Search: “kuwait”

I just found the blog of Faisal Al-Dhalmawi at 1up.com. He has a very interesting write up on Video Gaming in Kuwait. He was even able to take pictures of some of the stores from the outside AND inside! Pretty cool stuff. [Link]

Fully Loaded KD350 ($1200)
Core System KD280 ($960)

TivoGuy was telling me that Aramex was closing down their Kuwait City branch and moving everything to Ardiyah. I quickly sent an email to Rabih who is always kind enough to answer my questions. Turns out its true, Aramex is shutting down the Kuwait City office, this is the email I received from him:

Dear valued customer,

Yes it is true we are moving our operations to Aardiyah since our main location is there and all our operations start from there. An email was sent to all our customers today morning. Another email in Arabic will also be sent by tomorrow.

Trust us that the move is for the best of all our customers: Delivery will be much faster and security and control on non-delivered packages will be much better. Most of all, Management will have more direct control on service level provided to our customers.

We will also open a new location for customer service and opening new accounts in Al-Bustan Mall in Salmiyah before year end inshallah.

Always at your service.

Personally I am going to find it a hassel to drive to Ardiyah everytime a package arrives but I guess I don’t have any other option.

I was watching 5th Gear yesterday on the Discovery Channel when they had a bit on light poles similar to the ones used on Kuwait streets. They took a regular car and installed hardware on it so they could control it remotely and then driving at 45mph they made it ram into one of these steel light posts. The result was catastrophic. The light pole barely moved or bent while the car was destroyed and thrown violently around. If there was anyone in the car they would have been seriously wounded if not killed.

They then started to tell us about these new types of light poles that are being using in countries like Sweden and Finland, collapsible poles. These poles are made from aluminum and are designed to absorb the impact of a car and slow it down. They look very similar to the regular poles except of course they are very different.

To demonstrate how safe driving into the poles were the inventor of the “safe” poles got into a car wearing only a seatbelt and a helmet (to protect him from flying glass if any) and drove into a pole going at 45mph. It was incredible, once the car hit the pole it bent and the car drove over it slowing down. The car did get damaged but very lightly, the driver got out safely and the car was even drivable after the crash.

Now I have seen loads of accidents here in Kuwait specially on the Gulf Road where people have rammed into the light poles and gotten killed. With all the money in Kuwait how come the government hasn’t installed these new collapsible poles.. at least in places where it is very common for people to ram into them?

Update: Here is a link to an article abou the Lamppost which turns out has been in use in Sweden for the past 12 years! [Link]

Update 2: If you want to download the bit on the lamppost you can from the 5th Gear official website for a price of KD1 [Link]

Update 3: The video is on YouTube you can check it below

The Kuwait Advertising Awards it currently taking place at the Salwa Events Hall near Marina Crescent. I just got a message from my sister who is at the awards ceremony. The event started 1 hour late at 7 and they started of with speeches, according to her its very boring. I received another message from another art director from my agency who is there and according to him the event actually turned out to be very formal, so Nataly was right when she said it was a formal event.

Update: My sis called me after the event finished. Basically out of 22 awards my agency (JWT) took half of them while Nats agency (Saatchi&Saatchi) took the other half. Just to make it clear out of all the awards Saatchi took none were for Kuwait work, and out of all the awards my agency took only 1 was for Kuwait. The event supposingly was very unorganized and chaotic, my sister should be posting about it tonight on her blog.

According to a recent poll held by Kuwaitism, McDonalds is kicking ass!

First Place: McDonalds
Second Place: Hardees
Third Place: Subway

[Link]

The Kuwait Advertising Awards are being held tomorrow at 6PM and its supposed to be formal wear. Who the fuck gets dressed formally for an evening out at 6PM? Why didn’t they make the awards show at like 9 or 10PM? Most of the agencies finish work at 5 or 5:30 but no one usually makes it out before 6PM. Even if I make it out at 5:30 by the time I get home its already 6 and then I need to shower, get dressed and leave it would already be 7PM!

Anyway, I hope I am allowed not to go to it. I really don’t like social events.

Update: Its NOT formal. Nat told me formal and she heard it from her agency but its not true.

Step 1: Go to the back entrance of the Keifan soccer stadium.
Step 2: Go to the ticket collector, tell him you want to refund your Brazil vs Kuwait tickets.
Step 3: He will take your phone number, civil ID number and the tickets from you. He will quickly fill out a brief form and then send you to the next window.
Step 4: Guy with black briefcase will give you your money back.

Thats the whole process. It should take you just 2 minutes.

Well the Xbox360 is coming out in a few days and its time to move onto the next generation of videogame consoles. I have been reading most of the Xbox reviews online and I have concluded one thing, I need a High Definition Television. The majority of the reviews I have been reading have been saying that unless I have a HDTV I won’t be seeing much of an improvement over the current generation of consoles. So it seems the wise thing to do is to upgrade my TV which I have been wanting to for a while now. I don’t want to get a plasma/LCD TV for numerour reasons including the fact that the only plasma I can afford are the cheap Panasonic Viera series which are currently being advertised on billboards around Kuwait. The problem with the Viera is you get what you pay for and according to online reviews the Viera series have numerous issues with the most important one being they doen’t support the 720p resolution. I also believe that a high definition tube television would give a better picture quality then the plasmas and LCDs, so until OLED TVs get released I will be sticking with the old tube.

This is where the problem starts, I haven’t found many HD tube televisions in Kuwait. I only found two models at Sony, a 29″ and a 34″ and I haven’t found any other anywhere else. The 34″ seems like my best option at the moment but it costs around KD700-KD800 which brings me to the following question, is it worth getting HDTV in Kuwait?

In the States they already have cable and satellite channels broadcasting at High Definition, from what I know we don’t have anything like that in Kuwait. So paying KD800 for a TV so I can play high definition games on it doesn’t make a lot of sense. DVD’s are supposed to look better on HDTV’s but I don’t buy that many DVD’s and I mostly use my TV for watching TV shows.

So any HDTV experts here? Any tips and advice in purchasing a HDTV and using it here in Kuwait?

Back in October I posted about a rumor that Jeremy Clarkson was in Kuwait. Around a week ago someone commeneted to that post saying that he was in Kuwait but just having a quick stay over before going to Iraq to do a story for an English paper. Seems thats true, I just found the article Behind Jeremy Lines where Clarkson goes to Iraq. [Link]

I was informed earlier that you can find the iPod Video in Kuwait. zMacShop is selling the 60GB White iPod Video for KD150 while Mac & More is selling it for KD195. The 30GB White iPod Video is being sold at zMacShop for KD130 while Mac & More is selling it for KD175. zMacShop have already sold out all the black iPod videos.

zMacShop
116 Walla’a Complex – Basement
Hawalli, Ibn Khaldun Street
Kuwait City – Kuwait
Tel: +965-261-7575
Email: [email protected]

I just read on Kuwaitism that the Brazil vs Kuwait soccer game got cancelled. Hopefully I will be able to get a refund on the tickets! [Link]

I just found a 12 page thread in a forum about new upcoming skyscrapers in Kuwait. A guy by the nickname of skoulikimou has 3D rendered images plus phone cam shots of the newest and under construction towers all over Kuwait City. Some interesting stuff, check all the pages. [Link]

Yesterday I posted some highlights, here are more:

– Ferrari F1 car on display
– Ford GT on display
– New Jaguar XK on display
– Audi RS4 on display
– Carrera GT on display
– Mazda RX8 on display
– Audi Q7 SUV on display (hidden in private room)
– Eleanor on display (Gone in 60 Seconds)
– Porsche Cayman on display
– New Subaru Impreza STI (Not for sale)
– Mitsubishi Evolution IX
– Renautl Megane Turbo
– Hummer H3
– BMW M5

I have two tickets for the Brazil vs Kuwait game coming up on the 15th of November. The seats are located in the family section. I was planning on going to watch the game but I heard since no more tickets are available for sale that they are now selling for allot of cash on the black market. So if anyone wants two tickets or knows of anyone who wants them, leave a comment.

Here is a scan of the tickets:
Front Side
Back Side