2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Screenshot from Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

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

New This Weekend:
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (5.9)
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (6.5)
Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (8.4)
The Current War (6.2)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Bring The Soul: The Movie (7.7)
Crawl (6.6)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (7.5)
Night Hunter (7.0)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (7.1)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (6.8)
The Art of Racing in the Rain (7.2)
The Boat (6.3)
The Kitchen (5.8)
The Lion King (6.2)
The Queen’s Corgi (4.7)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

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

Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (8.4)
Great White Shark 3D (7.3)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
The Lion King – 1994 (8.5)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

I was originally planning to spend the Eid working on my Datsun but ended up sitting on the couch playing No Man’s Sky on my PS4. Didn’t think I’d enjoy it so much but it’s basically a super chill exploration game like Minecraft which I love, so it was super easy to lose track of time with. What did you end up doing?

A few weeks ago I ordered a new turntable (Fluance RT81) from Amazon since the one I had was from the 60s and sounded great when playing old stuff, but not so great with newer music. Once the record player arrived I decided I’d look for a new pair of speakers that I would just use with it. I ended up passing by Xcite and narrowing down my options to the KEF LSX and The Sixes by Klipsch. Both sounded great, The Sixes looked retro which matched well with my player but they were also fairly big and bulky. The KEF were a perfect size, but they didn’t have the retro look of The Sixes which I liked. In the end, I decided not to buy either one because the KEF cost KD340 and the Klipsch KD240. I already had my B&O Beolit 15 speaker which I wasn’t using, so I decided to connect that to the turntable instead and save myself some money.

No bullshit, a few days later I log into Reddit from my browser and noticed someone had sent me a direct message with the chat feature. I check Reddit from my phone daily but the app I use doesn’t support chat and so I didn’t know someone had tried contacting me. The message was two weeks old from someone at Xcite asking me if I’d be interested in reviewing the KEF LSX. I right away replied back with my phone number hoping I wasn’t too late. A few days later I headed to Xcite to pick up the speakers to review.

Full disclosure, I have a long-standing relationship with Xcite who provided me with this speaker to keep. They’ve been very supportive of the blog from the very early days and they’ve lent or given me a number of items over the years to review, as well as hooking me up with discounts. I’m a huge Xcite fan.

The KEF’s turned out to be a perfect size for my turntable. They don’t overpower it and although they don’t look retro, they did fit in looking very cool on my cabinet. The speakers come in five different colors but I opted for black since it would match my space better. All the colors are clad in a fabric made by the Danish contemporary textile designer, Kvadrat so the speakers look and feel very premium (they’re also pretty heavy).

Each one of the KEF speakers has it’s own built-in amplifier so I had to connect each speaker to a separate power outlet. The reason for this is the speakers can be used wirelessly and placed in different areas around the room so they each need their own power supply. The KEF has four sources of input, Bluetooth, WiFi, optical input and a 3.5mm auxiliary input. I connected the record player through the auxiliary input and as soon as I played one of my records I was completely blown away. I didn’t think records could sound so good or clear, that partially had to do with the fact I had previously been listening to records with my vintage record player but it also had to do with the fact how good these speakers sounded. For their small size, the speakers were crystal clear and fairly loud. I could hear so many different layers of instruments and even at max volume, they never distorted or sounded muddy. In fact, the speakers sounded so good I started researching KEF speakers for my home theater.

For those of you who are interested in wirelessly connecting to the speakers, other than Bluetooth they support Airplay 2 and have Spotify and Tidal built-in. Although I’m using it with an analog connection to my record player, I do have the speakers connected to my WiFi network so I could connect to it with the KEF app. The KEF app allows you to manage all the settings of the speaker including the volume control, input port as well as various detailed sound options.

Speaking of the volume control, there are some downsides to these speakers with the main one for me being the lack of a physical volume knob. The only way to lower or raise the volume is with the included remote control or through the KEF app. I guess that’s practical if you don’t want to get off the couch, but with my vinyl player I tend to spend a lot of time up next to it swapping records and flipping them over, so I want to be able to reach out and raise or lower the volume without having to pick up the remote. The other negative is the lack of deep bass. Although most reviewers online state the unit has good bass, that really depends on the music you listen to. I wouldn’t listen to electronic music with these speakers, not unless I attach them to a subwoofer (it has a subwoofer output port). But since most of my vinyls are composed of old music from the 70s or MTV Unplugged sessions, the speakers performed really well without needing a subwoofer.

At KD340 these speakers aren’t cheap, but then again you wouldn’t be looking at KEF speakers if you wanted something cheap. The best way to really appreciate these speakers is by listening to them in a quiet environment because no matter how many YouTubers say these speakers are great, you’re not gonna know what great sounds like unless you hear them in person. Personally, I think these speakers sound incredible, so much so that I’ve been trying to figure out how to make more use of them since I don’t use my turntable a lot and I really want to listen to these speakers more.

If you’d like to hear the speakers, they’re on display at the large Xcite in Avenues and their Al-Rai location. The speakers are also available on their website.

Screenshot from The Kitchen

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

New This Weekend:
Bring The Soul: The Movie (7.7)
Night Hunter (7.0)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (7.1)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (6.8)
The Art of Racing in the Rain (7.2)
The Boat (6.3)
The Kitchen (5.8)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Crawl (6.6)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (7.5)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
The Lion King (6.2)
The Queen’s Corgi (4.7)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

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

Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Great White Shark 3D (7.3)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
The Lion King – 1994 (8.5)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

My friends and I are looking for a good place to get sneakers cleaned. Previously we used to use the service KLEAN but they’re no longer around. Delicates in Salmiya clean sneakers but they’re also super expensive charging KD15 per pair compared to the KD2.750 KLEAN used to charge.

If you have any recommendations let me know in the comments.

Yesterday Jazeera Airways announced they are going to start flying to London starting October 27th. There will be daily flights and the trip to London will take 6 hours and 20 minutes while the journey back will take 7 hours and 5 minutes.

Jazeera Airways will fly their Airbus A320 neo to London which isn’t a big plane and they fly in and out of Gatwick not Heathrow. I picked out a random date to check out the price (November 1 going, November 4 return) and compared it with BA and Kuwait airways and this is what I got:

Jazeera Airways: KD 99.050
British Airways: KD 132.800
Kuwait Airways: KD 135.600

So you’re saving around KD 30 in this case although I’ve seen Kuwait Airways flights as low as KD 113. Too soon to tell if this will be a good option to fly to London, I’d be curious to read peoples reviews once they’ve started the route.

Back in 2014, I found out about a bookstore located inside the Al Bahhar Entertainment Village (Youm Al Bahar) called the Kuwait Heritage Library. I never went back to it after my initial trip but decided to do so this past Friday to see if it was still there. It was!

Since my last visit, the place has changed quite a bit, the shelves now reach the ceiling and the tiny shop was even more packed with books. It’s pretty hard to move around inside the shop now because there are books everywhere.

What I loved about the bookshop is the vast amount of old books it contained in both English and Arabic. I found a ton of stuff I wanted but they were sadly all overpriced. For example, they had an original copy of the Sons of Sinbad book by Alan Villiers priced at KD150 when similar condition books can be found online for around 40-50KD. They also had The Kuwait Urbanization book listed for KD170 when better condition copies can also be found online for around KD100 (I got mine for KD50).

BUT, if you love digging through piles of old books and flipping through pages of vintage books on Kuwait then you’re gonna really love this place. They’re open in the evening from around 6PM to 10PM but their AC isn’t working really well right now so its SUPER HOT inside. So if you pass by make sure you’re in your gym gear or something you don’t mind sweating in. If you don’t know where Youm Al Bahar is, here is the location on Google Maps. They’re also on Instagram @kuwait.heritage.library

Around a month ago, Trolley launched ICEE drinks in its convenience stores across Kuwait. If you’ve never had ICEE before they’re frozen carbonated drinks that come in fruit or soda flavors. At first, Trolley launched ICEE with only fruit flavors which I’m not a fan of, but this past weekend they started rolling out the cola flavor across their stores so I decided to pass by and try it out.

I ended up going to the Trolley location in Mansouriya which is the largest one in Kuwait. I think the gas station it’s located in is also the largest in Kuwait and looked brand new as well.

In the States they have Pepsi and Coke flavored ICEE which is what I was hoping to find but Trolley right now has the generic ICEE Cola flavor instead. Doesn’t taste quite as good as Pepsi or Coke but is good enough if you’re looking for a drink to quickly cool you down.

ICEE comes in three sizes:
Small – 750fils
Medium – KD1
Large – KD1.250

I’m not sure if all the Trolley’s have ICEE machines or the cola flavor, but if you want more info you can always check the Trolley page on instagram @trolley_kw

Last Thursday I was at the National Library looking for a specific book related to the Iraq invasion when I found a book called “Kuwaiti Resistance as Revealed by Iraqi Documents“. From the cover, it didn’t look like much but after flipping a few pages I was hooked. I knew I wanted that book so I went online to buy one from Amazon or eBay when I noticed the book was published by the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait. The center was located next to my office so after work I decided to head to their small bookshop to see if they had it. They did, in fact, they had the book in English, Arabic, and French and for just KD3!

I’ve been meaning to post about the place for some time now ever since I found out they had a book shop. It was a small shop with just their publications so didn’t think it would be an interesting post but then on Thursday I also found out they had a library with a lot of interesting books and it was open to the public!

The Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait was established in 1992 with a number of objectives but mainly to collect various documents and studies relating to the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait. The book I purchased is one of many books the center has published on the invasion but they also have a wide range of books on Kuwait (history, environment, wildlife, etc).

The center has a library which although not as big as the National Library at least is open in the afternoon so people with jobs can pass by after work. The library is mostly filled with Arabic books but they did have a pretty decently sized section filled with English books as well as an archive of researches and presentations including proposals on the Kuwait Water Front Project (the Gulf Road basically) and original plans for the Kuwait Radion Television Centre which I had never seen before. They also had an archive of LIFE magazine issues dating from 1956 to 1963, two copies of the Saba Shiber book The Kuwait Urbanization and another book by Saba I didn’t know existed called Recent Arab City Growth (also dating back to the 60s and there is a copy on eBay for $375 so someone, please buy it right now because I can’t afford to buy all the rare books on Kuwait by myself).

If you’re looking to buy some books or spend some time in a library flipping through old books on Kuwait this is the place. Like I said it’s nowhere near as big as the Nationa Library but at least they have better opening hours. The center is open from 8AM to 1:30PM and then again from 5PM to 7:30PM. Here is their location on Google Maps.

Over the weekend I passed by a place called Tea Party Sweets that had Sunkist and Vimto soft serve which in theory, sounded like the best idea ever. They have two locations, one in Ardiya and one in Salmiya right off the 4th Ring Road. I went to the Salmiya location since it was nearest to me and the place looked like one of those random dessert shops that open up and never get a single customer. Except in this case, the place was packed and everyone was there for the exact same reason, Sunkist and Vimto soft serve.

I picked up both to try out and was looking forward to the Sunkist one the most but sadly it didn’t really taste like Sunkist. If anything it tasted closer to Tang than Sunkist. The Vimto one, on the other hand, tasted exactly like Vimto but in soft serve form.

It’s a fun idea and probably doing really well since it’s a great Instagram gimmick. I just wish the Sunkist tasted more like Sunkist. You can find Tea Party Sweets on instagram @tea_party_sweets

Apartment hunting has always been a hassle and tedious task no matter where in the world you go. Finding a modern apartment with all the necessary and basic amenities as well as additional facilities can be a time-consuming chore. At Tijaria real estate, we combine the notion of modern living with luxury, comfort and the benefit of convenience. With our huge real estate portfolio, finding the perfect home for you and your loved ones is no longer a challenge.

In this months’ pick of prime real estate spaces, we bring two unique and exceptional properties in the residential location of Mahbula. Our first pick is the Thatcher Residential Complex (Symphony Furnished Apartments – SFA) located on the Fahaheel expressway.

This property has:

• 3 connected buildings over 16 floors, 77 apartments, 1 commercial store, 6 villas that consist of 2 floors with 4 master bedrooms each, a garage that fits 2 cars and 222 parking spaces.

• All apartments are uniquely furnished, serviced and managed with state of the art facilities and amenities.

• The property includes facilities for both adults and children such as a swimming pool, Health club, Squash Courts, Sauna & Jacuzzi as well as a Barbecue area and a Green area perfect for creating memories with your loved ones.

• In addition, each residential unit at Thatcher Complex comes with a spacious balcony overlooking the pool and kids play areas as well as offering fabulous sea-facing sunset views.

Our second pick of the month is the gorgeous Juman Residential Project also located on the Fahaheel Express Road in Mahboula. Designed to consist of Two building complexes, 12 floors each, consisting of spacious and pristine,

• One, two and three-bedroom apartments, 3 and 4 bedroom duplex apartments along with townhouses consisting of 3 floors and commercial shops.

• In the center of the project, we have an oasis of luxury facilities such as swimming pools, gymnasium, squash court, children’s playground area, fountain, and a multipurpose hall both suited for adults and children within the residential complex.

• Amenities also include underground parking, Garbage Chute, Internet, and selected sports and OSN channels. Both properties have 24×7 Security present on site.

Home is where you come back to unwind and relax, it is no longer concrete and walls, we at Tijaria understand and imbibe this concept of creating spaces that not only bring comfort but also combine the concept of modern living and creating spaces that you can enjoy just at your doorstep. We build modern comfortable luxury spaces that you want to come back to with your loved ones no matter where in the world you go.

To get a tour or more information about our properties please call 22285616 – 97272745.

If you’re looking for something to do tonight there is a stargazing trip taking place which sounds like fun. For more info click here.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion, and every year on the anniversary, I like to share some links related to the war. This year though I noticed two of my favorite websites related to the invasion are no longer up and running, Free Kuwait and The Evidence.

Both those website contained a large archive of photos related to the invasion and I’m pretty upset that they’re both no longer working. I’ve already emailed the people behind those two websites to see what the issue is, hopefully, it’s just a technical hiccup but in any case, below are the rest of the links.

Free Kuwait
This is a website that focuses on the campaign that was led by Kuwaitis in exile and is loaded with photos and information.

Kuwait Invasion – The Evidence
This is a website that contains over 1,200 pictures taken right after the 1990 invasion as photographic evidence to all the destruction caused by Iraq.

Short movie: Hearts of Palm
Hearts of Palm is a short movie set in August 2nd 1990 and deals with Kuwaiti students living in Miami Florida during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.

The Class of 1990
This is a short documentary about reuniting class mates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

Homemade video from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Video clips taken by a Kuwaiti family during the Iraqi invasion

Desert Storm Photos
Photos taken by soldiers during Desert Storm.

Short Animation: Sandarah
A captivating story based on true events that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

First Account of Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait
Interviews with various Kuwaitis that were in Kuwait during the 1990 invasion.

Iraqi Invasion Pictures
Photos of the Gulf War aftermath.

Politics of Wor
A tumblr account with some not so commonly seen photos from the Gulf War. (Warning some are graphic)

Magnum Photos
A gallery of images taken during the Gulf War by some great photographers. (Warning some are graphic)

BBC Documentary: The Last Flight to Kuwait
A series of documentaries on Iraq begins with a look at the fate of British Airways flight BA149 to the Far East in 1990. As the plane landed in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded, capturing its crew and passengers.

Photos in this post are by Bruno Barbey

Update: I just bought a hard copy of the books The Evidence and Evidence II which is what the website The Evidence is based off. Now looking for “A Testimony from London” which the Free Kuwait website is based on. If you know where I can find it let me know.

Screenshot from Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

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

New This Weekend:
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (7.5)
The Devil’s Doorway (5.2)
The Queen’s Corgi (4.7)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
xEscape Plan: The Extractors (4.4)
Lying and Stealing (5.1)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
Skin (6.6)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
Stuber (5.7)
The Lion King (6.2)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

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

New This Weekend:
Great White Shark 3D (7.3)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
The Lion King – 1994 (8.5)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

Early this year I decided I wanted to get a cool classic car and not sure how exactly, but I ended up deciding on an old Alfa Romeo, specifically the 1750 GTV. So I started looking all over the web for a car that fit my requirements and I ended up finding a couple in the US, one in Sweden and one in Germany but in the end, I found a perfect one in the Netherlands at a family-run classic car dealership called Gallery Aaldering. After a few emails back and forth, I decided to fly out to Holland to check the car in person. The place was insane! It was 4 floors and filled with so many beautiful and pristine condition classic cars. It was like a museum except everything was for sale. While there I actually didn’t give the Alfa much attention at first because I ended up falling in love with a Lancia Fulvia Coupe 1600 HF. But after I test drove the Alfa and left the dealership did it start to settle in and I knew I wanted it.

This was back in April and once I got back to Kuwait I proceeded with the purchase. It took around 8 weeks to finalize the paperwork and get the car registered for exporting and it finally shipped to Kuwait this past Monday.

One thing I realized through this whole process is that very few people in Kuwait know what the process is for importing a classic car. There is a lot of misinformation and the whole thing is just confusing so I decided I would share the process on the blog.

So this is what I was told, but keep in mind laws change all the time and there are various exceptions that can be made so use this info just as a starting point. Firstly cars are divided into three categories and each has different rules:

New Cars
Cars less than 5 years old are considered new. Both expats and Kuwaitis can import these cars without much of a hassle.

Old Cars
Cars older than 5 years but less than 40 years are considered old. Expats aren’t allowed to import old cars while Kuwaitis are allowed to import one old car in their lifetime.

Classic Cars
Cars that are older than 40 years are considered classics. Expats aren’t allowed to import classic cars while Kuwaitis are allowed to import one classic car every two years.

Now I’ve also heard from people I know that cars older than 20 or 25 years are considered classic. I can’t verify that since I was told by a car importer that it has to be older than 40 years old. But I was also told exceptions can be made. If you get a paper from a dealership stating the car you’re importing is special or rare, then from my understanding, the car doesn’t follow any of the rules listed above.

Since I’m not Kuwaiti I’m importing the car under a friends name. I’m using a local logistics company called Transcrate to get the car from the Netherlands to Kuwait and they’ll also be getting all my paperwork done. They’re pretty pricey compared to other companies, but their customer service is great, I’m communicating with them in English by phone and email (haven’t visited them in person yet), and they’ve been updating me with photos on the progress of my car. The company also belongs to a friend of mine so I feel really comfortable dealing with them. Other companies I approached either didn’t take me seriously, only communicated in Arabic or were pretty slow in responding to simple questions or requests.

The car is now expected to arrive at the end of August and once the car arrives I’ll post Part 2 with information on the registration process.