I’ve previously posted about the US Embassy’s Air Quality Index page which shares data on the pollution level around the US Embassy in Bayan. The data most of the time is pretty alarming because of the high level of pollution we generally have which is why it interested me when I found out it’s not that difficult for someone to set up their own air quality sensor.
PurpleAir is an air quality monitoring network where people can purchase an air quality sensor from them for $229 and then set it up near a wifi spot to allow it to measure and share pollution data over their network. As of now there are three sensors located around Kuwait, one at the Kuwait University Khaldiya Campus, one in Mishref (I think that’s my friend’s place) and one at the ArtStudio in Funaitees.
If you want to check the pollution levels around Kuwait then click here.
On the other hand, if you want to purchase your own air quality sensor and be part of this network then click here.
Spotted this in Dubai over the weekend. It’s an autonomous vehicle that just drives around until someone waves at it and then it stops. Once it stops you can then buy water and snacks from it.
It’s so weird driving by these billboards on my way to work every morning advertising the electronic music festival in Saudi. I still can’t get over how ridiculous this is.
Over the past few months, I’ve been obsessed with the TV series Forged in Fire in which bladesmiths compete on the series to win $10,000 and earn the title of Forged in Fire champion. So when I found out there was a local bladesmith I decided to get in touch with him to find out his story.
Fahad Alsayer goes by the handle @theblademaker on instagram and has been making knives for just over a year. He started making knives for fun before realizing there were people who would be interested in buying his creations. He actually hadn’t thought of selling them until one day while low on cash, he got a phone bill message on his phone. He hadn’t started working at that time and was trying to figure out how to pay his bill when he decided he’d try and sell one of his knives. After managing to sell it, he paid his phone bill and reinvested the remaining amount back into his hobby. Eventually, it became a source of income with local chefs and knife collectors getting in touch with him for one-off creations. He’s even shipped his knives to customers abroad.
I passed by Fahad’s workshop last week, a room in his family home which he converted into his workspace. It’s a pretty cool setup with a knife kiln on one side of the room for heat-treating the metals, and sanders and a sharpening station on the other. Fahad doesn’t forge his metals but instead purchases them in sheets online which he then either shapes manually with a sander, or cuts out using a laser cutter. Due to the cost of the materials as well as the time and skill it takes to create a knife, Fahad’s knives cost KD90 and up, depending on the size of the knife, amount of work it took and kind of metal used. Some of his customers include @chefkb and @foodninja whom he created custom knives for. Fahad isn’t the only knifemaker in Kuwait, according to him there are others albeit a small group but they tend to meet once a week to talk knives and help each other out.
If you’re interested in purchasing a knife or checking out Fahad’s work then make sure you check out his instagram @theblademaker
Back in 2014, the Pearl Lounge at the main airport terminal got redesigned and I hated it. The lounge looked cheap and dated while the seats were pretty uncomfortable to sit in. But, a couple of weeks back the lounge finally got a makeover and it now looks better than it ever did.
The new color scheme, the style of seating and the choice of floor tiles give the space a much-needed facelift. The lounge now looks more premium and stylish than before, and by moving the food into the middle of the lounge they were able to break the large space without having to put up any dividers.
Accessing the lounge is the same as before which is either by flying business class on certain airlines or with a credit card. I used Priority Pass to gain access but for a list of other cards accepted click here.
Last year when self check-in kiosks started appearing at the airport they were only working with Turkish Airlines. This past weekend though I noticed the check-in machines have started working with more airlines including:
Emirates
Middle East Airlines
Qatar Airways
Saudia
So now if you’re heading to Dubai or Beirut for the weekend with just a carry-on, you don’t have to wait in line at the check-in counters, you can just print your own boarding pass yourself at the kiosks.
Last Tuesday I was invited to the VOX Kuwait premier for the new Jumanji film, The Next Level. Not my typical cup of tea, but I remember being pleasantly surprised at the last film when I took my son to watch it a couple of years ago. So when I got the invite, I called my son up and told him to get ready, and he was ecstatic. That’s the real value of these films, they aren’t true cinema, but they are the kind of kid friendly adventure films that I used to watch in the 90’s. Not to say this is another nostalgia driven film, it’s it’s own modern tale but it reminds me of 90s films because of its spirit.
VOX blew it out the park this time. The red carpet was replaced with a shifting landscape inspired from the film (starting with walking on a draw bridge, to a sandy desert floor, to a snowy landscape (ok tiny foam balls but it looked the part). Once we got into the theater, we had a local drum circle give it their all drumming away and getting the audience involved, it was more exciting than expected.
If you’re a fan of the last Jumanji, you will be a fan of this one. It’s that simple. The Next Level finds new ways to play with its formula, most cleverly by switching which characters takes on once back in the game, which allows us to see a different sides of the cast. One of the criticism from the last film was that the in-game characters didn’t act like the humans they came from but just acted like themselves (Kevin Hart was just Kevin Hart in shorts). This time around they all play against type, with Dwayne Johnson playing an elderly demented Danny Devito, and Kevin Hart playing a slow soft talking sophisticated intellectual (see what I mean?).
In terms of censorship, it’s a family film so really nothing to worry about except the occasional kiss that’s cut, but the plot remains intact.
This is pure popcorn cinema. It’s funny, well directed, with some exciting action sequences and occasionally well executed gags. Again this isn’t anything to write home about, but with films like this you gotta judge on a curve and keep in mind what the movie is trying to do. Take your kids, take your nephews and nieces, or if you enjoy a good easy unironic time at the cinema, take yourselves and enjoy it. God knows we can use more fun in movies, and at the very least, Jumanji The Next Level delivers on that.
This Saturday is going to be super busy with 4 different markets taking place at the same time with Qout Market, Feed Market, the Christmas Bazaar and the Winter Wonderland all taking place. Check out the full list of this weekends events below:
Just a quick note, there seems to be an issue with my blog at the moment where some readers on Android devices are reporting pop-ups. Not sure how and why its happening but I’m working on fixing it. In the meantime, if you get a pop-up asking you to download flash or whatever, do not download it please. Sorry about this!
Update: The issue should be resolved now (thanks Burhan!)
Last time I checked, the top seller for nearly every burger restaurant on Carriage was a fried chicken burger. The reason I had checked was because a friend told me that was the case and I hadn’t believed him. But it’s true, we love our fried chicken sandwiches and that’s why we’ve got some really great options to choose from. Below are my favorites:
#2 Crispy from Little Ruby’s (KD4.350)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
#3 Milkyway from Lucky Bun (KD2.500)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Firstly a quick disclosure, CHKN is actually a brand I’m involved in as part of my day job, but only for the past year. I’ve actually been a diehard fan of their fried chicken for years which is how I came to be involved with the brand. I love their burgers, they’re huge, crispy and I love the way they look.
Little Ruby’s, on the other hand, have one of my favorite beef burgers and also one of my favorite chicken burgers. Their Crispy burger uses Rice Krispies for the breading and it just tastes so good (without the pickles of course). Finally, Lucky Bun has recently become one of my new favorite places to order from mostly because they have a kitchen in Salmiya but also because their beef and chicken burgers are really really good. Picking between their Chick of LA burger and Milkway burger was difficult, but the Milkyway comes with a turkey slice which always reminds me of KFC’s Zinger Supreme which I also love.
I’ve been driving my Alfa on a daily basis since the weather got cooler a couple of months back. I think I’ve put around 3,000KM mileage on it so far and since it’s a slow post week, I figured I’d post an update on it. I’ve been driving the car like it was meant to be driven 50 years ago when it was built. I’m not really taking it easy on it since it’s a car and really has just one job. And as expected, some parts have started failing on me but I knew that would happen and wanted it to happen so I can swap them with newer parts. Whoever restored the car originally tried to keep as much of the original parts as possible, and I can understand that, but end of the day that’s ok if you’re planning to drive the car once a week but it’s not going to work when daily driving. Here is what’s broken down so far with me which I’ve had to replace:
– Fan belt
– Radiator cap
– Starter motor
– Alternator
– Battery
– Distributor rotor arm
I actually drive around with spare parts in my trunk and my tool kit because “just in case” and yesterday that just in case moment happened. I was leaving Sultan Center at night and the car wouldn’t start. I had a full tank of gas, my starter was fine but the engine wasn’t turning on. I had a theory it might be from the distributor which sends electricity to the spark plugs which ignite the engine and I luckily had a new rotor arm for it in the trunk. After watching a short clip on YouTube on how to change the rotor arm, a few minutes later the car was running fine again.
There really are only so many things that can go wrong in the car since it’s such a basic setup. No fancy electronics, not even a radio, no powered steering or windows, ABS brakes or anything fancy like that. I think right now I’ve basically changed everything that needed or can be changed.
The car is getting a lot of attention which I was expecting since there isn’t another one like it in Kuwait, or at least there isn’t another one being driven on the roads. I’ve had people honk at me and give me a thumbs up, I’ve had people wanting to take photos with it and a bunch of people asking me if it was for sale. Really other than this one blog reader in a new G-Class that nearly ramed into me just to let me know how much he hates my blog, it’s been a very good experience.
I guess the only negative thing about the car is the lack of a radio. At first I liked the idea of not having one, but there is only so much alone time I can spend with my thoughts, plus I’m wayyy behind on all my podcasts and music. I’ve thought about driving around with earphones on but I tried it and it felt weird so I’m now looking into a way of installing a completely hidden sound system under my dashboard so not to mess with the cars interior aestetics.
So overall its been a great experience so far. Car is comfortable enough to drive daily even on our pothole ridden roads which is why I barely drive my two other cars anymore. I hope winter lasts long this year just so I can drive it as much as possible before I have to put it away for the summer.
I don’t listen to many local podcasts mostly either because the subject matter doesn’t interest me , or the podcasts just sound like they were recorded inside a bathroom. ABAIH! on the other hand are always discussing interesting subjects, they’re really fun to listen/watch and the production is really well done with some great editing.
There are four core people on the ABAIH! podcast and they click really well together and seem like they’re having a blast. They’re currently on season 3 and this season they’ve started filming their videos in the vertical format which I think works out a lot better since the majority of people are on their mobile phones anyway.
The only thing I need to point out is that the podcast is in Arabic, and even though they do mix in a bit of English every now and then you still need to understand Arabic to get it. If you do understand Arabic then definitely check their podcasts out, they’re not too long (well not anymore anyway) and you can find all the episodes here.
If you want to follow them on instagram they’re handle is @abaih.world
A year ago this would have sounded like a funny article on The Onion but this is actually real and happening. In 10 days Riyadh will be hosting the MDL Beast Festival, the largest electronic dance music festival in the region featuring over 70 DJs including Afrojack, Black Coffee, David Guetta, FISHER, J. Balvin, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, Sebastian Ingrosso, Tiësto and more. My favorite local band Galaxy Juice will also be part of the lineup.
Tickets start at KD73 for a 3-day pass and go up to KD923 for the VIB tickets (very important beast). For a full lineup of the performers as well as more information on the festival including tickets, visit mdlbeast.com.
