Al-Farsi Kites Team are back this Friday for their first desert display of the season.
A lot of people might not know this, but the Al-Farsi team owns some of the largest kites in the world. Their Kuwait flag kite, for example, holds a Guinness World Record, but they also have two other kites ‘Blue Manta Ray’ and ‘The Hope’ which are even bigger. The Hope kite is gigantic at around 1,250m², roughly the size of five basketball courts.
During the winter months, the Al-Farsi Kite Team puts on a display every Friday in Bnaider near exit 258. The display starts after Friday prayers, and they’re generally there until around 5 PM.
For weekly updates and the Google Maps link to their location, check out their Instagram account @alfarsikite
This week I started watching the series Disclaimer. I’m three episodes in and it’s ok so far. One thing I liked without spoiling anything is the fact if you have surround speakers, the series takes advantage of them with one of the main characters inside voice. The first time the voice came on I thought Alexa came on by mistake.
Other than that I started watching the movie Trap last night. I’m more than half way in and it’s entertaining but some of the acting is soooo cringe. But I’m still looking forward to finishing the film later today. I also tried watching Love is Blind Habibi, but I couldn’t make it past the halfway point of the first episode.
Yesterday I also picked up the SVS PB-2000 Pro subwoofer from Xcite to use in my living room. Their website was showing it was out of stock but they actually had a brand new one at their Avenues branch. The past couple of weeks I’ve just been splurging on myself upgrading various tech around the house that I use a lot. Last week I got the 65″ TV, the Marantz Cinema 60 AV receiver, and now this week added the subwoofer to my home theater system. The PB-2000 Pro is definitely overkill for my small living room, and I had a bit of buyers remorse after getting it because I really didn’t want to spend that much on a subwoofer, but I tend to live with my sound systems for a very very long time. I still have my Jamo X870 speakers I bought after moving to Kuwait from uni back in like 2001-2002. So they’ve been with me for over 20 years, and although I’ve now replaced them as my home theater speakers with the KEF R7‘s, I still use the Jamo’s in my gym room. Xcite had other cheaper subwoofers, but I have the SVS SB-2000 Pro connected to my iMac and KEF LSX speakers, and I ] really really love it, so I wanted to get the PB version for my home theater. Both SVS subwoofers will probably stay with me for the rest of my life so not a bad deal when I look at it like that.
The last thing I’m upgrading is my iMac. I’m replacing my M1 iMac with 1TB drive and 16GB ram with the just released Mac Mini. I got the regular M4, not M4 Pro but with 24GB of ram and a 2TB drive. I ordered it from the US Apple Store, but I ended up buying the Apple Studio Display from Xcite since they had (might still have) a sale on them. The Xcite price was pretty much the same price as if I bought it online and shipped it to Kuwait, might be a bit cheaper even. If you’re looking to get a used iMac, I’ll be listing mine on the classifieds page end of this month.
Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.
Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:
I pass by The Avenues at least once a week and often spend quite a bit of time there, which usually leads to lunch or dinner. I have about four or five favorite spots I like to eat at in The Avenues, and Tatami is one of them whenever I’m in the mood for Japanese.
I’ve previously posted about Tatami at The Avenues since a friend of mine (Studio Nesef) designed the interior while my wife (From Mud) created some of their ceramic dinnerware. This is Tatami’s third location, and my favorite design wise for obvious reasons. The first thing that catches your attention is the large, suspended Moon light pendant that is surrounded by intricate wooden joinery inspired by the Japanese cidori system. The restaurant is also located in The Gardens area of The Avenues which is my favorite for dining especially during the day since tons of natural light fills the space.
I know the Tatami menu by heart, as it’s my go-to for Japanese delivery. My must-order dishes include the Sesame Nori Chips, Salmon Tacos, Norwegian Salmon Roll, and Exotic Roll. When dining in, though, I tend to go for some of their hot items, like the torched nigiri or Wagyu Sando.
Another reason I really like Tatami is because they make everything in-house instead of using readymade items. So, things like their Nori Chips, Gari (ginger), gyozas, and even their black sesame and green tea ice cream are all made from scratch.
The vibe in The Gardens area of The Avenues is much more laid back than the rest of the mall, I think because it’s tucked away like a secret, up in the far corner of the mall. So it feels like a nice break from shopping when you’re up there, and then once you’re done with lunch or dinner, you head back down to the mall again. It’s like a little getaway.
To get to The Gardens area, either take the curved escalators up at the end of the Prestige section or head up the escalators on the right of the Mercedes dealership. Tatami is open from 12PM to 10:45PM and if you want to check out their menu or some more pictures, head over to their Instagram account @tatamirestaurant
If you have an iPhone, this is a very cool way to track the US elections live. Just open your News app and you’ll see a banner about the elections with a “follow live” icon on the top right. Just click it.
On my iPhone 15 Pro the activity island will show me live results and when the screen is locked I have a similar widget showing. Very nifty.
So it’s just been over 6 months since I got the Apple Vision Pro, which is why I wanted to share a usage update.
My AVP usage has dropped considerably since I first got it, which is to be expected since the first couple of months its lots of experimenting, trying to see what I want to do with the AVP. Now I’m more aware of what to use the AVP for, and it’s mostly media consumption.
The #1 use of the AVP for me is watching Formula 1 races. There are two great apps on the AVP to watch the races and both offer similar features. Imagine sitting in a movie theater and watching F1, but it’s me on my couch watching it. And it’s not just about having a large screen, I also have multiple screens all around, one showing the timing screen, one showing an overhead map of the race, and then multiple windows of the different driver views. It’s ridiculous, I love it. Another advantage is I could sit in the living room and watch the races while my wife sits next to me watching TV. Both of us physically using the same real world space, but I’m in a different digital space doing my own thing.
My second favorite thing on the AVP are the immersive videos. These are videos that make you feel like you’re watching a film from inside the film. It’s nothing like you’ve ever experienced, it’s nothing like IMAX or 3D glasses or whatever, it’s an experience you can only have through the AVP at the moment. Immersive videos are 3D 180-degree 8K recordings with Spatial Audio. At first, Apple released a bunch of these, mostly short documentary like films, but a few weeks ago they released a short film called “Submerged” that takes place on a submarine during the World War and is directed by an Academy Award winning director. It was insane, I’ve never experienced a movie like that before in my life. I was left stunned and once I was done I made my wife watch it and I could see from her facial expressions that she was also taken aback by it. You’re IN the movie, it doesn’t feel like a camera is capturing the action, but it’s your own eyes. It’s very hard to explain because it can’t be compared to anything.
While on the subject of immersive videos, Apple has released I think three immersive sports videos, one from the NFL, one from MLS and one from the NBA All Star game. Those are crazy as well, imagine watching a sports game while standing on the sidelines of a soccer field or sitting court side at a basketball game. I’d watch so much more sports if this became the norm. It’s an insane experience, standing there on the court and having an NBA player just walk by you, you really don’t realize how tall or big sports players are until you’re right there next to them. It’s also not just one view, in the 5min or so long videos Apple lets you experience the games from multiple angles and at different times. So when the NFL game ended you’re there on the pitch surrounded by people celebrating, at the NBA game if someone is taking a free throw your view point is from behind the basketball. It’s also all in 3D so when a ball comes flying past you, you duck.
So yeah, that’s my primary use for it. Every now and then someone releases a new game or app that tries something different and I try it out for the experience. The Reddit AVP community is great. Apple hasn’t sold a lot of AVP’s so the community is pretty small. There are a lot of developers active on the AVP subreddit and take feedback seriously and usually make the changes pretty quickly. Many of them are always looking for people to test out their apps and games as well, so it feels like a close-knit community from the old Internet back in the 90s.
Yesterday, Apple released a software update that allows you to have an ultra wide monitor when mirroring your Mac. Lots of people were looking forward to that update since it would help them with their workflow. Some people love the AVP for traveling, especially when staying at hotels. Everyone is kinda finding their own thing of what they want from the AVP which is pretty cool to see.
I definitely don’t think anyone should buy an AVP right now that’s for sure, it’s not ready for the mass, it’s still just for people who are willing to basically be beta testers and have lots of money to buy one. They did announce they’re launching the Apple Vision Pro in the UAE, so the next time you’re there, if you can get a demo I’d highly recommend it, just to get an idea of what the future could be like.
Winter season is here, and events and markets are starting to pick up again. Shakshooka, the food and art craft market, is kicking off its new season on November 30th. Last year, Shakshooka took place at Alandalus in Hawally, and it’s back there again this year.
Shakshooka have been around since 2013 and they used to be a nomadic market moving around from location to location. Their markets generally contain food stalls, art, handicrafts, and fresh produce. For more info and to stay posted on the market, follow them @shakshookamarket
According to a source familiar with the project, Popeyes, the popular fried chicken chain, is opening their first location in Kuwait at the end of this month. I sadly don’t have an exact date, it was hard enough to get just this info from them.
Tanmiah, the Saudi food company that owns and operates Popeyes in Saudi Arabia are opening two branches to begin with, one in Divonne Complex in Abu al-Hasaniyah, and the other in Sky Mall in Dhajeej.
Popeyes used to operate in Kuwait until they closed down back in 2014, so it’s been nearly a decade since they were last here. The new Instagram account isn’t live yet, but I’ll update this post once it is.
I’m still trying to find anything I can about the Hunt Room, a restaurant that used to be located in the Sheraton Hotel before the 1990 Gulf War. Not sure why I’m so obsessed with it, I never ate there.
My family used to have lunch every Friday at the Al Hambra which was located on the other side of the hotel on the same floor. Once we were done with lunch I’d wander around the hotel as a kid would do, but I mostly spent my time at the telex counter reading the latest news headlines and that was located near the Hunt Room. So I’d always take a peek inside and I remember they had a huge lobster aquarium outside. But thats as far as my interaction with the place was which is why its confusion for me why I’m fascinated by it. Maybe because I never experienced it?
Not sure but whatever the reason, I’m constantly looking for anything I can find about the restaurant, Sheraton themselves don’t seem to have anything either. But I recently found this cute little plate on eBay. It’s such a great find because it has the Hunt Room Logo and the colors which I now remember clearly.
If you have anything related to the Hunt Room, memories, photos, whatever, just let me know in the comments.
When I was studying design in college, one of the yearly annual competitions we’d look forward to was the “50 Books | 50 Covers” competition by AIGA (The American Institute of Graphic Arts). This competition started in 1923 and became an annual staple in the design community so we were always pretty excited to see what covers and books they selected. A couple of days ago, AIGA announced the latest winners for their 50/50 awards, and this year a Kuwaiti designer was one of the winners.
Fahad Al Hunaif won Best Book Design of the Year for his exhibition catalog, “Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility” designed for the Guggenheim Museum. Fahad describes the 256-page book as capturing the concept of duality to align with the exhibition. The stark, black exterior contrasts an interior filled with generous white space and subtle material changes, highlighting the tension between invisibility and hypervisibility.
I’ve been a huge fan of Fahad’s work since back in 2013 when he was still in New York studying at Parsons School of Design. He got his first 15 seconds of fame after @caradelevingne was photographed wearing his profane Cartier parody cap, “Cuntier”. Cara was backstage at a Jeremy Scott Runway Show when the ultra-famous fashion photographer @terryrichardson snapped some pictures of her wearing the cap. The photo went viral and eventually landed Fahad in a bit of trouble after Cartier slapped him with a cease and desist letter. I posted about him back then and you can check that old post out here.
Today, Fahad is a partner at TB.D, a multidisciplinary design studio that has worked on branding projects like Boost, ODE, and RA. You can check them out at tbd.studio or visit AIGA Design to see more winners.
This is pretty disappointing news but it doesn’t look like there will be track days this year at Kuwait Motor Town. Supposedly the contract with the company that was running KMT expired and it wasn’t renewed and neither does anyone else seem to want to run it. So all events that were scheduled to take place at the race track were canceled and there won’t be any open track days until a new company takes over. Sucks.
Al-Rai Media Group is entering the entertainment industry by launching a mega musical project, ‘The Spirit of Kuwait,’ in partnership with Kaif Production.
‘The Spirit of Kuwait’ will be a Kuwaiti heritage-based musical work presented in orchestral form with a modern twist. It will also be the largest artistic orchestra in Kuwait, comprising nearly 100 musicians and featuring some of the country’s top musical talent. The orchestra will be led by maestro Dr. Ahmad Al-Oud, with Salman Al-Amari and Abdulaziz Al-Mesbah as the primary vocalists. Maestro Mohammed Salem Al-Qahoom, one of the Arab world’s most prominent composers and orchestrators, will orchestrate the musical pieces.
Alongside this all-star roster, the show will also utilize the latest in concert technologies. It is expected to last an hour and a half and will feature state-of-the-art audio-visual systems to immerse the audience in a captivating experience, blending traditional Kuwaiti heritage with modern artistic innovation.
The first performance of ‘The Spirit of Kuwait’ is expected to be in May 2025. To stay posted on this project, you can follow @alraimediagroup and @kaif_kuw.
One of my favorite things about my blog is putting random information out onto the web, only to have someone months or years later leave a comment saying they were involved in the project or have more information about it. It constantly happens and it’s always pretty rewarding.
Back in March 2023 I posted about the Mothercare tree, the huge animatronic tree that used to be located at the Mothercare store in Salmiya. I didn’t think a lot of people remembered it, so I was pretty surprised with the amount of engagement that post got.
19 months after my post, a person by the name of Roger left a comment saying he had worked on the project and had more photos. Roger came to Kuwait in 1998 to install the tree along with his team. His company supplied and programmed the tree and all the animated animals and their soundtracks. He had photos of the tree being built as well as ones from inside the tree. Roger had gotten the job because he had previously been involved animatronics when he worked for Madame Tussauds and Rock Circus.
The pictures were taken with his first digital camera and so aren’t that high resolution, but it’s definitely better than nothing. I’ve uploaded all the photos to Flickr and you can check them out here.
This past week I watched two movies, the original Planet of the Apes from 1968, and Wolfs starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Both were pretty great, Planet of the Apes I originally watched in the early 80s so didn’t really remember much of it. It’s actually had a great storyline and although the special effects are really dated, it didn’t bother me much. Wolfs was also a lot of fun, it has a 6.5 rating on IMDB but that doesn’t reflect the film accurately. It was very entertaining and had some funny moments, and thats really all I ask from a film sometimes.
I also started watching the series Agatha All Along which is meant to be the sequel to WandaVision. First episode was confusing but I’m 6 to 7 episodes in now and it’s pretty ok. I also watched the first episode of High Potential starring Kaitlin Olson from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Wife is loving the show, hopefully by the end of the season she’ll want to see more of Kaitlin and then I can suggest we binge watch It’s Always Sunny which she really hates.
This week I also decided to upgrade my TV life. I’m replacing my 55″ LG B1 OLED TV with a 65″ LG C3 OLED TV. I should have honestly gotten a 65″ back when I got the B1 but I didn’t for some reason, maybe cuz I didn’t want to pay more than I did. The C3 should be brighter and also supports 120hz refresh rate so curious to see how it turns out. I’m also upgrading my AV receiver from the Onkyo TX-NR686 to the Marantz Cinema 60. I was trying to decide between it and the Yamaha RX-A2A but then the Xcite lady offered me a 10% discount on the Marantz and I decided to go for it. Both should be delivered today so pretty excited about it.
Now I’m contemplating picking up an SVS subwoofer but need to pass by Xcite and see what they have in stock because the website isn’t showing much. I have the SB1000 Pro connected to my KEF LSX speakers and it’s incredible, so thinking of getting the PB1000 Pro for my TV room. Sometimes the Xcite website says something is out of stock but on their in store system it shows units, like my Marantz unit is out of stock on the website but there was 1 new piece in Avenues location according to system. With the subwoofer I’m hoping they only have display models left since they give you an automatic 15% discount on display items which is a nice little discount.
Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.
Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:
Camel Racing is back for the 2024/2025 season, running from October to March, with races every Saturday at the Kuwait Camel Racing Club. The races start at different times each week but this Saturday they’ll kick off at 1:00 PM with a total of eight races.
There is no entrance fee and you can either watch the races from the sidelines, drive up to the starting lines and watch the start of the race, or just drive around the track in your car following the race (it can get chaotic).
It’s really fun, especially if you’ve never been before and it’s never that busy and everyone is pretty friendly. I tend to drop by anytime I feel like having a photoshoot for one of my cars, or if I just feel like driving somewhere far.
Here is the link to the location and entrance on Google Maps.
The Kuwait Pavilion at last year’s International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale was titled Rethinking Rethinking Kuwait (pictured above). The project was an ongoing investigation aimed at rectifying the effects of modernist urban planning, which led to the erasure of much of Kuwait’s historic built fabric.
That same pavilion has now been moved and reinstalled here in Kuwait. This is the first time this has happened; usually, if you miss the pavilion in Venice, you’re out of luck. But this year, they decided to pack up the exhibition and bring it to Kuwait, where it’s currently on display at the Yarmouk Cultural Center – Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah.
The pavilion examines Kuwait on a national scale, with a focus on Kuwait City as a prototype features over 30 Kuwaiti exhibitors.
If you’re interested in checking it out, it’s open daily from 10 AM to 7:30 PM, except on Fridays and Saturdays when it’s closed. For more information and photos head over to @rethinking.kuwait
