2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Avatar: The Way of Water (8.3)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Adam (7.5)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (7.4)
Detective Knight: Redemption
Interstellar (Re-release) (8.6)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (6.5)
Pil’s Adventures (6.1)
Super Furball 2 (6.4)
Violent Night (7.0)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – 1982 (7.9)
Home Alone – 1990 (7.7)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 1992 (6.8)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

I’m currently in Istanbul for the week, my second visit this year. It’s such a beautiful city with so much to do and see which is why I’m back again.

My favorite place to stay while here is at the Soho House Istanbul. It’s the only Soho House location in the world that I’m aware of where you could stay in without being a Soho House member.

It’s a really beautiful hotel located close to many restaurants and bars but also close to a metro station. The rooms like the rest of the hotel are beautifully designed and have large windows that bring in a lot of daylight. At the end of the day, I tend to retreat to the Soho House Club which is a large mansion next door that once served as the United States Consulate in Istanbul. It can be best described as a really large lounge occupying multiple floors and rooms with a couple of bars, a members-only restaurant, a games room, and usually a DJ playing great music.

The hotel also houses Cecconi’s, the popular Italian restaurant which more people seem to know about than the hotel itself. There really isn’t any other place I’d want to stay in while here so check them out if you’re ever heading to Istanbul sohohouse.com

You’ve probably come across Ahmad Jamal’s (@spaces.in.film) work before, he had a few of his art and videos go viral locally including his Spiderman in Kuwait videos.

Back in March, Ahmad was hired by Sony Pictures Imageworks as a character animator for a VFX movie, specifically for the MARVEL movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, and the holiday special. He moved to Vancouver and became part of the animation crew under the direction of James Gun for both these movies.

As an animator, Ahmad is responsible for the movement and acting of the characters for the shots that he’s working on. He films his own reference videos of how they behave in those shots and then animates them.

It’s a great example of how dreams can come true. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 comes out next summer but the trailer is out now. If you want to see some of Ahmad’s work then definitely also check out his Instagram account @spaces.in.film

Yesterday was the official opening of Winter Wonderland and I was lucky enough to get tickets when they first went on sale. I ended up passing last night and it wasn’t what I was expecting, mostly in a good way.

I parked a full block down from Winter Wonderland and decided to walk the rest of the way because I was expecting crazy traffic. It was opening day and tickets were sold out so I was pretty surprised when I got to the Winter Wonderland street and realized there wasn’t any traffic and parking was available.

The second surprise was the lack of a queue to get into the park. There were two gates, the first gate checks to see if you have a ticket and for the correct date, then the second gate is a metal detector which once you go through, staff on the other side scan your QR code.

Once inside, the park also felt empty. I was there around 6:30-7:00 PM and it didn’t feel busy at all. I think because the area of the park is huge and the few rides they have are spread out, the place didn’t feel crowded at all. A lot of rides, especially the ones further out from the center were empty while some, mostly the interesting ones had queues. I kinda wish they had squeezed Winter Wonderland into an area half the size so it would feel cozier and busier.

The whole thing was really organized with lots of staff around in case you needed anything as well as lots of cops everywhere (both inside and outside the park). Tickets for December are already sold out so if you’re interested in going, the earliest tickets are for January. Booking is through winterland.kw

SVN, the new wellness luxury resort opening in place of Corniche Club is officially opening on January 1st.

The resort is really really beautiful I can’t emphasize that enough, everything about it from the color palette to the material choices and furniture was well thought out with no expense spared.

The resort is split up into various sections, the top floor has the main gym which includes all the best equipment from Technogym and a 270-degree view of the sea and resort. The top floor also has a women-only gym and separate PT training areas. It’s a very chill vibe but if you’re into heavy lifting or Crossfit, there is a second gym on the lower floor which they’ve nicknamed the dungeon.

The lower floor gym has a completely different look and feel from the rest of the resort with an all-black color scheme and flashing LED lights. This is where you’ll find all the free weights as well as a separate spinning room and a Les Mills studio. On the opposite end of the resort also on the lower floor are the yoga and pilates studios which once inside feels very calming with green grass outside and the tall LA-like palm trees lined up outside the windows.

You also have indoor and outdoor racket courts, a one-hoop basketball court, an indoor pool, two outdoor swimming pools, and various other facilities. The main pool is the one near the main building and allows children but the second pool is an adults-only infinity pool located at the far end of the resort and surrounded by cabanas.

So what are the prices?

Single Male: KD3,000 per year
Single Female: KD2,600 per year
Married Couple: KD4,000 per year
Family (Couple + 2 kids): KD4,900 per year

There really isn’t any place like this in Kuwait. The price puts it out of the reach of a lot of people, but for those who can afford it, they’re going to love the fact a place this nice exists now. If you’re interested in signing up or getting a tour of the resort you can apply through their website svnkw.com

E-Fly is a scooter-sharing service that was recently launched in Kuwait.

Scooter-sharing is a service in which electric scooters are made available to rent on the side of the road for quick trips. They can be picked up and dropped off usually anywhere within a zone and are activated using an app. I’ve used them in Europe and Dubai to move around and they can be extremely practical and usually a lot faster than Uber or public transportation especially when you’re in a congested city like Paris or London.

In Kuwait, at the moment there are three areas where E-Fly is available, the Gulf Road from Marina Mall to Scientific Center, the Mishref Oasis Park, and at the South Island of the Causeway Bridge.

The rental price is 100 fils to start and then 50 fils for every minute you rent the scooter. The app is available on both the Apple and Google Store and you can check out their Instagram for more details and links @eflyscooter

Tickets for Winter Wonderland are now on sale on their website. The tickets are limited per day so if you don’t get tickets early, you might not find a day that works for you. As of this post, tickets are available for every day including the first day which I just got tickets for. They haven’t yet announced that tickets are for sale as of the time of publishing this post so nobody knows they’re for sale yet. Get your tickets now by going to winterland.kw

Winter Wonderland just announced the ticket prices on their Instagram account @winterland_kw:

Children 4 and below: Free entry
All other ages from 5 and above: 5KD per person

Nannies and helpers are considered adults.

This is just the entry fee. Once inside you still have to pay for rides which are rumored to be either 1KD or 2KD depending on the ride.

Below are all the events I found taking place this weekend, if I missed anything let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Dec 8
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Bazzar Expo
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
The Magic Of Rob Lake
KMT: Car Open Track Day
Classic Trucks Show
Workshop: Graffiti 101 – The Basics
Korean Street Food & Thrifting

Friday, Dec 9
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
Christmas Market
Classic Trucks Show
alo x dar atma
Korean Street Food & Thrifting
The Magic Of Rob Lake

Saturday, Dec 10
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Treasure & Scavenger Hunts
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
NBK Run 2022
Active Mindfulness: Monkey Puzzle
Kasawalks: Uncovering Kuwait City
U.S. Embassy: Live Public Auction
Winter Festival
Classic Trucks Show
OTM Cooking Class: Kuwaiti Dishes
ART N FIFA
The Magic Of Rob Lake

Exhibitions
Art Recycle Exhibition
The Divine Agent by Lilia Nour
The Passage by Rouzan Seropian

Activities
Albohayra Farm
Ascend Rock Climbing
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Detective Knight: Redemption

Other Movies Showing:
Bed Rest (5.8)
Black Adam (7.5)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (7.4)
Devotion (7.0)
Interstellar (Re-release) (8.6)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (6.5)
Pil’s Adventures (6.1)
Super Furball 2 (6.4)
The Nutcracker and the Magic Flute (4.7)
The Woman King (6.3)
Top Gun: Maverick (8.4)
Violent Night (7.0)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

Home Alone – 1990 (7.7)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 1992 (6.8)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Basil Alsalem (@pepperlab), the same person behind our favorite places like Cocoa Room, White Robata and Milk Bun is officially launching his revamped OFK restaurant next week.

OFK located in Al Hamra Tower will officially open on December 15th and reservations will be available through their website ofkkuwait.com

Jahez, the Saudi equivalent of Talabat launched silently in Kuwait this week.

I know what you’re thinking, why do we need any more food delivery apps? We don’t, but, the more apps there are to compete against one another, the better it is for us because we’ll get better prices, deals, and services. @jahezapp

Last month during the rainstorm storm, the roof of the restaurant ROTO in Avenues collapsed. It was all over the news because of the eye-catching photos.

Luckily, no one got seriously injured but the restaurant was forced to close for repairs. This past weekend, they reopened again for business. I think it’s fair that if you gained traffic to your account with photos of their roof collapse, that you should at least return the favor now and let everyone know they’re open again. But that’s just me. @ontheroto

I’ve been trying all morning to add my NBK debit card to my Apple Wallet but it didn’t work until just right now (around 3:30PM). I was able to add my credit card in the morning without a hitch but the debit card just wouldn’t work, every time I added it I’d never get the OTP code. Then while watching the video below by @talalalyagout I realized there is a way to add it through the bank app.

His video talks about his experience with his bank (which is AUB), but I checked my NBK app and I also found the option to add my card to the wallet through the app and it worked. So if you’re an NBK customer and had the same issue as me when adding the card and not getting an OTP, try adding the card to your wallet through the NBK app.

From my understanding, only 6 banks initially will have Apple Pay and they are:

AUB
Boubyan
CBK
Gulf Bank
KFH
NBK

If you’re ABK or Burgan Bank you’re out of luck for now. From the banks listed, it seems AUB, Boubyan and KFH were the earliest to get Apple Pay working today while NBK seems to be the last.

Whatever the case, finally, we now have Apple Pay in Kuwait.

Today’s Google homepage in the Middle East showcases an illustration created by the talented Kuwaiti illustrator, Ahmed Al-Refaie (owaikeo).

Google is celebrating the Kuwaiti comedian and national icon Abdulhussain Abdulredha on his 83rd birthday. Abdulhussain Abdulredha is widely considered to be one of the Arab community’s most significant actors and playwrights.

Ahmed has uploaded the process behind the illustration as well as some more information which you can check out on his Instagram account @owaikeo