Category: Kuwait

I thought this was a joke but it seems to be real. [Link]

Thanks Satish

Back in January I signed up to the Orbit ShowTime service and I although the signup process was very smooth I was worried their customer service would be problematic since when I had Showtime back in 2005 any issue I had they would tell me to pass by their main branch in Dajeej which was unpractical and annoying.

Well I ran into a problem recently with my Showbox receiver, it kept rebooting randomly every 5 minutes or so which was very annoying. I reset all the settings, upgraded to the latest software did whatever I could to try to get it fixed myself and nothing worked. I finally gave up and decided to give OSN a call, I was expecting them to tell me to take the receiver to their workshop in Dajeej which is why I tried to fix things myself but instead I was told a technician would come over on Monday (that was on Saturday). Sunday (the following day) I get a call from the technician telling me if I was free that day he could pass by. I was like no problem but did they tell you what my problem was? He was like you aren’t getting a signal. I was like no my Showbox keeps rebooting. He told me no problem he would replace it for me and a few hours later he did come over and swap my receiver with a new one.

Everything is working perfectly now and I didn’t even have to drive out to Dajeej to get my problem solved!

Last week I was checking my facebook account and noticed the local Tamiya dealer (My Toy) started a weekly competition where people could win a Tamiya TRF 501x race buggy. So, I entered the competition and didn’t win BUT I did get an email asking if I would be interested in reviewing the new TRF 502x and I said yes of course.

It’s been two years since I last built a Tamiya car so I was pretty excited to pick the car up. Along with the 502x frame they’re lending me a servo, tires, lipo battery, brush-less motor and ecu. Basically everything I need to get the car built and running except for a radio controller and receiver since I will be using my own. Oh I also picked up fluorescent pink paint since I think a bright pink racing buggy with a black rear wing and black wheels might turn out pretty cool. Below is a picture of how the pile of boxes above will end up looking like once I am done.

Note: In case you’re an RC fan I have a section dedicated to RC stuff [Here]

As I mentioned last August, Shake Shack will be opening in place of Le Pain Quotidien at The Avenues. Since then I’ve been waiting and waiting for PQ to close down and I just found out they’ve now gone ahead and closed. This means they should start construction on Shake Shack right away and hopefully open up very soon. For those of you who live in Dubai, Shake Shack is opening up at Mall of Emirates this Thursday.

I think we’re going to be super lucky here because I highly doubt we’re going to have to wait in line for their burgers in the same way you don’t have to wait in line at Magnolia Bakery in Dubai. Below are pictures of the lines at both Shake Shack and Magnolia Bakery in New York. I waited 40 minutes in line at Shake Shack just to place an order!

What I still don’t know though is who will supply Shake Shack in the Middle East with the beef. In the US the beef is supplied by the famous Pat LaFrieda but I previously emailed them asking if their beef was Halal and they said it wasn’t. Hopefully by now they’ve worked some sort of deal with LaFrieda regarding this but will have to wait and see.

A friend just emailed me the following:

Thought you might be interested to know that I just left Symphony building and there are HUGE pannels of glass flying off the building, cause by the wind, and crashing into the parking lot. I tried to take a closer look but the whole area has been closed off and the fire department is on their way. From what I saw though one car got hit and is quite badly damaged and there were 3 other large peices of broken glass laying in various places in the parking lot

As usual if anyone has pictures email me them so I could post them here.

Thanks Ali

Update: Here is a picture of the damaged car sent in by a reader called Abdul Hameed. According to him this happened a couple of months back as well and that time the glass window landed on his friends car.

For some odd reason, smack dab in the middle of the Al-Anbaa Arabic newspaper website, there’s an English Edition of the paper. It’s a tiny section with not that many articles and I think it’s pretty weird. There isn’t an “English” button on the top of the page or anything like that, just scroll down half way and you’ll find it. I wonder if they’re planning on expanding it and having a proper English version of their website. [Link]

Thanks Abdulaziz

Just saw this picture of the Burger King and Pizza Hut branch at Entertainment City. When did they do this, it looks pretty cool. I haven’t been to Entertainment City since 2005 I think. Have they changed it much since then or is it still falling apart? [Picture Source]

According to Arab Times “expatriates will no longer be required to pay for cancer diagnosis and treatment in all hospitals and medical centers, provided they are legal residents in the country.”

I think that’s really great news for expats like me living here. Here is the link to the [Article]

Thanks Aziz

Local weather guru Mishaal Al Roomi has the following weather warning:

The weather is turniing unstable with increasing clouds. By Sunday, the winds will be very high ranging from 25 to 45 km/h with gusts up to 60 km/h. I don’t suggest rather I advise strictly no off shore activities starting Saturday afternoon and especially starting Sunday. We all know what happened as a result of the last Sandstorm; we had three casualties and couple are still missing. To avoid such dissapointment and grief; please be updated with the weather. Q8Weather will be live with you at all times during this “sarayat” or “unstable” season.

Everyone is advised to keep updated with the forecast. We all have internet around us nowdays and I will be updating Q8Weather several times a day to meet your convenience and more importantly your safety.

If you have any inquiries please do not hesitate to contact me; [email protected] or [email protected]

Mishaal also has a message regarding the earthquake rumors which you can read on his website [Here]

April might be the final month for Cinemagic’s rooftop movies since they usually stop playing movies once the weather gets really hot. Since the evenings now are still cool you should really take advantage of this.

Saturday, April 2nd at 7:30pm
MICMACS
Director: Jean – Pierre Jeunet
Country: France
Release: 2010
Genre: Comedy | Crime
Running time: 105 minutes
Language: French | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Director, , Best Cinematography, Best edit
Rated: R

Saturday, April 9th at 7:30pm
SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE
Director: Chan Wook Park
Country: South Korea
Release: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Korean | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Actor, Best Film, Best Director
Rated: R

Thursday, April 14th at 7:30pm
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Director: Victor Fleming
Country: USA
Release: 1939
Genre: Adventure | Fantasy | Musical | Family
Running time: 101 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 2 Oscars, 5 other wins and 8 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, April 16th at 7:30pm
AWAY WE GO
Director: Sam Mendes
Country: USA
Release: 2009
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Running time: 98 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: Nominated Best Actors, Best Film
Rated: 15+

Thursday, April 21st at 7:30pm
JAR CITY
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Country: Iceland
Release: 2006
Genre: Thriller
Running time: 93 minutes
Language: Icelandic | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Cinematography
Rated: 15+

Saturday, April 23rd at 7:30pm
WATER
Director: Deepa Mehta
Country: India
Release: 2005
Genre: Drama
Running time: 117 minutes
Language: Hindi | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Script
Rated: PG

Thursday, April 28th at 7:30pm
THE HEADLESS WOMAN
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Country: Argentina
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Running time: 87 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: Cannes, in competition, Best film, director, actress
Rated: 15+

Saturday, April 30th at 7:30pm
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST
Director: Daniel Alfredsson
Country: Sweden
Release: 2010
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Running time: 147 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Rated: R

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]

Not really, it’s just a knock off Target store I happened to pass by last night. What I found funnier was their poster below where they also managed to squeeze in the Best Buy logo as well.

This two events got canceled last week since the track got covered with sand so it’s being pushed to this Saturday April 2nd at Pro Kart.

Karting Speed Max Challenge 4 Hours
The first event is a 4 hour karting race. 40 drivers will compete in scoring the best time with 5 drivers racing every heat and the winner continuing on to the final race. The race starts at 4PM and ends at 8PM. The race is open to the public and it’s free of charge!

Dolphin Karting Cup
The second event is an event for juniors aged 5 to 8 year-olds. This race event starts at 3PM and is also free of charge.

For more information on these events and a map to the location plus contact numbers you can visit the Pro Kart website [Here]

If you’re a long time reader you probably know that there is cookie flavor at Choowy Goowy called Mark&Nat. We had been invited by Choowy Goowy back in 2006 to create our own cookie and after experimenting with a bunch of different variations and trying them all out we ended up with Oreo cookies which got labeled Mark&Nat.

So last night I was browsing the web when I suddenly spot the most amazing thing ever… an oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie. It was simply a full oreo shoved inside a chocolate chip cookie, I quickly posted it on 248PM and then sent a BBM to my buddy Essa of Choowy Goowy and I was like dude you got to take an oreo cookie and shove it inside a regular chocolate chip cookie and send me some. I then made sure I didn’t eat any carbs all day today and once I got back home from my gym I found a bunch of oreo stuffed cookies waiting for me. I had 3 cookies and I think they were REALLY good. I am now trying to convince him to actually produce them and sell them as the new and improved Mark&Nat oreo cookies. So if you’re reading this Essa, please sell these cookies!

Has anyone been to Tatami Japanese Restaurant yet? I just heard about it from a friend and a quick google resulted in some shots of the place. It’s supposedly a local creation and judging by the pictures, a pretty cool looking one.

Here is a link with pictures of the place [Link]
Here is a link to the Tatami website [Link]

Update: His&Hers passed by Tatami over the weekend and you can read their review [Here]