Category: Kuwait

The post below reminded me I should actually post about the Funoon store. For everyone that’s grown up in Kuwait during the 80’s, this store is a gold mine. They have all the famous Abed Al Hussein Abd Al Rida plays and shows available… on DVD! I picked up the Bye Bye London DVD for just KD3. Quality isn’t DVD quality but it’s better than the VHS tape I had. Only problem I actually had with the DVD is that sound comes out of one speaker only because they took the mono track and assigned it to one side. I would have taken the mono track and repeated on the left and right instead. But anyway that’s a small complaint. They also had Seif Al 3arab (2 DVDs), Bye Bye 3arab, Dars Khoosoosee, Darb Al Zalag and a lot more… all on DVD and all priced at KD3 per DVD.

Not sure how many branches they have but I went to the one off the 5th Ring Road in Salmiya. If Turkish Grill is on your right hand side it’s around 200 meters right after it, on the corner of Amman street.

This has to be the strangest local app so far and I doubt the creator got permission from Funoon. For those of you don’t know what “درب الزلق” is, here is a [Video]. On the other hand if you want the app click [Here]

This is a home video shot by an Eastern European family back in the mid 80’s. There are a lot of scenes around Kuwait, I spotted Fahad Al Salem Street in Kuwait City in one scene. There are also some scenes taken during the National Day celebration (no foam!). Not only that but at around 7:15 into the video they have a drive by video of old Salmiya, specifically Salem Mubarek Street where Waleed Toys is! I completely forgot about the Electronic Appliances Corp shop!! Then you get to see the Alamiah store with the MSX being advertised in the display. I wished they had filmed more of Salmiya, it looks really clean and alive in the video, not the like ugly shape it’s in now. [YouTube]

Warning: The video contains scenes of women in bikinis

Islamist parliamentarians yesterday proposed a law that would punish women who wore bikinis at the beach with up to one year in prison.

I hope this isn’t true. [Link]

Note: The source is not Kuwait Times

Last week I posted about how you could order an ambulance online via Kuwait’s EMS website. Well someone from the EMS commented with the following bit of information:

Thank You For The feedback..
I work for E.M.S Kuwait and this is a Non-Emergency Ambulance request, so in case of emergency you can always use the number 112. The form only requires you to fill the basic requests in order to avoid any sort of confusion like the name of the patient, age, sex and the location where the patient is located and the location to where he is to be transported. The code at the end is to make it secure from spammers.

As soon as some one clicks submit the form will be visible in the control room located in Subhan. An operator will then call to confirm that the request is a genuine case and will arrange the ambulance at the specified time for the genuine cases.

The system Installed in Subhan E.M.S is a world class one, so if anyone of you has the time please visit us in Subhan. All the ambulances in Kuwait are now fitted with laptops with a navigation system installed. Its not a regular navigation software alone but also contains a lot of other information that is passed on from the Control room like the location, age, name, condition of the patient etc. There is a new pre question and answer software as well. In emergency cases the operator will give the necessary instruction to the patient or the third party on how to do basic life support procedures like CPR. The system is developed by CyberMAK which is the I.T wing of M.A Kharafi.

Here is a link to the EMS Kuwait website [Link]

The weather right now is just amazing for watching movies outdoor and Cinemagic have a ton of great movies scheduled for us this month. I personally want to try and watch North by Northwest since I haven’t watched that yet.

Thursday, December 2nd at 7:30PM
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Director: Robert Wise
Country: USA
Release: 1965
Genre: Adventure | Musical | Family
Running time: 176 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 5 Oscars, 10 other wins and 10 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, December 4th at 7:30PM
LA DOUBLE VIE DE VÉRONIQUE
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Country: Poland
Release: 1991
Genre: Drama | Fantasy
Running time: 98 minutes
Language: French | Polish | English Subtitle
Awards: Golden Globe Nominee, 8 awards and 15 nominations
Rated: 15+

Thursday, December 9th at 7:30PM
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: USA
Release: 1959
Genre: Thriller | Action
Running time: 131 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 3 Oscar nominations, 4 wins and 3 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, December 11th at 7:30PM
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Director: Julien Schnabel
Country: France
Release: 2007
Genre: Drama
Running time: 112 minutes
Language: French | English Subtitle
Awards: 4 Oscar nominations, 41 wins
Rated: 15+

Thursday, December 16th at 7:30PM
EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Country: Spain
Release: 2006
Genre: Fantasy | Drama
Running time: 120 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: 71 awards and 58 nominations
Rated: 15+

Saturday, December 18th at 7:30PM
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Director: Tim Burton
Country: USA
Release: 1993
Genre: Animation | Fantasy
Running time: 76 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 4 awards and 6 nominations
Rated: PG

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

I found them a bit lifeless when compared to the Pizza Hut and McDonalds staff. [YouTube]

I noticed Sports Corner in Salmiya has a small section with authentic Red Bull Racing Gear. They had a bunch of their Formula 1 branded gear including Vettel tshirts and Red Bull racing caps and polos. For those of you don’t follow Formula 1, this year Vettel who drives a Red Bull car was the champion.

The idea of dinner in the sky isn’t new. Just this summer they had one set up in Lebanon and people paid $200 each to get a seat at the table and be lifted up into the air to eat. Well Philadelphia Cheese setup something similar at Marina Crescent. It was an advertising stunt in which you could try and enjoy their products while sitting around a table filled with strangers up in the air. The best part? You get to experience eating up in the sky for free. Each experience lasts around 10-15 minutes and all you had to do was just wait in line for a spot. Pretty cool.

It looks like the camera ban was just a rumor since Kuwait Times have posted a retraction! [Link]

On Saturday, November 20, 2010 the Kuwait Times published an article titled ‘Multi ministry camera ban frustrates artists’ in which incorrect information was provided. The newspaper regrets failing to verify the information. The article wrongly stated that a ban on DSLR cameras was implemented by the Ministries of Information, Social Affairs and Finance. This information is false. In a follow up investigation, it was proved that no such ban has been issued. We regret this error and deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused.

We apologize for any inconvenience? After having the world mock us based on their article they apologize for the inconvenienced caused? I would really hope the government fines them or gives them some form of punishment for all the bad publicity they gave Kuwait with their article.

It’s 28 minutes long but it’s worth watching. This law is just unbelievable, I can’t believe this is actually being enforced. You can’t take photos at the old markets, you can’t take pictures of the Kuwait Towers, you can’t take pictures at the Scientific Center, you can’t take pictures of anything anymore. [Video]

Update: Arab Times finally have written about this [Link]

Sounds like a factory where they build Kuwait Towers.

For some odd reason there is a stamps exhibition currently taking place at the Avenues. I say odd not because I am not a stamps fan but because it’s 2010 and I thought stamp collecting was dead. I still have my stamp collection tucked away somewhere in my bookshelf and I should probably pass by the exhibition and see if I have anything that’s worth something. The exhibition is going to be there until the 27th and they’re located in Phase II opposite Diesel and Marc Jacobs. It’s a stamps exhibition!

I first heard about G-FORCE back when k.thekuwaiti posted about them on my blog back in 2008. I thought the place looked amazing (check above) but I never ended up passing by them until recently. I needed to get some paint work done on my Z4 since the previous paint job I got was starting to peel for some odd reason. My friend recommended I pass by the G-FORCE body shop since their prices were cheaper than the dealers and yet their paint work was better. So I passed by for an estimate and to check out the place.

I passed by them in the Free Trade Zone (behind Villa Moda) and was met by their sales manager. I asked him if I could check out the place first since it was my first time there and he gave me a tour. On the ground floor is their car showroom where they display their Cobras (by Backdraft Racing), Big Bear Choppers bikes (they’re the dealers) and other random but interesting cars for sale. The Cobra on display looked incredible but I figured it was one of those if you have to ask then you can’t afford it kinda cars so I never found out how much they cost. They looked really amazing though. On their top floor they had a whole bunch of items on display ranging from clothing and racing gear to car parts and memorabilia. Turns out they had a ton of cool brands like Sparco, Recaro, HRE wheels, Autoart, some other brands I don’t remember and even Fomula 1 and MotoGP clothing. In one corner they had a signed Rubens Barrichello racing suit which had worn and won in but it wasn’t for sale. At first impression this place looked nothing like a garage should look like and I mean that in a very good way.

Anyway once we were done I went out back and checked out their body shop, it was super clean and organized even though they were busy working on a bunch of cars. I got to check out their DynoJet (yup they have one) and then check out their prep/paint booth which according to k.thekuwaiti is Ferrari approved. Their painter checked out the panels I needed painted on my car and he told me right away what was wrong with the previous paint job. It was a bit too technical for me to understand but basically the previous painter hadn’t prepped the panel properly and so the paint wasn’t sticking to the car. I got a price quote which was better than I expected and booked an appointment to drop my car.

They ended up doing a great job on the paint job and since it turns out they also did mechanical work I had them fix a small oil leak I had. I figured I would post about them so I asked the guy what other services they offered and he told me they did everything from 1000hp upgrades to custom paint jobs and get this… they have something called the G-Force Advanced Driving Academy. Twice a year they take 24 people from Kuwait to the Autodrome track in Dubai where they hire out cars (TT’s, R8’s, single seater racers) and teach them basic to advanced driving techniques. I thought that was pretty cool but again I didn’t ask how much it cost. Anyway if you’re interested to find out more you can visit their website [Here] and their Facebook page [Here].

Did you know you could request an ambulance online? I didn’t until a few moments ago when I read it on Q8-Dewaniya. Just go to Kuwait’s EMS website and click the link at the bottom that says ambulance request. [Link]