2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

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.

Review written by Tarek J

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:

Thursday
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
Fareed Abdal – A Solo Exhibition
Exhibition: Cemetery of Banned Books
An Installation by Nawar N. Al-Kazemi
Alan Villiers & the Sons of Sindbad: An Australian in 1930s Kuwait
Exhibition: Athier Mousawi – Fade and Float
Zeeen Shop
Pantomime: Jack and the Beanstalk
Beach Cleanup

Friday
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
Pantomime: Jack and the Beanstalk

Saturday
Exhibition: Cemetery of Banned Books
Exhibition: Athier Mousawi – Fade and Float
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
Pantomime: Jack and the Beanstalk
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Qout Market
Feed Market
Christmas Bazaar 2019
Winter Wonderland

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

Jumanji: The Next Level

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

New This Weekend:
Bernie the Dolphin 2 (N/A)
Black Christmas (2.4)
Judy (7.2)
Jumanji: The Next Level (7.0)
The Peanut Butter Falcon (7.7)

Other Movies Showing Now:
21 Bridges (5.7)
A Score to Settle (4.5)
Code 8 (7.6)
Daniel Isn’t Real (6.1)
Doctor Sleep (7.5)
Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans 66) (8.3)
Frozen II (7.1)
Joker (9.4)
Knives Out (7.9)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (7.0)
Midway (4.9)
One Piece: Stampede (8.3)
Playing with Fire (5.1)
The Addams Family (5.8)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Turtle Odyssey (7.7)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

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:

#1 Slaw CHKN from CHKN (KD2.650)
Bun: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Looks: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#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.

What’s your favorite fried chicken burger?

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.

With all the sneaker craze that’s been happening in Kuwait over the past couple of years this was bound to eventually happen. A local business called VOGULARITY is now offering insurance for your sneakers.

They don’t have much information up other than the fact that the insurance includes up to 100% cashback, and full cleaning service. They also don’t have their prices listed since it will vary from sneaker to sneaker. But I guess if you have an expensive pair of sneakers and want to insure it, these guys are probably your only option in Kuwait.

For more info here is the link.

Last year I posted about Alan Villiers, an Australian adventurer who came to Kuwait in the 1930s. Alan documented his experience with words and pictures and eventually published the book “Sons of Sindbad” as well as “Sons of Sindbad: The Photographs”.

Last week the Australian Embassy in collaboration with Dar Al-Athar Al-Islammiyah opened up a photo and film exhibition titled ‘Alan Villiers & the Sons of Sindbad: An Australian in 1930s Kuwait’. They even brought in Alan Villiers son to the opening and I ended up getting my 1st edition Sons of Sindbad book signed by him.

If you enjoy my posts on old Kuwait then you’re gonna really like this exhibition. There are a ton of great photos of Kuwait in the 1930s on display as well as videos. The exhibition is at the Amricani Cultural Center and is free of charge. For more info on the exhibition, click here.

The first Qout Market of the season is this weekend and they’ve moved to a new and greener location this time around. The AWAKEN stories festival is also taking place this weekend and will include Saif Abu Bakr from The Scorpions & Saif Abu Bakr band amongst others. Check out the full list of this weekends events below:

Thursday
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
Fareed Abdal – A Solo Exhibition
Exhibition: Cemetery of Banned Books
An Installation by Nawar N. Al-Kazemi
Alan Villiers & the Sons of Sindbad: An Australian in 1930s Kuwait
Festival of Art & Dance Gala

Friday
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
AMG Family Seasonal Concert
AWAKEN Festival

Saturday
Exhibition: Cemetery of Banned Books
“East Ahmadi Market” An exhibition by Huda Abdulmughni
Come Play with Us!
Kuwait Motocross Championship – Round 2
NBK Walkathon 2019
Qout Market
Winter Festival
Christmas Bazaar 2019
Acrylic Flip Cup Pouring – Art Workshop
Marketspace
Movies at the Park: Jumanji

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

Update: Qout Market has been postponed.

Screenshot from A Score to Settle

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

New This Weekend:
A Score to Settle (4.5)
Arctic Dogs (3.9)
Code 8 (7.6)
Daniel Isn’t Real (6.1)
Dark Waters (7.3)
High Strung: Free Dance (5.9)

Other Movies Showing Now:
21 Bridges (5.7)
Charlie’s Angels (3.7)
Doctor Sleep (7.5)
Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans 66) (8.3)
Frozen II (7.1)
Joker (9.4)
Knives Out (7.9)
Last Christmas (6.6)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (7.0)
Mercy Black (4.9)
Midway (4.9)
One Piece: Stampede (8.3)
Playing with Fire (5.1)
Terminator: Dark Fate (6.5)
The Addams Family (5.8)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Turtle Odyssey (7.7)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

It’s that time of year again when the Expat Insider list of worst places to live comes out and Kuwait gets named the worst place in the universe for expats. No surprise really, but it’s also not that bad when you compare us to other places you’d think would be much better off. Here are some of the worst cities for expats to live and work:

82 – Kuwait City
81 – Rome
80 – Milan
78 – Paris
77 – San Francisco
76 – Los Angeles
74 – New York

Ummm yeah, so Kuwait is basically like Paris, NY and LA so really, it can’t be that bad right?

For the full data and reasoning behind our poor ranking, click here. You can also check out the Arabian Business article on this here.

Thanks Musty

Rafael Nadal, the current world no. 1 in men’s singles tennis will be playing a match this coming February here in Kuwait at the soon to open International Tennis Complex next to 360 Mall. They haven’t announced who he would be playing against except for the fact it will be another tennis champion. Tickets for the match were being sold this past weekend for KD75 at the Rafa Nadal Academy exhibit inside 360 Mall, but the first batch of tickets have already been sold out. I’ve been told that they might release a second batch of tickets at a later date.

Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most in history for a male player, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. The Rafa Nadal Academy that will be opening in Kuwait will be the second one to open in the world.

The tennis complex that is currently nearing the end of construction will have a combined stadium seating for over 6,500 people across two main arenas, each with the capacity to hold 5,000 and 1,500 people respectively. There will also be eight indoor courts with over 500 seats, and eight outdoor courts with 1,500 seats. The tennis complex is expected to open early next year.

To learn more about the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait you can visit their large exhibit (with a tennis court) inside 360 Mall. The exhibit is there till December 7th and you can even play a fun tennis match with one of their coaches inside their exhibit. The timings for the exhibit are:

Wednesday: 4:00pm – 8:00pm
Thursday to Saturday: 12:00pm – 10:00pm

For more information, you can visit rafanadalacademykuwait.com or @rafanadalacademykuwait