2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
A friend sent me the video below which according to the uploader was recorded just a few days ago. Not really sure what started this incident but in the video you can see the cops being chased away by some young men who start throwing bottles at their car. Later in the video the riot police show up but they get welcomed with green laser beams. Check out the full video below.
[YouTube]
Update: Video has been removed by the uploader.
Uwe is a well known photographer in the local advertising scene and he’s lived in Kuwait since 1983. I’ve known him for a few years and awhile back when I posted about the new Kuwaiti currency he emailed me a very interesting story regarding the photo of the Court Complex on the back of the old KD20 bank note which I thought was interesting to share. This is what he told me:
Shortly before the invasion I was contracted to photograph the Court Complex which was to be used as part of the design on the soon to be introduced KD20 bank note. I headed to the Court Complex on a Friday morning with someone from the Central Bank to shoot the building. We parked our Toyota 4-Runner on the side and I got up on top of it with my camera and tripod to take photos. A short while after two police cars with sirens on showed up and told me to get down from the roof of the car. They asked us what we were doing and when we told them they asked for our permission papers. THe person who was with me from the Central Bank had forgotten to bring the permission papers with him so the police took me into the court house and held me there until the person went and fetched the permission slip and came back. It took him 7 hours to bring that paper! From then on whenever I look at the KD20 note I remember that messed up Friday.
On a side note, why does the Central Bank of Kuwait website ask you if you want to visit their old website or their new one? Why not just automatically load the new one?
BBC have an article and a short video report on De La Rue, the company that designed and printed the new Kuwaiti Dinars. In the video below the reporter is at the factory while they’re printing the Kuwaiti Dinars and you get to see her hold an uncut sheet of the notes as well as discuss the currency a bit with an employee. Check out the video below and then the article [Here]
Thanks Neil
Back in April I posted about Deera, an iPhone app which allows you to report issues with public services. The way it worked was fairly simple, you snapped a photo of the problem, specify what the issue was along with the location and then submit it. But does it work? Yes it does!
Last night I decided to use the app to report a garbage issue I spotted on my way home and just a few moments ago I got tagged on Instagram with the issue sorted. That’s a turnaround of under 12 hours. By flipping through the reported incidents in the app and then checking the Deera app Instagram account you’ll see that the majority if not all the incidents are getting fixed right away.
I have to say I am pretty surprised and impressed. Not just at the app but at the fact that the people behind the app are able to coordinate and get action from the different municipalities so quickly. Theres actually a huge pile of leftover construction material right in front of my building that has been there for months which I can’t wait to report now. If there was an award for best local app of the year this would have to be it.
If you want try this app you can download it for free from the Apple Store either by searching for Deera or by clicking [Here]
With the advent insta-twitter* there is a whole community of MD’s (and even more MD’s), pharmacist, dieticians and dentists giving advice on there on a daily basis through videos and pictures. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually a miracle if you work in healthcare in Kuwait because never in a million years would I have expected such a healthcare awareness campaign to actually work and be successful! I also love seeing old friends gain confidence I always knew they had as they reach out to more people.
But like the start of the internet, this trend poses alot of very interesting ethical and legal questions that I simply can’t find the answer to.
Instadocs is an interesting article written by a Kuwaiti doctor on the the local social media scene and how some doctors are using it to dish out advice. Check it out [Here]
Husain Ismail whom I’ve previously posted about when I shared his video of his drone flying higher than the Liberation Tower (pictured above) was recently interviewed on KTV about his hobby. In the interview Husain goes into details about how he started and how he’s modified his drone to fly over a kilometer in height. It’s an interesting interview to watch if you’ve been curious about this hobby. The interview is in Arabic and you can check it out below.
my interview with KTV.. 15.5.2014 —– مقابله في تلفزيون الكويت والحديث عن التصوير الج from husain_ on Vimeo.
A couple of weeks back an announcement was made regarding a commission by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters on Kuwait’s pavilion at the 14th Venice International Architecture Biennale that will take place from June 7 until November 23, 2014. I was planning to go to the announcement and ended up missing it but luckily someone shot the whole thing on video and put it online.
Aqcuiring Modernity_Kuwait Pavilion from youraok on Vimeo.
Depending on if you’re interested in Kuwait’s history or not, this video can end up be very boring or very interesting to watch. I personally found it interesting which is why I am posting it here but I might be bit biased since I have friends who’re taking part in this project. If you want to get into the presentation right away just skip to the 3:25 minute mark.
It’s pretty staggering how high these drones can fly! Check out the video below to see a guy fly his drone higher than the Liberation Tower.
A couple of years back Discovery Channel aired an episode of Building the Impossible that featured Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City. Back then I hadn’t heard of the project but ever since I did I’ve been frequenting the place as often as I can mostly for activities like wakeboarding. Anyway a reader left a comment on my old post letting me know you can now watch “Sea City – Building the Impossible” online. I’ve already watched them before but if you haven’t check out this [Link]
This weekend was pretty busy at the Avenues. First the boring stuff, iHop is opening a second branch at the Avenues, this time in phase one. I can understand why we have so many Starbucks, I might be able to understand why we have three Pinkberrys, but I really don’t understand why we need two Shake Shacks and now two iHops.
[YouTube]
In other news, there was a fight at the Avenues this weekend this time involving girls. You can watch that video above although its not very clear. On the other hand there was a guy walking around casually with a large dead lizard. Thankfully Avenues security called the police and had him escorted off their property. You can watch that video below.
[YouTube]
Rajeev Suri who was appointed as the new Nokia CEO a couple of days ago was raised and spent a major part of his life here in Kuwait.
Thanks Chris
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.
A lot of people spotted a submarine out in the sea today, turns out it’s part of the Pakistani fleet on a goodwill visit. Pretty cool. [YouTube]
Kuwaiti Word a Day is an interesting blog where every day they teach you one new Kuwaiti word. Actually I think the writer herself is learning a new Kuwaiti word everyday and sharing it with her readers. What I found specifically interesting about the blog is the fact that the posts are informal, sometimes personal and generally pretty entertaining. You can check it out [Here]
A completely random but interesting fact, I recently found out the beautifully designed Kuwait Embassy in Japan (pictured above) was designed by the same legendary architect behind the original Kuwait Airport, Kenzo Tange. The building was built in 1966, 13 years before the Kuwait Airport.
via @kashkool_kw
Note: If you click the original Kuwait Airport link you can see photos of how the Kuwait Airport originally looked like.
