2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A friend of mine was having lunch at TGIF at the Avenues when he spotted Sopranos star, James Gandolfini. When he asked him what he was doing in Kuwait James replied that he was just visiting and that he loves Kuwait. According to the Washington Post it seems he’s in the Gulf as part of the USO to support the American troops. Damn I would have loved to have met him…

Thanks Jerry!

Note: This is not an April Fools post.

Update: This photo was taken yesterday at a US Army camp in Kuwait [Link]

Tony Sirico and James Gandolfini from HBO’s “The Sopranos” pose for photos with service members stationed in Kuwait on March 31, 2010. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is accompanying a USO tour in the region with New Orleans Saint Jon Stinchcomb and actress Rose McGowen. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist Chad J. McNeeley/Released)

This is the second app that I’m releasing for the iPhone and one that should be very useful to many, its the Kuwait Blogs app. I’ve taken all of my favorite blogs and placed them in one app which is very convenient and practical. I will still be adding more blogs in the next update but for now these are the blogs that are included in the app:

2:48AM
360 Dewan
4th Ring Road
Ansam
Blushberry
Buzberry
Confashions
Frankom
iLSul6ana
P0ach
Some Contrast
Tidbit du Jour
zDistrict

I would have added more blogs but it was very time consuming trying to create an icon, header, footer and color scheme for every blog so that it matches their actual blog theme. So if you’re not in this first release I’m sorry but you might be in the next update.

For the Kuwait Blogs icon and launch screen I wanted to use a picture that represented Kuwait but didn’t want anything cliche like the Kuwait Towers or flag so I ended up going with an abstract shot of the Ice Skating Rink which I had taken a few years ago for Miskan. I love the design of the Ice Skating Rink and thought it would represent Kuwait very nicely.

To install the app search for Kuwait Blogs in the App Store on your iPhone or install it into iTunes by click this [Link]

The only reason I am posting about this is because I no longer can eat Count Chocula because of my diet. I love Count Chocula and I wouldn’t want Sultan Center to stop getting it but since I can’t have it now no one will (insert evil laugh here). A reader called Zack sent me an email saying that he asked General Mills (the company behind Count Chocula) if it contained any pork products and they told him it did. Of course I had to check myself so I emailed General Mills and this is what they replied:

Hello Mark :

Thank you for contacting General Mills with your inquiry. In answer to your question, the gelatin that is used in the marshmallows of the cereal is derived from pork.

We hope you find this information helpful. Please let us know if we can help you again.

Thank you,

Paula
Customer Care Specialist

So there you have it. Count Chocula contains pork. I wonder if other cereals that contain marshmallows like Lucky Charms also contains pork gelatin?

This morning I noticed 4 tow trucks and a police car near my office. I went to check what all the commotion was about and noticed some men hard at work trying to unlock a parked car to get it ready to get towed. I asked the cop what was going on and he said they were towing illegally parked cars. I thought that was cool and about time since the area gets major traffic sometimes due to the fact the illegally parked cars turn the two way road into one.

Sadly, I went back during lunch and noticed the tow trucks were gone, the cop was gone and all the cars parked illegally again. At least they tried…

I picked up a second hand Nikon 85mm F1.8D AF prime lens from World Photo last night for KD35. It’s a very cheap price for one considering a new one costs over KD150. The reason its so cheap is because neither the autofocus or the electronics work so I have to manually set everything which isn’t too bad. On my way to work I tried the lens out on some workers near the office and you can check the pictures out below. Will try to get some better ones tomorrow.

In the future, there will be no more shawerma guys, there will be shawerma robots. [YouTube]

Turns out you can watch the Allah Made Me Funny show for free tonight and skip on paying to watch it at GUST. The Ministry of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs with The Grand Mosque Western Perception Of Islam Center are sponsoring the show tonight. The show will take place around 7:30PM (after the Isha prayers) and the location is the Grand Tent close to the Grand Mosque. There are an estimated seats 1000 and enough parking for 550 people. The event is for free and there’s no reservation!

Thanks DarkWolf80s via Q8geeks

Update: The show turned out to be a press conference were the fans were able to meet the guys. No stand up comedy sadly.

Spotted some UAS students cleaning up the beach near McDonalds this morning. Beach cleaning seems to be a popular thing lately, I wonder if there is some kind of coordination between all the beach cleaners so they don’t end up cleaning the same strip of beach over and over.

Once upon a time there were two cool photography stores in Kuwait City. One day the building that hosted the two shops got demolished and the stores disappeared…

After a bit of looking around I then noticed one of the shops ended up moving to Muthana Complex but since I didn’t know what happened to the other store I assumed it just closed down. Then out of the blue, a friend of mine tells me he found the place in Shuwaikh. It seems when they demolished the building they decided to move out of Kuwait City and into the industrial area of Shuwaikh for some reason. I passed by and noticed they still had all the used film cameras and lenses on display for sale. They also still have Cokin filters and various tripods, camera bags and studio lights for sale. I was checking out the Nikons, they had the F3, F4 and F5 for sale but none of them were really in great condition. They had two medium format cameras (a Kiev and Mamiya) and also a bunch of compact cameras.

If you’re interested in passing by they’re easy to find. Go to Canada Dry street and if McDonalds is on your right keep going straight past the traffic light and straight under the bridge. Keep going straight you will see a huge place on your left called Ramez. You need to keep driving until you hit the round about and then do a u-turn and head towards the direction you came from. Before the Ramez building you take a right and then you turn left behind the building and drive straight. You should see World Photo in front of you.

As you know the Animal Friends shelter burned down last week and many of their dogs were left without homes. The Royal Animal Hospital near the Friday Market were kind enough to host their dogs while they found homes and yesterday we ended up passing by and getting the dog above which we’ve decided to call Dyski. Originally we were going to call him Blacky but figured no one would realize we meant Blacky from Grendizer. We then thought about Kooji (also from Grendizer) but realized it sounded like Gucci which would have been lame. Anyway Dyski and my dog Geo (named after the Neo Geo) weren’t really getting along the first day but now it seems they’re doing ok. I am hoping they both bond and become best friends like big dogs and small dogs usually do in cartoons.

If you’re interested in fostering a dog temporarily until the Animal Friends shelter gets rebuilt please call 66187301 or e-mail [email protected].

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

“Dude, I’m really skinny up top, but down below I’m a MESS!”

“I’ve been doing ab work for ages! I literally spend hours in the gym everyday crunching and leg raising my butt off! Why do I still have this belly!? Where’s my six pack!?”

“I might as well paste that muffin I just ate on my thighs, because eventually that’s where it’s going to end up.”

“I’m a 27 year old guy that has better breast development than Pamela Anderson!”

“I’ve been on Lipo-6 for 3 months! Nothing happened!” Me: what’s your diet like? “I pretty much eat whatever I want.”

These pretty much sum up what I am about to tackle today (and obviously the title). Before I do, I’d like to point the finger of blame:

1) Training is 20-30%; it only refines a physique.
Nutrition is the other 70-80%.
2) Abs are made in the kitchen.
3) Why are you crunching with no weights when you clearly don’t have any abdominal muscles?
4) The abdominals are a muscle. If you work a muscle everyday it’ll shrink and never grow.
5) If you eat like a pig and train like a horse, you’ll lose overall weight; except for those stubborn fat stores you want to get rid off.

Too many of you quit too early to see any significant results. You tend to give it all up once results start to slow down. It took you years to gain all that fat, so why do you expect to lose it in such a short time?

It’s hard to make your first million, but once you do, you’ll know exactly what kind of work ethic you’d have to give in order to get it. Same thing goes with a set of abs or shapely thighs; you’re pretty vague about how long or hard your journey will be, but once you give into the commitment then it’ll be all worth it.

I’m here to serve as a guide to that journey, where simple bouts of information may prove useful for that much needed push you’ve been looking for.

Here is the calendar for Cinemagic’s rooftop movie nights for April. This month they’ve got movies from all over the world. Check out the full list below:

Thursday, April 1st at 07:00 PM
Tekkon kinkurîto, Japan 2006
Director: Michael Arias
Genre: Animation | 111 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, April 3rd at 07:00 PM
Central do Brazil, Brazil 1998
Director: Walter Salles
Genre: Drama | 113 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Thursday, April 8th at 07:00 PM
Vozvrashchenie, Russia 2003
Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Genre: Drama | 105 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 15+

Saturday, April 10th at 07:00 PM
Tuvalu, Germany 1999
Director: Veit Helmer
Genre: Drama | 101 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 15+

Thursday, April 15th at 07:00 PM
Offside, Iran 2006
Director: Jafar Panahi
Genre: Drama | 93 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, April 17th at 07:00 PM
SURPRISE FILM – South Korea 2009

Thursday, April 22nd at 07:00 PM
Salmer fra kjøkkenet, Norway 2003
Director: Bent Hamer
Genre: Comedy | 95 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Saturday, April 24th at 07:00 PM
Black Cat White Cat, Serbia 1998
Director: Emir Kusturica
Genre: Comedy | 127 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

Thursday, April 29th at 07:00 PM
Earth, India 1998
Director: Deepa Mahta
Genre: Drama | 110 min | English Subtitle
Rated: 15+

Saturday, May 1st at 07:00 PM
Ali Zaoua, Morocco 2000
Director: Nabil Ayoush
Genre: Drama | 99 min | English Subtitle
Rated: PG 13

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]

I got an interesting email from Mohammed Boland the creative behind local fashion label Capital District last night. It seems a Saudi based fashion label called Kalimah Jeans has copied one of his popular designs. He was walking at the Avenues when he spotted the familiar design in a shop display. Understandably he’s upset and he knows that very little can be done about it which must be really frustrating. I’m not sure which store in Avenues was selling the shirts but maybe if the owners found out they would be willing to withdraw the item from the store and return it to Kalimah as a way of supporting local talent.

I was dropping my Beemer off at the dealer today for a service when I spotted a closed booth that contained a car inside. Turned out to be the new BMW 5 series and it looked really good, much better than the new BMW Gran Turismo. I spotted one when I was in Lebanon and it looked really ugly, like if you took the already awkwardly looking X6 and had King Kong step on it and squash it. Seriously don’t know what they were thinking with the GT. Anyway the 5-series I saw today was the 535 and it was already reserved for someone.

Local blogger and teacher Miss Farah posted something which I wanted to share with my readers. One of her kids in class had brought only chips and chocolate for lunch (pic above), so Miss Farah sent a letter to the parents explaining to them how unhealthy that was for their daughter. Next day she checked the kids lunchbox and this time the little girl had cucumbers, carrots, croissant, corn and juice (pic below).

I thought it was great of Miss Farah for caring enough to contact the parents and I thought it was also great from the parents to actually listen to her. Hopefully the lunchbox continues to stay healthy and other parents reading this can do the same with their kids. You can check Miss Farah’s blog [Here]