2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

This whole week I was extremely sick from food poisoning. It all started on Friday, I had lunch at one of my favorite places (won’t say which for now) and then that evening I started getting the chills and after that it just got really bad. It was a horrible experience and I can’t recall ever getting that sick from food. I sadly won’t be ever going back there again. It’s not like I have a ton of places I visit on a regular basis so it’s disappointing I now have one less.

The picture above is of one of my favorite places in Lebanon called Canadian Burger. I eat there very frequently, last time I was in Lebanon I actually ate there daily and not once did I ever get food poisoned in the 20 years or so I’ve been going there. It’s a tiny store located in one of the slums where sweaty guys with no gloves work over the food all day and where their special burger costs only 300fils. So how do I get food poisoned at an international franchise that’s open in the best mall in Kuwait?

Scooby Doo’s mystery machine was spotted in Shuwaikh. I guess they were called in to help out with the GCC Summit security.

Picture by pendolino

Some people might find this gross. [YouTube]

Update: If you want to see someone drink real fat here is a [Link]
(forward to 2:50)

Abdullah, a reader of the blog put together a price chart comparing the 4 most popular mail forwarding services, Aramex’s Shop & Ship, U Shop We Ship, DHL’s EasyShop and My US. Is color coded it and the price chart goes up all the way up to 30KG. The conclusion is USWS is the cheapest until you hit 20KG when MyUS becomes cheaper.

You can view the chart by clicking [Here]

Nat got me this chocolate muffin from Sultan Center. They also had a Mars version. I don’t know about the Mars version but the Galaxy one I just had wasn’t that great. It was extremely sweet, I could only have two bites before over dosing. Costs 950fils.

Got this from the MOI website (fixed some spelling mistakes but too lazy to fix the grammar). Looks like its going to be one crappy week:

In preparation for the GCC summit some roads will be closed starting from Monday 14/12/2009 from 11:30 AM-1:30 PM

1. King Faisal motorway will be closed from the Airport to Fifth Ring Road.
2. King Faisal main motorway the side coming from Kuwait city after Yarmok area towards the Airport will be closed and diverted to Fifth Ring Road as an alternative road for both sides to Jahra and Salmiya.
3. King Fahad main motorway coming from the city will be closed and diverted to Fifth Ring Road both toward Jahra and Salmiya.
4. King Fahad main motorway coming from Fahaheel will be closed and diverted to Six Ring Road of both sides left side to Jahra and right side to Salmiya.
5. Side road of the Fifth Ring Road going to King Fahad motorway which coming from Salmiya towards Ahmadi will be closed only but towards city is permitted.
6. King Khaled bin Abdulaziz with all intersections will be completely closed starts from Khaitan Club bridge to Mishref bridge of King Fahad motorway.
7. Sabhan road, from Seventh Ring Road to Sabah Airport road will be completely closed for both sides.

For all who want to go to Kuwait International Airport, they either to take airport road towards Six Ring Road on the right side to cargo station or through Ghazali motorway to cargo station then to the airport.

And for all who want to go to Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Airport terminal have to go towards Sabhan Qurain bridge road and King Fahad motorway and take road (208) the military show road.

Alternative roads
All road users in case of close of all previously mentioned closed roads can use the following routs:
– All seven ring roads (First Ring Road-Second Ring Road-Third Ring Road-Fourth Ring Road-Fifth Ring Road-Sixth Ring Road-Seventh Ring Road) of both sides are open towards Jahra and Salmiya.
– Ghazali motorway.
– King Abdulaziz (Fahaheel motorway) both sides.
– Airport road, Farwaniya side.

The Traffic General Department is calling upon road users to cooperate with policemen and follow the issued instructions for the success of the summit events.

[source]

I can’t figure out if this is serious or just a spoof. [YouTube]

via p0ach

I have a ton of cameras but recently I noticed I had a gap in my collection. I didn’t have a digital camera that fit between my Nikon DSLR and my Sony point & shoot. It’s not really a problem but since I love cameras it gave me an excuse to buy a new one. After a bit of research I had two options, the Canon S90 and the Canon G11. I passed by the local Canon dealer in Kuwait City to check them out and right then on the spot decided to go for the G11. The S90 is a great camera but it felt flimsy and it was too similar to my Sony W300 as in they’re both pocket cameras. If I got the S90 it would compete against my W300 and I wanted a camera that would compliment it instead. The G11 on the other hand was love at first sight, it felt indestructible and I loved the way it looked.

The dealer was selling the G11 for KD235, so I checked Amazon and noticed they were selling it for KD127. That’s over a hundred dinars difference!! So the same night I placed an order for the G11 from Amazon with one day shipping and the total came to KD133 (I sent it to my DHL mailbox so I didn’t pay the 8% NY tax). I received the camera today and it cost me KD14 in shipping and custom fees bringing the total cost of the camera to KD147. Thats still a HUGE difference compared to the price of the local dealer. I really want to buy stuff locally but some local dealers over price their products.

I’ve been playing with the camera all day and I love it. The camera is very solid, very well built and it sits really great in the hands. I love the old fashioned dials on top which makes setting the ISO or exposure extremely easy. The camera also shoots in RAW format which is one of the features I was looking for when researching cameras. The screen on the back also swivels so if you want to shoot something over your head or from your waist you can. The only downside to the camera is that it doesn’t fit in my pocket but I knew that before I bought it.

If you’re interested in this camera it’s available on Amazon for KD127.
Here is the [Link]

The owners of the kuwait.com domain have put it up for sale. It’s not very affordable, you would have to get two house loans to be able to buy it but if you’re interested you can contact Fahad on [email protected].

There are two old cartoons I remember watching on KTV2 which I can’t seem to find anymore. They weren’t a series, just a single story cartoon.

The first was kinda like a documentary about cavemen, and what I remember from the cartoon was how the cavemen dragged their wives from their hair and they carried big sticks. They also lived in like in apartment buildings that were built out of one big rock and each floor had a ladder that takes you from the ground to the flat.

The second cartoon was about this bug (I think it was a bee but not too sure). The bug wears thick glasses and they somehow break and he ends up getting lost.

Does anyone remember these two?

Update: I can’t believe this but a reader called Fahad found the caveman one!! It’s called The First Bad Man by Tex Avery. Here it is…

1955-09-30 The First Bad Man (MGM Cartoon) from Bram on Vimeo.

Update2: It’s moments like this that makes me love this blog so much. Another reader by the name of Bo Jaij found the second cartoon I was looking for. Turns out it wasn’t a bee it was a mole!

The little mole, 2006 from Yaffe Shlomi on Vimeo.

Here are some other old cartoons I found that were also great:
TV of Tomorrow
The House of Tomorrow
Car of Tomorrow
The Homeless Flea
The Counterfeit Cat
Big Heel-Watha
Happy Go Nutty
What’s Buzzin Buzzard
Field and Scream

Before I purchased my Drobo backup system I passed by the local dealer 3gghead and checked out their price. They were selling the Drobo for KD165 while on Amazon it was being sold for KD100. So I ended up ordering mine from Amazon figuring I would be saving a good chunk of money.

When my Drobo finally arrived to Kuwait I ended up paying KD39 for shipping and customs which brought my total to KD139. Not much of a saving compared to the local dealer but still a saving.

Then a couple of days back I get an email from the local dealer saying they wanted to give my readers a discount on the Drobo to help bring down the price difference between ordering online and buying locally. So, if anyone is interested in the Drobo you can now have it for KD150. That means for just KD11 more than it would cost you to order it from Amazon, you can get the Drobo locally with a 2 year warranty. So you guys are lucky since I got mine without warranty and had to wait a week to get it.

3gghead is located in the basement of Baitak Tower in Kuwait City. If you haven’t been to Baitak Tower before it’s an interesting small place, there is an X-Cite Electronics store on the ground floor along with Quiznos, Salad Creations and The Nut Tree.

Update: Here is a picture they sent me of the store

A reader left the news article below as a comment but didn’t mention the source:

Municipal authority calls for halt of bulldozing unlicensed planted plots

The Municipal Council recommended on Monday halt of bulldozing plots of lands that have been cultivated without obtaining advance permit from the relevant authorities.
The council, at a regular session headed by the Chairman Zaid Al-Azmi, with unanimous blessing, recommended the halt of the removal of plants and trees at such plots till introduction of amendments into the regulations regarding plantations off private houses.

The council approved the cabinet decision to change the name of the border region from Um-Qaser to Al-Buhaith, and referred a request by the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to name the north of Boubyan island as “the reserve of Mubarak Al-Kabeer” — in reference to the late Amir, to a panel tasked with choosing names for public sites and regions.

The members of the council pondered various other procedural and bureaucratic matters related to maintenance of roads and water sewage systems.

If this is true then it’s great news.

Picture by Ramez

Animal Friends just launched their new redesigned website. You can check it out by clicking [Here]

If you’re wondering what the picture above is, it’s the world’s largest meatball. Here is a link with some more record breaking creations. [Link]

GulfRun is coming up pretty quickly and the video above is the new trailer the guys just released. I personally think this is their best video so far. GulfRun 5 is going to be held from January 28th to the 30th in Bahrain and everyone is invited to come and watch.

This year they’ve got a special treat for spectators with something they’ve called the GulfRun Taxi Ride service. Basically they will have three cars in which spectators will be able to hop into the passenger seat and ride around the track. The three cars are the Lotus 211, a Radical and the Westfield SE, all of which are track machines. I haven’t seen the list of cars that will be participating this year but Marzouq over at zDistrict did and he says its going to be even crazier than last year.

All the cars are going to be on display next month at 360 Mall and I will post about that event ahead of time so you guys can pass by and check them out. As I mentioned earlier, everyone is invited to GulfRun 5 in Bahrain next month. There is no entrance fee or anything of that sort just get a ticket and fly over to Bahrain. [YouTube]

For more information on GulfRun visit their website [Here]