Category: 50s to 90s

I think I want to make some retro Kuwaiti t-shirts and sell them as a side business. I could make like a Kids ‘R’ Us shirt or “I heart Sunkist” one.. the possibilities are really endless!

Does anyone by any chance have anything related to Kids ‘R’ Us? Pictures of the branches, the koala bear doll, an old ad, ANYTHING related to Kids ‘R’ Us? If you do please contact me, I want to try and preserve the brand by collecting or documenting as much Kids ‘R’ Us stuff I can find. [Email Me]

So I was flipping through eBay looking for random stuff when I found a couple of people selling a brand new in the box Liono figurine from the popular 80’s cartoon Thundercats. I thought that would be a great Christmas gift for myself until I spotted the price. There were three sellers and the cheapest was selling the toy figure for KD160 while the most expensive was selling it for KD2,400! Makes me wish I never opened up my toys as a kid.

Back in 2006 I posted about how I was able to get a hold of three original Apple Think Different banners from the local Apple dealer (Digits) and today I finally put them up.

For those of you who don’t know, the slogan “Think Different” was created for Apple back in 1997 (yes they were around before the iPod). The slogan was used in various commercials and print adverts but the most famous ones were the creative innovators tribute ads. I was able to get a hold of 3 banners, a Pablo Piccaso, Martha Graham and the rare Buzz Aldrin one.

Since I just finished redecorating (I now officially live inside my blog), I managed to find space to put up the banners and they look great. It took me two years but they’re finally up. The picture above is of the Buzz Aldrin banner, its 70cm wide and 160cm in height.

I am a HUGE fan of the original Mortal Kombat game. I used to play it non stop back in 1993 in Canada at the arcades and I then got the SNES version and Sega GameGear version to satisfy my addiction. I even wanted to try and get the arcade machine for my house here in Kuwait but I couldn’t find a place that had it.

Anyway I ordered the Plug & Play version of the game last week from Amazon and I got it today and its amazing! They’ve basically squeezed the game into a joypad that runs on AA batteries and you just plug the joypad into the TV and play a version of the game thats extremely close to the arcade original. Its very practical and it costs only KD2!

If you’re interested here is the link to the game on Amazon. [Link]

And if anyone knows where I can buy the arcade machine from please tell me!

I just found this incredible book about Kuwait dating back to 1975. It has a ton of great pictures which I will scan every now and then and post over here. The caption under the picture above reads:

Kuwait also enjoys some of the more sophisticated pleasures of the West, and even the Far West. Here, for example, is a drive-in cinema in the open air not far from the city. In order to enable you to watch a film in comfort without moving from your seat, two large “pumps” introduce into your car the sound track of the film being shown and the air-conditioning which is essential at the height of the summer. All you have to do is to watch.

It sucks that no one has invented the time machine yet!

In honor of Google’s 10th birthday they’ve brought back their oldest available index from January 2001. So now everyone can search Google as if its 2001! Here is the link to their 2001 search. [Link]

Anyone remember the show Beyond 2000? It used to be one of my favorites and the intro music is as memorable as all the other cool shows from back then. The show now has been replaced with Beyond Tomorrow which airs on Discovery Science but I don’t think its as memorable. [YouTube]

I just found a post in the coolq8y forum that contains vintage pictures of the Kuwaiti police force. Click the link for more pictures. [Link]

Lately I’ve been in the mood to watch a lot of old stuff. Currently I’m watching the old tv show called Newhart which I vaguely remember watching when I was a kid. For some reason I find the show very comforting to watch.

There are also a bunch of classics I’ve still haven’t watched which figured I’d get out of the way while I am at it:
Dr. Strangelove
Grease
Paths of Glory
Rain Man
Spartacus
Trading Places

I think whats pushed me to start watching old movies is the lack of decent movies nowadays. Nothing I’m watching is turning out to be anything extraordinary. Where is the Apocalypse Now of today? Thats what we’re missing.

Anyone remember Nintendo’s Game & Watch? I’m a huge fan of them and since its really easy to buy stuff from eBay now because of PayPal, I think I am going to get a few. Excellent condition ones cost over a $100 and brand new ones cost even more. Makes me wish I had kept mine when I was a kid.

Update: The current bid for an excellent condition LifeBoat Game & Watch is $399 with 11 bids and 2 days still to go! [Link]

Update 2: Ok, it seems this is the second time I am going through a Game&Watch phase. Found a previous post of mine on the subject. It reminded me though, I still need a boxed SIMON game and a boxed Speak & Spell! [Link]

Simply the best video game ever! [Link]

Anyone know where I can buy DVDs (or even tapes) of Efta7 Ya Simsim?

Just found a guy on YouTube called Mubarmeg who’s uploaded around 300 videos of cartoon opening themes, end themes and even some extracts from various episodes. I went through them all and though the list below might be interesting for some of you. The video embedded above is the opening theme to Sport Billy.

Abtal Al Malaeb
Adnan Wa Lena
Al Laith Al Abyad
Al Namer Almoqana
Alameera Yaqoot
Alrojol Alhadidi
Bel Wa Sebstian
Grendizer
Jongar
Khomasy
Mazinger
Mogamarat Nels
Sindbad
Sport Billy
Zeina

There are a ton of more videos, check out his full list [Here]

Since its Kuwait’s National Day next week I decided to post some of my favorite songs I used to hear when I was a kid. They are all available on YouTube and you can check them out below. By the way is it just me or does Kuwait in general seem less decorated than the previous years? Usually the majority of the buildings in Kuwait City would be covered with lights and flags but other then the KTV building nothing has grabbed my attention this year. Strange…

عيدي يا بلاد
امبارك عليك العيد يا بلاد
كاسروه دله
كلما زادت المحن
كويت والعرب