2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

If MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, AOL or GTalk is blocked at your office or maybe you are on a computer which won’t allow you to install any of these chat programs, a new website will allow you to get on these messengers. I know there are many other websites that do this but this is the only one I know that uses Web 2.0. I just tried it out now and its great, works exactly like the real thing with chat windows which you can move around and stuff. Give it a try and you will see what I am talking about. [Link]

I was watching 5th Gear yesterday on the Discovery Channel when they had a bit on light poles similar to the ones used on Kuwait streets. They took a regular car and installed hardware on it so they could control it remotely and then driving at 45mph they made it ram into one of these steel light posts. The result was catastrophic. The light pole barely moved or bent while the car was destroyed and thrown violently around. If there was anyone in the car they would have been seriously wounded if not killed.

They then started to tell us about these new types of light poles that are being using in countries like Sweden and Finland, collapsible poles. These poles are made from aluminum and are designed to absorb the impact of a car and slow it down. They look very similar to the regular poles except of course they are very different.

To demonstrate how safe driving into the poles were the inventor of the “safe” poles got into a car wearing only a seatbelt and a helmet (to protect him from flying glass if any) and drove into a pole going at 45mph. It was incredible, once the car hit the pole it bent and the car drove over it slowing down. The car did get damaged but very lightly, the driver got out safely and the car was even drivable after the crash.

Now I have seen loads of accidents here in Kuwait specially on the Gulf Road where people have rammed into the light poles and gotten killed. With all the money in Kuwait how come the government hasn’t installed these new collapsible poles.. at least in places where it is very common for people to ram into them?

Update: Here is a link to an article abou the Lamppost which turns out has been in use in Sweden for the past 12 years! [Link]

Update 2: If you want to download the bit on the lamppost you can from the 5th Gear official website for a price of KD1 [Link]

Update 3: The video is on YouTube you can check it below

The Kuwait Advertising Awards it currently taking place at the Salwa Events Hall near Marina Crescent. I just got a message from my sister who is at the awards ceremony. The event started 1 hour late at 7 and they started of with speeches, according to her its very boring. I received another message from another art director from my agency who is there and according to him the event actually turned out to be very formal, so Nataly was right when she said it was a formal event.

Update: My sis called me after the event finished. Basically out of 22 awards my agency (JWT) took half of them while Nats agency (Saatchi&Saatchi) took the other half. Just to make it clear out of all the awards Saatchi took none were for Kuwait work, and out of all the awards my agency took only 1 was for Kuwait. The event supposingly was very unorganized and chaotic, my sister should be posting about it tonight on her blog.

I was researching on food when I came across this text which I really liked and would like to share:

Eating is a biological necessity, but answers about what is eatable and not only edible, the way we prepare food, the way we serve and consume meals in social settings are to be searched for in cultural and religious contexts.

We are born into a culture with its set of social relations, traditions and developments, values, food standards etc. During adolescence we get taste memories, which have an influence on our food choices, but we are challenged by different kinds of food, different kinds of lifestyles and culturally different ways of eating. We meet the unfamiliar and strange when we travel, through ethnic food restaurants and when we go shopping. The world is not static; changes seem to happen faster in relation to what we eat today, when, where and with whom we dine daily and on festive occasions. Industrial food production and the global market exist alongside the regional and national kitchens. Urban meal traditions, art of cooking, advertising, technology and taste affects us.

Taken from here.

Just found this website while looking for an old soccer commercial, it seems to have all of the popular soccer commercials I have ever seen and they are all downloadable for free. Very cool. [Link]

It’s official, the Z4 Coupe is coming! [Link]

I passed by Al Ghanim Electronics tonight to check out their HDTVs. They had a whole bunch of plasmas on display but none grabbed my interest, I was there looking for regular (tube/crt) high definition television. Turns out they only had 1 which supported the 720p resolution and it was the 36″ Sony which a regular reader (hola) pointed out to me was on sale for KD590 because it was the last piece. Sadly its widescreen which won’t fit in my display and also I was looking for a regular 4:3 ration TV not the 16:9. They had 2 other Philips TVs which supported HD and were pretty cheap BUT neither of them supported the high resolution 720p, just the low res 420p and 1080i. The 34inch was for like KD300 while the 29″ for like KD200.

So if anyone is interested in the Sony 36″ HDTV, its selling for an amazing low price (actual price is around KD800) and they only have 1 display model left.

According to a recent poll held by Kuwaitism, McDonalds is kicking ass!

First Place: McDonalds
Second Place: Hardees
Third Place: Subway

[Link]

The Kuwait Advertising Awards are being held tomorrow at 6PM and its supposed to be formal wear. Who the fuck gets dressed formally for an evening out at 6PM? Why didn’t they make the awards show at like 9 or 10PM? Most of the agencies finish work at 5 or 5:30 but no one usually makes it out before 6PM. Even if I make it out at 5:30 by the time I get home its already 6 and then I need to shower, get dressed and leave it would already be 7PM!

Anyway, I hope I am allowed not to go to it. I really don’t like social events.

Update: Its NOT formal. Nat told me formal and she heard it from her agency but its not true.

I really like Supergroups although I would rather call them All-Star bands. Supergroups are music groups that are composed of members from other already very popular bands. Here are my favorites:

Eyes Adrift
Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets)
Krist Novoselic (Nirvana)
Bud Gaugh (Sublime)

Audioslave
Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine)
Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine)

Velvet Revolver
Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots)
Slash (Guns N’ Roses)
Dave Kushner (Guns N’ Roses)
Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses)
Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses)

A Perfect Circle
Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails)
Billy Howerdel (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses)
Jeordie White (The Vandals)
Maynard James Keenan (Tool)
James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins)

Kids, don’t do drugs! Incase you already do though here is the playlist for you heroin shooters [Link]

Step 1: Go to the back entrance of the Keifan soccer stadium.
Step 2: Go to the ticket collector, tell him you want to refund your Brazil vs Kuwait tickets.
Step 3: He will take your phone number, civil ID number and the tickets from you. He will quickly fill out a brief form and then send you to the next window.
Step 4: Guy with black briefcase will give you your money back.

Thats the whole process. It should take you just 2 minutes.

After I post a comment on my blog I get taken to an empty white page. Is this happening to anyone else?

I guess I won’t be able to hide my 87 billion dollars under my bed. Seriously though if Bill Gates feels like withdrawing 1 billion dollars in cash he’s pretty fucked. [Link]

For people who don’t own the new iPods yet continue to say that the new iPods don’t scratch easily thats total bullshit. I have had my iPod video for a week now and it spends majority of its time in its foof pod. Yet holding up my iPod now and looking at it from an angle I can easily see around 30 to 40 minor scratches. This is unfucking acceptable. My Sony Ericsson phone which I have owned now for a few months and which I throw into my pocket with my keys on a daily basis has only 1 scratch on the screen. How the hell does my ipod have 40 scratches in 1 week while it remains tucked away in its nice protective case?

TivoGuy got 2 deep scratches on his iPod because he had it in his pocket when he accidently put a paper parking ticket in the same pocket. A paper parking ticket scratched his ipod!

Apple really fucked up this time around. It seems they have been really cutting back on costs, no power adapter, crappy packaging, easily scratching surface and best of all, if you have your phone next to your ipod and it rings you can kiss your ears goodbye.

Update: just added image to the post.