2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I just saw two new Fasttelco ads and I think they are of really bad taste. The one above shows a dead bat bleeding while the other one shows a bat screaming in pain as it crashes through a window. These have to be the most horrendous ads Fasttelco have ever released. Check them out on ads2blog.com [Link]

Update: I just got an email from someone at Fasttelco telling me these ads were never and would never be released by them and that they were never approved. Ads2Blog have also updated the original post stating that the ad was done by an Art Director and “were never meant to see the light nor get published”. I guess that makes a lot more sense now. Its good to know Fasttelco haven’t completely lost it.

Back in February I posted about the upgrades I am planning to do for my Wrangler. In case you missed that post I am planning to give the Wrangler a 3.75 inch lift so I can fit 33 inch tires. Soon after that post I purchased the 5 tires from Hankook and ordered my black steel rims from the US. Then after that things kinda slowed down since I ended up traveling a lot and I decided to order the lift once I was back in Kuwait for a while.

Last month after coming back from Munich I placed an order for my full lift kit from DPG Offroad (pictured above) but since they didn’t have all the parts in stock I hate to wait a month for them to get the parts. Today I got an email informing me that all the parts are in and my kit is ready to ship. Tomorrow I will be contacting DHL here in Kuwait since they will be picking up my lift kit from DPG in the US and ship it to Kuwait. They offered me the best rate plus they would pick up the package from DPG themselves which is really practical. Hopefully I will have my lift by the middle of next month and then have AutoTech install it for me. I can’t wait!

This picture of the Maserati was taken in the UAE. If I was Maserati I would take the car back and give the owner back his money. [Link]

Thanks A&B

This is the worst news ever and I can’t believe I just found out about it. A long time ago (like 6 years) before I started this blog I used to MoBlog. Basically I used to take pictures with my PDA, a Sony Clie UX-50 back then and upload them onto this site called TextAmerica. I had hundreds of pictures there ranging from my random lunches to interesting places around Kuwait. I actually preferred the pictures I had taken for my TextAmerica blog more than the ones I did later for my Miskan.com project because I felt they were more natural and random.

Just a few moments ago I went to my old Moblog usurp.textamerica.com and realized the whole site is gone. Turns out TextAmerica shutdown in December and I just found out now so i wasn’t able to back up my images and posts! This is depressing, soo many memories and moments which I had captured are now all gone.

LoFat now have a dine-in branch open and its located in Kuwait City. I didn’t pass by the place but its supposedly near Holiday Inn next to Burger Bar. I wonder if Burger Bar is still open, I haven’t heard about them in a while and I don’t know anyone who goes to the place. Last time I went I didn’t have a good experience. My burger challenge should hopefully continue this weekend, I think I have like 6 more burgers I need to try!

Thanks Ansam!

After a very difficult decision I went ahead and purchased the Sony DSC-W300 digital camera. It was a difficult decision to make because the other camera options I was considering were all exceptionally good. I really wanted the Canon G9 for its SLR like features, the Ricoh GX100 for its strange look and the fact it took beautiful film like shots while the Sigma’s image quality alone was enough to tempt me to buy it. In the end though I REALLY needed a camera that I could carry around in my front pocket and I wouldn’t be able to do that with the three cameras I just mentioned. That brought down my choices to the Fuji F100fd, Nikon S600 and the Sony W300. The Fuji’s interface and usability I read would be a problem, the Nikon S600 lacked in certain features and I tried the S700 version at a Nikon dealer and didn’t like the feel of it so my final decision was to go with the Sony. I own two other Sony cameras at the moment, the Sony N1 and the Sony cult favorite the F717. Both cameras really exceeded my expectations and I never had problems with them so it only seemed fair I go with another Sony.

I purchased the camera from a store in Muthana Complex. The Sony dealer didn’t have the camera in stock and they were selling it for KD124.900, Carrefour also ran out of stock on the camera but they were selling it for KD123.900. But, I found a Sony reseller in Muthana who had the camera in stock and I managed to haggle my way and get the camera for KD118 with a 1GB Sony memory stick. The store if you are interested is located on the Mezzanine floor of Muthana between Andalus and the official Sony store.

First impressions so far is great. I’ve only taken shots in my office under the neon lights but the white balance did a good job. I also don’t need to turn on macro mode for macro shots, the camera automatically turns it on for me which is a nice little feature. I also shot inside at 1/30 with fairly shaky hands and the steady shot feature automatically came on to help keep my pictures sharp. The camera turns on and is ready to shoot in like under 2 seconds. Powering down takes around 3 which I actually find annoying since with my older Sony N1 I would hit the power off and then straight away put it into my pocket. Now I need to wait a second or two longer which means I have to change my habit. Other than that the only problem I can see at the moment is with the rear screen. With my Sony N1 the rear screen had a raised border around it which helped protect it from scratches, with the W300 the screen doesn’t have this border which makes it scratch friendly. This will only be an issue for me for the next week or two while the camera still has its “new smell” after that I won’t care much about it.

I will try to take a bunch of shots today in various conditions and post my second impressions. For now though I think I made the right decision. The camera has a ton of features and most importantly it fits into my pocket easily.

FYI: The reason I didn’t purchase the camera from Amazon was because after taxes it would cost me around KD100 then if you include shipping it would be around KD105 which isn’t a major saving. I would rather pay KD118 here, get the free memory stick, have a 1 year warranty and support a local store.

Update: This is a random shot I took outside on my way back from lunch. You can download the full untouched straight from the camera image by clicking [Here]. I shot this at the 8MP setting and not 13MP.

Update 2: Here is a shot of Nats MacBook Pro’s keyboard. It was shot at 13.6MP in macro mode using iso 1600. I am really impressed, keep in mind this is a P&S camera not a DSLR. The JPG is 4.38MB so its better if you right click and save as. [Picture 4.38MB]

On my way to work today there was a demonstration in front of the House of Parliament. I didn’t have my camera with me so I couldn’t take pictures but the demonstrators where of both sexes and I would say young and aged around 18-28. They were all wearing white t-shirts and a lot of them were holding white umbrellas. Unlike most of the demonstrations I see every so often on my way to work, this one was getting a lot of coverage by journalists. Some of the signs they were holding were in Arabic while others in English (for international media?) and I think they were talking about their voices being heard and their constitution rights… My memory is really bad so I couldn’t memorize any of the banners. Anyone know what its all about and why the white umbrellas?

Aramex Shop&Ship are following in the foot steps of USWS and are going to start accepting online payments. A few people recently got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for using our SHOP&SHIP service. Our aim is to continuously enhance your shopping experience with us. We are about to launch a new feature on www.aramex.com which would allow you to make online payments for your shipping charges. We would like to offer this feature first to our VIP clients in order to eliminate delays in delivery due to cash unavailability. We hope that this new feature will be to your satisfaction, and we welcome your feedback on the service. We want to assure you that our most important objective is to continue providing you with quality transportation services that meet your needs effectively.

Sincerely,
SHOP&SHIP Customer Account Manager

Since the delivery guys started carrying Knet machines online payment isn’t that important anymore. Personally I would like to see their payment system upgraded where as one user mentioned, instead of charging per half KG they should start charging per 100grams. That way their recent price increase will seem more reasonable.

Thanks K!

My bakala finally got the new Lulu ice cream and I decided I would try it since I heard a lot of good things about it. My favorite ice cream is by far KDD Silver so thats obviously its main competition for me. Now that I tried the Chocolate Lulu its clear Silver is the better of the two. The Lulu ice cream although not bad was just too boring for me. It doesn’t have caramel but instead has nougat which some people might prefer since its less sweeter but not me.

Silver is still my favorite and I don’t think I will be trying Lulu again since there is no reason to. I don’t know why they created a new line for cones, they should have just called the Lulu Bronze or Plastic, something lame like that. The Lulu costs 250 fils while Silver costs 200.

I enjoy photography a lot and I have a whole range of cameras each serving a different purpose. The problem with most of my cameras is that they are just too big to carry around all the time. While in Munich although I had a lot of fun shooting with my old Nikon FE the fact remains it weighed a ton and I had to carry it around in a shoulder bag.

I currently have two small point & shoot cameras but they’re pretty outdated. I have a cheap Canon A530 camera which I keep in the car and then I have a Sony N1 which I am currently taking when I’m traveling. Problem with the two is that A530 doesn’t fit into my pocket and the Sony N1 doesn’t do well in dim lit situations. Thats why I’ve decided to search for a replacement. What I would like to have in my perfect camera is the following:

– Small size
– 6MP and up
– Bright lens
– RAW capabilities
– Great battery life
– Great image quality
– Great high iso performance
– Camera controls on top (like SLR’s)
– Character
– Metal body
– Needs to look good
– No budget (ok not Leica M8 budget)

If I was going to get a large DSLR camera I would get the Nikon D300 in a heart beat. Its a very easy decision since there aren’t that many high end DSLR’s to choose from. With a point & shoot camera its a different story, there are like a hundred different cameras to decide from and each has a different advantage. I’ve been doing a lot of research the past few days and so far the following are the cameras I am deciding between:

Canon G9
Great camera, shoots RAW, solid build but has decent high iso performance and I don’t think the camera fits into my pocket so it kinda kills the point.

Ricoh GX100
Its got a retro look, very solid build, shoots RAW, bright lens and great image quality. Problem is RAW shots take 5 seconds to save and has poor high iso performance which is a killer for me.

Sigma DP-1
This camera also has a retro look and also has a solid build. It uses the same image sensor as larger DSLR’s which means the image quality is fantastic. It has great high iso performance but the camera costs more than double the price of all the other cameras I am checking out and it only has a fixed 28mm lens which although I am a fan of isn’t really practical for my purpose.

Fuji Finepix F100fd
Not really a Fuji fan but this camera has excellent low light capabilities. Iso goes up to 3200 and the 1600 iso is pretty usable judging by the pictures online. But, I think this camera is really ugly, lacks character and many people have complained about its interface.

Sony W300
This camera and the next one below are fairly conservative choices. The W300 is a great size, looks good and has a durable black titanium body. It also has a pretty decent high iso performance and was the camera I was going to get except for the fact many users have complained about poor image quality.

Nikon S600
The cheapest camera from the bunch. Has excellent image quality, great size and looks plus a very fast start up time. Main problem with this camera is the shutter lag and no manual option.

Which camera am I going to go with? I have no clue at the moment. Its a tough choice and each camera has its advantage, I will probably do a bit more research and then decide what to get but so far I think I am leaning towards the Ricoh GX100. Once I decide I will post again here.

Update: Ok, the Ricoh GX100 which I had my mind set on will NOT fit into a jeans pocket [Picture]. I thought it was smaller than that. So now the G9, GX100 and Sigma DP1 are out of the picture. The Ricoh though looks like a great camera made for photographers. I was flipping through pictures taken by the GX100 on Flickr and all the pictures feel very film like. [Flickr Pictures]

Back in May I posted about the new digital signs that are popping up all over the place and a local blogger now has a picture of whats looks like a sign undergoing testing. The question still remains what are they going to be used for?

When I was in Munich traveling on the highway they had similar signs with the speed limit on it. The speed limit changed depending on the amount of traffic, when the sign was off I think it meant you had no limit but when the sign was on it meant follow whatever speed limit is displayed until the next sign. I doubt its going to be used like this here but to just display the speed limit like in the picture above which everyone already knows anyway is a waste. Anyone know what these signs are going to be used for or anyone have a theory?

Thanks DLC

Update: I replaced the original picture I posted with a better one I took myself on the Gulf Road.

Matt Harding became famous by accident awhile back when a video of him dancing in front of landmarks in different countries became an overnight success. Now Matt is back with a new video thats been in the making for over a year. This time around he visited and danced in 42 different countries and one them was Kuwait. Its a really cool video thats sure to give you goosebumps. [YouTube]

Thanks Shab!

Update: Here is a link to Matt’s journal when he was in Kuwait. I honestly thought he was a nice guy but after reading his journal I now think he’s a jerk. Watching the video above you get a feeling of world unity and peace but then when you find out the kind of person Matt really is it suddenly makes sense why the world is at war. [Link]

Why does Lego cost so bloody much?? The above Lego of the Death Star recently got released and its priced at $400! [Link]

Animal Care is a local online pet shop that sells pet stuff including toys, food and accessories. They even deliver items to your doorstep. I think its a great idea specially since the only place that sells decent stuff is Sultan Center and they always seem to run out of stuff. [Link]

Thanks Rayboy

I am not a fan of Barbie but things may change soon. Mattel are releasing a Barbie based on the classic Hitchcock movie Birds and for $45 it might be worth getting for the shelf. [Link]