2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

For those of you who used to follow my blog in the early days, you might remember I had a dog called Geo. My ex-wife and I got him right after getting married and he was the friendliest, cutest and silliest dog ever. Everyone who met him loved him and he continued to be silly and act puppy-like even though he got older and bigger.

Four months ago we found out Geo had cancer and his condition started deteriorating rapidly ever since. A couple of days ago we sadly had to put him to sleep. He had just turned 13 last month.

For the past two years, Geo’s been living with my ex-wife in Canada where he got to experience snow for the first time, go for long walks in the forest and play fetch in beautiful green parks. I didn’t get to say goodbye, so I guess this post is my way of saying goodbye to him. I miss you stupid dog.

Has anyone here imported a car into Kuwait before? If yes what company did you use to help you with the paperwork? I’m planning to import an old car from the UAE but since I’m an expat, I’ve been told that I need to bring the car in through a car import company. I was planning to pass by Sharq and ask the used car shops there if they offered the service but wanted to see if anybody could recommend a place first.

Niqashna is a platform for open debates that was launched early last year. Every few weeks they discuss an interesting subject and tomorrow night they’re debating the subject of Christmas and other foreign holidays and their effect on Kuwait’s identity.

The debate is in Arabic but the Q&A will be in both Arabic and English. If you’re interested in attending (its free), you can get more details [Here]

David Guetta performed last night in Saudi after the first Formula E race of the season took place there. How did Saudi Arabia suddenly become more open than Kuwait? If they legalize alcohol in Saudi before us that would be both the funniest and saddest thing at the same time.

With the roads in such terrible condition at the moment, its such a relief finding a long stretch of highway that isn’t falling apart. Over the weekend I was testing out a new location for my GoPro mic in preparation for an upcoming track day, and decided to take the new highway the starts in Shuwaikh.

I’ve taken the highway before but always exited towards Jahra so was pretty surprised to find out the highway actually continued a good distance past my usual exit. If you’re looking for a nice strip of road to drive on, this is probably your best bet right now.

Here is the starting location on [Google Maps]

Starting January 1st, Kuwait Airways will start flying to New York again non-stop. Kuwait Airways used to fly non-stop a few years ago but due to our airport’s weak security, flights to NY started stopping in Ireland for one more final security check. A non-stop flight to New York obviously makes the journey a lot quicker and practical, but with the new Kuwait Airways planes and terminal, it could also potentially be the best way to get to NY from Kuwait. [Link]

The weekend is here and so are all the events. Make sure you drop by the Caffeine & Wheels event this Saturday, it should be fun! Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
La Selva Caliente
Korean Calligraphy – Making Christmas & New Year’s Card
Entertainment Con
Graduates of 2019: Moo Milk Bar

Friday
Entertainment Con
Christmas Extravaganza
Stargazing in AlSalmi Desert
Blues in the Night
Talentshop’s Funky Sweater Show

Saturday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Entertainment Con
Qout Market
Caffeine & Wheels

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.

Screenshot from Aquaman

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

New This Weekend:
Aquaman (8.2)
Christmas Break-In (N/A)
Elliot the Littlest Reindeer (5.2)
Malevolent (4.8)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Bombing (3.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Creed II (8.0)
Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer (6.2)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (7.1)
Instant Family (7.6)
Mortal Engines (7.2)`
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Robin Hood (5.8)
The Grinch (6.1)
Widows (7.4)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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

After Kuwait’s attorney general issued on Monday strict guidelines to ensure that children are adequately protected from the potential dangers associated with social media, an attorney told Kuwait Times 18 social media accounts were referred to the prosecutor yesterday. Lawyer Mohammed Al-Khaldi explained the new guidelines only expound on already existing juvenile laws which criminalize the abuse of children. Chief among the new guidelines is introducing age restrictions requiring social media users to be at least 13 years of age. [Source]

Looks like the government is on a roll cracking down on Instagrammers. The last sentence is a bit confusing because it sounds like anybody under 13 isn’t allowed to have a social media account, but I think they actually mean anyone under 13 can’t be exploited by the parents on social media. At least I think that’s what they mean…

I haven’t had much time recently to start a new TV series which is why I haven’t published a must watch tv post since the summer. But, last week I somehow managed to find time start the HBO series The Deuce and after just one episode, I made enough time to watch all two seasons of it.

The Deuce takes place in New York during the 70s and 80s, before the city was cleaned up. We get to follow the lives of prostitutes and pimps and watch the birth of the porn industry and VHS tapes, we get an insight into the gay community at that period of time and the backdoor dealings between the NYPD and the mobs. In a way, the series is a kind of documentary thats filled with sex and nudity, but one thats also informative and very fun to watch.

The Deuce was created by George Pelecanos and David Simon who are best known for their work on The Wire, a series which many consider to be the best ever made. The cast is also incredible with James Franco being the biggest name but a ton of other great actors whom you’ve seen before on other shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, The Night Of, and Entourage. Even the kid from The Karate Kid is in the show.

If you’re looking for a new show to binge watch, I can’t recommend The Deuce enough. It’s on HBO so if you don’t have an account you can always sign up for a month, binge watch the show and then cancel your membership (although I’d also recommend you binge watch Barry, Crashing and Succession as well). I highly recommend it. [HBO]

Detectives in Kuwait have been called to investigate several social media influencers for money laundering, according to reports.

Arabic publication Al-Jarida cited sources as confirming the notices regarding more than 10 bank accounts belonging to social media stars.

The sources said the balances in some of the accounts exceeded millions of Kuwaiti dinars and the ‘fashionista’ owners would need to prove their source of income. [Source]

I clearly must be doing blogging wrong…

Does anyone have any insider information as to why none of the rain-damaged roads have been fixed yet? A lot of the roads look like the picture above which is usually how the roads look like just before being resurfaced, but I’ve never seen so many roads looking like that and for this long.

The road in the picture above at least is flat, there are some roads that are covered in potholes and bumps. Yesterday I noticed two very large potholes opened up on the Gulf Road, potholes large enough to cause flat tires or damage wheels.

Something is definitely up, my guess is the government is looking for a new contractor since the last one did such a terrible job.

A friend of mine is putting together a cars and coffee event this weekend called Caffeine & Wheels. If you’ve got a nice or interesting car, or if you’re simply into cars, then pass by and check the event out. There will be a bunch of coffee shops taking part as well as the Nomad Kitchen food truck. I’ll be there obviously and there should be a ton of great and rare cars showing up. For more info click [Here]

Dar Scrubs is an interesting small store that sells clothing and accessories for doctors. I didn’t think there could be so much variety in scrubs but I guess even doctors want to look good. I even spotted Grey’s Anatomy branded scrubs which is actually pretty smart of the show.

If you’re a doctor (or just looking to role play) then you should pass by and check them out. They’re located in Promenade Mall inside their Soapbox space. If you don’t feel like passing by you could also check out their online store [Here]