2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Comic Con Kuwait is taking place this coming weekend from the 22nd to the 24th of February. This is the second time Comic Con is being held in Kuwait and they’re expecting 20,000 people to attend. They’ve doubled the size of the venue compared to last year and they’re bringing in some bigger stars including:

Stan Lee: The comic-book writer who co-created the popular characters Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men

Michael Fassbender: The actor know for playing Magneto on X-Men as well as having main rolls in movies such as Steve Jobs, Assassin’s Creed, Alien: Covenant and many more

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Know for playing the character Ser Jaime Lannister, in the HBO series Game of Thrones

David Hayter: Well known as the English voice actor for Solid Snake in the Metal Gear videogames

Video of last years Comic Con (starts 1min in)

Ticket prices start at KD10 and go all the way up to KD150 for the Diamond pass. For more info on this event click [Here]

Al Kawakeb is an old ice cream and dessert shop in the city which you’ve probably passed by a number of times on your way to Vol.1 or Street (AlMakan) for dinner. The place has been open since the 50s and their display is filled with old nostalgic sweets.

BROWNBOOK have published a great article on the history of Al Kawakeb along with some great photos. I had no idea the shop was that old and I’m definitely going to appreciate it a lot more now that I’ve read this article. So check it out on their website [Here]

Last month after posting my review on the Bang & Olufsen H5 wireless earphones, I got a message from the audio brand Shure asking me if I’d also like to try their wireless earphones. I’ve been a fan of Shure ever since I got my first pair of in-ears back in 2004, the Shure E2’s, so of course I said yes. A couple of weeks later I got their new SE215 wireless earphones in the mail.

I had a few issues with my H5’s and was curious to see if the Shure’s would solve them. My main problems with the H5’s were the battery life and the low volume level of the earphones. So how did the Shure’s perform?

Battery Life
While the B&O H5 promises up to 5 hours of battery life, the Shure’s promise up to 8. That doesn’t sound like much but in real-world use, it is. With the H5’s I make sure I put them back on the charger after using them for a couple of hours, with the Shure’s I charge them every couple of outings and still have enough juice for a third outing. But what I like about the Shure’s is that if I do run out of battery, I can just charge them using any standard micro-usb cable unlike the H5’s which require the use of the charging station that came with the earphones.

Volume Level
I’m sitting right now at Arabica having my coffee and typing up this post with the Shure earphones on listening to music. I have the music volume at 80% because at 100% they’re just too loud. With the H5’s I would always have the earphones at 100% and wish I could raise them by at least another 20%.

So yeah, the Shure’s do solve my two biggest issues with the H5’s in addition to solving another issue I wasn’t aware needed solving. When you first turn on the Shure’s, you get a voice prompt letting you know once they connect to a bluetooth source and then the voice lets you know how much battery life is left. With the B&O’s I need to launch the B&O app on my phone to find out the battery life which isn’t very practical. Another advantage of the Shure’s is the price, they cost half that of the B&O’s and sound as good if not slightly better.

With all the positives so far with the Shure’s, you’d think I’d prefer them over the B&O’s but that hasn’t been the case. Whenever I leave the house and need to pick a pair of earphones to take with me, I kept finding myself reaching for the H5’s over these Shure’s. The reason for that is the Shure’s are pretty bulky. The battery pack isn’t built into the earphones but instead is located on the cable so it makes wearing the earphones awkward. On top of that, the earphone wires are too thin making the Shure’s feel flimsy and messy because the wires keep getting tangled up.

But in the end, it really comes down to the person’s requirements. Are you looking for battery life or style? If I’m traveling then I’m definitely going to pick the Shure’s over the H5’s. But if I’m just going to a coffee shop for a couple of hours to get some work done, then I’m always going to pick the H5’s.

If you’re interested in picking up a pair of Shure SE215 wireless earphones, they’re available on Amazon for KD45 [Here]

If you’re looking for a new fun activity, then you should consider rowing with the Kuwait Pilot Gig Club. Back in April of last year, I posted about them, but it was towards the end of their season and I wasn’t able to try them out. Then a friend reminded me about them a couple of weeks ago so we both signed up for a trial session which turned out to be a lot of fun.

The meeting point for the trial session was the Nino’s parking lot on the Gulf Road at 4PM, I had gym nearby till 3:40PM and then headed to Nino’s once I was done. I had leg day at the gym which turned out to be the worst thing to do before rowing since I later found out that 90% of rowing involves using legs. My legs were sore for days after!

The trial session is for people who have an interest to row, but have never rowed before and are curious to try it. Each rowboat can take up to 6 people, we were 5, just me, my friend, the coxswain (captain) and two experienced rowers. We started the session off on land with information on the boat and the oars. Once in the water, we were then taught the basics of rowing and how to row as a team. I loved being out at sea and I hadn’t done that in forever because I get seasick so easily. But, I had taken some amazing motion sickness pills (Betaserc) and really didn’t feel sick at all. Rowing wasn’t very difficult, but it obviously will take a number of outings before getting comfortable with the techniques and motions. You do have to be fit and have some strength but other than that, they’ll teach you everything you need to know.

If you’re interested in rowing this is what you need to do. Firstly you have to contact them on 99031123 or [email protected] and arrange for a trial session. If like me you enjoyed the experience and want to take part in this activity, then here are the prices:

Intro Course
Involves 6 rowing sessions + 1 social row. The cost is KD75 and the course needs to be completed within two months.

Monthly Membership Packages
You need to have completed the intro course and then it’s:

– 4 Rows KD 30/- monthly
– 8 Rows KD 55/- monthly
– Unlimited Rows KD 75/- monthly

Make sure you also check out their instagram account for more pictures and videos @kwt_pilot_gig

Last year I posted about my favorite zaatar fatayer which was from a place called JS Foods located inside Sultan Center Shaab. But then Sultan Center Shaab closed down and JS Foods closed down which sucked for me. But, I recently found out they had moved and opened up a new location also in Shaab.

It’s a tiny place that’s fairly hidden, their map link on instagram wasn’t working so it actually took me two trips to find the place. JS Foods is a vegan restaurant that serves gluten and sugar-free food items. I picked up a box of freshly baked zaatar fatayer and they were as delicious as I remember them being. They also have a lot of other items on their menu like pancakes, acai bowls, granola bars, bread and more.

So if you’re interested in passing by them, here is their location on [Google Maps]. They have a cute seating area and they’re open from 8AM to 5PM. They also have delivery. For more info, check them out on instagram @jsfoodskwt

This weekend isn’t super busy but there are some interesting events taking place and most of them are free to attend. Check them out below:

Thursday
SnowTown in K-Town
Exhibition: Culture Fair: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Japanese Movie Night: The Chef of South Polar
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: In the Mood for Love
Jamstart Band
AMG’s Jazz at Home

Friday
SnowTown in K-Town
BAS 5th International Volleyball Tournament

Saturday
SnowTown in K-Town
Yoga with the 3
Community Table: Khaleej Series
AWARE Desert Camp
Dance Show: Musicality
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
Beach Ultimate Frisbee

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 Black Panther

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Black Panther (7.2)
Early Man (6.4)
The Shadow Effect (4.2) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Braven (6.5) ♦
Coco (9.1)
Den of Thieves (7.2) ♦
Ferdinand (6.8)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ★
Kickboxer: Retaliation (5.0)
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (7.2)
Space Chicken (5.4)
Slumber (4.7)
The 15:17 to Paris (6.2) ♦
The Commuter (6.8)
The Greatest Showman (7.9)
The Post (7.5)
Winchester (5.3) ♦
Wonder (7.2)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

This has to be the first for Kuwait because I haven’t seen one like it here yet. Down the street from my place in Salmiya, right towards the end of the 4th Ring Road, they’re constructing a pedestrian bridge that uses escalators instead of your usual stairs. The pedestrian bridge is also covered so I’m guessing it will probably have airconditioning as well.

I find this odd because the area is pretty ghetto so it’s weird we’re getting such a fancy pedestrian bridge. Now I’m wondering if this has anything to do with the Metro plans. I know in the metro map (pictured above) there is meant to be a station in this area and there is plenty of room around this bridge for one as you can see in the map below. Could this be connected to it?

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today? [Link]

Back in September, they announced that part of Salem Al Mubarak Street was going to be turned into pedestrian only. I took the video above this morning right outside my apartment building to show you the current status, and as you can see the project has progressed considerably since my last post on the street.

My biggest issue with the project was that they had killed 25 trees on that street that had been there for over 50 years. They’ve now planted new palm trees instead which although is a nice gesture, palm trees just don’t offer any shade and can’t house as many birds as the older trees did. I really wished they had managed to keep those older trees.

In any case, the street is starting to shape up and I think they’re trying to have everything done by February 25th which right now seems unattainable.

But, a new issue is starting to pop up and that is gentrification. Because the street is getting fixed up, the value of real estate around it is also going up. My rent was already slightly increased since my building is suddenly now in a prime location, people are also now bidding on the empty stores in my building which previously nobody wanted. I’d really really hate it if my apartment rent goes up to the point where I’ll be priced out and be forced to move.

On the bright side, they haven’t sorted the parking issue in the area. Parking in my neighborhood has always been historically terrible and now they’ve gone and removed all the parking spots on the main street without adding any new ones. With this street facelift, we’re now going to have even a higher influx of people come into the area than before, so the parking situation will be even worse which is kinda great for me. Hopefully this parking mess is going to help keep the popularity of the area down to a reasonable level, which in return should keep my rent at a reasonable level.

Kuwait Motor Town is set to open next month and the logo for it has now been revealed. From the reactions I’ve been seeing, most people don’t like it mostly because it looks like the Kellogg’s Special K logo. Although I don’t really like the logo, I think its fine.

It’s not a great logo by any means, but compared to other F1 circuit logos below, I think things could have been a lot worse. I mean other than the Baku City Circuit logo and probably the Red Bull Ring, most of the logos are pretty terrible. If Mexico with all their super talented designers ended up with the horrible Autodromo logo pictured below, we’re pretty lucky to end up with our Kellogg’s Special K one.

If you’d like to see the full branding presentation of Kuwait Motor Town, click [Here] They’ve removed the work from their portfolio but you can still access it [Here]

Thanks lovelykuwait

Duckling is a new little restaurant that opened up a couple of days ago that specializes in duck. The place is pretty tiny with just 4 tables, but that’s because their main focus is going to be on delivery once they get on Carriage sometime within the coming week.

I visited with a friend and we ordered nearly everything on the menu but my favorites were probably the Dizzy Dough, which are homemade dumplings stuffed with duck meat, and the Quackola which is a pulled duck sandwich. This isn’t a fancy duck restaurant, it’s a small fast casual place run by a couple of guys who wanted to open a restaurant but didn’t want to open another burger joint. Prices are pretty reasonable but you’re going to need more than a sandwich to fill you up.

They’re not on Carriage yet but they will be soon. If you want to pass by them they’re open from 2PM to 11PM and they’re located right next to Kipco Tower in the city [Google Maps]. To stay posted on their delivery launch, just follow them on Instagram @duckling_kw

The picture above was emailed to me a few days ago by a reader who grew up in Kuwait in the 1950s. It was taken at the Anglo-American School in Ahmadi in the early 1950s. The headmistress was called Miss Ussher while he’s the little kid in the bottom right in the white shirt and shorts (Norman Young). Next to him are his classmates Ian Hickman, David Tristram and Marcia Brown.

Anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted an old video of Kuwait, but they’re pretty hard to come by. I’ve decided to share two videos below, one is of Kuwait in 1977 while the other is of Kuwait in 1997. Is 1997 considered old? I’m not sure anymore. Below are the videos and their timelines in case you want to skip through them:

Kuwait – 1977
0:09 Old port
0:47 Al Sabah Hospital
1:12 Gold market (looks like Souk Mubarakiya)
1:50 Fahad Al Salem Street
2:20 Sheraton Hotel
2:25 Kuwait Towers under construction
2:33 Villas under construction
2:52 Arriving at persons home
3:50 Gas station
3:55 Car dealership
4:39 Gas station

Kuwait – 1997
0:00 Seaside – Bnied Al-Gar
1:27 Cityscape
2:45 Green Island and the sea
5:21 Old Salmiya
6:07 Al Salam Building
6:32 Old Salmiya
7:47 Hungry Bunny
8:32 Entertainment City

In case you didn’t watch the episode last April when it was first aired on HBO, VICE have released the episode “Fast Food of Arabia” that features Kuwait onto YouTube. Here is a summary of the episode:

As Americans become increasingly health-conscious and junk food sales plateau in the States, fast food companies are spreading to new global markets, expanding their revenue — and the waistlines of their customers.

VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni travels to Kuwait, now one of the most obese countries on the planet, to witness the health effects on a country deep in the throes of an unlikely obsession with U.S. fast food.

For my previous post on this episode, click [Here]

I’ve been watching a bunch of canceled comedies with a friend of mine and decided to list my favorite ones so far. Even though these shows were canceled after the first or second season, they’re still some of the funniest shows you can watch on TV. I think most actually got canceled because the stars on the show became too famous or moved on to bigger things, and not because they weren’t successful shows. Anyway, here are my recommendations:

Bored to Death
This show stars Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. Schwartzman’s plays the role of a struggling writer who gets dumped by his girlfriend and then decides to live a double life by pretending to be a private detective.

Hello Ladies
This show stars Stephen Merchant who many of you might not have heard of, but he collaborates a lot with Ricky Gervais and is the co-writer and co-director of The Office, Extras and Life’s Too Short. In this show, he plays the role of a British web designer living in Los Angeles trying to find the woman of his dreams.

Life’s Too Short
This show is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and stars Warwick Davis. Warwick Davis plays a fictionalized version of himself, a struggling dwarf actor trying to find work. The show had a ton of cameos that included Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp, Steve Carell, Val Kilmer and even Right Said Fred.

Party Down
Starring Adam Scott from Parks & Recreation and the super funny Ken Marino (both pictured above). Party Down is about a bunch of actors who are trying to make it big but end up working as party caterers.

Burning Love
Burning Love is a parody of reality shows similar to the “The Bachelor” and is produced by Ben Stiller. The show features a ton of great comedians and a whole lot of cameos by famous actors incuding Kristen Bell, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. The show also stars Ken Marino who plays the bachelor in the first season while the second season of the show stars the funny June Diane Raphael who plays the bachelorette.