Category: Kuwait

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]

Blogger Mathai just posted amazing pictures he took at the Motocross Challenge which I posted about last week. This is the second event in a row where I could have gone and taken pictures at but instead decided to spend it at home sitting on my ass. The first event was the Kuwait Rally and now I missed out on the Motocross Challenge. I’m a perfect example of how even when there are things to do in Kuwait I end up sitting at home and watching TV instead. To check out all his pictures click [Here]

I hadn’t heard of Pei Wei Asian Diner but it’s a Chinese fast food place and according to Wikipedia it’s owned by PF Chang’s which makes sense why it’s opening up in Kuwait and why it’s also Alshaya that’s bringing it. No idea yet when and where it will open just that they’ve got the franchise and it’s coming to Kuwait.

Thanks Bader, I owe you a Shani

I just heard that there was a fire at Al Corniche Club. I am calling them to confirm but no one is picking up. Anyone have any information or pictures? [Contact Me]

Update: No one is still picking up but I found out it was a fire in the electricity room and it wasn’t that big but it temporary shutdown their electricity.

Update2: Found the picture below on twitter

Update3: Al Corniche sent out the following message to their members

Dear members we apologise to inform you that the Club is closed today due to a small fire damage. We hope to open tomorrow with limited facilities. Thank you for your cooperation!

Update4: The blog q8iblender has more pictures and information [Here]

Update5: I just heard from an Al Corniche employee that the fire wasn’t small with sections like the Men’s Spa being completely ruined.

I’m not a fan of jazz but I know many people are so here is some info on the Gulf Jazz Festival that’s going to be held next month.

April 27th, 2011
There will be a BBQ dinner and concert with two artists that night, the first is the Polish jazz artist Jarek Smietana Trio as well at American jazz artist Karen Edwards.

April 28th, 2011
There will be a BBQ dinner and concert with Swedish artist Monica Borrfors performing with her band.

Both events will be held at the Al Hashemi II Grand Ballroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

For more information visit www.gulfjazzfest.com

I got this footage yesterday when I met the Al Hamra Tower people. It’s a time-lapse from the start of construction back in December 2005 all the way up to February 2011. They’ve had two cameras pointed at the site from the very start, one is located on Al Raya the other on Al Khalejiah. [YouTube]

Note: There is no sound

Found this video on Buz Fairy of cars on the highway driving the wrong way on the highway trying to escape the dust storm. I thought it looked like a disaster movie, check it out above, the video gets interesting at 0:45. [YouTube]

One of the best things about blogging is the fact I get invited to check out a lot of cool work in progress projects like Messilah Beach, Missoni Hotel and The Regency Palace. My dad’s an interior designer and as a kid I used to tag along with him on Friday mornings to various construction sites which is why now whenever I get invited to visit one I can never say no. It brings back good childhood memories and that’s why when I was asked if I wanted to tour the Al Hamra Tower I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve been a big fan of the tower for a long time to get a tour of it before completion would literally be a once in a life time opportunity since they’re only going to build it once.

First a bit of history and some facts. Al Hamra used to be Kuwait’s and the GCC’s first indoor cinema. It had two large theaters, one played Bollywood movies while the other played Western movies. Al Hamra Tower is being built in the same location where Al Hamra Cinema used to be located. It’s currently the second tallest building in the region with Burj Khalifa being the tallest. It’s the tallest asymmetrical structure in the world (no side is like the other side) and it’s also the second tallest concrete building in the world.

So my tour started off with a video presentation of the tower. It wasn’t really boring since there was a presenter and I was able to interrupt and ask questions. After the presentation I was taken to the mall that’s located at the bottom of the tower. The mall is made up of five floors and each floor will be around the size of a floor at Al Raya mall across the street. The fifth floor will hold the Al Hamra Cinema. Whats special about this cinema is the fact it will be the first non-Cinescape theater in 50 years. Back in 1953 Cinescape got a 50 year exclusivity for cinema’s in Kuwait. That exclusivity expired in 2003. The mall will be a luxurious one and having Hermes there is a good start.

Once we were done walking around the mall we headed to the main tower lobby (pictured above) which is really going to be huge when completed. Although the tower is super tall your average wait time for a lift will be under 30 seconds, the lift also travels at a speed of 10 floors a second. To get to the top floor of the tower we had to take a lift up to a lobby on the 54th floor I think and then swap to another lift and continue up to the very last floor.

[YouTube]

Once we got to the last floor it was filled with scaffolding since they still have a few more glass panels they’re installing at the very top. But the space up there is just astonishing, the ceiling is incredibly high and the view is just overwhelming. I shot the video above to try and show what I was experiencing and seeing but you really need to be there (Trivia: Can you tell when I hit my head on a scaffolding? Luckily I was wearing a hard hat!). Once completed this last floor will sadly be a private invite only chairman’s club and not a restaurant like I had previously heard. This means very few people will actually get to enjoy this beautiful view.

It’s hard not to like Al Hamra Tower, it’s an office tower done right and we don’t have many “done right” projects in Kuwait. I really can’t wait for it to launch which should be September of this year. Below are some pictures I took today.

Update: Forgot to mention that the windows will be cleaned by a team of robots and it will take a month to clean all the windows. Burj Khalifa on the other hand employs 36 window cleaners who take 3 months to clean all the windows. Burj Arab I believe uses 2 people who take a full month to clean their windows.