Categories
Information Kuwait

The ASCC Museums – 1 Year Later

The Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) opened nearly a year ago and since then I’ve visited it nearly a dozen times. It’s right down the street from my place and so it’s really convenient for me to drop by whenever I want. One of the things I was concerned about when the museums first opened up was how it would hold up to the abuse.

Well I’ve got good news, all six museums are still pretty much intact. I passed by on Thursday and went through all the exhibits and I could count the number of exhibits that were out-of-order on my hand. Not only that but since my last visit a few months ago, new cafes have opened up and a couple of new exhibits were added.

Best part about the museum is that there rarely is anyone ever there. For example I passed by Thursday evening and there were barely any people which is great if you don’t like crowds.

If you haven’t been to the museums yet then I’d highly recommend you do so, it’s just a cool place to walk around and chill with loads of outdoor spaces to explore as well as the actual museums themselves. For more information click [Here]




Categories
Information

Whats happening with Al Sawaber?

As you’re probably aware by now, last month demolition started on Al Sawaber even though people tried to stop it from happening. I heard a bunch of stories about how the contractor wasn’t supposed to start demolition because of a court order or how the whole thing was a miscommunication between various ministry departments. But all the stories aside, what’s happening to Al Sawaber now?

Basically, the contractor started demolition by removing all the pedestrian bridges that connect all the Al Sawaber buildings together. From what I could tell the buildings have been untouched so far. Activists went to court early in the month to stop the demolition from taking place with one of the reasons being that Al Sawaber is classified as a modern heritage building so it should be protected not demolished. On February 19th the court will make their decision and if they agree with saving Al Sawaber, then the contractor will supposedly have to rebuild what they’ve demolished.

If you want to stay posted on everything Al Sawaber, then your best bet is to follow the @save_alsawaber account on Instagram.




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

Below is this weekends list of events. If you’ve never been to a KBSC baseball game there is one this Friday, it’s super fun and there will be corndogs and lemonade! As usual, if I missed anything, let me know.

Thursday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Workshop: Introduction to Ceramics
Kuwait Riders 9th Bike Show 2019
Project UCON
LEED Let’s Talk – Sustainable Transportation
Lunch.Talk. No.1 — with Aseel Alyaqoub

Friday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Workshop: Introduction to Ceramics
Kuwait Riders 9th Bike Show 2019
Project UCON
KBSC Yard Sale and Baseball!

Saturday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Kuwait Riders 9th Bike Show 2019
Project UCON
LEED – Madeenah Bus Tour
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Kuwait Market

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from At Eternity’s Gate

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas, Sky Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
At Eternity’s Gate (7.0)
Cold Pursuit (7.3)
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (7.4)
The Prodigy (N/A)

Other Movies Showing Now:
A Dog’s Way Home (6.4)
Aquaman (8.2)
Arctic (7.3)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Creed II (8.0)
Destroyer (6.8)
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (8.5)
Glass (8.1)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (8.5)
Mary Queen of Scots (6.5)
Minuscule – Mandibles from Far Away (7.7)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Debt Collector (5.6)
The Kid Who Would Be King (5.8)
The Unspoken (4.9)
The Upside (6.2)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.




Categories
Internet

Do you have Zain Beam?

Now that Zain’s Beam internet service has been out for a few months I’m wondering if any of my readers have tried it. I’ve been using B Wirless (Wimd) for the past 6 years but recently I’ve been having a lot of issues and barely getting 10Mbps. It’s not B Wireless’s fault, it’s just there is now a new building blocking the line of sight needed between my building and the B Wirless tower, so my connection is no longer stable.

I’ve considered getting an LTE connection from one of the telecoms but with the testing I’ve done, the speed can vary from as low as 2Mbps up to around 12Mbps. My only other alternative is Beam, but I haven’t heard of anyone using it. So if you have Beam installed, let us know what you think of it.




Categories
Automotive Reviews

The Ferrari 812 Superfast

I wish my review for this car could be just a 😳 because really that’s all I need to describe it. The Ferrari 812 Superfast is the ultimate Ferrari you can buy excluding the limited edition models, and it was the only Ferrari model left from their current lineup that I hadn’t driven yet. It lies on top of the Ferrari foodchain with an engine that is considered to be the most powerful naturally aspirated engine on a production car ever made. It has 789hp which is freakin’ insane!

I can’t emphasize enough how batshit crazy this car is when the roads are dry but I picked it up when it had just started raining. A 789hp rear wheel drive car in the rain in my hands could have turned into something messy really quick. Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long and I survived to tell the tale. And you know what’s bizarre? The 812 is meant to be a daily driver! I have no idea who needs 800 horsepower on a racetrack let alone to drive to the office or the supermarket, but I love it! It’s overkill of course but you kinda have to be nowadays to stick out next to the likes of the McLaren 720s and the Lamborghini Aventador.

But, what I liked about the 812 is that Ferrari allows you to choose the character you play in the car. Are you going to be the successful CEO driving like a normal adult on the way to an important meeting? Or are you going to be a complete moron with the car and try to kill yourself? I’m the second option for sure but the important thing here is you have the choice. Although it has nearly 800hp, if you want to drive the 812 like a normal human being you can absolutely do that. In normal driving conditions, the car engine and exhaust sound are fairly subdued, and with the windows rolled up you can barely hear the outside world. Add to that the ride quality is also incredibly good even when driving over our pothole-ridden roads. I swear I kept forgetting I was in a supercar because of how good the ride quality was. If there is just one thing I wished my Lotus had from this Ferrari, it wouldn’t be the power or the beautiful interior, it would just be the suspension. I keep mentioning this in all my Ferrari reviews but it’s unreal how good the ride quality is on their cars.

So yeah, the Ferrari can be “normal”, in the same way Bruce Banner is also a normal guy.

As soon as you downshift a few gears and step on the gas, things change incredibly fast. I’ve never been so scared to put my foot down as much as I was in the 812. Clearly, the name Superfast was given to the car after one of their test drivers took the car out for the first time because that’s exactly how I’d describe it. Once you step on it the car suddenly starts screaming like an F1 car right as the shift-lights on the steering wheel start lighting up like a Christmas tree. I don’t think I was able to keep my foot down for longer than 3 seconds at any point during the 2 days I had the car.

It’s a monster underneath but so civil on the outside. It has a pretty large trunk and all the amenities of a luxury car like front and rear cameras, a dual-zone climate system, fully adjustable electric seats, an incredible sound system and lots of soft luxurious leather everywhere. But it’s a crazy freakin’ monster.

The car I drove had a retail price of around KD130,000 which makes it one of the most expensive Ferraris you can buy at the dealership. I was thinking to myself if it was worth it or not, as in if I had the money and was in the market for a Ferrari would I get the 812 Superfast? And the answer to that is no, my heart still belongs to the Ferrari GTC4Lusso. For a bit less than the price of an 812 Superfast, the GTC4Lusso for me is a more practical daily car with rear seats that also fold down like in a hatchback. But then again, this is such a first world problem to have trying to decide between the two. I actually just checked the Ferrari pre-owned cars list and the the 812 I borrowed is listed for sale at KD115,000. So if you want to check it out or at least check out more photos of the car then click [Here]




Categories
Design Food

Copy or Homage?

At Qout Market this weekend, the local ice cream brand Moo Milk Bar had a very creative kiosk that resembled a sketch. It proved to be really popular with Instagrammers with lots of people taking photos of the kiosk and posting it on their accounts. But, word started spreading around that the creative kiosk idea was actually a copy of the work by the artist Joshua Vides. People started leaving comments that they had stolen the idea and Moo Milk Bar started deleting those comments.

Then yesterday, Moo Milk Bar posted that their kiosk was in fact a homage to Joshua Vides and not a copy. Thats clearly still causing controversy because it opens a lot of doors. Is it ok to copy something as long as you call it a homage? Some people think it is, others think it isn’t and I can understand the arguments for both sides, but I’m curious to what you think?

Here are more pictures to Moo Milk Bars kiosk [Link]
Here is a link to more of Joshua Vides work [Link]

[poll id=”8″]




Categories
Food

Deliveroo is now live!

If you haven’t downloaded the Deliveroo app by now then do so because Deliveroo have now officially launched in Kuwait. They’re currently offering free delivery as well as a promise to deliver your food on time or else it’s free.

I haven’t gone through all the restaurants fully but it’s safe to say for now Carriage has a much larger selection of restaurants but keep in mind, Deliveroo’s list will grow with time. If you end up trying them out share your experience below!




Categories
Information News

We take air pollution very lightly

Bangkok recently went on full alert because their air pollution level was high after their PM2.5 reading reached 152 which is considered unhealthy. The odd thing is, at the same time, Kuwait’s pollution level was reading at 155 and nobody cared. Nobody probably cared because 155 isn’t even high by Kuwait standards, I’ve seen it hit 358 and I’ve seen it in the 200s multiple of times. Even when it was at 358 which is three times worse than when Bangkok declared red alert, nobody in Kuwait blinked an eye.

So why is it that we don’t seem to care (me included) about the quality of the air we breathe. Is it because there isn’t anything we can do about it or is it because it doesn’t seem like an issue because nobody is making a fuss about it?

When in Bahrain last month my friend rented a Chinese car (BYD) and although I found the car pretty crap, one cool feature it came with was a built-in air quality meter because its a feature people in China care about because of the pollution levels there. With a touch of a button, the car could tell you how bad the air quality was outside the car. Sounds like a gimmick but it’s a car feature we should all probably want to have like the Chinese do.

If you want to check the current air quality in Kuwait, click [Here]

Thanks Nibaq




Categories
Blog Info

Give me your opinion!

As many of you know I’ve been working on a blog redesign for sometime now. I don’t mind change, but I also like routine and when I’m used to a website being a certain way I don’t like it when they suddenly change things. With the redesign I tried to keep most of the things in the same place and just simplify the design a bit. I also had two issues I wanted to improve with the redesign:

1- I wanted the images and videos to be displayed larger on the blog
2- I wanted a mobile friendly version of the blog

I got the first issue sorted, with the redesign both the images and videos would now be embedded in a larger size. I did that by basically killing the middle column of the blog and integrating it into the sidebar.

What I haven’t been able to sort out is the mobile friendly version of the blog. My current theme can be adapted to become mobile friendly with a click of a button, and so can the new theme. But my issue isn’t with that, the problem I have is the fact there doesn’t seem to be a way to have the advertisement banners show while in the mobile friendly version of the blog. The banners are my only source of revenue for the blog and so have to be on the blog at all times. Right now if I turn on the mobile version of the blog, the banners get shoved down to the bottom of the page and that’s not good.

If anyone has any idea how to sort this out let me know, or if anyone has an idea on a different income model for the blog that doesn’t rely on banners also let me know. I’m open to suggestions.

If you want to give me your opinion on the new redesign, check out a live preview of the new design [Here]




Categories
Shopping

IKEA Kuwait Launches its Online Store

Over the weekend I found out that the IKEA Kuwait website now allows you to purchase items online. Previously you could only flip through their catalog but now you can actually purchase the items you’re interested in and have them delivered to your home. Delivery cost is a fixed KD10 fee no matter what you buy and if you want assembly, that’s another KD10.

I actually enjoy physically shopping at IKEA, but I know a lot of people who’d rather not have to deal with the chaos of IKEA on a weekend. I actually think Kuwait has outgrown the current IKEA and they really should open a second location or build a larger one. On one of my LA trips I passed by the IKEA there to check out because I read it was the largest IKEA in America, oh my god it was so insanely huge. To give you an idea of how huge, the IKEA in Kuwait is around 5,000sqm while the one in LA is around 42,000sqm. Even the IKEA in Bahrain is huge compared to Kuwait at 37,000 sqm.

Anyway, check out the IKEA Kuwait website [Here]

Thanks Farah!




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

Below is this weekends list of events. As usual, if I missed anything, let me know.

Thursday
GulfRun Car Show
Exhibition: RE_USE
Al Hamra Coffee Festival
AMG Mozart Requiem
KRCS Charity Gala Concert

Friday
GulfRun Car Show
Exhibition: RE_USE
Red Bull Car Park Drift
The Cypher Effect
The Soundtracks Show

Saturday
GulfRun Car Show
Exhibition: RE_USE
Workshop: Introduction to Ceramics
Guided Tour: The Red Fort
Qout Market

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Destroyer

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas, Sky Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
A Dog’s Way Home (6.4)
Arctic (7.3)
Destroyer (6.8)
Minuscule – Mandibles from Far Away (7.7)
The Gandhi Murder (8.0)
The Unspoken (4.9)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aquaman (8.2)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Close (5.6)
Creed II (8.0)
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (8.5)
Glass (8.1)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (8.5)
Mary Queen of Scots (6.5)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Serenity (7.8)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Super (6.0)
The Upside (6.2)
The Kid Who Would Be King (5.8)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.




Categories
Food Reviews

Carriage Black – One Month Later

Early this month, Carriage launched their free delivery service where for just KD3.5, you get an unlimited amount of free deliveries for a month. I signed up to it right away and so far I’m loving it.

Before Carriage Black, I used to order from Carriage once or twice a day at least, now its double that. One of the reasons for this is I’ve now started using their groceries section a lot more. For example, I ran out of milk last week and didn’t feel like driving to the supermarket, so I just ordered a bottle through Carriage. Their free delivery service has made their Groceries section a lot more convenient.

Another thing I’ve started doing is ordering snacks on Carriage. Before going to the gym I now order healthy power balls from Clean Eats or if I feel like chocolate, I order a bar from Rococoa. Before their free delivery service, it didn’t make financial sense to order small cheap items.

One thing I was worried about was that the quality of their delivery service would drop but so far since I’ve signed up, I haven’t had any delivery delays. If anything, delivery has been quicker this month. The only thing I’m concerned about is with people abusing the service by ordering cheap items just for the heck of it.

KD3.5 a month for unlimited free deliveries is too good a deal to pass, so if you haven’t signed up for it already, you probably should.




Categories
Apple Apps

Kuwait Maps App

The Kuwait Maps app is a new mapping app that is integrated to Google Maps but has one big advantage over it, the app allows you to search for an address in the format we’re used to here in Kuwait:

Area, Block Number, Street Number/Name, House Number.

The way the app works is very simple and fast. When you first run it you choose which area you’re in, then what block number you’re looking for followed by what street and finally what house number. The app will then find the location for you and allow you to navigate to it using Google Maps.

Right now the app is only available for iOS but will be available for Android phones in the future. The app is free and if you want to try it out you can find the app download link on their website [Here]