Category: Personal

The other day I posted about how I took the roof off the Wrangler and how cats were coming in and napping inside. Well today I went down to the car to find a ton of fur on the back seat. Seems either two cats were fighting or humping in the back seat…

Over a year ago I got the Sennheiser PX100 headphones to replace my Shure E2s canal phones. The Shure’s although really great weren’t very practical for office use since putting them on was a hassle and at work I am always being interrupted which meant I had to keep taking them on and off. Thats when I decided to go with the PX100 headphones and the sound was really great but, I ran into problems. The PX100 were open air meaning they let sound in and they also let sound out. People around me could easily hear what I was listening to and I could hear them. This is why I researched for new closed headphones.

I found a nice bunch of headphones including the amazing the Beyerdynamic DT 990 which I was ready to get until I found out they had an impedance of 250ohms which meant I needed one heck of an amp to power them.. not very iPod friendly. After days of research on Headfi.org I realized the headphones for me were the Austrian designed AKG K81 headphones. They were closed air, had a good amount of bass and a very decent sound stage. They were also 32ohms which meant would run off my iPod very nicely and they were very affordable at $95.

I have been using the AKG’s for a few months now and I love them. They are very comfortable and the sound is superb. For the price I paid I don’t think I could have gotten anything better. I think they are the best headphones you could get for under $100. But, its not perfect. The headphones just barely fit me. I don’t have a large head but I am guessing Austrians have a small one because I have the headphones expanded to the max and they just barely fit. So if you have a big head I wouldn’t recommend the AKG. Final score is a 4 out of 5.

As you probably noticed I have a new sponsor, Al Ghalia Group who are based in Bahrain. This means I now have a total of 5 banners on my blog which I won’t deny is a lot. I have tried my best not to clutter up the blog too much with banners and this is honestly the best I can do.

Like you I would rather this blog had no banners at all but the banners are there for a reason… they provide me with extra income. I understand these banners decrease the aesthetics of the blog but the money is actually pushing me to continue blogging.

Blogging daily is difficult, its a lot of pressure and it takes time. I currently try to post a minimum of 3 posts a day so I could remain consistent. If I didn’t have the income coming in from the banners I might have stopped blogging ages ago or at least I would have stopped posting as often.

Now money usually is not a comfortable subject to discuss but this is a blog and I think its important for me to be as open as I can with my readers.

How much money am I making? Well I have decided to share with everyone a PDF file I send to people who request information on advertising on the blog. Its my rate card and you can download it by clicking [Here]. I wasn’t sure if I should make this information public or not but I figured if I was a reader I would be curious to know how much money this blog is making the same way I am curious to know how much money engadet or digg make. Well as you can see from the rate card this blog is currently making nearly $3000 a month. This is a good chunk of cash and I hope now everyone understands why I have so many banners here.

I have not sold out. Just because I am making money from the blog doesn’t mean I have sold out. All I am doing is cashing in on my 15 minutes of fame. When something sucks I will still say it sucks and when something is good I will still say its good.

Anyway it feels awkward sharing this information but I hope everyone especially my long time readers understand the reason for all these banners. Thank you!

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update: If anyone has any questions you can ask by leaving a comment below and I will reply to it.

One reader, Biohazard asked an important question which is Can I bash a sponsors product? The answer is simply no. When Alghanim Automotive were my sponsors I told them that if a cars they lent me to test drive sucked then I would post negative stuff about it. So what they did was just lend me their best cars. Now though what I do is tell my sponsors that if they lend me a product to try out and it turns out to suck I will just not mention the product at all. This way they aren’t afraid to send me more stuff to try out.

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update 2: I changed the location of the new banner because of complaints. If you prefer the new location over the previous one please leave a comment below. In case you missed it here is a screen shot of the previous location. [Screen Shot]

The Wrangler is way cooler with the roof off and I wish I could keep it like this all year round. I have one problem though, it seems at night cats are coming and sleeping inside the car, I don’t know how to stop them from doing that. I mean I don’t mind them napping in the car but I am just worried they are going to pee in it or something.

Here are some movies I watched the past few days, I didn’t like any of them.

Blood Diamond
This was a movie I had been looking forward to see for some time now. When I finally got to watch it, I didn’t like it and it was mostly because of the story. The movie is trying to be real and emotional by showing the truth behind the illegal diamond industry in Africa and while all I wanted to watch was a no brainer action movie.

Little Children
Another movie I had been looking forward to see for a very long time. Sadly the trailer painted a different picture from the actual movie. Not that the movie was bad because it wasn’t. The trailer made me expect a thriller but the movie turned out to be more drama mixed in with romance.

Lonely Hearts
I watched this movie because of James Gandolfini. Since the new season of Sopranos still hasn’t started I figured I could get my dose of mob stories from Lonely Hearts. Turns out this movie had nothing to do with mobs and James Gandolfini was actually a good guy. I still gave the movie a chance but it was just boring. The whole movie is about this serial killer which might have been something dramatic back in the 1940s where the movie is based but today with shows like CSI and Dexter, serial killers is something of the norm.

Babel
Finally Babel. This movie has to be the worst of the bunch. Its trying to follow the same style as last years big hit Crash where stories come together but this time there are 4 different stories located across 3 different countries. The stories alone are nothing exciting and even in the end when they all come together it didn’t do anything for me. Crash was a whole lot better.

Now I have one more movie I want to watch today and thats Little Miss Sunshine. Hopefully it won’t be disappointing.

Unlike Kuwaitism, I don’t have work today.

Usually while watching TV my dog comes over with a tennis ball wanting me to play fetch with him. I usually throw the ball for him a bit until it starts getting really wet and then I start pushing him away. Recently I noticed he stopped coming to me to play fetch. Turns out he found another way to get entertained and it didn’t require him coming over and begging me to play with him..

What he has been doing is taking the tennis ball and going over to the edge of the stairs (I live in a duplex) and letting the ball fall down the stairs. He stands watching it fall down then once it hits the bottom he runs down, picks up the ball and goes back to the top to start all over again. Its amazing how little it takes to entertain him.

Today morning I went riding with Marzouq on the Gulf Road. The weather is great so I am trying to take advantage of it as much as I can. Other then riding my bike I am going to be taking the roof off of my Wrangler (after National Day due to foam season) and I will also be going out riding.. on my bicycle. I haven’t ridden my bike since early last year way before I got my motorbike so I figured I would start again now since the weather is good again.

I went to Ace Hardware, picked up an electric air pump and came back home to pump some air into my bicycles tires. After filling it with air I decided I would take it for a small spin around my parking lot just to see how it felt.

It felt incredibly strange. Because I now ride a motorbike, riding my bicycle just feels completely way off. The seat is uncomfortably hard, the bicycle is super light, the riding position is different and the strangest thing of all.. I have to actually PEDAL! After taking the bicycle for a few spins up and down the floors of my buildings underground parking I was exhausted and had a headache. I couldn’t even ride properly! Since my motorbike weighs around 170KG and my bicycle like 12KG I was literally throwing it around turns.

Tomorrow I am going to try riding my bicycle around Salmiya, if it turns out to be a crappy experience like today I will probably end up selling it. The whole point of the bicycle was to go urban exploring but now since I have a motorbike license I can just go get myself a dirt bike.

So its this time of year again when Kuwait turns into one large foam party. I don’t mind it if some of the kids weren’t like REALLY into it.

Tonight I was waiting in traffic and some kids passed by and asked if they could spray my car. My window was closed so I figured what the hell let them have some fun. The kids started foaming my car but then one faggot starts spraying my front windshield and then lifts up my wipers. Right then the traffic light turned green and I started to drive off blindly, I turned on my wipers and it was useless and the water was barely having an effect. Finally I had to stop my car in the middle of the Gulf Road and get out to put the wipers back down because I literally couldn’t see anything in front of me.

I mean come on what the fuck? I was nice enough to let you foam my car so why the hell are you trying to kill me? This is the problem with foaming, some people really abuse it.

I watched The Prestige yesterday night at Marzouqs place. It was a really really good movie specially when compared to The Illusionist. The movie is over 2 hours long but its one of those movies you just wished it was even longer.

The Prestige Vs The Illusionist and Christian Bale Vs Edward Norton. No contest here because The Prestige has a much better storyline with an interesting although controversial twist at the end in addition Christian Bale’s character is more exciting. Even the other supporting actors like Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine were performing at their best. But really its the story, the idea behind The Prestige that set this movie apart from The Illusionist. The problem with The Illusionist is that very little happened and there was very little magic. The Prestige on the other hand is full of events and you get to see a ton of magic tricks and best of all they even show you how they were made, something The Illusionist was lacking.

The main plot deals with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman who are both magicians. Early in the movie an event takes place which results in the two hating each other. The whole movie is about them competing against each other.

For the final score I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. Without spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn’t watched it, the reason it didn’t get a full 5 out of 5 was because of the ending, it just wasn’t as real as the rest of the movie.

Oh and fuck Thomas Edison!

Pan’s Labyrinth (Movie)
I didn’t like it, it bored me and was uneventful.

Harsh Times (Movie)
I hated Christian Bale in this movie a lot and thats why I loved this movie. He is such an amazing actor, so real that the whole movie I thought he was such a dickhead.

Casino Royale (Movie)
He barely had a cool car for 3 seconds, there was no car chase, no secret gadgets tucked up his sleeves, he still drinks martini and there was no nudity. Yawn.

What Dreams May Come (Movie)
Super boring.

Heroes (TV Show)
Really amazing, lots of characters and things happening. My second favorite show at the moment.

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (TV Show)
Not to be mistaken with Ramsay’s Hells Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares is a much more exciting show. I really love it, its my favorite show at the moment although I think I have watched all the episodes available.

Lost Season 3 (TV Show)
Extremely boring. The shows viewership in the US has also dropped by half. Hopefully they take this as a sign and kill the show.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 (TV Show)
Still fun to watch, things are actually happening on the show unlike Lost.

Prison Break Season 2 (TV Show)
Biggest surprise of the year. I thought once they escaped show would get boring but its one of the most exciting shows this year, they really did a good job with the story.

24 Season 6 (TV Show)
Un-Fucking-Believable.

Seems I pissed someone off at Brainstorm the architecture firm because I said they made a mess of the new Bazaar website (they designed it). Here are two comments left by them on my blog today:

HIHI what is going on… I believe a blog for most of all should be nautral and independant. Or you can call it 248complainingandbitching…

I just checked out the Bazaar site and I think it is very coool and I cant wait to see the readable issue on site.. Because how irritating is it when Starbucks is out of copies. Now what is wrong for an arcitecture firm who also have a grapich department, doing his site….? Honestly we are all designers with new ideas.. and yours are highly appreciated, but stop using your own tast as an agenda.. The site is still under development, so give it some time and you will see. Go and bitch at others magazines who are copying Bazaar big time. That is a crime!!!!

I do not agree that Bloggers are nerds, but I do think that what Bazaar did was right, because it is the freedom of speach. And if that pisses you off so much Mark, why do you bitch and complain about others all the time. We all read your blog and we do like it, but try to be grown up enough to take some criticism and turn it in to something. If there was not a hint of truth to it, you would not react so harsh… I guess all doze long days infront of the computer are getting to you.. you should do some outdoor sport other than walking your dog…and driving your bike.. And leave Bazaar alone , he is older than you by 10 years…

Bazaar Magazine have a new website (finally no more hotmail emails) which you can access by going to bazaar-magazine.com. Sadly the WHOLE site is flash based which is a disaster. Who still does a fully flashed based website nowadays yet alone a magazine?

As K.thekuwaiti put it, Flash is dead. Bazaar should have done a proper online magazine which would archive all their articles so they could at least be search able. They need to start building a database of all their previous issues and their current ones because old fashioned print magazines are quickly becoming extinct. Digital is the future and a perfect example of an excellent magazines online presence is WIRED.

Finally, where is the Bazaar blog? Majority of companies and corporations are adding blogs to their website so its surprising to see that a popular, young and trendy publication like Bazaar still hasn’t jumped on board the blogging wagon knowing for a fact that the editor of the magazine and majority of their writers read blogs themselves.

Currently the website barely has anything to make it worthy of a second visit. Unless they revamp it I don’t think I would ever bother checking it again. [Link]

Today the weather started off perfect. In the morning I went riding with Marzouq on my bike and then in the afternoon drove around in the SLK with the roof down. Its a lot of fun driving around in a roadster convertible, so fun that I didn’t want to even park the car somewhere so I could take shots for the blog.

I was cruising on the Gulf Road with Nat by my side when I spotted k.thekuwaitis car on the other side of the road heading the opposite way. He then called me up and we decided to meet up on the side of the road. Thats when I took the camera out to take shots of the car or else I would have kept on driving.

The SLK although having the small 1.8 liter engine doesn’t feel too slow on the road. The acceleration feels fast and I thought the car was actually faster then my beemer but to my surprise when I checked the stats online turns out the SLK actually is 1.1 seconds slower from 0-100. I guess with the roof down and the sound of the engine blasting it exaggerates the impression of speed.

So far I am really enjoying the car. Its both compact and a convertible so its a lot of fun. Best thing of course is the hard top. Once the weather got really dusty it took a click of a button to put the top back up and just like that its not a convertible anymore, it was a coupe with a hard roof.

Today afternoon I went picked up a red Mercedes SLK from the dealer so I could review it over the weekend. Originally I was supposed to get the G55 but it was out with a potential buyer so I got the SLK instead. Which by the way isn’t a disappointment at all since the weather is perfect for a convertible.

I have had a crush on the SLK for a long time now but the original one, the first model that came out was a bit girlish while the new model looks more aggressive. They gave me the SLK200 which is the low end version of the car meaning no power seats, no navigation and the smallest engine but all that really doesn’t matter when flying down the Gulf Road with the roof down.

The first thing I did once I drove out of the dealers lot was to bring down the hard top with a click of a button. My Wrangler needs like 15 minutes and 2 people to be able to remove the roof and here I was sitting in my car and with a flick of a switch, 30 seconds later the roof was off. How I love technology. I am extremely disappointed that BMW still use soft tops which I really hate.

The color of the SLK is red which matches my Ducati nicely. It was dark by the time I picked up the car so I couldn’t take any decent pictures so I will take better ones tomorrow. While at the dealer waiting to pick up the car I spotted an SLR on display. I was surprised they were displaying it since I thought you needed to order the car. The price is KD150,000 which the dealer assured me is a good deal since it was previously priced at KD165,000. Thats still a bit over my budget.