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Some good news, back in 2006 I posted about how Kuwait had the most corrupt diplomats in New York averaging 246.2 parking tickets per diplomat. Well the new 2009 results are out and Kuwait is no longer first, instead they’re second! The Egyptian diplomats now lead the way with the most unpaid parking tickets while Kuwait is following closely behind owing nearly $1.3 million in unpaid fines. Here is the link to the article. [Link]

On a similar note Marzouq posted about the Kuwaiti embassy thats based in the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. Looks like the best place to be if you want to be a Kuwaiti diplomat. [Link]

Note: Stop emailing me hate mail. I wasn’t the person who wrote the article or call the diplomats corrupt. Since those of you who emailed me are too lazy to click the link here is a quotation from the link that explains how not paying your tickets means you are corrupt:

“In a great paper for the National Bureau for Economic Research, two researchers have found that the number of parking tickets that legally-immune foreign diplomats accumulate in NYC and refuse to pay is a great measure of how corrupt their home countries are.”

Direct all hate mail to the New York Daily News, the National Bureau for Economic Research or your diplomats.

I have two issues with gas stations in Kuwait. First is that there are only five stations (at least it feels that way) and the second is that they lack mini-marts. Maybe sometime in the future these issues will get fixed but for now it seems the priority was to face lift the oil change section.

The picture above is of the new Khidma oil change at the Kortaba station. Looks pretty but I would think if they were going to face lift something it would be the actual gas station and not the small oil change area.

[source]

Ok this might sound like a strange subject since its about a pen but a few weeks back there was a free pen that was attached to a magazine I received. I don’t remember the name of the magazine but I trashed it and kept the pen. Today I needed a pen and grabbed the free pen randomly from my pen collection on the desk and I was completely surprised with the result.

Although the tip looks like a regular ballpoint pen when writing its super smooth and pretty thick. The result looks like it was written with an ink pen with varied color shading in places where your pen passed through faster or slower. The pen is called the Uni-Ball Gel Impact, I have the blue one but will definitely be getting a black one. And this ends my first and last post about a pen… maybe. [Link]

Artist: Bader Qabazard
Venue: Dar Al Funoon
Location: Al Watiah, Behbehani Compound, House No. 28
Date: June 10th to the 25th, 2009
Website: www.baderqabazard.com
Facebook: Link

Yeah its a long name but it helps with the geek factor. I’ve been wanting the Oral B Triumph for some time now but the local dealer never got the one I wanted which comes with the Smart Guide.

What is the Smart Guide? The Smart Guide is the little device that’s pictured above. Your toothbrush connects to it wirelessly and transmits various information about your brushing technique to help you brush properly while also making it more fun. First off it tells you how much time to spend on each quadrant of your teeth before shifting to the next one. It also tells you if you’re applying the right amount of pressure onto your teeth or gums by flashing a warning when it thinks you’re being too rough. Finally and most importantly, when you are done brushing correctly you get a smiley face on the Smart Guide as a reward. The live feedback system while brushing made me want the Triumph since I like information even if its coming from a toothbrush.

The price of the regular Triumph is KD42 in Kuwait after discount but it DOESN’T come with the Smart Guide. On Amazon the Triumph WITH the Smart Guide is for only KD34. I picked up the KD50 special edition version which comes with 2 tooth brushes and 2 Smart Guides, one for me and one for Nat which saved me a bundle. Will post a more in depth review once I get to use it for awhile.

Oral B Triumph 9900 Toothbrush with Smart Guide KD34 [Amazon]
Oral-B Triumph 9950 2 handle pack with 2 Smart Guides KD51 [Amazon]

I just passed by and had lunch at Falafel & Company and it was great. I had the double impact and the midnight shawerma. Double Impact is beef shawerma with fried onion strings, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce, jalapeno sauce and lettuce. The midnight shawerma is a beef shawerma with cheddar cheese, grilled fresh onions, lettuce and their special midnight sauce. Incredible stuff and for only 450fils each.

For those of you who are not as adventurous, you can have your shawerma “normal”. They’re located on the Gulf Road opposite Seif Palace from 9AM to 6PM

Last year I posted about a casting call for the first locally produced musical short film and I just got an email telling me that the project has been completed and the film will be premiering this weekend. Here is the email I got:

Attention all film lovers!

Shashati.TV, in association with Cinemagic Kuwait, are proud to present “The Shashati Show” – Kuwait’s biggest Audio-Visual variety performance!

Hosted by ShowTime’s very own comedy superstar, Wonho Chung, the evening will include the Kuwait premier of the highly anticipated, all-singing, all-dancing musical short film “Wonderful World”.

The show will also include a selection of the latest and greatest shorts from across the region, including Emirates Film Competition Winner “The Beggar and Moustafa’s Brain”, as well as Jordanian Filmmaker Fadi Haddad’s critically acclaimed film “Once upon a Piano”. The show will also feature a selection of the most recent prize-winning Kuwaiti short films presented by the filmmakers themselves.

But that’s not all! Screening for the very first time to a public audience in Kuwait will be ikbis.com’s hilarious “Doublage” comedy skits, as well as some innovative Kuwaiti audio-visual comedy clips & sketches!

Join us for a fun-filled evening full of laughs, tears, and above all films!

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, June 11th at Cinemagic’s Rooftop Venue in Old Salmiya. Tickets will be available at the location for the price of 2 K.D – but advance booking is advised, as seating is limited. Send an e-mail to [email protected], or call 97996100 to reserve your ticket today!

I know this topic might sound strange but bear with me since I did find something interesting about balsamic vinegar that made it post worthy.

I became a fan of balsamic vinegar last year when I tried one that was aged 30 years at an Italian restaurant in Munich. So today while at Dean & Deluca I thought I would “splurge” 8 or 12 dinars on some decent balsamic vinegar. While checking out the bottles a salesman came over and told me about a 100 year old aged Acetaia Leonardi balsamic vinegar. I thought that was very interesting so he showed me the bottle and told me they produced only 200 of those bottles and 4 (actually 3 since one got sold already) bottles were available in Kuwait. Now I figured the bottle would be expensive but not THIS expensive. Turns out the bottle was “slightly” out of my budget costing KD190! The salesman told me they could order a bottle that was 300 years old at a cost of get this… KD2,500!

Although I wouldn’t pay KD2,500 or KD190 for balsamic vinegar (or any other consumable product (ok maybe for a burger)) I do appreciate having the choice and that’s what I like about Dean & Deluca and the over priced imported stuff at Sultan Center. I would rather have the choice and choose not to than not have the choice at all.

Here is a link to an interesting review of Acetaia Leonardi balsamic vinegars. [Link]

The Reuters news video above is of an event that took place a few days ago here in Kuwait. Three world records were broken: worlds largest bucket of fried chicken, worlds largest box of donuts in and longest line of burgers in the world. [YouTube]

According to the Slider Station facebook group Falafel & Company will be launching next Thursday on June 4th. On my to do list to try once they open is the Double Impact shawerma featuring crispy panko onion strings, jalapeno mayo and jalapeno bbq with cheddar cheese.

Although in most places around the world the BlackBerry is used as a business tool in Kuwait its become a social one. With all my friends practically owning one the built in BlackBerry Messenger is a perfect way to stay in contact with all of them through out the day and a much more efficient way to communicate quick messages. Google Latitude is another application that also helps in being more social by showing you where your friends are around the world at that moment. Basically how Latitude works is you need to install the application on your BlackBerry and then sign in using your gmail account and add other friends who also have Latitude installed. You will then be able to see them on the map like in the picture above.

Latitude has many useful uses, I personally use it to find friends nearby like if I am at the Avenues I check and see which one of my friends is there or like last week I was at Kinkos in Salmiya waiting for something to get printed and then I noticed on Latitude Marzouq was just down the street. Latitude also helped a friend get to a BBQ I was at. He didn’t have the address but since I was already at the BBQ he just looked for me on Latitude and then drove towards me.

But the software isn’t perfect, when you’re indoors the GPS usually doesn’t work so the software uses cell towers to estimate where you are. Sometimes for some odd reason Latitude thinks I am in London or a friend is randomly in Belgium or Pakistan. It doesn’t happen frequently but when it does it can be funny or annoying depending on the situation.

Latitude works on the following phones:
– Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1
– most color BlackBerry devices
– most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices
– most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones)

Its free and you can get it from [Here]

I was supposed to post this once I got back from Amsterdam but totally forgot about it. This is just a follow up to my Archos 7 review which I posted awhile back. I used the Archos extensively on my way to and from Amsterdam on the plane. Its a 6 hour trip and I spent the whole time watching movies and shows on my Archos. The screen is 7inches which is pretty big so with the help of a headphone splitter Nat was able to comfortably watch whatever I was watching on my Archos.

One feature that drove me towards the Archos 7 was the advertised 10 hour battery life. I figured I would get around 8 which is enough for long flights except I managed to get nearly 11 hours worth on a single charge! After watching videos on my Archos for the whole trip back from Amsterdam, once I got to Kuwait I managed to watch a few more episodes of Battlestar Galactica before the low battery warning came on. Thats simply incredible.

I also want to mention that I didn’t face any kind of issues with the Archos on the trip. My flickering back light issue seemed to have fixed itself and I didn’t encounter any crashes or freezes. So I can now confidently recommend this device to anyone who is looking for the perfect travel companion.

160GB Archos 7 is for $272. [Amazon Link]
320GB Archos 7 is for $412. [Amazon Link]

By the way there is also a smaller version called the Archos 5 which sells for $280. Its the same as the Archos 7 in every way except the screen is a 5inch and the battery lasts around 5 hours. [Amazon Link]

Nats got a love this, a place that only mostly serves salad! [Link]

via Kuwait Black Market

I just heard that the Los Angeles based franchise for the upscale frozen dessert restaurant Pinkberry was taken by Alshaya and that they will be opening their first branch at the Avenues. It will be the first Pinkberry branch outside California and New York. According to the Pinkberry facebook group they should open up before the end of the year. [Link]

I don’t know how many of you remember Mogahwi or even know what it is so I figured I would post about them. Mogahwi I believe is one of the best if not the best stationary and art supply store in Kuwait. They’ve been around in Kuwait since 1940 but the Salmiya branch which I’ve been visiting since I was a kid I think has been around for 30 years but not really sure. The place hasn’t changed much since they first opened, I think they still even use the same bags. They’ve got everything there from the regular stuff like pens and papers to the more interesting stuff located in the basement which is the art supplies. I’ve taken a few shots of the place which you can see below. I don’t think they get as many customers as they used to back in the 80s and 90s so I hope they don’t close down. They’re located in the old Salmiya near Alghanim Electronics.