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I just got home from Star Wars, its 12:30AM. Yeah the movie started at 12:00AM but it was such a fucked up experience. From what I saw of the movie though, it was looking REALLY good, like REALLY good, BUT the Marina Mall theater is just terrible.

The issue I had was with the sound. The first 15 minutes of the movie was this huge gigantic space battle with explosions and chaos non stop. The sound though was incredibly low and was coming out of the front speakers only. I swear I could hear the guy next to me eating his popcorn! I told Nat we should just leave, she suggested I should tell someone. So I did, I went up to one of the movie ushers and told him to raise the volume, he went and told some Kuwaiti guy who was sitting watching the movie with us. He went out and came back in a minute later but the sound was still the same. So I told Nat lets leave, I wasn’t going to watch the movie like this. So we got up and left, once we reached the main entrance where we got the tickets from, I saw a guy who looked like management, I asked him who I should I ask a refund from. He looked at the tickets and told me that once the tickets were cut that I couldn’t get a refund. He didn’t bother to ask why I wanted a refund or why I looked pissed and wanted to leave, nothing. So I proceeded to tell him that I paid KD5 to watch Star Wars and you can’t expect me to watch it in a theater where the sound system is lower then mine at home. I told him the sound is too low and I already complained about it and no one did anything. He told me that no one had told him about the sound, he assured me he would fix it and told me to go back to my seat. So I did. I got back inside, by now I had already missed a good chunk of the movie but I was like its ok, at-least the sound will get fixed. It never did! It didn’t get louder and it didn’t go into surround.

Finally we decided fuck the refund, lets just get out of here. If the movie when action packed was low and imagine how a normal scene would be. When I got back up to the main entrance, I took a feedback form, filled it in and dropped it in the feedback box. I don’t know if anyone will read it or care, but I just had to do it. Now I am back home, disappointed and pissed off. The Marina Mall cinema totally ruined my movie rush. I was planning to start booking tickets online and make this a weekly thing but now I don’t think I will since its just better off watching a movie at home on my sound system.

What did I learn today? Marina Mall theater is one of the worst I have ever been to, and that KD1 for a large popcorn at the cinema doesn’t seem expensive after passing by Starbucks first.

To read the letter I emailed to the people in charge click on more

This post is dedicated to Nibaq since I know he likes hot sauce on everything. A guy in New Jersey named Blair Lazar who runs a company called Extreme Foods has just released a hot sauce that is reputed to be 30 times hotter than the spiciest pepper, the Red Savina from Mexico, and 8,000 times stronger than Tabasco sauce. Some medical experts believe that it could kill an asthmatic or hospitalise a user who touched his eyes or other sensitive parts of the anatomy. [Link]

As I promised, here is an example of a picture of the day before post processing. Here is the post on miskan.com with the picture post processed. I still need to post a guide on good post processing but I have been really busy.

The Scientific Center is one of the coolest looking places in Kuwait, so I would like to know who is the smart guy who gave I don’t know who, permission to build a building right infront of it?

click here for a better view

Nibaq told me he was going to watch Star Wars III at the movies on Tuesday, so I decided to check out the KNCC website for showtimes. Turns out there is a showing on Tuesday at 12:00AM at Marina Mall so I just bought 2 tickets and reserved our seats online. It was the first time I tried using their website and it was also the first time I bought tickets online. Its a very easy feature to use and I am surprised we have this technology in Kuwait.

1) First you need to sign up on their website, a very easy and quick process.
2) Then you look for the movie you want to watch.
3) Once you find a movie you want you then have to find a showtime that would suit you.
4) The next step is to reserve your seats. This is the best option, they show you a map of the theater and then you can choose where you want to sit. Very cool.
5) You pay for your ticket online using Knet, Credit Card, M-Net or a Smart Card.
6) You receive an email and SMS message confirming your order.

Very easy and very simple. I now might watch more movies because of this.

Back in March I was trying to get Nat wasta because she needed a paper from the government saying she could get license. There is a law that says if you have been in Kuwait less then 2 years then you need special permission to get a license. A friend at work told me he knew someone who could get me the papers. So I gave him all of Nat’s papers and he took them and gave them to the guy. A week later the guy comes back and tells me the wasta wants a ticket to Egypt. I was like what? No way, I knew some other people who had offered to help for free, one of them was Nibaq. So I told the guy from work forget about it, get me the papers and I will find someone else to help. Next day he comes to the office he is like the wasta went ahead and did your papers, all he wants in return is a cheap phone. I was like OK thats not a problem, atleast the papers are signed.

I went and bought the wasta a Nokia 2600 for KD30 and sent it to him. The gift got rejected and I posted about it back then here. Turns out the wasta wanted a Nokia phone that costed around KD145. I told the guy at work that no way I was gonna pay KD145, I told him if the guy was also gonna get Nat her license then maybe I would. He was like the guy said he would help her out with the eye test. I told him she doesn’t need help in the eye test. The guy at work told me I was right forget about it.

Since that time till now every week a couple of times the guy at work keeps telling me the wasta is asking about his phone. Now past two days the guy at work is telling me the wasta is really pissed and he has been threatening him and crap. I told him what do you want me to do? He was like get him the phone. I was like no way why should I. He was like because he did the papers. I was like come on I told you not to do them anymore.

Anyway to summarize things, the wasta is threatening the guy from work, telling him he will do bad things to him and now the guy from work is scared and has been begging me all day to help me out. This situation is really pissing me off.

How I see it, its the fault of the guy from work. a) He should have gotten me the papers when I told him I didn’t want to get the guy the ticket. b) he shouldn’t have told me a cheap phone is what the guy wants. c) when the guy kept asking him when I was going to get him the phone he should have told him the story about how I was told a cheap phone would do and if its an expensive phone I didn’t want any help.

Am I right here?

I just got a phonecall from a creative director I used to work with. He is opening his own advertising agency here in Kuwait and he wants me to join him and help him build a team. In return I would get the same salary I am currently making and he will also make me a partner and give me 10% of the company and its earnings. He already has a major client waiting for us plus he has a deal with an international agecy. If that wasn’t enough, he wants nat and rampurple to join us.

All this and I think I will have to reject the offer. I am a very safe person. By that I mean I don’t take risks. I like routine and I like job security. I am also currently very happy with what I am doing. Ofcourse not everyday is a good day, there are ups and downs, but in general I am having fun where I am now. I am gonna meet with the guy tonight and get more details, I am wondering though if for once in my life I should just take the plunge and go for it..

I was talking to a friend of a friend now who is a doctor at Johnson & Johnson here in Kuwait. He was telling us that one of their top selling products in Kuwait is a cream which you rub onto your ass to make it bigger. This cream is supposed to be used for people with back problems because it helps to increase the size of the ass. But, here in Kuwait the woman use it in general to help increase the size of their ass for aesthetic reasons.

I was just catching up on some news on the Arab Times website when I came upon this article about a Jordanian man who had sex with a Kuwaiti girl. The guy was given 15 years in jail followed by deportation. The thing is though from what I read in the article is that she consented to the sex. She just didn’t want him to lose her virginity (ie. she wanted it from the back) but when he did lose her virginity she went and reported him to the police. According to her he sweet talked her into having sex with him although she didn’t want to. Come on, thats total bullshit.

He then asked her to close her eyes saying he has a surprise for her. He then talked to her in a soothing way which made her unable to resist him. He asked her to have sex and the woman is said to have requested him not to ‘damage’ her hymen. However, the man failed to keep his word as she found herself bleeding.

[article]

Someone in the office just told me that they recently have been busting in on pirates in Hawalli and they are broadcasting the busts live on TV. COPS style. Anyone know anything about this or seen it?

I just found out Ruby Tuesday has an eat all you can eat open breakfast buffet for KD2.950. Anyone tried it? What other breakfast open buffets are there in Kuwait?

Yesterday I had dinner at Fuddruckers with Nataly. I usually order the burger but yesterday I realized they had a Chilidog sandwich, so I went ahead and ordered that. I am not a super freak chili dog fan or anything, but I do occasionally enjoy having one whenever I need to divert off my burger diet. My favorite chili dog place used to be A&W where I experienced my first chili dog with them as a kid and continued to have and enjoy even after I grew up. My second favorite place is Hardees which at the moment is actually my favorite since A&W closed down in Kuwait.

So how did the Fudds chili dog turn out? Well the first thing you will notice is thats its mother fucking huge! In the picture you might think the hotdog bun is actually small and the hotdog big but in reality the hotdog bun is big and the hotdog is huge! I didn’t know you could get hotdogs that big. The chilidog was a bit awkward to eat but not as awkward as I was expecting and in the end didn’t really get that much chili all over my hands. The hotdog bun was soft and delicious, definitely my favorite part of the meal. The hotdog meat itself tasted good and wasn’t very soft like the Hardees hotdog, which is a good thing. The chili on the other hand was the disappointing part. It was just very so so. Firstly the chili sauce had beans in it which I wasn’t expecting. Secondly the chili flavor was very bland. I really wasn’t tasting that much chili when I was eating the hotdog. The dish came with the Fudds traditional fries and a terrible cup of coleslaw. The cost of the dish was KD2.500 which is pretty decent but doesn’t really compete to the 400fils chilidog at Hardees.. not that I am comparing the two. Hardees is a fast food joint while Fudds is more of a restaurant. But personally I prefer the Hardees chilidog over the Fudds and thats why this gets a score of 3.5 out of 5.

update: Since I wrote this review a year ago I have had this chilidog a lot. If was to review it again I would have to give it a 4 out of 5. I finally figured out how to eat it for one thing.. I now use a fork and knife, its the easiest and least messiest way. Also I think I now prefer it over Hardees, although Hardees still has the prive advantage in its favor.

No celebrity blogger attended the monthly blogger meetup. The idea of a celebrity blogger was made up to create hype and attract people to the meeting. There is no celebrity blogger and thats why no one is saying who it was. The hype worked though, 4 people attended the meeting this time!

Interesting quotes from the bloggers who attended the meeting:

Forzaq8: “and the mystery blogger , who is way too scared about privicy , i have no idea how he agreed to come”

Purgatory72: “Now, the mystery blogger showed up somewhere around 6.45 pm. I was surprised to see him, I thought it was a hoax, but turned out to be true. The guy was very nice and articulate and was also famous. Now because of private matters related to the person himself, I cannot say anything more on how he looks like, which blog is his blog”

Here is a conversation between me and Nibaq:
Me: So who was the celebrity blogger?
Nibaq: Can’t tell you
Me: Ok, I figured it out, will post about it
Nibaq: what you going to post? a CSI type thing?

Update: More proof it was a fake. On forza’s blog he posts two pictures from the meetup, one of someone shaking hands with the mystery blogger and the other of the mystery blogger signing a book. He then says that after the handshake the mystery blogger signed the book. BUT, according to the pictures exif information, the first picture of the handshake was taken at 8.21pm while the second of the signing was taken at 8.18pm. Interesting..

Update 2: This is an enhanced crop taken from one of Forzaq8’s pictures. It supposingly the signature of the mystery blogger. Looks like gibrish to me.

Update 3: Further investigation has revealed the both of Forza’s pictures were taken with the exact same settings:

Yet one turned out ot be extremely blurry while the other was fine, as if when shooting the signature picture the camera was deliberately shaken. Also according to the pictures and my personal experience of the Second Cup branch in Kuwait City, the place inside isnt very dark and according to the shadows on the open book, there was a light source right above they area they were seated. So I believe if the Apreture was set to 2.8 instead of 5.2 (which the Sony P8 cam can handle) and the shutter speed increased then there would have been no chance of the picture coming out blurry, specially since the camera iso was set at 320. By default the camera would have changed the apreture to 2.8 when the shutter speed became very slow but they wanted the picture to come out blurry so they manually changed the settings.

Nibaq posted today that he believes that people who turn on their hazard lights in poor visibility are idiots. I have to disagree with him regarding this comment because I believe hazard lights have numerous uses. Nibaq believes hazard lights should be used incase of emergency only but I believe it can be used in other non-emergency situations, for example:

During heavy rain
The blinking orange light adds more to your cars visibility during heavy rain which in return is safer for you.

During low visibility
During heavy fog or a heavy dust storm, the orange flasher allows your car to be more visable. When we used to go up the mountain in heavy fog in Lebanon, we used to turn off our cars high beams and turn on the flasher because the white light bounced back off the fog while the orange flasher cut through it. During the dust storm today I had my rear fog lights on while other people had their flashers on. Having your flasher on during low visibility does no mean you are an idiot, it means you are worried some idiot might not see your car and ram into it.

Emergency Braking
When you are driving on the highway you are used to people ahead of you braking every so often. But, when you have to brake suddenly, for example when traffic completely stops in front of you, the hazard light with your braking helps differentiate a normal brake from a very hard one.

I also believe Daylight savers should be standard here in Kuwait. Having a car light on during the day can help in preventing accidents.

I sent the following email to Fasttelco in regards to yesterdays post on Fasttelco blocking flickr.

———————–

To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Date: May 1, 2005 8:39 AM
Subject: Is Flickr Blocked?

Hi, when I try to access www.flickr.com i get the following message:

Forbidden
You were denied access because:
Access denied by access control list.

But when I access flickr.com it works. Many of my friends have also
been facing the same issue. Is Fasttelco trying to block flickr?

Thanks

mark