2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Found this video on YouTube of a Kuwaiti stunt rider. He’s got some skills but where’s the helmet dude?? [YouTube]

I just found out that there are three people (2 guys 1 girl) at the ministry who’s job is to test video games all day. They play every game that needs to be brought into Kuwait to make sure they don’t contain anything illegal like nudity.

This Thursday Cinemagic will be showing an Ingmar Bergman movie called The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet). Ingmar Bergman is one of the greatest directors of all time and The Seventh Seal is one of his most popular movies but its black and white and in Sweedish so it might not appeal to everyone.

Time: Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 PM

Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Attendance is free of charge and snacks and refreshments will be served. [Facebook]

Thanks miraclezdohappen!

I passed by Pizza Rustica tonight at the Avenues after reading some positive reviews about it on a couple of blogs. Supposedly they have the best pizza in Kuwait but I don’t think that’s true. Firstly I had a hard time finding a pizza I liked, my usual favorite is ham (veal) with olives and mushrooms but I managed to kinda solve that by ordering a mushroom pizza and asking for olives as an extra topping. Well the pizza turned out to be fairly decent but nothing close to being the best pizza in Kuwait. I didn’t like the taste of the tomato sauce and the cheese was also not that great. Pizza Rustica is owned by Alshaya who also own Pizza Express and Al Forno both of which make better pizzas I think. The service on the other hand was pretty good but that’s not enough to take me back. Want a good pizza while at the Avenues? Then pass by Al Forno instead or even Le Notre.

THE One has a pretty cool customer feedback system. Right next to the cashier there is a little device with buttons and statements like “The service was fast and efficient” and “I found the staff knowledgeable” etc.. and answers right next to them like “Absolutely” or “Sort of” or “Not really” etc… While waiting to pay for your item you can just give your feedback on your experience in a process that takes only a few seconds. No need to give your name, number, birthday, time of visit and all that other crap. I think more stores need to implement this very easy to use system since its a quick process and more fun than filling a card with 20 questions.

There was a website address on the machine www.cfs-me.net which takes you to the dealers of the device. On the site they have more pictures and information regarding this system. Pretty cool.

Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 5.83 km². The translation for the lake is believed to be, “Fishing Place at the Boundaries — Neutral Meeting Grounds.” This is different from the translation, “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, and nobody fish in the middle”, a hoax believed to have been concocted by the late John Daly.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, a 45-letter alternative name for this body of water, is often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Today, “Webster Lake” may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the longer versions. [Source]

I am not a fan of Golf but this hole in one is by far the craziest. The ball actually bounces on the water FOUR times before going into the hole! [YouTube]

I love mangos but I have no clue how to choose the good ones. I have a pretty terrible hit rate with 3 out of 5 mangos I get turning out to be crap. Buzberry had a post on mangos and I posted a comment asking for tips on choosing the best mango and a reader called Alvaro they replied with the following:

Well u should pick the ones which are a bit greenish, since they’re gona stay in ur fridge for a day or so until they turn yellow.. When mangos r yellow and slightly redish – they’re perfect! Remember avoid the ones which are easily squeezed and never get ones that have black patches or whatever that dirty stuff is.. Bon apetit!

So I went to Sultan Center Sharq and picked out what I thought were the four best mangos on the shelf but then I noticed a Sultan Center employee bringing in new boxes of mangos. So I went up to him and showed him my mangos and asked him if they were any good. He took one look at them, took them off me and told me to go get him a new bag. So I went got a plastic bag and when I got back he had 4 mangos waiting for me. He put them in my bag I said thank you and left.

How did they turn out? Unbelievably good! I just had all 4 of them now and they had to be the best mangos I’ve ever had. I am now going to go back to Sultan Center tomorrow and look for the guy again since he is now officially my mango guy. All I need to do now is find a melon guy.

Picture from Buzberry

Looks like the Renault F1 team has been having fun in Dubai. First Ben Sulayem crashes their F1 car at the Dubai Autodrome and then they took it for a spin inside Ski Dubai at the Mall of Emirates. [YouTube]

via

I noticed today that the Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) office in Kuwait City got re-branded to SOOR Fuel Marketing Company. So I guess this means their gas stations will also soon be re-branded to SOOR. Personally, I don’t like their new identity but at least they have a logo unlike their competitor Oula. [Link]

I can’t confirm if this actually did take place in Kuwait or not but supposedly it did. Either way its still sad to watch. [YouTube]

I got an email today at 4PM from a reader about a dog that was stuck on a roof of a building in Khaitan. The dog had been stuck up there for a few days and it looked like it was nearing its end and needed to be rescued right away. Here is a snippet from the email:

I’ve got a stray dog emergency on my hands and thought you might be the right man for the job. Im not super good at explaining directions in Kuwait which is why I have not already placed a call to Animal Friends or PAWS.

There is a dog stuck on the roof of a building. I can see him from my kitchen window.

I really pray that you can help. Several residents have tried climbing up the wall below the roof to reach him. But he backs off. My own 12 year old son tried and he almost fell off the wall.

The dog barks all night. I just checked on him and I can see his chest rising fast. His breathing is labored. I don’t think he has much time left.

Here is how you can find him, but please keep my address details private.

XXXXXADDRESS REMOVEDXXXXX

Now the haris of this building has a reputation (so I have heard) for throwing live kittens from the top of the roof! It’s only a matter of time before the barking at night gets on his nerves and he kills this dog.

So I quickly forwarded the email to Animal Friends and sent one to Nataly as well who ended up calling them up and explaining the situation. Within two hours of getting the email Animal Friends not only managed to rescue the dog that was stuck on top of the roof but also managed to rescue a second dog which they found nearby.

Animal Friends are an incredible organization in Kuwait but really do need as much help as they can get. I know many of you have emailed me asking how you could help out financially so I got their bank account information so you can now easily transfer to them your donations. Any amount will make a difference so please if you care about animals help them out. By the way they don’t just save dogs they save all kinds of animals. They’ve got a 4 month old baboon for example whom they’re building an enclosure for which you can check [Here]

So please help them out, here is their bank information:

Name: Ayeshah Waleed Al-Humaidhi
Address Line 1: P.O.Box 71, Safat 13001
Address Line 2: Kuwait
Account: 16205133
SWIFT: BKMEKWKW
Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East (BKME)

I passed by the Choowy Goowy opening today at the Avenues. They opened up in place of where Starbucks used to be located just outside the food court. They’ve got their cheesecakes, brownies and cookies all available there and all freshly baked in front of you. Now some bad news, I found out tonight that Arby’s will NOT be opening at the Avenues. It seems they pulled out which sucks!

I was checking the blog 4th Ring Road today when I spotted their post on the new Electrozan offer so I decided to pass by them and pick up a BlackBerry Curve for Nat. When I got to the Electrozan showroom I found out the BlackBerry’s were sold out already. The employee told me they will be getting more tomorrow afternoon but I also found out why the Curve’s were being sold for cheap… they are T-Mobile branded. That automatically turned what sounded like a really good deal into a bad deal. Let me explain:

– An unlocked unbranded BlackBerry Curve costs KD135 on Amazon [Link]. With shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD142. Sorry this was for the QWERTZ keyboard.

– An unlocked unbranded BlackBerry Curve costs KD145 on Amazon [Link]. After tax and shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD165.

– Now on the other hand a new unlocked T-Mobile branded BlackBerry Curve from eBay costs KD124 [Link]. With shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD129 which is KD30 cheaper than Electrozan.

So to summarize things, its still a much better deal to order a BlackBerry Curve online since a saving of KD30 is a pretty big chunk.

Update: Just picked up a Curve from Electrozan for Nat. Paypal locked up my account because I logged in and paid for something through my VPN and they assumed someone else got into my account. So now I can’t use eBay for awhile. The BlackBerry is T-Mobile branded and comes with T-Mobile literature. Employee said its officially unlocked so I can do the software updates. Comes with 6 months warranty so it will be interesting to see what exactly that means if something does go wrong from now to 6 months time. They’re out of Bolds at the moment.

Update 2: The Curve’s sold at Electrozan are from T-Mobile Germany which means the keyboard is a QWERTZ and not the regular QWERTY. Simply put, the locations of the letters Z and Y are swapped.