2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Have guests coming to Kuwait and not sure where to take them? Architecture of Kuwait have posted a handy schedule although I personally don’t agree with some of their activities (flight simulation?) as well as some of their restaurant choices but it’s a good list to build on. When it comes to food I would add Cocoa Room or Early Bird for breakfast. Lunch I would add OFK and Oum Habib. I would definitely add desert places like Chocolate Bar and Life with Cacao. Finally I would add Maki and Slider Station for dinner.

If guests don’t leave Kuwait gaining a few pounds then you’re not doing it right. [Link]

Sony is holding a PlayStation Vita event tomorrow in Dubai where they will be previewing their new handheld gaming system to the media. I was invited to attend the event but since my brother is a bigger gamer and runs his own gaming blog he’ll be going instead.

The event schedule is going to be the following:

11:00am: Media arrive and are greeted by PS VITA event staff
11:45am: Media are taken around the different stations for a quick tour
12:00pm: Event staff offer light food and refreshments
12:30pm: Sony PlayStation ME representative welcomes everybody, explains a bit about the USP’s of VITA and introduces SCEE speaker and game developer
12:45pm: Presentation starts followed by panel discussion and Q&A with all speakers
1:45: Post presentations one on one interviews
1:45 – 4:00pm: Hands-on with Vita

Since he’ll be having an extensive hands-on session with the device and attending the Q&A session, if anyone has any questions about the PS Vita or is curious about something leave it in the comments below and he’ll try to get them answered for you.

Here’s some good news:

After coming third in the general standings at Asian qualifiers for the 10m air rifle individuals on Saturday, female shooter Maryam Erzouqi earned Kuwait’s first place at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Kuwait’s shooting team director Mohammad Al-Ghorba praised the shooter for her efforts in achieving the milestone.
He also expressed confidence other members of the shooting team, taking part in the Asian qualifiers in Doha, would follow suit, particularly in the double trap category.

Maryam had taken home two gold medals, in the 50m rifle prone and the 10m air rifle, at the recent Arab Games. [Source]

On a side note KUNA have redesigned their website and although it’s not great it’s much better than their previous one. You can check it out [Here]

I had no idea rap battles took place in Kuwait but the one above happened this past October and it’s actually pretty fun to watch. [YouTube]

Warning: Music video contains every rap video cliche you can think of.

[YouTube]

A reader sent me the Kuwait timelapse he did above in which he used three Canon cameras, a 5DMKII, a 7D and a 60D to create. He also used a Kessler Crane Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly although I’m not sure if he had to move the camera manually or if it was automated using a motor and controller. It took him around 3 months of shooting which resulted in 40,000 shots and it then took him a month to edit the video.

Not all the scenes in the video above look great since the dull sky wasn’t helping but the ones that do work end up working really well. [YouTube]

Update: Below is a shot of his setup. Based on the shot his dolly was motorized.

Thanks Ali

I promise this will be my last basketball post. Turns out the Kuwait Club’s basketball team’s uniform is ripped off from NBA’s Washington’s Wizards. How funny and sad is that? It even made it to the Washington Post! [Link]

Thanks Walker

Hasn’t anyone scored a dunk in a local game before? Based on the announcer going all bonkers I imagine this is the first time. The video is just a minute and a half long but the dunk gets replayed 9 times using the same 2 or 3 cameras over and over. [Link]

Thanks Tarig

A reader emailed BBC regarding the recent problem with the reception and this is what they responded:

Regarding Kuwait, we are aware of a change of reception quality of our signal. It appears that the authorities there have changed the transmitter site resulting in poorer reception for at least some of our listeners.

We are examining possibilities of rectifying this situation but at present cannot be sure of what the final outcome will be.

That sucks.

I think this was from July last year but the video just got uploaded a few days back. [YouTube]

The Gulf Run 7 car show is going to take place this weekend. This year there will be around 60 cars taking place at Gulf Run and you’ll be able to check out most of them at 360 Mall where they will be on display for everyone to see. So make sure you pass by this weekend, they’re going to be there for two days, Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th. For more information on the event and Gulf Run click [Here]

To check out the full list of cars participating this year follow the link below.

The Superdry store in Marina Mall is now open in place of Diesel. I’ve noticed both the Marina Mall and Avenues branches of Superdry are always pretty empty when I pass by. I’m guessing no one knows Superdry in Kuwait…

Anyone else experiencing reception problems with BBC lately? The reception seems to have gotten worse over the past week and strangely the station disappears completely once I hit the Sheraton roundabout…

It’s been over a year since the young Kuwaiti iPhone app designer Abdulrahman al-Zanki created his game but he’s still making headlines, most recently in the New York Times:

It took Abdulrahman al-Zanki, then 14, a few weeks to develop his first game, Yellow Taxi, and upload it to Apple iTunes in 2010, learning from written instructions between school hours and homework. Since then, the Kuwaiti teenager has created 22 more iPhone games in less than two years, including the highly popular Doodle Destroy.

You can read the full article [Here]

I was reading an article on Arabian Business the other day about ghost brands which is a term being used for franchises that come to the Gulf and do really well here while end up failing and closing down in their original home country. One of the brands hit by the recession was the UK lingerie chain La Senza. But, I just found out that Alshaya got involved and purchased 60 La Senza stores in the UK and helped save 1,100 jobs. That’s pretty cool. [Link]