2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The Dasman Diabetes Institute is putting together a collection of anonymous, but real stories from real people, here in Kuwait.

They’re searching for personal stories concerning the following categories:
-Diabetes – Asthma -Cancer – Obesity – Arthritis – Multiple Sclerosis – Heart Disease -Social Issues (Loss of a loved one or the effects of divorce on a family) -Maternity (Pregnancy, breastfeeding, postpartum depression) – Health Conditions and Illness (Any disease or condition which is not already mentioned above)

Why is it so useful to share these stories?
3 reasons…

First of all, it gives hope to those many people out there who think they are “the only one going through this”

Secondly, sharing your story can have a positive effect on someone else’s life, and bring comfort and support to many

And thirdly, it can raise awareness about an illness or a condition. This can lead to better understanding and more compassion from the wider community.

How can you share your story?

To share your story visit hope.dasmaninstitute.org
No personal details will be required.

For more information visit their Facebook page [Here]

My friend spotted the banner above at Holiday Inn Salmiya. Seems there is a 95% sale on designer brands taking place at their ballroom. I don’t know how long the sale is there for but according to the banner they’re open from 10AM to 10PM.

Thanks Q

Update: Seems today (Wednesday) is their last day

Yesterday the local blogosphere came alive about how starting January 1st The Avenues would turn into a non-smoking mall. I for one was very skeptical when hearing this since the airport for example is supposed to be smoke free yet people there smoke casually without any consequences. At restaurants smokers also usually have the best tables while non-smokers get shoved all the way in the back. Since I was in contact with someone at The Avenues, I decided to find out more about this smoking ban and how they were going to enforce it.

First of all The Avenues is going to be smoke free except for the following areas:
– Designated areas in cafés and restaurants
– Seating areas and space outside The Avenues (open air)
– 9 air freshener machines (pictured above) will be installed at all the basement entrances and those stations will be designated as smoking areas

Regarding enforcing this ban, if The Avenues security personal find anyone smoking they will approach them and ask them to stop. Since they’re a mall they can’t fine smokers themselves but they will be cooperating closely with the police who are present at the mall on a daily basis.

I am a non-smoker and I hate walking in a mall behind someone smoking so personally I really hope this campaign succeeds and The Avenues can truly enforce this smoking ban and set an example.

Since we’re on the subject of t-shirts. A friend of mine is selling I Love Q8 t-shirts based on the famous I Love NY icon. It’s good quality stuff since they’re printed in England. You can check them out on his website iloveq8.com

Personally I don’t find anything offensive in this t-shirt but some people do.

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve always had a thing for headphones. I’m not sure why but I had everything from the dorky large headphones that had a built in radio to the cool waterproof Sony’s which didn’t turn out to be that waterproof (as a kid it’s easy to mistake splash proof for waterproof). I guess I liked the immersion headphones offer and this hasn’t changed as I’ve grown older. I currently own the Bang & Olufsen A8, Shure E2, Sure SE210, Sennheiser PX100, Sennheiser PXC250, AKG K81 DJ, UE Super.fi 5 Pro, a UE Triple.Fi 10 Pro and my latest acquisition which this post revolves around, the BeyerDynamic DT770. I never think I have enough headphones and I always find a reason to get another one, I’m just obsessed…

If you don’t want to get bored you can skip this whole paragraph. Before I decided on which BeyerDynamic model I wanted I had to choose between closed or open air type headphones. Closed usually offer better sound isolation so that the people around you don’t hear what you’re listening to while with open air the sound leaks out and could annoy people around you. There are other advantages and disadvantages to each but since I was planning to listen to these headphones in the living room in front of my computer where Nat would be watching tv, I went with the DT770 model which is closed. If you prefer open air then you would need to check out the DT880 and DT990 models. Now that I had that sorted I had to choose which DT770 model I wanted, Amazon had 5 different models, the DT770 32 Ohm, 80 Ohm, 250 Ohm, 600 Ohm and the M. Even though all 5 headphones are the same model, they all had different sound signatures but after a lot of research I finally decided on the 600 Ohm since they supposedly were the best sounding of the group but with a big disadvantage to the rest which is they needed to be powered by a separate headphone amplifier. The 32 Ohm and 80 Ohm could be powered by the iPod directly (but could benefit from a small portable headphone amp like the FiiO E5 or a home made CMoy). The 250 Ohm require a headphone amp but can be powered by some portable headphone amps as well. The M version is for drummers while the 600 Ohm requires an external powered amp to drive. So I had to research headphone amps and once I got into that I found out I could get even better sound by bypassing my computer internal audio car by using an external DAC (digital-to-analog converter). To cut it short I ended up getting the FiiO E7 DAC and the FiiO E9 amp. The amp had enough power to drive the my headphones while the E7 acted as a DAC when connected to the E9 but could also be used as a portable headphone amp with 20+ hour of battery life when used by itself although it wouldn’t be able to power the DT770 by itself.

I listen to a variety of music ranging from downbeat like Kruder & Dorfmeiser, A Guy Called Gerald, Tosca, Dzihan and Kamien and anything from the K7 label, 90’s alternative bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Blind Melon, Radiohead, NIN, Tool etc.. to electronic music like Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, Matt Darey, Underworld and Booka Shade. After having the headphones for a few weeks now I have to say I really like them a lot but slightly disappointed with them at the same time. Firstly the good stuff. These are the most immersive headphones I’ve ever had. They’re extremely comfortable since the ear cups are soft and the material nice to the touch. They also fit around my ears instead of pressing onto them which makes them less painful when listening to them for a long time. Once I have them on I don’t really notice them anymore, I could leave them on for hours without feeling any discomfort whatsoever. The build quality is amazing, they’re made in Germany and a lot of metal is used in the construction so they feel like they could last a lifetime and they should seeing how much they cost. The sound is also extremely well balanced, for example I love the Beats by Dre headphones but their bass dominates everything else and the music can end up sounding muddy. With the DT770 they’re perfectly balanced, a bit too perfect actually since sometimes I wish they did pump out more bass specially when listening to some electronic music. But that’s just on rare occasions, majority of the time they blast music wonderfully and I actually re-ripped some of my CD’s at higher bit-rates so I could truly appreciate these headphones.

But, like I just said, I wish sometimes the lows did dominate but I guess that gives me an excuse to also pick up a pair of Beats for when I’m in the mood to pretend I’m at a club. The second negative is the fact it doesn’t isolate as much as I was hoping they would. When I have the volume pretty high up the way I like it, everybody in the room could hear what I’m playing and if the TV is playing loud I could also hear it. I guess the solution to that would be to listen to music with my in-hear headphones but they aren’t anywhere as comfortable as the DT770’s.

Overall though these are pretty good headphones, the best I’ve owned and completely destroys everything I have except for maybe the UE triple.fi which I should review soon. Price wise they’re not that expensive but if you’re getting the 600 Ohm version then it adds up since you would need to purchase an external Amp to run them. I paid $244 for the DT770, $99 for the FiiO E7 and $130 for the FiiO E9. You could skip the E7 or just skip both the E7 and E9 and get the 32 or 80 Ohm DT770. The final score is a highly recommended 4 out of 5.

Amazon Links:
BeyerDynamic DT770 600 Ohm
FiiO E7 DAC
FiiO E9 Amp
FiiO L3 (iPod cable)

Sawah has been open for around a year now but I only finally managed to pass by this past weekend. When I want to have Lebanese I usually have Leila but since I’m practically having Leila everyday I decided to try something new. Sawah is located in the Avenues right next to Napket and the place doesn’t look like your average Lebanese restaurant which is what always grabbed my attention.

I ordered tabbouleh and taouk and both dishes turned out pretty good with the tabbouleh being the best of the two. Actually their tabbouleh is currently in a tie with the tabbouleh at Al Mayas as my favorite in Kuwait. What I mostly liked about the place though is the look and feel. As I mentioned earlier Sawah doesn’t look like an average Lebanese restaurant, from the furniture to the cutlery, they have their own unique look.

The only negative thing I would say based on my short experience is that I thought the price of the taouk dish at KD4.250 was a bit on the expensive side for just two skewers and a bit of french fires. Other than that though the food was good, the service very friendly and the design of the place very interesting. I would definitely go back.

Last night I posted a sneak peek of the new Choowy Goowy Cafe that’s opening up at 52 Degrees and today Nat passed by and was able to send me pictures of 52 Degrees as well. The place so far looks really cool and that has a lot to do with the fact it was designed by the Kuwaiti architect Ahmed Al-Baghli, the same guy behind the beautiful MELENZANÈ. Nat on the other hand created the 52 Degrees identity. You can check out some sneak peek pictures below, they are soft launching tonight.

For those of you who don’t know what 52 Degrees is, it’s basically a department store that will be filled with Kuwaiti products and creations from clothing and accessories to food and desserts.

The Pro Kart Racing Club is organizing a Universities & Colleges Karting Cup that will be taking place next month. It’s divided into a “Males Cup” and a “Females Cup” so that way everyone gets to participate. The cost is KD30 if you’re a racer and KD10 if you’re a supporter. This includes an open buffet but not sure if the KD30 fee includes the cost for all the races (practice, qualification etc..).

For more information you can check out their website [Here]

Choowy Goowy Cafe is currently under construction but it looks pretty cool so far. It will be opening up at 52 Degrees by the first week of February. On the other hand 52 Degrees is having their soft launch tonight (Sunday) at Tilal Complex.

Blogger chillnite posted pictures of what looks like a replica of the Taj Mahal that is being built here in Kuwait. According to him it’s a new mosque located off the 7th Ring Road. The picture above is of the Kuwaiti Taj Mahal while the one below is the original one in India. [Link]

Thanks Amir

Ibrahim Al-hulail is a Kuwaiti student who’s currently studying in Japan and wanted me to share this video he put together of Japanese people trying to speak Kuwaiti by saying “7ad ouma bard” which basically means it’s very cold. [YouTube]

A friend of mine took the picure above a few moments ago on the Gulf Road. Looks like a police car flipped upside down in front of Burj Al Hamam.

A twitter follower made me aware of an advanced commenting system I could install on the blog. Personally I prefer the current simple comment system but I know that many of you have been asking for more features. So I installed the new comment system on 248PM and would like you guys to check it out and tell me if you prefer that system to the current one.

Some of the advantages of the new system are:

– Allows you to connect your profile here with your facebook, twitter or yahoo accounts

– If you already comment on other sites like CNN, Al Jazeera English, Engadget, Tech Crunch etc.. then you could use your same profile here

– New system makes it a lot easier to reply to someone specific

– Has “Like” button

– You can sort out the comments from oldest to newest or the other way around or by popularity etc..

– You can flag comments you see as inappropriate

Anyway the best way to experience is to try it out. Please visit [This Post] on 248PM and try out the commenting system and tell me which you prefer.

BBC News have a nice piece on the state of Kuwait’s theatre industry. Gone are the golden days of plays like Bye Bye London but there are a few people who are still trying to bring the theatre back. I really hope they can, like New York is known for Broadway Shows, Kuwait could be known for theatre as well. I couldn’t embed the video on my blog so you’re going to have to view it on the BBC website [Here]

Thanks Nibaq