Welcome to Three Shots with Beijing Cream, where local personalities may or may not get drunk on camera, depending on their alcohol tolerance. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

Vicky Mohieddeen arrived in China halfway by accident with no long-term plans, but in an opportunity-rich place like Beijing, it didn’t take long for her to find a calling. Or several, as it were. She’s currently the artistic director of Electric Shadows, video producer for Koryo Tours, and co-organizer of Cinequeer. Watch her talk about North Korean engagement, Vice’s Dennis Rodman-in-DPRK tour, the website China Dirt, and her “chipster.”

Three Shots With Vicky Mohieddeen was filmed at Revolution (west side of Yashow, off Gongti Beilu), owned by the distinguished Lu (Xiao) Ming.

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane).

Previously: Three Shots With… Mitch Moxley

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Welcome to Three Shots with Beijing Cream, where local personalities show off their drinking prowess at bars you should patronize. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

You’ve likely bumped into him at one of the city’s bars, if you’re the bar-going kind. Otherwise, you might know his work from The Atlantic, the New York Times, TIME, CNN, Huffington Post, and a variety of other publications. Our guest this week is Mitch Moxley, former China Daily copy editor, author of the forthcoming Apologies to My Censor about being a white man in China. UPDATE, 6/10: Mitch addresses some of the comments that appear below. 

Three Shots With Mitch Moxley was filmed at Mao Mao Chong (12 Banchang Hutong), which was featured in the New York Times as a “pioneer of creative cocktails.” Try the mala (hot-and-spicy) Moscow Mule.

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane), with additional filming by The Good Doctor. Special thanks to Stephen of Mao Mao Chong

Previously: Three Shots With… Nestor Santana

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Welcome to Three Shots with Beijing Cream, where local personalities get drunk with us for some reason. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

Our guest this week is the loquacious and smoky-eyed Nestor Santana, a longtime expat with the expat’s trove of stories — many of them we can’t tell here. It doesn’t mean we can’t ask about them though.

Nestor is the Asia manager for an ad and marketing company and has lived in Beijing for eight years. You’ll have to catch him at one of the city’s bars, of which he is a habitué, for fuller scoops.

Three Shots With Nestor Santana was filmed at Cu Ju (28 Xiguan Hutong), run by another longtime expat, the estimable Badr of Beijing Daze. Go for the rums. Seriously, do it. The collection is to be marveled.

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane), with additional filming by Stone Yu. Special thanks to Badr of Cu Ju.

Previously: Three Shots With… Sophie Cooke

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Welcome to Three Shots with Beijing Cream, where local personalities spill their beans 1.5 fluid ounces at a time. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

Our guests this week aren’t local per se, but Beijing honararies by virtue of their attendance at last month’s Bookworm International Literary Festival. Writers from around the world converged on the Bookworm from March 8 to 22, but two were intrepid enough to plant themselves in front of our cameras’ uncomfortably hot lights to field ridiculous, droll questions such as, “What is your favorite bar game?”

Sophie Cookie is the author of the novels Under the Mountain (2008), inspired by the author’s childhood home in Kilmahog, and The Glass House (2004), which was shortlisted for a Saltire First Book of the Year Award. She also writes about her globe-trekking adventures for the Guardian (Portland made a good impression). Purportedly Scottish — currently living in Edinburgh and running the Skriva Writing School – Sophie was strangely unable to distinguish between highland and Speyside single malts, though we won’t hold it against her. For the record, “getting home” is her favorite bar game. After which, swimming… apparently.

Three Shots With Sophie Cooke was filmed at the Bookworm (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Lu).

Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District 朝阳区南三里屯路4
号楼（老书虫）

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane). Special thanks to Kadi Hughes and Mengfei Chen of the Bookworm. Follow Sophie Cooke on Twitter @MissSophieCooke.

Previously: Three Shots With… CJ Bowerbird

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Welcome to Three Shots with Beijing Cream, where local personalities spill their beans 1.5 fluid ounces at a time. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

Our guests this week aren’t local per se, but Beijing honararies by virtue of their attendance at last month’s Bookworm International Literary Festival. Writers from around the world converged on the Bookworm from March 8 to 22, but two were intrepid enough to plant themselves in front of our cameras’ uncomfortably hot lights to field ridiculous, droll questions that began, “If you could start an east-coast/west-coast-type feud with any writer…”

In a bloodsport dominated by the young, the foolhardy, the high-strung and hammy, CJ Bowerbird, a family man from Canberra, stands out with his incisive and topical insights, intelligence grounded in experience, casual humor and elucidating wit. He is also a champion: winner of the 2012 Australian Poetry Slam. Performance poetry often vacillates between art and presentation, but the best practitioners straddle that line so expertly that the air stills, as in the brief silence between one’s final line and applause, and in the aftermath the world grows blank and cold (to paraphrase Mark Strand). For a sense of that, check out Bowerbird on Tipping or Rocking May Cause Injury or Death and Clicktivism.

CJ performed at the Bookworm on March 16, and we caught up with him not long after. Shooting tequila like a true champ — sans salt, the condiment for the callow — he discussed the meaning of poetry in this day and age of hip-hop, and other stuff. We would kindly advise he stay off the mean streets.

Three Shots With CJ Bowerbird was filmed at the Bookworm (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Lu).

Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District 朝阳区南三里屯路4
号楼（老书虫）

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane). Special thanks to Kadi Hughes and Mengfei Chen of the Bookworm. Follow CJ Bowerbird on Twitter @CJBowerbird.

Previously: Three Shots With… Morgan Short

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Three Shots With Beijing Cream is a weekly series in which local personalities are interviewed over shots. New episodes are posted every Sunday; if you would like to nominate a future guest, please get in touch. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

We caught wind of Morgan Short’s imminent arrival to Beijing last summer, with our informant adding without equivocation that Smart Shanghai, of which Morgan is the chief editor, was the best expat website of its kind. Specializing in longform pieces, witty commentary and incisive reviews, the Smart franchise has indeed planted itself in our fair city, with Morgan doing double duty and editing both the Shanghai and Beijing versions. He also DJs at Temple Bar on Thursdays, among other establishments, and writes a fantastic Friday Night Musical Outro column. For bizarre and hilarious reasons, he’s been compared to this man.

Three Shots With Morgan Short was filmed at Temple Bar (206 Gulou Dong Dajie, Building B, No. 202), owned by Gao Xu and managed by Clement Berger (formerly of Salud). Go for their coffee shot, or any of the other 100 or so on the list. And the live music every week, of course. Happy hour every day (except Monday, when it’s closed) from 7 to 10 pm.

206 Gulou Dong Dajie, Door 202 in Building B, Dongcheng District 东城区鼓楼东大街206号B楼202

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane). Additional photography by Stone Yu. Special thanks to The Good Doctor and Grace. Morgan doesn’t tweet, but you might as well follow @smartbeijing.

Previously: Three Shots With… George Ding 

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Ed’s note: Welcome to BJC’s newest weekly series, Three Shots With, in which we interview local personalities over shots. New episodes are posted every Sunday; if you would like to nominate a future guest, please get in touch. Produced and directed by Gabriel Clermont and Anthony Tao.

George Ding, the Beijinger’s backpage columnist, catapulted to notortiety last fall after his columns Why I’m Leaving China and Why I’m Coming Back to China, both satire, were translated into Chinese and misread as sincere essays. When he’s not unintentionally angering readers across cultures, you can find him having fun, enjoying life, contributing to VICE and Miniharm, and simply being an all-around decent human being. Also, making sex tapes, as we found out in our interview. Here he is dancing in “Low Carbon Style.”

Three Shots With George Ding was filmed at Brussels Bar and Restaurant in Sanlitun South. (UPDATE: Now called The Local.) We almost hesitate to tell you, because Kenn might realize we’re all ripping him off, but Brussels has the best food deal in town: its Tuesday half-price menu, which includes a 160-yuan steak for 80 yuan. Happy Hour from 5 to 9 pm every night.

Courtyard 4, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区工体北路4号院（1949西门对面）

Edited by Gabriel Clermont (@gabrieltrane). Additional photography by Josh Chin. Special thanks to Kenn Bermel of Brussels, and Irene. Follow George Ding on Twitter @dingsanbai.

Stick around for Episode 2 of Three Shots With, featuring Morgan Short, which will be posted later this afternoon. Update: and it’s here. 

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