Local musician and artist Zahed Sultan has a new music video out that is a cover of the old school Bandaly Family song, “Do you love me?“. Here is what Zahed had to say about the track:
Recorded during the Covid-19 lockdown in London, ‘Layl’ is a reimagination of a famous Lebanese disco song from the 70’s by the Bendaly Family ‘Do You Love Me.’ In this song, I reframe the original version as a contemporary cinematic piece; placing it in a more melancholic and sombre space. With spiraling vocals, deep synths, and rich violin textures, I give greater meaning to the song by expanding on its themes of love and loss; particularly fitting in light of the tragic explosion in Beirut and the crippling of its creative community.
I found a personal connection in ‘Layl’ through the original version’s music video which was shot in Kuwait on the Waterfront, a project designed by my late father Ghazi Sultan. The release of ‘Layl’ marks a new path for me as I dedicate myself to rethinking Arab culture through music and multimedia performance.
It’s getting harder to find shows to watch since I’ve basically watched everything on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Amazon video but thankfully, there are still new shows coming out all the time. Here are some recent ones I’ve watched:
Cobra Kai
If you’re an 80s kid you’re going to love this. Cobra Kai is a TV series that is a sequel to the original movie starring both Ralph Macchio (karate kid) and William Zabka (the kid he fought). It’s a series that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is pretty funny at times especially how they keep making the karate kid look like a bully in the original film and Zabka the victim. This series recently became available on Netflix but has been out for two years (it was a YouTube Original) and so there are two seasons to watch.
Euphoria
I had been putting this series off for some time because I thought it was going to be very teenagery but wow, what an incredible series. I think this might be one of my favorite shows I’ve watched this year. The story, the art direction, the music, the cast, everything about it is just so amazing. Euphoria follows around a bunch of young high school girls who are all friends showing us their different stories. It’s dark, it’s shocking, it’s controversial and it’s really entertaining. If like me you’re a fan of Sex and the City and the series Girls, then you’re going to love this. Euphoria does to Girls what Girls did to Sex and the City. I highly recommend this show, I binge-watched it over a weekend and it’s definitely a must-watch. Euphoria is on HBO.
Raised by Wolves
I just finished watching this series last night and I have mixed feelings about it. The show started off great and interesting, but then past the halfway point, I started losing interest. I was then hoping things would turnaround towards the end of the season but it just didn’t do it for me. I know a lot of people loved it and it scored pretty high on IMDB so I don’t know, maybe its because one of the main characters played by Travis Fimmel (Ragnar from Vikings) started getting on my nerves the same way he started pissing me off in Vikings, or it could be because I wanted the show tp head one direction (more adventure) but it took another (more philosophical?). If you’ve run out of things to watch then I’d watch this, it’s also on HBO.
Totally random and insignificant post to everyone but this post is for people googling looking for a certain brand of oil for their car. My FJ and Lotus get their oil changed at the dealer, but my Alfa and Datsun I change the oil myself. Previously I was getting my car oil from Auto1 on Canada Dry street but they only carried the Lukoil brand and the last time I went they didn’t even have the right viscosity grade I needed. There’s a BMW spare parts store nearby that carries the Liqui Moly brand of oil but they also never seem to have the viscosity I needed and they’re overpriced. But, I recently found a place in Shuwaikh that carried a ton of oil from different brands and grades and its now my goto place for oil.
If you’re looking to buy oil for your car they carry a number of brands including Liqui Moly, Lukoil, Lucas, Kassel, Kendall, Mercedes-Benz, and Shell. Their Instagram account is @q8.oil.center and here is their location on Google Maps (large sign outside that says Motor Plus and also Kuwait Oil Center).
Firstly, I think the place should actually be called Cleopatra’s Records based on the Arabic but their Instagram account name is Cleopatra Recorders so we’re just gonna stick to that. Cleopatra is a music shop in Hawalli that’s been around since back in 1969. I only found out about it last week from a friend and was pretty disappointed in myself that I didn’t know the place.
The store isn’t even hidden in some back alley of Hawalli, it’s actually on the main road opposite Promenade Mall. The store doesn’t look like much from the outside, nor the inside frankly. It’s a long skinny store with shelves filled with cassettes as well as some CDs and 8-track tapes. According to the employee, the original store owner had passed away and the son had taken it over.
I ended up buying a bunch of cassettes of old Kuwaiti music at an average price of KD1.5 each. What’s great is you can listen to the music before you buy it so I was randomly picking up albums off the shelves based on haircuts and outfits, and then I’d listen to them and if I liked it I got it. If you’re looking for old Arabic cassettes this is your place. Their Instagram account is @cleopatra_recorders and here is their location on Google Maps.
This is such a heartbreaking thing to wake up to, the colorful and beautiful wall mural by the artist Jad El Khoury has been destroyed. The artwork titled “Single Man” was commissioned back in 2016 on the side of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. Jad left Lebanon and came to work in Kuwait and the artwork represented a single person trying to fit into a new chaotic environment. The project was sponsored by Jedareyat, a local volunteer group that scours the city and crowdsources for dead walls and artists who can transform them into picture-worthy landmarks.
I think I’m finding this extremely sad because of what the idea of destroying an artwork like this means. If the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters doesn’t appreciate art, then who does? Actions like this and the destruction of important landmarks like the Ice Skating Rink make me feel like we’re moving backward and not forward which is really worrying me. I want to express more of my feelings but I also don’t want to get deported so I will just keep it all bottled up inside instead.
There have been a lot of changes compared to the last time I posted the Arton Capital Passport Index 5 years ago. Kuwait has moved up quite a bit on the list from 54th place back in 2015, to 36th place this year. Kuwaitis can now visit 34 countries without requiring a visa and they can also get visa on arrival in 38 other countries. Here are some countries with their rankings:
1 – New Zealand
4 – United Kingdom / Canada
13 – UAE
21 – United States
34 – Qatar
36 – Kuwait
41 – Bahrain
44 – Saudi Arabia
45 – Oman
58 – India
60 – Egypt
68 – Lebanon
74 – Syria
75 – Iraq
My Alfa Romeos’s car registration expired a couple of days back and because of the pandemic, I’m not required to have the car physically checked when issuing a new car registration. Instead, there are now companies that can renew the insurance for you and get your car registration issued without you having to go or do anything.
There are a number of companies but I ended up using Beep because it was the only one me and my friends could remember. The cost is KD32 for the insurance and car registration issuance. You contact them over WhatsApp, send them a picture of your expired car registration and the back and front of your Civil ID, in return they send you a payment link, and then the next day drop off your new car registration for you. They also take the old one back so you need to make sure you have that with you.
KD32 sounded a bit steep but I usually pay KD16 for my insurance and then KD5 for the car registration stamp so they’re basically charging around KD10 to do all this for you which isn’t that bad. This service is only applicable for cars whose registration expired March 12, 2020 onwards. If your car expired before that date you still need to get the car registration done in person.
Here is the link to the Beep Instagram account @beep_kw
Melemele is Kuwait’s first Karaoke house that opened up recently at The Palms. Not sure how karaoke works when you’re sober since I’ve only ever done it when plastered, but it seems it’s doable based on the videos in their highlights.
The whole place along with the karaoke rooms looks pretty cool and they have over 10,000 tracks to choose from. The price is 4KD per person on weekdays and 5KD per person on weekends but depending on the size of the room you want, there is a minimum number of people that have to sign up. Booking is done through their website in advance and they’ve got a bit more information there so make sure to check it out.
We don’t get a lot of new things to do in Kuwait so it’s good to see something fun like this pop up especially during the pandemic. They’re on Instagram @melemelekaraoke and their website is melemelekaraoke.com
As the title says, Amazon.ae now ships to Kuwait. I’ve never really used Amazon.ae so not sure how well stocked the UAE based site is but I just checked the price of a Nintendo Switch Lite and with shipping and customs the price came out to KD69 which is around 5KD cheaper than the cheapest price I’ve seen in Kuwait.
Nintendo Switch Lite: AED 769.29
Shipping & handling: AED 25.26
Import Fees Deposit: AED 41.97
Order total: AED 836.52
Amazon tend to overcharge with the import fees deposit and then refund you the difference at a later time so the price is going to be slightly less than KD69 actually. Not everything ships to Kuwait but this could be a new website to check anytime you’re looking to order something and can’t find it locally.
I’ve gotten a number of messages from STC users that they’re having difficulty accessing my blog from their devices. Do you have STC and are having difficulty accessing my blog? If yes, let me know in the comments cuz I’m curious about how widespread this issue is.
Yamama is a new Asian supermarket that recently opened up and I dropped by yesterday to check it out. Although it lacks a variety of products, it was a pretty nice space and well organized. They don’t really have a lot of products but because it’s so close to two other Asian Supermarkets, Singarea and Ginza, you could essentially hop from one to another in one visit.
If you’re interested in checking it out, here is their location on Google Maps.
It’s been so long since I added an event to the events page due to the pandemic that when I tried to add this event I realized the events page wasn’t even working properly. During one of the software updates that must have occurred over the past few months, something broke and now the page isn’t even working right. But anyway, here is a pandemic-safe event you could attend, an exhibition for one of my favorite local artists that’s by appointment only, @prettygreenbullet’s out.fit exhibition:
The exhibition on from October 6 to October 13, 2020 and to ensure a safe environment for everyone it’s by appointment only.
I love random odd things and last night a friend of mine sent me a link to my new favorite Instagram account @m3rath_alkaleg. It’s an Instagram account that live auctions chickens and it’s oddly entertaining to watch. I actually stopped watching an episode of Euphoria midway and spent an hour watching some guy live auction of some fantastic looking chickens at like 11PM at night. Seems like a strange time to hold a chicken auction but the guy had a ring light and phone set up professionally and it was a busy evening with I think the most expensive chicken selling for KD300. He then kept reminding people that whoever wins an auction to pass by and pick up their chickens that evening. The whole thing was bizarre to watch but I couldn’t stop.
Not sure if the auctions take place every night but if I had a garden I’d for sure set up a chicken coop and get some fancy chickens for it. If you’re looking for some strange entertainment check the account out @m3rath_alkaleg.
A couple of days ago I found out that Momo Zaa (review here), the cute hole in the wall Bhutanese restaurant in Salmiya had to close down due to the pandemic. But, they’re still offering delivery from a different location including frozen momos. So if you tried visiting them and were disappointed not to find them, check out their Instagram @momozaa.kwt for info on how to order.
I found the picture above on @molowey’s (AbuJack) account on Twitter and it reminded me of when the Fahaheel Expressway first opened up. I was a kid but I remember it being like a very cool and big thing and I think I fairly remember my dad taking the family onto the expressway after a Friday lunch to check it out. At one point in time, the top speed was 140KM/h before being brought down to the current 120KM/h. If you want to see more old photos of Kuwait, AbuJack has been posting old photos he’s taken practically on a daily basis. Link
