Category: Interesting

Found this Alshaya corporate video on YouTube. It’s not all interesting to watch but the parts I liked were the behind the scenes look at some of their businesses. They’ve got one huge ass warehouse! [YouTube]

Update: They’ve removed the video. I guess it wasn’t meant for public consumption.

The rendering above is of the new design for the Pushkinsky cinema in Moscow. It was designed by architect Hend Almatrouk and Gijo Paul George. I’ve never seen anything that looks like it and I also hadn’t heard of Hend before. I was just checking out her blog and she’s got a lot of crazy stuff. Here are some related links:

Time Warp Architecture – Trend Hunter
Rossiya’s Flourish – suckerPUNCH
Hend Almatrouk on YesYous
Hend’s Blog

Thanks Mohammad

Update: Hend sent me an email saying that she has a design studio which she started with her partner Gijo Paul George called “Studio_Toggle”. They’ve got better quality shots on their studio’s website so check it out [Here]

I posted about the LoYAC Academy of Performing Arts (LAPA) before but since then they’ve added extra sessions and courses as well as changed most of the timings. Bloyac just posted the updated list of activities which you can see below:

Hip hop (mixed): Wednesday 6-8 pm / Saturday 1-2 pm
Hip hop (females): Saturday 12-1 pm
Break dance: TBA
Salsa: Monday 8-9:30 pm
Drama: Thursday 4-5:30 pm
Guitar: Sunday 5-9 pm / Tuesday 5-9 pm / Thursday 5-8 pm
Violin & Arabic Orchestra: Monday 6-9 pm / Tuesday 6-9 pm
Ballet: Saturday 4-5:30 pm / Thursday 4-5:30 pm
Piano: Monday 5-8 pm / Wednesday 5-8 pm
Fitness: Monday 6-8 pm / Wednesday 5-7 pm / Saturday 5-7 pm

According to the blog Bloyac, they’ll also add drumming to the list if enough people sign up for it. The classes operate on a six-week basis and the cost is KD36 per course. If you’re interested in taking any of these classes you can call them up on 96653377.

For more information check out the LOYAC blog [Here]

Nawaf al Gheraibah, is a half Kuwaiti, half Indian/Portuguese musician with a pretty weird music style like nothing I’ve heard locally. It’s not mainstream stuff so not sure how many people here will like his music but even if it’s not your style it’s still worth appreciating. My biggest criticism though is the fact that I think his music lacks a local identity. When I listen to the music it sounds like a lot of different things but none of which sound like the songs originated from Kuwait by a Kuwaiti.

Anyway his songs are all available for free to download on his [Website] and Facebook page. I found it a lot easier to listen to the songs on the Facebook page so check it out [Here]

There is a local website called Photo Lenders which rents out photography equipment like lenses and cameras for reasonable prices. This concept isn’t new since it already exists in the States but it’s still great that someone decided to set up something similar in Kuwait. I’m sure all the local photographers are going to appreciate this and I’m personally waiting for them to start renting out cameras as well. Check out the website [Here]

So I was at the popular Al Remal Al Dahabi garage the other day with a friend of mine sitting in the waiting room when someone lit up a cigarette. Right away to my surprise someone comes in over the PA system and announces that there is no smoking allowed in the waiting room and they should go smoke outside.

I was like completely taken aback by this. If a garage in Al Rai has started enforcing a no smoking policy then there’s still hope that malls and restaurants will also stop indoor smoking as well. At least I hope so.

A reader sent me an internal 360 Mall memo which contains more information on the world record attempt that’s taking place at 360 Mall. Turns out Habchi & Chalhoub will be attempting to build the biggest perfumes pyramid in the world using 50,000 bottles of Paco Raabane perfume cartons.

According to the memo the pyramid will be ready and on display starting today since a judge from the Guinness World Records as well as the media and other personalities will be there to check it out. Here are some more details regarding the pyramid:

Base: 36 m2
Height: 5.5 m
Number of perfumes used: 50,000 pieces
Building time: 32 hours for 2 days

Thank Yousuf

No trickery involved, that’s really Rawdatain water that’s turning into ice in the heat. It’s done using a simple scientific phenomenon called “supercooling” where you can freeze water below it’s freezing point without it turning into ice until it gets disturbed. [YouTube]

Thanks Babar

The Chocolate & Chocolate blog posted pictures of the Eastpak event here in Kuwait where you could get your bag customized by graffiti artists. I like the artwork on the bag above and I’m now thinking of passing by and getting one of my bags tagged if it’s not too packed. The event is still on for another 2 days in case you’re interested. Here is a link to the blog post on Chocolate & Chocolate [Link] and here is a link for more information on the event [Link]

Yesterday I posted about the attempt by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family to break the record for the worlds largest kite. They already hold the record but they’re trying to re-break it with an even larger kite. Sadly, the kite ended up getting ripped today and so they couldn’t continue with the record attempt. They are currently working overnight to try and repair the kite and will hopefully be flying it again tomorrow. The BBC website has more information on this as well as a video from today’s flight. [Link]

I first saw the brotips website a month or two ago when one of the sites I frequent linked to it and I thought it was a cute idea. Then, a few days ago I found out the website belongs to a young 16 year old Kuwaiti called Yousef Khraibu and thought that was pretty unexpected.

Because of his dads job, Yousef ended up moving from Kuwait to Morocco to England and eventually landing in Canada where he’s currently living. He was always interested in entrepreneurship so he decided to drop out of school to focus on one of his projects when he ended up meeting his current partner Dominique. Together they came up with the idea of packaging commonsense in a pretty way and they ended up with brotips. Their website has gotten pretty popular and they’re now close to signing a book deal.

It’s an interesting story which I thought was worth sharing. If you haven’t checked out brotips just click [Here]

This is a short clip from a really old show from the late 70s staring George Clooney. Whats interesting here is that in the clip George Clooney’s character gets a Kuwait Times newspaper delivered to him and he talks about his experience living in Kuwait. Just press play above and it should start at the right moment. [YouTube]

Thanks Hish

Update: The episode above is from 1985

Kuwait’s Al Farsi family already holds the record for the world’s largest kite but it seems like they’ll be trying to break their own record in the next two days with their new Manta Ray kite at the Bristol International Kite Festival. In case you didn’t know the current world’s large kite is actually in the design of the Kuwaiti flag (pictured above). Here is a link with some more details on their new record attempt. [Link]

I passed by the junkyards earlier today to take some pictures and while I was there I noticed there were a ton of dogs. It’s not the first time I spot wild dogs at the junkyards but today I counted over 60 roaming around either alone or in packs. I started stalking a few and found them interesting to watch so I decided take pictures of many of them as I could so I could share on the blog

It wasn’t easy finding all the dogs and I’m positive I missed a lot since the whole area is full of streets and alleyways and unless I was planning to spend the whole day there I couldn’t go through each and everyone of them. I also only took pictures of the dogs that were on the streets but there must be a lot more in the actual junkyards or hiding in the cracks and crevices of old abandoned containers and cars.

I spent 2 hours driving around the junkyards looking for dogs and none of the ones I spotted seemed aggressive. Some looked sad and depressed while others seemed happy roaming around. One thing I noticed is the fact that none of the people in the area were afraid of the dogs. I spoke to a bunch of workers and from what they told me the dogs live and survive on their own without any help from humans. The workers in the area don’t feed or take care of the dogs but they also don’t mind them and none are afraid of them. It’s really sad but so interesting at the same time. Check out some pictures below.

Hard to believe but I shot the picture above in Salmiya. I love the wooden bridge over the water and I love how very green the whole area is.