2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

This is just insane, a guy called Wilfred scrawled the message “Claudia I ♡ You” across Kuwait using GPS. It took him 11 days to get it done and by the end of it he had ridden, driven and kayaked over 2,000km. The message itself is 615km long. He also took a ton of photos and videos of the whole journey and even has an animation showing the whole trip. I can’t even figure out the logistics behind this, it’s crazy. Here is some more info:

Software Used: Osmand, Google Earth, QGIS, ArcMap, Google Earth, CartoDB, Basecamp
Hardware Used: Samsung Note 2, Garmin GPSMAP 64s
Highlights: the struggle to fit the ♡ between the oil fields, an epic dust storm south of the I, getting beaten into submission by the elements when kayaking the U and seeing V-22 Osprey night practice flights west of the O. Two portions involved offroading at night – the NE shoulder of the O and the first part of the bottom of the Y. Click video points in these locations for more detail.

So check out the animation first [Here]
Then once you’re done check out all the videos [Here] (randomly flip through them)

Oh and yeah, Claudia obviously liked this.

South of Sane is a local movement by a group of underground artists, musicians, designers, engineers and architects who came together to revive the cultural scene in Kuwait and across the Middle East. Tomorrow at Nuqat they’ll be revealing their first piece so I asked them if they could send me a small tidbit I could post on the blog along with their teaser video above. They sent me the below:

a geneRation without cultuRe and aRt is a violent one, this is evident in how we as a nation have become; moRe Reliant on how ouR image is pReceived in social netwoRks RatheR be Respected foR what we stand foR. kuwait has always been and always will be the land of cReation and innovation, a haven foR the Region in fine aRts and humanities. I pRopose we put an end to Recycled aRt and let the undeRgRound come out and show the woRld that we R not all driven by materialism & trend, that this countRy has its Roots deeply founded in cultuRe and aRts, that we as a nation aRe fRee in soul and mind. if what we do is not seen as aRt then subsequently i pResent you with “the anti-aRt”

So if you’re interested to find out more then head to Nuqat tomorrow for their big reveal. From 1:45PM to 3PM they’ll be performing music followed by the reveal show at 6:15PM. Nuqat is being held at the Amricani Cultural Center [Map]

The first time I heard about Sista Brown was when my best friend (who’s super ridiculously talented btw) posted about them a few months back when they had an event in Lebanon. I didn’t really have any idea what it was but the name was odd so it stuck with me. Fast forward a few months and I find out Sista Brown was having a pop-up shop here in Kuwait. It didn’t sound very exciting, their flyer graphic was ugly (even blurry) and there was no mention of what the pop-up shop was about. I didn’t even consider going until another friend of mine got in touch with me yesterday and asked me to pass by so I could possibly post about it on the blog. So I did.

Sista Brown turned out to be more of a market than a pop-up shop. I originally got the impression Sista Brown was one shop but it’s actually around 20 different designers and start up fashion brands mostly from Lebanon but also from other parts of the world all brought together under the Sista Brown umbrella. The market is being held at Shuwaikh Market and is only going to be there until tomorrow (Nov 12). The most interesting aspect to me was the Armenian food by the Lebanese Armenian bistro called Batchig. If you’re interested in trying out Armenian food, Sista Brown brought Batchig from Lebanon for this event and they’re there after 7PM serving food. That alone is actually worth going for.

So if you’re interested in passing by, the market is open from 4PM till midnight and the food from 7PM. Here is Shuwaikh Market on [Google Maps]

Update: Just found out there is Iraqi food from 4PM to 6:30PM today as well and then 7PM back to Armenian food.

Architizer have published a list of 8 modern homes in Kuwait and there are some great stuff there including my current favorite the Al Saif Residence pictured above. Check out the full list [Here]

Does anyone know where expats can get archery lessons in Kuwait? I contacted the Kuwait Archery National Team on Facebook asking about lessons and they told me the Kuwait Shooting Federation offers lessons but it’s only for Kuwaitis.

for the new Yeezy Boost 350 “Moonrock” edition was released yesterday and Harvey Nichols Kuwait is on the list. These editions are supposed to be the easiest ones of the series to get but I’m still trying to find out from my contact at Harvey how many pairs they’re getting. The “Moonrock” boosts will be released on November 14th, I’ll update this post with more details if I get any.

A new world fattest countries list was released and Kuwait surprisingly came in third:

#1. Samoa
#2. Qatar
#3. Kuwait
#4. United Arab Emirates
#5. Fiji
#6. Bahamas
#7. Bahrain
#8. Saudi Arabia
#9. United States
#10. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
#11. Lebanon
#12. Barbados
#13. Trinidad and Tobago
#14. Oman
#15. Jordan
#16. Turkey
#17. New Zealand
#18. Egypt
#19. Australia
#20. United Kingdom
#21. Mexico
#22. Canada
#23. Papua New Guinea
#24. Chile
#25. Solomon Islands

When these lists started popping up nearly a decade ago I couldn’t agree with them more, but today they just no longer make any sense. There is no way on earth Kuwait is currently the third fattest country in the world. Just no way. I can’t remember the last time I saw an obese person and the population is so much more health conscious than they’ve ever been.

When I first posted a similar list back in 2007 we were ranked 8th. Kuwait didn’t have as many gyms back then, the organic food craze hadn’t hit yet, we didn’t have a lot of healthy food options and people as a whole (including me) were not properly educated on whats healthy and whats not. Our ranking made sense back then. So there is no way we’ve moved up the list and are now currently ranked 3rd, not unless they’re using old data which is the most likely scenario. [Link]

Craft And Company is a local lifestyle store which belongs to the wife of one of my friends. He had told me about the website ages ago but I just got around to checking it now and actually found the stuff they’re selling pretty cool. Lots of beautiful random items from mugs to stationary to homeware. I actually just ended up ordering a notebook for myself and a gift for a friend. They’ve got lots of tasteful stuff so check it out [Here]

The Cross Cultural Diwaniya is making its debut at Nuqat this year and I’ve been asked along with Ascia and Dr Scully (Dana Scully??) Dr. Nicholas Scull to take part as guests in the diwaniya. This years Nuqat theme is the “Copy+Paste Syndrome” so the Cross Cultural Diwaniya will look at how copying and pasting personalities and lifestyles affects the lives of the average person while also looking at how it affects the lives of high profile bloggers.

The discussion will start with me and the other guests telling our stories on how we became well-known and then the moderator will kick off the discussion by asking us questions on how our lifestyles influence those of the people that follow us.

The Cross Cultural Diwaniya will be taking place this coming Friday 13th at 12:45PM at the Amricani Cultural Centre. So if you’re looking for something to do this Friday after breakfast, come by this lecture. There are a bunch of other cool lectures taking place on the same day and they’re all free. To see the Nuqat schedule for Friday and to register, click [Here]

I had been hearing a lot of great things all summer long on the Kuwait Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 and I just got to see what all the fuss was about with the video above. It looks beautiful and really tastefully done. By the end of the expo over 1.5 million people had gone through the pavilion and it had been nominated for various awards including the most beautiful pavilion. [Video]

The UK Week of Culture is going to take place in Kuwait starting from tomorrow. They’ll be holding a bunch of public events over the next week which I’ve listed below so make sure you check them out:

Zoe Rahman Trio – Monday November 9 – Al Shaheed Park
Tom Warner – Tuesday November 10 – National Library of Kuwait
Heliosphere – Wednesday November 11 – Marina Crescent
Paper Cinema – Thursday November 12 – Salmiya Theater
Gandini Workshop – Friday November 13 – Avenues
Gandini – Saturday November 14 – Salmiya Theater

For more information click [Here]

Note: All these events are free to attend.

SnappCard the digital loyalty card app officially launched in Kuwait today. I had no idea what it was or even heard about it until a friend of mine told me of it awhile ago. SnappCard is basically an app that aims to replace those paper card loyalty cards from your favorite restaurants. The two cards I tend to use the most are my Elevation Burger and Slice cards, and I keep either losing them or forgetting to carry them with me. SnappCard is supposed to solve that by having all your points scored digitally in the app itself, it is also supposed to work with multiple restaurants and in different countries. They’re mainly focused in Bahrain and UAE right now but they launched in Kuwait today. Right now they oddly chose only to work with one restaurant here, the newly opened Rock House Sliders, but they will be adding more places soon (Elevation and Slice pretty please). The app works with iOS, Android and Blackberry, for more info check out their website [Here]

Although many people think Peacock is the most overrated Chinese restaurant, I personally love the place mostly because of their bottomless bowl of cashews and their incredible waiting staff. This weekend while lunching there I found out that they started a new takeaway service. It runs from 1PM to 3PM and then again from 7:30PM to 11PM so they’re covering the most common lunch and dinner times. They don’t have delivery which sucks, but if you have a house driver then that pretty much work the same way for you I guess. To order you need to call them on 25673000.

Kuwait looking at its best. [YouTube]

This Saturday its packed with events even though there is a storm thats expected to hit. So like last week make sure the events are still on by checking the various instagram accounts before heading to them. Check out the full list of events for this weekend below:

Thursday
Sirdablab: The Big Lebowski
Rooftop Movie: Whiplash CANCELLED

Friday
Let’s Go Forward Road Run Hilton
Qout Market
Team Fortress LAN Party

Saturday
Yoga at the Park
An Introduction to Pointed Pen Calligraphy
K’S PATH Open Shelter Day CANCELLED
Yarn Bombing at The Secret Garden
Protein Sheikhas: Bootcamp
Rooftop Movie: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Story Time
Let’s Draw – Alshaheed Park

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]