Author: Mark

It’s been a few months since I’ve recommended a new show to watch but that’s just because nothing new really came out that I really liked until just recently. Here are two shows that I think you should watch:

Swagger
This is currently my favorite show streaming on TV right now. It’s a new series by basketball player Kevin Durant that is inspired by his experience playing basketball as a youth. It’s a sports drama and you don’t really have to be into basketball to watch it. It’s an easy show to pick up and watch and there’s tons of great acting with a pretty great soundtrack to go with it as well. The first season still hasn’t finished and the show’s timeline takes place in 2019/2020 so it touches on the various important issues that took place in the US last year including black lives matter and the pandemic. It only has a 6.6 on IMDB for some reason but really ignore that since it’s really great. The show is streaming on AppleTV+.

Cowboy Bebop
This is probably gonna be a controversial one but I really liked Cowboy Bebop. In my defense, I never watched the original Manga series and so I didn’t have any preconceptions or expectations going into this. There is nothing like Cowboy Bebop, it’s a sci-fi series that feels like the 70s which is a very odd combination. So you have old 70s cars for example on the planets, but you also have space travel and all this futuristic technology yet they all look very old school. From the very first scene of the first episode, the show was fun to watch and it really disappointing that it got canceled after just the first season.

Skip: La Brea, probably the worst TV show I ever watched. It was total garbage and none of it made any sense. I have no idea how it managed to score a 5.6 on IMDB. Invasion, this show had potential but didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t very exciting and didn’t make me want to watch it. Too loud to be background TV as well.

A couple of years ago I posted a review on the Sony WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones. They’re really really great and I’ve been using them ever since that post as my go-to travel headphones since they do such an incredible job of canceling the plane noise (they’re better than Bose). Back then I purchased them for around KD110 but this weekend I noticed they were on sale at Xcite for just 55KD! (cheaper than Amazon even)

I made a friend purchase a pair and figured I’d post about it as well. 55KD for these headphones is a too good to pass price. If you’re looking for noise-canceling headphones, get these before they sell out. I spotted them at their Hawalli branch but they also have them on their website.

Thrf is a new online thrift shop set up by the very fashionable @hesitant__alien. The account sells pre-loved, vintage, and brand new clothing all hand-picked by her and updated every weekend. All the prices and sizes are listed in the description and everything is very reasonably priced.

The clothes sell out fairly quickly so make sure you follow the account to be notified once they drop @thrf_kw

Here is the list of events taking place this weekend. The GIG Battle Fitness Festival which is taking place at the Green Island is always worth going to and attracts a lot of international competitors. The Drive-In movies at Bnaider also sounds fun but, if you haven’t gotten tickets yet to the Staged in Kuwait Pantomime, there are still a few available so don’t miss out on that. Here is the full list:

Thursday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Beyond the Abyss
The Avenues Sky
Pantomime: Dick Whittington
Bazaar Commercial Expo
Drive In Bnaider 264
Arab Masters Tennis Tournament
Farmers Market in Wafra

Friday
The Avenues Sky
Pantomime: Dick Whittington
Bazaar Commercial Expo
The GIG Battle Fitness Festival
Saracen Race 2021
Drive In Bnaider 264
Arab Masters Tennis Tournament
Kuwait Coffee Festival
Farmers Market in Wafra

Saturday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Beyond the Abyss
Grand Mosque Tour
The Avenues Sky
Treasure Hunt in Al Shaheed Park
Pantomime: Dick Whittington
Bazaar Commercial Expo
The GIG Battle Fitness Festival
Sailing: Saturday Sunset Cruising
Miseen Scene Club: Goya’s Ghosts – 2006
Kasa’s Padel Tournament
Trashtag Cleanup and Kashta at Shumaymah Desert
Drive In Bnaider 264
Arab Masters Tennis Tournament
Kuwait Coffee Festival
Holiday Monogram Event
Farmers Market in Wafra
Horse Grooming & Yoga
Free City Walk

As usual, if I’ve missed an event, let me know in the comments.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Lucky Day (5.1)
Monsta X: The Dreaming (N/A)
Sing 2 (7.2)
Survive the Game (4.7)
The Kindred (6.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
13 Minutes (4.7)
Caveat (5.9)
Clifford the Big Red Dog (6.1)
Encanto (7.8)
Ghostbusters: From Beyond (7.7)
House of Gucci (7.1)
King Richard (6.8)
No Time to Die (7.9)
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (5.7)
The Marksman (5.6)
Wrath of Man (7.1)

Classic Movies Showing Now:
Rocky (8.1)
Rocky II (7.3)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antarctica (N/A)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Encanto (7.8)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

Wafra Living is a new residential complex in Jabriya by AGI Architects that looks out of this world. All the photos look like renderings but the building is real and has already been completed.

The complex was recently featured on the popular website ArchDaily and you can check that article out here. You can also check out more photos of the complex on the photographers website here.

Last week while visiting AAB World in Symphony Mall, I passed by a place called the Q8 Comedy Club. I hadn’t noticed it before so I quickly checked Instagram to see if I could find out more about it and I ended up at their Instagram account. Turns out they were holding comedy shows at this location and the next one was scheduled for December 6th so I booked two tickets so I could check it out.

I ended up going last night and I left pretty impressed. The show was a combination of improv and standup, with the majority of it being improv. The host was Ahmad Alshammari from Shenoya3ni and was extremely funny, but so were the rest of the comedians, everyone was pretty great especially when you consider that fact we don’t even have a comedy scene in Kuwait.

The show started 7:30PM and finished around 9PM. The place was packed and although the audience weren’t the participating type, the comedians still managed to work with what they had and do really well. My Arabic isn’t that great and I was cracking up with my friend through the whole thing. Strangely, the tickets were free, probably because they’re trying to promote the comedy club and get people to come to a show which is a new idea here.

Checking their instagram account they haven’t announced their next show yet so if you want to go to the next one, follow them on Instagram to find out about it once it’s announced. @q8comedy1

Ace Hardware opened up a new location at Boulevard Mall in Salmiya last week. The new location is bigger than I expected it to be, I think it’s bigger than the Hawally location. I now have two Ace Hardware’s near me now, the Hawally location and this Boulevard one but would have preferred a Bin Nisf close by as well. Ace is located on the ground floor next to Sears. Here is the location on Google Maps.

There is a new dedicated sneaker cleaning place that opened up in Shuwaikh called “Clean Kicks”. They can clean, restore and even customize your sneakers. Their prices start at 5.5 KD for a wash but can climb a lot higher depending on what you want them to do. I took a photo of their menu and you can check it here.

If you want to drop by your sneakers to them, they’re located in Lilly Center in Shuwaikh. They’re kinda tucked away in the alleyway behind the building so the easiest way to find it is by walking towards Circuit Plus since they’re right past their entrance. Here is the location on Google Maps and they’re also on Instagram @cleankicks.kw

Yesterday the Ministry of Health officially launched the app Q8Seha. Although the app came out last year I guess they considered it a soft launch since it really didn’t allow you to do much more than just book an appointment at your local government clinic. But, as of yesterday the app now allows you to access your laboratory results, radiology reports, and medical reports. This only works if you use one of the MOH facilities and not private hospitals or clinics. You can now also view your sick leaves through the app.

According to the MOH more features will be added soon. If you want to download it here is the link to the iPhone version. It’s supposed to be also available for Android devices but I couldn’t find the link anywhere.

Last year the kashta market exploded in popularity but it doesn’t seem like a lot of the businesses survived. I went through last year’s list and most of the accounts either didn’t exist anymore or hadn’t been updated in a year. Below is a list of the businesses that survived, if I missed an active one, let me know in the comments:

Cliche
Festivity
Glamping
Kashta KWT
Kashta Spot
Kashtat
La Bohème
La Récolte
Le Project
Let’s Kashta
Outing
Picnics
Rental Hub
Sea Wild
Sets by A
Sol Sahara
The Modern Kashta
Three by Three
Van Life

This is a pretty useful local app that just got launched. Ever needed a pickup truck to move a large item or maybe a moving truck to shift your furniture to your new apartment? Droob is a new app that allows you to order a vehicle for just that.

I played around with the app a bit and the way it works is you first choose the kind of vehicle you want to order which depends on what you’re moving. You then let the app know where the items are and where you want them dropped off. After scheduling a pick-up time you’ll be presented with the cost. I got quotted 9KD for a pickup truck from Ikea at Avenues to an office in Kuwait City which isn’t bad at all. Payment can be made either by cash, k-net or credit card.

If you want to check out the app yourself, it’s available for both iPhones and Android devices. Here is a link to their website.

This weekend is jam-packed with things to do to the point I think I’m going to bring back the permanent Events page again. Something interesting is happening every day this weekend so check out the list below. As usual, if I missed anything just let me know in the comments.

Thursday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Face to Face II
Exhibition: Beyond the Abyss
The Avenues Sky
Korean Street Food Festival
Perfume Expo
Latino Night with Hassan Jomah
360 Terrace Market
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Kuwait Electric Vehicle Show

Friday
The Avenues Sky
Perfume Expo
Jusoor Run 2021
Kites Show at Shuwaikh Beach
Super Run – Car Race, Car Show and Food Trucks
360 Terrace Market
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Kuwait Electric Vehicle Show

Saturday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Face to Face II
Exhibition: Beyond the Abyss
Grand Mosque Tour
The Avenues Sky
Treasure Hunt in Al Shaheed Park
Perfume Expo
Ultimate Frisbee: Community Catch-and-Throw
Sailing: Saturday Cruising
Miseen Scene Club: Modigliani
Kasa Walks – Uncovering Shadadiya Campus
Intro to Palestinian Embroidery Workshop
360 Terrace Market
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Kuwait Electric Vehicle Show

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Caveat (5.9)
Ghostbusters: From Beyond (7.7)
House of Gucci (7.1)
Motherly (5.2)
The Dark and the Wicked (6.1)

Other Movies Showing Now:
13 Minutes (4.7)
Clifford the Big Red Dog (6.1)
Encanto (7.8)
King Richard (6.8)
The Marksman (5.6)
No Time to Die (7.9)
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (5.7)
Vengeance Is Mine (7.2)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (6.5)
Wrath of Man (7.1)

Classic Movies Showing Now:
Rocky (8.1)
Rocky II (7.3)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antarctica (N/A)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Encanto (7.8)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

Looks like eVisa’s are finally being issued again. According to the US Embassy website, Kuwait has announced that people of certain nationalities who would like to travel to Kuwait can apply for a visa electronically (e-Visa) through the Ministry of Interior’s website. There are some requirements:

• you need to be vaccinated
• you need to have proof of vaccination
• you need to register in the Immune app

But, it seems they’ve also placed a limit on how many eVisa’s can be issued. I’m trying to issue one for my mum but whenever I want to start the process I get the error “We have reached the maximum limit of visa applications, please try again later.” If you’ve successfully managed to apply for an eVisa, let us know in the comments.