The Dewaniya Show on Marina FM brought up my post on my parents having to leave Kuwait for good and discussed the topic of long term expats on the air. They’ve only shared the first two and a half minutes online which you can watch above, but I’m hoping to get a hold of the whole episode since I’m curious to what peoples opinions on the subject was. Once I do I’ll post it up here.
Update: Ali Khajah the host of the show also wrote an article on this subject in Aljarida newspaper which you can read [Here]
“The Unmissing Part” is a short 2 minute film by Kuwaiti film maker Ahmad Alkhudari. The film won a total of 11 awards at various film festivals around the world last year which is pretty impressive so check it out.
Just digitized this video taken at the Kuwait Ice Skating Rink back in April of 1995. 1991-92 is when I frequented the ice skating rink mostly and back then the music was amazing with hits like Snap – I got the Power and Soul II Soul – Back to Life. Still, the video above should bring back memories and if you look closely you can even spot the arcades in the background.
This is a short film showcasing one of the best wetland reserves in Kuwait, the Al-Jahra Natural Reserve. With scenes similar to the one pictured below you wouldn’t guess this was Kuwait. So beautiful.
The second time in a couple of months that an attack on police was captured on video. This time though one of the cops manages to pull out his weapon which ends up scaring off the attackers. This is one of the cases where the video ends too soon since it stops just as the cop starts running after the attackers with his weapon pulled. If anyone knows what happened after let us know in the comments.
Here is a link to the other incident I mentioned about that took place back in April [Link]
Brownbook magazine shot a short interview with architect Zahra Ali Baba who reflects on her research, the practice of architectural conservation and the importance of history in the development of Kuwait. Its less than 4 minutes, is interesting to watch and nicely shot, so check it out above.
A YouTube user going by the name jalili99Q8 has been uploading tons of old videos on Kuwait. The videos range from music videos, interviews, shows, documentaries and more. Personally I like the documentaries similar to the ones I’ve embedded in this post. Most of the videos I’ve come across have been in Arabic, but there are a few English ones and even if they’re in Arabic, you can still flip through them since the music is usually very 70s or Miami Vice 80s which is amazing.
I’ve shared some videos below but if you want to flip through his whole channel click [Here]
As Americans become increasingly health-conscious and junk food sales plateau in the States, fast food companies are spreading to new global markets, expanding their revenue — and the waistlines of their customers.
VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni travels to Kuwait, now one of the most obese countries on the planet, to witness the health effects on a country deep in the throes of an unlikely obsession with U.S. fast food. “Fast Food of Arabia” airs on HBO Friday, April 21 at 11pm.
I just watched this episode a few moments ago and although it doesn’t bring to light anything we (as in people living in Kuwait) didn’t already know, it did make me realize two things:
1) Some of the most prime seaside real estate is occupied by fast food chains
2) There needs to more education by the government on healthier living
I don’t have any numbers to back this up but I personally don’t think Kuwait is as obese as it used to be 10 years ago when I first brought to light the obesity issue. Back then we didn’t have close to as many gyms as we have today, people were a lot less active (even I used to be an overweight couch potato) and we definitely didn’t have as many healthy food options as we do today. But there still are a vast majority of people who don’t know how to eat healthy. We tend to assume everyone knows what is good or bad for them but thats not the case which is why I think there needs to be more education on this subject. Maybe nutrition classes should be mandatory in schools or something along those lines.
Here are also some interesting dates I got from this episode of VICE:
First KFC in Kuwait – 1973
First Hardees in Kuwait – 1980
First Pizza Hut in Kuwait – 1982
First Mcdonalds in Kuwait – 1994
First Burger King in Kuwait – 1997
I also found out that the Hardees in Kuwait was their first Hardees outside of the U.. So now I’m interested to know the story on how that came to be.
This episode of VICE is 30 minutes long but only the first half focuses on Kuwait so it won’t take too much of your time. Based on Gianna Toboni’s instagram account, she filmed this in Kuwait last August. If you have HBO NOW, you can watch this episode [Here]
Update: If anyone wants the lyrics to the Domino’s Pizza cult song, here they are:
Who are we?
Domino’s Pizza!
What are we?
Number 1!
What’s our job?
Make more pizza! Have more fun!
Make more pizza! Have more fun!
Make more pizza! Have more fun!
Wooow!
Domino’s asking all the right life related questions…
Someone forwarded this video to me yesterday, I don’t have the backstory nor any idea what happened to the guy who is attacking the cop in the video. I found it odd how only one guy comes in to break up the fight and then he treats it like a regular fight between two random people. I mean if I saw a cop getting attacked and needs a bit of help, I would jump in and try to help the cop out not try and break up the fight like I just spotted two kids fighting. [YouTube]
Update: Turns out the cop himself was stopping a fight between the motorist and an Asian national when the man turned on the cop. He got arrested. [Source]
There is a low detail 3D walkthrough video of the new Terminal 2 airport available online. It’s divided into two parts, first part is arrival to the airport, checking-in and then heading towards your gate. The second part is getting off the plane and heading to the baggage pickup area. There is no audio in the video and you can skim through it without missing anything important.
Swar Shuaib released his first episode yesterday of his latest season which features an interview with Lindsey Lohan. I was a huge fan of his previous two seasons of the show but this new episode was fairly disappointing. Other than the fact the interview with Lindsey was so bleh (probably cuz of the language barrier), but the show is now filled to the brim with non-stop annoying and distracting product placements. Basically like a local fashionistas instagram account except in video format. Check it out above and skip to 18:22 if you just want to watch the awkward Lindsey Lohan interview.
Note: By the way, just to give you an idea of how popular his videos are, he’s already got nearly a million views and it’s just been 12 hours since the video has gone up.
A few days back I posted a video on twitter of the new Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Hospital light show. Looked pretty weird for a hospital building, clearly they were testing out the exterior lights but it still feels out of place that they have these lights in the first place for a hospital. Anyway a follower thought it looked like something out of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which I realized it did so I put together a quick mashup which you can watch above.
This is a short 23 minute documentary on Kuwait that dates back to 1974. While watching it I felt there was something different about it, the soundtrack along with the framing of some of the shots made this documentary feel a bit artsy. Then near the end of the film at the 18:30 mark, it started to get a bit trippy, like a mixture of Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey. So once the film was over I waited for the credits to roll to see who it was directed by and turns out it was directed by a guy called John Feeney who was nominated for an Academy Award.. twice! So totally worth watching, if you don’t have the time then just forward to 18:30 of the film. [YouTube]
Mubarak Almubarak is a Kuwaiti director who I’ve actually posted about before since he’s also a special effects artist and a pretty good one. His previous short film I posted was called “My Life” which I’ve gone ahead and embedded again below. I loved that short film because the crumbling and destroyed Kuwait City landscape reminded me of a scene from the movie “I Am Legend”.
Well Mubarak is back with another short this time featuring our favorite Japanese super robot, Grendizer. In the short film which I’ve shared above, you’ll see a destroyed Kuwaiti neighborhood as well as a bunch of short robot battle scenes that takes place in the middle of Kuwait City.
According to Mubarak he’s going to start working on a bunch of new fun personal projects and fan films and he’s starting off with this one. I love it, makes me wish it was a much longer film. His production house by the way is called [NGU Productions]
I could swear I had seen and posted the video above before but turns out the structure of the film as well as some of the footage and dialogue is shared with another video I had posted a few years ago. The video above on the other hand was uploaded by the archive website Periscope Film last week and is actually pretty good quality for a film from the 60s.
If you’re into old stuff like this then make sure you browse through the “50s to 90s” category on my blog [Here]
