Author: Mark

I just got back home after spending around an hour walking in Salmiya taking pictures of the dust storm. It was a very uncomfortable experience since I didn’t have a mask or goggles but I think I got some pretty good pictures. I am going to go through them now and try to post the best ones up tonight but I have a few I posted on twitter which I took with my iPhone like the one above of a guy wearing a plastic bag on his head. You can check out my twitter photos [Here]

Back in March 2003 I posted pictures of what until today I thought was the worst dust storm that hit Kuwait but looking at those pictures right now I realized today’s dust storm is the strongest I’ve ever seen in Kuwait. You can check out my old post from 2003 with the pictures [Here]

Update: Below are a few pictures I like from the ones I shot tonight.

This is a very cool event that’s happening tomorrow, Saturday the 26th of March at Pro Kart. It’s actually a bunch of events which I will try my best to explain clearly.

Karting Speed Max Challenge 4 Hours
The first event is a 4 hour karting race. 40 drivers will compete in scoring the best time with 5 drivers racing every heat and the winner continuing on to the final race. The race starts at 4PM and ends at 8PM. The race is open to the public and it’s free of charge!

Dolphin Karting Cup
The second event is an event for juniors aged 5 to 8 year-olds. This race event starts at 3PM and is also free of charge.

Motocross Challenge
The final event is a motocross challenge which will be held at the motocross track adjacent to the karting one. This event will start at 1PM and will be divided into a seniors and juniors race. Participating in this event is also free but unlike the karting events you would need to bring your own dirt bike here.

For more information on these events and a map to the location plus contact numbers you can visit the Pro Kart website [Here]

*****NOTICE*****
Due to the dust storm the event was postponed till next week.

Yesterday there was an article in Arab Times about how the Ministry of Interior will start taking fingerprints of all incoming and outgoing passengers. Well it seems this is going to happen very soon since the fingerprint devices have already been installed at the airport. I took the picture above last night when I arrived to Kuwait, not sure why they don’t use the scanning device that was installed back in 2008 (pictured below) but never put into operation. [Article]

This is a really well made local parkour video, actually, it’s easily the best locally produced extreme sports video I’ve seen to date. The parkour team in the video above is a new Kuwaiti team that has been training for a couple of years now and this is their first video. The members are:

Members (الأعضاء):
Jaber Ali Al-Kinany (جابر علي الكناني)
Mohammad Ahmad Al-Attar (محمد أحمد العطار)
Yousif Jawad Al-Attar (يوسف جواد العطار)
Barrak Abbas Al-Qallaf (براك عباس القلاف)
Abdulmohsen Sleem Al-Roomy (عبدالمحسن سليم الرومي)
Abdullah jalal Sheshtar (عبدالله جلال ششتر)

Really cool. [YouTube]

I found out about the website Local Tees from Me Blogging. What I understood from her is that you send them your designs and if they like it they will print a limited run of tshirts based on it and then sell it on their website. Although she doesn’t mention it I am guessing you would also get a cut of the profits made from your tshirt design. It’s not a new idea but that doesn’t matter since it’s a good one and going by the the designs already available on their website they’re not after generic ones but after designs that relate to the local region which is the way it should be done. The photography on the site (like the one above) is also very well done and helps set a trendy tone through out.

My only issue with the website is the fact it’s flash based! Not sure who still makes a flash based website now a days but they’ve got one and there is no skip button which drove me crazy. My second issue is the fact that practically all the tshirts are white, which might be fine for others but personally I only wear dark colored tshirts so at the moment there isn’t a tshirt I could buy for myself.

You can check their website by clicking [Here]
To skip the flash site and head directly to the store click [Here]

Thanks Romeo

According to 360Dewan, unlike I had previously posted, Sylvester Stallone won’t be coming to the opening of Planet Hollywood. Seems he’s worried about the situation in the region. That sucks big time since I was really hoping to get his autograph. Anyway you can check out their review of Planet Hollywood [Here]

Found this link to a forum with pictures of old Kuwaiti architecture via The Buz Fairy. There are a lot of shots I had seen before but there are also some which I hadn’t. I really love the building above, looked modern today and that picture was taken back in 1962. [Link]

Sheeel.com have a good deal on the original 16GB wifi iPad. For KD120 you get the iPad, a leather case that has a built in keyboard and 2 extra USB cables. There quantity is always limited so if you’re interested you need to hurry up and get it. [Link]

Note: The same iPad costs around KD10 less in the US without the accessories or shipping and tax.

Update: Baroue is selling the iPhone 4 16GB for KD225 which is around the same price if you order it yourself from Apple UK [Link]

Update2: As of this post Blink has the iPad 2’s in stock as well [Link]

The past few days since I’ve been in Lebanon I’ve been watching a lot of movies at the cinema. Here is a quick summary of what I thought of them:

Unknown – Not bad, you think you know whats going to happen but then you get a nice surprise. I like Liam Neeson although the past 3 movies I watched he’s played a similar styled character which is becoming as annoying as Johnny Depp.

Battle: Los Angeles – This might have been a good movie if no one spoke in it. The cheesy cliche dialogue just ruined it for me and nearly put me to sleep a few times. The movie is like Transformers but without the Autobots, just the evil Decepticons.

The Adjustment Bureau – Watch The 13th Floor or Dark City instead.

I’m currently in Lebanon so I can’t pass by but this looks like an interesting (and trippy) art exhibition to check out.

Stories of Eve is a collection of Eve and her sisters daily adventures and narratives whereby we follow the girls through their lives daily routines, squabbles and mundane pleasures.

Artist: Ghadah Alkandari
Location: Tilal Gallery
Date: March 20th to March 29th 2011
Time: 10AM to 2PM and 5:30AM to 9:30PM

For more information including a map to the gallery check this [Link]

There is an interesting article on 5 things that Donald Duck invented and Kuwait was mentioned in one of the stories:

In 1964, a freighter capsized off the coast of Kuwait. This caused a bit of a problem, as the ship’s hold had been filled with 5,000 sheep, who were now drowned and decomposing in close proximity to Kuwait’s drinking water. And really, no one wants to drink dead sheep water (well, except maybe the Scots). So Danish inventor Karl Kroyer designed a ship-raising technique that involved filling the vessel with small, buoyant balls injected through a tube. The combined buoyancy of which would float the ship to the surface. It took 27 million balls, but it worked. The Al Kuwait rose from the depths, with the furious ghosts of 5,000 dead sheep and all.

So, what does this have to do with Donald Duck? Well, Kroyer wanted to patent his idea and so he applied for it at a Dutch office but they stopped him accusing him of stealing his idea from Donald Duck. Turns out in one of the Donald Duck stories they lifted a sunken ship by pumping millions of ping pong balls into it, an idea similar to Kroyer’s. Anyway you can read the full article and check out the original comic by following this [Link]

I thought is was interesting that the first ship ever raised from the sea bed was here in the coastal waters of Kuwait.

Thanks lloyd_911

It seems a sewage pipe burst at The Avenues yesterday flooding the Veromoda and Fashion Code stores. I wasn’t there but I could imagine the area must have smelled terrible. 965Malls has pictures and videos of this incident which you can check [Here]

I posted about Digumz a few weeks back on the blog. It’s a new business started by a blogger called Qaiss which allows you to rent video games for a fixed monthly fee. Well Qaiss decided to participate at the P2BK event and has posted on his blog a very insightful behind the scenes look into his experience so far. I love his transparency and I’m looking forward for his next post once the event is completed to see if his experience changed for the better or not. [Link]

[YouTube]

As most of you probably already heard, Wataniya Airways is shutting down their operations. I know a lot of you are fans of the airline and will be sad to see it go but I’ve got an even greater attachment to it. I was a part of the team that helped launch the airline and I’ve been working on the brand ever since. The first thing we did was launch the airline with a teaser campaign followed by the revealer and the TV commercial (above). That was back in December 2008 and you can find out the story behind the commercial and check out some behind the scene shots over [Here]

[YouTube]

The following year we released the second commercial (above) which I thought turned out very cool as well. It was just a really great experience working with the brand and they truly wanted to offer the people of Kuwait the best airline experience. Their terminal kicked ass, it was a lot cooler than the main airport terminal, it was cozy, the seating area was very tastefully done, they had free wifi everywhere, it was peaceful, no long cues and just very pleasurable. Their planes were also cool and the fact I could use my phone to check email, make a call or chat with my friends on the Blackberry was also amazing.

But, all good things must come to an end I guess. To me Wataniya Airways will end up being a great Kuwaiti brand that I will always remember just like Hungry Bunny and Pizza Italia.