Categories
Videos

List of Local YouTube Creators

The Kuwait subreddit on Reddit are trying to put together a list of local content creators so I figured I’d help them out. Below is the list I’ve put together of local content creators on YouTube. If you know of any others, please let me know about them so I can add them to the list.

Arabic Channels
4GX (Tech)
Amoosa Games (Video Games)
Aya’s Nutrition (Food)
Deera Gaming (Video Games)
ExtravaGaming (Video Games)
Ezzebda (Tech)
Gamer Snack (Video Games)
Kuweat (Food)
Lucky Generation Gamers (Video Games)
Q8 Stig (Cars)
REDFOXZERO (Video Games)
ShreetVideo (Movies)
Slorks (Tech)
Stay Foolish (Tech)
Super Kalam (Humor)
Swar Shuaib (Interviews)
UrbanQ8 (Informative)
World of Swalef (General)

English Channels
Amirah Of Makeup (Makeup)
MrJovitageorge (Makeup)
Sahar Glam (Makeup/Personal)
The Hybrids (Fashion/Personal)
Voices & Verses (Poetry)




Categories
Information Interesting

Sabah Al Ahmad City Cultural Centre

Not to be confused with the Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Center, the Sabah Al Ahmad City Cultural Centre will be located in Sabah Al Ahmad City and feature the following:

– 2 theaters (700 seat & 250 seats for all sorts of theatrical productions)
– 200 seat Conference center with flexibility for hosting conferences with different capacities
– 250 seat Recital hall for music performances
– Children culture center with many cultural activities for children including a 150 seat theater
– Amphitheater for outside performances
– Museum
– Art gallery for hosting art exhibitions
– Library
– Book exhibition for hosting book fairs
– Cultural café
– Oasis: a green air-conditioned large space for public gathering

I originally posted about Sabah Al Ahmad City Cultural Centre back in 2012, but the project disappeared until it was brought back to life last month. It seems Al-Diwan Al-Amiri have taken over the project and its now expected to be completed mid 2018. Al-Diwan Al-Amiri are behind some of the biggest projects in Kuwait like the recently opened Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Center. Check out some of the renderings below:

Thanks q8-msc




Categories
Movies

ARÉATA – A Kuwaiti Short Film

ARÉATA is a short film by Ahmed Al Terkait, an independent Kuwaiti filmmaker. The film was officially selected to compete in the Dubai International Film Festival earlier this year and was only published online last week.

The film is a psychodrama/thriller following a young woman with a hair loss condition called Alopecia Aréata. She visits a psychiatrist hoping to uncover the mystery behind her illness. You can watch the full film above or you can checkout the trailer below.




Categories
Personal

Car-Free Days

Yesterday parts of Fahad Al Salem street was closed off to cars due to the amount of pedestrians in the city because of Christmas. The cops were only letting in busses and cabs and it was pretty surreal I guess because I’m so used to that street being a chaotic mess.

There has been talk about closing Salem Mubarek Street in Salmiya to cars permanently for years now but nothing has ever come of it. But even if they don’t close it to cars permanently, they really should close it off every now and then and turn it into an outdoor market.

The last time they closed Salem Mubarek Street I think was back in 2005 as part of the national day parade. But imagine how much better it could be today, imagine if Salem Mubarek Street was one giant Qout Market. Actually, imagine if Shakshooka and Qout Market both collaborated and took over the street for a day, I think that would be amazing. We really need car-free days.

Barrak Al-Babtain from the blog re:kuwait has spoken about turning SAM street into pedestrian only a number of times before and even has some pretty good creative proposals. Check out some of his old posts below:

NY High Line
SAM Street
SAM Street Analysis
SAM Street: Winter Only?

And this is a quote by him from back in 2009

I think SAM street is probably one of the best spaces in Kuwait where a real public space can happen. A place where people can go window shopping and listen to live music and buy food from street vendors. The intervention is relatively minor but the potential is incredible. We can ignore it and let it suffocate or we breathe new life into the street and create something that Kuwait doesn’t really have; a lively, free and open public space.

If you make me the mayor of Salmiya I’ll make Barrak the urban planner. #voteformark




Categories
Interesting Movies

Local Barista Draws Jennifer Lawrence in Latte

Over the weekend one of my twitter followers sent me the image above. The barista at the local coffee place His Majesty The Coffee drew Jennifer Lawrence in her space suit from her new movie Passengers. How cool is that?

Thanks @Osamabul!




Categories
Music

Listen to This: Fabrice on Finding Home

The new album of Fabrice is called Back to Roots, and it’s centering and sober, bold and passionate. I met Fabrice a few years back and knew him from his various projects, but his recent work hit a note as if he had made a new home for himself. This home was not necessarily an actual location, but like it could be found in his art creation. He went full circle, and his work shows it. In Back to Roots Fabrice features cool guests and plays with his take on a form of modern Reggae. His work has hints of Jazz with RnB, plus production stylistics of Hip Hop. In some of his songs he brings in the Middle East influence through the oud and nay, tributing to being in Kuwait. If you like Stephen Marley’s music, you will love his. It is a great body of work which you should download and buy.

Now for those that have read my past blog posts and criticized it being too long: this sentence right here is the point where you can stop reading. If you want to know what makes strong art, keep on reading, as I am about to tell you the story people go through that in return makes powerful work.

Listen to the album here:

This is a story about an expat rebuilding his life all over again. Some expats come to Kuwait for money, others come for the adventure. In Fabrice’s case, he journeyed here to heal.

A little before Fabrice moved to Kuwait he was a full-time musician in France performing as much as he could as an artist and as a bass man for other artists. Fabrice was making what any driven artist could financially make at that time to sustain himself. It was then that his life took a turn with a series of painful events that he could never foresee. His girlfriend was diagnosed with a brain disease and passed away in almost no time. His job was to perform, so he had to keep on playing music in this time of grief. It was hard, but he was committed and he also had to pay his rent. Shortly after that, a close friend was assaulted in a bizarre crime, making Fabrice question his own security and surroundings. Lastly, he was a victim of hate crime, and that was the final drop that put him over the edge. I knew a bit about that situation because he wrote a song about it called ‘Sorry’ which has had heavy radio play on 99.7fm this year. It was part of his previous album. If anyone knows Fabrice they know that he is quite a tall man at over 1.85 and is not someone you would want to attack without thinking twice. But in his song ‘Sorry’ he apologizes to the guys that stabbed him from breaking their noses. I know, crazy! Back to the story, after the hate crime Fabrice had had enough. He went online, looked for work options outside of France, and found a position in Kuwait. In a matter of 2 weeks he sold, gave away and donated all his possessions. He moved to Kuwait with a laptop, his clothes, and a guitar.

Four years later today, Fabrice teaches French to lawyers, doctors, diplomats and many other people in Kuwait. He met his wife here, had a baby boy and created a beautiful family. As I get to listen to his album while in his studio, I look around at all the things that he also built here. He has come a long way from the events in France; I can hear it on this new album.

Sitting in his studio, I listen to his bold lyrics and as he writes about how he supports love and life. Becoming a father made him prioritize concepts of value, and being grateful for the good and straightforward things like in the song Fruits Bread and Tea. His concept of fame and music changed too. His idea of what is popular and what is important was thrown out the window making a song of 6 minutes long just because he felt like it. I find it very smart, very fresh, and yet very mature. Take your time to enjoy it like I did. [iTunes Link]

After all the painful things that happened to him in France, Fabrice felt that he could not be happy or could not grief in Paris. That he was living in a place that had become foreign. When he moved to Kuwait, he explained this to me and until today I will never forget what he said, “I landed in Kuwait, and I looked around at the people and the desert, and felt how music and art are pained here. I knew inside of me that Kuwait and I had been grieving our past. I felt like here, in Kuwait, I could try to heal and be myself in grief, and so I know that right now, in this time and place, Amin, this is my home.”

Home is where your heart can heal.

Peace, Love and Music.

Post by Amin FARI
Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx




Categories
Sports

Kuwait Wins GCC Wheelchair Basketball Championship

The Kuwaiti team on Saturday won their 8th GCC Wheelchair Basketball Championship in a row after beating Saudi Arabia 62-56 in the final. The winners are likely to be honored late Sunday in Abu Dhabi following the match between UAE and Bahrain for the third and fourth places. Saudi Arabia dominated today’s game at the beginning, but the Kuwaiti players managed to perform well in the second half, raising their points until the end of the match. [Source]

8th championship in a row!

via @AlMotizzle




Categories
Geek Video Games

Double Jump: A Pirate’s Influence

After a long hiatus Double Jump is finally back. When we launched the podcast we were following an uninspired format that was problematic for a couple of reasons. Recording once every week was an issue and so the topics we’d discuss were outdated by the time we sat down to talk about them. We took a break to figure out what direction we wanted to take the podcast in. What we decided on is to focus more on conversational topics that we think are worth discussing and that are less time sensitive.

In this weeks episode we talk about video game piracy and how it influenced our taste in video games growing up. What genre’s or what games we played that we normally would not have tried if we had to pay full price. Back in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, piracy in the Middle East was the norm and it was everywhere. As kids we didn’t know any better and our parents didn’t really care, it was something we were all used too. You’d go to Rihab and the majority of the stores sold pirated games until it evolved into what it is today.

Play in browser | iTunes | Android | Download | RSS

Posted by Patrick




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

Below are the events taking place this weekend:

Thursday
Still Departures by George Awde
Slava’s Snow Show
Madeenah Tour: Co-ordinates of Memory

Friday
Slava’s Snow Show
Social Get Together II
Tai Chi in the Park
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering
Voices & Verses December Open Mic Night
Salwa’ Walk and Socialize Meetup

Saturday
Slava’s Snow Show
Charity Zumba +Yoga
The Promenade Market
Yoga with the 3
Dal Talks
Burgers & Art
Community Table “Winter”

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.




Categories
Movies

Movies Now Showing in Kuwait

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

New This Week:
13 Days (N/A)
Passengers (6.7) ♦
Sing (7.3)
The Girl with All the Gifts (7.3)

Other Movies Showing:
Allied (7.2) ♦
Arrival (8.4)
Collateral Beauty (5.4)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (8.3)
Hacksaw Ridge (8.8)
Incarnate (5.6)
Moana (8.2)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (8.3)
The Neighbor (5.8)
Trolls (6.7)
Underworld: Blood Wars (6.7) ♦

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




Categories
Television

Watch ‘The OA’

The OA is a new Netflix show that was released this past Friday. It’s science fiction, it has supernatural and fantasy elements, and its super weird, I loved it. I don’t want to say much more about the show other than the fact if you have Netflix then watch it. It’s only 8 episodes (similar to Stranger Things) so shouldn’t take more than 2 or 3 days to get through them all.

I’ve shared the trailer above but I think it’s more fun watching the show without watching the trailer. The show also has a pretty weird twitter account which you can go through @the_OA but I also recommend going through it after you’re done watching the show or at least once you’re a couple of episodes in. They don’t have any spoilers but they could ruin things a bit.

Anyway, watch it!




Categories
Sports

Learn Fencing at the Qadsia Fencing Academy

Yesterday I was contacted by the Qadsia Fencing Academy letting me know they are now offering fencing lessons to adults. Previously when I had contacted them, the program was only available for children and teenagers so I’m pretty excited the program is now open to adults as well. So excited in fact that I’m heading there tomorrow to start.

Their prices are extremely reasonable, it’s KD40 a month (for 12 sessions) and KD8 for half and hour of personal training. So if you’re interested in trying out something new and different, check out their website for more information [Link]

Update: Check out the latest post for more current information. Link




Categories
Sneak Peek Sports

Inside the Kuwait Bowling Sports Club

Looks like the Kuwait Bowling Sports Club is nearly done and will be ready way ahead of the 2017 World Bowling Championship which will take place in Kuwait next year. I walked by yesterday and they had the lights on and damn the place is huge. In total they have 58 bowling lanes, 350 seats and nearly 1000 parking spots.

The World Bowling Championship takes place once every four years and the last time it took place was in 2013 in Nevada, USA. The next championship event will take place here in Kuwait from December 4th to the 18th, 2017. To see a large version of the picture above, click [Here]




Categories
Shopping

The 2:48AM Holiday Gift Guide – Last Minute Gift Ideas

I used to post a gift guide on the blog back in the olden days (jeez wtf) so I decided to bring the list back this year again. If you still haven’t purchased a Christmas gift then the list below might help you with some ideas. Everything listed below is available in Kuwait, the links will take you to the place that sells the item. I might add more to the list as I think of stuff but for now these are my recommendations:

Over KD75
B&O BeoPlay A2 Speaker KD120
B&O BeoPlay H5 Earphones KD85
Micro 3D Printer KD169
Pure Fix Brewster Bicycle KD100
Typographic Light Box KD140

Under KD75
B&O BeoPlay H3 Earphones KD50
Crafted Gift Box KD60
Nintendo Classic Mini KD60

Under KD50
AeroPress Coffee Maker KD17
Alive Yoga (1 Month Membership) KD39
Apple TV (4th Gen) KD47
Breville Smart Kettle KD25
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker KD32.350
Fujifilm Instax Mini8 Instant Film Camera KD25
Nespresso Inissia Espresso Machine KD45

Under KD15
Black Classic Logbook KD8
Brother Personal Label Machine KD9.900
Casio – Retro Gold Watch KD13
Casio – Retro Steel Watch KD8
Eneloop Charger with 4xAA Batteries KD12.950
Klean Kanteen Stainless Bottle KD10
Mossery Dye Notebook KD3
Striped Shopping Bag KD9.750




Categories
Interesting

Kuwait 1984 vs Kuwait 2016

You can zoom in and watch an animated Google Earth timelapse of Kuwait from 1984 up till 2016 by clicking [Here]

Thanks Dima!

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