Author: Mark

The picture above was emailed to me a few days ago by a reader who grew up in Kuwait in the 1950s. It was taken at the Anglo-American School in Ahmadi in the early 1950s. The headmistress was called Miss Ussher while he’s the little kid in the bottom right in the white shirt and shorts (Norman Young). Next to him are his classmates Ian Hickman, David Tristram and Marcia Brown.

Anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted an old video of Kuwait, but they’re pretty hard to come by. I’ve decided to share two videos below, one is of Kuwait in 1977 while the other is of Kuwait in 1997. Is 1997 considered old? I’m not sure anymore. Below are the videos and their timelines in case you want to skip through them:

Kuwait – 1977
0:09 Old port
0:47 Al Sabah Hospital
1:12 Gold market (looks like Souk Mubarakiya)
1:50 Fahad Al Salem Street
2:20 Sheraton Hotel
2:25 Kuwait Towers under construction
2:33 Villas under construction
2:52 Arriving at persons home
3:50 Gas station
3:55 Car dealership
4:39 Gas station

Kuwait – 1997
0:00 Seaside – Bnied Al-Gar
1:27 Cityscape
2:45 Green Island and the sea
5:21 Old Salmiya
6:07 Al Salam Building
6:32 Old Salmiya
7:47 Hungry Bunny
8:32 Entertainment City

In case you didn’t watch the episode last April when it was first aired on HBO, VICE have released the episode “Fast Food of Arabia” that features Kuwait onto YouTube. Here is a summary of the episode:

As Americans become increasingly health-conscious and junk food sales plateau in the States, fast food companies are spreading to new global markets, expanding their revenue — and the waistlines of their customers.

VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni travels to Kuwait, now one of the most obese countries on the planet, to witness the health effects on a country deep in the throes of an unlikely obsession with U.S. fast food.

For my previous post on this episode, click [Here]

I’ve been watching a bunch of canceled comedies with a friend of mine and decided to list my favorite ones so far. Even though these shows were canceled after the first or second season, they’re still some of the funniest shows you can watch on TV. I think most actually got canceled because the stars on the show became too famous or moved on to bigger things, and not because they weren’t successful shows. Anyway, here are my recommendations:

Bored to Death
This show stars Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. Schwartzman’s plays the role of a struggling writer who gets dumped by his girlfriend and then decides to live a double life by pretending to be a private detective.

Hello Ladies
This show stars Stephen Merchant who many of you might not have heard of, but he collaborates a lot with Ricky Gervais and is the co-writer and co-director of The Office, Extras and Life’s Too Short. In this show, he plays the role of a British web designer living in Los Angeles trying to find the woman of his dreams.

Life’s Too Short
This show is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and stars Warwick Davis. Warwick Davis plays a fictionalized version of himself, a struggling dwarf actor trying to find work. The show had a ton of cameos that included Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp, Steve Carell, Val Kilmer and even Right Said Fred.

Party Down
Starring Adam Scott from Parks & Recreation and the super funny Ken Marino (both pictured above). Party Down is about a bunch of actors who are trying to make it big but end up working as party caterers.

Burning Love
Burning Love is a parody of reality shows similar to the “The Bachelor” and is produced by Ben Stiller. The show features a ton of great comedians and a whole lot of cameos by famous actors incuding Kristen Bell, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. The show also stars Ken Marino who plays the bachelor in the first season while the second season of the show stars the funny June Diane Raphael who plays the bachelorette.

I’ve always heard of counterfeit alcohol that’s bottled locally, but I think this is the first time I see how an operation looks like. The photos below have been making their rounds on WhatsApp and shows how dealers bottle and label bottles. Although the photos are being labeled as taken in Kuwait on WhatsApp, they’re actually from Saudi Arabia (the logo is of the Saudi National Guard).

One of the dangers of illegally obtaining alcohol is you never know what you’re really buying.

The IMPROVengers comedy night is back and taking place tonight. There are still seats available so if you’re looking for something to do tonight, I highly recommend this. Here is the list of all the events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
SnowTown in K-Town
Fishackathon
Session: Heritage Workers
Music Night at GUST
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Ghadi
Photography Exhibition: Omar Zuriqi
Live Music with Zak Musawi
Live with the IMPROVengers

Friday
SnowTown in K-Town
Fishackathon
Concert: Russ

Saturday
SnowTown in K-Town
Fishackathon
Farmers Market
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Cameraperson
Q8 Readers Book Club – Meet Mr. Saud Alsanousi

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.

Screenshot from Kickboxer: Retaliation

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Braven (6.5) ♦
Kickboxer: Retaliation (5.0)
Space Chicken (5.4)
The 15:17 to Paris (6.2) ♦
Winchester (5.3) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
12 Strong (7.5)
All the Money in the World (7.1)
Coco (9.1)
Den of Thieves (7.2) ♦
Ferdinand (6.8)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ★
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (7.2)
Phantom Thread (8.4)
Proud Mary (5.0)
Slumber (4.7)
The Commuter (6.8)
The Greatest Showman (7.9)
The Post (7.5)
Throne of Elves (6.2)
Wonder (7.2)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

A couple of days ago the Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre was inaugurated by the Emir and the event was broadcasted live on TV. In case you missed it, the ceremony is now available to watch on YouTube.

The cultural center will be open to the public later this month.

Thanks lovelykuwait

A couple of months back I attended a “Marine Mammals of Kuwait” seminar which focused mostly on dolphins and whales. It was kinda upsetting because it turns out we don’t have that much data on the whales and dolphins located in our waters. We don’t even have a proper database that archives sightings and we have too many local organizations that don’t seem to work or share data together. I actually had a huge rant I wrote right after attending the seminar but decided against posting it because I’m trying not to let shit like this get to me.

Sharks & Rays of the Arabian/Persian Gulf is a book I found out about after attending the seminar. I was sharing my frustration with a friend of mine and she told me about a Kuwaiti biologist who had a deep interest in sharks, so much so that she published this book that documents the sharks and rays in our waters. The book was only available on Amazon or The Palms dive center, so I didn’t end up picking it up until a few days ago when I found out that the book was now available at the Scientific Center gift shop.

The book costs KD10 with 60% of the income going to support sharks and rays research around the Arabian Peninsula. So if you care just a little bit, then you should really pick up a copy of this book.

I posted my first blog post ever exactly 15 years ago to this day. It wasn’t on 248AM, I launched that two years later, it was on another blog called qHate. Back then I was still living with my parents, I was piss-ass broke and didn’t really know anyone in Kuwait. Crazy how that was just 15 years ago since a lot has happened over that time. It’s kinda scary when I think about where I’ll be 15 years from now, probably in L.A. working in the electronics section of a Walmart would be my best bet.

My computer setup back in 2003

There are dates that represent important moments in my life, I was born in 1978, 1988 was my first trip to L.A., the Gulf War in 1990, graduating from high school in 96 and so on.

2003 is when I started blogging.

I’ve seen this building a bunch of times and always wondered what it was. The below was taken from archofkuwait:

Bait Ghaith Bin Abdullah Bin Yousif was built in the 1930s. It is located in Sharq, near the Museum of Modern Art, which was previously Al Sharqiah School for Girls.

Bait Ghaith is one of the old Kuwaiti houses and represents social, economic and cultural features of Kuwaiti society in the past. The house features an intertwined architectural layout typical of the original urban structures in old Kuwait City, particularly in terms of its empty space, its multifunctional features and the way it was built.

The house is located on a 280 sq.m. of land and was adjacent to several stores and houses including the Rashid Al Omer, Humoud Al Mutawa’, and Abdullah Al Madhi houses. The house of the late Ghaith Bin Abdullah Bin Yousif comprised a backyard, two rooms, a store, a bathroom, a kitchen and an upper room for his privacy. The house also contained a cistern to store water.

Ghaith bin Abdullah Bin Yousif was a merchant who used to buy goods and merchandise such as fruits, crates… etc. from ports and ship it to various countries by boats.

Today the Ghaith house maintains its characteristic architectural features, such as the wooden ceiling, the beams, and some of the wooden doors. In addition, the rooms still present the original construction of walls made of sea rocks. The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters refurbished and maintained the building as an example of the old Kuwaiti architecture.

Bait Ghaith before restoration, 2005

For a few more pictures, click [Here]

I was talking to a friend last night who doesn’t drive and has to walk or take a cab to go get her groceries. So I was like why don’t you just order your groceries online?

We actually have a lot of options to choose from, so I decided to put together a list. Here are all the websites I’m aware of that deliver groceries:

Baqal
Baqala
Blue Passion
Dukkan
E-baqala
FAME
Fresh Mozzarella
Gourmet Me
Gourmet Shelf
Healthy Shop
InstaSalla (Only App)
OnCost
Lulu
Natureland
Prime Cuts
SaveCo
Taw9eel
The Approved Market
The Sultan Center
Tons (Only App)

If I missed anything let me know!

The new Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) is set to open towards the end of this month, but if you drive by at night, you can get a sneak peek at some of the dinosaurs on display.

Dazed and Confused is showing this weekend at Cinemagics! It’s easily one of my top 10 favorite movies ever and you should definitely watch it if you haven’t already. Other than that, the Madeenah walks are also back! It’s their first walk of the season so if you’re looking for something to do Friday morning, sign up to that. Check out the rest of this weekends events below:

Thursday
GulfRun Car Show
SnowTown in K-Town
Live Music: Temple Tree
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: La Haine

Friday
GulfRun Car Show
SnowTown in K-Town
Showjumping Competition
Madeenah Tour: City on Display
Kuwait Music Academy at Muse Lounge
KELSO Goes Off-Shore

Saturday
GulfRun Car Show
SnowTown in K-Town
International Self-Development Conference
Guided Photography Tour: Mosques
Q8 Readers Book Club – I Shall Not Hate
Qout Market
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Dazed and Confused

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.

Screenshot from Den of Thieves

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Den of Thieves (7.2) ♦
Phantom Thread (8.4)
Proud Mary (5.0)
Slumber (4.7)
Throne of Elves (6.2)

Other Movies Showing:
12 Strong (7.5)
All the Money in the World (7.1)
Coco (9.1)
Dead Awake (4.6)
Ferdinand (6.8)
Guardians of the Tomb (7.2)
Insidious: The Last Key (7.2)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ★
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (7.2)
The Commuter (6.8)
The Greatest Showman (7.9)
The Post (7.5)
Wonder (7.2)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Earlier this morning I was able to tour the new phase of Avenues, Phase 4. The Avenues extension is set to open on February 25th and so they invited the media today to walk around, explore and take photos.

Avenues Phase 4 includes expansions of existing districts like Prestige, Grand Avenue, and The Souk. But, they’ve also added new districts that include Arcadia, The Grand Plaza, The Forum, Electra and The Cinema, as well as a five-star and four-star hotel.

Phase 4 is HUGE, and its beautiful. They’ve basically taken the Grand Avenue indoor-but-looks-like-outdoor-look and built on it. It’s bright, airy and the main street is wide with lots of little alleyways that connect the various districts.

From what I saw there won’t be much open by February 25th other than a bunch of Alshaya brands, but it will still be a great space to wander about and explore.

If you want to check out more pictures of Phase 4 then check out my story on instagram. I’ve archived the story and so it should be up for some time. Check it out @mark248am

Update: I was just informed that February 25th is the target date but they’re still unsure if they’ll open by then. Also I uploaded a bunch of photos in hi-res which you can view [Here]