Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Green Book

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

New This Weekend:
Black ’47 (6.9)
Green Book (8.3)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (8.5)
Mia and the White Lion (6.9)
The Mule (7.2)
The Super (6.0)
Zoe (6.1)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aquaman (8.2)
Backtrace (3.7)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Cold Skin (6.0)
Creed II (8.0)
Mary Poppins Returns (7.4)
Prospect (7.0)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Grinch (6.1)
The Sisters Brothers (7.1)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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




Categories
Automotive Information Kuwait

World’s Longest Bridge Set to Open in Kuwait Soon

The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed causeway project is nearly complete and is set to open this coming April. Once it opens the bridge will be the world’s longest with a total span of 48.53km [Source].

Going by the drone footage in the two videos here, the drive will be very scenic over the Kuwaiti bay and take around 35 minutes from one end to the other. There isn’t anything on the other side to see yet but at least the road isn’t broken and full of potholes and little rocks flying around like every other road in Kuwait at the moment.




Categories
News Sports

Kuwait Will Not Co-Host the World Cup

Sheikh Ahmed al-Yousef, head of Kuwait’s Football Association, said that Kuwait cannot facilitate the conditions of participating in hosting some of the World Cup matches.

Yousef told Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper that it is hard to accommodate FIFA’s main conditions in Kuwait, the biggest of which is allowing all nationalities to enter the country with a visa upon arrival, including Israel.

He added: “Even if we selectively picked the teams playing in Kuwait, we cannot prevent the audience from attending. There are also alcohol brands that are sponsoring the event and would like to sell and promote its products during the games, and that is forbidden and criminalized in Kuwait, so how would we solve this problem?” [Source]

I didn’t even know Kuwait was even in the consideration to co-host the World Cup. This is such a huge missed opportunity, one which I don’t think we’ll have again. Qatar spent a lot of money getting the World Cup to come to the region so we basically would have gotten a free ride. The amount of publicity and visitors we would have gotten by hosting the World Cup, and all the improvements the government would have made to the local infrastructure, it’s so sad all this isn’t going to happen now.




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

Qout Market is back this coming Saturday and it’s taking place in Safat Square again (pictured above). Other than that there are a few other things going on this weekend, check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

Friday
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday Run
Stargazing in AlSalmi Desert

Saturday
Sunrise Yoga
Qout Market
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Movie Discussion: 12 Angry Men
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

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.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Prospect

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

New This Weekend:
Backtrace (3.7)
Cold Skin (6.0)
Dead in a Week: Or Your Money Back (6.3)
Girls of the Sun (5.6)
Mia & The White Lion (6.8)
Prospect (7.0)
The Cleaning Lady (5.8)
The Sisters Brothers (7.1)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aquaman (8.2)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Capsule (6.2)
Creed II (8.0)
Mary Poppins Returns (7.4)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Remi, Nobody’s Boy (6.9)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
Speed Kills (3.9)
The Fixies: Top Secret (5.7)
The Grinch (6.1)
Widows (7.4)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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




Categories
Events

What’s happening in Kuwait for New Years tonight?

I’ve been getting messages asking me if there will be any fireworks at Kuwait Towers tonight and honestly, I have no clue. If there is going to be fireworks around the Kuwait Towers area then they’re keeping it a secret because I can’t find any info on it in the local papers or online. But, Al Kout Mall are having activities and fireworks tonight and you can find out more about that [Here]

If you know of anything else taking place tonight, let us know about it in the comments below.




Categories
Travel

I’m Sold on the Kuwait Airport Pearl Assist Service

Last month I posted about how you can skip airport queues with the Pearl Assist meet & assist service. I had previously tried Pearl Assist on arrival but these past two weekends I used them for both departure and arrival and I loved it.

Pearl Assist on Departure
I hadn’t tried Pearl Assist when departing before so I was curious to see how useful it would be. When you arrive to the airport the first thing you need to do is head to the Pearl Assist kiosk in the arrival section. There you hand over your passport to the employee who will then take you to your airline check-in area, skip to the front of the line and get you checked in at the first available check-in desk. This could be super useful on a very busy flight. Once you’re checked in the employee will then take you through the fast track security check and passport control area. After you’re done with passport control and enter the duty-free hall, they’ll hand you back your passport and you’re done. If you tend to travel during busy seasons or during holidays, this will save you so much time since you will avoid all the long lines.

Pearl Assist on Arrival
Once you land and get off the plane you’ll find a Pearl Assist employee waiting for you outside the gate, you hand them your passport and follow them to passport control. Kuwaitis might not benefit much from arrival since the passport control lines for Kuwaitis is pretty organized, but for expats it’s a completely different story. Expats are squeezed to the side of the passport control hall in a messy crooked line that’s long and packed (pictured above). It doesn’t matter if you flew in business or economy, you don’t get to fast track and everyone has to stand in this line, it gives me anxiety and I hate it. But with Pearl Assist you get to skip all that mess and head to the front of this line, it really makes the airport experience on arrival a million times better.

So how much does this cost? You have two options, the first is to pay for this service per use and that costs KD11. It’s what I did and it cost me KD22 for departure and arrival. The other option which I’m going to sign up with is their unlimited use membership. This costs KD110 for the year and you can use them as many times as you want. So if you travel more than 5 times a year then really this is the way to go.

If you’re interested in signing up to their membership plan or to try them out, here is the link to their [Website]

Update: I was just informed by Pearl Assist that they’re running a promo that expires at the end of the year (tomorrow night basically). If you sign up to their unlimited service before the end of 2018 you get extra benefits including 50% discount on your +1’s and 15% discount on their global services (over 200 airports). To get these benefits you just need to sign up from the same link I’ve posted above.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Mary Poppins Returns

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

New This Weekend:
Capsule (6.2)
Mary Poppins Returns (7.4)
Speed Kills (3.9)
The Fixies: Top Secret (5.7)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aquaman (8.2)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Creed II (8.0)
Instant Family (7.6)
Mortal Engines (7.2)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Grinch (6.1)
Widows (7.4)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

A strangely quiet weekend with not much going on even though the weather is great. Check out this weekends events below, but also check out the events page [Here] for other upcoming events.

Thursday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Everest
Al Shaheed Park Trivia Night

Friday
Everest
Oriental Music Night

Saturday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Shinsawi: Failaka Tour

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.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Bumblebee

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

New This Weekend:
Anchors Up (5.7)
Anna and the Apocalypse (6.6)
Asher (5.4)
Bumblebee (7.2)
Little Miss Dolittle (4.4)
Remi, Nobody’s Boy (7.1)
Vox Lux (6.3)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Aquaman (8.2)
Creed II (8.0)
Instant Family (7.6)
Malevolent (4.8)
Mortal Engines (7.2)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Robin Hood (5.8)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Bombing (3.6)
The Grinch (6.1)
Widows (7.4)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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




Categories
Automotive

Importing a Car into Kuwait

Has anyone here imported a car into Kuwait before? If yes what company did you use to help you with the paperwork? I’m planning to import an old car from the UAE but since I’m an expat, I’ve been told that I need to bring the car in through a car import company. I was planning to pass by Sharq and ask the used car shops there if they offered the service but wanted to see if anybody could recommend a place first.




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do in Kuwait this Weekend

The weekend is here and so are all the events. Make sure you drop by the Caffeine & Wheels event this Saturday, it should be fun! Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
La Selva Caliente
Korean Calligraphy – Making Christmas & New Year’s Card
Entertainment Con
Graduates of 2019: Moo Milk Bar

Friday
Entertainment Con
Christmas Extravaganza
Stargazing in AlSalmi Desert
Blues in the Night
Talentshop’s Funky Sweater Show

Saturday
Exhibition: Abstraction by Farouk Hosny
Entertainment Con
Qout Market
Caffeine & Wheels

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.




Categories
Movies

Movies Showing in Kuwait this Weekend


Screenshot from Aquaman

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

New This Weekend:
Aquaman (8.2)
Christmas Break-In (N/A)
Elliot the Littlest Reindeer (5.2)
Malevolent (4.8)
Second Act (6.2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
The Bombing (3.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Creed II (8.0)
Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer (6.2)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (7.1)
Instant Family (7.6)
Mortal Engines (7.2)`
Ralph Breaks the Internet (8.1)
Robin Hood (5.8)
The Grinch (6.1)
Widows (7.4)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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




Categories
News

Kuwait police investigating social media influencers for money laundering

Detectives in Kuwait have been called to investigate several social media influencers for money laundering, according to reports.

Arabic publication Al-Jarida cited sources as confirming the notices regarding more than 10 bank accounts belonging to social media stars.

The sources said the balances in some of the accounts exceeded millions of Kuwaiti dinars and the ‘fashionista’ owners would need to prove their source of income. [Source]

I clearly must be doing blogging wrong…




Categories
50s to 90s

Kuwait Waterfront Development 1978-1988

While looking for old photos of Green Island I found a very interesting article on the whole waterfront development project that took place between 1978 and 1988. The Gulf Road was built on land reclaimed from the sea and part of that project was the development of the waterfront stretching 21KM from Seef Palace all the way down to where Scientific Center is today (check the map below).

As part of the waterfront project the Green Island was created and the article shares some of the backstory and design decisions related to it. The article is in PDF format and contains some pictures, so even if you don’t want to read it all you can skim through it and check out the photos. Here is a link to the [PDF]

The current state of the Green Island is very disappointing. I passed by a month or two ago and the place just looked sad and desolate. Not only that but security didn’t even want to let me in because I had a camera with me. They told me no photography was allowed, how stupid.

via Archnet