2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

This past week saw the release of one of the strangest mashups of game genres that I’ve ever come across: a role-playing game transformed into a fighting game. The game is called Persona 4 Arena which is available on the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

I’m just a casual fan of fighting games; I don’t spend hours upon hours practicing to spend even more time in the online modes. Growing up, I was a fan of Street Fighter, Tekken & Soul Edge/Soul Caliber. Later on, I got into Guilty Gear and a little bit of BlazBlue. If you’re a fan of those last two games, you’ll be interested to know that Arc System Works the developer behind them also developed Persona 4 Arena. I love the Persona franchise (as well as the other games in the Shin Megami Tensei series); it was one of the first games to really make me fall in love with role playing games on the Playstation at the time (with the help of Wild Arms and Final Fantasy VII later that year). I was a little skeptical when I read about the game and thought they were just trying to milk the franchise for all it’s worth, but after spending some time with the game I’ve come away quite impressed.

According to Gulf Business, the follow are the top ten salaries in Kuwait:

1. Construction
2. Banking
3. Sales/ Marketing
4. Human Resources
5. Information Technology
6. Advertising
7. Public Relations
8. Hospitality
9. Real Estate
10. Publishing

For more details with salary figures you can check their article [Here]

The Blue from Mark Peters on Vimeo.

A group of guys fishing attached a GoPro camera to a torpedo and ended up capturing amazing video of dolphins swimming. Skip to around 1:35 if you are in a rush.

It’s been over 2 years since I last updated the 248AM App and it desperately needed a makeover. I personally felt the App was all over the place trying to be too many things at the same time so with this update I’ve simplified it down to the bare minimum. I’ve removed everything not related to the blog and have left only four main tabs which are the current sections of the blog: 248AM, 248PM, Newsworthy and Events. I’ve also updated it to support Retina displays (finally) and I also managed to shrink the App size down to just 1.8MB.

So if you already have the 248AM App installed on your phone there should be an update waiting for you in the App Store. If you’ve never installed the App before you can do so by searching for 248AM in the App Store or by clicking [Here]

No idea why the guy was driving on the emergency lane in the first place when the left lane was free of traffic. [YouTube]

Interesting tidbit, the charactar Ashur who they call “the Syrian” on the TV series Spartacus (and who is probably the most hated character on the show) used to live in Kuwait back in the 80s. His real name is Emad Tarabay. I tried to get more details like what school he attended but he wouldn’t share any details with me.

Update: I am aware Emad is originally Lebanese, but on the show they call him “the Syrian”.

We’re next. [Link]

The explosion didn’t actually happen in real life but on the latest episode of the popular TV show True Blood. According to the show there are only 5 factories in the world that produce the synthetic blood beverage “Tru:Blood” and one of them was located in Kuwait. I guess Kuwait found a profitable alternative to oil.

Thanks D’nG

Avenues Phase I and II combined have around 400 stores in total. When Avenues Phase III is completed before the end of the year it will double the total stores to around 800. So Phase III is going to be another Avenues stuck to the current Avenues which will make it pretty huge.

In comparison, Dubai Mall has over 1,200 stores.

Photo Source

A few weeks back I was having a quick bite at Hashtag when Dari the owner sat down with me and started telling me about PlusOne. It’s a fairly simple concept, anytime you order a burger just tell the cashier to PlusOne and they will add one Dinar to your total bill. The one Dinar you add will be matched by the restaurant and then a meal similar to the one you just had would be given to a low income worker. He invited me to pass by again when they were preparing the meals so I could volunteer and see how the system works for myself. So I did.

It was a pretty dusty day when I met up with Dari at Hashtag but that wasn’t changing their plans. I arrived just as they were starting to make the burgers. There were three other volunteers including the super nice Ms. Bibi Al-Ayoub from “Draw a Smile,” a charitable campaign that inspired PlusOne. Once all the burgers were ready we headed out to a location where street workers were coming together before being taken by a large bus to their compounds. As we arrived to the location so did a car from Chocolateness who were also participating that day.

The workers right away got in a very organized line as the volunteers started handing out the food one at a time along with a drink. Sadly that day there were more workers than there was food to give but hopefully as more people are aware about PlusOne that won’t happen again.

Right now the following restaurants are participating in this year long campaign:

Hashtag Burgers

Solo Pizza Napulitana

Chocolateness

Lgaima Sweets

Scrumptious

Delivery Express

If you’re interested in helping, just PlusOne to your bill when ordering from one of the restaurants above. If you’re a restaurant owner and want to participate, you can do so by clicking [Here]

[YouTube]

Our friend TJCfilms shot a short documentary about PlusOne which you can also watch above.

Finally, for more information on the campaign and to find out how you could also volunteer, visit their website [Here]

Kuwaiti runner Mohammad Alazemi (in blue and white above) was disqualified after finishing 3rd in his 800m heat. It seems he pushed the Polish runner and so was disqualified for obstruction. [Link]

Mohammad Alazemi had previously won gold in both the 800m and 1500m races at the 2011 Asian Championships in Kobe, Japan. This was Mohammad’s third time competing at the Olympics.

Thanks Akbar

As I mentioned last week I’m starting triathlon training so I could hopefully participate in the upcoming triathlon this October. I had my first day with The 3 Club and I don’t think I did that bad. My biggest issue actually is the fact I barely had time to do anything with three different sessions squeezed into my evening. At 5PM I had cycling which went easier than I expected. This was stationary and indoor which is why it probably felt easier than my usual rides to the gym in blazing heat riding against strong headwind. Class was done by 6 and I barely had enough time to rest before I hit Core Fitness for an hour of intense weight lifting at 7PM. I finished from Core, headed home, barely had time to feed my dog, grab a bite and update my post on Fehaid Aldeehani before I had to leave again for my 10PM running session with The 3 Club. Exhausting to say the least.

The running session was held at a track in Keifan and while we were there I spotted a lot of young guys and girls doing a variety of track and field training. I spotted everything from discus throwing and high jumping to hurdles and tripple jumping. It felt great running around the track while a bunch of other track and field sports were taking place at the same time. It actually energized me and made me feel like an athlete for the hour I was there (an old one with a bad knee but still). So overall it wasn’t a bad first day at all.

After incorrectly reporting a few days back that Fehaid Aldeehani won a bronze medal at the double trap event, Fehaid ended up winning a bronze a few moments ago at the mens trap event (not double). As of right now I found only one article that mentions this since this just happened. Congrats again Fehaid! [Link]

Update: Here are the final results of the mens trap event [Link]

Kuwait has only won one other Olympic medal before and it was a bronze at the 2000 Olympics that was held in Sydney, Australia. It was Fehaid who had won the medal back then in the double trap event. The biggest accomplishment would have to be the fact that Fehaid was able to win the bronze medal this year without any support from Kuwait. According to a post on 965 Malls today, Al Qabas had an article on Fehaid in which he complains about the lack of support as well as the disastrous state of sports in Kuwait. Kuwait Airways for example didn’t even offer him extra baggage allowance when he was heading to London for the games so he had to pack light since his rifles alone weighed 17KG.

Hopefully with the bronze medal this year and the online exposure some of the athletes have been getting like Faye Sultan, the local sports authorities will realize that they need to support these talented athletes.

Update2: I’ve updated this post with pictures of Fehaid which I found [Here]

When I needed some grappling gloves I ended up ordering a pair online since I couldn’t find any locally. Go Sport used to carry the Venom brand but they ran out of stock ages ago and never restocked. Then Nat needed a pair of combat gloves and a friend of hers recommended Sportsline in Salmiya. I hadn’t heard of the place before but turns out they have a huge collection of training gloves.

They mostly carry gloves from the Everlast brand including grappling, training and boxing gloves as well as face protection and hand wraps. One wall in their store is just filled with different kinds of Everlast gear all organized very nicely.

They also have a good collection of boxing bags and gear from the Samurai brand.

Price wise I found them more expensive than Amazon even when including shipping. But if don’t want the hassle of ordering online then this is a good alternative. They’re located in the basement of Al Wataniya Complex in Salmiya. That’s the same building that has the bank CBK, right across the street from NBK and Eureka.

I guess it’s better than having them go up and down the Gulf Road doing that. [YouTube]