Categories
Food & Drinks Interesting Kuwait

Heathrow Injection

Heathrow Injection n. Term given to the phenomenon of sudden and very rapid horizontal expansion, particularly experienced by non-British persons, upon settling in London.

Heathrow Injection is an interesting term I just learned the definition to awhile ago and I am thinking it can easily be modified to fit Kuwait since we have the same problem here.




Categories
Interesting News Sports

Snow comes to deserts of Dubai

Ski Dubai

The indoor ski slopes finally opened up in Dubai and looking at the pictures on their website makes me jealous that we don’t have anything similar here in Kuwait. Entrance price is only $35 and that includes clothes and equipment rental which I think is a pretty good deal. But, the place doesn’t look “that” big so I am curious to find out if its going to be over crowded the whole time or not. [Link]




Categories
Information Kuwait

Is this true?

I heard today that there is a new law coming out in Kuwait where expats (like me) will only be allowed to live in Kuwait for 6 years. After 6 years I have to leave the country and I can only come back after 2 years. If this is the case I might as well pack my bags and leave now.




Categories
Events Kuwait Personal

Ramp Rebels they are not

Just got back from Marina Crescent. I went to have lunch there and check out the Ramp Rebel Tour which was being held there this weekend. I have to say I have seen both Ozzy and my brother skateboard with more passion and skill while playing around at home then the two skateboarders I saw lazily play the half pipe. Maybe they were tired or bored but they were definitely not interesting to watch. I stayed there for like 20 minutes watching them just go up and down the half pipe dully and then falling half the time without doing anything. The only reason I stayed that long was because I was trying to find some shots to take with my Holga camera. I think I got some cool shots and once I develop the pictures I will post them here. I used colored film this time around.




Categories
Automotive Interesting Kuwait

Ferrari Theme Park – Abu Dhabi

They are opening a Ferrari theme park in UAE which will feature a racetrack, rides, and attractions, a display of Ferrari history, and even driving instructions. Its seems like a good idea but I would rather they open a 4×4 theme park here in Kuwait. The 4×4 park could have different rough and muddy trails which you could take your jeep through. I remember reading about one in Japan where you would bring your 4×4 and then pay to go around their offroad trail. [Link]




Categories
Events Information Kuwait Sports

Ramp Rebels Tour 2005

ramp rebels tour

I was at Eastpak yesterday night when I found a flyer for the Ramp Rebels Tour. They are in Kuwait for two days and will be performing at Marina Crescent. Today is the first day and the show starts at 2PM all the way till 5. Tomorrow (Friday) they will be performing at the same time and it will be their last day.

The Ramp Rebels Tour is a BMX and skateboarding show. The show features Ben Hennon (BMX), Ben Manuel (BMX), Julian Dykmans (skateboard) and Hugo Liard (Skateboard).




Categories
Animals & Wildlife Kuwait

Aramex Doesn’t Ship Animals

Yesterday I mentioned I saw a kid with a puppy and when I asked him where he got it from he said Amazon.com. He told me it cost KD50 for the dog and KD100 shipping.

I tried to find dogs on Amazon and wasn’t able to find any. I guess the kid found an external link (like an advert) on Amazon but actually purchased the dog from another US based website. I also emailed Aramex to see if they shipped animals and I got the following reply:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting us via email regarding your below request.

Kindly note that pets can not be shipped via express. Live Animals shipping is complicated and requires special documents and laboratories tests at both origin and destinations before being shipped.

Please accept our apology for not being able to help you much with your request.

Kindest Regards

So I guess the kid had the dog shipped directly to Kuwait. I should have gotten more information from him…




Categories
Animals & Wildlife Kuwait Personal

Dog Action

belgium shepherd

After yesterdays post on Larry I decided to find other options quickly. I called up the guy who has the British Bulldog and I will be meeting with him today to check out his puppies. I was reading up on the Bulldog and it seems we have things in common, we both hate excercising and we both enjoy lying on the couch all day. So the Bulldog seems more compatible with my lifestyle then a German Shepherd. But the Bulldog is a small dog and I am looking for something alot bigger.

My first choice would be a Belgium Shepherd (pictured above) and yesterday night I contacted 3 different breeders to see if I could purchase one directly off them and have them ship it to Kuwait. Two of the breeders are in Belgium so it hopefully is possible to have them ship me a dog to Kuwait.

I also called my cousin up asking if he knew anyone that sold dogs, he told me there was a shop in Jabriya that only sold dogs and that there is a dog school after the Fintas bridge that also sold dogs. So tonight I am going to pass by both and see what they have.

I checked the Paws Kuwait website and found a young German Shepherd which is looking for a home but sadly its a female and I am not interested in getting a female dog.

Finally a friend of mine told me his friends dog just had puppies and is looking to give the pups away. He doesn’t know what breed they are but will call me today and tell me.

So hopefully I will find a dog that I want that will cost me alot less then KD1000.




Categories
Animals & Wildlife Kuwait

Larry Von Billberg

The owner of Larry emailed me his pictures of when he was still in Germany. So everyone, meet Larry Von Billberg (thats his full name).




Categories
Kuwait News Politics

Index of Political Freedom

This is the list for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region according to the Economist. I guess Kuwait is in a pretty good spot.

1. Israel 8.20
2. Lebanon 6.55
3. Morocco 5.20
4. Iraq 5.05
5. Palestine 5.05
6. Kuwait 4.90
7. Tunisia 4.60
8. Jordan 4.45
9. Qatar 4.45
10. Egypt 4.30
11. Sudan 4.30
12. Yemen 4.30
13. Algeria 4.15
14. Oman 4.00
15. Bahrain 3.85
16. Iran 3.85
17. UAE 3.70
18. Saudi Arabia 2.80
19. Syria 2.80
20. Libya 2.05

[Source]




Categories
Apple Apps Geek Kuwait Personal

Update on my iBook

ibook clamshell osx

Last month I purchased an old 300mhz Apple clamshell iBook. It had 32MB of RAM and was running OS 9.2 slowly. So I ordered a Kingston 256MB RAM stick for my iBook and it arrived earlier in the week. The first thing I did once I installed it was to replace OS 9.2 with Linux. The reason simply was I needed to be able to browse on the iBook and Firefox wasn’t available for OS 9.2 and I had heard OS X would run very slow on my Mac. So Linux was my only option and after over 1 hour of installing the OS I tried it out and was very disappointed. Although it was very responsive and it did have Firefox, I wasn’t very comfortable using it and I decided to give OS X a shot. If OS X turned out to be very slow then I would come back to Linux as my last option.

I formated the drives and proceeded to install Panther (OS 10.3) onto my ibook. Installation was brisk and in less then 30 minutes it was done installing and rebooting. When the OS launched again I played around with it a bit and I was shocked. Panther was pretty responsive and very very usable. It was not slow, there was no lag and I wasn’t even bothered by the 800×600 screen resolution. I was simply amazed at how well everything was running. I quickly copied Firefox and Adium from my main mac at home and proceeded to set things up importing my bookmarks and setting up my system preferences, everything ran extremely smooth and I even managed to install OS 9.2 in case I ever needed it.

After a week of using my iBook it has finally become my main Internet browsing portal. I am getting online from my living room while watching TV and I am really enjoying it. Sure I could be surfing from the living room with Nat’s powerbook but its not mine and even when I setup my own account on her powerbook it still always felt as if I was using HER powerbook. My previous Internet portal in the living room was my Audrey and I think I will have to find another place for it (maybe the bathroom) since because of my iBook I am no longer using it. This iBook is mine and I feel right at home with it… until the next generation of iBooks get released. So far its great and I even am posting from it right now. So in conclusion a Mac capable of running OSX smoothly cost me KD25 ($85) for the iBook and KD12 ($40) for the RAM. Unbelievable fucking cheap!




Categories
Interesting Kuwait

We Are Different

When it gets cloudy, cold and wet we love it here in Kuwait. Its been raining all day today and atleast a dozen people have come up to the window next to me, look out and say what nice weather we have today. Another example would be BusyNow, I was checking his blog and he posted a picture from the Munich airport (he went on vacation) and its like cloudy and wet outside and his comments were “Im in munich now the weather is great and i like the place.”




Categories
Automotive Events Kuwait

Car Show Preview

Was just talking to my sister Rampurple, she gave me some info on what to expect at the car show which starts today.
Here is the scoop so far:

– They have the Golf GTI and the new VW Passat on display
– They have the new Dodge Charger on display
– Eclipse is finally coming to Kuwait, new model on display
– Renault Megane convertible on display
– Nissan Tiida and Toyota Yaris on display
– Lots of vintage cars on display
– Renault has their F1 car on display
– Lexus has a concept car called the LFX on display
– New 2006 Nissan Pathfinder on display




Categories
Personal Photography

Holga Medium Format Camera

holga

I have been wanting to shoot with medium format film for like forever but I was never able to because the camera I wanted was too expensive. I wanted the Hasselblad 503CW which costs around KD1000 in Kuwait (like $3000) which is too much to pay for something I might end up not using that much. Even a second hand older Hasselblad 501 cost hundreds of dollars on eBay. So I put my dream of shooting 6×6 pictures aside until I found out about the Holga. The Holga I believe is the cheapest medium format camera you can buy, It is very cheaply built and takes 6×4.5cm or 6x6cm shots. The lens is made from cheap plastic the same way the whole camera body is also made of cheap plastic. There are also not allot of options on the camera either, it has a fixed shutter speed and a fixed aperture, the only thing you can control is the focus and even that has only 4 options. So how much does this camera cost? Believe it or not only $19 without flash and $29 with flash. Thats like super cheap. Now the coolest part of the Holga camera is the pictures. Because of the way the camera is cheaply built the effects you get on the pictures are amazing, they look like pictures that were shot by your parents back when Madonna was still a virgin and Michael Jackson still black. I already ordered mine from Amazon without flash of course since I don’t think I have ever used flash. Once I get it I will take a couple of pictures and post them on this site. Until then here are two galleries of pictures taken by the Holga camera.

Gallery 1 (Colored Shots)
Gallery 2 (Black & White Shots)

Click here to check out the Holga on Amazon




Categories
Movies Personal Reviews

Shutter

shutter movie

I watched the horror movie Shutter the other day. It was my first Thai movie I had ever watched and it left me impressed. I don’t know why I keep watching these horror flicks, they freak the hell out of me, seriously.

Shutter is about this guy and girl who run over a girl one night while they were driving back home and then they leave her to die in the middle of the road. The guy and girl are both photographers and so the girl starts haunting them in their pictures. They start finding weird shadows and ghost like forms in all the pictures they take which start to freak them out. If that wasn’t enough they start seeing the dead girl in real life. It was a really freaky movie with allot of creative moments which I had never seen before in any other horror movie.

This movie also convinced me to make my own horror movie except mine will be realistic. In my movie when you see a dead girl come out of your sink in your photography dark room, you run away and you never step foot into that dark room again! Seriously I can barely watch scenes like this while the people in the movie seem to find it freaky for 5 minutes and then act like it never happened. There was one really cool scene in the movie where the guy would be sleeping and then wakes up to find someone at the end of the bed is slowly pulling away the cover, he looks down and sees the dead girl! I told Nat that was pretty cool and I might try it on her one day, she told me if I did it would also be the last day I see her! No sense of humor at all..

I don’t know how easy it is to find this movie in Kuwait and its also not available on Amazon but you could download it the way I did via torrentspy. Its a great horror flick with a really cool ending, something thats just really fucking freaky and just goes to show how creative this horror really is.