Author: Mark

The Scientific Center is set to double in size with a new expansion project. The expansion will add the following new sections:

– Dolphinarium (Al Dalaphene)
– Exploratorium (Dar Al-Estikshaf)
– Education and Conference Center
– Visitor Service Facilities
– Exhibit Halls
– Shaded Surface Parking

I’m not too sure how I feel about the Dolphinarium since I highly doubt the dolphins here will be taken care of properly or be given enough space. But, I do like the expansion idea and going by the renderings in the article it’s going to look world class when completed.

[Source 1] [Source 2]

Nuqat is the largest creative conference in the MENA region and the most recent one was held back in November. Over the weekend Nuqat released a flashback video of that event and I loved it. The video was shot by the very talented cool friend of mine Tarek Jammal and is composed of like a zillion still photos to create the animated film. It was a spectacular event and this video makes me want to go through it all over again. [YouTube]

In this weeks episode of Mishwarna, Rawaf and Tamara visit the soon to open Al Shaheed Park which I also posted about last week. [YouTube]

Meanwhile in Riggae…

Hashtag #kuwaitfail on instagram or email me a fail and I’ll share the best one every week.

Thanks Scarface

The weather is great at the moment and there are a lot of outdoor events taking place this weekend. Cinemagics has two great outdoor movies they’re showing this week, Boyhood and Looper. I’ve watched both and they were really entertaining with Boyhood also being epic. There are also two markets taking place this weekend, Discovery Mall has one called Future Entrepreneurs while 360 Mall has one called The Hits. Putting their weird names aside, both markets should prove to be entertaining. Lots more stuff taking place as well, check out the full list below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Al-Seef
Exhibition: A Wonderful World Under Construction
Kuwait Dino Park
Solar Impulse – Photo Exhibition
Rooftop Movie: Boyhood

Friday
Kuwait Dino Park
Solar Impulse – Photo Exhibition
Future Entrepreneurs Market
The Hits Market
X 1.0 Entertainment Show

Saturday
Kuwait Dino Park
Solar Impulse – Photo Exhibition
Future Entrepreneurs Market
The Hits Market
Operation Hope Yard Sale
#INeedMySpace
K’S PATH Treasure Hunt Event
Earth Hour
Rooftop Movie: Looper
The Sound Social

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

The popular website Vice have featured Kuwait again, this time in a negative light since they highlight the illegal wild animals people in Kuwait are keeping as pets. The video is nearly half an hour long and features interviews with some of the owners and traders of exotic pets. Hopefully now that this video is out authorities will take action and confiscate the animals but I highly doubt anything will come of it. Truly embarrassing. [YouTube]

Thanks Habib

I don’t test drive that many American muscle cars, in fact I’ve only reviewed one before and that was the very evil Camaro ZL1 back at the end of 2012. What made that car so much fun back then is it rained when I had it. So you can imagine my bewilderment when it started raining this weekend right after I picked up a brand new arctic white Corvette to review. What are the odds that the second time in two years that I pick up a tail happy monster American car, it freakin rains again! Either someone up there loves me and wants me to have a lot of fun, or hates me and is hoping I’ll end up wiping out. Luckily it turned out to be the former.

I’ve been a fan of Corvettes ever since I was a little kid and I nearly even purchased one when I moved back to Kuwait after university. So when I was dropping off the review Escalade a few weeks back and heard they might have a Corvette to test drive I jumped at the opportunity. My persistence finally paid off when I was told I’d be able to pick one up this past Thursday to enjoy over the weekend. Strangely though I ended up picking up the Corvette from a rental firm in Salmiya. Alghanim’s test drive vehicle wasn’t going to be available for sometime and since they had just delivered a brand new Corvette to a car rental company on Thursday, they ended up renting it back off them for the weekend to give to me. I was actually the first person to drive the car and so had to remove all the plastic from the dashboard, doors and seats. A brand new Corvette all to myself for the weekend, I thought it couldn’t get better, and then it rained.

The 2015 Corvette is a beast of a car with a 6.2L V8 engine, 480HP and a 0-100 acceleration speed of 3.8 seconds. Its badass and when I first drove it off the lot I knew it was going to be a fun ride. I ended up spending most of the weekend going sideways while trying to be obnoxiously loud. It was a repeat of my weekend with the ZL1 and my friends calling me هيلق (hooligan) while I’m smoking the rear tires. No sort of civilized driving took place this past weekend. I mean seriously though I drive an FJ Cruiser as my daily driver so there was no way I wasn’t going to end up driving like a moron in a Corvette that wasn’t even mine.

The Corvette has five drive modes to choose from, Weather, Eco, Tour, Sport and Track with each one of these modes calibrating 12 different performance variables like the exhaust mode, steering, traction control and even the cluster display. By default the car starts in Eco mode but in case you want the loud exhaust sound of the track mode you can turn that on permanently from the settings screen. Speaking of the screen, the Corvette has a touch screen media center which like every other American car I’ve been in, looks like it was designed to be used with Windows 95. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for American carmakers to hire decent interface designers, it would make such a big difference in the overall experience of the car. On the other hand there is a super cool hidden compartment behind the touch screen. With a touch of a button the screen slides down revealing a compartment with a USB port (Check out video below). So if you have an iPod you can just plug it in there or you could just use it to store your wallet, glasses, keys, cocaine or other trinkets. In case you’re wondering there are two more USB ports in the center console which are better located to plug your phone in.

[YouTube]

One of my favorite features in the new Corvette is the targa top since it allowed me to remove the roof and drive as a semi convertible when the sun came out. The ability to remove the roof when the weather is great is such an added bonus and it’s so easy to do. I watched one YouTube video and then was able to remove the roof within seconds and store it in the trunk. Putting it back on took a bit longer but it’s still really easy and a one person job.

One question I always ask myself when driving a sports car is if it can be a practical daily driver. With the Corvette I think the answer would be possibly, but not for me. The car is pretty low and I was scraping the front spoiler on some speed bumps and even while entering my underground parking. But other than that it’s actually a fairly easy car to drive as long as you don’t step on the gas pedal more than half way. In traffic it’s easy to maneuver and when in Eco or Tour mode the exhaust sound is muted and very civil. My biggest gripes with the car are mostly superficial. I didn’t think the interior felt premium, the car I drove had a red and black interior but the red made some of the blemishes in the leather finishing more visible. The whole interior also felt very plasticky which is an issue with most American cars. On the bright side it didn’t have any of the awkward touch controls of the Cadillacs and instead uses real buttons and nobs for the various interior controls. One thing I really found odd is how the door doesn’t have any handles, not on the outside nor the interior. Instead it uses a touch button for the door on the outside which is fairly common, but it also uses a touch button to open the door from the interior. I didn’t know that and when I first tried to open the door to get out I couldn’t because I couldn’t find the door handle. Anyway I finally figured out it was a button I had to press to get out and it made me wonder what would happen in an emergency or if the car battery died while you were in it. For that it turns out there is an emergency door handle on the floor near the seat. I don’t know, it just seems to complicated and over engineered for just a simple door handle.

For those of you wondering when the souped up Z06 arrives to Kuwait… they don’t know. The 2016 Middle East version of the Z06 keeps getting delayed and the dealer doesn’t have an estimated arrival date as of this post.

The 2015 Corvettes start at KD22,795 which is a ridiculous value for the performance you’re getting. Colorwise if I was to get one it would most likely be the shark grey metallic exterior with a full black interior. If you’d like to test drive any of the Alghanim Automotive cars then click [Here]

Popular Indian movie star Akshay Kumar is going to star in an upcoming film based on the 1990 Iraq invasion of Kuwait called “Airlift”. The movie is based on a true story and one I hadn’t heard of before. Here is the film synopsis:

Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay Kumar), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman, who has always seen himself as a Kuwaiti, rather than an Indian, realises that he no longer wields any influence on the Iraqis, and that he and his family are in as much danger as anyone else. Ranjit unknowingly becomes the man who all 170,000 Indians look up to for getting them out safely from Kuwait. Airlift is the story of Indians stranded in Kuwait during this traumatic time. A story of how they, with the help of Ranjit Katyal, managed to survive the Iraqi invasion, and against all odds travelled a thousand kilometres across the border into Amman, Jordan. From Amman, 170,000 Indians were brought home by the largest and the most successful evacuation ever attempted by any country, in the history of the world. Over 59 days, the Indian government systematically flew over 488 Air India commercial flights into a war zone to evacuate all 170,000 Indians and safely bring them back home. Airlift is an uplifting and entertaining edge-of-the-seat thriller and is the story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the history of mankind.

Airlift, directed by Raja Krishna Menon, starts filming April 2015 and is presented by T-Series and Cape of Good Films; produced by Crouching Tiger and Emmay Entertainment. Bhushan Kumar, talking about the film, said, “It’s my conviction that the story will be equally appreciated once on celluloid as much as I loved it during narration. The character that Akshay plays is filled with heroism and I am sure he will add to the perfection with this central character role that he essays.”

It’s definitely going on my must watch list. The movie comes out January 2016. [Source 1] [Source 2]

The Sahara Restaurant Village located right outside of the Sahara Country Club is nearly complete with just the electricity left to come on before the doors open. The last list of places opening up there I had were the following although I’m not sure how accurate this is right now:

Slider Station
Burger Boutique
Jar by Choowy Goowy
Villa Fayrouz
Tatami Japanese Restaurant
52 Degrees
Caribou Coffee
Costa Coffee
Athletes Foot
Skinny Cloud
Emirgan Sutis
Le Relais de l’Entrecote
Khaneen
Ubon

According to one tenants they’re expecting the village to be open sometime end of April or early May.

Update: I’ve updated the list of restaurants based on new information

Gia, one of my favorite cafes launched a breakfast menu sometime back and I finally had the chance to try it this past weekend.

The Gia breakfast menu is divided into four main parts, “A Healthy Start” which includes granola, fruit and oatmeal bowls, “Eggscuze You” which includes three kinds of egg dishes, “Sandwiches” which also includes three dishes and finally the “What Diet?” section which includes french toast and waffles. I ended up going for the Poached Eggs on Avocados with a side of sausages while my friend went for two eggs any style with a side of bacon.

My Poached Eggs on Avocados turned out to be pretty good, the eggs were perfectly cooked and were really runny just like I had asked for. Flavor wise it might have lacked a bit but healthy food generally does. My friends eggs were fine as well since you can’t really go wrong with scrambled eggs plus I think he ordered the most boring dish on the menu.

Now the sides on the other hand were both so not worth it. The bacon was just 4 small strips, not crispy and weren’t even warm. The sausages were also 4 small pieces and weren’t that great either. Each of those sides cost KD1 which I think is overpriced considering my favorite breakfast place Cocoa Room gives you so much more for the same price and also taste so much better. I’d definitely not order any sides the next time I’m there.

Ignoring the underwhelming sides, breakfast was enjoyable and Gia is now going to be one of my weekend breakfast destinations. If you’re interested their instagram account is @giakwt and they serve breakfast from 9AM to 11AM. Here is a link to their [Menu]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo… [YouTube]

Last week I went looking for an 18″x24″ picture frame for an artwork I had recently purchased. The first place I checked was IKEA but they had European sizes which were either larger or smaller than the size I wanted it. I then decided to check other places like Pottery Barn, The One, West Elm, A2Z, and Ace Hardware but none had the correct sized frame. Out of frustration I decided to ask my followers on twitter for an alternative place and was recommended to get a custom frame made. One of the locations recommended was near Avenues where I was, so I headed there straight away to see how much it would cost and how long it would take to get one made.

There were around three frame shops next to each other but I ended up choosing one which had a picture framer working. The other places looked like they just took size orders and sent them somewhere else to be made.

The reason I didn’t head to a picture framer first is that I thought it would be a complicated and expensive thing but surprisingly the process was fairly simple and affordable. I showed the picture framer the artwork, he measured it and then asked me to choose a frame which I did. He then quoted me a reasonable KD10 and told me to pick up the frame the next day.

The next day I went back, gave him the artwork and he mounted it in the frame. A very easy and simple process. The picture framer I went to was an old Lebanese or Syrian guy who according to him has been making frames for over 40 years. I’ve heard of other picture framers located next to Coops but this is the one I ended up going to and the one I’d go back to.

If you’re interested in getting a picture frame the shop is called “The Kuwait Center for the Installation of Glass and Frames” and the guy’s number is 99810731 (Abu Hassan). Also here is the location on [Google Maps]

Update: He just moved to a new location around the corner from his previous place so I updated the Google Maps location in the post above to point to the new location. Below is a photo of the shop from outside (no sign up as of now).