2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Just got back from the Double Decker pub here in Dubai. Me and my friend went there after Mall of the Emirartes to watch the AC Milan vs Manchester United match. The place was super packed, like so packed people were backed up all the way to the hallway entrance. I didn’t get to ski tonight because the slope was pretty packed but hopefully tomorrow while everyone is at work it won’t be so crowded. Other then that I have to say I love the Mall of the Emirates, every-time I go there I discover something new. Today for example I discovered two wings I didn’t know about and thats after spending hours previously making sure I saw every part of it!

My flight tomorrow is 5 in the evening so I am hoping to get a good nights sleep now and then go do a bit of shopping before I head out to the airport.

note: the hotel I am in has wifi but the signal is so weak that I am actually standing inside the cupboard near the rooms door typing this post!

Today was the Young Creatives competition in Dubai. Our flight arrived last night at around 1AM to Dubai and by the time we got to the hotel it was 2. Still, we managed to wake up at 7 and headed to Dubai Media City where the Cannes Lions competition was being held.

At 9AM we were briefed by the client which turned out to be WFP (World Food Program) and we had to come up with a campaign that would help promote their Food for Education program. We had until 6PM to come up and execute our ideas which was a surprise because we were told originally to expect 12 hours to work on it.

Anyway we managed to come up with around 19 different ideas which we finally narrowed down to three and then to just two which was the maximum amount of creative work we could present. We are pretty confident one of our ideas should get us in the top 3 but we will have to wait and see.

At the start of the event they introduced me and my partner as the only team that isn’t from Dubai. Turns out this was the first time a team from outside of Dubai participated which put Kuwait in the spotlight. My partner is Kuwaiti and I grew up in Kuwait so we were truly representing Kuwait.

Hopefully one of our directions hits the top 3, we should find out the results by May 8th I believe. I will try to post our favorite direction here but at the moment I am not sure if I am allowed to. I am going to go skiing now so will I post again later on tonight once I come back.

American University of Kuwait which is located in Salmiya is having a carnival/open-day this Thursday from 10am till 5pm.

I am at the airport now waiting for a flight to Dubai. Originally we were supposed to leave on the Sri Lanken airlines flight at 7:10 but that got delayed till around 9:30. Problem is there is a soccer match tonight and me and my partner are supposed to watch it at the Double Decker pub in Dubai. We tried getting on the Emirates airline flight which takes off at 6 but it was fully booked and in the end there was only 1 seat left and they gave it to this guy who had like a gold skywards card or something.

I am now sitting in Starbucks just waiting for our late flight. We are going to miss the soccer match which I was looking forward to watching…

I finally picked up my car today from the BMW dealer but before I picked it up I got taken backstage to the garage and given a short tour plus introduced to a few people.

Overall I found the employees backstage to be a lot friendlier and more interesting then the people they have in the front dealing with customers which is kind of ironic. They told me they had received calls from various people around the world regarding my email and post (thanks to everyone who told me to email BMW in Germany and Dubai). The workshop manager told me no case ever grew to this proportion and that next week a delegation is even coming to Kuwait to check on the problems.

I told the workshop manager I was positive they weren’t coming because of my complaint alone but because they had been receiving a lot of complaints from many people. I also told him I wouldn’t have even sent out the emails or posted what I posted had there been friendly and good customer service.

Anyway they fixed the car and didn’t charge me for it and now its running perfectly so I am happy.

A large collection of old and new Egyptian movie posters. I don’t know whats funnier the posters or the names of the movies translated to English. [Link]

Thanks Holla

Someone emailed me a video today showing a really freaky looking baby. You can check the video [Here] but its not for the faint of heart.

It turns out the baby had a severe skin disease and that these babies are usually called Harlequin Babies. I found a lot of information about these babies online and its really sad. If you are interested in finding out more here are some links. Again they are pretty graphic so you might not want to check them.

Video from HalaQ8
Video from Google
Pictures and information
More pictures
Wikipedia entry

I started watching this documentary/movie called The Last Flight to Kuwait which talks about the British Airways flight 149 that landed in Kuwait just as Iraq was invading back in 1990. I don’t know how accurate it is but it looks like its based on facts.

There always was a conspiracy surrounding the reason the BA flight landed in Kuwait. According to Wikipedia the flight landed after the invasion had begun but according to the documentary it landed just before. In any case, the documentary talks about the reason the plane landed in Kuwait which was because there were eight MI6 (the British secret intelligence service) agents that the British government wanted to position in Kuwait. It sounds very plausible especially since there is no other reason why BA didn’t cancel the flight like every other airline that night.

If you can manage to get a hold of the movie its definitely worth watching. The movie is a combination of real footage from the war, reenacted scenes and interviews with some of the passengers and crew of that flight.

The weather today is really gross. I rode in on my bike in the morning and later at lunch I had to ride back home and it was just awful. Its not only really dusty but at some points on the Gulf Road the air becomes really hot for some reason and it just makes things disgusting. It was terrible, I think riding season is nearly over.

Toilet paper found at Sultan Center. Not as funny as Ass Sizes but still funny.

Today I got some brownies from Choowy Goowy to work. I had tried them before but this was the first time I got them to the office. I let everyone try a bite and everyone simply loved them. They are really good and aren’t too sweet so they don’t feel heavy. It comes with either caramel or chocolate dip but I prefer the caramel. The packaging is nice and 2 dozen brownie bites will set you back KD5.500 but keep in mind they are brownie bites meaning the pieces aren’t very big. If you want to order some you can call them on 2626559.

Picture above taken by RA-1

I will be traveling to Dubai on the 1st of May and I will be back on the 3rd. I will be going there with my partner from work to participate in the Young Creatives compeition thats part of the Cannes Lions which is regarded as the most prestigious international advertising festival. The Young Creatives competition is for creatives 28 years old or younger and you enter as a team made up of an art director and copyrighter.

Last year me and my partner wanted to participate but they were fully booked, this year we managed to get in luckily because I turn 29 in August so I wouldn’t have been able to participate ever again. To get to Cannes we need to qualify and thats why we are going to Dubai. Different creatives from the Middle East will be participating in the qualification process on May 2nd with the gold winner going to Cannes to participate in the main international competition.

This is how the competition works. They put all the creative teams participating into one large room. They then bring in a client which is usually a non profit organization to brief us on the job. Once the client is done briefing us, the teams have 12 hours to come up with a campaign and execute it. Every team will have a workstation to work on, there will be no Internet access (for 12 hours!!!) and you aren’t allowed to bring in anything with you either like CDs, cameras, laptops etc.. There will be a work station usually sponsored by Corbis or Getty Images where you can search for photos but there is a list and you have to sign up and wait for your turn.

Its a very exciting event and getting gold would be amazing since it would mean me and my partner will be traveling to Cannes in June and putting Kuwait on the map. You can check out the winners from last years competition [Here]. As you can see the work from last year was extraordinary. I am nervous but it should be a lot of fun.

Yesterday night I watched a movie called Smokin’ Aces which is kinda like Ocean’s Eleven except bigger, meaner and a lot cooler. The movie has a huge cast and I mean HUGE! Here is a list of some of the most recognizable ones:

Ben Affleck
Jason Bateman
Common
Andy Garcia
Alicia Keys
Alex Rocco
Wayne Newton
Ray Liotta
Ryan Reynolds
Jeremy Piven
Peter Berg
Martin Henderson
Christopher Michael Holley
Maury Sterling
Curtis Armstrong
Matthew Fox
Nestor Carbonell

Full list of cast is [Here]

So you can see the cast list is just awesome, even Jack from Lost is in this movie.. even Herb from the old TV show Moonlighting is in this movie! The movie is about a mob guy who turned snitch and now has a 1 million dollar bounty on his head to whoever can kill him. Different assassins try to get to him and it becomes a race to see who can kill him first.

As I mentioned earlier the cast in the movie is great but the best part is a lot of the actors are playing roles that we usually don’t associate them with. For example, Ryan Reynolds plays a very serious and dedicated FBI agent but he usually plays the role of a funny and silly guy in various comedies. Nestor Carbonell, the hispanic guy on Suddenly Susan, last time I saw him he was playing the role of Batmanuel on the short lived comedy series “The Tick“. In Smokin’ Aces he plays the role of a psychotic torturer / assassin. These role changes make the movie a lot more enjoyable because its really twisted and unexpected.

The movie is a lot of fun and even though its nearly two hours long it never gets dull not even for a single second. On IMDB it got a raiting of 6.5 out of 10 but I really don’t understand why. I personally give it a 4.5 out of 5. Its loaded with action and it stars some of my favorite actors, its the perfect recipe for a successful movie.

Check out the official website [Here]

I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from the BMW workshop manager. He was very sincere and apologized about how my radiator leak was handled and they want to now fix the car at their cost. They are sending a tow truck to pick up my car from the other garage.