2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

These renderings are the final approved concept for Burj Al Shaya designed by Gensler, the same architects behind The Avenues. The building consists of two towers, the tall tower will serve as the new Alshaya headquarters while the second shorter tower will be the Four Seasons Hotel. The location of this building is next to Burj Jassim in Kuwait City and it’s expected to be completed by mid 2015. From what I understood Alshaya haven’t released the renderings to the public yet but some people have leaked them online. Those two in this post are the only ones I’ve been able to find.

[Source1] [Source2]

Kuwait Airways plane, bound to Cairo, has returned after taking off from Kuwait International Airport due to technical error on Monday, the state-­run carrier said.

The captain of the airplane discovered a technical error after taking off and returned to the airport in line with international standards, Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) public relations and media director Khaled Al-­Khulaifi said.

The captain dumped some of the fuel to decrease the weight of the plane, a well-­known procedure in such cases, landed normally and all passengers left the plane, Al-­Khulaifi said in a statement to KUNA.

The passengers were well received by the ground staff until an alternative plane is provided, he added. [Source]

The video above was taken by one of the passengers showing the fuel dump. [YouTube]

If you want to create your own here is a blank canvas but it’s more fun if you actually go out in a group to a street sign in your neighborhood and do something, take a photo and send it to me on [email protected] so I could post it up here. Trust me, it’s a lot of fun.

Note: if you haven’t seen Bnaider 258 or 264 you won’t get this

The hacker group Anonymous released a video a few days back stating they were planning to attack a number of countries including Kuwait on June 20th. Why? Because oil is sold with the dollar and Saudi Arabia has betrayed Muslims with their cooperation. No idea what their strike would encompass but most likely they’ll be bringing down all the oil related websites. Check out the video they released above. [YouTube]

After one of my images on Instagram went viral this weekend I started getting a lot of new (and mostly weird) followers on my Instagram account. One of my followers turned out to be a sheep seller. It’s such a weird account, just pictures and pictures of different sheep with a phone number to call if you want one. It’s by far the strangest thing I’ve seen so far being sold on Instagram in Kuwait. I tried calling the number to see if they deliver and how much a sheep costs but the guys phone was closed. If you’re interested you can follow him on Instagram under the account @sheeps_sell

You can now order Abercrombie & Fitch gear directly from their official website. Previously they wouldn’t accept Kuwaiti credit cards but now they do and they also ship directly to Kuwait. I just got my first box filled with goodies today. I paid using my Kuwait based credit card but had the box shipped to my Aramex mailbox instead of directly to Kuwait just because I actually wanted my stuff to get here sometime before summer was over. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: Just found out if you actually ship the stuff directly to Kuwait they ship it door to door using FedEx and for only $10. That’s ridiculously cheap and much more efficient than shipping it to Aramex (I paid KD15 for shipping).

I would love to spend a day inside Zaha Hadid’s mind. Construction will supposedly start this summer and be completed by 2017. [Link]

And Kuwait, where’s our metro at?

Based on the newspaper grab above it looks like there was some sort of In-N-Out tasting event that took place in Dubai. Is this a sign they might finally be opening up shop in the region?

Photo by @sambyi via Moey

Cost has gone up KD5 this time around but there’s also going to be a small expo for Kuwaiti businesses running at the same time.

Location: Marina Crescent
Date: June 27 to June 30 2013
Time: 10AM to 12PM
Cost: KD25

If you’re interested you should probably book from now by calling 22621766 or 94004335.

According to an article on KUNA by mid June we will be able to transfer our mobile numbers from one operator to another. A previous KUNA article stated we would be able to transfer our numbers last year at the cost of KD5 and the process would take around 24 hours. That never happened so not sure if it’s going to happen now. [Link]

If you have ever smiled at one of the Dr. Seuss books, such as The Cat in the Hat, or Horton Hears a Who, you will love SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL, a show filled to bursting with Dr. Seuss’s wonderful characters including Horton, The Whos, The Grinch, Amayzing Mayzie, Gertrude & her one-feathered-tail, and many more . SEUSSICAL is one of the most popular and successful new musicals of the millennium; a delight for all ages, packed with wonderful songs, humour, colour and spectacle and guaranteed to entertain you be you four or ninety four.

Performance dates and times are as follows:
Wednesday June 5 at 7.30pm (KD5) Preview Night
Thursday June 6 at 7.30pm (KD7.5)
Friday June 7 at 3pm and 7.30pm (KD7.5)
Saturday June 8 t 12 noon and 4pm (KD7.5)

Location: Live Theater at Discovery Mall

If you’re interested in booking a ticket, visit their website [Here]

(Reuters) – State-run Kuwait Airways will spend 850 million dinars ($2.98 billion) on 25 new Airbus jets and aims to lease a further 13 to upgrade its ageing fleet, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday. [Source]

The planes will consist of 10 wide-bodied A350-900 jets and 15 of the slimmer A320neo. No A380’s so I guess the “Ya Kuwait Airways naby A380” campaign didn’t do so well.

Thanks Salem
Picture above is Kuwait Airways in the 70s

Open My Eyes is Big D’s new song and it’s probably his best one yet. [Vimeo]

It’s a project by Google, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME. If you click the link at the end of this post you’ll be taken to an animation showing how Kuwait has progressed from 1984 up until 2012. You’ll mostly notice how more and more buildings got built but the roads basically stayed the same which is why we have so much traffic problems. Here is the [Link]

When I picked up the B&O Beolit 12 last month I also ended up picking up the Bang & Olufsen A9. I wasn’t planning to originally but it was so hard to resist. I first spotted the A9 when I was at the B&O store in Prague and it was love at first sight. It’s an AirPlay compatible speaker that will allow you to stream music onto it wirelessly and in case you don’t have Wifi you can connect your iPhone/iPod using a USB cable. The speaker has a very minimal design being just a circle with no buttons on the front and even in the back other than the power button there isn’t anything else. To increase and decrease the volume you just caress the speaker on the top from the left to right, to decrease the volume you swipe your hand right to left and to mute it you just hold the speaker on the top. The touch controls are very practical to use.

Sound wise the speaker is pretty loud and bassy for it’s size. That’s what actually sold me since I was not expecting the sound to be that big. I mostly listen to indie and electronic music on it and so far there isn’t anything really that it had difficultly playing. If we go back to the looks I should mention the speaker can be customized when it comes to colors. The front fabric cover by default comes in white but you can purchase different colors as well to match your environment like black, red, green etc.. Same with the wooden legs, you can get them in 3 different colors. In case you want to mount the speaker on the wall you can do that too.

Setting up the device was as easy as setting up the Beolit 12 and I didn’t have any trouble although a lot of people do get stuck and frustrated but that’s because they don’t follow instructions. I actually love the iPhone App since it allows me to control the settings on both my B&O devices with great ease.

My only gripe about the A9 and one many of you will remark on is the price, it’s KD890 (including the legs). At that price point it’s pretty much competing with full fledged sound systems that would deliver a lot more bang for the buck. But obviously none would look as good as the A9 or come in as simple a setup. The only other speaker system that I imagine could compete with the A9 is the Parrot Design Zikmu by Philippe Starck. But that isn’t affordable either costing around KD600 and the A9 is nearly 5 times more powerful (100w vs 480w RMS). It’s a luxury product that’s for sure but that’s the case with everything B&O produce. I love it and don’t regret getting it.