2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The 1976 movie “The Message” is one of the classics currently playing at Cinescape’s 1954 movie theater. What not a lot of people know is that the star of the film, Anthony Quinn came to Kuwait back then because of the movie. Kuwait, Libya and Morocco had originally promised to support the making of the film financially, but when it was rejected by the Muslim World League in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait still kept its financial support which is why I think the press conference was held here.

Above is a short clip from the conference which starts with Anthony Quinn and then is followed by the director Moustapha Akkad. If someone knows where I can find the full video, let me know.

Sitting two seats down to the left of Anthony Quinn is also Farouq Abdul-Aziz, the creator and host of the Kuwait Television cultural show “Cine Club” which aired from 1977 to 1992. According to a recent interview I found with Farouq, turns out he was later hired to document the making of Anthony Quinn’s movie “Lion of the Desert“. You can watch a short clip from that interview above.

And completely random but related, I just found out while researching the info above that Farouq was also responsible for the Kuwait scenes in Ron Fricke’s award-winning movie documentary “Baraka”. He had researched and produced those scenes which you can view above. If you haven’t watched “Baraka” or the follow up film “Samsara“, then you’re missing out.

You’ve probably seen the ads on the roads for Drops, they’re a grocery store app where you order your items from and they’d deliver them to you. There are a bunch of other grocery store delivery apps but I was attracted to Drops for the simplicity which is why I’ve been using them.

I generally used to love grocery shopping in person but that was mostly when Sultan Center Shaab was open. The place was never too busy and it was always a good calming experience shopping there. Once that location shut down I never really got used to shopping at another supermarket and covid after that just made things worse. I live next to Lulu in Salmiya but that place is so overcrowded and tight, it’s never a chill experience shopping there. The old Sultan Center in Salmiya on the other hand looks great with their new redesigned interior but somehow managed to make the checkout process an even worse experience than before. I’ve stopped shopping there completely because of the checkout layout which is chaotic, squeezed and so old-fashioned. They really should have installed some self-checkout counters at least, it’s 2021! Or at least, at the very least set up a single queue multiple counters layout.

When vacationing in Europe a couple of weeks back I barely dealt with any cashiers, most places I shopped in were self-checkout and a lot of places now had RFID baskets where you just place your items next to the checkout screen and the machine prices everything in it. Super convenient.

Anyway back to Drops. I’ve used them a few times and I like them. Unlike some other apps, with Drops you don’t pick a supermarket and then shop for items. Instead, you treat Drops as a large supermarket and not just a delivery platform. You can shop either by category, brand, or just search for the specific items directly and add it to your cart. You can also create various “wishlists” of items you usually order to make it easier to add the next time. I’ve used them a bunch of times and the items generally arrive within 2 hours. The first time it took longer than 2 hours and they credited my account back with the delivery charge. All the items arrive in Drops branded boxes or bags and the delivery guy has a small trolly so you can order boxes of water for example and not feel guilty about the delivery guy having to carry them.

The worst thing about Drops though is their tracking system is shit. All my orders that were already delivered still showing as “Being Prepared”. When the item goes out for delivery you can’t tell nor can you track the driver even though these features are built into the app, they just never progress past the “Being Prepared” stage.

The prices of the items on Drops are similar to what I pay when I go to the supermarket myself. The only difference is I now pay 1KD to have them deliver the items which really isn’t that bad considering how much time they save me as well as having them deliver the heavy boxes of water instead of me having to carry them up from my car in multiple trips.

If you want to try them out they’re on instagram @dropskuwait and you can download the app from the Apple and Android app stores.

Claudia Al Rashoud has been documenting Kuwait since 1979 when she became the first professional female photojournalist at the Arab Times newspaper. Tomorrow (Wednesday) she is holding a seminar titled ‘Forty-two Years of Documenting Kuwait’ which is open to the public. Claudia will be talking about how her photographic work and how it began in the chaotic conditions of a newspaper darkroom as well as other subjects like why Kuwait’s desert environment and animal welfare are among her major areas of concern.

Date: Wed, November 3, 2021
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Yarmouk Cultural Centre – Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah

If you want to attend the talk you need to register by clicking here.

Movember in Motion is taking place today at the Volvo Studio in Khaleejiya Complex. It’s a men’s health awareness event and will include food by Swedish Eatery, music by DjFARI, talks on mental health and prostate cancer by two doctors and even a shaving booth.

5:30 PM to 9:00 PM and here is the location on Google Maps.

Kuwait’s favorite tabletop gaming store ‘Good Game’ started their two-week-long sale today. The sale is only taking place in-store so if you haven’t been to their new location yet this is a good reason to pass by (It also gives you the excuse to pass by Spunsprinkles upstairs).

Games will be discounted up to 90% and this will also be the very first time they have a sale on Magic the Gathering products. If you want to pass by, here is their location on Google Maps and they’re on Instagram @goodgamekw

● Following the success of its #CookWithMe TikTok campaign, talabat has launched a special collection featuring viral TikTok dishes available for order.

● From October 28th, customers can order a variety of viral dishes through the talabat application.

● These viral dishes have received an astonishing 750,000 likes, 19,000 reshares and over 6,000 comments.

talabat, the region’s leading food delivery and q-commerce platform has launched a special collection of dishes from its viral #CookWithMe campaign, due to overwhelming demand from consumers eager to experience the TikTok creations.

The dishes, PB&J smoothies, Nutella treats combined with mozzarella cheese (AKA, Bella Mozza-tella) and chip-crusted chickenare only available at Everyday Coffee, Kofe, Steers, All Things Acai, 32 Burger, and respectively – and can only be ordered for a limited time.

These dishes have received an astonishing 750,000 likes, 19,000 reshares, and over 6,000 comments, once again proving that amazing food does in fact break the internet.

The special edition TikTok collection will be available for a limited amount of time on talabat. Consumers can download the talabat application from the iOS Store, Google Play Store or Huawei App Gallery. Link

For the first time in the Middle East, six writers from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will have the opportunity to turn their dream project into an Arabic-language TV show. The National Creative Industries Group (NCIG) in partnership with Netflix have created an intensive program designed to incubate six creators to turn their TV series ideas into pitch decks ready to present to Netflix in six weeks.

If you have a TV series idea you think would be great for Netflix, submissions to apply for this program opens tomorrow (November 1st).

Selected participants will receive:⁣
– Mentoring and masterclasses led by best-in-class industry professionals⁣
– Sessions with the Netflix development team⁣
– Training and certification by the world-renowned New York Film Academy⁣
– The opportunity to pitch final projects to the Netflix team⁣
– For Saudi-based participants, all travel and accommodation in Kuwait will be covered⁣
⁣
For more information, click here.

Note: This is open to people residing in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, expats included.

Just a quick note in case anyone is trying to google this information. If your car is older than 1980, you now can only get your car registration renewed at the main Assima (Capital Governorate) Traffic Department. Previously you could get it renewed at other traffic departments like Jabriya but not anymore. I went last week and I really don’t like that place. Super busy, long lines and the whole place is crumbling.

Earlier this year the Ministry of Interior launched a separate English Instagram account for non-Arabic speakers. If you don’t follow them, the account is @moi_kuw_en

A bunch of interesting events happening this weekend. Murouj was meant to also have a market this weekend but they had to postpone. I personally signed up for the classic car open track on Saturday although not sure how much actual racing I’ll be doing in my Alfa. All Kuwait Motor Town events are open for the public to come and watch. Check out all the events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Melemele Karaoke Halloween Weekend
Skateboarding: Halloween Huckjam
Kuwait Motor Town: Drag Open Day – Roll Race
Kuwait Motor Town: Car Open Track Day
Live Painting/Sculpting Night
House of Evil Drive In Movie

Friday
Melemele Karaoke Halloween Weekend
Sailing: Friday Morning Race
Trashtag Bneid Al Qar Beach Clean Up
Kuwait Motor Town: Motorcycle Open Track Day
Kuwait Motor Town: Car Open Track Day
Sunrise Ashtanga
House of Evil Drive In Movie
C Club 5K Charity Run
Persian/Arabian Music Night

Saturday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Grand Mosque Tour
Melemele Karaoke Halloween Weekend
Sailing: Saturday Sunset Cruising
Gulf Bank Breast Cancer Awareness Walkathon
Flying Start Triathlon
Kuwait Motor Town: Race Car Open Track Day
Kuwait Motor Town: Classic Car Open Track Day
Afro Night at Curiocity
House of Evil Drive In Movie
Exhibition: Fajer AlWugayan

As usual, if I’ve missed an event, let me know in the comments below.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Antlers (6.3)
Awoken (5.2)
Minamata (7.7)
Monster Family 2 (4.5)
The Gateway (4.5)
The Survivalist (3.3)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Cruella (7.4)
Dragon Rider (5.6)
Dune (8.5)
Halloween Kills (7.4)
Flag Day (4.7)
Luca (7.5)
No Time to Die (7.9)
PAW Patrol: The Movie (6.2)
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (6.2)
The Addams Family 2 (5.3)
Tom and Jerry (5.3)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (6.5)

Classic Movies Showing Now:
The Silence of the Lambs (8.6)

The films below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antarctica (N/A)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Interstellar (8.6)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

Before my trip, I booked a car to pick up at the airport on my arrival to Amsterdam and due to Covid, my rental company had a new service where you could fast track the pickup using an app. I’d just have to upload all my info onto the app and once I get to the airport just head straight to the car and pick it up. Only every time I uploaded my information it kept getting rejected. So I finally got in touch with them by email and turns out the reason I kept getting rejected was my birthday on my driving license didn’t match my passport.

Technically according to Kuwait, I have three birthdays.

Passport: 22/08/1978
Civil ID: 22/09/1978
Residency: 01/01/1978

Last year I fixed my Civil ID birthday since it was also causing me issues but didn’t realize my driving license had a different birthday as well. I tried to explain Kuwait to my rental company but they wouldn’t understand so, in the end, I gave up trying to get fast track working and just picked up the car the old-fashioned way by waiting in line.

Now I need to figure out how to synchronize all my birthdays since everything seems to be moving to digital here as well.

BBC published the video above a few hours ago on life in Kuwait during the summer. Not sure why the music had to be so dramatic, it made the whole video sound like we are suffering and dying because of the heat. One thing that caught my interest is the lady planting trees. I don’t know what her day job is but someone should put her in charge of saving Kuwait’s trees.

In case you can’t watch the video above, here is the Link

Last month I posted about DesertCart Plus, a service by the Amazon dropshipping website DesertCart where for 5KD a month you get unlimited free shipping. The only caveat was it only applied to items that weren’t oversized, and DesertCart refused to define what “oversized” was exactly. So you’d only know if your item was oversized or not after placing the order. I mentioned I was going to order a few things small things to try it out and I ended up doing just that.

I signed up to the DesertCart Plus free trial and ordered two items, both very small and cheap, cheap as in shipping would cost more than the item which would mean it usually wouldn’t be worth ordering. One item was an adapter for my tire inflator (KD 2.900) and the other a battery disconnect switch (KD 3.200).

Both items ended up shipping and being delivered to me for free, just as described. In hindsight, I should have tried ordering a larger item to see if I’d run into any issues, but since DesertCart doesn’t define what oversized is, I don’t think that would have been very helpful of a test anyway unless I ordered multiple items in different weights.

Would I sign up to DesertCart Plus? No, but only because the service isn’t useful to me. This service is for people who tend to order a lot of small, light and cheap things off Amazon on a monthly basis. If you fall under that category then the service works. They offer a free trial anyway so you can give it a go yourself without paying the KD 5 monthly fee. Link

Roller Hub, the roller skating rink located in Salmiya opened up earlier this month with not so controversial prices. Although they had originally announced an hour of roller skating was going to cost KD20, they eventually launched with a much more reasonable price of 5KD an hour which also includes the skates.

The reviews on Google have been mostly negative (1.7 out of 5 stars) and according to a friend who went they seem to play mostly Arabic music so that’s something to note. But if you’re interested in trying it out, the rink is located on the 4th floor of a shopping complex (Map) and they’re open from 12PM to 12AM and no children under 15 years of age are allowed. They’re on instagram @rollerhubkw

Photo via @halkizoshe_ifbbpro