Author: Mark

I doubt anyone still watches KTV, but if for some very odd reason you feel like watching it, the Ministry of Information has live streams available on their website. All in all there are 8 KTV channels available to stream and you can check them all out [Here]

The popular breakfast spot The Early Bird is expanding with two new locations. The first (pictured above) is going to be located in Central Plaza Salmiya, the same mall that houses International Optics and Costa Coffee.

The second new location and the one I’m interested in is going to be in Crystal Tower in Kuwait City. It’s the same tower as my gym and right across the street from Arabica Coffee.

No idea when they’re opening up.

Movies get censored in Kuwait, thats a fact and no matter how much we complain about it there isn’t anything that can be done. Knowing and accepting movies get censored, how can movie theaters improve the experience for movie goers? One reader proposed an idea recently in the comments and it got me thinking, why haven’t local movie theaters implemented his idea yet?

The reader (Ally) suggested that local movie theaters should start declaring if a movie has been censored or not, and if it has been, then they should declare the duration that was cut and what was cut. So for example:

00:02:45 Censored

Censored content includes:
Reglious themes and/or imagery
Nudity
Sexuality

Right now with my weekly movies list, I check the films content advisory on IMDB, and if I read that there is nudity or scenes of sexuality, I mark the movie on the list that it might contain censorship. But this isn’t accurate and a lot of times movies I marked as not containing censorship ended up being censored. The most accurate way right now to tell if a movie is censored or not is to ask someone who has already watched it, but that isn’t practical obviously.

So Cinescape and Grand Cinemas, if you’re reading this, start being transparent with us, let us know if a movie is censored or not.

I wasn’t planning on posting about the DJI Spark until I got to use it on my upcoming trip, but because of the amount of interest I got on it from my instagram story and twitter over the weekend, I decided I’d at least post my first impression. First full disclosure, DJI released the Spark last month and when I saw Xcite had a preorder page for it, I got in touch with them and asked them if they could send me one over to review. They couldn’t get me a Spark from their first shipment since it quickly sold out, but Thursday they got in touch with me to let me know they secured me a drone from their second shipment and I passed by and picked it up.

The DJI Spark is tiny, like super tiny. Its around the same size as my iPhone 6 and it weighs just 300 grams. But don’t let the size fool you, this isn’t an indoor drone and it’s packed with advanced features of its older brothers. I’m not going to go into too many details since there are a ton of YouTube videos that do that, but I will highlight some things in this post which I think are cool.

There are three ways to control the Spark, either with your phone, with the optional remote, or using hand gestures. The last one is a bit of a gimmick but it works and it can be useful.

Hand Gestures
The Spark has a sensor at the front that will recognize your face and then detect your hand gestures which you can use to control the drone. You wave goodbye at the drone and it will fly up and hover away from you. You want it to snap a photo of you? Just give it the correct gesture and it will take your photo. This is pretty cool because it keeps things simple for those who don’t want more out of the drone other than snapping selfies. You can watch the video above of how this works.

Using Your Phone
The Spark doesn’t come with a remote control, instead you can download an app onto your phone and use it to control the drone using wifi. This means you don’t have to carry a remote around which keeps the Spark portable. The only downside is that the Spark’s flight height is limited to 50 meters and the flight range to just 100m when using the phone due to the wifi’s limited range. The top speed is also limited to 20km/h.

Remote Control
The first thing I did after picking up the Spark was buy the optional remote control. Personally I can’t use virtual control sticks in apps, maybe I’m old fashioned but I like physical buttons and joysticks. The second reason I wanted to get the remote control was because it increases the flight height from 50m to 500m and the flight range from 100m up to 2KM. That’s a HUGE increase. With the remote control you can also put the drone into sport mode which increases the top speed to 50kmh. Really impressive specs for something so freakin tiny. I still can’t believe how high it can fly.

I spent the weekend playing around with the Spark and as a complete drone newbie, I did find the experience overwhelming at first but that’s probably because I didn’t read any instructions and just winged it. Friday morning I woke up early and headed to my favorite open area in the desert to take some photos. There was an overcast so my photos were coming out very flat and dull, but I did manage to take one photo which I added to my instagram story. Saturday morning I decided to take the drone near Scientific Center and fly it there, that was a pretty scary experience because when I told the drone to come home and land, I freaked out because I got worried it would decide to land in the sea. It did’t thankfully and instead came back down to it’s original launching point. That same afternoon I wanted to see if I could fly the drone from my hand and then have it land back in my hand when I was done, all without having to leave my car. It worked! Because the drone is so tiny you could use your palm as a launch and landing pad.

If you’re a beginner like me, the drone has a bunch of automated and smart flying modes that will make your videos look professionally shot including:

Active Track: You highlight the subject you want the Spark to follow and it will follow it
Tripod: Keeps the drone stable and slow allowing you to film cinematic shots
Rocket: Starts filming you from eye level and then flies straight up while still focusing on you
Dronie: Starts filming you from eye level and then angles out and away from you while still keeping you in focus
Circle: The Spark films you while rotating around you
Helix: Rocket + Circle combined

Battery life is my only issue with the Spark so far. The total flight time is just 16 minutes which isn’t a lot especially if you factor in the time it will take you to get to the height you want, position your drone and also the amount of time the drone needs to fly back down to you. You’re definitely gonna need more batteries and I already ordered 2 from Amazon and they’ll be waiting for me in L.A. when I get there end of the week.

Overall I love this little thing. It kinda feels like having an invisible photographer friend with you everywhere you go. When I went out to the desert to take some photos, I tried the active tracking feature and had the Spark follow my car around shooting video of it while I was driving. In the winter when I go snowboarding I could have the Spark follow me shooting video of me face planting all the way down the slope. It’s tiny and light enough to take everywhere with you which is why I’m looking forward to using it on my trip.

If you’re interested in the DJI Spark, Xcite are selling them for KD169. Here is the [Link]

I only first heard about Blaze Pizza last week when I read an article on Bleacher Report about how LeBron James was a part owner, and how the brand was off to fastest-ever start for food chain. Then a few days later, Blaze Pizza announced that they’ve partnered up with Alshaya to open locations in Africa and the Middle East.

What makes Blaze different from other pizza places is that it was modeled after the Chipotle concept with a made-to-order approach. Customers create their own pizza which then gets cook in a high-temperature open-flame oven in just 3 minutes.

According to the press release, first location should open up in 2018. [Link]

No idea how I managed to scrape together the list below, but here are some events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
The Divan Movie Night: Mon Oncle
Summer Film Series: AMY

Friday
Yoga at the Park (Vinyasa Flow)
The CYFR
Good Game: Magic The Gathering
Drum Circle!

Saturday
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
54 Surya Namaskars
Yoga with the 3
Q8 Readers Book Club
Tango Class & Practica

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.

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

New This Week:
Be Afraid (4.7)
Cars 3 (7.2)
The Hunter’s Prayer (5.4)
War for the Planet of the Apes (8.5) ★

Other Movies Showing:
2:22 ♦
Despicable Me 3 (6.6)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (7.0)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (8.2)
The Mummy (5.8) ♦ ★

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)

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

If you’re interested in coding electronics and are looking for Arduino or Respberry Pi kits, RTC Electronics in Hawalli have kits as well as a pretty decent selection of components to go along with them. I’ve posted about RTC on this blog before, they’re a large electronics supply store and they really have everything you could think of from transistors to equipments for events.

Their prices aren’t that cheap though, the Raspberry Pi3 kit costs KD32 (includes a case, hdmi cable, power adapter and SD card) while the Genuino starter kit costs around KD35. But like I mentioned, they also carry components like RGB color sensors, servo controllers, temperature and humidity sensors just to name a few and those wouldn’t be worth buying online, not unless you were shipping them with other stuff since they don’t cost much anyway.

If you’re interested in passing by RTC, here is their location on [Google Maps]

Update: Just found out you can also find Raspberry and Arduino kits locally [Here]

An explosion ripped through one of the restaurants at the Mishref Coop earlier tonight. Eight people were injured, four of whom are in intensive care. According to reports the explosion was a result of a gas leak at one of the restaurants at the coop. I got a few videos taken at the scene through whatsapp awhile ago and I’ve combined them into one video which you can watch below.

Thanks Ghadeer!

Savour is a new food sector accelerator that just launched based out of Kuwait. Their aim is to help food entrepreneurs and food startups bring their products and services to market at super speed. Think of it like Shark Tank but locally and for food related businesses.

Savour partners with early stage companies from any part of the food supply chain, including: farming, ag-tech, food distribution, retail, wellness, consumer-packaged goods, food-related apps, and green/clean tech. Savour can help you reach your potential.

The way it works is say you’ve got an interesting food related business at the moment, like a small hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, or a hydroponics growing system, or even an app that calculates tips. And this business is new and doing relatively well but you have no idea how to grow, or what options are available to you.You apply for the Savour accelerator program and if they think your idea is interesting with potential to grow, they’ll take you onboard, accelerate your concept, focus on your main points, connect you with all the right people, give you access to their network and to funding so they can help take your business to the next level.

The main Savour team is composed of 3 members but there are also 22 mentors for the program including the likes of Basil AlSalem, Mohammed Jaffar and Essa Behbehani. The 8-week program is free and is open to Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis alike including those residing outside of Kuwait.

Savour is holding a Q&A this coming Wednesday, July 12 at Richard’s Coffee Bar at 7PM. So if you have a food related startup and are looking for more information on this accelerator program, drop by their Q&A. You can also visit their website and apply to the accelerator since the application process is currently open until July 22nd. Here is the link to their [Website]

هل لازم يكون في تقدير و تمييز لهم أو لا ؟
.
سمعوا الڤيديو كامل وقولولنا شرايكم ؟ pic.twitter.com/u7vTI4R4FF

— الديوانية (@DewaniyaMFM) July 10, 2017

The Dewaniya Show on Marina FM brought up my post on my parents having to leave Kuwait for good and discussed the topic of long term expats on the air. They’ve only shared the first two and a half minutes online which you can watch above, but I’m hoping to get a hold of the whole episode since I’m curious to what peoples opinions on the subject was. Once I do I’ll post it up here.

Update: Ali Khajah the host of the show also wrote an article on this subject in Aljarida newspaper which you can read [Here]

“The Unmissing Part” is a short 2 minute film by Kuwaiti film maker Ahmad Alkhudari. The film won a total of 11 awards at various film festivals around the world last year which is pretty impressive so check it out.

Thanks Ghadeer!

My mum moved to Kuwait back in 1968 to work as a personal trainer at a local gym (yup, she was an OG PT) before joining Kuwait Airways as a flight attendant. My dad on the other hand moved to Kuwait in 1972 and worked as a self employed interior designer. They eventually met, got married, had kids and continued to live here until last week, when my parents moved out of their apartment and left Kuwait for good.

People always ask me if I have any plans on leaving. The thing is, eventually, all expats have to leave Kuwait.

Even though my parents were living in Kuwait for nearly 50 years, they had as much rights and benefits as someone who just moved to Kuwait last week. They still needed a sponsor, they still needed to renew their papers every year and they couldn’t own any property.

I was thinking how depressing that must be, living and working in a country for nearly 50 years and still have to put up with so much bureaucracy. Not only that, but they moved to Kuwait when it was expat friendly, and then watched it over the years turn into a country that dislikes its expat population (not all of you), thats difficult to take in as well. If you can’t get permanent residency or own property after living all your life in a country that doesn’t want you here in the first place, how can you retire in it?

I’ve already been in Kuwait for 38 years and I call it my home, but the reality is, no matter how long I’ll be here for, Kuwait can sadly never be my home and eventually, I’ll have to leave as well.

A short while ago fire was reported at the construction site of Avenues Phase 4. Firefighters are currently arriving at the scene, no open flames can be seen from the main road (as of now) but theres lots of smoke.

According on an engineer from the site, the fire is located in the “Forum” area of Avenues Phase 4 which you can see on the map above.

I’ll update this post with more pictures and information as I get them. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a major fire like last weekend.

update: Looks like the fire was put out before it spread

Thanks Dragos

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

New This Week:
Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child (6.5)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (8.2)
The Dinner (4.9)

Other Movies Showing:
2:22 ♦
Despicable Me 3 (6.6)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (7.0)
The Mummy (5.8) ♦ ★
Transformers: The Last Knight (5.4)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)

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