2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Kuwait is in the news again but for the first time in a long time, it’s actually for good news. Yesterday the constitutional court overturned a law that criminalized “imitation of the opposite sex” which was used to prosecute transgender people.

Back in 2007, the National Assembly voted to amend Article 198 of the law to criminalize “indecent” gestures in public and imitation of the opposite sex. Other than the fact the law was deeply discriminatory, it was also overly vague and should never have been accepted into law in the first place according to Amnesty International.

With the way things have been going recently, I’m personally surprised the law was overturned so I guess there is hope.

Update: Commenting has been closed

Dave’s Hot Chicken is a Los Angeles based chain that was started back in 2017 by four Armenian friends in a parking lot with just $900. Today they have over 40 locations, Drake as a major investor and will soon have 30 more locations opening up in the Gulf. According to the press release that was published yesterday, the company that got the rights to Dave’s Hot Chicken in the region is the UAE based Lavoya, a company that also has the rights to Joe & The Juice.

The press release doesn’t mention an opening date only that they will be opening 31 locations in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. I’m trying to remember if I ever had Dave’s Hot Chicken while in LA since the logo looks familiar (plus they’re Armenian) but can’t seem to find any photos of the food in my vacation albums. The food does look really really good on their instagram account so you can drool over those for now @daveshotchicken

Does anyone know the process of replacing an old/damaged license plate? I’m currently in the process of restoring a car and I need to replace the front license plate with a new one since the one on the car currently is bent and worn out. I’ve only ever gone through the process of swapping a square plate to a Euro-style license plate so not sure what the process is for replacing a worn-out plate (if thats possible even).

Finally! Yesterday the government announced that if you’re fully vaccinated you no longer need to get a PCR test when coming back into Kuwait from travel. I’m flying out to Istanbul next where they also don’t require a PCR test on arrival so this is very cool news. It’s going to feel like normal travel pre-covid except for the masks!

Give is a local non-profit organization that aims to improve the process of donating. Their online platform connects donors with registered Kuwaiti charities in order to make it easier to discover what charitable projects are available and to donate to them all in one place.

The Give website lists different projects in various countries you could donate to not just Kuwait, so if you want to donate to a certain cause that’s not local, you can also do that. Locally as of this post, they have 33 different projects you could donate to ranging from snacks for low-income workers to sponsoring an orphan child. Navigating the various projects and finding one that is of interest to you is a very easy process, the whole experience actually is very simple and I really like that.

The process of donating once you find a cause is incredibly fast and more importantly, anonymous. You don’t need to create an account to donate, you don’t even need to give them your name or email address. It took me less than a minute from the moment I found a project I wanted to donate to till I checked out and finished paying. One thing to note is that Give charges a 500fils service fee when donating. They don’t explain what it’s for on their website, but I’m guessing it’s to fund the service. Update below

Give also have apps for both Apple and Android devices if that’s something you prefer. That way whenever you feel like donating you can just launch the app and find a project to donate to. I’m really impressed with the whole concept and I definitely recommend checking them out so visit their website give.org.kw

Update: Give made me aware that they do actually mention what the service fee but during the checkout process. I just didn’t notice it.

Pixel artist Comet Confetti yesterday posted a really great 8-bit art recreation of the famous photo of a Kuwaiti girl and her lamb taken right after the Gulf War. If you’re into 8-bit art like me then you should check out her instagram account for more of her work @cometconfetti

On a side note, what’s the story behind the picture? I couldn’t find anything about it online and I’m guessing the girl in the photo is around 40 years old now. I wonder where she is?

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today? [Link]

On Friday I visited the Liberation Tower for my first time ever after booking an appointment earlier in the week. I had booked a 4PM spot back when you could book a time slot, but decided to pass by at 2PM instead. The process to enter the tower was very simple. I parked in the underground parking across the street and then headed to the main tower entrance on the main road. There was a guy standing at the gate who was scanning the ticket QR code, he wasn’t checking the time slot just that you had an active QR code or not. Once I got through him I just needed to show my vaccination status to another counter and then was pointed in the direction of the elevator.

I’d never been to the Liberation Tower before so I was really excited to get to the top. I saw the tower being built as a kid, and as an adult I drive by it all the time so I was really looking forward to finally be able to go inside. Once I stepped out of the elevator onto the observation deck I was actually surprised, it looked nice. Because it’s an old government building I think I was just expecting it to look rundown but instead it was actually very clean and looked brand new. As part of this one month opening of the deck they had some vintage telecom and postal service related items on display but without any explanation or information. They also had an old phone booth which was cool and viewing binoculars spread out around the deck. It was very chill, I liked it.

When I posted photos of my experience on Instagram a lot of people messaged me to ask if it was worth visiting or not. That’s difficult to answer. My office in Hamra Tower was higher than the observation deck at Liberation Tower so you are’t going there because it’s the tallest structure in Kuwait. I think it’s one of those places worth visiting just because of what they are, an important Kuwaiti landmark.

To book tickets you can do so by visiting LiberationTower.com but like I mentioned in my previous post you’ll get a “Sold out” error if you do so. Instead, you need to get tickets through the loophole I found which is by booking through this page. People who booked through that page have confirmed they were able to visit the Liberation Tower at the day and time of their choosing and were let in without any issues. Just make sure you have a QR code for every person in your group.

Back in 2019 Carriage had a great deal where for just 3.5KD a month you’d get unlimited free deliveries with no minimum spend. That lasted for around 8 months before they changed it to 7.5KD a month and then eventually phased it out completely. But, this weekend I got a pop-up in my Deliveroo app about signing up to something similar called Deliveroo Plus.

For just 3.5KD a month I now get unlimited free deliveries with Deliveroo but with the condition that my order is 5KD or more. Although I’d rather there was no minimum it’s probably there so it stops people from abusing the service by ordering random things worth less than a dinar.

So how do you sign up for Deliveroo Plus? According to their FAQ page, it seems only some customers will see the option to sign up but no details on if you get randomly picked, or if you need to be some sort of regular. If you do get the pop-up then sign up right away just in case you don’t get the option to sign up again. You get a 14-day free trial anyway so sign up first, then think about if you need the service or not.

Quite a few things to do this weekend. Today is the last day of the GCC Camel Racing Tournament but there is also a market taking place at Murouj. Friday is a bit slow but if you’re at the chalet then you have The Hype by Drive In taking place at Bnaider 264. Saturday is the busiest day with a Poetry & Jam Night taking place as well a few other interesting events that day including Yoga Not in the Desert. Check out the full list below and if I missed anything, let me know:

Thursday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Elements – Sculptures from CAPs Private Collection
BBT Picnic
GCC Camel Racing Tournament (Schedule)
Visit the Liberation Tower
Al Souq Exhibition at Murouj
The Avenues Sky
Take me to Paris
The Hype at Bnaider 264

Friday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
BBT Picnic
Visit the Liberation Tower
Albohayra Farm
The Avenues Sky
The Hype at Bnaider 264
Road Rush
Curated Cars & Coffee

Saturday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Elements – Sculptures from CAPs Private Collection
Grand Mosque Tour
BBT Picnic
Visit the Liberation Tower
Albohayra Farm
Sailing: Saturday Sunset Cruising
The Avenues Sky
Mubarakia Market Walk
CPES Hackathon at Shaheed Park
Sailors Knots Yacht Trip
Interactive Children Book Reading at Assima Mall
Anti Bullying Workshop with Horses
Poetry & Jam Night
Yoga Not in the Desert
Pomeranian Meetup

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

New This Weekend:
Death Valley (4.3)
Uncharted (7.2)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Animal Crackers (5.8)
Encanto (7.8)
Fortress (3.2)
House of Gucci (7.1)
Last Survivors (7.2)
Moonfall (5.6)
My Sweet Monster (5.8)
Scream (7.9)
Sing 2 (7.2)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (9.2)
The 355 (4.6)
The King’s Man (6.8)

Classic Movies Showing Now:
Groundhog Day (8.0)
You’ve Got Mail (6.7)

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.

I just found out that this year’s COMFEST 2022 is going to be held at The Arena, the new venue part of the 360 Mall expansion. The Arena is a 5,000+ capacity purpose-built indoor live entertainment and events space that was designed to world-class standards. No events have been held at the venue yet so COMFEST 2022 will probably be the first event to be held there.

The event will be taking place from March 29th to April 1st, no tickets are on sale yet but to stay posted follow them on instagram @comfestcon or visit their website for more information comfestkw.com

The inaugural list of the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants was revealed yesterday and White Robata was the only restaurant from Kuwait that made it coming in at #43. Since they were the only restaurant from Kuwait that also automatically gave them the accolade of The Best Restaurant in Kuwait for 2022.

The majority of the list was dominated by UAE-based restaurants (19 in total) including the overall first place winner going to 3 Fils which is located in Dubai. Five restaurants from Saudi Arabia made the list, two from Bahrain and one from Qatar while five restaurants from Lebanon also made the list and four from Egypt.

To check out MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants, click here.

The Liberation Tower is now open to the public for the month of February. The Ministry of Communications is holding a communications and postal exhibition on level 150m of the tower to showcase a unique collection of telecom devices and items related to the postal service.

The tower is open on weekdays from 3PM to 8PM, and weekends from 2PM to 8PM. You need to book ahead of time and you can do so by visiting liberationtower.com

Update: Tickets are sold out!

Update2: Ok, I found a loophole. If you try and book a ticket the normal way you will get a “Sold Out” error. Instead, what you need to do is head to this page and add the product to the cart. You will find tickets available but you can only book one ticket at a time. As of this post they had tickets available from today till Sunday. After clicking on submit, the page will hang and time out. Ignore that and check your email. If you don’t have an account on the website then you will get an email asking to verify your email. Once you verify you should get the tickets sent to you.

Update3: Looks like the loophole has now been closed.

Update4: According to a reader he was able to visit the Liberation Tower using a ticket that didn’t contain a date or time. So the loophole above still works.

Kuwait will ban a new film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit “Death on the Nile” with a cast of Hollywood stars including Israeli actress Gal Gadot, authorities said Sunday. Source

Can someone with free time on their hands get the domain bannedinkuwait.com and just start listing all the things banned here so we can keep track? Thx.