Category: Kuwait

Deep within the Kuwait Ministry of Information’s sprawling, high-security complex, seven government films censors gather for a screening of “The Last Song,” a drama starring Miley Cyrus. Seated in plush velvet seats in front of a large, cinema-style screen, the censors graze on soft drinks and snacks while attendants circle the theater, refilling drinks and serving sandwiches.

It feels like a typical, lazy, weekday matinee — until Cyrus leaps into the arms of her co-star and leans in for a long and passionate kiss. Watching the screen, the censors drop their sandwiches and reach for the white buttons attached to their armrest, activating a bell and flashing light. The bell alerts John Prasard, working upstairs in the cinema’s projection room, to cut the scene. He stores the offending frames on a crowded cabinet shelf; stocked with illicit scenes, the cabinet is a trove of steamy embraces and blasphemous talk.

Good article about film censorship in Kuwait and what happens behind the scenes. [Article]

via Nibaq

It’s very hot right now even with the AC on but things are a lot worse for the dogs at Animal Friends since their new shelter still hasn’t been finished after getting damaged in the fire awhile back and all their dogs are currently living in a tent under the sun. This is the message Animal Friends posted today on their page in Facebook:

We still have 8 dogs living in the greenhouse on the farm. With the rising temperatures, it is getting uncomfortable in there for them. If you could offer them a temporary home for 2 months please let me know. It is because of your continued support that we have been able to get through these trying times. [Link]

So if you can help please contact them on 97377867 or 66187301 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]

I don’t know who this kid is but he’s hilarious! [YouTube]

Thanks K

Spotted the billboard above on the Sheraton round-about which cracked me up since “Sweet!” wouldn’t be the normal reaction to winning half a million Dinars… not unless you already had a few million to begin with. So I took the liberty of suggesting some better alternatives. The one above is the current ad that’s plastered on the billboard while the ones below are the ones I am recommending. If anyone has other alternatives post them below!

With temperatures soaring over 50 degrees it’s the perfect time to go ice skating. Entrance is just KD1.5 and that includes the rental of your ice skates. The place is usually empty during the day but fills up at night. Call ahead to see what the rink schedule is since they close for around 30-45 minutes every few hours for the zamboni to resurface the ice. The ice skating rink is located in Kuwait City right off the 1st ring road. For more information you can call them on 22411151 or 22411152.

I guess our Internet is not that slow here in Kuwait… if we compare ourselves to Sudan and Yemen… [Link]

Thanks Najib

Negative Effect whom I’ve posted about a number of times before has started a cool new interesting project called The Hot Foot. It’s a blog that reviews “anything driven by fuel” which basically means cars, motorbikes, boats and more that are all available here in Kuwait. He’s already got a few posts up my favorite being his latest one about SeaBob which is pictured above. SeaBob is a cool new marine vehicle that can fit in the trunk of my FJ but that will never happen since I can’t afford the KD4,000 price tag. Looks really cool though and from what I read a lot of fun. Anyway check out his website and if you have any feedback leave it below. [Link]

I think now would be the perfect time to start a campaign to legalize car tints.

Picture by Zaid

Yesterday I had a meeting at Caribou Coffee in 360 Mall and while there I spotted a friend of mine from B+F. Since their new Open Flame Kitchen project is located right next to Caribou Coffee I practically held him at gun point and forced him to give me a sneak peek at the place. I had only seen a 3D rendering before of their pizza oven which they had accidentally published on their Facebook group but other than that I hadn’t seen much else.

Well I saw the place yesterday and I managed to snap two pictures which I’ve attached to this post. Keep in mind the place is currently under construction and there is no seating, lighting or anything of the sort in place yet. There are just four large projectors to provide enough light for the construction workers. But, with these pictures you can at least get a glimpse of the interesting forms and shapes that being developed for OFK.

There are two main attraction points you will spot when you first come in. On the right side of the restaurant is their grill area where they will be grilling their steaks and burgers (the picture above). On the left side of the restaurant is their pizza oven (first picture on top). Whats cool about the pizza oven is that its an unusual shape and is covered in real gold leafs. The pizza oven also has this black circular metallic bars revolving around it which they’ve nicknamed the tornado since it takes the form of one.

They will have two separate outdoor seating areas and also a VIP room. The whole restaurant was black with black floors, black walls and a black ceiling. It’s all still under major construction so by the time it launches it will look completely different.Which brings me to the the most important subject which is the launch date. The soft opening should be at the end of June or beginning of July while the tasting should start on the 21st of this month. I’ve been nagging Bassil (the owner) for the past year to invite me to the tasting and so far it looks like my persistence has paid off since I’ve been invited to the tasting! I will NOT be on a diet for the tasting although he assured me their new menu has a lot of healthy food. Taking one day off a month shouldn’t be a problem… I hope (Fahad??).

Note: I should have mentioned this for the people who don’t know but B+F Open Flame Kitchen is part of the bigger family B+F Burger Boutique, Slider Station and B+F Roadside Diner.

Guess who made this list and coming in at #4?

4) Kuwait
Population: 2.8 million
Percentage of Millionaire Households: 8.2%

The rising price of oil has led to more millionaires in this tiny country. With some 100 billion barrels of crude, Kuwait has been growing rapidly. But the oil-dependent nation now plans to spend up to $140 billion over the next five years to diversify away from oil and to attract more investment — a move that could help it ascend this list’s ranks. Such a strategy may help billionaire Nasser Al Kharafi, chairman of one of the most diversified and largest conglomerates in the Arab world. His food division, Americana, has the Middle East franchise rights to KFC, Wimpy, TGI Fridays and Pizza Hut, among others.

They’ve messed up big time though by having a picture of the Babylon Gates from Iraq as a visual representing Kuwait. I guess the Kuwait Towers was just too cliche? Here is the link to the full [Article]

Thanks Zaid

Since we’re on the subject of health and fitness, yesterday I picked up my new diet plan from Fahad. It’s a lot tougher and he’s added an extra work out day bringing it up my work out days to four. They’ve also increased my weights considerably and are going to be giving me a harder time at the gym. My new diet plan also includes supplements for the first time. I will be taking two supplements, Whey Protein Isolates and Ripped Fuel. Whey Protein from what I understand and have read will help me considerably in a variety of ways from helping me grow and repair my muscles to strengthening my immune system. Ripped Fuel on the other hand will help me burn fat, give me an energy boost and also help me gain lean muscle mass. I got both these supplements from Souk Sharq from the shop across from Nokia. Whey Protein was KD25 while Ripped Fuel was KD20.

Below is my new diet plan, you will notice it now includes burgers. Not any burgers though, I can’t have McDonalds or Johnny Rockets for example, it’s got to be better quality burgers like from Burger Boutique, Slider Station, Applebee’s and Chili’s. I tried the Chili’s burger today with a side order of broccoli and I have to say that’s the most horrible side order I have ever had with a burger. If I ever had a burger nightmare that would have been it. On the bright side I did have a burger.

Here is the diet plan:

WORKOUT DAYS

8:00 am: Upon Waking:
500ml of Water + 2 capsules of Ripped Fuel

8:45: BREAKFAST
2 Egg Sausage McMuffins (No orange juice)

11:15 – Snack
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

1:30: Lunch
Option 1: 1 Burger (double patty), no cheese, no mayo + salad w/out dressing
Option 2: 1 edamame w/out salt, 6 pieces of maki, 9 pieces of sashimi
Option 3: 1 Shish Tawook or Tikka Meat, small hummus w/out oil, 1/2 white bread, tabboula without dressing

4:00 – 2 capsules of Ripped Fuel

5:00: SNACK
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

8:00 – 8:20: WORKOUT + 10 minutes of cardio

Immediately After Training:
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

60 Minutes Later:
No carb, low fat, high protein, high veggie dinner

_____________________________________________

NON-WORKOUT DAYS

8:00 am: Upon Waking:
500ml of Water + 2 capsules of Ripped Fuel

8:45: BREAKFAST
2 Egg McMuffins (No orange juice)

11:15 – Snack
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

1:30: Lunch
Option 1: 1 Burger (double patty), no cheese, no mayo + salad w/out dressing
Option 2: 1 edamame w/out salt, 6 pieces of maki, 9 pieces of sashimi
Option 3: 1 Shish Tawook or Tikka Meat, small hummus w/out oil, 1/2 white bread, tabboula without dressing

4:00 – 2 capsules of Ripped Fuel

5:00: SNACK
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

8:00 – Dinner
No carb, low fat, high protein, high veggie dinner

12:00 – Late Night Snack
1 scoop of ON’s 100% Whey Protein mixed w/ water

Yesterday a reader emailed me telling me that the Electrozan branch in Salmiya got shut down by the ministry. So I emailed my Electrozan contact to find out what happened and it turned out to be a license issue. Now the cool thing is that today they put up stickers on the door which you can see above.

The first message apologizes to the customers for being closed and explains why. The second message tells customers that if they take a picture of the door with the message on it and show it to any employee at another one of their branches they get a 5% discount.

I thought that was pretty cool since usually when shops get closed by the ministry no one knows why and rumors get spread. In this case they actually tell everyone why and offer a nice little discount in return.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

Did anyone ever notice how almost every aerobic/kick-boxing/gay dancing class has an instructor that’s out of shape and 20 other people that are also of round variety? I mean, how do you expect to get in shape if the instructor looks like he’s/she’s been eating sambosa for the past 20 years? To add insult to injury, the obese members are forced to perform high kicks. It’s like show girls, but with a lot less turn-on and a lot more LOL.

And what about those self-proclaimed gurus roaming around the gyms of Kuwait? I’ve researched on a couple of famous gurus to see what they were up to. One of them refuses to work with drug-free athletes; he won’t even turn to look at you if you approach him with the “I’d like to do this naturally” speech. The last guy that did ended up in the hospital urinating blood; due to 5 anabolic and androgenic compounds that he were recommended to take (this was partly the client’s fault since he didn’t know bodybuilding involves a nutritional plan and intense training). Another guy trains both naturals and chemically enhanced athletes, but fails to inform young amateurs of the consequences associated with early AAS drug use, which they subsequently fall victims too.

Awesome Super Friends
I’m here to discuss health and fitness professionals and practitioners in Kuwait who talk it and walk it. In the pursuit of spreading the influence of a healthier lifestyle, I’ll be providing information about competitors who I am more than glad to lose my business to. They all have the passion, the drive, the experience and the ability to motivate others in attaining a healthier lifestyle.

Consequently, I’m planning on crushing each and every one of them so by the time you read this, they might be dead. They also might end up in my belly. My 7% body fat belly.

As a gym owner, I constantly get asked by many people about what the right exercises are, what the right diet is and about how many freaking Pinkberry yogurts are acceptable. (Depends on what you’re trying to do; again, depends on what you want to do). Sometimes, I find I don’t have the time to answer questions in detail, and that makes me feel, as the self proclaimed Master of the Fitness Universe, like I have failed you. And I do not like to fail.

Here’s a list of people (in no particular order) you can consult about health and fitness in Kuwait, or as I like to call them, my awesome super-friends, who I don’t necessarily know personally. (You can call them people who are not quite as awesome as I am.)

I recently got a hold of this beautiful picture of the original Sultan Center in Salmiya taken back in 1986. Here is a link to a larger version of the photo. [Picture]

Update: This picture was taken in 1986, not 1982.

I am not a fan of Pinkberry, I actually only tried it once in Kuwait and couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It tasted too much like regular yogurt and I told Nat (who worships Pinkberry) that I would only have it again once they introduced chopped cucumber as a topping (yogurt + cucumber = delicious).

But while in New York I noticed Pinkberry had cones, like regular ice cream cones. Since it was really hot and I had been walking for ages I figured I would have a chocolate Pinkberry cone (guilt free). Turns out it was pretty good and actually tasted like regular chocolate soft ice cream. They had mango and coconut flavor as well which we don’t have here plus mini-cups which are around half the size of small cups. I didn’t taste the mango and coconut and not interested in the mini-cups either, what I want is for Pinkberry in Kuwait to introduce cones.

So if anyone is listening, please get us cones or else we will have to eat chocolate ice cream at McDonalds which I am guessing has more calories.

Update: I was told awhile back that they’re thinking of opening a second Pinkberry branch at the Avenues. I hope that’s true since I hate waiting in line (unless its for a burger).