2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

As you know by now, Beauty and the Beast was pulled from movie theaters on Monday by request of the Ministry of Information due to further censorship. Supposedly MOI knew that a “gay moment” existed, but when they originally watched the film, they didn’t find the scene and assumed the theaters were showing a different version of the movie. Once the film was released and social media caught on to the fact that the controversial scene wasn’t cut, MOI contacted the theaters and had them pull the movie so they could remove the scene in question and re-release it. If that alone wasn’t enough drama, Cinescape last night announced that it will now no longer be playing the movie “in line with the company’s responsibilities and principles towards young customers”. Below is Cinescape’s full message:

Dear Valued Customers,
We would like to inform you that Kuwait National Cinema Company decided to

Stop showing Beauty and the Beast in line with our values as responsibility toward our young viewers

I’ve contacted Grand Cinemas to see if they will be pulling the movie as well, but as of this post I haven’t heard back from them yet. Who would have ever have thought a Disney film could ever cause this much controversy.

Update: Grand Cinemas got back to me telling me the movie is now banned in Kuwait.

You’ve probably heard about this in the news but in case you haven’t, the U.S. issued a temporary ban on electronics in cabins on some Middle Eastern flights to the U.S. It’s a temporary 96 hour ban at the moment but it still sucks if you were planning on traveling to the U.S. in the next few days and like me, take all your on inflight entertainment with you. Oddly though, according to AP, the ban includes Kuwait.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press the ban will apply to nonstop flights to the U.S. from 10 international airports serving the cities of Cairo in Egypt; Amman in Jordan; Kuwait City in Kuwait; Casablanca in Morocco; Doha in Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The ban was indefinite, said the official.

I wasn’t aware of any direct flights to the U.S. from Kuwait. United Airlines stopped flying out from Kuwait and Kuwait Airways now stops in Ireland for security reasons on the way to New York. Is there a flight that is direct to the U.S. from Kuwait that I am not aware of?

Update: It might be a temporary ban, it might not be, everyone seems to be confused

Update2: Kuwait Airways will begin flying non-stop to New York starting from Sunday, March 26.

@PK_Spark is the 19 year old parkour guy I posted about awhile back, where him and his friends snuck onto the roof of Hamra Tower and started sliding around. Around 10 days ago, he sent me a link to his latest video where he snuck into the new NBK tower thats being constructed across the street from Hamra Tower where he climbed up to the highest crane. I was going to post the video on the blog but then it suddenly disappeared along with all his social media accounts. I thought the video might have gotten him in trouble and turns out that was the case. A few days later, his social media accounts came back online and he posted the following message on his instagram:

I got arrested by the CID ( criminal investigation department) and they throw me in jail, all that was because of my crane climbs and rooftops stuff at least m free right now but the bad news is no more rooftops till I leave this country.

I learned something from this experience ( freedom is expensive ) don’t lose it.

It’s messed up that he got arrested, but it shouldn’t be a surprise since he was basically trespassing onto private property and then sharing video of it. In any case he’s back out now, just no more dangerous rooftops stunts for awhile which is a good thing. If you want to see some of his videos, you can check out his instagram account @pk_spark or his YouTube channel [Here]

The 2017 edition of the World Happiness Report was released yesterday and Kuwait moved up two spots from 41 to 39. The highest Kuwait has ever been was 31 and that was back in 2012. Since then, Kuwait has slowly been dropping down the list until last year it hit its lowest ranking at 41, so 39 this year is technically an improvement.

Below is a list comparing Kuwait’s ranking to some other countries in the region including the highest ranked and lowest.

1. Norway
21. United Arab Emirates
35. Qatar
37. Saudi Arabia
39. Kuwait
41. Bahrain
155. Central African Republic

The scoring is based on a number of factors including answers submitted by people who were asked to assess their satisfaction with their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10. For a more detailed explanation as well as the full list of rankings, you can download the World Happiness Report from [Here]

Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and Sky Cinemas will no longer be showing Disney’s Beauty and the Beast movie in Kuwait. Local censors wanted to cut a scene from the film, most likely the gay related one and Disney decided it would rather pull the movie than censor it. It did the same thing in Malaysia last week when it pulled the movie from theaters over there after Malaysian censors wanted to remove the gay scene as well.

I actually like the idea of Disney pulling the film, I think more movie studios need to do that.

Update: According to Grand Cinemas, they are currently working with the studio on the additional cuts that the MOI requested and will be releasing the film when ready. This means Disney did NOT pull the movie but the movie theaters did due to additional cuts that were requested by the MOI.

Update2: According to Cinescape, they pulled the movie themselves.

Dear Valued Customers,
We would like to inform you that Kuwait National Cinema Company decided to

Stop showing Beauty and the Beast in line with our values as responsibility toward our young viewers [Source]

If you’ve been meaning to try out the hand crafted artisanal donuts from DOH! but been missing them at events, well they’re now available on Carriage.

They’re ridiculously good donuts and their packaging is super cool as well. A dozen donuts will set you back around KD13 with delivery, but you can buy them individually as well. If you don’t have the Carriage app, here is the online [Link]

A couple of weeks ago FASTtelco launched their new logo and it now matches the Ooredoo logo. Last year Ooredoo purchased FASTtelco and I was expecting them to kill off the FT brand completely, but I guess they decided to keep it as a stand alone brand and instead have it connect back to Ooredoo with the red circles. It works.

I was also checking their website (which is pretty nicely done) and I noticed how much DSL prices have gone down in the past few years. I’ve been pretty much paying the same thing for my WiMD connection the past few years which is KD385 for 10Mbps. But if I could get DSL where I live, for nearly the same price I could have 50Mbps for KD417 or the same 10Mbps connection I have but for just KD132. Such a big difference…

Last week I posted that the Habitat Museum at Al Shaheed Park was now open but I only managed to pass by it this past weekend. I left so impressed, that here I am posting about the museum again a week later.

The museum showcases the unique beauty of Kuwait’s plants and animal life by taking visitors on a journey through the local ecosystem. When you first enter the premises you need to pick up your audio guide as well as a round disc that contains a plant seed. This disc can then be used in various parts of the museum to activate screens and interact with the exhibits.

The museum isn’t that big but I loved everything about it. My favorite part though had to be watching different families and people just walk around interacting with the displays. Its pretty obvious that people in Kuwait are hungry for museums which is why I can’t wait until the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Center opens up end of this year.

Another thing I liked was the fact the museum brings up two important issues, illegal hunting near the wildlife reserves as well as how camping can be very disruptive to the environment. Two very important issues which I’m glad they talk about in their exhibits because it will definitely educate the visitors especially the young ones.

The Habitat Museum is located in the same building as the escalators that take you to the parking lot (the far end one) and right across from the restaurant Table Otto.

The opening hours are:
Monday to Friday: 4PM to 9PM
Saturdays: 12PM to 7PM
Sundays: Closed

Entry is free just make sure you have an ID card so you could pick up the audio guide and plant disc. The museum is really worth checking out so pass by.

For more photos of the interior taken by the photographer Niccolò Guasti, click [Here]

Arabica are opening their third location in Arraya and it’s going to be my favorite branch for two reasons. The first is because it’s going to be located across the street from my office and the second is because of how nice it looks. This location should be open by end of this week if everything goes according to plan. It’s located in the outdoor area between the parking lot and the main Arraya Complex.

Weather is great and so lots of outdoor events are taking place this weekend. Check out all the things to do below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Third Identity
Exhibition: Road to Black
Pop-up: Filipo the Filipino
Taste of Q8
Q8 Readers Book Club
The Divan’s Movie Night: Black Mirror – Nosedive

Friday
Taste of Q8
Boubyan Fun Day
Tai Chi in the Park
Hatha Yoga with Rosie
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering
Salwa’ Walk and Socialize Meetup

Saturday
Taste of Q8
Boubyan Fun Day
Fun Run
Guided Tour: Liberation Tower
Yoga with the 3
The Rascal Race
KTAA Spring Bazaar at Sadu House
First RBK Spring Fayre
Karate Kenshinkan & Kung-Fu Sanda
Shakshooka at Dar Hamad
GIS Carnival
ATIS Spring Fest

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.

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

New This Week:
A United Kingdom (6.7) ♦
Beauty and the Beast (6.1)
Sleepless (5.5)
Vengeance: A Love Story (N/A)

Other Movies Showing:
A Dog’s Purpose (4.8)
Don’t Knock Twice (5.3)
Hidden Figures (7.9)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (9.4) ★
Kikoriki. Legend of the Golden Dragon (6.1)
Kong: Skull Island (7.6) ★
Kung-Fu Yoga (6.2)
Logan (9.0) ♦ ★
Rings (4.6)
Split (7.5) ♦
The Devil’s Dolls (4.3)
The LEGO Batman Movie (8.1)

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

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough (7.6)
Humpback Whales 3D (7.2)
Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean 3D (N/A)
Journey to Space 3D (6.5)
Kenya 3D: Animal Kingdom (6.0)
Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D (7.5)

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

Living in Kuwait there are two kinds of dealers every person needs, a Munchos dealer and a mango dealer. My mango guy is like the best mango dealer in Kuwait, been using him for over 6 years now and he really does import the best mangoes into Kuwait. Every year when Alphonso season is about to start he sends out a message to all his customers letting them know that he’s getting a shipment and to message him if they’re interested in a box. Well I got that message yesterday, his first shipment of mangos is arriving end of this month and pre-orders are now open. A box costs KD11 and includes a dozen mangos. So if you love mangos, you can contact him on whatsapp at 99880008 or on instagram @gourmetmangos.

A reader sent me the picture above of someone leaving their litter right next to a trash bin on the walkway between Marina Waves and Scientific Center. People who litter are littering not because they’re too lazy to walk to a garbage bin, but because they just don’t care.

Thanks Hamed

The Kuwait Motor Town Race Circuit is expected to be completed sometime next year but you can already see the layout of the track from space using Google Maps. You can compare the satellite view from top to the rendering below for a better idea of what you’re looking at.

For some reason the track doesn’t show when using a desktop browser but only when accessing the coordinates from your phone. I guess the desktop version of Google Maps isn’t updated yet. So if you want to see the track from your phone, click [Here]

After a slight change of plans, the Filipo The Filipino pop-up event is going to take place tonight and tomorrow night. The menu will be comprised of contemporary dishes that have been injected with some Filipino soul, so should be interesting experience. The event will be taking place in a warehouse in Shuwaikh so if you want more details, click [Here]