Author: Mark

Thursday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
The Palestinian Culture Exhibition
Paragliding Festival
Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music
Rainbow at the Amricani Cultural Centre
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: George Washington
Open Mic Show: Let it Out

Friday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
Paragliding Festival
Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
Gulf Jazz Festival: A Dutch Jazz Night

Saturday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
Paragliding Festival
Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Certified Copy

The Remal Sand Sculpting Festival is ending this weekend so if you haven’t checked it out yet this is your last chance. Also, check out the Events page for more upcoming events. [Link]

Twitter user @RoyElHachem snapped the photo above of the movie poster for “Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy” at Cinescape Fanar. I’m surprised they’ve kept her sexy shoulders showing.

Update: The movie poster is censored on the Cinescape website as well, I guess they’re serious. [Link]

That National Aviation Services just released a mobile app for iPhone and Android devices. The app called NAS Airports allows you to check flight information, book an airport lounge or the meet and assist service among other things. Sadly even though the app says that NAS is available at more than 80 airports, the app itself is limited to just 6.

You can download the app by searching for NAS Airports in the store or using these links: [Apple Store] or [Google Play]

[YouTube]

Tonight is the last night to attend the For Art and the Earth event that is taking place at the Kuwait National Museum. I passed by last night to watch it but got there late so missed a few of the opening acts. The event is a journey that starts off in one hall of the Kuwait National Museum were artists like Sons of Yusef and Zahed Sultan perform before the crowd is moved outdoors from location to location to watch various performances take place around the museum grounds. The video above is of one of the stages of the event. So try to pass by tonight, for more information click [Here]

It has been three years since Zahed Sultan released his debut album and after playing live in various countries around the world, Zahed is finally going to perform in Kuwait for one night only. On April 30th 2014, Zahed will be debuting a one of a kind audio-visual performance in 3D to coincide with the release of his second full-length album ‘Eye Am Sound.’ Zahed’s audio-visual performance will include a roster of international and local artists who will be announced in the days to come. You can learn more about Zahed’s upcoming performance on my Events page [Here]

248AM has teamed up with Zahed to giveaway the following for one lucky winner:
– 2 tickets for Zahed Sultan’s debut performance in Kuwait on April 30th
– 1 limited edition ‘Eye Am Sound’ t-shirt
– 1 copy of the limited edition ‘Eye Am Sound’ coffee table book that also includes a digital download card for the new album

To participate, all you need to do is answer the following question as a comment below this post:

‘What was the name of Zahed Sultan’s first album?’

I will stop accepting entries in the comments section by Wednesday at midnight and then randomly choose one winner and notify you via email.

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: According to random.org the winner is #63, Jhonybravo.

Costa just emailed me about this thing they have going on for Earth Day:

In an hour, we’ll be posting a picture of one of our locations on Instagram (@CostaKuwait) as part of our ‘Follow the Frog KW’ campaign. If you go to that branch today and say “I follow the frog” you’ll get a free coffee! It’s Earth Day and our Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee is kind to the forest and supports farmers and farm workers worldwide who are working to improve their livelihoods and those of their families.

So, in honour of Earth Day, enjoy a coffee on us! We’ll have free coffee at another branch tomorrow, and at a third branch on Thursday. The locations will be revealed on the day, so stay tuned!

So if you want to get free coffee, just find out where the frog is.

Starting from July 16, Emirates will be sending the double decker A380 to Kuwait everyday as part of their scheduled flights. The Kuwait Airport has been A380 ready since 2010 but the only time an A380 has come to Kuwait was back in 2011 when Emirates flew in an A380 on February 26th in honor of Kuwait’s National Day. The Emirates A380 on the Kuwait route will offer 14 First Class Private Suites, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 399 seats in Economy Class. [Source]

How do they practice this? Seriously they must have practiced this a few times before shooting the video and they must have made a mistake or two like maybe dropping the wheel or a tool. I’d love to see the behind the scene bloopers video. [YouTube]

Jazeera Airways said on Monday it is in the final stages of launching a dedicated gates facility at Kuwait International Airport.

The airline said in a statement that its investment in Kuwait Airport will lift the airport’s gates capacity by 30 percent and will offer a “better, easier, and more streamlined boarding experience for customers”. [Source]

Originally I remember reading that they were going to have their own dedicated terminal but I guess that didn’t work out and they’re now going to have dedicated gates instead.

Every now and then I invite professionals to contribute to this blog to help me cover subjects I personally cannot do myself. One subject I used to enjoy reading were the health and fitness posts which were written by Fahad AlYehya (thedietninja). Since Fahad moved on from the blog a long time ago, I’ve invited a new contributor to take over that subject, Amy Freeman.

I was introduced to Amy by a friend of mine a couple of weeks back and after first meeting her I realized she could provide a lot of interesting content for the blog which I’d personally love to read. Amy just published her first post below and I’m now looking forward to reading more of her stuff on a weekly basis. I hope everyone else will too.

I’ve seen this trail while driving by on the Gulf Road but had no idea there was a multicolored track. [YouTube]

Thanks Fahad

Thursday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
CREATE #REUSEQ8 ART.LIVE
Cinemagics: Surprise Movie of the Month

Friday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
CREATE #REUSEQ8 ART.LIVE
Life Line: 10K and 3K Fun Race
6th Poetry Slam Contest

Saturday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
CREATE #REUSEQ8 ART.LIVE
Tour: Aladdin House
Bungee Jumping
5th National Blood Donation Campaign
Cinemagics: Eastern Promises

A few hours ago Kuwait Airways posted photos on their instagram account of how their new business and first class cabins will look like and frankly, it’s a bit disappointing. Although it’s a MAJOR improvement over their current planes, the first class seats (pictured above) look more like business class seats on other airlines, while their business class (pictured below) is more like premium economy.

They haven’t posted any photos of the economy class seats but anything really is better than what they have now. The first new plane arrives this coming December. Here is a link to their [Instagram]

After dropping my iPhone a million times I finally managed to shatter the screen a few days ago. Originally I was going to have FixAid repair the screen since they quoted me KD25 which I thought was reasonable but I was in Hawalli this morning and the first repair shop I found quoted me KD16. When did it become so cheap to replace an iPhone 5 screen? Yesterday I was considering getting an iPhone cover but now I’m like it’s just cheaper to swap the screen if it breaks again.

The shop I went to is called I Pro Company and they’re located in the building right after Blink (keep Blink on your left). Their phone number is 22648118 if you need to get an estimate and here they are on [Google Maps]

Escape from Kuwait is an interesting short story about a guy who managed to escape Kuwait through the desert during the 1990 Iraq invasion. Below is an excerpt from the story:

As time wore on it was becoming obvious the Iraqis wouldn’t leave. And, one by one, the families I was providing with sustenance were “discovered” (informants were rampant) and arrested. I also ran out of Dinars. I did what everyone was doing to stay alive: I used to drive up to Basrah (the Iraqi city neighbouring Kuwait) to sell my electronics one by one; first the VCR, then another, then my Boom Box, my mini Hi-Fi, then the big stereo, the small TV etc… The only thing nobody wanted was my Amiga 1000. When these had gone I started disposing of the white goods: the dishwasher, the dryer, the fridge (we had practically doubles of everything). Iraqis were eager to buy since such goods were not widely available in their land, but the money they paid was peanuts. Still, no choice. The situation gradually became desperate, and I realised that I had to leave. I gave to our Philippina maid 3 months’ salaries and told her that she should go to her embassy (Asian and African officials were organising mass evacuations). The poor thing was crying so hard. I exchanged my wife’s car, a Chevrolet Caprice Classic, to a Daihatsu Rocky a Palestinian colleague had. This would normally be a dumb deal, as the Chevy was worth 4 times the Daihatsu. But I needed a 4X4 vehicle to escape through the desert. With most of my last Dinars I bought essential spare parts, two cans of motor oil and a tank of gasoline at the black market. I bid farewell and good luck to the families that remained hidden, and one early dawn in early October I headed a convoy of 6 trucks south to Saudi Arabia. I had gotten a makeshift “map” from a Swedish photographer who used to race in desert rallies a few years back and now pieced together escape convoys (an aside: why wouldn’t he himself leave?… He was in love with an Indian girl who had not left the country yet… ah, the power of love).

The story is not too long (around 3 pages) and interesting all the way through.
Check it out [Here]

Photo above from Kuwait Invasion: The Evidence.