2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Looks more like a staged press event but at least it’s a start. [YouTube]

via Frankom

Not a very big list this weekend but a few interesting events taking place. Check them out below.

Exhibition: Still (Curated by Mark Dean)
Learn How to Illustrate a Story
Eskenderella Concert
That Comedy Show
K’S PATH Quiz Night
Yoga at the park
The Concert KW
Mommy And Me Market
Saturday Brunch Live
Food Festival

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

If you’re planning to buy an iPhone 6s in the next coming days I’d put a hold on that since I just found out that phone is officially launching in Kuwait this coming Saturday. Ooredoo sent out an invitation awhile ago for a midnight launch party this Friday to celebrate the launch of the phone. So if you were going to buy an iPhone this weekend you’ll most likely get a better price if you wait until till next week.

A friend of mine told me about this instagram account that sells fresh home made pasta. I found that different from the usual baked goods people are selling so I thought I’d share it here. They have three kinds of pasta, lemon, pumpkin, and tomato and garlic. Costs KD3.5 for 200 grams and you need to order it at least 48 hours in advance since it’s made to order. The account is @mariarustica

Update: A reader informed me of a professional Italian pastry chef that sells 300 grams of fresh pasta for KD3.5. You can check that account as well by clicking the following link [@italiafoodk8]

There is a website that allows you to generate infographics for causes and risks within a country and also compare it to other countries or the rest of the world using data from 1993 to 2013. The grid above shows the greatest causes of death in Kuwait, the larger the box the higher the risk. Based on the infographic, heart disease (IHD) is the lead cause of death followed by risk of a stroke and then road injuries. Check out all the data in detail by clicking [Here] (Make sure you choose Kuwait as the location)

Thanks Saud

I was at the Kuwait airport before Eid heading to the States and was waiting in line in emigration when I noticed this really good looking emigration officer walk by. He was tall, great body, had a nice beard with great hair, like a super good looking guy. So as I was admiring his looks in the most heterosexual way possible, he does something really messed up. He goes up to a South Asian expat standing in line and yells at him. The expat froze and didn’t understand what the officer wanted so then the officer punches the expat hard on the chest and opens and closes his fist yelling passport passport. I was like WTF?! I was like thats messed up, the officer is clearly all jacked up on steroids and just punched this poor expat. He then gave him back the passport and yelled at him to go to another line. He then sees a group of South Asian expats in line and shoo’s them all to another line like cattle. I thought about complaining to someone in charge but then realized if I did I might not end up flying out myself.

A few moments later I’m still in line still trying to grasp of what I had just seen when another incident takes place. There was an expat at the front of the line waiting for the emigration officer at the desk to stamp his passport and I overhear the officer making fun out of the expat cuz he’s wearing an earring. Not only that but the officer gets the officer on the adjacent desk involved as well so they’re both poking fun out of the expat now. Not quietly or in secret but literally in front of the expat while pointing at his ear and asking the expat embarrassing questions.

To have incidents like this still take place in this day of age is bad enough but to have them take place at the airport by airport employees is just ridiculous. Someone told me recently they replaced the over-maked-up female officers because people were complaining about them but if this is what they’ve replaced them with I’d rather we go back to the female officers again.

For those of you who grew up in Kuwait during the 80s you’ll most likely remember the show Cine Club which used to take place once a week. The show was hosted by Farouq Abdul-Aziz who would choose a film that week to play and discuss it with the viewers.

Well you can now relive the 80s because tomorrow Farouq in currently back in Kuwait and will be hosting a movie night at the National Library of Kuwait. Farouq will be playing the film ‘Nightcrawler’ (a really great film btw) and then hold a discussion afterwards. It’s so random from the fact that he’s doing this, to the venue location to the film of choice.

For details click [Here]

After Failaka (2013) and Kuwait Towers (2014), another local site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list this year, Khaza’al Palace, now renamed to Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Palace.

This site was built in the early Twentieth Century by Sheikh Khazaal Bin Mirdaw, Ruler of Muhammarah (1897 – 1925 ) on a piece of land which he received as a gift from Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Ruler (1896-1915). After Sheikh Khazaal’s death, it was bought by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Al- Sabah who took it as a family residence, thereafter converted it to the first national museum in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf region, after which it remained as the property of his heirs until it was taken over by the State and rated as a high preservation building.

When it was built and for many decades thereafter, the Palace was reported to be the most magnificent structure in Kuwait. Patterned on regional antecedents, it was large, elaborate two storey structure in coral stone and mud brick in a stark contrast to Kuwait’s primarily single storey, austere architecture.

The palace is currently in a very poor state and so UNESCO is proposing the following:

In order to save the property from further deterioration, urgent steps are required to be taken, especially with regard to the original crumbling site of the Palace. This measure should be undertaken in coordination with the operational guidelines of the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. This may be followed by considering the addition of a modest Education and Culture Museum building in the surrounding area which may be devoted to fully express the site’s value to present and future generations. Further, the grounds need to be rehabilitated and the ancillary buildings are required to be activated.

For more information check out this link on UNESCO [Link]

Thanks Khaled

Late last month I posted about how some schools are banning the book Harry Potter. Well I now have the full list of books banned which I’ve shared below. This list was created by the Ministry and the Foreign Schools Committee. The list below is for 2014-2015, if there are any spelling mistakes I’m sorry but I had to type the list below manually since I only received a print version not a digital one. In brackets I’ve also mentioned who was behind the ban and you’ll notice the schools have banned more books than the Ministry but that could be because they’re following the Ministry’s guidelines. One thing to note is that schools are recommended to follow this list and not obliged to follow it except for the books banned by the Ministry. Check out the full list below:

Earlier this year Tamdeen announced they were taking over development of the stalled tennis project next to 360 Mall and that they would be completing it as part of their “massive expansion” of 360 Mall. Renderings of the extension are finally available online along with a bit more information on the courts including that it will have a 4,000 seat indoor arena, a 1,500 seat outdoor arena, 6 indoor tennis courts, 8 outdoor tennis courts, and supporting clubhouse with tennis school. Check out more photos and details [Here]

Thanks lovelykuwait

Just finished watching The Martian. After watching Interstellar last year I was really looking forward for another space related film. For some reason I was expecting The Martian to be as serious and dramatic as Interstellar but that wasn’t the case, it’s more lighthearted with lots of humor. It’s not as good as Interstellar or Gravity for that matter, but it was still fun to watch. There was o nudity, no violence, no cussing and no kissing, so you should be able to watch it in Kuwait without any censorship.

Update: I completely forgot there was one scene where you can see Matt Damon’s naked rear so I take back the last statement, it won’t be without any censorship.

I missed my flight to Kuwait a few hours ago because my connecting flight was delayed. I took the picture above as I was stepping off the plane, my flight to Kuwait had just backed away from the gate and was getting ready to taxi to the runway. I missed my flight and was pretty upset. I was supposed to be back in Kuwait later today because tomorrow I was supposed to fly out to Abu Dhabi for a CTS V test drive event at Yas Marina but thats not happening now. The next available direct flight back to Kuwait is October 3rd since the flights for the next two days are all fully booked. So I’m stuck in Washington now for 3 days.

Then it hit me. I’m stuck in Washington for 3 days, that’s not a bad thing. I hear its really humid in Kuwait now so don’t think I’m missing much.

Have you guys noticed how much information your phone knows about you? Back in January while using google maps on my phone to get to my hotel I noticed something weird. Under the hotel name on google maps was my check in and check out date. I was like WTF? How did it know? I then realized that google must have read my booking information when I got it in my gmail inbox and then shared that information with google maps. Impressive.

But now things are starting to get creepy. I’m currently vacation in the States and earlier today I was in Versailles, Kentucky when I got a notification on my phone telling me I should leave and head to my next city if I wanted to check into my hotel on time. I didn’t add anything to my calendar nor did I add a reminder so I figured my iPhone is now also reading my emails and setting up my calendar for me. Not only that but it also reminded me 3 hours before check in and my trip to my next destination was going to take 3 hours by car exactly. Crazy shit.

Later in the day I was telling my friend about it and she asked me what time my flight was tomorrow. I told her 5:30 but I’m not sure and as a joke I was like let me ask Siri. So I ask Siri what time my flight was the next day and she replies telling me 7:27. I was like whaaaaatt… So I open my airline app and check and she was right, my flight was at 7:27.

It’s all pretty creepy the way my phone and google read my emails now but I also kinda like it. It’s the good kind of creepy I guess.

Last week the website Open Signal published an article on the state of LTE around the world. With the article they shared some date including LTE coverage around the world and LTE speeds around the world. When it came to coverage Kuwait was right on top of the list tied in 3rd place with Hong Kong. The only other countries ahead were South Korea and Japan. On the other hand when it came to LTE speeds, Kuwait’s speed landed at the other end of the list with an average download speed of 7Mbps placing it in 63rd place out of 68 countries. The only countries that performed worst were Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Costa Rica and Iran.

Now the more interesting information is the breakdown of the local operators by Open Signal. The operator with the most local coverage was Zain with 87%, Viva with 85% and Ooredoo with 84%. When it came to download speeds, Ooredoo averaged the fastest with 8Mbps, Zain with 7Mbps and Viva with 6Mbps.

Check out the full world wide results by clicking [Here]

The Global Innovation Index (GII) for 2015 was released last week and Kuwait surprisingly (at least to me) ranked last compared to neighboring GCC states. The GII ranked the innovative performance of 141 countries and economies around the world, based on 79 indicators and Kuwait ended up coming in 77th place in the rankings.

43 – Saudi Arabia
47 – United Arab Emirates
50 – Qatar
59 – Bahrain
69 – Oman
77 – Kuwait

I downloaded the full report to better understand why Kuwait came last in the GCC and so low worldwide and found a few positives and negatives which I’ve highlighted below.

Positives:
Electricity output, kWh/cap (Rank 1)
Pupil-teacher ratio, secondary (Rank 8)
Ease of paying taxes (Rank 11)

Negatives:
Business sophistication (Rank 132)
Knowledge absorption (Rank 130)
Cost of redundancy dismissal, salary week (Rank 124)
Ease of starting a business (Rank 120)

Check out the full report on the GII website [Here]

Thanks Musaed