Search: “ace”

The Superdry store in Marina Mall is now open in place of Diesel. I’ve noticed both the Marina Mall and Avenues branches of Superdry are always pretty empty when I pass by. I’m guessing no one knows Superdry in Kuwait…

Three Kuwaitis killed a crocodile which had apparently sneaked out of a farm and strayed at night before it came face to face with them.

The two brothers and their friend were sitting near a camp just outside the capital Kuwait City when the two-metre reptile crawled slowly towards them.

“One of them who had a hunting rifle shot the crocodile as they were afraid it might attack them…the crocodile had apparently managed to sneak out of a nearby farm in Bar Al Abdali area,” Alanba daily said.

If someone makes a movie about a crocodile that goes on a rampage in Kuwait City I’d watch it. [Source]

Photography Exhibition and a Competition Announcement
Date: Tuesday, 10th January 2012
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Sultan Gallery, Sabhan

@SSHDesignClub and @Archofkuwait have organized a photography exhibition called Kuwait – Early 50 Years where they will be exhibiting old photos of Kuwait with some that might never have been seen before. At the photography exhibition they will also be announcing a competition called Kuwait 2061 which will be open to everyone to participate in.

The competition will be about how Kuwait might look like 50 years from now and you will be able to share your vision by any means possible as long as it fits onto a 50×50 board. The full details of the competition will be made clear on Tuesday at the event.

For now you can check out their Facebook page for more information [Link]

I heard a lot of complaints about traffic at the end of the 1st Ring Road since it ends at a traffic light but honestly I’ve been taking it every morning to work and I have yet to face any traffic issues. The new extension has actually cut down my morning trip by 5 to 10 minutes so I guess people who’ve been complaining about major traffic are facing it at a different timing than mine. [YouTube]

Back in 2009 Bait 7 closed down because of a fire and then stayed closed since the 1st Ring Road construction was taking place right in front of them. Now that the construction in front of them has been completed the place got fixed up and is now open again. The place also has a new owner but according to the manager they’ve kept the same feel and look with just a few adjustment to the menu. I don’t have their contact number or website link but they’re located in Kuwait City behind the church and if you’re planning to go there you need to park in the Starbucks lot and then follow the “7” sign.

Kuwait’s Public Authority for Applied Sciences and Training (PAAST) announced this week that it was beginning to design the country’s first-ever solar energy station.

According to the center, the $16.16 million endeavor is to be completed by the end of 2013 and is being developed in cooperation with the Kuwaiti firm Pan Arab Consulting Engineers (PACE), the Kuwaiti state news agency reported.

All I can say is it’s about damn time. [Link]

The Quadrantid meteors to be seen today and tomorrow night in Kuwaiti skies, Astronomer Adel Al-Saadoon said on Wednesday.

The Quadrantids are a major shower, Al-Saadoon told KUNA, adding that they come from a comet that broke into fragments when it was nearing the sun 500 years ago.

He added that Quadrantids meteors are a combination of many meteors in space throughout the years, producing more than 100 meteors per hour from a radiant near the North Star, noting that the first phase of the meteors in 2012 has already peaked and it is possibly visible around 10:00 PM at North Pole direction, and, specifically, south of the Big Dipper. [Source]

Thanks Tuan

I found out about Al-Sabih Marine from my twitter followers and I’m glad I did since I was planning to order a Pelican case from Amzon and it turned out to be cheaper to just buy it locally. .

Al-Sabih Marine is located behind Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh and as soon I walked into the place I spotted their Pelican collection. I was looking for the 1200 model in black but spotted a yellow one on display for KD23. The same case costs around KD10 on Amazon so I asked the salesman if they had any discounts and he told me they did and that the final price would be KD19.5. It also turned out they had it in black which was great. KD19.5 isn’t cheaper than Amazon but it was going to cost me at least KD10 to ship it with Aramex so even though I was paying double the price of Amazon I was still saving money. While I was there I also noted down the prices of the other sized cases just for reference. These prices below are without the discount which I am assuming is a standard 15%:

Pelican 1200 – KD23
Pelican 1300 – KD27
Pelican 1400 – KD38
Pelican 1450 – KD45
Pelican 1490 – KD65
Pelican 1500 – KD52
Pelican 1510 – KD72
Pelican 1550 – KD68
Pelican 1550 DIV – KD99
Pelican 1560 – KD80
Pelican 1600 – KD84

If you’re interested in getting a Pelican case I’m not aware of any other place in Kuwait that sells them for cheaper. Here is a link to their website [Link]

If you don’t know what Pelican cases are just watch the video below.

[YouTube]

If you’re heading towards the Sheraton Roundabout the First Ring Road is now open. It’s important to note that the road no longer gets you to the roundabout but passes underneath it. The 1st Ring Road now ends at the Justice Palace.

I finally got around to putting together this video I shot last week when I was in Lebanon. I rented a snowmobile up in Mzaar (Faraya) near the ski slopes from a company called Highland Club. It costs $100 for an hour but they have better deals on longer journeys. For example they can take you from Faraya to the Cedars and back for around $400. That’s a 3 hour trip each way and comes to around $65 an hour.

If you’re ever in Lebanon and are interested in taking out a snowmobile you can call them on +9613860867 for reservation and directions or just go up to Mzaar near the slopes and ask for snowmobile rental places. [Vimeo]

The weather is pretty cozy right now with it not being too cold yet so it’s still a great time to catch the Cinemagic screenings next month. I’ve watched two of the movies they’re going to be showing, American Splendor and of course Akira. Both of them were really great and Akira honestly is a classic and a must watch if you haven’t already. Embarrassingly I’ve never watched Grease although I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. Here is the January movie screenings list:

Thursday, January 5th at 7:30pm
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

Saturday, January 7th at 7:30pm
DON’T LOOK BACK
Documentary covering Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.

Thursday, January 12th at 7:30pm
THE DINNER GAME
Each week, Pierre and his friends organize what is called as “un dîner de cons”. Everyone brings the dumbest guy he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon- will steal the show.

Saturday, January 14th at 7:30pm
THE GREAT DICTATOR
In Chaplin’s satire on Nazi Germany, dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double… a poor Jewish barber… who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.

Thursday, January 19th at 7:30pm
THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED
Should Tom (Duris) make like his thuggish father or pursue his dream of becoming a pianist?

Saturday, January 21st at 7:30pm
THRONE OF BLOOD
A ruthlessly ambitious lord, egged on by his wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become Emperor.

Thursday, January 26th at 7:30pm
GREASE
Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they’re now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?

Saturday, January 28th at 7:30pm
AKIRA
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

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 Alghanim Electronics and LG. Entrance is free of charge and includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Round 2 of the Kuwait Rally Championship is going to take place this weekend. It should be a cool event to take pictures at so if you’re interested and want more details click [Here]

Racers in Kuwait are getting pretty nifty with their filming. The one above has a 3 camera set up! Here is the video description:

Honda NSX-R 500hp Vs 700hp HPE LS9 Hennessey Camaro…
strocked engine built by SOS (Science of Speed)
with a LoveFab single turbo.
+Race was in K-town on 2Lions St.. Time: After Midnight
MUSIC:Swanky Tunes & Hard Rock Sofa – I Wanna Be Your Dog

[YouTube]

A reader emailed me yesterday warning me of the following:

Three employees from XXXXX admitted with contagious Bacterial Meningitis in the last 4 days. Today, another patient was admitted. I was in XXXXX 3 days ago. I went for a vaccine update and took prophylactic antibiotics. I am a surgeon in Adan. I recommend anyone who has been to XXXXX in the last week to go get a meningococcal vaccination and possibly rifampin or ciprofloxacin antibiotic.

Now I’ve replaced the name of the place with XXXXX since I can’t confirm if the information ir true or not but I just saw the article below on Arab Times:

Rumours rife as famous market worker falls dead, 6 sent to ICU
An employee of a well known shopping complex in Al-Rai area died and six others were referred to the Intensive Care Unit of Farwaniya Hospital after complaining of severe pain in the chest and cough.

The cause of the death could not be ascertained through preliminary tests, but some said the victim died of meningitis, while others said it was a swine flu case.

Co-workers of the deceased, who worked in the vegetables section of the hypermarket, said he suddenly felt severe pain in the chest which was accompanied with a bout of cough. The man fell down shortly afterwards and died. This spread terror among other employees and six individuals who complained of similar symptoms were rushed to the ICU.
Sources said the hypermarket’s administration sent employees for vaccination at Kuwait Clinic in groups to keep work going at the shopping center.

Senior officials at the Health Ministry have refused to confirm or refute the incident. Manager of Infectious Diseases Hospital Dr Jamal Al-Duaij, however, said they did not receive any such case and added that the ministry had earlier instructed that all infectious cases be sent to hospitals in the victims’ area of residence. He said he did not receive any call from the ministry on any emergency and added that it did not announce anything about meningitis. [Source]

Picture taken from the Arab Times article.

Update: For those of you posting the name of the shop in the comments I am not allowing it. If you think you know the shop that’s great, just don’t post it in the comments below.

Update2: Arab Times posted an update to the story, looks like it was a false alarm…

“I wish to state categorically that claims about widespread infection in Kuwait are a bundle of lies and rumor by mischievous personalities. I repeat that the ministry only recorded two of such cases”, the health director reiterated. [Source]

Speaking of a smoking ban…

A group of young students surprised shoppers at one of Kuwait’s most frequented malls by shouting anti-smoking slogans and carrying posters asking smokers to stub out their cigarettes.

The stunt, unprecedented in Kuwait where smoking is a major issue, was meant to embarrass those who flouted the law that bans smoking in malls and other closed places, Shuaa Al Qadhi, the head of public relations, said.

Several of the shoppers and people at the mall felt uneasy when they saw the young girls and boys urging them to put out their cigarettes and they complied, she said, local daily Al Qabas reported on Tuesday.

Smoking has been banned in closed areas in Kuwait since 1994, but the rule is often broken.

A field study has found that a cigarette is lit every 58 seconds at Kuwait International Airport and that 20 per cent of grown ups and 11 per cent of teenagers regularly smoke in Kuwait, the daily said. [Source]

Did anyone take pictures or shoot any video of this?