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While in London this week I watched Dune 2 in the cinema and it was the worst experience. I looked for a cinema in central London that was showing it in the IMAX 70mm format, and I think I found 3 or a handful of cinemas that were showing it in that format. The two best places for IMAX in London according to Reddit were BFI and the Science Museum, but I was booking on Saturday to watch on Sunday and both those theaters had Dune 2 sold out for the whole week. Eventually found seats at Odeon in Leicester Square. Wasn’t too excited about it since I hate that area because it’s so busy and packed with tourists, but whatever.

I wish I watched it anywhere else, even if it wasn’t in IMAX. The theater was huge, and the screen was probably huge, but because the theater was much much larger than the screen, the screen looked tiny. I swear I was like wtf, I could have just watched it on my iPad or at home on my TV, you can see in my photo above how small the screen looked like.

When the movie started I thought about leaving and just watching it once I was back to Kuwait, but thankfully I didn’t because it looks like Dune 2 was removed from the cinemas here. Both Cinescape and VOX are no longer showing Dune 2, most likely because it’s been banned due to scenes and a storyline related to religion? Not sure, but it’s not showing anymore. Oh well…

Update: Never mind, it turns out Cinescape removed Dune 2 from the cinema and will show it again in April, I guess during Eid. I don’t think I’ve ever understand this thinking process, but for those of you in Kuwait you now have to wait till April to watch Dune 2 while the rest of the world is watching it and talking about it now. On the bright side, at least it’s not banned, but by April it’s probably going to be available to stream for free on HBO MAX anyway from what I’m reading as well.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Phoenix (5.1)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Bob Marley: One Love (6.5)
DarkGame (5.9)
Fast Charlie (6.2)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
No Way Up (5.3)
Red Right Hand (5.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
The Holdovers (8.0)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Kuwait Airways is currently celebrating their 70 year anniversary, so I decided to share some old photos my mum took back when she was a Kuwait Airways flight attendant.

Back in the early 70s, my mum traveled to Iran via Kuwait Airways from Lebanon. On the way back while transiting at the Kuwait Airport, she saw a Kuwait Airways ad looking for flight attendants. So once she got back to Lebanon, she applied, got the job, and ended up moving to Kuwait a few months later.

Anytime my mum brings up her experience as a Kuwait Airways flight attendant, she always mentions how great it was, and how she got to travel to so many places and meet a lot of people.

Some of the photos I’ve shared here, I previously posted on the blog around 18 years ago, but in low res. I’ve now rescanned all the photos including new ones I hadn’t shared before, and then tried to restore and recover as much of the details and colors as possible without over editing the images.

Just to add a bit more context, the photos here range from 1974 to 1976, with the oldest being the one of my mum in the orange colored uniform. The uniforms in the photos were also designed by Dior, except for the orange one which was designed by Nina Ricci. Finally, the last photos which look like they were taken on a private jet were in fact taken onboard the Emir’s plane (Emir Sabah al-Salim Al Sabah) which she served on during the last period of her career.

I’ve uploaded all 16 photos to my Flickr account, to check them out click here.

I’m currently in London for the week and I haven’t been here since 2022, before we got Apple Pay in Kuwait.

One cool benefit I realized I now have on this trip is that I can use the London Underground by just tapping my phone on the yellow card readers. I don’t even need to double tap the side button or even activate Face ID, I just take my phone out of my pocket, touch the yellow card reader and it automatically takes the money from my account and lets me through. It also works if you have Google Pay but I haven’t tried that.

Another cool thing I got to try on this trip is the eGate at the airport. Because I have the Canadian passport and I was alone, I was able to use the egate at passport control which meant I didn’t have to wait in any line and was through passport control in under a minute. Anyone who’s had to wait in line for an hour at LHR knows going through in under a minute is just insane.

Other than that its freezing and wet over here right now. I keep forgetting how cold it really gets outside of Kuwait and so I never pack enough winter clothes.

I started watching Constellation this week. Not sure I like it, there are some interesting moments, but there’s a lot I also find really boring, mostly the none space scenes.

Dune: Part 2 is out this weekend, I’m at the airport now heading to London so I’m planning to watch it there. I’ve also filled my iPad with a ton of shows to watch on the plane including Mr & Mrs Smith, Obliterated, House of Ninjas, and the latest season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
DarkGame (5.9)
Dune: Part Two (N/A)
Inside Man (5.5)
Fast Charlie (6.2)
Stopmotion (6.4)
The Holdovers (8.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Bob Marley: One Love (6.5)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
No Way Up (5.3)
Red Right Hand (5.3)
The Ancestral (4.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wanted Man (4.7)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Goldfinger (7.7)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

UPDATE: Due to the bad weather, the air show has been postponed till tomorrow, February 26.

The Kuwait Army has a number of events taking place today at the Kuwait Towers on the occasion of National & Liberation Day:

2:00 PM – Military Band Performance
4:00 PM – Airshow
4:30 PM – Folklore Band Performance

The Kuwait Army are also displaying some of their military vehicles in the Kuwait Towers parking lot for the public to explore.

If you want to head to the towers but don’t want to get stuck in traffic, then it would be a good idea to park in the city, in the area around Hamra Tower for example, and then walk over. @kuwaitarmyghq

Over the past couple of days there have been rumors floating around about Elon Musk coming to Kuwait. It’s being reported by some local news sites which I hadn’t heard of before, which is why I’m marking this as a rumor for now.

Allegedly, Elon Musk is expected to visit Kuwait in the next few days for discussions aimed at establishing Kuwait as a global hub for artificial intelligence.

This is where things gets strange, there is a secretive GPU cloud startup in Kuwait called Omniva that have plans to build a huge data center in Kuwait. The company is headed by big names who came in from companies like Amazon AWS, META and Microsoft. The data center which is under construction is located at the entrance of Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City (Road 278). source

I reached out to Elon Musk and Omniva to confirm all this, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

The first phase of the new refurbished waterfront has now officially been completed. The first phase stretches from the Green Island all the way to the Kuwait Towers and has been given a complete facelift with new sidewalks, dedicated jogging and bicycle paths, as well as new lights, bins, benches and more.

The second phase of the project is from Green Island to Al Shaab slipway and is expected to be completed in October.

Runners will be glad to know that the running track is cushioned so it will be easy on your knees. Both the running and bike paths have distance markers so you can also tell how far you’ve run or cycled. For more pictures, click here.

A reader left a comment recently letting me know that F1 TV Pro now works in Kuwait. If you’re an F1 fan, F1 TV Pro is the best way to watch the races. It costs around $80 for a year and you can watch the practice, qualifications and the races live, as well as the pre race and post race shows among other things.

The app also allows you to also pick between two different English commentary teams, different driver cameras and access to lots of data.

Previously F1 TV Pro would only work in Kuwait if you used a VPN, so this is really good news.

The largest and most prestigious cat show in the Middle East is taking place this weekend in Kuwait. The 2024 K-Cats Show is taking place at the Boulevard Ballroom tomorrow Friday, February 16th, and on Saturday February 17th.

The show is held in association with the prestigious Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) with judges coming in from the US and Europe for this event.

The show starts at 1PM tomorrow and 10AM on Saturday. If you’re looking for something random and unique to do this weekend, this is it.

For more info, click here.

I went to the show back in 2016 and thought it was fun, so definitely not going to miss it this year.

Kuwait’s National Planetarium was one of the first in the Gulf Region and originally opened back in 1986. But a lot has happened to it since then.

During the 1990 Gulf War, the planetarium was destroyed and the signature dome remained visibly damaged for many years after. Eventually, the planetarium was rebuilt and it reopened again in 2002 but then closed down again in 2016 due to the major renovations that were going to take place at the National Museum. Now, 8 years later, it’s set to reopen again.

The technology at the planetarium has been fully upgraded with a new system consisting of nine 4K video projectors, new computer technology and the modernization of the sound system. But, at the heart of it all is the Zeiss STARMASTER projection system which has been at the planetarium since the reopening in 2002. The STARMASTER replaced the Zeiss SPACEMASTER which was installed in 1986 and was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion (It’s now displayed in the planetariums lobby). Only 19 STARMASTER projection systems are installed worldwide and they’re known for their high level of brightness, pinpoint sharpness, and providing a realistic starry sky.

Work on the planetarium is basically complete with only minor maintenance work left. Their aim is to open it as soon as the work is complete, but most likely it will be right after Ramadan.

If you’ve never been to the planetarium before, it’s located on the Gulf Road, opposite Seef Palace and is part of the Kuwait National Museum.

I’m having a horrible experience dealing with all the SMS ads Kababji keep sending me. I used to order from them a few times a week and for yeearrssss, but since I’ve started having issues with their ads and their social media teams complete lack of communication, I’ve stopped ordering from them.

I was a huge fan of the brand but now they really piss me off and all because they refuse to stop sending me ads. To make matters worse, they’ve started sending me Subway ads (they’re owned by the same company which is Kout Food Group), so I’ve also now decided to stop having Subway which I was having around once or twice a week before they started spamming me.

I don’t understand the thinking process sometimes. Like fine, you’re sending ads out to your customers without their permission, sure, whatever, but at least when the customer gets in touch with you and asks you to stop sending them ads, you stop.

Since I’m venting, Dear ZUE, I don’t need to give you my phone number when buying poop bags. Every time I tell the cashier I don’t want to give them my number, they get so confused and don’t know what to do. They insist on a number for me to pay, and when I give them a fake number they refuse to use it. So I keep telling them to put their own numbers and then after they argue amongst each other, the staff end up using their own numbers for the order. Like why all the drama? Why do you need a my real phone number just so I can pay for a poop bag? Like, I’m a fan of the place, products and services, but you have to change this annoying policy.

Rant Over.

I recently placed my first order from TEMU, the online Chinese marketplace which you probably heard about through your Tiktok feed. Surprisingly, my experience was great.

I was looking for a cover for my bicycle since I have my bike wall mounted and I recently repainted and didn’t want to get the wall dirty again. I ended up finding it for really cheap on TEMU and decided to order it. Here’s everything you need to know about ordering from TEMU:

• The bicycle cover cost 2.970KD but when I tried to check out it wouldn’t let me. TEMU offers free shipping to Kuwait, but you need to have an order of at least 13KD to qualify

• If you have an order less than 14KD, you can’t place an order, even if you want to pay for shipping, it’s not an option

• If the item you’re ordering is discounted and the new price is under 14KD, if the original price is over 14KD you get free shipping

• Finding at least 14KD worth of items you didn’t know you wanted is easy on TEMU

• I placed the order on January 25th and was given a delivery date between January 31st and February 8th

• On February 8th, I got a WhatsApp from a delivery company in Kuwait asking for my Google Maps location, the next day my package was delivered to my doorstep

• I ordered 15 items from different vendors, TEMU packaged them together and sent them to me in one bag

• I didn’t pay any customs fee, all taxes are included in the items prices

• Because the items were delivered one day later than promised, I got a credit of 1.250KD

So that’s basically it. The biggest surprise was the home delivery since I wasn’t expecting that, I thought I’d have to pick it up from the post office which I’m never looking forward to doing.

My order arrived with none of the items missing, and no disappointments. My bicycle cover was perfect, but so were all the other random things I ordered. I’m overall very impressed and would definitely recommend ordering from them.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I really hate the water balloons throwing trend as much as I used to hate the foam spraying. But… I also don’t think it deserves up to three years in prison in case you’re caught.

The environmental police in Kuwait have emphasized that throwing water balloons constitutes a violation of environmental protection laws. Offenders may face penalties of up to a KD 5,000 fine or imprisonment for a maximum of three years. source

I highly recommend you click the source link and watch the hilariously sounding English dubbed video which reminds me of old Kung Fu movies.

Two Kuwaiti female artists, Aseel AlYaqoub and Monira Al Qadiri are taking part in this year’s Desert X AlUla 2024 open-air art exhibition.

15 artists from around the world were invited to take part in the exhibition under the theme of “In the Presence Of Absence”. The exhibition is taking place in AlUla area in Saudi Arabia and is open to all to visit.

Aseel’s work is the one on top, while Monira’s are the black enlarged meteorites above. For more information and photos of their installations, head over to their instagram account @aseelalyaqoub and @moniraism.

Desert X AlUla 2024 runs from 9 February to 23 March. For more information on the exhibition, visit @artsalula⠀

Photos: Courtesy of The Royal Commission for AlUla

Here are some events taking place this weekend, if I missed anything let me know in the comments.

Thursday, Feb 8
Autoland
Al Khiran Marina Market

Friday, Feb 9
Wellness Market
Autoland
Ramadan Market
Al Khiran Marina Market
Let’s Go Hiking
KMT Race Weekend – Round 2

Saturday, Feb 10
Wellness Market
Autoland
Ramadan Market
DAI Storytime
Mirror House Art Festival
The Folio Club: Richard III
Shakshooka Market
KMT Race Weekend – Round 2
Al Khiran Marina Market