2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The Villa Moda warehouse which was originally located in the free trade zone recently moved to their Mubarakiya branch since they outgrew the original location. But, according to a Villa Moda employee by the end of September the Villa Moda warehouse will be moving to their new branch in Hawally. Many of you might have seen the building already, its next to the Qadsiya football stadium and originally was rumored to be a new Sultan Center. The new location is around 2000sq/m which is more than three times the size of the Mubarakiya branch but I think the building looks like crap and so very not Villa Moda like.

Update: Seems like they won’t be moving…

Dear Mark & Others,

Thank you for your comments and views, they will be duly noted.

On behalf of Villa Moda I would like to announce we will not be moving to Qadsiya location or relocating the warehouse to any other site.

Since moving to the Mubarakiya store we have had a great response from our customers. Enjoying the ability to shop for vintage or previous season merchandise whilst being in a unique environment.

Thank you once again.

I got an email from the Kuwait & Food group on Facebook today and according to the email The Butcher Shop & Grill will be opening in Kuwait soon specifically at The Avenues. I tried it before in Dubai and it was ok (I’m not a steak guy) but I keep hearing that The Meat & Wine Co. is even better.

Picture by Amro ABDOUN

Can you guess what supermarket I found this in?

It was bound to happen, Qualitynet has now also blocked Skype.com and even Fring.com!

I just started watching the new TV mini-series called House of Saddam and its actually pretty good. The show charts the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein and it focuses on his family and his relationship with his closest advisers. The mini-series is only four episodes long and I’ve already gone through two of them. It actually sucks that there are only four episodes because it is an interesting subject and there is a lot to cover but I guess four episodes are better than one. If you’re interested in watching the show its broadcasted on BBC or you can do what I did and just download the episode off of torrents. [Link]

If you don’t know who Gordon Ramsay is you won’t get the video. [YouTube]

My advertising agency (JWT) is currently looking to hire a Senior Art Director and a Kuwaiti Copywriter. If you’re interested send me an email and I will get back to you. [Email Me]

Found this article on the news website Naharnet suggesting that Kuwait is preparing for a possible war in the Gulf. Supposedly foreign troops are coming into the region for a possible war against Iran. Doesn’t sound very credible though. [Link]

Trader Vic’s and the other two restaurants in Dhiafa Village, Letter D’amour and Don Mario’s are now open from 6PM to midnight.

Update: Here is their reservation number 2475987

Has anyone by any chance seen a store still selling the original iPods? I suddenly have the urge to get one. I found one still shrink wrapped in the box on eBay but I think its going to end up selling for over $300 easily which is more than what I am willing to pay for one. If a store in Kuwait still has one though they might be willing to let it go for cheap. I remember back in the day Eureka was selling the 5GB one for KD220. I wonder if they still have them in stock somewhere gathering dust?

Update: Wow, found an old post on Gizmodo where there was a competition called “Show us your iPod”. I don’t remember this but it seems I submitted a photo of my iPod mini autographed by the iPod inventor Tony Fadell and it actually was a finalist in their giveaway competition. Don’t know how I missed that, its from back in 2006.

Update 2: While I am being all retro here. The picture above is of Nibaq taken back in November 2002. I took the picture so we could submit it to iLounge for their iPods around the world gallery. Back then they didn’t have any submission from Kuwait. [Link]

At work I’ve got a Fasttelco connection and today I noticed that Skype was blocked. I don’t know how long its been blocked for but I found it strange that it was. Then someone posted a comment on the blog saying that United Networks have also blocked Skype. I’ve got a Qualitynet connection at home and at the moment Skype is still not blocked here but now I’m wondering if Qualitynet will start blocking skype to.

Update: Its also blocked on KEMS/Zajil

Update2: As of today morning the site is no longer blocked by Fasttelco

I just found a post in the coolq8y forum that contains vintage pictures of the Kuwaiti police force. Click the link for more pictures. [Link]

Lately I’ve been in the mood to watch a lot of old stuff. Currently I’m watching the old tv show called Newhart which I vaguely remember watching when I was a kid. For some reason I find the show very comforting to watch.

There are also a bunch of classics I’ve still haven’t watched which figured I’d get out of the way while I am at it:
Dr. Strangelove
Grease
Paths of Glory
Rain Man
Spartacus
Trading Places

I think whats pushed me to start watching old movies is the lack of decent movies nowadays. Nothing I’m watching is turning out to be anything extraordinary. Where is the Apocalypse Now of today? Thats what we’re missing.

There is a British TV show called “Banged Up Abroad” where the stories revolve around British citizens who were arrested abroad usually on drug related charges. The trailer above is for an episode where a British guy in the late 80’s gets caught dealing drugs in Kuwait and gets sentenced to 5 years in prison. Saddam then invaded Kuwait in 1990 and he was able to escape back to England.

What I don’t get is this TV show. Why would you turn criminals like drug dealers into semi celebrities? [YouTube]

Note: Qualitynet users, if you get an error that the video is no longer available its because of Qualitynet. The video is still online but somethings weird with the Qualitynet connection and 80% of YouTube videos are showing as no longer available. I’ve been having this issue for over a week now.

First they danced to Thriller, then they danced to MC Hammer and now the prisoners are back doing the Macarena. Isn’t dancing to the Macarena counted as a form of torture? [YouTube]