2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

“There is a plan to set up a new link with the interior ministry to deport the foreigners who break the municipal laws, including barbecuing on the beaches and public parks,” Ahmad Al Saubaih said. “The municipality had designated specific spots at the beach and in public gardens where people could barbecue. It has also imposed a ban on having a barbecue in certain areas. However, several people fail to comply with the laws and regulations, even though they are aware that those who cause any form of damage to public utilities and facilities are punished,” he said, quoted by local daily Al Rai on Sunday. [Source]

I personally hate it when people barbecue on the Gulf Road since I end up smelling like a kebab after my bike ride. It’s one of the main reasons I don’t ride my bike on the Gulf Road on weekends. But, I do think deporting someone for barbecuing is ridiculous in the same way I thought it was ridiculous when they introduced the KD1,000 fine two years ago. In comparison, the fine then for dangerously running a red light was just KD300.

Photo by Michael Milosits

A friend sent me the video above of a Volkswagen XL1 at the local dealers garage. The XL1 is a hybrid car that costs around KD40,000 and is limited to only 250 units worldwide.

Definitely an eye turner since it looks like a car from the future. [YouTube]

Thanks Manae

Back in October I wrote about Keith Wells, a British journalist who was living in Kuwait back in the 70s. Keith used to work for Arab Times and in his spare time he also used to write books about Kuwait, including a witty series on a character named Wizr who was Kuwait’s greatest driver. Between 1979 and 1984, Keith released three Wizr books which I’m lucky enough to own all three. A few days ago Keith got in touch with me and I asked him if he could tell me how it all started. This is what he shared with me:

I originally wrote the stories for the Arab Times which became very popular. Then I met Peter McMahon at a party, and he hadn’t read any of the stories and asked, “Who is this Wizr character?” “I said, he’s the young, trendy Kuwaiti guy with the scarlet Transam with the eagle decal on the bonnet.’ So Peter picked up a sheet of paper,scribbled away for a minute or two, then held it out and asked “Him?” It was perfect. Thereafter we became close friends. I’d write a story, take it to his flat every Friday, and he’d give me the cartoon from the week before’s story. He somehow drew exactly what I’d imagined. The combination became very popular indeed and after a month or two we were approached by Tony Jashanmal, who owned a department store on Fahed Salem St, and Bashir Khatib, who owned the Kuwait Bookshop to publish a book full of the stories. We had a 3 way partnership to print the book at The Arab Times and Launched it at the British Embassy Garden Fete in November 1979, a week or so before I married Suzi. We sold 428 copies in about two hours… amazing.

We carried on for just over a year, then Peter was murdered by Saddam Hussein’s goons, long sad, sad story… but the upshot was that I sort of lost the fun, we put out the second Wizr book with cartoons we hadn’t used in the first one. And the third book with odd scraps and recycled pics. By then it was getting a bit heavy with the Iran Iraq War getting very dangerous and I left the Arab Times and took a very low profile job teaching at the university of Kuwait. After 4 years there I went back to the paper and wrote more stories with an Indian cartoonist called Edgar, but they were never collected in book form. I left Kuwait in June ’87. We emigrated to Oz in Oct 1989, and the following March I had a massive heart attack in a small town in southern Queensland. After recovering, we spent the rest of our working lives doing PhDs in Communication Studies, and setting up Comm Depts in various universities and colleges in Macau, Singapore, Morocco, The Bahamas and Puerto Rico.

I’ve been a bit of a hermit since retiring in ’07, but am beginning to re-emerge and was very surprised and grateful for the interest in Wizr and Dozi and his pals. Someone told me a few years ago that the fabulous cartoon of Dozi with the two rubber stamps “PERHAPS” and “PERHAPS NOT” is to be found in many offices to this day. Peter would have loved that.

– Keith Wells

I love this car, I’ve loved it ever since I first laid my eyes on it. Last year I took the F-Type roadster out for a day and my biggest issue with it other than the super tiny trunk was the fact it was a soft top convertible. I’m not a fan of soft tops so when Jaguar revealed the F-Type Coupe I knew this is the car I wanted to get.

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe is one of the best looking cars on the roads right now and in my opinion, it also has one of the hottest looking rear ends. The model Jaguar lent me was the V6 340hp although they had a 380hp version available to test drive as well (maybe I could take that for a spin next time Jaguar?). When I first picked up the car I wasn’t too sure about the color, but by the end of the day it had grown on me. It’s such a beautiful car that even the white looks great on it, actually white might be my favorite color on the Coupe.

The F-Type Coupe isn’t a big car, it doesn’t have any rear seats nor any kind of room behind the seats. It’s compact but never feels claustrophobic. I picked up the car in the morning and went about my day. I had a bunch of errands to run followed by lunch with a friend and like the F-Type roadster, this is a great everyday car. It’s easy to drive in traffic and the suspension is soft enough to handle bumpy old roads. The trunk in the Coupe is fairly large as well so if you want to drop a friend off at the airport you can, that was something I wasn’t able to do with the roadster due to the fact that trunk couldn’t fit a medium sized bag.

After lunch I drove up north to my favorite isolated road to take my photos. It’s a 50 minute drive each way so it gives me a lot of good quality time with the car. One thing this model I drove missed over the previous roadster I had taken out was the optional sport exhaust system. Although the car had an aggressive growl and popped a lot, I did miss having the optional exhaust switch which would kick the sound up a notch. Speaking of sounds, the sound system in the review car was also the standard 6-speaker one and not the 12-speaker Meridian system I had previously tried out in the roadster. It still sounded impressive, but just not as good as the Meridian.

One thing I really appreciated on the car this time around were the brakes. Based on the spec sheet I received, the Coupe I drove was fitted with the standard brakes but they were extremely responsive and very powerful. I’m by nature a late-braker but with the F-Type I became a very-late-braker because I had so much confidence in the brakes. Makes me wonder how much better the optional super performance braking system would be.

Like the F-Type roadster, one of the best things about the Coupe is the starting price. The Jaguar F-Type Coupe starts at just KD19,500 and the one I was driving with all the options sells for around KD24,000. If I didn’t know how much the F-Types cost I would have easily guessed over KD30,000 just by the looks alone. Is there anything I didn’t like in the car? Not really, I mean this is the car I was actually considering getting a few months ago when I was car shopping. It’s got great looks, incredible performance and just feels fantastic on the road.

If you’re interested in test driving the car yourself you can pass by the Jaguar dealer in Al-Rai (Al-Zayani) and check it out there.

Early on in the month graffiti artists Monstariam and Bufifty spray painted a gigantic spaceman mural outside Al Khaled Complex in Salmiya. It’s the same complex where Gia and Lorenzo are located and it right away became my favorite Monstariam graffiti work yet. Now TJC Films has uploaded a video of the making of so if you’re curious to see how the spaceman came to be check it out above. [YouTube]

The Qatar Digital Library have published an article about a scandal in Kuwait in the 1930s when one restaurant was accused of using cat meat instead of mutton. It’s an interesting read and it also sounds like an incident that could take place today. Kuwait really hasn’t changed much. [Link]

Dairy Queen is returning to Kuwait a decade after the Edina-based ice cream chain left the Middle East country.

The company plans to open 20 DQs in Kuwait over the next five years, according to Bloomberg . A franchisee had operated restaurants there from 1979 to 2003, but then the franchisee decided to leave the business.

Kuwait Dairy Queens will have a similar menu to U.S. locations, but will also have some different items, like a spicy Gyro sandwich. [Source]

My memories of Dairy Queen goes back to the mid 80s since there was a branch near my place in old Salmiya. Not that big a fan anymore though, would rather A&W be making a comeback.

In a move to reduce congestion, the Ministry of Interior started allowing cars to drive on the emergency lane during certain hours and on certain roads. Now according to the video above (it’s in Arabic), it seems majority of those emergency lanes will now be paved and converted into permanent driving lanes. I’d love to crack a joke about how that’s easier than ticketing people who were using the emergency lanes all day long but thing is this actually makes sense. Our highways will now be a lane wider which will reduce traffic. [YouTube]

via AboFlan

This postcard picture is from the 1960s. Kids celebrating Christmas with Santa Claus near Al Jahra gate and Ministry of Finance in Fahad Alsalem Street. – via @abdullahalkhonaini

A few weeks back I got tagged in an Instagram account of a mother that was hand making Christmas ornaments. The post stated the following: “All Christmas related orders will not be accepted as my family and I are being threatened.” Turns out the mother was getting threats by an Islamic fundamentalist.

This reminded my of an incident I had to personally deal with when it came to q8books. Last year we publicized a “Spooky Book Night” writing competition during Halloween. The purpose of the competition was to get young adults to be creative and express themselves and although a good amount of school students took part and enjoyed it, I started getting threats by email, non-stop. They claimed that they will not support the bookstore anymore and that celebrating a western day is illegal according to commercial law. Funnily enough they didn’t know I was a commercial lawyer at the time and I had never heard of any such laws. So I respectively answered back asking them to highlight laws in question and also giving each one of them a free voucher for books (I honestly thought those people needed to be educated more).

Anyways what I am trying to say is that these people are intolerant and have no legal basis. Kuwait is a civil country and there is no commercial law that makes celebrating Christmas illegal. Also the Kuwaiti constitution clearly states that we all have freedom of belief so its such a shame that I have to write about such issues. I honestly do not understand how celebrating other religions is an offense to Islam. Just keep in mind people of different religions come to Kuwait and give back to our community, they leave their families and its not easy for them. They deserve to celebrate their believes. Be kind, be tolerant, respect others and don’t just repeat what other people are saying without taking a minute to think about it yourself. I sincerely apologize that I have been preaching of late, Merry Christmas to my Christian brothers and sisters and happy new year to all of you.

Feel free to email me [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to annanounce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

Abercrombie & Fitch at The Avenues opened up for businesses yesterday. As expected, all the employees are pretty hot even with their clothes on and based on their instagram account they seem to be having fun in Kuwait. Fingers crossed they end up on Tinder. Here is a link to their instagram account@abercrombie_the_avenues

According to a tweet by Al Arabiya News Channel, expats in Kuwait can now own 100% share in a company without the need for a Kuwaiti partner. I am not sure how accurate this information is since I haven’t been able to find a second source but Al Arabiya is considered a reliable source. I’m not going to pop open the non alcoholic champagne bottle just yet though, not until it’s officially announced somewhere else. [Link]

I’m trying to put a list together of places that make turkey (to go) for Christmas, this is what I have so far:

Eedam Cafe (in Radisson Blu)
KD10.750 per KG
Order 48 hours in advance
Tel: 25673420

The Butcher’s Den
KD38 for around 5 to 6KG
Includes: Gravy, steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie, dinner rolls, stuffing bread and corn or brown rice.
Order 24 hours in advance
Tel: 22263140

Dean & Deluca (unconfirmed)
KD6.950 per KG
Order 48 hours in advance
Tel: 22242224

If you know of any other places that make turkey let me know in the comments.

The people behind Qout Market are putting together two day trips this weekend. The day trips will involve a farm-to-table brunch, tour of the farm and greenhouses, a small produce market featuring neighboring farms, and watching the sunset while sipping on tea.

The two day trips are taking place on Friday 26 and Saturday 27. Friday features Caveboy Grubs, Saturday features #NourasKitchen.

Bring cash should you wish to buy produce from farms and bring your own bags. Transportation will be provided and is mandatory. For more info and to to book a seat at the table click [Here] (link only works on your phone)

Big Show, Vince McMahon, R-Truth, Summer Rae, and Alicia Fox all from the WWE were recently in Kuwait visiting the US troops. Other than Vince McMahon I have no clue who the others are but damn Summer Rae is pretty hot. [Link]

Thanks Tuan

Apple’s CarPlay is an operating system for cars that allows you to connect your iPhone and control it from within your car display. Ever since Apple revealed it I had been eagerly waiting for a third party to launch a unit that I could buy and plug into my car. The first company to announce a unit was Pioneer and then at the end of October Alpine released their own CarPlay unit, the iLX-007. Right as soon as it became available I ordered it and I’ve now had it for around a month so I’ve decided to go ahead and review it.

This is my fourth Alpine unit with iPhone/iPod compatibility but the first to use Apple’s new CarPlay OS. There isn’t much to review in the Alpine unit itself since its basically useless without CarPlay. If you don’t have an iPhone the Alpine unit is just a $500 FM/AM receiver. It doesn’t have a CD player or even Bluetooth but it does have an Aux input. The only other thing worth mentioning is the fact I can change and fine tune the sound/speaker settings all from my iPhone using the Alpine Tune App which is a pretty cool feature. So anyway for the rest of the review I’ll be focusing on CarPlay itself.

After using CarPlay for over a month now I’ve developed a love and hate relationship with it. On one hand I love how seamlessly the iPhone integrates with my car but I also hate how the software feels unpolished as well. First lets talk about the good stuff.

[YouTube]

I recorded a video which you can watch above showing how easy and simple it is to interact and use CarPlay. My biggest reason for wanting CarPlay was the fact that Spotify is a supported app. Even though I could previously use Spotify with all my older Alpine units, this is the first time I can actually browse through my playlists, music and other Spotify specific areas all through my cars interface. I also like how well Siri works in my car now and how I could have her make calls for me or read or send messages which I dicate to her. And thats about it when it comes to the good stuff.

Now here is whats wrong with CarPlay… it’s still very new. It reminds me of the iPhone when it first came out and so I’m expecting a lot of things to get fixed pretty soon but for now here are my biggest issues:

– Maps. For some reason I had the impression Google Maps came built into CarPlay but when I got it I realized it’s actually Apple Maps which sucks big time in Kuwait. It shows you all the roads on the screen but it won’t give you directions and you can’t search for anything. It’s pretty much useless and I’m hoping Google Maps will work with CarPlay pretty soon.

– When your phone is connected to CarPlay, ALL notifications on your phone get turned off. Meaning if your phone screen is off and someone sends you a message on Whatsapp you won’t be able to tell since the notification screen doesn’t come on to let you know nor will you get a sound notification. You don’t even get a popup on the CarPlay screen informing you of a notification like you do if you get an iMessage or SMS. Same with email or any other notification, they all stop showing on your phones lock screen and you don’t get notified in CarPlay. This means I now drive around with my phone screen on and my notification screen pulled down so I can glance at my phone every now and then while driving to check and see if I got any notifications.

– If you get or make a phone call you can’t talk to the person from your phone. You can either talk to them hands-free on the cars speakers or using your phones speakerphone. There is no option to talk to them privately using your phone so if there are people in your car the only way you can answer a phone privately is to disconnect the phone from CarPlay and then mute the car sound system (since it automatically switches to FM when you remove the phone) and then answer the phone. Super unpractical and I mean come on Apple WTF?

– Not many apps support CarPlay yet. As of now there are a handful of apps that work but the two I use are Spotify and Sticher for podcasts. I’d like to see Google Maps, Soundcloud, Whatsapp, HypeMachine and YouTube integrated into CarPlay. Just to be clear right now you can use music apps like Soundcloud with CarPlay but in basic form. For example if you play a track in Soundcloud on your phone you can view the track name and album art on the CarPlay screen and forward, pause and reverse from the screen as well but that’s it.

So as I mentioned already, CarPlay is still in its infancy. I’m expecting a lot of bugs and things to get fixed with upcoming updates and I’m also expecting a lot more app support as CarPlay becomes more and more popular. For now though if you’re considering getting CarPlay just be aware of it’s limitations. I don’t have any regrets getting it and Spotify alone is worth it for me. My Alpine iLX-007 unit cost me $499 and I picked it up from Pacific Stereo since they were one of the first to carry it.