2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Marzouq just emailed me this link to an article on the very popular video game website Kotaku. The article talks about how one of the most eagerly anticipated PlayStation3 games, Metal Gear Solid 4 was released in Kuwait ahead of the official release date in the US by a full 3 days. Kuwait always ends up in the news because of the strangest things. The picture above is of some guys posing outside Game Station with their copies of MGS4. So if you want a copy of the game head to Rihab Complex in Hawalli. [Link]

Last month I read on Memoirs of A Kuwaiti-Chick about a version of KitKat called Senses. Today while I was checking out the chocolate corner in Shamiya supermarket I spotted them and decided to take two to try and now I think I found my new favorite chocolate. The taste is a mixture between KitKat and Kinder’s Bueno which also has a hazelnut cream filled chocolate wafer. Downside is they cost 450fils a bar but its worth it. The chocolate section at Shamiya has a lot of imported stuff which is cool and right next to it there is the gourmet section which also has a ton of stuff not available elsewhere. If you don’t know where Shamiya Coop is its near the Sheraton roundabout and here is it on google maps. [MAP]

Is there a game show the Japanese haven’t invented yet?? Japanese Bug Fights is a site with videos of bugs of different species battling out in a small glass arena. If bugs make you squeamish then this isn’t for you. [Link]

Can someone PLEASE email me a copy of the really funny/lame radio commercial for anti talking on the phone while driving, the one with the screeching sound of a car braking and the daughter screaming. If you can get it or record it for me send it to [email protected]

Q80-Chill Girl just posted on her blog that she spotted a Moleskine stand at The Sultan Center. Judging by her picture above it looks like they have the city guides, hopefully they also have the plain pocket books and other kinds of Moleskines. Its great someone finally thought about bringing them to Kuwait but whats surprising is a supermarket brought them in instead of say a bookshop or an office supply store. Good move Sultan Center, now if only they can get a larger collection of salami… [Link]

I’ve been using my Eee heavily for 5 days now and I figured I would post a second impression. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Eee is tiny and thats why I am loving it so much. Its very light weighing around 900grams which makes it very easy to lug around and pick up with just one hand. I really can’t wait till my next business trip so I could carry this with me.

The Eee version I got was the Linux version which comes with a 20GB hard drive. The system OS is very easy to use because Asus have a very simple and basic interface setup by default. When you first turn on the computer it takes less than 30 seconds, maybe around 20 to boot up. You are then greeted with a colorful and simple icon based interface with tabs on top. If you want Internet apps you click on Internet, if you want work apps you click on work, very easy. Since I wanted a bit more control I installed the advanced interface which is similar to most Linux and Windows based systems.

Here are some quick tidbits: I’ve gotten used to the keyboard but the problem is I can’t type properly on other keyboards now! The battery life is around 4 hours with normal use while the speaker volume is surprisingly louder than my Macbook which is cool and the screen is really sharp and very viewable from a lot of angles. Its also as bright as any other laptop screen. Overall I can’t find much to complain about. Although its a 900mhz celeron the Eee is very snappy with most programs launching nearly instantly.

My only issue with the Eee I guess is that when its running on batteries the CPU speed drops to 630mhz to save power and I haven’t found a way to turn this off. Other than that I have no regrets whatsoever with this Eee, I would definitely recommend it.

Update: Just an FYI, I haven’t seen the Eee 900 in Kuwait. All the ones I’ve seen here are the 7inch screen version, this one is 8.9inch. I ordered mine from Amazon for around KD140 and paid around KD8 for shipping to Kuwait with USWS. It didn’t get held in customs, probably cuz the box is really small. Here are links to the Eee 900 on Amazon:
Asus Eee 900 with Windows [Link]
Asus Eee 900 with Linux [Link]

I just passed by Athletes Foot in Marina Mall and noticed they got the Reebok Voltron pack of sneakers. They’re ugly and I would never wear them but at least they’re starting to get interesting stuff.

Score
Athletes Foot 1 – Foot Locker 0

Last week I posted about Alshaya’s mystery shopper program and now I found out about another program by a company called Khayal Consultants. Best part is you can sign up to be a mystery shopper through their website by filling an online form and answering a few questions. No idea on how much these guys pay though and who their clients are. [Link]

Thanks Mai

My Wrangler’s battery died today while trying to leave the Avenues. Its not the first time this has happened, the first time was two years ago when I was trying to leave Souk Sharq. That same day I posted about it on my blog on how Jeep’s Road Assist was amazing, that was on June 4, 2006. Thats nearly exactly two years later (off by just two days) except this time Jeep’s Road Assist wasn’t there to save me. The Road Assist number wouldn’t connect me to anyone, I would call and it would ring twice then I would get a beep and the line would die. I tried over and over and it wouldn’t work.

I didn’t even have jumper cables so I just walked back into Avenues and headed to Carrefour and bought some cheap ass cables for like KD1.300 (they sucked, need to get a better pair). When I got back to the car I asked the parking security if they had a plan for a situation like this, I figured they might have a tow truck number or maybe an emergency jump starter kit but turned out they didn’t have anything of that sort. Instead the security guard was kind enough to help me find a car that was willing to help me jump start my Jeep.

After jump starting the car it turned out if I removed my foot from the gas pedal the car would die on me instantly so after restarting the car again I had to drive with two feet, one on the brakes and the other constantly holding down the throttle. Luckily I didn’t have to drive too far, I was planning on taking my Jeep to service it at the dealer tomorrow so I just drove the car to the garage which was just 5 minutes away. Once I parked the Jeep outside and removed my foot of the gas pedal the car died again, perfect timing. I found a cab passing by and just took it back home. Tomorrow will pass by the dealer and have them replaced my battery. I am kinda glad I purchased the extended warranty back then. What I now regret is not actually going ahead and purchasing the Emergency Jumper Starter which I posted about in March!

It looks scary since you stand on a trap door and then wait to fall into the slide. Scary = Fun. [YouTube]

This is a link to a blog post that contains 70 different business card designs. A lot of nice looking cards, my favorites are the interactive ones like the one pictured above. [Link]

While drinks like Red Bull give you energy, Drank works the other way round. Drank is an anti-energy drink which relaxes you and makes you sleepy. Sounds like my kind of drink! [Link]

I was just checking Alexa.com and I realized my site is now ranked the 315th most popular site visited in all of Kuwait. This means from all the sites people in Kuwait visit like Google, Flickr, NBK.com, whatever.. my site ranks 315th behind them which is pretty high up. I hit the top 500 mark back in March and since then have being climbing in popularity and hopefully will continue to climb until I hit the top 100. Anyway you can check my Alexa stats by clicking [Here] and if you want to see what are the top 100 most visited sites by Internet users in Kuwait click [Here]

This looks like the perfect way to cook hot dogs at home. I wonder if I could find something like this in Kuwait since I don’t feel like ordering it off the Internet. [Link]

A few days ago BBC Channel 4 aired the first live advert in the UK for Honda. When I say live I mean live. A group of elite skydivers jumped simultaneously from two aeroplanes and formed the letters H, O, N, D and A in sequence, within a three minute time limit to advertise the new Honda Accord. Really cool idea. [YouTube]