2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The Q8 Expats Photography Club is organizing a star trails photography workshop this weekend. Star trails photography involves long exposure shots of either the sky or landscapes where the movement of the stars in the sky form light trails in your shots.

If you bring an extra camera or if you get bored trying to capture star trails they will also be painting with light so you could participate in that.

Here is a list of gear you need to bring:

1. A DSLR
2. A tripod
3. Cable release or intervalometer (for star trailing shots)
4. Bring extra batteries or at least fully charge yours
5. A high capacity memory card
6. Torch/Lights/Flash (for light painting)

The gathering will take place in Al-Rai outside The Sultan Center right next to McDonalds on the 4th Ring Road. It’s opposite all the car dealerships. The meetup will be at 4:30PM and they’ll then depart to the main location at 5:00PM. For more information visit their Facebook page [Here]

Photo above taken by Saleh AlRashaid

The first RaceRoom in the Middle East is opening up today inside Baroue at the Avenues. The RaceRoom is sort of an arcade but one that’s filled with realistic car simulators. They used to have one simulator before which was the Gulf Run simulator and I guess it was really popular because they’ve now expanded on that idea. For a bit more information you can check out their Facebook page [Here]

Update: I passed by Baroue awhile ago and turns out they’ve remodeled the whole top floor. It’s now a proper arcade FILLED with racing games. The place looks super cool and it’s just one racing game after another all around the place. Sadly they don’t have a vintage gaming section filled with original Daytona 1 and Sega Rally 1 machines, that would have been the icing on the cake for me. The actual RaceRoom is a private room located in the middle of the arcade floor filled with 6 realistic racing simulators. That room is going to be open from tomorrow but the rest of the floor is open right now. I took a bunch of pictures which you can check out below.

Blogger Mathai has put together a bunch of links which you should check before you travel just to be on the safe side. Many people get to the airport only to find out they can’t travel because they have an unpaid bill or a travel ban so this list is a good way to check if you’re problem free.

Traffic Violations
Travel Ban
Telephone Bills
Water and Power Bills
Lawsuits
Arrest Warrants

Late last month I picked up the Fuji X-Pro1 camera from Xcite to review and after spending a lot of time with it I can confidently say I loved it. How much? Well I wouldn’t mind it over the much more expensive Leica M9 but more on that later. I took the camera with me to Lebanon while on vacation and I carried it around and shot with it as much as I could.

The first thing I loved about the camera is the way it looks. When I first saw pictures of it online I was like I need to have it! It’s a simple black boxy looking camera that has a very timeless look to it. It’s bigger than I expected it to be but not that much different from the Leica M9. One thing that’s a lot different to the Leica is the weight. While the Leica M9 is a pretty hefty camera, the X-Pro1 is a lot lighter and that’s a good thing. I walked around with the X-Pro1 strung across my shoulder and I never felt the camera was bothersome or heavy. On the other hand I’ve walked around with a Leica M9 slung over my shoulder before and it’s presence was felt very quickly. Although the camera doesn’t look very ergonomic it felt comfortable in my hands and during use.

The X-Pro1 is a 16MP camera with a sensor that’s similar in size to most DSLR’s. I had the very bright 35m f/1.4 lens for the review and it’s really the only lens you need. The 35mm lens is equal to a 50mm lens on a full frame camera and that’s generally considered the most popular focal length since it’s close to what the eyes see. There are two knobs on the top, one for the shutter speed and one for the exposure. The camera also has a quick menu button which brings to focus the most commonly used options and a customizable FN button which in my case was calling up the ISO list.

Carrying the camera around and shooting with it was a lot of fun. The camera has a hybrid viewfinder similar to the Fuji X100 which is always fascinating to use. The hybrid viewfinder is something unique to Fuji and it’s basically an opticalviewfinder with information digitally displayed on top of it. There is also a switch on the front of the camera which when pressed turns the hybrid viewfinder into an electronic one. I didn’t use the EVF much since I’m not a fan of them but many people will appreciate it’s accuracy over the hybrid viewfinder. Although I read online about the camera’s focusing issues I didn’t run into any while shooting with the camera. I didn’t shoot any sports or fast action but I was shooting with the camera wide open and in different lighting conditions and maybe only once or twice did I have difficulty getting focus. ISO performance is another thing this camera is good at. At ISO1600 the noise is barely noticeable.

I have a few issues with the camera but none very major. First the on/off button gets switched on by mistake all to often and I can’t even count the times I found the camera on when it should be off. I have a similar issue with the aperture ring on the lens, it’s too loose and easily rotates with a minor bump or rub. Another more important issue is manually focusing with the camera. Manually focusing using the hybrid viewfinder isn’t an easy task since there are no markings on the screen to aid you and you can’t estimate using the focus ring on the lens since the focus ring works digitally (it also rotates infinitely).

Now the difficult part is deciding if this camera is right for you. If you’ve always wanted a Leica M8 or Leica M9 then get this camera. Other than the fact the Leica is nearly 4 times more expensive, the X-Pro1 has another advantage and that is the fact it has auto focus. The lenses are also like 10 times cheaper so really it’s a no brainer. If you’ve considered the Sony NEX-7 at one point then you should also consider the X-Pro1. I think the NEX-7 is a great camera but let down by a terrible collection of lenses. Personally I want this camera but I can’t seem to figure out when I would use it. I have the Panasonic GX1 which is my compact camera I take on vacations and dinners. Then I have the Nikon D800 which is what I use for my important stuff. The Fuji would have to replace one of those two but it wouldn’t be able to do the job of either of them right. It’s not compact or versatile like my GX1 and it also doesn’t have the large full frame sensor of my D800 or the lenses to compete with it. As I said earlier, deciding on this camera is the most difficult part.

The camera is selling as a kit for KD646. The kit includes the X-Pro1 camera, the 35mm f/1.4 lens and the original case kit. It’s only available at the new photography section in the Xcite store in Avenues. I just found out the camera kit is actually available at three Xcite branches:

X-PRO 1+X35mm Lens+X-Pro 1 Case (kit) – KD646 – Available in Rai, Fahaheel & Avenues
X18MM (Prime Lens) – KD159 – Available only in Avenues
XF60MM (Macro Lens) – KD182 – Available only in Avenues
EF-X20 (Shoe Mount Flash) – KD58 – Available only in Avenues

Spotted the above at a checkout counter in Sultan Center. After checking their Facebook page it turns out Sultan is having a competition to promote child safety in cars by asking parents to submit pictures of their kids with their seat belts fastened. Then, based on the amount of likes the photo receives and the relevance to the campaign they’ll have a chance to win KD500.

If you’re interested in participating you can check out their Facebook page [Here]

Kuwait Little Theatre celebrates its sixtieth year with a documentary produced by Panorama Pictures looking back at the history of the busiest and best little theatre in the country.

I can’t believe they’ve been around that long and I have yet to watch a single one of their plays. That’s just embarrassing! [Vimeo]

Just found out Alshaya are bringing the Sprinkles Cupcakes franchise to the region and the first branch will open later this year in Kuwait. Sprinkles are the world’s first cupcake bakery and they’re the ones that started the gourmet cupcake fad. If we’re lucky maybe they’ll set us up with a 24hour Sprinkles Cupcake ATM for those late night cravings. [Link]

Thanks Saba

Heaviest 10 (for nations with more than 100,000 people):
1. United States
2. Kuwait
3. Croatia
4. Qatar
5. Egypt
6. United Arab Emirates
7. Trinidad and Tobago
8. Argentina
9. Greece
10. Bahrain

[Source]

According to LWDLIK the picture was taken by a friend of theirs this weekend at Kubbar. Not sure who’d want to be on a small boat in the middle of the sea with a lion on board… [Link]

Update: P0ach has more pictures of the lion [Here]

I passed by Symphony Mall to check out the new Bang & Olufsen store but found it closed so I decided to wonder around the mall to check out what other stores are open. The whole mall is pretty much vacant except for a new store in the basement called Destination XL. It’s a big and tall men’s store that opened up just two weeks back.

The place from the inside looks pretty nice with the layout looking very similar to a men’s section in a large department store like Macy’s. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the inside but I spotted brands like Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Joseph Abboud and Calven Klein among others.

It’s too bad the store is just for the big and tall since I liked the fact they carried a bunch of brands all in one place. Symphony Mall is located in Salmiya right next to Missoni Hotel opposite American University of Kuwait. The entrance is from the back side and the mall looks like it’s still under construction but DXL are open in the basement.

Anyone else think the music makes it look like the video was put together by a 40 year old psychotic fan who has pictures of Justin Bieber on his bedroom wall with I love you written over them in blood? [YouTube]

Qatar Airways currently has a photography contest taking place that’s fairly simple to take part in. The four categories you can submit pictures to are Magnificent Cities, Vibrant Cultures, Breathtaking Nature and Exciting Journeys. As for prizes they’re going to be giving away 10 Business Class return tickets and 50 Economy to the winners so your chances of winning something is pretty high. I just checked the gallery and there’s already a bunch of people from Kuwait participating so if you’re also interested then you need to hurry up since the contest closes at the end of the month. [Link]

Gucci currently have a silent sale taking place on some of their items. 50% off shoes and clothing while the discounted bags are 30% off.

Update: YSL next door at 360 also have the exact same sale taking place.

Hilarious but really catchy. [YouTube]

Thanks Jay

I’ve been really looking forward to watching this movie since I first found out about it back in December and now that I’ve watched it I have mixed feelings about it. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott who also directed the original Alien movie among other blockbuster hits and although I read that Prometheus isn’t a prequel to the Alien franchise, it’s hard to believe it’s not after watching it.

Plot: A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. –IMDB

The movie has a lot of intese parts and the plot is incredibly good but I did find it a bit slow paced as well. A lot of people in the theater were getting restless and even I was starting to doze off which is why I have mixed thoughts about it. The movie right now is stuck between being a quick action packed movie like The Avengers or an epic 3+ hour adventure similar to Lord of the Rings. It should have either been shorter and faster or longer and deeper. Ridley Scott spent a lot of time showing the viewers some really interesting things but then when the movie finally picked up pace, it ended very quickly. I could easily see a sequel come out of this or maybe even a prequel.

As I said at the start, I have mixed feelings about Prometheus. I didn’t leave the theater thinking the movie was great but it’s been 3 hours since I finished watching it and I’m still thinking about it so it’s good in that sense. Worth watching, just don’t expect it to be action packed.

I watched the movie in Lebanon so it was uncut. The movie contains one scene where a couple make out and have sex. It didn’t contain any nudity just kissing but it would most likely be cut in Kuwait and that scene plays a crucial role in the movie. Other than that scene there are a few scenes where the female characters are wearing basically a two piece swimsuit, no idea if that would get cut in Kuwait but they’re also important scenes in the movie.

If you haven’t watched the Prometheus movie trailer then watch it now [Here]