2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Back in 2020, I purchased the 16-inch MacBook Pro. I’d never been a fan of large laptops and so not sure what got into me but decided I’d buy the largest one Apple sold and I regretted the minute I got it. I mentioned in my original review that a month into using the laptop I had gotten slightly more comfortable with it but it really didn’t progress much further than that. It definitely wasn’t a laptop to take on trips with, and I’m not even talking plane trips, I hated taking my laptop to the office or into the next room just because of how big and bulky it was.

I don’t tend to change laptops a lot, my average cycle is around once every 4 years so this is the quickest change I’ve done, 2 years after purchasing the 16-inch MacBook Pro I went ahead and purchased the latest 14-inch one.

The new 14-inch Macbook Pro might be the best laptop I’ve ever owned, even competing with all my favorite iBooks from the early 2000’s including the 12″ PowerBook.

Where do I begin? Let’s talk about the size first, although 14″ doesn’t sound much smaller than 16″, and even though in photos it doesn’t look that much smaller, in reality, the difference is huge. As I’ve been doing since 2001, the first thing I order when I buy a new laptop is a black Waterfield SleeveCase. The sleeve offers plenty of protection so I tend to throw around my laptops into the backseat of my car, on the car floor, or onto my desk. Throwing around the 14-inch feels so easy now that I’ve come from the larger 16-inch. I know how easy throwing around a laptop isn’t something you’d think of when buying a new laptop but it’s really something that we all do. The 14-inch is easier to carry around, shove into places, and is a much more portable machine than the 16-inch was.

Another issue I had with the 16-inch was the battery life. It wasn’t that great and lasted around 4-hours. The new 14-inch lasts so much longer that I’m going to compare it to my iPad. I don’t charge my iPad daily even though I use it daily. The new MacBook is the same, since I got my MacBook over a month ago if I really think about it I could probably tell you exactly how many times I’ve charged it. The battery easily lasts over 10 hours so I don’t charge it every night but more like every 3 or 4 days now. I usually keep the laptop on my couch in my living room when I go to sleep while with the 16-inch I’d take it back to my desk so I can charge it and have it ready for the next day. It feels freeing not having to charge the laptop every night.

The keyboard is another thing that is just amazing about the laptop, the best keyboard I’ve used to date on any laptop. Firstly the touch bar is gone which is good news. Although I was a huge fan of it when it first came out, Apple never really expanded its features or abilities so over time I just started wishing I had regular buttons.

Other things to mention, the laptop has a notch similar to how new iPhones do but they’re less noticeable on the MacBook. It doesn’t bother me at all and it makes me feel like I have more screen space because the menu bar has now moved up to where the camera is, instead of it feeling like the menu bar is eating up important screen real estate. That top menu bar strip feels like bonus space. Apple also brought back some ports including the SD card slot which I just got to use now for the first time to move photos from my camera to my laptop. Very practical but I won’t use it that much myself. I also need to mention how good the new MacBook feels to hold. Both my MacBook Air and my 16-inch MacBook Pro have sharp edges whole the new 14-inch has softer rounded edges and so feels really great in my hands. Finally, the new MacBook looks very hot, one of the best-looking laptops to date.

So like I mentioned at the start of this post, this new 14-inch MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops I’ve ever owned. I love it a lot and already feel so attached to it that I put up my 16-inch for sale without hesitation. I also got it for a pretty good deal, Amazon had a $200 off offer on the 14-inch so I ended up buying it for KD530. I just checked now and they actually have the laptop discounted right now at KD546, so not as good a deal as I got but still cheaper than retail. If you’re looking for a laptop I can’t recommend this one enough. Definitely get it.

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep this vibrant culture alive and support underprivileged women and children in the camps. Starting today till Friday the center will be holding its heritage exhibition at the Sadu House.

The exhibit will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

If you’re interested in passing by, here is the info:

Location: Sadu House
Date: Tuesday March 15th – Friday March 18 2022
Time: 10 am to 8 pm

They’re also on instagram @palestiniancc

The longest indoor slide in the world just opened inside 89 Mall in Egaila. The slide spans 6 floors and measures 85.02m, beating the previous record-holder, a slide in Taiwan that measured 74.638m.

You can now book a ticket for the slide… if you’re willing to pay 6.5KD for the experience. Even if it’s the longest one in the world, 6.5KD seems like a lot to pay for just going down a slide. In any case, if you want to book a ticket you can do so from their website bookloopz.com. You can also check out their Instagram account @loopz.q8

The local band Galaxy Juice recently released a new music video for their track “Ya Salwa” from their latest album “Galaxy Juice and the Forty Thieves”. Playing this song live in Riyadh at the MDLBEAST Soundstorm Festival and seeing the crowd’s reaction was one of the main reasons they started to sing in Arabic. It’s a pretty fun track and music video so check it out.

The music video and animation was done by Agrentinian based Marina Di Milta (@marinadimilta).

If you want to listen to their full album, it’s available to stream on: Spotify, Anghami and Apple Music.

You can also follow Galaxy Juice on Instagram @galaxyjuiceband

Good Game is having their first Pokémon Center Day this coming Tuesday. They’re hoping to provide Pokémon fans with a place to discuss all things Pokémon and even trade Pokémon cards. If you’re interested here are the details:

When: March 15, 2022
Where: Good Game Google Maps
Time: 6PM
Entry: Free

A Redditor recently posted about their experience at the Kuwait Center For Mental Health, (formerly Kuwait Psychiatric Hospital) and it was very positive in their experience.

According to them, the staff were very patient and professional, they were also very understanding and discrete. Patient privacy is paramount to them and whatever happens at the center stays in the center. They have a suicide watch department as well and provide sedatives if needed. More importantly, the center is available for everyone, expats included.

You can read more about their experience here and if you ever need help, here is the location of the center on Google Maps. They don’t seem to have a website but their Instagram account is @kcmhofficial and their phone number is 24621770.

You’ve probably come across Marvis toothpaste when on vacation somewhere. They usually are sold at concept stores and nice pharmacies and is considered to be a somewhat luxury toothpaste brand. They come in a handful of intense flavors with my favorite being cinnamon. I was always curious to why no one in Kuwait sold Marvis but now I found a place that does called “The Nob Shop” and their prices seem pretty good since they’re all discounted right now.

If you’re a fan of Marvis toothpaste or want to try it, here is a link the product page on The Nob Shop. Link

Another slow weekend of events so in case you can’t find anything below to do, you could always visit one of the museums.

Thursday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Backpacking Through Yemen in Times of Peace
KASA Expo 2022
Life Drawing Workshop

Friday
Albohayra Farm
KASA Expo 2022
Kuwait Textile Arts Association Spring Bazaar

Saturday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Backpacking Through Yemen in Times of Peace
Albohayra Farm
Women’s Sports Day
Miseen Scene: The Circle
KASA Expo 2022
Sons of Sinbad Excursion

If I missed anything let me know.

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

New This Weekend:
Shadow in the Cloud (4.9)
The Contractor (N/A)
The Desperate Hour (4.5)

Other Movies Showing Now:
American Siege (3.5)
Blacklight (5.0)
Dog (6.8)
Encanto (7.8)
My Sweet Monster (5.8)
Sing 2 (7.5)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (9.2)
The Batman (9.0)
The Godfather (9.2)
Uncharted (7.2)

Classic Movies Showing Now:
Matilda (7.0)
Mulan (5.7)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antarctica (N/A)
Asteroid Hunters 3D
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

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

If you’re planning to visit the Comic Festival Convention this year tickets are currently for sale on The Arena website. The event is taking place from March 29 to April 1st and they are currently selling a 4-day pass for KD20. On the actual COMFEST days, you can also purchase a 1-day pass for KD10 or you could cosplay and go in for free since there is free entry to cosplayers.

If you want to purchase a ticket, here is the link.

Note: The website has a bug where when you try to purchase a ticket the website turns Arabic with no option to switch back to English. So maybe have someone translate for you or use Google Translate.

Photo by @lensfoxq8

I posted about weighted blankets for sale at Ace Hardware last year but these blankets by OneBase are much nicer. They come in two colors and two weights, 5KG and 8KG. Unlike most weighted blankets, OneBase does not fill theirs with plastic pellets, instead, they’re made from 100% fabric. The chunky style of hand knitting also keeps you cool due to the air gaps within the braids.

They’re slightly more expensive than the blankets Ace was selling but they are much cooler looking and of better quality. Plus it’s always good to support local brands. If you want one, you can order it from the OneBase website byonebase.com

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. To mark the occasion tonight there is a musical event taking place at the French Institute’s garden that will feature some of the best female musicians and artists in Kuwait.

If you’re interested in an outdoor music event tonight, tickets are still on sale at Eventat.

Deliveroo has announced the launch of Deliveroo Plus, a new, unlimited free delivery subscription service available to customers in Kuwait.

Deliveroo Plus is a new membership service that allows members to receive unlimited free delivery on all food, coffee and grocery orders worth KD 5 or more, for only KD 3.500 per month. Starting today, the membership service is available for all customers who sign up, with every new member also receiving a free trial period of at least 30 days.

It is worth noting that Deliveroo Plus is currently the only food delivery platform in Kuwait to offer a membership service to its customers. The launch of the new service comes as part of Deliveroo Kuwait’s ongoing commitment to enhancing customer experience and the local food industry. Plus subscribers also benefit from exclusive restaurant offers in their neighborhoods.

As the market’s only food delivery membership service, Deliveroo Plus offers customers the chance to save money while enjoying more of the food, coffee, and groceries they love. As of today, customers in Kuwait will see the option to sign up for the Deliveroo Plus service at checkout or in the ‘Account’ section of the app and website. Sign up today to start your 30-day free trial and start saving!

If you’ve driven on the 5th Ring Road recently you might have noticed all the construction work and diversions taking place near Qurtoba and Siddiq. The reason behind it is they’re currently working on a major traffic reducing project that will be composed of tunnels, underpasses and bridges on two levels. The new project will remove a bunch of traffic lights at the current intersections to help eliminate the traffic they cause as well as create a traffic-free ride from the 5th Ring Road to the new Sheikh Jaber Hospital.

To get a better idea of how the project will look like, you can watch the 3D presentation below taken from the project website RA257.

Thanks hussamaboud

Over the holidays I went to Istanbul for vacation, my first time there since a university trip 22 years ago so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. There were two things I kept hearing about Istanbul or Turkey in general which is the food isn’t great, and people aren’t very friendly. Well, no idea what people are talking about because the food was great and I found everyone incredibly friendly (except for people in cars who seem to just want to run over everyone).

The trip was semi-spontaneous, originally the plan was to go to London but by the time I decided to book my ticket the prices had shot up a lot and it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I looked at other destinations that I could fly direct to and decided to head to Istanbul. I did some quick research on hotels and right away booked at Soho House, there really was no doubt about the choice and after staying there I’m glad I did because everything about the hotel was great. I booked their “small” room which really didn’t turn out to be that small and was really nice looking. The staff were great and the hotel turned out to be located in a great spot and less than a 5-minute walk to a subway station. Because I was staying at the hotel I also got access to the members-only Soho House Club next door. The club has two bars, one on the ground floor and one on the top floor as well as a restaurant and tons of cozy seating areas. It’s a very nice space where I ended up every night just chilling on my phone while having a drink.

Traveling around Istanbul was hit and miss. If I could take the metro to wherever I’m going then it was a hit. If I needed to take a cab then it was a miss. Uber is terrible in Istanbul and mostly because drivers kept canceling trips or messaging me after I booked asking me where I wanted to go. If the trip wasn’t in the direction they were heading they didn’t want to take it. That was the case the whole trip, drivers didn’t want to take any trip that would get them stuck in traffic or take a trip that wasn’t in the direction they were going. Their subway system on the other hand was great, very fast, very efficient, and pretty new. It’s what I used to get to most places and it’s how I avoided the terrible Istanbul traffic. The only issue I found was that their ticket machines didn’t accept credit cards so I always had to keep cash on hand which I hated.

The city itself is really beautiful, I was worried that a week would be too long of a time to spend in Istanbul and eventually I’d get bored, but it was actually the opposite. There was so much to do and see I didn’t even get through my full list of things to do, nor did I get the chance to hit up most of the museums on my list or even restaurants. I tried as much as possible to stay off the beaten path and it was fairly easy to do with so many nice areas and lots of great shops. If you want a fancy area they have it, if you want a ghetto area they have it, if you want a hipster area they have it, there is so much variety it kept me entertained till the very end to the point I’m now thinking of going back just to finish going through my list. One thing to note is that Istanbul is fairly hilly and you’re never really walking on a flat path, you’re always either walking downhill or climbing some super steep hill. It was exhausting exploring the city on foot, but because the weather was cold, it was very manageable. In the summer I’m not really sure it’s something you’d want to do unless you don’t mind sweating a lot. When it came to food I tried as much as possible to stick to Turkish food and that worked out really well. Lots of kebab, lots of tea, and lots of desserts.

I think my favorite part of the trip though was how affordable the whole experience was. It took me a couple of days to adjust to the price because I kept thinking I was miscalculating because everything was coming out really cheap. Most of the places I ate at the bill was around 10KD for two. My favorite breakfast spot was around 6KD for two and that was with a lot of food. Even the hotel which is one of the best cost me around 80KD a night. It won’t cost you a lot to have a great time in Istanbul.

Even their airport was one of the nicest I’ve been to. Their main airport opened up just a few years ago and so is really new and it shows. It also had lots of restaurants, a huge duty-free area so you can easily kill a couple of hours before your flight.

Anyway, I’ve temporarily set up a highlight for my Istanbul trip on my Instagram (@mark248am) if you want to check it out. But, I’m also sharing my shops and food list on Google Maps in case you want to use it on your trip.

Exploring Istanbul
Eating in Istanbul