Search: “kuwait”

TASCHEN are mostly known for their architecture, art and design books and I usually pass by their stores when on vacation but rarely ever buy anything since their books are usually large and heavy. But, this weekend I found out that we now have a TASCHEN Books dealer in Kuwait.

The dealer is located in Life Center in Shuwaikh, the same complex that houses the Contemporary Art Platform. They have a main store on the top floor next to CAP and another pop-up store on the outside called Stall 78. According to the dealer, they’re trying to match Amazon’s prices as close as possible which is great for us. I picked up the book “Food & Drink Infographics.” for KD22 while the retail price in the US is around KD21 (although Amazon currently has it discounted at KD17).

If you want to check the place out, here is the location of Life Center on Google Maps.

Screenshot from Finding Steve McQueen

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
A.M.I. (3.9)
Finding Steve McQueen (6.3)
The Kid (6.0)
The Lion King (6.2)
The Sonata (6.4)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Anna (6.7)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Crawl (7.1)
Escape Plan: The Extractors (4.4)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
Stuber (5.7)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

When Kuwait Airways introduced their new fleet back in 2016 my initial impression of their business class was that it didn’t look premium and it felt overcrowded with their 2-2-2 seat configuration. My favorite business class configuration has always been the Qatar Airways 1-2-1 arrangement on their 787 Dreamliners and it looks like Kuwait Airways will be adopting a similar setup on their new planes.

According to a recent press release, Kuwait Airways will be installing B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats on their upcoming A330-800neo which are the seats used on airlines like Qatar Airways and Virgin. The current seats in comparison are the regular B/E Aerospace Diamond seats so it’s going to be a really good upgrade.

Kuwait Airways is expecting to enter 8 A330-800neo aircraft into service in 2020.

Screenshot from Crawl

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Coconut the Little Dragon 2 Into the Jungle (5.7)
Crawl (7.1)
Escape Plan: The Extractors (4.4)
Stuber (5.7)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (5.5)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Anna (6.7)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (6.8)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (8.1)
Men in Black: International (5.6)
Red Joan (6.3)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

Virgin Megastore which originally opened up in Marina Mall back in 2002 and then closed down in 2012 is now reopening again, but this time at The Avenues. Their new location is where the clothing store Express used to be located in Phase 1 and should (theoretically at least) prove to be a better location for them this time around.

Very few people know this but back in 2006 Virgin Kuwait bullied me and threatened to sue me over one of my posts. It’s a long story and made me dislike the brand and the company Azadea (who own the brand in the Middle East) for a very long time, but, I’m pretty glad they’re opening again since their Dubai store actually sells interesting things albeit overpriced.

No idea on when the opening will be.

The Commercial Control and Consumer Protection Sector has issued a citation against a shop for displaying the ‘homosexual’ logo, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources.

The daily added, this happened when a number of shoppers complained about the sign and the concerned commercial control department sent officers to run a check and the signboard was removed and the person responsible has been referred to the concerned authority.

The sources stressed the need to abide by the laws in force and its responsibility in applying the law in its context that does not allow any irregularities that conflict with the laws and regulations. Source

You guys have probably already come across this article that was published last week since it went viral on social media. It was pretty vague with no mention of the shop and what was actually removed. After doing a bit of research it turns out the shop in question was Louis Vuitton. I thought they might have had a special display to celebrate the LGBT+ community but I did a bit of googling and couldn’t find any information or photos on a special display LV was using in their stores for this.

So I decided to ask around locally and turns out the display that was deemed offensive was actually not related to the LGBT+ community at all. LV have a window display called the dream catcher which features colorful dream catchers and someone must have complained to consumer protection that LV was displaying the gay pride flag in their display and LV was forced to remove it. The picture above isn’t of the actual dream catcher window display that was removed but one similar I found online and as you can see the colors don’t even match the pride flag or the correct order of the colors. Yet, they were still asked to remove it. So weird.

Over the weekend a video started making its round via social media of a bullfight that took place in Kuwait back in 1972. The video was fairly low quality and the audio was completely broken so I did a bit of research and turns out the original video is actually owned by Reuters and you can watch the longer and much better version on their website.

According to Reuters, the bulls were imported from Spain for this event which was the first ever bullfighting show in Kuwait. The video is from the show that took place on Thursday April 6, 1972 but there were two other shows that took place on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th of April. Below are some more details:

A Spanish bull faced Spanish matadors in Kuwait on Thursday. It was the first time the Arabian Gulf state has seen a bull-fight. The event was organized by the Salmiya Sports Club and sponsored by the Kuwaiti Minister of the Interior and Defence, Shaikh Sa’ad Al-Abdalla As-Sabah.

A large crowd of spectators packed into the arena to see the novel exhibition of bullfighting skills and physical courage. Among those watching were the Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly and other Assembly members. The event was much enjoyed by the spectators.

Aficionados in Spain may know more about the technicalities, but in Kuwait the crowd understood well enough the perfect judgment needed to plant these darts in just the right place.

The show had opened with the playing of the Kuwaiti and Spanish national anthems and the grand entrance of all the bullfighters. There was no doubting the success of this first bullfighting spectacle in Kuwait. Other shows were scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

So if you want to watch the video, click here.

Spider-Man: Far from Home

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (6.8)
I’ll Take Your Dead (5.9)
Pavarotti (7.7)
Play or Die (3.9)
Spider-Man: Far from Home (8.2)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Aladdin (6.5)
Anna (6.7)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Child’s Play (6.8)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (7.4)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (8.1)
Men in Black: International (5.6)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (6.9)
Red Joan (6.3)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

I’ve been a fan of Shure earphones ever since I got my first pair back in 2004 and have owned a number of different pairs since. But, I’ve always had to order my Shure’s from Amazon because I could never find them locally until now. Last week I found out that the local musical instruments store Salmeen carries Shure earphones and for the most part, they aren’t that overpriced. Here are the prices compared to Amazon (not including tax or shipping):

Shure SE215 Wired
Salmeen: KD49
Amazon: KD30

Shure SE215 Wireless
Salmeen: KD55
Amazon: KD45

Shure SE425
Salmeen: KD85
Amazon: KD82

Shure SE425 Wirless
Salmeen: KD99
Amazon: KD91

Shure SE535
Salmeen: KD150
Amazon: KD136

If you’re interested in getting Shure’s, Salmeen has two locations, one in Salmiya and one in Avenues but they also have an online shop with all their items.

Annabelle Comes Home

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Anna (6.7)
Annabelle Comes Home (7.0)
Yesterday (6.5)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Child’s Play (6.8)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (7.4)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (8.1)
Men in Black: International (5.6)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (6.9)
Red Joan (6.3)
The Dead Don’t Die (5.9)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

Not many events taking place this weekend but still more than what’s been going on the past few weekends. If I missed anything let me know.

Thursday
Al3ab Village

Friday
Al3ab Village
Fête De La Musique

Saturday
Al3ab Village
Book Club: Lolita Novel by Vladimir Nabokov
Global Wellness Day

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

Screenshot from Toy Story 4

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Child’s Play (6.8)
Men in Black: International (5.6)
Red Joan (6.3)
Storm Boy (6.9)
The Dead Don’t Die (5.9)
Toy Story 4 (9.0)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Brightburn (6.5)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (7.4)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (8.1)
Ma (6.0)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (6.9)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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

This is a long shot but does anyone have a copy of the book “State of Excitement” by James Bond creator Ian Fleming?

The Kuwait Oil Company commissioned Fleming to write this short book about Kuwait. However, the Kuwaiti Goverment disapproved of the final manuscript, which they found condescending, and the book was never published, despite repeated overtures to the Kuwaiti Goverment over the years.

The frontispiece to Fleming`s copy of the book reads: This is the only bound copy of a short book I wrote on Kuwait in December 1960. It was a condition of my obtaining facilities to visit Kuwait and write the book that the text should have the approval of the Kuwait Oil Company, whose guest I was.

The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it their duty to submit the typescript to members of the Kuwait Government for their approval. The Sheiks concerned found unpalatable certain mild comments and criticism and particularly the passages referring to the adventurous past of the country which now wishes to be “civilised” in every respect and forget its romantic origins.

Accordingly, the book was stillborn. [source]

Here is a review of the book as well where they highlight some reasons the book might have been banned including this one:

A second rather humorous story the author relates revolve around an invitation he received to dine at one of the Sheikh’s numerous palaces. It seems that this palace located somewhere along the Persian Gulf coast had a very long dock which extended out far from land and at its end was a beautiful building where the Sheihk invited Fleming and other guests. In grand fashion the guests were carried from the shore in a stretch limousine out along the dock to the mini-palace. He noticed that after the guests had been dropped off, the driver had to back up the entire length of the dock, turn around and then back up the entire length of the dock once again. Fleming surmised that the driver was instructed to do this so that when the dinner was finished, the Sheikh and his guests could get back into the car on the ‘correct’ side and drive “forward” back to the shore. Fleming, almost snidely relates that even with all that money at his disposal the Sheikh couldn’t design and build a dock with a wide enough turn around. In other words, in this little vignette Fleming is mocking his host’s design and thereby his intelligence.

If you have a copy can you please accidentally leak it to me from an anonymous email address? Thank you!

When I visited the Kuwait National Library back in March I noticed they had a room where they were scanning books on Kuwait in. I was told they would be launching a digital library soon called “Memory of Kuwait” and last week they did just that.

This platform was launched by an initiative of the National Library of Kuwait with a goal to connect the past with the present. It includes books, periodicals, manuscripts and other collections that document the stages of Kuwait through history.

This interactive digital platform utilizes advanced technologies in line with Kuwait National Library vision. Embracing new technologies in order to serve public visitors and to give them access to the library’s most important historical collections.

The library has so far scanned or digitized over 1,000 items like books, videos, newspapers and more and they’re all available to view right now on their website. But, I found the website really clunky and slow to use.

The videos I tried to watch were in the incorrect size format so they were squished while with the books or magazines I could only view a limited amount of pages. I keep getting a popup saying that I have limited access but there isn’t any information on how I can get more access! I can see a sign in button, but I can’t find the signup page so the whole thing feels like a bit of a mess.

I love the idea of a digital library especially when the main library is only open from 9AM to 1PM on weekdays. But I really really don’t like the software they’re using to navigate all these books, its too slow to be of any practical use. But, if you want to try it out yourself, here is the link.

Screenshot from Brightburn

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Brightburn (6.5)
Ma (6.0)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (6.9)
The Poison Rose (4.4)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aladdin (6.5)
Avengers: Endgame (9.2)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (7.4)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (8.1)
Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom (3.4)
Polaroid (5.2)
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (6.5)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Volcanoes 3D (6.6)

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