2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003In the article below on online shopping one store that was mentioned was called Noutique. I think Noutique has a MAJOR flaw which is the fact that you have to create and account and log in BEFORE you can even see what they have available for sale!
Who is going to bother going through that hassle just so they can check out what they have for sale?
Yesterday while at the Avenues with Nataly and a friend we decided to pass by D*lush and pick up a milkshake. D*lush is an American beverage joint which recently opened their first branch at the Avenues and hopefully will open up more branches soon.
I ordered the Sassy B which is a strawberry and banana shake, my friend ordered the Cookies + Cream which is an oreo cookie shake and finally Nat ordered the Lemon Lush which is a frozen lemonade.
My favorite milkshake is the strawberry shake at Johnny Rockets and so far the D*lush shakes are ask good if not better. Firstly they have a much larger collection then Johnny Rockets which makes sense since D*lush is dedicated to drinks while Johnny is a burger joint. The shakes themselves also taste extremely good, the Cookies + Cream which I tried from my friend is probably going to be my favorite milkshake from now on. Even my Sassy B was really good and I am glad they were actually sampling it out at the store in small shot glasses because otherwise I might have stuck to ordering the regular strawberry shake. I found Nat’s lemonade very sour but she was really happy with it.
The only negatives I could think of are the price of the drinks and the lack of sizes. The shakes are priced at KD1.750 or KD1.850 depending on what you order. Thats more expensive then the largest sized chocolate cream frappucino at Starbucks. They should offer a smaller sized cup priced at under KD1.400. On the other hand Nat’s frozen lemonade was for KD1.100 which isn’t bad at all considering the size.
Final score is a 4 out of 5. The shakes are awesome, they have a good variety so it should take you a while to get bored and the service was very friendly and fast. The negatives are basically the lack of drink size options and the price which is kinda related to the size problem.
I hadn’t been to the Avenues for awhile so this is just an update for people haven’t been there recently also.
Carrefour is now open. I was expecting to find stuff there that wasn’t available at Sultan Center but surprisingly they either had the same stuff or less. The cornflakes section for example is a joke at Carrefour filled mostly with their Carrefour branded cornflakes. Their fish section was larger and their bakery seems better but didn’t get a chance to try it. The coolest thing about Carrefour is their electronics section. They have a ton of stuff and its all good brands like Sony, Samsung etc.. plus they have a ton of accessories and gadgets. Problem is you can find the stuff cheaper elsewhere.
Gap is now open. I was never a fan of Gap so I can’t say much about it. Kuwaiti Cosmopolitan has a detailed post on Gap so you can check that out. [Link]
GoSport is now open. The place is huge, much larger then I was expecting it to be. They have a lot of sports gear all laid out very nicely. I think its my favorite sports store at the moment not that they had strong competition.
Other notable mentions: Lucky Brand Jeans opened up. Ben Sherman is opening soon. Banana Republic still closed. I was supposed to have lunch at the Noodles place upstairs but there was an hour and a half waiting list. Parking wasn’t a problem at 2PM on Friday.
I had to shoot a TV commercial today so I had to wake up at 6AM. Its now 11:58PM and I just got back to my hotel so it was a really long exhausting day. Problem is tomorrow I have to wake up at 8AM for another shoot so I will barely have any rest and sleep. I have a lot to write about but I am too tired at the moment to do so. I get back to Kuwait Thursday night.
Between yesterday and today I managed to watch 16 episodes of the comedy Studio 60. Its currently one of my favorite shows and I don’t think I would have ever guessed that I would ever like Matthew Perry since I found him annoying on the show Friends but, surprisingly I do. Matthew Perry stars in Studio 60 which is a show based around a fictional sketch-comedy show and Matthew Perry is one of the executive producers of this fictional show. Imagine if they made a show on behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live, it would turn out something like Studio 60.
There are a lot of characters, numerous stories, lots of comedy and just a small touch of on set romance. I read somewhere that the show was getting canceled which is typical because a lot of good shows get canceled (Arrested Development). If you are looking for a new show to download and watch then I would like to recommend Studio 60.
Since I arrived to Lebanon I have been asking around for a place where I could rent a scooter from but everyone keeps telling me no such place exits. I figured since I don’t have a car here I could rent a scooter and use it as my primary means of transportation but it seems it might be easier to just buy a used one for like $200. I have a friend though who knows someone who works at an impound lot and he told me they have a lot of scooters there and he might be able to hook me up with one. Hopefully that works out.
I went out to Gimayze street tonight pubbing since I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow. I was going to go pub hopping but it started raining so I ended up spending most of my time at a pub called Gautcho. The weather in Lebanon the past 2 days has been really dusty and tonight it was raining mud which reminded me a lot of Kuwait. Speaking of which, its looking like I am going to get back to Kuwait on the 19th or 20th since I have a couple of more jobs I need to finish up now.
I just came back from Boubouffe which is my favorite shawerma place here in Lebanon and anywhere else in the world for that matter. With over 30 years experience, Boubouffe simply make the best chicken shawermas I have ever tasted. The price of each shawerma sandwich is KD1 which I guess would make it also one of the most expensive? Maybe, although I hear the shawermas in London aren’t cheap at all.
Had a photo shoot today from 9 in the morning till 8 in the evening. Its really never as fun as it sounds and its nothing close to being glamorous. At one point today we were with over 20 cast and crew in a small apartment living room with no AC for 6 hours. If that wasn’t bad enough, add to it the stress and pressure of directing these people in addition to the fact that you spend hours shooting the same situation over and over so that in the end you have 1 shot that makes the cut.
Now there are positives of course, I get to travel and meet new people and that usually balances things out most of the time. Still though when you tell people you are traveling for a photo shoot they think you are going on vacation.
Here are two layouts from the Young Lions competition. For those who missed my previous post, we needed to promote the WFP “Food for Education” program with our ads.
The body copy for the “I am hungary” one says:
Help educate children while providing them with nutritional meals. Find out how you can make a difference by donating towards our Food for Education program by logging onto www.wfp.org
The second layout the body copy and the headline wasn’t finalized because we killed the idea in the end. Supposedly the gold winner at the competition had a similar idea with the bitten pencil but I haven’t seen that layout yet to know exactly how close we were to winning gold.
The results are out and we didn’t win anything at the Young Lions creatives competition, but thats not why I am depressed. The idea that did win gold was the third idea me and my partner had and we KILLED because we didn’t think it was strong enough. Thats like the worst thing that could happen. I am still hoping someone is pulling my leg here..
For some reason when I am in Lebanon I have a very bad habit of lying to taxi drivers. I think its because I feel sorry for them or because I don’t want to seem like a tourist in my own country but whatever the reason is, I always lie to them.
I always make it look like I work in Lebanon for one thing. When I get asked what I do for a living I am honest and tell them advertising but then I complain about how there isn’t much work in Lebanon and how I am considering leaving and that I have offers from Qatar and Kuwait. When they ask me if I know how to drive I say yes of course, how many Lebanese do you know that don’t? Then I either say that (a) I had an accident back in October and totaled the car so until I could afford to fix it I take cabs, or (b) I live with my brother so he drops me off where I want so I don’t see a reason to buy a car.
Cab drivers don’t make a lot of money in Lebanon and the expression on their faces and in their eyes just saddens me. I like giving them big tips, I actually leave big tips to a lot of people here in Lebanon since its like everyone has financial difficulties…
Just finished packing my bags and will head out to the airport in a bit. I am not going to post from there (the airport) since I am packing my laptop with my main luggage. I will most probably post again later in the evening. See ya!
