2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Someone uploaded the extended version of the classic Pizza Italia commercial which contains a few scenes extra compared to the original. Good times. [YouTube]

Looks really great in this color. [Source]

Around a year ago I posted that I had heard Alshaya was bringing Tesco to Kuwait and since then things have gone pretty mute. At one point I was even told Tesco and Sultan had also formed a partnership where Sultan would carry Tesco products but nothing has come out of that as well.

But according to a different source of mine, Alshaya are still bringing Tesco to Kuwait. I couldn’t get any more information but the previous rumor I heard was that Tesco would replace Carrefour at The Avenues. We’ll have to wait and see.

Below is a list of brands I am aware of that Alshaya are bringing to Kuwait:

– IHOP (International House of Pancakes)
– The Hummingbird Bakery
– Pei Wei Asian Diner
– The Cheesecake Factory
– Texas Roadhouse
– Dolce & Gabbana
– Jo Malone
– Teavana
– Harvey Nichols
– Williams Sonoma
– West Elm
– Tesco

Oddly the one I’m looking forward to the most is Williams Sonoma since it’s really difficult finding high end kitchenware in Kuwait.

Thanks Paul

Last night I passed by Solarity, a new shop that revolves around solar powered items. When I found out about the place I thought to myself finally! With all the sun we have solar energy just makes sense. When I passed by the store they were still setting up but I managed to see a whole variety of garden lights and some back packs with solar panels. In the next few weeks they’ll be adding more items since they’ve only received around 20% of their products at the moment.

The official launch is tonight at 5PM and they’re located in Shuwaikh right next to Bike World. If you take the right hand turn after City Center, Tilal Complex will be on your left. At the next intersection take a right and their shop is located around 50 meters after also on the right. I really hope they do well. Here is a link to their Facebook page [Link]

This excerpt is taken from Loaay’s Two Cents column in Bazaar Magazine:

We’re dealers for a photographic cameras brand. Because our sales volumes are much smaller compared to the US dealers our prices are not as attractive. While many customers still purchase from us, some visit us but then decide to buy online. The Internet is killing our business. What can we do when our cost is higher than online selling prices?

LA: Price is what you pay for something. Value is what you receive from your purchase. Instead of focusing on price, let’s talk value. There are some obvious benefits that you can highlight. For example, customers who purchase online won’t enjoy the local warranty in many cases. The convenience of walking away immediately with the camera is an advantage over waiting a week or two to use it. However, on a deeper level, offering a free or discounted local photography club membership with certain benefits and tips for local purchasers of the brand might be exciting enough to attract some. Maybe offering an automated monthly installment for three to ten months with no interest on the higher-end models can be a winning factor for others since they have to pay 100% upfront online before their camera is shipped.

You can also negotiate with dealers in neighboring countries to make collective orders to lower the cost of all your products or at least some of your most commonly ordered items. As customers have a choice so do you. Instead of competing on price, which is a losing battle, compete on other grounds to win the war…and that’s just my two cents. [Source]

Although the example used here is with one local camera dealer this applies to other dealers as well. If you want us to buy locally instead of ordering from Amazon then give us a reason to. I’ve found a lot of things in Kuwait cheaper than the US so I don’t actually understand why some brands cost so much more. One example of something I found in Kuwait a lot cheaper than the US is Definitive Technology speakers. I got them for half the price of what people in the US pay. And just the other day I purchased a camera bag from a small local shop who was selling them for cheaper than what I would have paid for if I ordered it from Amazon. It’s doable.

One of the cameras I have my eyes on is the new Nikon D800. It just got announced earlier in the month and is slated to hit the shelves around the world in March. According to the local Nikon dealer they’re expecting to get the camera (if everything goes according to plan) by mid March. I’m going to upgrade my D90 to the D800 as soon as it’s released so can’t wait.

Mo is a 22 year old Kuwaiti student currently studying at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. When I first saw some of his illustrations they instantly grabbed my attention since I found them very strange. I contacted him by email and spoke to him regarding his thoughts and future plans.

According to Mo his illustrations come from the core of his personality, it’s who he truly is without the filters of ego and peer pressures. He’s also excited about coming back to Kuwait after he graduates since he feels there is a lot of potential now more than ever for Kuwait to generate culture on its own.

A lot of culture in Kuwait is homogenized, it comes from the West for the most part. There is the traditional Kuwaiti culture, but that is really just a backdrop being humored for the popular culture, the influx of movies and other entertainment is where the interest of younger and even older generations truly lie. People today have the wonderful luxury of taking in media from around the world, and I think some of the talented and passionate people in Kuwait today are digesting influences from both Western and Eastern creators into their subconscious minds. Something that has popped up in the GCC area has been the advent of interesting and funny animated programs, not to mention the lauded 99 comic book series. I believe that I can help contribute to this newly generating culture, and offer something different than the humor of the animated series and the super-hero stories of the 99.

He’s got a bunch of his illustrations up on his blog which you can check by clicking [Here]

Going by the trailer it looks like a pretty interesting and well made documentary. Makes me look at Saudi Arabia in a completely different light. [YouTube]

Thanks Nocolor

He enjoys chilling out outside my office window.

I just got the March schedule for Cinemagic and it looks like I’ve only watched one of the movies showing this month which is Triplets of Belleville. It’s a really strange but cool animation which is definitely worth watching. Check out the full schedule below.

Thursday, March 1st at 7:30pm
THE MILK OF SORROW
Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

Saturday, March 3rd at 7:30pm
BARTON FINK
In 1941, New York intellectual playwright Barton Fink comes to Hollywood to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer’s block. His neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows, tries to help, but Barton continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further from his task.

Thursday, March 8th at 7:30pm
TRIPLETS OF BELLVILLE
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters–an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire–to rescue him.

Saturday, March 10th at 7:30pm
THE SWEET HEREAFTER
This film documents the effects of a tragic bus accident on the population of a small town.

Thursday, March 15th at 7:30pm
NETWORK
A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor’s ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit.

Saturday, March 17th at 7:30pm
RUSSIAN ARK
A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.

Thursday, March 22nd at 7:30pm
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.

Saturday, March 24th at 7:30pm
DOWN BY LAW
The story of three different men in a Louisiana prison and their eventual journey.

Thursday, March 29th at 7:30pm
THE SON’S ROOM
A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.

Saturday, March 31st at 7:30pm
500 DAYS OF SUMMER
An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn’t believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Entrance is free of charge and includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

I accidentally switched over to 99.7 the other day and heard an advert about The Athlete Foot selling ghutras made by Puma. I think they said that they were created either just for Kuwait or for the region not really sure but I decided to pass by and check them out. Turns out they’re not actually selling ghutras but clothing with the ghutra pattern. Would have been cooler if Puma actually made ghutras.

Last month the Tempur dealer called me and offered me a mattress to review since they were hoping to get some publicity for their recently opened Tempur store at Tilal Complex. I was hesitant at first since I was actually pretty comfortable with my mattress but since I didn’t have anything to lose I decided to try it out.

Tempur have three main mattresses to choose from, the Tempur Original, the Tempur Sensation and the Tempur Cloud. I tried the Original but found it a bit creepy since the mattress felt alive due to the way you sink into slowly. Kinda like quick sand. The Sensation and Cloud were more to my liking and I had trouble deciding between the two before going for the Cloud which I thought was a bit softer than the Sensation.

It’s been three weeks since I got the mattress and I have to say I really love it. I never had an issue with my previous mattress but I don’t think I could go back to it after experiencing the Cloud. It’s going to be a bit hard for me to explain how the new mattress is different but one way I can describe it is that it’s cozier. Like everything Tempur their special material takes the form of your body, kinda like the bed is hugging you which actually explains the cozy feeling. The bed doesn’t use any metal springs and isn’t bouncy at all. One person could jump up and down on one side and the second person wouldn’t feel a thing. They actually have a small demonstration in the store where they drop a metal ball onto regular foam and Tempur foam. When the ball drops onto regular foam it bounces back up into the air but when the same ball drops onto the Tempur foam the impact is absorbed and the ball just stops. One way I feel it is when getting out of bed in the morning. When I try to push off the bed with my hand it actually absorbs some of the force which takes a little bit of getting used to. But, it’s really such a great feeling sleeping on this mattress.

In addition to mattresses they also have pillows and other Tempur accessories in their showroom. They have everything on display for you to try out and even if you’re not comfortable lying down out in the open they have a small room where you could try out the mattresses and pillows in private. If you’re interested, the Tempur store is located in Tilal Complex and their phone number is 22256191.

A reader took these pictures yesterday of paragliders flying over the Gulf Road celebrating National Day. I have to say the cityscape in the background looks pretty cool in this light.

Thanks Maro

The Repercussions of an Attack
Destroying Iran’s many reactors and processing facilities could release large amounts of radiation and create radioactive dust storms. Winds would carry this toxic miasma over Afghanistan and its large U.S. military garrison. Dangerous radiation would also extend to Pakistan, western India, Iraq, Kuwait and to the Gulf, where large numbers of U.S. military personnel are based. Equally ominous, radioactive dust could blanket oil fields in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. High-altitude winds would spread radioactivity around the globe, as occurred at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, but at a factor of twenty times or more. [Source]

Ace Hardware have expanded their power saving section and now have solar panels in a wide variety of sizes as well as a lot of different kind of LED lights including powerful garden projectors. I can’t see many people going the solar way since electricity is really cheap but I can see these panels being practical at campsites.

I also noticed IKEA is now selling LED GU10 lights alongside the regular halogen ones. I converted to LEDs around a year ago because my halogen lights kept dying on me and I haven’t regretted the decision since. The LEDs are being sold for KD3.900 which is very reasonable. Their solar powered garden lights are also back in stock.