2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last weekend Blink sent me a Logitech racing wheel to review for the blog. It was perfect timing since Nat was out of the country which meant I was home alone with Geo, my PS3 and a copy of Gran Turismo 5. The first racing wheel I ever owned was the Coleco racing wheel which I got back in the mid 80’s (and which I still have today). It came with a gas pedal and a copy of the back then amazing racing game called Turbo. Of course that was back in the mid 80’s and things have come a long way since then.

The first thing I noticed about the Logitech wheel is that it was heavy and that’s a good thing. The weight gives it a solid feel which I wasn’t expecting since the GT wheel is the younger brother of the more expensive Logitech G27 wheel. This is why I was expecting the GT wheel to feel a bit flimsy but it wasn’t at all. The racing wheel comes with a gear stick attached to the wheel and a separate gas and brake pedal with a rubber base to stop it from slipping. The force feedback is just amazing, it reminded me of the days when I used to spend all my money at the arcades playing Daytona with my friends. The force feedback is pretty powerful and I actually have to use a lot of force and fight with the wheel sometimes which again makes this steering wheel feel like it’s worth a lot more.

I tried the steering wheel on a bunch of games including MotorStorm, Formula1, Dirt2 and Gran Turismo. The steering wheel worked great in everything except Gran Turismo. I just couldn’t control my car properly and kept slamming into walls and spinning out. Not sure if it was the settings somewhere or the fact I was still not used to the steering wheel but I just couldn’t drive my car properly. I’m sure it was something from my side since this wheel is actually the official wheel of Gran Turismo which means it should work really well with it. On the other hand the wheel worked great in Formula1 and extremely well in the Baja races in Dirt2. As some points it felt like I was back in the arcade playing Sega Rally which is what I liked the best about the steering wheel. It’s an arcade wheel at home.

Another issue I faced was with the placement of the wheel. At first I tried to use the wheel on my laps (see picture above) but it didn’t work and was actually a bit painful. I then bolted it down to my coffee table but found it too low to be comfortable. Finally I ended up sitting on the floor with the wheel mounted on my coffee table and it felt like I was sitting in an F1 car which worked for me. If you have the space I would recommend you get something like [This]. Overall I liked the wheel a lot and thought it was really well built. If you can’t afford the Logitech G27 or don’t want to pay that much for a wheel then you can get this from Blink for just KD35. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Now if you’re interested in this wheel then you’re gonna like this since I’m going to give one away. If you want to win this Logitech GT racing wheel I just reviewed all you need to do is send me a picture of your PS3 setup. The person with the saddest looking setup will win the wheel. Make sure you have 248AM written somewhere in the shot (so I know you took the picture) and send your pictures to [email protected]. Send all pictures by Saturday 9PM the latest.

So just before New Years The Avenues announced that starting 2011 it would be non-smoking mall. Well it’s 2011 and I haven’t seen any change. As expected people are still allowed to smoke freely and today I even spotted a shop employee smoking outside her shop as well. We’re still the first week of 2011 and it looks like the smoke free idea has already collapsed.

I think there are a few reasons behind this.

1) There are no signs inside the mall that say “No Smoking”
2) Looks like the employees of the shops don’t know it’s now a smoke free environment
3) Not enough personnel to look out for smokers

Here is what I suggest as solutions:

1) There should be better coordination between the shops and the mall. Maybe the mall could provide the stores with a kit that contains a no smoking sticker for their door and small no smoking stands to place inside the store next to cash register. Maybe there could be a small booklet that explains to the employees why there is this band and what to do in an event they catch a smoker who refuses to stop smoking
2) There should be no smoking signs next to the trash bins and all around the mall
3) There should be more people stationed around the mall keeping an eye out for smokers
4) Create posters or give away fliers to people explaining to them the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke. That way customers will understand the reason behind the ban
5) Think bigger and create a campaign for a smoke free Kuwait and The Avenues could set an example by being the first major establishment to support this

If you guys have any other ideas post them below.

G-Force are putting together a private meet for GTR owners and their accompanied friends. There will be a Coffee Republic stand serving refreshments as well as a photo shoot for the GTR’s. It’s a chance for the GTR community to meet each other, share experiences and arrange future events. If you’re a GTR owner and would like to attend you can email them on [email protected]

Date: January 12th, 2011
Time: 7PM
Location: G-Force Parking Lot, Free Trade Zone

The past two weeks they’ve been digging up the street in front of my house in Salmiya (the old shopping street in Salem al Mubarek street). At first I thought they were actually reducing the size of the middle sidewalk to add more parking spots which pissed me off since I walk my dog there every morning. Then yesterday I spoke to one of the workers and he told me that wasn’t the plan, it turns out they’re going to be planting the middle sidewalk like how it is on the Gulf Road.

Usually this would be a good thing. Who wouldn’t want to live on a green street? I usually would be all pro for going green but not in this case. The street is currently just one big garbage bin. It’s completely ignored, no one is taking care of it. The streets are crumbling, most of the buildings are getting ready to be demolished, there is trash everywhere, not enough garbage bins and there is a street fight practically on a daily basis because of this billiard place next to my house. A month or two ago while walking my dog at 8AM I heard a lot of shouting and screaming. When I got closer I noticed two gangs throwing rocks at each other. One group of guys looked like Emo’s, they were standing across the street yelling and throwing rocks at another group of tubby guys standing on the other side of the street screaming back. There was a shop with a broken window because it got hit by a flying brick. This was at 8 in the morning!

I’ve lived in the exact same spot now for over 30 years and I’ve seen it turn from a trendy high end street to the dump it is now. If you check the archives you’ll find a number of posts (Here is one) where I’ve asked to be put in charge of the area so I could bring it back to life (Here is another). Currently I spend my mornings picking up broken bottles and pieces of glass so that my dog doesn’t end up getting cut. No one ever cleans up the garbage and everyone seems more than happen to just throw everything onto the floor. I’m lucky that the care taker of the building next to mine cleans up the alleyway between our two buildings or else it would just be a garbage dump.

So the idea that they’re planting grass in the middle of the sidewalk in what currently is a half deserted shopping street full of garbage just doesn’t make any sense. Whats going to happen is you’ll have all this greenery with white tissue papers and chips bags dangling off them like decorations. Instead of going green, can we go clean instead? Can someone please put me in charge of Salem Mubarek Street?

A reader sent me an email saying that the baladia just shut down Cafe Supreme, Saso Lounge and Starbucks in the free trade zone. According to one of the restaurant managers they closed them down due to license issues. Supposedly Harbor Cafe was also closed down.

I found about this pet shop and decided to pass by and check it out. They haven’t officially opened yet but already the place looks really great and is by far the best pet shop in Kuwait. I absolutely hate pet shops in Kuwait because all the ones I’ve seen are very dirty with pets shoved into tiny cages and they’re just sickening to visit. Pet Zone on the other hand is one of the nicest looking pet shops I’ve ever seen and they still haven’t even finished the place yet.

The place is 2 floors, on the first floor they have pet food, lots of fish aquariums that will have fish displayed inside (they were still all empty when I was there), a pet grooming area and right in the middle two nicely done displays for guinea pigs and rabbits. Upstairs on the other hand they had pet accessories, birds and one large display that I think will end up housing a python or some other large snake. I think I also saw a room where they shower the pets but not sure.

As I said they still haven’t officially opened, it’s still just a soft launch and so they haven’t received all their animals yet and they were still finalizing their fish displays. But, you can still pass by and check out their pet food and accessories which they have a lot of. According to the employee they should have most of their animals in 2 weeks time. Pet Zone is located near The Avenues, if True Values is on your right, take the first right hand turn after it and drive straight in as if you’re heading to the 60th, Pet Zone will appear on your left hand side. Here is a map I drew which you can use [Map]

Update: The store has moved to a much bigger location [Link]

Aramex are increasing their prices once again starting January 15th. The last time they increased their prices they blamed it on the increase in oil prices I’m not sure what the reason is this time. Here are the new prices:

First Half KG
Old Price: KD3
New Price: KD3.15

Additional Half KG
Old Price: KD2.5
New Price: KD2.65

My biggest issue with this is the change, the Aramex drivers already have a hard time giving me change and now we’re getting into coins? At the very least I hope they give the drivers Knet machines. They had them for awhile so not sure why they stopped using them. Here is the PDF with the new prices [PDF Link]

Update: I was just checking my archive and noticed a couple of years back, June 2008 to be exact, they sent an email saying they were going to introduce online payment, I wonder what happened with that?

For 2011 Cinemagic will continue the journey of The Old, The Latest and The Best. Films that would never see the light in Kuwait, films that you should never miss, films that you might like and others might hate but agreed that it added flavor to your taste, films that we should all discover and cherish. I’ve watched two of the movies from this months schedule, Son of Rambow and City of God. Son of Rambow was pretty cool but City of God is like one of the best movies ever made. If you’re going to choose one movie to watch this month then watch City of God.

Thursday, January 6th at 7:30PM
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Country: Sweden
Release: 2009
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 152 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Awards: Winner Best Actress, Best Foreign Film
Rated: R

Saturday, January 8th at 7:30PM
THE MAID
Director: Sebastien Silva
Country: Chile
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama
Running time: 95 minutes
Language: Spanish | English
Subtitle Awards: 24 awards, Best Actress, Best Film, Best Director…
Rated: PG

Thursday, January 13th at 7:30PM
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Country: Argentina
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Mystery
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: 34 wins, Best film, best actors, cinematography, editing, sound, costume…
Rated: R

Saturday, January 15th at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Director: Michael Haneke
Country: Austria | Germany
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Crime
Running time: 144 minutes
Language: German | English Subtitle
Awards: 24 wins, Best Director, Best Film, Best Cinematography
Rated: R

Thursday, January 20th at 7:30PM
SON OF RAMBOW
Director: Garth Jennings
Country: UK
Release: 2007
Genre: Comedy
Running time: 96 minutes
Language: English | English
Subtitle Awards: Best Script, Best Film, Best Director
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 22nd at 7:30PM
CITY OF GOD
Director: Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund
Country: Brazil
Release: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 130 minutes
Language: Portugese | English Subtitle
Awards: 55 Wins, Best Film, Sound, Editing, Cinematography, Script…
Rated: R

Thursday, January 27th at 7:30PM
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Country: South Korea
Release: 2008
Genre: Crime | Comedy
Running time: 139 minutes
Language: Korean | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Cinematography, Director, Editing, Soundtrack
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 29th at 7:30PM
IL POSTINO
Director: Michael Radford
Country: Italy
Release: 1994
Genre: Drama
Running time: 108 minutes
Language: Italian | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Music, Script, Director, Acting…
Rated: PG

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. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Gulf Run just released a list of the cars participating this year which you can check below. There will be a total of five events they will participate in: Inner Circuit Track, GP Circuit Track, Autocross, Quarter-mile Drag and Drift Competition. For more information on Gulf Run click [Here] or click the link below to check out the full car list.

There is going to be a partial solar eclipse tomorrow and if you’re interested in observing it you can do so at the home of astronomer Adel Alsadoun. He’s inviting the public to come by and check it out from there since he will have a telescope connected to a large screen to view the eclipse plus he will be providing solar eclipse glasses.

Date: Tuesday, 4th of January 2011
Time: 10:30am to 1:00pm
Address: Fintas, Block 4, Street 9, House 21
Mobile: (+965) 9901-2521

Today I noticed Kuwait Times got redesigned. I used to really hate their old layout since it looked really outdated but the new design is the complete opposite. Their typography and grid layout is very clean and it’s just wayyy more enjoyable to read now. You can check out their new design by viewing their digital edition online [Here]

I also spotted Arab Times ads on buses saying they will be updating their design in the coming few days as well.

A reader made the video above of him and his friends racing at the Pro Kart track. [YouTube]

Thanks Pedro

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for over 5 years might remember about the issues I previously faced with Showtime and how much I disliked them (Don’t try looking for the posts I deleted most of my hate posts after Virgin wanted to sue me back then). So yesterday I was in a good mood I guess since I ended up passing by their stand at The Avenues and signing up to one of their packages… and I don’t feel guilty about it.

Why? Mostly due to the fact that my experience with them since I signed up yesterday has been very positive. I originally wanted to sign up to their cheap KD15 Movies Plus package but then their salesman convinced me to go with the Premier Plus package which had everything Movie Plus had in addition to the sports and HD channels. He then managed to convince me to pay a bit extra and go with the Showbox receiver which had the hard drive built in so I could record stuff. I was told someone would be over within 48 hours to set up my subscription.

To my surprise Showtime actually came and installed my subscription this morning. I thought that was pretty impressive since I signed up last night and it was New Years day and yet this morning they came over and installed it for me. The HD channels are pretty cool and the receiver isn’t that annoying to use (much faster than the laggy one I had 8 years ago). The only odd thing is the fact for some reason they don’t broadcast the UFC in HD.

I hope I don’t run into any problems with them, so far they seem like a much better company since the last time I dealt with them.

Update: According to a reader they actually DO broadcast the UFC in HD but only the live showing. The reruns are not in HD. Great!

Update2: Already ran into my first problem with OSN. I am supposed to pay $65 (KD18.5) a month for my subscription and according to the salesman at The Avenues if I wanted the Showbox I pay a one time fee of KD7 extra. Today while checking my credit card balance I found out they charged me $158. When I called customer support they told me the first time setup fee is KD26. I was upset because no one told me there was a setup fee, I don’t mind paying it but I don’t like being surprised by hidden fees. Turns out it’s at KD19 setup fee if you want the regular receiver and KD26 if you have the Showbox.

Last year Al Mulla & Behbehani Motor Company announced that they were taking over the Fiat and Alfa Romeo dealership (Both were previously with the National Agencies Group). Their new showroom is opening up sometime this year in Al Rai but today I noticed they already had two Fiat 500’s on display at their Jeep/Dodge showroom (pictured above). The Fiat salesman wasn’t there but according to another salesman they are selling for around KD6,500.

This is definitely the coolest thing Kuwait Times have ever done. Today’s issue of their free Friday Times newspaper was wrapped with a copy of their first issue ever dating back to September 24, 1961. Their first issue was only 4 pages but there are enough gems in there to make it worth picking up. Here are the coolest things I found in the paper:

– An ad announcing a new 1962 model of an RCA TV arriving at Morad Yousuf Behbehani

– An ad from the then not yet opened Gulf Bank (pictured below)

– Kuwait Airport arrival and departure timings. The only destinations were Bahrain, Damascus, Beirut, Abadan, Doha and Cairo. No European or any other countries

– A classified ad for a car “Immediately available Austin 55 – 1969, roughly used by it’s careless owner, with one head lamp broken (by courtsey of a fellow motorist) dented all over it’s sleek frame, springs making noise only when driving on bad roads (bad roads non-existent at Kuwait), if you are still interested, send offers to K.T. Box, No. 524 Kuwait.” What I found funny is the honesty and the fact you need to send him a letter if you’re interested. The postal service must have been very reliable back then

– Kuwait Cinemas schedule, Psycho was playing at Al Andalus, Al-Hamra was closed due to repair, Al-Firdous was playing The Golden Horde, the open air cinema in Hawalli was playing Bayabit Al Ward and finally the open air cinema at Fahaheel was playing Tomb of Love.

I highly recommend you pass by a bakala or newspaper stand and pick up today’s free issue of the Friday Times. And if anyone from Kuwait Times is reading this, if you still have all your old issues, please convert them to PDF and upload them online!

Thanks Q