Author: Mark

If you ever need an English copywriter, I’d highly recommend a friend of mine, Naz. Naz has been copywriting for over 20 years and was my editor for our school paper, the Voice of AIS, back in the mid-90s. Speaking of which, I need to try and find copies of those if they still exist.

If you’re a business, Naz can help you with your website content, write press releases for you and even help you come up with a name and slogan for your new business. To get in touch with her, send her a message on instagram @nazwriteswell

Four years ago I posted about the Burgan Blowout, an incident that took place back in 1964 and is now long forgotten. The Burgan Blowout was the largest oil well fire in Kuwait before the 1990 invasion. It took six weeks to extinguish and for that short period of time, was the biggest touristic attraction in Kuwait. Since I originally posted about the event I’ve now come across a lot more photos so I’m reposting the story again with a bit more details as well as the new photos.

The explosion took place at Burgan oil well No. 331 on December 29th, 1964. The gas was ignited by a spark as a worker tried to control a sudden upsurge of mud. Once work started on putting out the fire, it became the biggest tourist attraction in Kuwait. So, a plan was put into place to let the public come and see it, but in a controlled manner, so that it was safe and so that no one got in the way.

Once you got to Burgan you followed in a convoy to a designated parking area a safe distance from the fire. You’d then would walk the remaining way towards the viewing grandstands that were set up for the public. According to a reader (John Beresford) who was 10 years old at the time, as they drove towards the oil well, they could hear a moan that kept getting louder and louder. The force of the gas coming up was so powerful it was causing the ground to vibrate, and this was from quite a distance from the well. It was winter but the heat coming off the fire was so strong that the climate was getting warmer as they walked towards the viewing area. The sound was also getting louder to the point where they had to speak more loudly, almost shouting at each other. By the time they reached the viewing area the temperature had increased to a level that was unpleasant causing the skin facing the flames to get quite warm.

A couple of days after the fire started the famous American oil well firefighter Red Adair was called in to help. Adair became notable internationally as an innovator in the specialized and hazardous profession of extinguishing oil well blowouts. Amazingly, at the age of 75, Adair was called again 26 years later to help extinguish the 1991 oil well fires set by retreating Iraqi troops after the Gulf War.

The first image is from the @trmkuwait family archive, the second was taken by the John’s parents, and the remaining black and white photos were provided by @badshaiji

Interesting tidbit, the photo above is of Red Adair (left) and his fellow fire fighter lieutenant Coots Matthews (right). Coots formed his own competing company in 1978 called Boots & Coots. Combined, Red Adair Co. and Boots & Coots were responsible for extinguishing more than a third of the 700 oil well fires set by the retreating Iraqi soldiers in the Gulf War.

This is a collab I didn’t know I needed in my life. I was at The Avenues and noticed that Lush have a new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soaps from bath bombs to shampoo bars and they look like a lot of fun. They also had a weird soft and icky feeling Krang shower jelly which I think was my favorite item followed by the pizza slices bath bombs.

Yesterday I started watching the new AppleTV+ show “Sunny” starring Rashida Jones (from parks & rec). Only two episodes are out and my first impression is that I like it. The aesthetics of the show give it a retro 70s vibe but it’s combined with tech from the future so it’s kinda like Fallout in that sense. Worth watching so far.

Also the teaser trailer for season 2 of Severance got released last night, that’s a show I’m looking forward to as well although not sure why release this teaser now when season 2 is scheduled to be released in January next year!

Finally, the trailer for Gladiator II got released this past week and I can’t wait for that movie to come out. I’ve actually only watched the original Gladiator once when it first came out, so I should watch it again now that the sequel is being released.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Arcadian (5.5)
Fly Me to the Moon (6.7)
The Last Breath (6.1)

Other Movies Showing:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Despicable Me 4 (6.4)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Classic) (7.4)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Classic) (7.6)Inside Out 2 (8.2)
Inside Out 2 (7.9)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
The Garfield Movie (5.8)
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (4.7)

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

There are two parts to this design highlight, the first is the interior which was done by Studio Nesef, the second is the beautiful ceramic dinnerware and accessories which were produced by From Mud.

This is Tatami’s third location and my favorite design wise. The first thing that catches your attention is the large suspended Moon light pendant surrounded by intricate wooden joinery I’m assuming is inspired by the Japanese cidori system. The space is minimal but the use of natural materials like wood and rough stone help give the space a bit of warmth.

For the dinnerware and table accessories, Tatami commissioned the local ceramic design studio From Mud to create them (Full disclosure: the owner is my wife). All the items were hand built with a sculptural approach to tableware that was inspired by Japanese elements. For example, the table centre pieces are composed of three organic branch-like vases that intertwine, and are inspired by Japanese floral arrangements. The cutlery rests replicate the softness of rice cakes (mochi), while the taco and napkin holders were inspired by ‘Ma,’ the concept of highlighting the negative space around an object.

The new Tatami is located in The Gardens area of The Avenues. It’s a bit hidden only because you need to get off the main Phase 4 corridor and go up the escalators to get to the area. But, some of my favorite restaurants in The Avenues are located there including Midar and Em Sherif Cafe.

To check out more photos of Tatami by Studio Nesef, check this link. If you want to check Tatami out, their instagram is @tatamirestaurant

Yesterday COMFEST announced that Dacre Montgomery, the actor that plays Billy on the popular Netflix series Stranger Things is coming to Kuwait in September. Dacre is coming to take part in a meet and greet at the POPUP BY COMFEST event thats going to be taking place from September 26th to the 28th at the fair grounds. To stay posted on the event or to find out who else they might be bringing you can follow the COMFEST on Instagram @comfestcon

Over the weekend I was given access to visit the newly revamped Messilah Beach Club, one of the newest projects by TEC. The club first opened in the late 80s, and I’ve been to it a few times back in the 90s, but haven’t really been back there since.

I do remember how it looked and I can tell you the new beach club looks nothing like the old one. They didn’t just give it a facelift, instead it’s a completely new club built from the ground up.

The beach club will have the following facilities:
– Aqua Play Pool
– Wave Pool
– Splash Pad
– Kids Pool
– Infinity pool
– Kids play area
– Adventure tower
– Fitness Areas
– Basketball, Football and Tennis Courts
– Beach Volleyball Courts
– Water Sports Facilities
– Restaurants
– Events Hall

When I passed by most of the water areas had been drained from water, especially all the kids areas which is why they’re dry in my photos. But the club still looked really nice with aesthetics that match the newly face-lifted Gulf Road waterfront.

I think my favorite part of the club was the infinity pool and the beach. The infinity pool was surrounded by a wooden deck and overlooked the huge beach giving off a trendy resort vibe. The beach also now looks huge since they removed the trees that used to separate the club from the beach. Previously you couldn’t really see the sea from the club because the trees were in the way, but now it’s completely open and so it felt like I was on a beach in LA.

Entry to the club will be by membership or tickets. The prices haven’t been decided on yet nor is there a solid opening date since UPAC only recently won the tender to manage the club. It should open this year, hopefully before the weather gets cold.

In other TEC news, Mabanee (Alshaya) recently won the tender for the Hilton Mangaf location. That means Hilton will end up closing down and Alshaya will reopen it with one of their many hotel brands like Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria, St Regis etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also opened Equinox there. Back in 2019, Alshaya partnered up with Equinox but they haven’t done anything with the brand yet. I had heard they were previously trying to take over the Corniche Club location to turn it into Equinox, but they ended up losing that tender to what eventually became SVN.

To stay posted on everything TEC, follow them @tecq8

Last month I did a road trip from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and below is a quick guide of all my favorite spots in Copenhagen. They are not touristic, nor are they TikToky, so you won’t find long lines, although some of the places do require booking ahead of time:

Eat
Krogs Fiskerestaurant and Kodbyens Fiskebar were my favorite seafood spots. I might have actually had the best fish dish I’ve ever had at Krogs (it was their catch of the day). Tokyo Restaurant for authentic Shabu-shabu, it’s also the oldest Japanese restaurant in Scandinavia. Jah Izakaya & Sake Bar for a less traditional and more hip Japanese spot. Oysters & Grill and Rouge Oysters for your more typical seafood and lots of oysters. Andersen & Maillard and Skipper Bageri for your baked goods and pastries. Slurp for Ramen, although it might be a bit TikToky, and finally, Osterberg for delicious ice cream.

Drink
Prolog was by far my favorite coffee spot and their bread, butter and cheese sandwich is top notch as well. Bread, butter and cheese was my favorite thing about Copenhagen, it’s like a staple over there. Orsa was my second favorite coffee shop and it also happens to be in a very cool neighborhood. HANS was also good and the more accessible coffee shop since they have multiple locations.

See
For furniture and accessories you have to visit Frama, Ferm Living and HAY House. For fashion, Another Aspect, Samsøe Samsøe and The Girl & The Diamond. For art supplies (don’t ask) Tutein & Koch. For a day trip out of the city, head to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art followed by Frederiksborg Castle and exploring the nature around it.

Sleep
I had a few hotels I looked at but eventually booked at Zuko. It’s a new hotel and their rooms looked like one of those small apartments in an episode of “Never too small”. It was very practical, spacious and the location was great, right outside the city center with the metro a 2 minute walk away. The hotel rooftop was a nice spot to chill at the end of the day and there was underground parking which I needed for my rental. Audo Residence and Manon les Suites were my plan B’s.

To see my previous lists, click here.

I started watching two shows this past week, Presumed Innocent starring Jake Gyllenhaal on AppleTV+, and A Man in Full starring Jeff Daniels on Netflix. Both have been pretty enjoyable so far, enjoyable enough for me to stop playing Zelda and watch some TV. I’ve also been a huge fan of Jeff Daniels ever since The Newsroom and his personality on A Man in Full reminds me a lot of that Jeff Daniels.

Randomly, both shows I’m watching star Bill Camp. I like the character on one show and dislike him on the other so it’s really weird to bounce from one show to another.

One thing I realized, the Apple Vision Pro is a really great device, not only to watch movies and shows on an extremely large screen, but also to help me stay focused. Usually when I’m watching TV on the couch I’m constantly on my phone or on my laptop fidgeting. Like literally picking up and putting my phone down every couple of minutes like a bad tic. With the Apple Vision Pro I can’t do that. Firstly I can’t keep picking up my phone since it’s not practical to check my phone while on the AVP. I’ve tried mirroring my phone through an app called Bevel, but once the phone goes to sleep it disconnects. I could of course browse the web while watching a movie or show on the AVP, but not when I’m in theater mode. Theater mode on the AVP is really great, you get immersed in an environment that looks like a large cinema with no one there but you and a huge screen in front of you.

When you’re immersed you can’t have other apps open or else it takes you out of that environment and puts you back in a normal environment with different windows. Hard to explain but what I’m trying to say, theater mode is such a great way to watch stuff on TV because I’m totally focused, while watching. I’m just there doing one thing only, watching tv. Kinda like how when you go to a movie theater in real life you don’t get on your phone.

Anyway let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
A Sacrifice (4.9)
Cold Meat (5.3)
Despicable Me 4 (6.4)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Classic) (7.4)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Classic) (7.6)
Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms (7.9)

Other Movies Showing:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Dragonkeeper (5.8)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
Inside Out 2 (8.2)
The Bikeriders (7.3)
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (4.7)

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

Kuwait is currently oversaturated with burger spots but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 1969, when Wimpy opened in Kuwait, there weren’t any other burger brands.

Wimpy was a US burger franchise that first opened in 1934 with the name inspired by the burger loving character, Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons. In 1957, Wimpy International was created, and in 1969, Kuwait Food Company (Americana) brought the Wimpy franchise to Kuwait.

The first Wimpy location in Kuwait was in Salmiya which I’ve shared the pictures above. The other location I have shared is the Ahmadi Market location below.

Wimpy claim to have served the first ever cheeseburger to Arabia. I know from people who used to go to Hubara Club in Ahmadi in the 60s that they had a burger on their menu. But, that wasn’t really open to the general public. So, it would be safe to say, that Wimpy, at least helped introduce the burger to the mainstream population of Kuwait.

The oldest memory I have of Hardee’s is this 3D kids meal box. It’s from 1983 and I remember vividly picking it up from Hardee’s in old Salmiya, the location that was opposite Fay and Barakat (the shawarma place). The memory I have is being in the car parked outside Fay, and I remember as soon asI got in the car, the first thing I did was look through the red and blue windows to see if I could see anything inside. I also remember I had ordered a roast beef as my kids meal burger.

Back in 2015, I found the advert above in an old bookshop in the city which helped me re-spark that memory and I knew I needed to get the box again. Fast forward to last week, I finally found a box that was reasonably priced, was of Spiderman, and most importantly, included the comic. And now I have it thanks to eBay.

Update: I have an old photo of the building that used to house the Swan Lake music shop, Barakat and Fay. The photo was taken from my PDA, a Sony Clie UX40 back in the early 2000s and was posted on MoBlog back in 2004 (usurp.textamerica.com). Text America died and I never backed it up but I have the image as a thumbnail which I enlarged. Posting it here just for Google incase anyone in the future is ever looking for it. Hardees is the red lit up sign on the bottom left. Previous location of the first Wimpy location in Kuwait.

Random fact I recently discovered, the manager of the Swan Lake music shop in the 80s was the owner of the Bells music shop in the 90s.

Yesterday banks around Kuwait launched WAMD, a new and convenient way of sending and receiving money locally through Knet.

WAMD is the Arabic word for “Flash”, which I guess reffers to the speed of transferring money. The service basically allows you to quickly send and receive money using only a persons phone number.

Previously if you wanted to send a friend money, you’d either have to add them as a beneficiary or you would have to create a payment link. Now, they no longer need to do that. Instead, all you need to do is go to your mobile banking app and select to either to send or request money via WAMD, and then type in the amount, the persons phone number, and then click send. WAMD will handle everything else which includes sending the payment link and notifying both parties through SMS on the status.

To be able to use WAMD, both of you need to have previously registered for it. You can register to use WAMD through your banking app, it’s a simple process where you put your phone number and then the app sends you an OTP number to verify that this in fact is your phone number. Once you do that you can then use the service.

There are transfer limits. The minimum amount you can send per transaction is 1KD, the maximum is 1,000KD. You also have a daily limit of 3,000KD and a maximum monthly limit of 20,000KD.

This is a free service and requires you to have a Kuwait number and a Kuwait based bank account.

Knet haven’t updated their website yet with details on WAMD, so for now you need to head to their instagram page for info @knetkw

Yesterday KDD launched a new line of ice cream they’re calling “Good for Me”. It’s ice cream that has zero percent added sugar making them healthier than their regular ice cream. Here is everything you need to know:

• They will be available in three flavors, vanilla, strawberry and chocolate

• It still tastes sweet because they use a combination of plant-based sweeteners, stevia and erythritol

• The chocolate cup has 130 calories while both the strawberry and vanilla have 140 calories (170ml)

• The total sugar in this ice cream is 6 grams (this is from the natural lactose in milk), which is 65% less than regular ice cream

• The ice cream does not contain artificial colors or flavors

• The price is 400 fils per cup (their regular old ice creams are 100 fils per cup)

• KDD will be launching more GOOD FOR ME products in the future (I hope they launch sugar free Silver 🙇🏼‍♂️)

• Good For Me was co-funded by The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and Clinically tested by Dasman Diabetes Institute

Correction: I previously stated the number of calories were per 150g, it’s actually per 170ml and so I’ve corrected that.

I’m a very routine-oriented person, and one of the things I like to do is head to The Avenues every Friday morning, at least in the hot months when I can’t be outdoors. I just find it relaxing to walk around and shop, and before it gets busy, I have an early lunch and then leave. My go-to place for lunch is usually Em Sherif Café or Midar; but recently, I’ve added Matbakhi to the list.

Matbakhi is an authentic Palestinian restaurant that has been open for a couple of months. It’s owned by Chef Sawsan (@sawsansmatbakhi) and is inspired by her heritage and her mother’s recipes. I think I’ve been there six or seven times already, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite spots.

I think they have one of the best, if not the best, tabbouleh and shish taouk in Kuwait. The reason I first went there was because of their shish taouk. A friend at work who knows that’s all I ever eat tried their taouk and told me I had to try it because it was the best one she’d ever had, and she was right. Matbakhi is also one of those places where you can’t really go wrong no matter what you order. Every time I’ve been there with various people, everyone has always loved whatever they’ve ordered. Oh, and they also have the best Om Ali ever—seriously, so good.

Their prices are in the mid-to-upper range of Lebanese restaurants. The taouk, for example, is 4.950 KD, while the tabbouleh is 2.950 KD. The only negative aspect might be their service, which can be a bit iffy sometimes, but that’s just nitpicking. If you want to try the place out, they’re located across from Cheesecake Factory in Phase 3. They’re always pretty busy, so either head there when they first open at 12 PM (which is what I do), or put your name on the waiting list and then kill time walking around The Avenues. Their Instagram account is @matbakhibysawsan

The only thing I watched this week was the latest episode of The Kardashians and the two episodes of House of Dragons that are out. Last weekend I finally picked up “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” on the Nintendo Switch and I’ve been playing it non-stop so haven’t had much time for TV. I did just come across the tiktok video below that talks about how “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, one of my favorite shows ever is pro-Palestine.

I just sent it to my wife and hoping to convince her to finally watch the show with me since she really hates it. Plan B is to have her watch Arrested Development.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (7.4)
The King Tide (7.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Breathe (3.8)
Dragonkeeper (5.8)
Inside Out 2 (8.2)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
The Bikeriders (7.3)
The Garfield Movie (6.0)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Classic) (9.0)
Tarot (4.9)
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (4.7)
The Watchers (5.7)

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