2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

One of my favorite local apps is the PASS App. Pre-Corona the cashless parking app was extremely practical and I used it all the time but now during the pandemic, the app makes even more sense. The way the app works is you top it off with credit, and then add your cars to it. Once you get to a parking lot that supports PASS like the 360 Mall parking lot, the parking gate will recognize your car and automatically open to let you in. On the way out you don’t have to interact with the cashier either, once you approach the exit gate it just opens up and the PASS app charges you. All the payments are handled digitally through the app which during this pandemic makes the app a must-have.

But, if that wasn’t enough they’ve recently added another new and cool feature, pre-booking your parking spot. This Friday when I passed by the Avenues I wasn’t sure if it would be busy or not so I pre-booked a parking spot with the app. When I got to Avenues I headed to the Phase 4 PASS Prebook lot and the gate automatically opened to let me in where I found plenty of parking (it was actually empty except for one other car).

The Prebooking parking fees at Avenues is 500fils per hour from the moment you book your spot (not from the moment you enter the parking) and you’re charged per hour till you leave or cancel your booking. This makes sense since they don’t want people to book spots but then not show up. Although Avenues parking is free, booking a parking spot makes the Avenues experience a lot less stressful when you know you’re guaranteed to have a parking spot waiting for you.

I don’t recommend a lot of local apps on this blog nor do I like installing a lot of apps, but, I highly recommend this one. You can download it by clicking here.

I’m currently in the process of restoring my wooden steering wheel on my Datsun 240z and needed to get Spar Urethane and fine sandpaper. So Friday morning I dropped by Ace Hardware and True Value where I managed to find everything I needed. Once I was done I decided to pass by Avenues since I was in the neighborhood and surprisingly, it was a pretty good experience.

Avenues wasn’t busy at all Friday morning, there were no queues to get into the mall and everyone inside was walking around with masks on. The only queue I saw while there was at Starbucks but that’s about it. I ended up passing by L’Occitane and picking up some hand cream before leaving and not once while I was inside the mall did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Even when I was at Ace Hardware and True Values I didn’t feel uncomfortable shopping. Ace was the busiest I’d ever seen it but since the place is so big it didn’t feel crowded at all. They even had all the cashiers open so even when paying you didn’t have to wait in a queue.

So if you’ve been holding off going shopping until things calmed down, well looks like things have calmed down.

A day before our three-week total lockdown I got a delivery from Amazon, the NEOGEO Arcade Stick Pro. It’s an arcade stick pre-installed with 20 old-school NEOGEO games. I’m a huge fan of NEOGEO ever since I was a kid since it was an unattainable gaming console back then due to the costs involved which was extremely high. Back in the 90s a single game could easily cost over 100KD for example, so paying 40KD for a NEOGEO arcade stick with 20 games included seems like a steal.

But, I really wasn’t interested in the games that were included, instead, the reason I wanted to get the Arcade Stick Pro is that someone found a way to install even more old-school games onto it.

Like all the classic mini-consoles that have gotten released over the past few years, the Arcade Stick Pro runs off USB power and connects to your TV via an HDMI cable. I spent hours and hours the first week of lockdown going through nearly 2,000 classic games from the 80s and 90s one by one. Whichever game I liked or reminded me of my childhood, I put aside to create my ultimate old school gaming playlist. The Arcade Stick Pro was obviously best at emulating NEOGEO games but it also did a great job of emulating other home consoles and arcade systems like CPS1, CPS2, and more. I wasn’t interested in emulating home consoles though since I could do that with my SNES mini and my Odroid Go Advance. Instead, what I really wanted to do was emulate games I used to play in the arcades when I was a kid and shooting scrollers (both horizontal and vertical) like Blazing Star and Mars Matrix which the Arcade Stick Pro did a phenomenal job with.

If you don’t want to copy your own games onto the Arcade Stick Pro, the system comes with 20 fighting games built-in and an additional 14 bonus games which includes a bunch of Metal Slug games and Super Sidekicks. The Metal Slug series alone would be worth the $120 price tag.

There aren’t really any negatives, except for one major inconvenience. With my SNES Classic mini system, I have it set up next to my TV and I bought a wireless controller for it. This means I can sit back on my couch and play games comfortably without having to worry about running power and HDMI cables. With the Arcade Stick Pro, the actual controller is the console so you need to have power and HDMI running to wherever you’re sitting. So if your couch is 3 meters away from your TV, you need a 3 meter long HDMI cable running to your couch and a USB cable to power up the system. It’s a hassle and anytime I think about wanting to play on it I have to think about setting it up. A second issue that might be a problem to some people but isn’t for me is 2-player games, if you want to play 2-player games you need to purchase an extra controller for it which is another $25.

I really do love this arcade stick and it made the lockdown a lot more bearable for me. If you’re looking for an affordable arcade stick that can run some of your old favorite NEOGEO and arcade games, this is a pretty great option. The stick costs $120 on Amazon and I think I paid KD14 for shipping and customs. I wasn’t able to find it here but Rihab Complex was also closed back then so they might have it now.

The CAP Bookshop which carries publishers like Taschen, Assouline, and Thames & Hudson is now online. Sadly though, the process of ordering a book isn’t as simple as adding it to your cart since the website just lists all the books they have and their prices, but to order a book you need to send them a DM on instagram.

Still, if you’re looking for an Architecture, Art, Design, or Fashion book you’d be hard-pressed to find a better collection anywhere else in Kuwait. Here is the link to their online store, and their Instagram is @capbookshop

You could of course just visit the store now that they’ve reopened, they’re located inside Life Center in Shuwaikh, upstairs next to CAP.

Is LV or Rolex that important to have to visit the stores early morning on the very first day the malls reopen? I saw a video of the Rolex line at Salhiya and it’s even worse. So bizarre.

This fire took place late last night so there isn’t much info out on it yet. I did find one article this morning saying it was extinguished but based on snapchat video below shot by a firefighter at around 7:45AM, it looks like the fire still hasn’t been put out.

Last year I posted about how PayPal started allowing users in Kuwait to withdraw money. Not sure what happened but that stopped working or at least it wasn’t working for everyone. Now it looks like they might be allowing withdrawals again.

A reader sent me a screenshot of how he was able to transfer money to his NBK Visa card. I just tried it myself and even though I was able to add my debit card to the account, when I tried to transfer money to it I got an error.

If you have cash in your PayPal account and want to withdraw it, try doing it now and let us know in the comments if it worked for you.

Thanks NM

Update: I tried to withdraw some money from PayPal yesterday and it finally worked! Link

This past week I’ve been seeing more and more people without masks on which is concerning since come Tuesday, malls and shops are going to open up. I’ve had three different instances over just these past two days involving masks.

1) I was shopping at a supermarket on Friday and there were people inside shopping without their masks on

2) I visited another supermarket yesterday and the volunteer at door wasn’t wearing a mask wanted to take my temperature, so I told her to put her mask on first and she responded by saying “don’t be afraid”

3) I visited a car dealership where no one at the dealership had a mask on

I’ve also had to tell my neighbors a few times to put on their masks before sharing the elevator with me. I think maybe because the government is easing up on restrictions people think the situation has gotten better? I mean I don’t get it. I’ve tried a variety of different masks on myself and haven’t been bothered by any of them. I don’t find them restrictive or annoying.

If you’re out in public then wear your mask, easy. That includes when you’re in your car and are ordering food from a carhop service or when you’re at a gas station. It’s risky enough that these employees have to interact with so many people throughout the day, at least help by making their environment as safe as possible.

This issue isn’t just in Kuwait obviously. Someone online did a video mashup recently where they took scenes from the comedy, Parks and Recreation, and combined it with footage from townhall meetings in the US on masks. Because some of the arguments are so absurd (5G conspiracies, government hoaxes), they actually blended in with the show seamlessly.

If you also weren’t aware it’s actually compulsory to wear a mask in Kuwait or you risk a KD5,000 fine. But, this obviously isn’t being enforced.

Pictured on top: Ai Weiwei MASK

The Ministry of Interior have updated their eServices platform and I think it looks great! The new site is smoother and faster than the previous version and also works really well on mobile devices. Check it out here.

The 1992 IMAX documentary ‘Fires of Kuwait‘ is now available on Hulu to watch. The film is a testimony to the remarkable resourcefulness and heroism of the men and women who extinguished and controlled over 600 burning and gushing oil wells sabotaged by retreating Iraqi troops in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The movie was frequently showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater but I never got the chance to watch it. But, Hulu recently partnered up with IMAX to exclusively carry 16 of their movies one of which is Fires of Kuwait so I’m finally gonna get around to watching it.

If you have Hulu and haven’t had the chance to watch the film, here is the link. If you don’t have Hulu but want to know how to get it to work in Kuwait then click here.

Thanks Eddy

If you’ve been following the 1MDB scandal you’re probably aware of Kuwait’s involvement. Tonight, the Kuwait Association for Protecting Public Funds (KAPPF) in cooperation with the Bar Association will be holding a virtual panel discussion on this subject via ZOOM. The discussion will be in English. Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday 23-06-2020
Time: 5:00 pm (Kuwait time)

Participants:
Tony Pua – Member of the Parliament of Malaysia
Adel Al-Damkhi – Member of Kuwait Parliament
Sheryan Al-Sheryan – Chairman of the Kuwait Bar Association
Clare Rewcastle – Founder of Sarawak website
Xavier Justo – The “Whistleblower” of 1MDB and the former CEO of PetroSaudi
Prof. Amit Seru – Professor of Finance at Sanford University
Prof. Mohammed Altamimi – Professor of Criminal Law, Kuwait University
Adnan Abul – Deputy Chairman of the Kuwait Association for Protecting Public Funds and Secretary of the Bar Association

Moderator: Sara N. Al-Ateeqi

ZOOM Link: https://zoom.us/j/94228505551
Webinar ID: 94228505551

Update: You can now watch it on YouTube

Arby’s, one of my favorite fast-food restaurants has closed all their locations in Kuwait. I first heard about this from a reader a couple of days ago but didn’t believe it until I called them up myself to confirm. The employee on the phone said this was permanent but I’m still hoping this is just a temporary thing until the pandemic is over.

If you call them up right now you’ll get Johnny Rockets instead so maybe because of the lack of staff or resources, they’re putting all their focus on their big money maker. I hope that is the case.

Although gyms aren’t meant to reopen until the final stage of the government plan, I’ve been told that some gyms have presented a case to the government for permission to reopen sooner. A couple of days ago Alqabas newspaper visited Circuit+ to get an idea of how this could work safely and I think it could work.

Basically, Circuit+ will split up their gym into different large areas and give every member one of those areas to work out in. The area will contain all the equipment their member would need for that class so they don’t have to leave their section or share equipment with other members. Once the class is over the members are expected to wipe down the gym equipment they used and once they leave, the gyms cleaning staff come in and resterilize everything again for the next class.

Obviously this idea won’t work with every gym. Circuit+ isn’t a regular gym where you can just walk in and work out and leave, they function with classes that hold a limited number of people which works for them in this case. Also, their Shuwaikh location is HUGE as you can see in the video so they can manage to split it up and give each member a large section to workout in.

I think this could also apply to smaller and more private personal training gyms like mine (X.Athletic). Before the pandemic my gym would only allow a maximum of 4 gym-goers at any given time so it was never crowded. There was also a cleaner who was constantly wiping down the equipment and benches after they were being used, and this was on a normal day before COVID. By taking a few more extra precautions, I can easily see my gym also providing a safe space for me to work out in. Damn it, now all this gym talk is making me miss my gym and trainers.

But again, this setup wouldn’t work for every gym, just the very large class-based ones and the more premium exclusive gyms.

Yesterday, Kuwait’s Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) launched an official internet speed testing portal as part of the Kuwait Internet Exchange. The reason for CITRA launching their own speed test website from what I’ve been told is for two reasons transparency and data collection.

By using the CITRA speed test website, users will have an accurate way of comparing the internet performance of the different networks in Kuwait when it comes to speed and international latency (which is good to know for gaming). CITRA also wants to use this website as a way to collect data to better help them understand the performance of the different providers in the market.

How is this useful for you? Once enough people have used the website it will provide a fairly accurate representation of internet speeds between the different providers in Kuwait. You will visually be able to see who is providing the fastest speeds and who is the slowest. In the next site update I’ve been told they’ll also be adding area comparisons so you’ll be able to compare internet speeds in your area.

I’m using Zain 5G as my internet provider so according to the website, I’m killing it compared to the average internet speeds in Kuwait. I still haven’t gotten over the fact how fast my internet is, 5G is really just the best thing ever.

If you want to run a speed test on your internet connection, click here.

Thanks Ali!

Over the weekend I was in Avenues for work (the mall is closed FYI) so I decided to walk around and see if it was true that Alshaya was closing down some of its restaurants. Inspired Edibles had posted a list on Instagram of the brands that were closing which included:

400 Gradi
Alforno
Blaze Pizza
Bridge Water Chocolate
Cafe COCO
Castania
Cleo
Le Pain Quotidien
P.F. Chang’s (Phase 1)
Spontini Pizza
Veranda

Turns out it’s partially true. Other than Blaze Pizza and P.F. Chang’s, all the restaurants listed above had been closed down with their logos removed and the storefronts boarded up. I guess the two I’m gonna miss the most are Alforno and Spontini. When Alforno first opened I used to go there a lot with my family, and Spontini, well I kinda liked their pizzas even though I know a lot didn’t.

But, if a giant like Alshaya has difficulty sustaining a restaurant during this difficult period in a mall they basically own, you can only imagine how other smaller businesses must be doing.