Author: Mark

As part of Earth Week celebration, Starbucks Salmiya will be screening “The Story of Stuff“. Here are the details they emailed me:

You like STUFF?
Want to know where STUFF comes from?
Where STUFF goes when it turns to trash?
And what it does along the way?

Come to the Starbucks Earth Week celebration to watch “The Story of Stuff”, an interesting English short film, and enjoy a very special coffee tasting.

Where: Starbucks Salem Al Mubarak St. (opp. Fanar Mall)
When: Monday April 27, 2009 6pm – 8pm

Seating is limited, so please confirm your attendance by return email: [email protected], or sign up at the store.

For more information, please call: 22581680

I passed by the Red Bull event last night and I really don’t understand how companies can have events at Souk Sharq. On a weekend night its nearly impossible to find parking spot there yet alone when there is some kind of event going on. Souq Sharq has what has to be the worst parking planning in Kuwait.

Anyway I shot a couple of videos (above) and also took some pictures which you can check out below. The graffiti wasn’t that great but the dancing was much better than I was expecting.

Inspired by Ma6aba’s post on his favorite new show, I decided to share mine which is True Blood. I am half way through season 1 and like all HBO shows I love it. The basic plot behind the show is that Japanese scientists invented synthetic blood and as a result Vampires no longer needed to feed on human blood. Thats why the vampires decided to “come out of the closet” but as expected not everyone believes they should have the same rights like humans and both government and religious leaders are split on this issue. Its not your ordinary story which is why I like the show a lot. I am not aware of any satellite channel that has True Blood but the full season is available on Amazon for just KD11. [Amazon Link]

Red Bull Break Da Rulz is an event involving B-boys and Graffiti. It will take place at Souq Sharq on Friday April 24 at 5:30pm. There will be a break dancing competition and a graffiti competition with the winners walking away with trophies. Here is a link to their Facebook group. [Link]

I am currently at the Zain partners exhibition launch and I am posting pics on my twitter account which you can check by clicking [Here]

Update: I am back in the office. I tried to find good phone deals to post here but most of the booths were still being set up since the exhibition wasn’t yet open to the public.

Cold Stone Creamery are finally opening up for business at the end of the month. They will be located at the Avenues food court opposite Johnny Rockets in phase 2.

Found this video on YouTube of a Kuwaiti stunt rider. He’s got some skills but where’s the helmet dude?? [YouTube]

I just found out that there are three people (2 guys 1 girl) at the ministry who’s job is to test video games all day. They play every game that needs to be brought into Kuwait to make sure they don’t contain anything illegal like nudity.

This Thursday Cinemagic will be showing an Ingmar Bergman movie called The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet). Ingmar Bergman is one of the greatest directors of all time and The Seventh Seal is one of his most popular movies but its black and white and in Sweedish so it might not appeal to everyone.

Time: Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 PM

Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Attendance is free of charge and snacks and refreshments will be served. [Facebook]

Thanks miraclezdohappen!

I passed by Pizza Rustica tonight at the Avenues after reading some positive reviews about it on a couple of blogs. Supposedly they have the best pizza in Kuwait but I don’t think that’s true. Firstly I had a hard time finding a pizza I liked, my usual favorite is ham (veal) with olives and mushrooms but I managed to kinda solve that by ordering a mushroom pizza and asking for olives as an extra topping. Well the pizza turned out to be fairly decent but nothing close to being the best pizza in Kuwait. I didn’t like the taste of the tomato sauce and the cheese was also not that great. Pizza Rustica is owned by Alshaya who also own Pizza Express and Al Forno both of which make better pizzas I think. The service on the other hand was pretty good but that’s not enough to take me back. Want a good pizza while at the Avenues? Then pass by Al Forno instead or even Le Notre.

THE One has a pretty cool customer feedback system. Right next to the cashier there is a little device with buttons and statements like “The service was fast and efficient” and “I found the staff knowledgeable” etc.. and answers right next to them like “Absolutely” or “Sort of” or “Not really” etc… While waiting to pay for your item you can just give your feedback on your experience in a process that takes only a few seconds. No need to give your name, number, birthday, time of visit and all that other crap. I think more stores need to implement this very easy to use system since its a quick process and more fun than filling a card with 20 questions.

There was a website address on the machine www.cfs-me.net which takes you to the dealers of the device. On the site they have more pictures and information regarding this system. Pretty cool.

Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 5.83 km². The translation for the lake is believed to be, “Fishing Place at the Boundaries — Neutral Meeting Grounds.” This is different from the translation, “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, and nobody fish in the middle”, a hoax believed to have been concocted by the late John Daly.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, a 45-letter alternative name for this body of water, is often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Today, “Webster Lake” may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the longer versions. [Source]

I am not a fan of Golf but this hole in one is by far the craziest. The ball actually bounces on the water FOUR times before going into the hole! [YouTube]

I love mangos but I have no clue how to choose the good ones. I have a pretty terrible hit rate with 3 out of 5 mangos I get turning out to be crap. Buzberry had a post on mangos and I posted a comment asking for tips on choosing the best mango and a reader called Alvaro they replied with the following:

Well u should pick the ones which are a bit greenish, since they’re gona stay in ur fridge for a day or so until they turn yellow.. When mangos r yellow and slightly redish – they’re perfect! Remember avoid the ones which are easily squeezed and never get ones that have black patches or whatever that dirty stuff is.. Bon apetit!

So I went to Sultan Center Sharq and picked out what I thought were the four best mangos on the shelf but then I noticed a Sultan Center employee bringing in new boxes of mangos. So I went up to him and showed him my mangos and asked him if they were any good. He took one look at them, took them off me and told me to go get him a new bag. So I went got a plastic bag and when I got back he had 4 mangos waiting for me. He put them in my bag I said thank you and left.

How did they turn out? Unbelievably good! I just had all 4 of them now and they had to be the best mangos I’ve ever had. I am now going to go back to Sultan Center tomorrow and look for the guy again since he is now officially my mango guy. All I need to do now is find a melon guy.

Picture from Buzberry