2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The court has dismissed the lawsuit filed by a Kuwaiti lawyer against the MOC demanding the blocking of Netflix due to the Arabic movie Perfect Strangers. Phew… Source

Yesterday I listed a bunch of landmarks that were demolished over the past few years but I didn’t mention Messilah Beach since I’m not really sure whats going on there. It’s meant to be closed for renovations but I don’t know if they’ve completely demolished it or not. Based on Google Maps, it looks like it’s still there but in any case, the video above is a 3D animation of what Messilah Beach will eventually look like once it’s completed.

Just going off the video it looks like it will be a less approachable more premium beach. What was great about the old Messilah Beach was how affordable and accessible it was to everyone. I used to go there when I was in school since it was the only nice beach we could afford.

The new renovated Messilah will contain:
6 Restaurant blocks
Swimming Pool and Wet Recreation areas
Jogging Track
Hard and Soft Landscaping
450 Car Parking spaces

Best Electronics carry a few high-end sound systems but they’re only located in their flagship store in Shuwaikh. I’ve previously brushed on this briefly during my home sound system upgrade post but decided it was worth highlighting again since BEST recently moved their Shuwaikh store to a newer location and in the process, expanded their sound system section.

Here are some of the brands they carry at this one specific location:

Anthem
Denon
Definitive Technology
Earthquake Sound
Gallo Acoustics
Paradigm
Technics

You won’t find these items on their website or in any of their other locations. The new BEST store is located right next to their old location and is huge. The premium sound system section is located in the back corner on the ground floor and they even have a small theater room in which they demonstrate different screen projectors and speakers.

If you want to check any of the brands above out, here is the location of this store on Google Maps.

This is a random post in case someone ever googles looking for help. Last week the brakes on my 12-year-old Toyota FJ Cruiser started acting up. It was an electronic issue but basically when I turned on the car a bunch of dash lights lit up and a super annoying warning buzzer came on and wouldn’t go off. My brakes were also no longer working. So I called the Toyota roadside assist and took the car to the dealership.

I love the dealership but sometimes things don’t make much sense. In this case, I was quoted just shy over 1,000KD to fix the issue which was a failed “Brake Booster Assembly, W/Master Cylinder”. The part alone was 838KD and then the labor cost was 200 something. For a 12-year-old car that probably costs like 4,000KD in the second-hand market, probably less, it just didn’t make financial sense to pay that much.

I started trying to figure out how to get this problem sorted at a more reasonable price. Randomly, the day I got the quote from Toyota I had to go to Aleppo, the nuts and bolts store in Shuwaikh. As I pull up outside the Aleppo store I notice the shop next door had a large sign outside with the Toyota and Lexus logo and a large ABS brakes logo in the middle. So before heading into Aleppo I go up to one of the guys in that garage and show him a video of the errors I was getting on my dash, he quoted me 220KD to fix my problem and told me it was a 30 min job.

So I got a tow truck and had the car picked up from the dealership and dropped off at this garage. Turns out this garage does just one thing, which is to repair this one specific part on Toyotas and Lexuses. They have used ones in stock and swap out your non-working assembly with a new one and then give you a three-month warranty which they actually honor. I got mine swapped out but then felt the pedal feel was a bit off so came back to them a week later and they swapped it out again with another model and now it’s perfect. And the best part is it cost me just 1/5th the dealership price and they fixed it while I was waiting.

If you ever run into a similar brakes issue with your Toyota or Lexus and want to get it repaired outside the dealership, here is the location of this garage on Google Maps.

If you’re looking for an indoor activity for the summer, how about dance classes? It’s something different to do and could be a good way of meeting new people. Below are some dance centers that offer various classes ranging from hip-hop to Tango:

Haraka Center
Harmony Academy
Omni Studio

If there are any other dance centers I missed, let me know in the comments.

Back on June 6th, 2016 Entertainment City was closed down for renovations. It was meant to reopen again in 2021 but instead, in 2020 it was completely demolished. Yesterday marked the 6-year anniversary of its closing.

Entertainment City became another landmark in Kuwait to get demolished and joined a long list of other important places that were demolished in recent years including:

Shaab Park
Bait Lothan
Kuwait Airways Building
Al-Sawaber
Aqua Park
Ice Skating Rink
The Original Chamber of Commerce

It’s really sad.

The cultural season “Summer of Kuwait 2022” has started at JACC and so far they’ve released the list of events for June which are:

Aden Nights with Khaled Al-Mulla and Abdel Moneim Al-Ameri
June 10

Gipsy Kings – The soul of Spain in Kuwait
June 16, 17

Turkish Delights with Bassam Al-Bloushi
June 20

Ministry of Science Live
June 23, 24, 25

As of this post, only tickets to Aden Nights and Gipsy Kings are on sale and you can book those on their website jacc-kw.com

I found a great collection of photos of different mosques around Kuwait taken back in 1985 by Taiwanese photographer, Tom Chu. I found these photos accidentally while I was looking for information on Contax cameras in Kuwait. All these photos are in a photo album on Flickr and were taken with a Contax 139 fitted with a Zeiss Distagon 28mm/f2 lens. Link to photos

What I think I like the most about old photos of Kuwait is how Kuwait didn’t look overcrowded. There was always empty space which we lack nowadays.

Also, the beautiful old mosque at the top of this post is still around today. It’s where Erth Cafe is located in Kuwait City. Google Maps

Late last week I ended up upgrading my coffee machine and grinder from a Rocket Appartamento and Faustino grinder, to a La Marzocco Linea Mini with a Mahlkönig X54 grinder.

I’ll post a review once I spend a lot more time with the machine but for now, if you’re looking to upgrade your coffee machine, I’m selling my previous setup with some accessories. Here is the link to the classifieds page.

Over the weekend the US Embassy in Kuwait posted a message by President Joe Biden in support of Pride Month and as you can imagine, that didn’t go well.

As of this post, there are over 21,000 comments under that Instagram post with the majority of people being really upset about it. The story was picked up by the international press and is now making its way around the Internet.

I was curious about whether the US Embassy in other Arab countries also posted a similar message supporting Pride Month, and if they did, what kind of reaction people had to it. Below are two lists, one relating to Instagram posts and another relating to Twitter:

US Embassies Pride Post on Instagram
US Embassy in Bahrain – Yes (633 Likes – 4.8K Comments)
US Embassy in Egypt – No
US Embassy in Jordan – No
US Embassy in Kuwait – Yes (2,930 Likes – 21.8K Comments)
US Embassy in KSA – No
US Embassy in Lebanon – No
US Embassy in Qatar – No
US Embassy in the UAE – Yes (609 Likes – 1K Comments)

US Embassies Pride Post on Twitter
US Embassy in Bahrain – Yes and Banner (18 Likes – 73 Comments)
US Embassy in Egypt – No
US Embassy in Jordan – No
US Embassy in Kuwait – Yes (1,009 Likes – 2.3K Comments)
US Embassy in KSA – Yes (560 Likes – 1K Comments)
US Embassy in Lebanon – Yes Retweet (39 Likes – 99 Comments)
US Embassy in Qatar – No
US Embassy in the UAE – Yes (41 Likes – 156 Comments)

A few interesting things. Firstly this wasn’t a universal message posted on all the embassies’ social media accounts. The US Embassy in Bahrain went a step further and replaced its Twitter banner with a Pride Month one. Finally, one thing is pretty apparent from the lists above, Kuwait’s social media response completely shattered the other Arab countries when it came to comments and likes. I’m now curious to see what’s going to happen next if the US Embassy doesn’t remove the post, are we going to boycott US products? Doubt it.

I’m guessing everyone felt this morning’s earthquake since, unlike the previous ones that have hit Kuwait before, this one was fairly strong.

An earthquake of magnitude 5 struck Kuwait, the ministry of information tweeted on Saturday.

The ministry said “the Kuwait National Seismic Network recorded an earthquake measuring 5 … southwest of al-Ahmadi, and it occurred at exactly 04:28:02 a.m. Kuwait time (0128 GMT), at a depth of 5 km (3 miles)”.

The Kuwait’s Fire Force also said that there was no damage as a result of the earthquake. Source

According to some sources online, the earthquake measured a magnitude of 4.4 but according to the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) it was actually a 5.

Below is the list of events for this weekend. As usual if I missed anything please let me know in the comments:

Thursday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Exhibition: “The Mystic Letters” By Antonella Leoni
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Exhibition
Musical: MAMMA MIA!
Movies at the Park: Mr.Bean’s Holiday
Talk: Save the Turtles
Bel Canto d’Italia Recital

Friday
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Exhibition
Musical: MAMMA MIA!
Kuwait Kayak Fishing Championship
A Walk In Tunisia – Omrani’nd The Crew

Saturday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Perfumes, Cosmetics & Watches Exhibition
Grand Mosque Tour
Sunrise Yoga with Hiba
Miseen Scene: Z
Musical: MAMMA MIA!
TrashTag Kuwait: Salmiya Park Cleanup
TrashHero: Blejat Beach Cleanup
Coffee Sunset Cruise
Stranger Things Watercolor Experience

For those of you who swore off Shop&Ship and moved to MyUS or vice-versa due to bad experiences, I got some bad news for you:

Dubai-based logistics company Aramex has signed an agreement to fully acquire cross border e-commerce platform MyUS in a $265 million deal.

The US-based company provides package forwarding solutions to customers who shop from retailers based in the US, UK and China, according to a statement. Source

One positive thing that might come out of this acquisition is if Shop&Ship ends up with a Florida-based mailbox similar to MyUS. Right now you save around 7% just by shipping to a MyUS mailbox since you don’t have to pay sales tax when shipping to a Florida address.

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

New This Weekend:
Barbarians (4.6)
Dual (5.8)
Last Seen Alive (5.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Fireheart (6.1)
Memory (5.6)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6.9)
The Bad Guys (7.0)
The Batman (8.1)
The Cellar (5.3)
The Northman (7.5)
The Twin (5.0)
Top Gun: Maverick (8.7)
Yakari (6.4)

Classic Movies Showing:
The Last Samurai (7.8)

The films below are also showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

IMAX Movies Showing:
Antarctica
Asteroid Hunters 3D
Ocean Odyssey
Turtle Odyssey

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

If you like the opera or want to experience the opera, the Italian Embassy in Kuwait is hosting one tomorrow night (Thursday) at JACC. “Bel Canto d’Italia Recital” is taking place at 7PM and no tickets are required. For more details, click here