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If you’re a tea drinker then you should check out this kettle before they get sold out. I first spotted it maybe around a month back at Xcite but I didn’t get it and I’m glad I didn’t because they’re currently heavily discounted and are being sold for a lot cheaper than Amazon.

The reason I was checking out kettles in the first place is because I was looking for one which would allow me to select a specific heating temperature instead of just boiling it to 100° like my regular kettle did. For some teas like green tea, pouring boiling 100° water on the leaves can scald them leaving a bitter taste. That’s why for green tea for example, it’s recommended to heat up the water up to just 80°. This Breville BKE820 Smart Kettle allows me to do just that. There are a five preset temperatures ranging from 80° to 100° and I select the one I want and click on start. Very easy and very cool to use. By cool I mean lots of nice flashing lights and beeping sounds.

Now the reason I’m posting about this is for some reason Xcite have dropped the price of the kettle from KD47 down to KD28. It’s a ridiculously good value considering my other two alternatives were a Cuisinart and KitchenAid kettle, both of which cost over KD60 at Williams-Sonoma. Last time I found a good deal like this was for my Breville juicer. They don’t have the kettle listed online and I’ve only seen it at their AlRai branch off the 4th Ring Road, so that’s where you need to go to get one.

Friday night I passed by with a friend to the Alshaya Staff Shop in Shuwaikh. The shop is located inside the Alshaya headquarters and its only for Alshaya employees, their family and friends. The store sells heavily discounted leftover stock from previous Alshaya sales, and my friend told me there were a ton of items left over from Harvey Nichols which is why I HAD to pass by.

For those of you who’ve been to the Villa Moda discount store when they were open, you’ll feel right at home at the Alshaya Staff Shop. The place is packed with luxury items but packed on top of each other and you basically need to flip through the items one by one to find anything. The first section I tackled was the shoes and for some reason it felt like Black Friday, so I started flipping through everything as if there was a crowd behind me fighting over the shoes. In reality though, the shop was empty except for me and my friends but I kept getting the feeling that if I didn’t go through the shoes fast enough they would quickly disappear. I panicked, I was all over the place and I was in heaven.

Once I was done with the shoes section I started flipping through the clothes. According to the employee there, the last time the mens section got restocked was three months ago and I was flipping through the leftover of the leftover. That didn’t make sense because I found a bunch of gorgeous Alexander McQueen shirts just sitting there, three of which I had my eyes on when they were still displayed at Harvey Nichols. How those shirts were still available at the Alshaya Staff Shop I have no clue but better for me. Not only were most of these items being sold at 70% at Harvey Nichols when they were on sale, but once they get moved to the Alshaya Staff Shop they get discounted even further and then on top of that discount there is an additional 30% off if you’re an Alshaya employee or you’re with an Alshaya employee.

I ended up leaving with a couple of sneakers and shirts. Just to give you an idea of how ridiculously cheap the prices were, I got the pair of hightop sneakers pictured above for just KD17.5 after discount. KD17.5 for really soft leather sneakers that are more comfortable and look better than my Loubs. Their original price at Harvey Nichols was KD220 and they’re still selling for nearly KD200 online. So if you have a friend that works at Alshaya, force them to take you to their shop. Women are supposedly getting a restock this week.

Kuwait Mapping Meetup is a meetup for mapping enthusiasts. They’ve already held four previous mapping meetups and their fifth meetup is this coming Sunday. If you’re interested in maps, then this is a great way to socialize and network with like minded people.

Kuwait Mapping Meetup 5
Date: Sunday, December 8th 2013
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Costa Coffee Starbucks in Al Bida’a

Also for those interested, here is a link to the Kuwait Mapping Meetup [Facebook Group]

The Kuwait Textile Arts Association is hosting a ‘Winter Bazaar’ at the historic Beit Al Sadu where you’ll be able to find original designs, quilts, bags, table linens, silks, designer jewelry, shawls, crochet, hand embroidery and more. It’s taking place this weekend so if you’re interested here are the details:

Date: Saturday, December 7th 2013
Time: 10AM to 6PM
Location: Sadu House, Gulf Road [Map]

Below is this months schedule for Cinemagics rooftop movie nights. If you’ve never been to them before, they’re held twice a week, every Thursday and Saturday on top of the building that has Xcite in old Salmiya. I think this is the first time where I haven’t seen a single movie from the list they’re playing. Usually I would have watched at least one but this time none. Actually the only one I’ve even heard of is Caché. Check out all the movies and their timings below:

Thursday, December 5th 2013 at 7:30PM
DEAD MAN
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange North American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.

Saturday, December 7th 2013 at 7:30PM
SHADOWS
Cassavetes’ jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.

Thursday, December 12th 2013 at 7:30PM
TO THE WONDER
After falling in love in Paris, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Their church’s Spanish-born pastor struggles with his faith, while Neil encounters a woman from his childhood.

Saturday, December 14th 2013 at 7:30PM
A MAN ESCAPED
French Resistance activist Andre Devigny is imprisoned by the Nazis, and devotes his waking hours to planning an elaborate escape. Then, on the same day, he is condemned to death, and given a new cellmate. Should he kill him, or risk revealing his plans to someone who may be a Gestapo informer?

Thursday, December 19th 2013 at 7:30PM
CACHE
A married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.

Saturday, December 21st 2013 at 7:30PM
SURPRISE FILM OF THE MONTH
Every month they’ll be playing a surprise film, where you won’t know what you’re watching until just a minute before the film begins. One thing is for sure, every month the surprise film will be either one of their favorite film on the list, or the most unique in one way or the other. This month’s film won and was nominated for over 30 awards worldwide including the Oscars, Golden Gloves, Independent Spirit Awards and the Baftas. A unique, hilarious, bizarre and poetic little film.

Thursday, December 26th 2013 at 7:30PM
MUD
Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.

Saturday, December 28th 2013 at 7:30PM
NO
An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile’s 1988 referendum.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Xcite and LG and there is no entrance fee [Map]. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 8PM at the new SIRBB Circuit in Shuwaikh. Due to more venders participating this week the market will be open for 2 hours instead of the usual 1. Also as an added bonus the GulfRun karting practice sessions will be taking place at the same time (more info here). Here is the location for the circuit on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

The 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index is out and Kuwait is still dropping down the list every year. In 2011 Kuwait was ranked 54th place worldwide, then last year we dropped down to 66th place and this year we dropped down further to 69th place. Below are some of the rankings:

1- Denmark
14 – United Kingdom
19 – United States of America
26 – United Arab Emirates
28 – Qatar
57 – Bahrain
61 – Oman
63 – Saudi Arabia
66 – Jordan
69 – Kuwait
94 – India
94 – Philippines
114 – Egypt
127 – Lebanon
144 – Iran

You can check out the full list [Here]

Thanks Tariq

Qout Market is an outdoor market that started last month and will be taking place again this coming Saturday, December 7th. The market takes place on the first Saturday of every month and this month it’s going to be located on the roof of the Arraya Center parking lot in Kuwait City. [Map]

The market will be bigger this month and have a petting zoo, a stage, stands selling crafts, street food, fresh flowers, jarred items, artisanal products, a kids and crafts lane, baked goods and local produce. It will be open all day long from 10AM to 7PM.

For more information here is a link to their [Facebook Page]

Found this interesting article on Reddit about a female mechanic in Kuwait. A female mechanic is a rare sight anywhere in the world so you can imagine how difficult it must be being a female mechanic in Kuwait.

Being a Female Car enthusiast is tough, especially since it’s a male dominant field. But you know when it becomes even more tougher? Being a Female Car Enthusiast, in Kuwait.

In Kuwait, “mechanic” and “girl” are not mutually exclusive states of existence. In fact, the number of girls I personally know who are interested in cars and mechanics, is next to zero. It’s not to say that they don’t exist, because they do, and some of them are getting up there. Girl Street Racers, Drifters, Dragsters, Motorcyclists., and a couple of others who also work in this line of work/own autoshops. However, they are, we are, the minority. Being a female in Kuwait is hard enough. But being a Car Enthusiast and a female. Is even more harder.

Check out the full post on her blog Autoholics 965 [Here]

[YouTube]

Kuwaiti rapper Arabique has released a music video for his track ‘Warning’. The track is off his album Lucid Dream which you can download for free (legally) from [Here]

You can also follow Arabique on [Facebook] or [Twitter]

Out of curiosity, Big D or Arabique, who do you prefer?

[poll id=”4″]

Slider Station, the locally created sliders and American tapas bar is opening up in Dubai next year at a new development 5 minutes away from Dubai Mall. They’re already open in Oman so this will be their second international location albeit the most competitive. The rendering above is a first draft look on how the place might end up looking like.

I’m interested to see how a local favorite will perform in a market like Dubai. I think it should do really well but with food you never know. There’s a Lebanese burger chain for example that recently opened up in London and even though they’re not that great in Lebanon, they’re doing really well in London.

This is an interesting initiative, instead of illegally spray painting on private property, a bunch of graffiti artists are looking for people who are willing to donate a wall to spray on. The general idea is they want to make Kuwait a more colorful place and graffiti is one way of going about it. The group have only two requirements, one being that the wall has to be outdoor, and two is that they won’t graffiti any sort of advert. If you’re a property owner and are interested in donating a wall contact AbdulRazzaq on [email protected]

via @razzag_

The Lumineers were the last concert I had planned for the week and I got to see them perform live last night here in London. The doors were going to open at 6:30PM so I was hoping to arrive to the venue at around 4:30 but ended up arriving at around 5:30PM. There were two long lines when we got there and we decided to stand in one of them but then I noticed a third line that was fairly empty, at first I thought it was a priority line or for people without tickets but we asked one of the organizers and he told us it was a third line they had just opened. So we ended up moving over to the newly opened line and headed right up to the front. When the doors finally opened we headed straight to the stage area and it was still empty since we were the first group to get there so we ended up standing second row center stage.

[YouTube]

The venue the concert was being held at was a palace located on top of a hill surrounded by acres and acres of park land. From the main entrance into the main concert hall we had to pass through 2 large palace wings, the first had the security and ticket check while the second wing had an indoor market, they had picnic tables in the middle surrounded by different food stalls all around. The actual concert hall I guess was originally a huge ballroom and easily fit us all even though we were over 10,000 fans last night according to the organizers.

Before The Lumineers came on, a band called Thao & The Get Down Stay Down opened up for them. I hadn’t heard of the band before but the lead singer had a lot of charisma and was pretty cool to watch. They played for less than an hour before The Lumineers finally came on.

[YouTube]

I have no clue how we ended up second row to The Lumineers but it was incredible since it made the concert a much more personal experience. They’re super talented obviously with each band member playing on multiple instruments throughout the night. At one point even the drummer and pianist swapped places with each playing the other persons instruments. They pretty much played all their popular songs from their album in addition to ‘Gale Song’ which is off the new Hunger Games movie soundtrack as well as my personal favorite, ‘This must be the place’ which is a cover for the Talking Heads (watch it above).

It was a great night and I’d highly recommend watching them live if you ever get the chance to.

This weekend it’s the Independent Palestinian Film Festival at Cinemagics. If you’re passing by Shakshooka tonight you might as well pass by Cinemagic and watch a movie on the roof since it’s right next door (Take the elevator up to the roof between LG and Panasonic). Here are the movies for this weekend:

Thursday November 28th, 2013 from 6PM to 10PM
Independent Palestinian Film Festival Day 1
Ajami
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film Category, Ajami is a poignant portrait of Palestinian Muslims and Christians living in an impoverished district of Jaffa

Budrus
A worldwide crowd-pleaser, this documentary is a testament to the potency of peaceful resistance & the human spirit. Budrus will dispose of any preconceptions one may have of the conflict.

Saturday November 30th, 2013 from 6PM to 10PM
Independent Palestinian Film Festival Day 2
Amreeka
A strong single mother and her son leave the West Bank to search for greener pastures in America. They are naively unaware however that they have left post-Intifada Palestine only to enter another hostile territory, post-9/11 America.

Promises
Of all the countless films revolving around the Israel-Palestine conflict, none are more compelling than this Academy Award nominated documentary. The resin being that Palestinian children, who of all others are affected the most by the war, are rarely provided the luxury of expressing their thoughts and emotions in front of a world audience.

For more information on Cinemagics rooftop movie nights click [Here]

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 7PM at Becarre Lifestyle rooftop garden in old Salmiya. It’s basically the same roof where the Cinemagic rooftop movies are played every week. Take the elevator that’s located behind the stairs between BHS and Mothercare. Here it is on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef