Category: Personal

Around two weeks ago I took my BMW to European Center (markaz oropee) in Shuwaikh to service my car. I figured I would save a whole bundle of money by not taking it to the dealer plus they would fix it quicker. I dropped my car in the morning, the guy told me the car would be fixed by noon, I told him I would be at work so I would pick it up at 6. At 6:30 I pass by and they were still working on the car. All they had to do was replace brake pads, gas filter, air filter and fan belts, I was really pissed but there wasn’t anything I could do. Anyway I ended up leaving from them at 7:30 and turned out the wipers has suddenly stopped working and I just felt they did a lousy quick ass job. Anyway forward to yesterday, I start the car and I hear this crackling popping sound and the engine revs were jumping. I opened the hood and the sound was coming from the engine so I guessed one of the spark plugs was acting up. So I was like fuck it, I am taking the car to the dealer, I had some other minor problems in the car and I figured I would get them fixed once and for all at BMW.

I woke up early today and drove the car to the BMW dealer. I get there and they were extremely friendly and professional. I sit down and start talking to the guy about my car troubles and he took notes down like a psychiatrist. He then went out checked the car himself and we came back and sat down again. He told me for them to “check” on the problems I have listed he estimates it would cost me KD200. Not to fix the problems, just to check the problems. I told him how about you skip the checking part and just go straight to fixing the problems because I know what they are. He is like to fix a problem they need to check it first. I was like fine, we started going down the list of problems I had given him and I marked off 3 superficial problems and that managed to bring down the estimate to KD100. He then told me they needed 4 to 5 days to check the car and then get back to me on how much it will cost to fix the problems.

I then asked about renting a car from them since I do that when I drop the Wrangler off at the Jeep dealer for the full service. Turns out they do rent cars but they were completely out of my league. The cheapest car they had was for KD40 a day while I usually pay KD7 when I rent from the Jeep dealer.

So in conclusion I think I am going to get raped with the price.. but psychologically I will at least feel that these guys know what they are doing and they will fix things right… I hope.

Shortbus
A pretty strange movie dealing with different people and their problems. I don’t understand how this movie is not x-rated.
I Liked it.

The Pursuit of Happyness
This movie had so much negativity. The whole movie is just one sad story. I think its my favorite Will Smith movie, but damn this movie is sad.
I Liked it.

You, Me and Dupree
Boring, annoying and so very 90s style comedy. Wasn’t expecting it to win an oscar but I was at least expecting it not to put me to sleep.
I didn’t like it.

300
I didn’t think there were enough fighting scenes and I also wish the fighting scenes were longer. The movie was visually stunning and there are a lot of memorable moments and quotes.
I liked it.

The Last King of Scotland
I wasn’t expecting to like this movie but it took me by surprise. The story is engaging and it never got boring. Forest Whitaker is such an amazing actor.
I liked it.

The Queen
I found this movie really slow, uneventful, unentertaining and a waste of time.
I didn’t like it.

I don’t think newspapers should participate in April Fools. It’s just lame. Newspapers are supposed to be a source of truth not hoaxes. If you don’t know what I am talking about check the main page of the Kuwait Times. They have an article saying that alcohol is now legal in Kuwait. Its very easy for newspapers to pass a hoax as truth because people trust newspapers. They are taking advantage of this trust, I didn’t fall for it but how many people out there today will? [Link]

Picture taken from ads2blog

Today I went riding with Marzouq in the morning as I have been doing practically every Friday. Today though it was a completely different ride then our usual. Today we took the Fahaheel Expressway and rode down to Mina Abdullah. Once we got to there we took the inside rode and rode down all the way to Julia’a, then to Bnaider and finally to Al Zoor gas station.

The road we took was amazing. It was a narrow newly paved two lane road and it had a lot of twists and turns. It was also really long which was great since the weather was perfect and the road really fun. I got some good practice taking turns while trying to lean the bike really low thanks to Marzouq coaching skills. Now, after todays experience I trust my bike a lot more then I did before.

Before we left the south and got back onto the Fahaheel express way, I told Marzouq I had a problem when we were riding on it earlier in the day. Whenever I hit speeds exceeding 120km my jacket (which I now believe is a size too big for me) fluttered from the wind like crazy and it was painful. He told me I should just move as far back on the seat as I can and then lean over low so that my chest is touching the gas tank. That would bring me down really low behind my front faring which would protect me from the wind. I tried it and it worked! I was able to reach much much higher speeds without any side effects from the wind.

Anyway hopefully we will be riding their again since its such a beautiful place. And whats up with all these challets with cool names. I found one called “South Beach” and I figured it was some funky private beach but it turned out to be just a name of a challet.

So I woke up today morning and realized it had been raining outside. I had two options to get to work, either take my Wrangler which currently has no roof on, or take a cab. After yesterdays experience with cabs I decided I would take the Wrangler. I put on a cap and a weather proof jacket and headed to work and although it rained kind of heavy part of the way it really wasn’t bad. As long as I was moving I didn’t get wet and it was definitely more enjoyable then taking cabs.

The weather is getting pretty hot. I went out riding with Marzouq today and I took the picture above when we stopped for ice cream. Later we stopped at Starbucks in Marina for some icy frappuccinos.

I was chatting with a friend the other day who is a Harley rider when I noticed something interesting. When Harley riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them a lot heavier since all the chrome and accessories add weight to the bike. When sports bike riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them lighter since most of the parts weigh less then the stock ones. We are like complete opposites.

Kabab Al Hajat are know in Kuwait for their Kababs but recently they started making shawerma and I was curious to know how well it faired up.

Anyone who has ever been to Kabab Al Hajat and tried ordering food will know that there usually its extremely crowded and wait is long. Thankfully the shawerma station there has its own cashier and so is never full. When I passed by they only had chicken shawerma but the guy told me they were going to add meat also soon. I ordered two chicken and a coke, each shawerma costs 250fils and the coke 100fils.

Firstly it is important to point out I had my shawerma at lunch time. Very very few places serve shawerma during the day for some reason, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 places max that serve shawerma for lunch so Kabab Al Hajat don’t have much competition while the sun is still out.

How did the shawerma taste? Well the garlic wasn’t strong which I usually mark as a bad thing. This time though I actually appreciated it because I was having shawerma during my lunch break and I didn’t want to get back to the office stinking of garlic. The overall flavor of the shawerma though was average, nothing in it stuck out as being amazing and there was no flavor that tasted weird or out of place. They use small Arabic bread not the hot dog one (samoon).

For the final score I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Since they serve shawerma for lunch I think thats a great thing and I would pass by again for sure. At night though I would rather drive a bit further and get a shawerma from Badar Al Badoor.

Today on our lunch break me and my friend decided to pass by Marina Waves and try wall climbing and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

After some short instructions we decided to climb the beginners wall first. It looks easy when you see someone climbing but its really not. After some minor struggling we both raced to the top but then we didn’t know how to come back down. We both looked down and it was the scariest sight, we were like hanging from the top and the bottom looked really far. In the end we decided we would climb back down the wall and not try and see if the safety rope worked. Around half way down I decided to let go though and the safety rope did end up bringing me down. Turns out to come down you just rappel down with the rope.

We spent 40 minutes trying to climb different difficulties, I managed to climb two thirds up the medium side while my friend managed to hit the top. Thats as far as we got ranking wise. Other then that the whole thing was a struggle for both of us since we both aren’t very fit, me less fit then him of course. After 40 minutes I couldn’t even make it half way up the easy side yet alone attempt to climb the difficult one.

The whole thing was a lot of fun and I am definitely going back again. It costs KD4 for an hour of climbing, gear included. They open from 12PM to 12AM except for weekends its 10AM to 12PM. I now appreciate the extreme climber a lot more.

I got back from Lebanon yesterday night. My flight arrived at around 11:30PM which was around the same time Star Academy Prime was on LBC. I wanted to watch it to see if we made it on the program since they were going to talk about the making of the MTC commercial. According to k.thekuwaiti I did make it on the program but only for around 4 seconds and I was like in the background behind Shada. Not bad considering I was the only one from my agency that actually made the final cut and appeared on the show.

I am currently in a studio up in the mountains where they are working on the color grading of the MTC Atheer commercial. Yesterday after the commercial shoot they dropped the films here where they were developed and converted to video, a process called telecine. Now we are working on the color grading of the video which is the process of altering or enhancing the colors of the video. When you pull the video off the film its in very raw form and needs to be color graded before use. The commercial director and director of photography are both present for this process.

I have a few pictures and a short video I want to post hopefully today from yesterdays shoot but I am waiting to get permission from LBC. Once I do I will put them up.

Today I had the MTC Atheer commercial shoot with Ilham Al Madfai and Shada from Star Academy. I woke up at 7AM and was on the set by 8. The whole shoot took place in an old house/museum here in Lebanon and it was a really beautiful location. The shoot started at 8:30AM and ended 16 hours later at 12:30AM. It was extremely exhausting with only 1 short break for lunch.

Its now 2:15AM and I just got back to the hotel room. I am posting three pictures from todays shoot for now but will try to post more pictures tomorrow with more details.

We were done with the music recording at around 7PM and so I came back to my friends place where we played some Nintendo Wii. I think I am over the Wii, its not as fun as I imagined it to be and its really exhausting to play. When I pick up a joystick to play a video game its because I want to relax and chill out in front of the TV. The Wii on the other hand demands physical effort which I really don’t want to give. I think I am going to get the Xbox 360 instead. Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out in May and thats all I really need, oh and an NHL game.

I just got to the recording studio awhile ago, they have wifi here which is pretty cool. I am in Lebanon on an MTC Atheer (Iraq) commercial shoot involving Shada from Star Academy and Ilham Al Madfai. Currently Shada is inside recording and we are just waiting outside until she is done. This studio is really huge, so huge they actually have their own restaurant inside.

Today we are recording the soundtrack to the commercial but tomorrow we will be actually shooting it. The picture above is of the large set at this recording studio.

update: Ilham just arrived and said hi to everyone. He seems like a cool and down to earth guy.

I arrived to Lebanon I think around 1:30PM Lebanon time, left the airport and came straight to the hotel where I just lazed it out. Today is the only day where I can relax and do nothing so I am taking advantage of it. In a bit my brother is coming to pick me up and I will probably go have a drink and a bite to eat with him somewhere.

My rooms view is pretty sweet, I got the sea view this time around which is great. One thing I forgot to pack is a swimsuit, the hotel here has a roof top pool which overlooks Beirut, its an incredible view which makes swimming very tempting. Oh yeah, the weather here is like Kuwait… winter is over.

Best thing about this hotel is the location, its near the American University of Beirut which means there are a lot of things to do here when I have free time. By a lot of things I mostly mean food.

I need to go down to Beirut for a few days to shoot a commercial and I should be back Friday night. My flight leaves at noon so I have to pack everything tonight. I will have Internet access from my hotel room so I will continue to blog from there.