Night in Beijing - Stephen Nashef
Beginning today, we'll be posting, piecemeal, the entirety of our March 16 event Poetry Night in Beijing, co-hosted by Pathlight Magazine for the Bookworm Literary Festival. (A big shout-out to Patrick Lozada for filming.) Up first was physics teacher / poet Stephen Nashef, introduced by Pathlight poetry editor Canaan Morse.

How Funny And/Or Endearing Is This Picture?

Old people - book fair
I don't want people thinking I'm making fun of geriatrics. This photo is actually incredibly endearing, and only somewhat funny. It's via Xinhua to promote the 2014 Beijing Book Fair at Chaoyang Park, which kicked off yesterday and will last until April 20. May just be worth the visit.

Concerts, Fires, Bathroom Sex: An Oral History Of 4Corners

4corners
You've probably heard the rumors of 4corners's demise, but are they premature? "Forced renovations" is how owners Tavey Lin and Jun Trinh describe their popular bar/restaurant/livehouse's impending (temporary?) closure. What this means for the rest of us is two huge parties, today and tomorrow. To get a preview, I sat down with Tavey and Jun on Wednesday. In addition to looking ahead, they couldn't help reminiscing a bit about everything, from parties to concerts to bathroom sex.