Two weeks into its 2014 campaign, maovember has pushed past the 33,000-yuan mark. On Wednesday night, 28,623.1 yuan was handed to Orbis (see receipt below) and the team has more than 4,500 yuan in additional cash on hand that will soon be delivered. I’ll provide an exact total on Sunday night.

That puts this year’s campaign 13,000 yuan ahead of its original goal of 20,000 yuan, with plenty of stuff to come. Next on the itinerary: Funk Fever at Migas tonight (see here) and mulled wine at CHEERS in Sanlitun on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and next (see here).

“Safety first!” is the motto at Central Pin Processing (CPP) when it comes to making our maovember pins, a key source of revenue in the mission to fund cataract surgery in rural China.

How do we make pins?

First, there is an intense design process during which dozens of adjustments are made based on input from dozens of sources. You wouldn’t believe the fistfights we have over fonts and kerning!

Next, we head to a trusted printer to get top-notch paper versions, with our preferred production size an A4 sheet.

Then each label is painstakingly separated from that sheet using a manual cutter. You want hand-crafted? Go CPP!

After that, we move to the assembly line for a two-step process using the pin machine we affectionately call “Old Tavvy“. First, we press the maovember design between a plastic covering and a metal backing. Then, we press that trio onto the base, including the metal pin mechanism.

That’s it! After numbering and bagging the pins for delivery, we enjoy a nice cup of coffee while giving each other thumbs ups in our clean and safe environment. This year, we have already successfully completed six production runs without any injuries!

Just to stress that we follow “best pin practices”, here is an example of what we don’t do:

UPDATE: CHEERS WILL BE SELL MULLED WINE AT ITS XINDONG ROAD SHOP (DIRECTIONS / MAP HERE), NOT ITS SANLITUN NORTH SHOP, ON NOVEMBER 22 AND NOVEMBER 23.

 

As winter descends, warm up and support maovember with weekend mulled wine at CHEERS. More on the wine, a tribute to “The Dude“, and a Q&A with CHEERS’ marketing manager Philippe below.

The Details

Warm up with mulled wine at CHEERS on November 22 and November 23 — from 10 AM to midnight — at its Xindong Road shop (address and map here). Plus, play The Dude drinking game on November 23 at 7:30 PM (details below).

The Interview

What is mulled wine and what makes the CHEERS version special?

Mulled wine is a hot beverage made with red wine and Christmas-y spices. As a company with Swiss origins, our chef would always prepare some to keep us warm come winter.

Thing is, our chef Chen is a Chinese bloke as traditional as they come. Over the years he started adding a few of his own ingredients until we ended up with a mulled wine with a bit of an Asian flare!

Who is your favorite mustached person, and why?

Two words: Hulk Hogan. He’s just bad-ass. I got him tattooed on my chest a couple of years back. I get laid all the time now.

Can you give us any advance details on the November 23 activity?

Maovember is all about dudes helping other dudes. What better way to do this than while getting wasted watching The Dude? [Start time is 7:30 PM.] We’re going to ready our shop for a drinking game based on the movie, “The Big Lebowski”.

The rules are that you drink mulled wine every time:

– The Dude smokes pot
– Someone bowls a strike
– You see George Bush
– The Dude drinks a White Russian
– The Dude wears Jellies
– There’s a weapon on-screen
– Walter mentions Vietnam
– Donny says dude
– Walter says Shomer Shabbas
– Walter says “Shut the f%$# up, Donnie!”
– The Dude is a passenger in a car
– Flea is in the picture
– Song on soundtrack starts
– The Dude puts on sunglasses
– Someone says gold bricker

We will print the rules and all mulled wine proceeds go to maovember.

We encourage pin buyers to get a photo taken with their new purchase so we can include it in our collages and show the faces behind our mission to fund cataract surgeries for the poor in China. Here’s the second collage of the 2014 campaign. You can see all of the collages here.

Jing-A Taproom took its weekly Tuesday open mic session with Comedy Club China and put a Singles Day twist on it last night. As sixteen comedians took turns making people guffaw, chuckle and in some cases groan, eight were on silent auction for a date that included free Jing-A beer for the winning bidders to loosen things up. The auction raised 1200 yuan for maovember, due in large part to Alex Jennings (center in photo) who placed winning bids on five funny men, including several of her colleagues (you owe her one, guys). Note: One ‘date’ is missing in the photo; he’s no doubt freshening up in the loo.

The guys at Migas gave us mustache-themed t-shirts and groovy music last year. They are back this year with something even better: a Funk Fever event this Friday to support maovember.

Feel-good tunes from DJs Bite-Size Buddha, Perman and special guest Wesley will “help you feel right by supporting the maovember charity,” says Migas’ Jeff Hinson.

Migas will provide wigs, fake mustaches and other props for people to dress up and pose in front of the Funky Maovember backdrop, with the funkiest ‘looks’ winning prizes.

You can also get a “Triple Soul Special” — a whisky or tequila shot, a pickle juice shot to wash it down, and a Heineken chaser, for 50 yuan — with proceeds to maovember.The party kicks off at 10 PM and a percentage of the 50 yuan door fee will also go to charity.

We’ll have more details, including a Q&A with Jeff Hinson, in the next few days.

(Click here for a larger version.)

The Egg Kart Klassic was part of Sunday’s Facial Hair Fun Fair that was organized by Home Plate BBQ, Jing-A Taproom and The Local and that raised over 7500 yuan for maovember. Get more details on the event here.

Maovember has raced passed its fundraising goal just ten days into this year’s campaign. The initial plan to fund at least 25 cataract surgeries at 800 yuan per operation, which translates to 20,000 yuan, is in the rear-view mirror as donations stand at 28,654 yuan. That represents cash in hand and does not include outstanding money for Maovember pins already sold by bars, restaurants and individuals about town.

Events lead the way, with a pair last weekend significantly boosting the total. They included the Facial Hair Fun Fair on Sunday that raised 7548 yuan via Home Plate (1335), Jing-A (4613) and The Local (1600) and the maovember party on Friday at Paddy O’Shea’s that raised 3246 yuan. Combined with the funds raised at The Corner Melt pin launch party — 3060 yuan — the events total now sits at 13854 yuan.

Added to that are pin sales at 7100 yuan and donations at 7700 yuan, including four Super VIP donors who funded cataract surgery (800 yuan) for at least one person (if you want to donate directly see here).

Expect more announcements of events as well as new collages of our pin buyers — see The 500 MAO CLUB — over the next few days.