2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Captured in Shuwaikh by a reader.

This weekend it’s the Independent Palestinian Film Festival at Cinemagics. If you’re passing by Shakshooka tonight you might as well pass by Cinemagic and watch a movie on the roof since it’s right next door (Take the elevator up to the roof between LG and Panasonic). Here are the movies for this weekend:

Thursday November 28th, 2013 from 6PM to 10PM
Independent Palestinian Film Festival Day 1
Ajami
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film Category, Ajami is a poignant portrait of Palestinian Muslims and Christians living in an impoverished district of Jaffa

Budrus
A worldwide crowd-pleaser, this documentary is a testament to the potency of peaceful resistance & the human spirit. Budrus will dispose of any preconceptions one may have of the conflict.

Saturday November 30th, 2013 from 6PM to 10PM
Independent Palestinian Film Festival Day 2
Amreeka
A strong single mother and her son leave the West Bank to search for greener pastures in America. They are naively unaware however that they have left post-Intifada Palestine only to enter another hostile territory, post-9/11 America.

Promises
Of all the countless films revolving around the Israel-Palestine conflict, none are more compelling than this Academy Award nominated documentary. The resin being that Palestinian children, who of all others are affected the most by the war, are rarely provided the luxury of expressing their thoughts and emotions in front of a world audience.

For more information on Cinemagics rooftop movie nights click [Here]

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 7PM at Becarre Lifestyle rooftop garden in old Salmiya. It’s basically the same roof where the Cinemagic rooftop movies are played every week. Take the elevator that’s located behind the stairs between BHS and Mothercare. Here it is on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

Sadly this isn’t photoshopped.

Last night I got to see the legend Bob Dylan perform live at the Royal Albert Hall here in London. I think the last time he performed there was back in 1966 which is 47 years ago. The hall is beautiful with a ground level seating area surrounded by higher stalls and then balconies that are located on top of that (here’s a video). Getting tickets for this performance wasn’t easy, even though there were people selling tickets online there weren’t that many for sale and the prices were just insane. I managed to find pretty good tickets last week, first row of the stalls and center stage so I did pretty good. Just to give you an idea on expensive tickets were going for, tickets for the ground floor seating area were selling between 400 to 800 British Pounds on the online ticket marketplaces.

[YouTube]

We weren’t allowed to take photos or videos during the event but I managed to get a few shots and shoot the video above of Bob Dylan performing “All along the watchtower”. It was the last song and people were standing up and shooting video so they couldn’t stop all of us. Sadly he didn’t play some of his classics like “Mr Tambourine Man”, “Hurricane”, “Like A Rolling Stone” or “Blowing in the Wind”. He also didn’t talk to us! I think he just said good evening at one point during the performance and that was it. But he did perform for 2 hours which was great although time flew by so quickly that I could have easily sat through another 2 hours all over again. That was Bob Dylan live, unreal.

If you missed the RAF Red Arrows airshow yesterday you can now watch it on YouTube. It’s a raw unedited video around 20 minutes long of the whole show. Skip through the video to find the interesting bits. [YouTube]

Big D is back with ANOTHER music video, his second this month. This is his latest video and according to his email he’s taking a Christmas/New Years break so my guess is this will also be his last new video for awhile. [YouTube]

If you’re a local musician and you release a new music video, let me know about it.

If you missed the Samsara music event this past Saturday like I did, you can now watch some snippets from the show above. [YouTube]

This Friday the British Ladies Society are holding their annual winter bazaar. The bazaar will have over 100 stalls and the BSK orchestra and choir will also be performing. Hot and cold food will also be available. If you’re interested in passing by below are the details:

Date: Friday 29th November, 2013
Time: 10AM to 4PM
Location: The British School of Kuwait [Map]

Download the flyer [Here]

Last night I got to see Imagine Dragons and Atlas Genius both perform live here in London. I was supposed to arrive at the venue two hours ahead of time so I could try and end up close to the front of the stage but in a typical Mark move I ended up arriving two hours ahead of time… at the wrong venue. The concert was being held at the O2 Academy Brixton but I ended up going to the O2 Arena so after finding out my mistake I had to spend 40 minutes in the subway heading to the correct location on the other side of town. Although I didn’t end up right up front it wasn’t bad at all since I was still pretty close to the stage.

[YouTube]

The first band to perform last night were Atlas Genius. Even though Imagine Dragons are performing in London for three nights, Atlas Genius were only opening up for them on the first night and since I’m a fan of theirs I decided to get tickets for that night. Atlas Genius aren’t that popular but they’ve got two songs I really love one of which would probably make it into my top 20 indie tracks list. They weren’t that exciting performers live but nevertheless it’s still always great to hear a favorite song being played live in front of you.

Dan Croll came on after Atlas Genius but I only knew and liked one song of his (From Nowhere) and even though his performance was better than Atlas Genius, I couldn’t wait till he finished so Imagine Dragons could come on.

[YouTube]

Imagine Dragons were the third and final act for the night and I had heard they were great live. After watching them live now I can say that is very true. I was actually surprised by their whole performance. Even though they had arrived to London from LA just 5 hours before the show, they played every song with so much passion and energy I was just blown away. My favorite song of theirs is Amsterdam (watch it here) but I think their performance last night for Radioactive which I’ve embedded above was my favorite. Oh yeah the stage was full of percussion instruments which the whole band participated in therapeutically venting out on through out the night.

Yesterday was the first time I took my GX1 camera with me to a concert. Micro 4/3 cameras like the GX1 are perfect for concerts since they look like point and shoot cameras which you’re allowed to bring in, but the quality of the shots is closer to DSLR’s which you aren’t allowed to bring into events. I was taking photos with my camera and then transferring them to my phone using the Eye-Fi card which I posted about the other day, and then uploading them to Instagram.

Two more concerts left and then it’s back to Kuwait.

As a commercial lawyer and the owner of a small business (Q8BookStore) I was pleased to attend a discussion panel held last week by the British Embassy on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Even though it was great to hear Mohammed H. Alsahya and the Mayor of London Speak about SME’s, I was actually more interested to hear Dr. Mohammed Alzuhair, the executive chairman for Kuwait’s SME fund.

Dr. Mohammed Alzuhair spoke about the government’s new vision for encouraging business in Kuwait. The government of Kuwait has really been trying to develop business in Kuwait for locals and foreigners alike and new important laws have been issued with practical changes, such as:

1) New companies law 79/2013 – Now we can have non-profit companies in Kuwait.

2) New commercial permit’s law 111/2013 – Apparently you can get a commercial permit by applying online. I’ll be investigating this soon.

3) SME fund law 98/2013 – A 1 billion Kuwaiti Dinars fund to support SME’s in Kuwait and rumor has it that their permits will be separate

4) Promotion of direct investments in Kuwait 116/2013 – Kuwait Foreign Investment Bureau is turning into an authority, all sectors will be open to foreign investors, and foreign investors will be allowed an equity share of up to 100%.

The laws are changing and I am excited to understand these changes. If you have an SME or you’re considering launching a start-up soon and want to get an email with related information, email me on [email protected] with the following info: your name, job position (at your SME and/or daytime job), type of business.

If you have more information about the above laws and would like to share changes also email me at [email protected]

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.

The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows are going to be performing tomorrow in Kuwait as part of their Middle East tour. The RAF Red Arrows are considered to be one of the world’s premier aerobatic teams and they just finished performing yesterday in the UAE. If you’re interested in watching the show below are the details:

Date: Tuesday 26th November, 2013
Time: 1PM
Location: Marina Crescent and the vicinity

Update: I got the 1PM timing from the Red Arrows Facebook page but according to Arab Times it’s at 3PM.

Lorenzo is a locally created Italian restaurant that opened up before the cupcake and burger craze took over the market. They’re old school and although they have a bunch of locations around Kuwait my favorite is easily their Salmiya branch located in Al Khalid Complex where Gia recently opened up.

The interior is small but nicely designed and pretty cozy. The carpeted floors continue along the wall and then curve up onto the ceiling which is an old fashioned thing to do but somehow works out nicely here. Since the location is small they’ve managed to make it look bigger by splitting up the restaurant into two spaces with the back space being a more intimate area separated from the rest of the restaurant by vertical mirror pillars. There’s lots of marble everywhere which helps makes the place feel luxurious without looking tacky at all.

Their menu hasn’t really changed since they first opened up with my favorite items being the fresh bread they serve as well as their mushroom soup and chocolate cheesecake. When I do want a main course I usually go for their fish dishes, either the sole or the hammour.

It’s a very nice location that’s empty most of time. I usually have business meetings there and I’ve never seen the place filled with more than two or three tables. To top it all off the service is really good and the staff are very friendly as well. If you’re looking for a nice quiet restaurant to go to that’s not in a mall than this Lorenzo location would be a great option. It’s in Al Khalid Complex in Salmiya and here it is on [Google Maps]

The American School of Kuwait is holding a production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at the ASK auditorium. There will be four showings held over a three day period and they’re selling tickets for just KD1. Here are some details:

Show Times:
Wednesday November 27th, 2013 at 2:45PM
Thursday November 28th, 2013 at 6PM
Friday November 29th, 2013 at 1PM
Friday November 29th, 2013 at 6PM

Ticket Prices: KD1

Location: American School of Kuwait [Map]

Tickets are available before the show in the reception area of the auditorium.

Update: I just received an email from the director saying that they just found out the show is for ASK students and their families only.

Out of Kuwait Saad Aldosari from John Parks on Vimeo.

The video above is of the “Out of Kuwait” exhibition that is currently being held in London. The exhibit brings together the works of thirteen emerging Kuwaiti artists and you can see some of the works that they’re exhibiting in the video above. The exhibit is running for four more days so if you’re in London check it out [Link]

Note: A higher quality version of the video above is available on BBC [Here]