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This weekend is an interesting one not because of the amount of the events but because of the wide variety of events that are taking place. The biggest thing happening this weekend is GAME Expo 2015. If you’re into video games or cosplay then pass by this event since it’s the largest of its kind that takes place in Kuwait. On Friday my neighborhood gym Desert Fitness are holding their first Olympic Weightlifting meet so I’ll probably be passing by there. Finally if you’re into pilates theres a session taking place this Saturday morning at Al Shaheed Park. Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: New Species by Hunt Slonem
GAME Expo 2015
Japanese Speech Contest
Workshop: Introduction to Calligraphy
Rooftop Movie: Force Majeure

Friday
GAME Expo 2015
Poptastic the Musical
Olympic Weightlifting Meet
Culinary Event: Searing, Sautéing, and Deglazing
Let’s Go Forward Desert Run

Saturday
GAME Expo 2015
Poptastic the Musical
Pilates at the Park
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Rooftop Movie: Locke

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events for the month click [Here]

According to the 40 minute film below, the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Center that is currently under construction will be the largest museum in the world once completed. The museum will be located next to Shaab Park on the Gulf Road and include:

– A Natural History Museum
– A Science Museum
– A Museum of Islamic History
– A Space Museum
– A Fine Arts Center
– A 350 seat Theatre

[YouTube]

I knew the project was huge but I didn’t think it would end up being the largest museum in the world. I still find that hard to believe. Check out the film above and for more information on the project including 3D renderings click [Here]

Thanks Arad

Sandarah by Yousef

Sandarah is a short animated film by Kuwait animator Yousef Al Bagshi. The film was uploaded 7 months ago but it seems to have just been discovered recently. It’s Yousef’s first animation and it took him nearly a year and a half of work to complete it. The film is gorgeous, I really love his illustration style and the way he renders the light in all the scenes. The story is also captivating and from what I’ve been told based on a true event that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. The film is under 7 minutes long so make sure you watch it.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

A couple of weeks back I asked if anyone had any difficulties ordering fitness supplements online. I got a variety of answers back but generally the response was that customs wouldn’t give me a hard time unless they were in a bad mood. So I went ahead and placed an order of seven different supplements and sent them to my Aramex Shop & Ship mailbox. Earlier this morning the courier dropped them off without a hitch.

So the answer is yes you can order supplements online and save a ton of money compared to buying them locally. Two of my supplements turned out to be pretty heavy (one was basically a kilo) and that kinda screwed up my savings but, for my next order I will be leaving those two heavy supplements out. The amount of savings I can achieve range anywhere from 50% to 75% off the local cost including shipping and customs. The only thing to keep in mind is not to order from the brands I’ve listed below since according to Aramex, the customs department are instructed to hold these brands:

– Muscle Tech
– Vitol Products
– Ultimate Nutrition Inc.
– Labrada Nutrition Inc.
– Bio Engineered Supplement & Nutrition Inc. “BSN”
– Nurtex Research Inc.
– USP Labs LLC
– Pharma Freak
– ISS Research
– Diamond Nutrition Inc. “DMI “
– Nutrabolics
– Experimental and Applied Sciences “IAS”

I ordered all my supplements from Amazon since they have some of the cheapest prices I found online [Link]

Does anyone know of any place serving food and playing the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight in Kuwait?

Emirs Operetta Al-Bait Al-O'd Kuwait 2015 Teaser from Yannis Michalandos.

Someone uploaded the video above of the Kuwait National Day Operetta that took place back in February at the Bayan Palace. According to the uploader it was the first time in the world a full box projection was made and going by the video above it looks like it was a visually stunning experience. I would definitely have loved to have watched that live.

The same uploader also uploaded a making of video which shows you how it was all put together. The video is 13 minutes long but it’s very interesting to watch if you’re into making of videos. Check it out below.

Emirs Operetta Al-Bait Al-O’d Kuwait 2015 Behind The Scenes from Yannis Michalandos.

The third World Happiness Report was recently released by the United Nations and Kuwait dropped down the list instead of moving up. Originally when the list came out in 2012, Kuwait was ranked 31 under the list of happy nations. In 2013, Kuwait dropped one place to 32 and now in the third release Kuwait dropped further down to 39.

Not sure what caused the drop, I mean since the 2013 report we’ve had a ton of new burger joints open and Abercrombie & Fitch as well. Everyone should be super happy by now.

Download the full report from the World Happiness website [Here]

[YouTube]

Two workshops recently took place at The Secret Garden, one on Acting while the other was on Upcycling. I didn’t attend them but based on the video they just released I kinda wish I did since it looked like a lot of fun. Also just a reminder, Saturday Night Lights is taking place at The Secret Garden tonight so be there since it’s probably the last one of the season if the weather gets much warmer. [Link]

It looks like the cop cars are getting a graphical facelift. The images in this post have been circulating social media showing four new car graphics for the cop cars. I kinda like the current blue and fluorescent yellow combo we have right now, the new colors seem a bit dull.

Not that busy a weekend but there are a bunch of interesting events taking place including a Show Jumping Competition, the Gulf Jazz Festival and the Shakshooka Market is back. Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Kuwait Dino Park
Exhibition: New Species by Hunt Slonem
Show Jumping Competition
Kuwaiti Story Night
Rooftop Movie: Chinatown
A Night In

Friday
Kuwait Dino Park
Show Jumping Competition
Culinary Event: Farmers’ Market Finds
Shakshooka Market
Gulf Jazz Festival

Saturday
Kuwait Dino Park
Yoga in the Park
The First K-Pop Youth Festival in Kuwait
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Madeenah Tour: AGi Architects
Rooftop Movie: Agora
Peak – A Vertical Race
Shakshooka Market

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

Update: Due to bad weather, Shakshooka has been rescheduled and will now take place Saturday night at The Secret Garden instead.

Today I picked up a package from the post office for the very first time and I was pleasantly surprised with my experience.

A few weeks ago I ordered an item from an online store in Germany and chose DHL as my shipping option. Little did I know that DHL also had postal mail which is how the store mailed my package to Kuwait. When I found out they had shipped it by regular mail I almost had a heart attack. The item was limited (just 1 of 5) and I thought it was gonna get lost for sure because I kept hearing how screwed the local mail system was. It took around 10 days for the package to get here and I finally had the time today to go pick it up.

I took my tracking number and headed to the Kaifan Post Office where all international mail gets delivered to. Package pickups are in the basement and all I had to do was give a woman behind a counter my tracking number which she then typed out on a computer and told me that it had arrived and to wait while they get it. Five minutes later my name was called and I showed them my civil ID card and signed a paper that I had received the shipment. My shipment was then passed over to the customs agent who opened to see what was inside before handing it over to me.

It was such an incredibly easy process that I think I’m going to be shipping stuff to Kuwait via regular mail much more often. Things to note, they’re open from 8AM to 1PM and once a package arrives to Kuwait they store it for 40 days before sending it back or destroying it. If you want to know where the post office is, here it is on [Google Maps]

Update: They’ve changed the location. To pick up mail you now need to head to Al Sadiq, block 5 near the police station and boubyan bank. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Yesterday, local activist Bashar Al-Huneidi set out on a 200km kayak journey around Kuwait’s islands to raise awareness about our local maritime environment and the issues affecting it, especially the many forms of pollution. This morning Bashar ran into an issue with his support boat and now the journey has been postponed a bit.

Bashar is documenting and sharing his journey via his instagram account using solar powered internet from his sponsor Gulf Telecom, so he’s got internet even out in the middle of nowhere. Make sure you follow him not only as encouragement but also because this is for a good cause and any exposure will help. His instagram account is @kayak4kuwait

via Red Paddle Co Q8

I found a cool vintage gaming store hidden in one of the many alleyways in Rihab Complex. There were a couple of other stores selling vintage consoles and games but this one had the largest collection by far.

The store had a ton of stuff including the NES, SNES, N64, MSX (Sakhr), Dreamcasts, 3DO’s, Gameboys, Ataris, Master Drive, Saturns, Game Gears, and a whole lot more. The store also had old games and accessories to go along with the consoles.

It’s difficult to explain how to find the shop but I’ll try my best to at least point you in the direction. If you take the escalator to the top floor of Rihab Complex, the store would be in one of the dark alleyways in front of you. It’s shop #4 and their phone number is 22626811.

Every year I like to post an updated list of the hottest places in Lebanon to check out. Since I know a lot of people are heading to Beirut at the moment I figured it was time to post this list. The venues are posted in the order I went to:

The Bus Station
When I first heard about this place I thought they meant The Train Station which I had posted about [Here]. Turns out The Bus Station is located right next to The Train Station except it’s an indoor venue. It’s literally an old bus station which they’ve turned into a giant club and there are a bunch of busses scattered all around as a reminder. The night I went to it Red Bull were hosting the evening and live bands were performing. The Bus Station is located in Mar Mikhael and is a project by überhaus.

Twenty Seven
After The Bus Station I headed to another new place that opened up called Twenty Seven. It’s located in the Beirut Souks and is run by the Skybar Group. DJETTE (pictured above), one of my favorite Lebanese DJ’s is a resident there so it’s definitely a place I would want to hit up on my trips. They also bring in a lot of international acts so there is always something going on. Follow them on instagram to stay updated on their upcoming events. [Link]

The Grand Factory
Located on the rooftop of a factory in the industrial Karantina area of Beirut, The Grand Factory is one of the hottest venues at the moment. The space is obviously very industrial looking and the journey begins with a fun ride in a giant industrial elevator to the top. It’s the new home of C U NXT SAT. [Link]

OFF / ON
OFF & ON is a barbershop by day and a crazy club at night. Walking by the shop you can’t even tell there is a club right on top of it but if you’re in the know, a guy sitting in the barber chair will hit a hidden switch revealing a hidden door that leads to the club upstairs. Would have taken a better picture but by this point in the evening I was already too trashed. OFF & ON is located in the back of the An-Nahar building, same building that has Iris on the roof. [Link]

B018
For frequent travelers to Beirut, this place doesn’t need an introduction and they just celebrated their 21 year anniversary a few nights ago. B018 is a place I highly recommend heading there after clubbing, preferably around 5AM. The best feeling is when you’re completely wasted and they open up the roof so you can see the sun come up, and then they close it again so you could continue to party. It’s really what makes B018 special, it’s the club everyone goes to after a night of hard clubbing and just before going to breakfast. [Link]

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