2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Cinescape is launching their new rooftop cinema tonight and they’re calling it Skyline.

Located on the rooftop of Al Assima Mall, Skyline will be the only outdoor cinema in Kuwait playing new releases and officially licensed films. It will also be Cinescape’s first outdoor cinema since Cinema Al Saifi (Fahaheel 1959, Hawally 1965), and the Ahmadi Drive-in Cinema (1980-2004).

Skyline will be playing current English and Arabic films as well as classics a couple of times a week. There will be 3 movies a day showing every day and you will be able to book them through their app.

Food will be available including exclusive cold weather items like soup, hot chocolate, sliders, pizza and more.

Tickets will be for 5KD and this will be a yearly seasonal cinema, not a temporary popup. It will close down once it gets too hot but then reopen again later in the year once the weather cools down again.

To stay posted on Skyline, follow @cinescapekuwait

Forbes Middle East revealed their annual list of Middle East’s 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen and 7 Kuwaiti businesswomen made the list for 2024. Even more impressive is that 3 of the top 5 most powerful businesswomen are from Kuwait.

Here are the most powerful Kuwaiti women and their position in the top 100:

2. Shaikha Khaled Al Bahar
National Bank of Kuwait Group (NBK Group)

3. Wadha Ahmad Al-Khateeb
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC)

5. Dana Nasser Al Sabah
Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) – KIPCO

18. Henadi Al-Saleh
Agility

28. Nadia Bader Al-Hajji
Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC)

67. Donna Sultan
KEO International Consultants

86. Nadia Akil
United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC)

UAE hosted their annual UAE SWAT Challenge earlier this month and the Kuwait National Guard and the Kuwait Commandos took part in the 4 day competition. Although they didn’t end up winning, it’s still fun watching them compete in the events.

Here are two videos showing the team in action, the one above starts at the 4:42:47 mark while the one below starts at the 3:46:50 mark. If you hit play the videos should start at the correct times.

Nando’s will officially be opening in Kuwait next week at The Warehouse Mall on February 21st according to the Nando’s team (20th will be a private event).

I was invited yesterday for a sneak peek and to take some pictures. The coming soon hoarding was still up so I couldn’t get a shot from the outside, but I did take some interior shots which you can check here.

I also found out that they will be opening Nando’s in Salmiya, and very near to where I live. Along with The Warehouse Mall and the Al Kout Mall locations, it would mean there will be at least three Nando’s in Kuwait opening this year.

Their Instagram account is now live so if you want to stay posted on the opening and more, check out @nandos.kw

The largest and most prestigious cat show in the Middle East is taking place this weekend in Kuwait. The 2024 K-Cats Show is taking place at the Boulevard Ballroom tomorrow Friday, February 16th, and on Saturday February 17th.

The show is held in association with the prestigious Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) with judges coming in from the US and Europe for this event.

The show starts at 1PM tomorrow and 10AM on Saturday. If you’re looking for something random and unique to do this weekend, this is it.

For more info, click here.

I went to the show back in 2016 and thought it was fun, so definitely not going to miss it this year.

Here are this weekends events, let me know if I missed anything:

Thursday, Feb 15
Military Band Show at The Avenues
Auto Land Car Show
SADI 2024: Materiality of the Desert
Al Khiran Marina Market
Ramadan Market at The Food Hall
Film Night: The Merchant of Venice

Friday, Feb 16
Auto Land Car Show
SADI 2024: Materiality of the Desert
Robotics Open Activity at ASCC
Al Khiran Marina Market
Clean Up & Kashta!
Ramadan Market at The Food Hall
Audition: Little Shop of Horrors
Porsche Club Kuwait Festival
Is this thing on? Open Mic

Saturday, Feb 17
Auto Land Car Show
Ford Desert Challenge 2024
SADI 2024: Materiality of the Desert
Beach Clean Up
Al Khiran Marina Market
Army Marching Band at 360 Mall
Science in the Garden
Ramadan Market at The Food Hall
Porsche Club Kuwait Festival
Bloom Sustainability Market
Escalate Conference
Qout Market

I think I’m over True Detective. The new seasons started off really exciting, but as it’s been progressing the more bored I’ve been getting from it.

I started watching Criminal Record on AppleTV+ because I read good things about it. I think I’m five episodes in and it’s also not doing it for me.

One last disappointment to cap off this week. I tried watching the movie Saltburn but found it very very boring.

But, to end on a high, Griselda was great. Not generally a fan of Sofía Vergara, but this had to be her best performance of her career or at least my favorite, although I just have Modern Family really to compare it to.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Clown Motel (2.9)
Madame Web (3.8)
The Braid (7.4)

Other Movies Showing:
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (6.0)
Argylle (6.2)
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (7.2)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Migration (7.5)
No Way Up (5.3)
Skeletons in the Closet (N/A)
Sorry, Charlie (5.4)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Titanic (7.9)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Don’t forget to get your loved one a Shani today. shaniday.com

Alshaya is reportedly in talks to sell a minority stake in its Starbucks franchise business. A US private equity firm and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) are both supposedly interested in acquiring the stake.

This doesn’t seem to be related to the recent boycott of the brand since Alshaya has been looking to sell this stake since 2022. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if the boycott helped push the deal closer.

source 1
source 2

Kuwait’s National Planetarium was one of the first in the Gulf Region and originally opened back in 1986. But a lot has happened to it since then.

During the 1990 Gulf War, the planetarium was destroyed and the signature dome remained visibly damaged for many years after. Eventually, the planetarium was rebuilt and it reopened again in 2002 but then closed down again in 2016 due to the major renovations that were going to take place at the National Museum. Now, 8 years later, it’s set to reopen again.

The technology at the planetarium has been fully upgraded with a new system consisting of nine 4K video projectors, new computer technology and the modernization of the sound system. But, at the heart of it all is the Zeiss STARMASTER projection system which has been at the planetarium since the reopening in 2002. The STARMASTER replaced the Zeiss SPACEMASTER which was installed in 1986 and was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion (It’s now displayed in the planetariums lobby). Only 19 STARMASTER projection systems are installed worldwide and they’re known for their high level of brightness, pinpoint sharpness, and providing a realistic starry sky.

Work on the planetarium is basically complete with only minor maintenance work left. Their aim is to open it as soon as the work is complete, but most likely it will be right after Ramadan.

If you’ve never been to the planetarium before, it’s located on the Gulf Road, opposite Seef Palace and is part of the Kuwait National Museum.

I’m having a horrible experience dealing with all the SMS ads Kababji keep sending me. I used to order from them a few times a week and for yeearrssss, but since I’ve started having issues with their ads and their social media teams complete lack of communication, I’ve stopped ordering from them.

I was a huge fan of the brand but now they really piss me off and all because they refuse to stop sending me ads. To make matters worse, they’ve started sending me Subway ads (they’re owned by the same company which is Kout Food Group), so I’ve also now decided to stop having Subway which I was having around once or twice a week before they started spamming me.

I don’t understand the thinking process sometimes. Like fine, you’re sending ads out to your customers without their permission, sure, whatever, but at least when the customer gets in touch with you and asks you to stop sending them ads, you stop.

Since I’m venting, Dear ZUE, I don’t need to give you my phone number when buying poop bags. Every time I tell the cashier I don’t want to give them my number, they get so confused and don’t know what to do. They insist on a number for me to pay, and when I give them a fake number they refuse to use it. So I keep telling them to put their own numbers and then after they argue amongst each other, the staff end up using their own numbers for the order. Like why all the drama? Why do you need a my real phone number just so I can pay for a poop bag? Like, I’m a fan of the place, products and services, but you have to change this annoying policy.

Rant Over.

I recently placed my first order from TEMU, the online Chinese marketplace which you probably heard about through your Tiktok feed. Surprisingly, my experience was great.

I was looking for a cover for my bicycle since I have my bike wall mounted and I recently repainted and didn’t want to get the wall dirty again. I ended up finding it for really cheap on TEMU and decided to order it. Here’s everything you need to know about ordering from TEMU:

• The bicycle cover cost 2.970KD but when I tried to check out it wouldn’t let me. TEMU offers free shipping to Kuwait, but you need to have an order of at least 13KD to qualify

• If you have an order less than 14KD, you can’t place an order, even if you want to pay for shipping, it’s not an option

• If the item you’re ordering is discounted and the new price is under 14KD, if the original price is over 14KD you get free shipping

• Finding at least 14KD worth of items you didn’t know you wanted is easy on TEMU

• I placed the order on January 25th and was given a delivery date between January 31st and February 8th

• On February 8th, I got a WhatsApp from a delivery company in Kuwait asking for my Google Maps location, the next day my package was delivered to my doorstep

• I ordered 15 items from different vendors, TEMU packaged them together and sent them to me in one bag

• I didn’t pay any customs fee, all taxes are included in the items prices

• Because the items were delivered one day later than promised, I got a credit of 1.250KD

So that’s basically it. The biggest surprise was the home delivery since I wasn’t expecting that, I thought I’d have to pick it up from the post office which I’m never looking forward to doing.

My order arrived with none of the items missing, and no disappointments. My bicycle cover was perfect, but so were all the other random things I ordered. I’m overall very impressed and would definitely recommend ordering from them.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.

If you’re getting an error leaving comments or seeing 0 comments when there are actually comments, I’m aware of the issue and I’m trying to get it fixed.

Since the Apple Authorized Resellers won’t be selling the Apple Vision Pro anytime soon, the only way to get your hands on one locally is through the grey market.

Ordering online and shipping to Kuwait isn’t an option and I’m glad I canceled my Vision Pro order before it shipped. Turns out if an item is valued at more than $2,500, then it’s considered high valued and requires a special process to ship it. Shop & Ship have a page about it where you can read more on this.

So far, I’ve found five stores in Kuwait that sell it, @alfuhod, @bestalyousifi, @emarketkw, @mobile2000 and @soooq.global. Here are their prices for the 256GB version:

Alfuhod: 1,399.9KD
Best: 1,299.9KD
eMarket: 1,399.9KD
Mobile2000: 1,279KD
Soooq: 1,279KD

In comparison, it costs around 1,155KD for the Vision Pro with tax in the US. Add around 20KD to ship to Kuwait (if it was easy to do), and that would bring the total to around 1,175KD. Paying 104KD premium and getting it from Mobile2000 for example, isn’t actually that bad.
If you’re interested, according to Best, their next shipment arrives on Tuesday. If you know of another place in Kuwait selling the Vision Pro, let me know.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I really hate the water balloons throwing trend as much as I used to hate the foam spraying. But… I also don’t think it deserves up to three years in prison in case you’re caught.

The environmental police in Kuwait have emphasized that throwing water balloons constitutes a violation of environmental protection laws. Offenders may face penalties of up to a KD 5,000 fine or imprisonment for a maximum of three years. source

I highly recommend you click the source link and watch the hilariously sounding English dubbed video which reminds me of old Kung Fu movies.