It looks like Al Salasil will be opening their bookstore at the Avenues soon. It’s supposed to be the largest bookstore in Kuwait, yes you read right… BOOKSTORE! Over the Eid they placed transparent boxes filled with books at the airport with a teaser message “Heading to the biggest bookstore in Kuwait”. I hope it turns out to be cool.
It seems the ministry has banned the use of DSLR cameras (pictured above) in public places, streets and malls. You can take pictures with regular camera’s and camera phones but not with DSLR’s? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard.
I mean seriously whats the difference between a DSLR and Point & Shoot? Both can take pictures and both can have zoom lenses. Why ban the use of DSLR’s in public and not Point & Shoot cameras? I am not saying they should ban P&S cameras I’m just trying to highlight how ridiculous this new law is.
Maybe if someone from the ministry takes a few moments to go to flickr.com and search for the word Kuwait they can see exactly the kind of talented work they will be killing with this law. Maybe then they will realize how big a mistake this is.
You can read more about this on Kuwait Times [Here]
Bu Ziyad from q80economics emailed me to tell me that foreign magazines are currently banned from being imported into Kuwait. It seems a magazine slipped in with a revealing photo and so the sole distributor for foreign magazines in Kuwait is being punished by banning them from importing magazines. By punishing them everyone in Kuwait is getting punished as well. They are now hoping they will be allowed to resume the import of magazines again after Eid.
Personally I’m glad I have an iPad and the Zinio app so I don’t have to deal with issues like this.
The first professional Kuwaiti racing driver Khaled Al Mudhaf is participating in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge this Saturday and Sunday. I found out about him recently and think what he’s doing is very cool. The GT3 Cup Challenge is the biggest motor sport challenge in the Middle East and Khaled will be representing Kuwait with his black Porsche pictured above. The two rounds of the race will be shown live on Abu Dhabi Sports Channel on both free-to-air Channel 2 and Channel 6. Round 1 will be shown tomorrow (Saturday) at 15:25 while Round 2 will be broadcasted at 14:45 on Sunday. I wish him the best of luck.
For more information here is the GT3 Cup Facebook page [Link]
This has to be the greatest find yet, a documentary on Kuwait filmed in 1962. Embedding of the video has been disabled so to watch it you need to click [Here]
The Oil industry in Arab country of Kuwait, Middle East. Film made in 1962, directed by Rodney Giesler.
A young Kuwaiti man visits a typical idyllic English village. The village is Shere in Surrey. Shots of old timber framed houses. He speaks to camera. Another man outside the rear entrance of the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. Another Kuwaiti man talks seated at an outdoor café in London. They both speak to camera.
Film then switches to Kuwait. Point of view from car of busy Kuwait streets. Construction site and builders. The desert. Gas or oil terminal. Oil tankers. Docks. Arab man with headdress rides in the back of a lorry. Travelling shot of crowded street with American cars. Arab businessman in his office, talks on telephone. Various shops, selling electrical goods, chairs. Shopper plays an accordion. Some stylish modernist buildings. Two men drink from cola bottles. Large American car with fins pulls out and nearly crashes with another (seen from the rear). The ruler of Kuwait at a military parade. Various scenes of doctors, dentists, opticians at work. Small children rushing into school, mainly local but some white children as well. Bottle delivery man helps two schoolboys climb a wall. Children have lessons. School meal. Bakery. Deaf children have lessons at a special school. Little girl learns to speak. Young man writes with a special Braille typewriter. He also reads Braille. The airport, foreign skilled workers arrive, get off Kuwaiti Airlines aircraft. Oil well. Christian church for westerners. Woman in horn rimmed spectacles sits under a hair dryer. Lives of foreigners. Locals learn skills from foreign workers. Pilot lesson. University scenes with students.
Oil industry. Arab men have discussion in a boardroom. Cars drive through a sandstorm. Natural gas. Fresh water plant and delivery lorries being loaded. Delivery to Bedouins. Government experimental farm on land reclaimed from desert. Growing crops, dairy cows. Mosque, man calls to prayer. Grievance settling – men meet with the ruler in an office. Law court. Aerial view of Kuwait city and docks. Busy street scenes. Shots of various people walking in the street. Children play in a school playground.
The documentary is 26 minutes long but really worth it. I love the voice over and music, reminds me of the old Tex Avery cartoons.
Once again, to watch this documentary click [Here]
A new company is bringing Quiznos back to Kuwait and this time they’re planning on opening up 15 branches. I heard this time its going to be the proper deal. [Link]
Thanks desertgirl and Husayn
Update: The company that’s bringing back Quiznos just emailed me to tell me that they will be opening their first branch in December/January in Salmiya Salem Mubarek Street opposite Olympia Mall. The new owners of Quiznos are the same owners of Buffalo’s Cafe.
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has activated decision No. 614/1967 which allows foreigners, who enter Kuwait on tourist visas and stay in five-star hotels, to consume alcohol, reports Al-Shahed daily. Sources said alcohol will be served in specially allocated places and the guests will not be allowed to drink in public places. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei reacted to the report, saying “it is either a joke or certain parties are testing waters to see if the idea will work.” Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Al-Tabtabaei said “the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has denied all such reports and added that it did not issue any such circular in 1977.” [Source]
Just found out about this 15 year old Kuwaiti female motocross rider called Ghada Al Faraj. While trying to find out more about her I realized The Adrenaline Fix had already interviewed her so you can check out that post by clicking [Here]
So we can now mark off Red Lobster and Olive Garden from our restaurants we need to have in Kuwait list. What’s still missing? Wendy’s, A&W, Five Guys, Jack in the Box, White Castle, Arby’s, Cheese Cake Factory, In-N-Out and Taco Bell. [Link]
Please do not take this seriously! I love Kuwait, and I’m proud to be a Kuwaiti. Just wanted to poke fun at some things we do.
Don’t forget to Rate, Comment & Subscribe. 🙂
This one is for the home crowd, next vid will be more international based.
Thanks!
Note: If you like this one, I can make a “How to be a Kuwaiti woman” Just let me know if your interested to see it. Keep in mind, IF I do my life will be on serious thin ice lol.
So I’ve previously post about Kuwaiti rappers and a country musician and so here is a Kuwaiti metalhead called Yousef. He has 4 sounds online, below is the metal one but you can hear his other songs [Here]
A reader emailed me to tell me that while collecting newspapers and magazines from the late 50’s he found an article about schools in Kuwait in the 1960’s. He managed to scan and email me the article (it’s a few pages long) and I put them together in a single PDF to make it easier to download and view. The article is in Arabic and here is the [Link]
Does anyone recognize the school in the picture above on the right side?