2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I just came back from my bank. I went to check and see if Showtime honored my cancellation request and canceled my standing order with the bank but it turns out they haven’t. I no longer have Showtime at home since I canceled my subscription over 2 months ago but they are still taking money from me every month!

The employee at the bank was very helpful because he had gone through the same situation with United Networks which is also owned by Global Direct the same company that owns and runs Showtime. He told me what many people are doing is canceling their credit cards so that Showtime stops billing them but I wouldn’t be able to do that because Showtime take the amount straight from my account and not my credit card. So, the employee gave me some numbers at Showtime to contact but he told me they rarely pick up and to keep trying.

Dealing with Showtime has seriously been the worst experience I have ever had with any company ever! I am really trying to think of a company that treated me worst but can’t think of any at the moment. My advice is to stay away from Showtime and any other company that is run by Global Direct like United Networks and ZakSat.

update: Just got off the phone with someone at Showtime. He was very friendly and helpful. He apologized for the mixup and told me they would refund me the extra months they have taken and make sure they cancel my subscription for sure. Finally!

Auction it TODAY is basically a company that will take care of selling your stuff on eBay. A Kuwait branch was announced awhile back but they just very recently opened up shop. I called them up to get an idea of how their service works and this is what I found out. Just a note, I am not 100% positive about the information below because the person I spoke to wasn’t very clear over the phone. But this basically what I understood from him.

1) You bring your item to them

2) If you don’t have an idea how much your item is worth they will research and find out how much its worth on the market

3) They will take a picture of your item, post it on eBay and take care of shipping the item to the buyer and everything else

4) In return they take a commission fee. If your item sells for under $500, they take 38% commission. If your item sells for more then $500 they take a 30% commission. The commission fee is negotiable if you have a lot of items.

5) If you list your item without a reserve and no one buys it. You pay them only KD2. If you list and item with a reserve price and no one buys it, you pay them KD7.

Auction it TODAY is located in the Free Trade Zone near Movenpick , Building D-14. You can call them on 4613325.

I personally think its a cool service but the commission rate is just absurdly high. Is this normal? I have never used a service like this before so 30% could be the standard rate and I wouldn’t know.

Its difficult to describe this movies genre. From the image above you can guess its leading towards horror but when you realize that the movies executive producers are Ben Affleck and Matt Damon you start to doubt it can be just a horror. Well it isn’t. Its more like a horror comedy but I don’t think thats a good description either because those things are usually funny not scary, like Shaun of the Dead. Feast is actually a real horror with A LOT of blood and gore but there is a lot of sense of humor through out the whole thing, like small touches here and there that don’t take away from the horror aspect. For example without giving a spoiler, in one scene one of the male hero’s of the movie has his pants ripped off. So, a girl tells the guy she has pants in her bag. You would think its her husbands pants or something but he comes back wearing pink tracksuit bottoms. He spends the rest of the movie battling out the monsters in a pink tracksuit bottom with a shirt and tie on top. Silly things like that. Oh and none of the people in the movie have names, they have descriptions. So you have Drunk Girl, Hero, Harely Mum, Beer Guy etc.. etc..

So whats the movie about? Its simply about a bunch of people stuck in a bar in the middle of no where who are put in a situation to fight off monsters. It’s a simple plot but really entertaining. I am not a big fan of horrors but this movie was really really fun to watch. You can check out the movie trailer on the official Feast website. I am giving this movie a 4 out of 5. [Link]

Since the weather is good it might be the perfect time to try the Marina Climb. Its located in the center of Marina Waves and although I have never tried it before it looks like a lot of fun. One hour of climbing will cost you KD4 which isn’t that bad. For more pictures click [Here]

The color sucks but other then that this beast makes my Wrangler look like a muffin about to get run over by a truck. [Link]

A friend sent me this video of some guys doing some really messed up stunts with their Land Cruisers. The craziest stunt is probably the first one in the video where a kid hangs out of a car window upside down on the highway and has his hair touch the road. It looks like all of this was done in Saudi. Right click and Save-As the video. [AVI 3.9MB]

update: Here is the video on YouTube. [Video]

I passed by the Skate Park today while I was on my way to Maki. There was a guy in charge there and I asked him a couple of questions. I found out that it costs KD1.5 per hour to skate, rollerblade or bike in the park. They don’t rent out the gear nor do they have any gear to rent out. What they will provide you with though is the safety equipment like a helmet and elbow and knee guards. For more pictures click [Here]

I am leaving to Bahrain for some work related stuff on Wednesday afternoon and coming back Friday night. Its my first time there so I was checking Lonely Planet to see what there is to do in Bahrain and I couldn’t find anything.

I heard Bahrain has good restaurants does anyone know anything about them? Any recommendations? How about malls, do they have like a shopping mall in Bahrain? Will I actually find something to do or should I expect to spend all my time in the hotel room watching TV?

update: just remembered Michael Jackson lives there now so it can’t be that bad

I had to post this because I couldn’t stop laughing. This is an email I just received now:

Dear Sir,Assalamualaikum

I would like to go to Cochin in May 2006.How I can check the availability of seat ,cost and also how to reserve and purchase it.

I expect a speedy reply and Wishing all the best for Aljazeera airways.

with prayers shihab

So now people think I own a football team and Jazeera Airways.

Mac & More in Marina Mall have the red iPod Nano in stock but they are selling it for KD95 for some reason which is too expensive. Probably because they have a limited quantity, when I checked they had just 2 left.

Taken from the description of the video:

shamlan known as the BEST DANCER in Kuwait , have never bin defeated, Shamlan has bin dancing at the age of 6 , now at the age of 20 he achieved his goal to become the greatest dancer of ALL!!!

Watch Shamlan dance and try not to laugh too hard [Video]

Thanks again RJV for the link.

BONUS: What Shamlan’s friend, K-Lib dance. [Video]

Wow, Apple just released a software (for mac and pc) called the iPod shuffle reset utility. Basically this software brought my iPod shuffle back from the dead! I can’t believe it worked.. [Link]

Since I put the Contact Us link on top I started to get strange emails. Not spam mind you, just emails that seem very out of place. Today I got one which I thought I would share with you as an example:

Dear Sir/Ma

Good day to u how are u and ur kindred hope all is moving fine with u am Mr Ganiyu am from Nigeria i played footbal for Julius Beger football club in Ibadan state.

Am a good player and am looking for a club that l can share my talent with please l will be happy if u can really have in ur club.

I will be looking forward to hear from u soon.

Thanks
Ganiyu

update: Here is another example of an email I just received:

i just want to know that if you have medical based pathology book exp. (D. M. L. T.) if u have this type of book so pls send me a mail as soon as possible.

Ali

This is a video someone called Youfes did for a school project. The video is about how Kuwaiti teenagers are different and have different interests. My favorite part was “The Geezes”. [Video]

Thanks RJV

A very easy how-to on giving your resume a facelift using Microsoft Word. When I get a crappy generic looking résumé printed on a 10 year old ink jet printer I usually don’t bother looking at it. But, when I get one thats laid out nicely I always end up reading it. [Link]