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If you’re staying in Kuwait during the holidays then this is something you can do. Below is the Cinemagic’s rooftop movie schedule starting this Thursday:

Thursday February 21st, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Winner of the 2009 Palme D’or at Cannes, and directed by living maser Michael Haneke. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

Saturday February 23rd, 2013 at 7:30PM
BULLHEAD
Nominated for best foreign film at the 2011 Oscars, and winner of many international awards for best film and best actor. A young cattle farmer is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past, set in motion a chain of events with far reaching consequences.

Thursday February 28th, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE CLASS
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, as well being on over 20 top ten of the year lists, The Class follows teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau who plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG and there is no entrance fee. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Everyone who’s been to the Kuwait Zoo knows how sad and depressing the place is. I’ve written about it a number of times and it’s just something that has bewildered me for a very long time. Why is the zoo the way it is? I always figured the people who worked at the zoo didn’t care about the animals but after meeting a few of the staff members recently I now know that’s not true. Turns out there are two main reasons why the zoo is a disaster, the first is the zoo visitors and the second is they just don’t have enough money to make it better.

The Visitors
Majority of the people who visit the zoo do not respect the animals nor do they respect any of the rules. On one trip to the zoo during the daytime when it was fairly empty I witnessed three different incidents in a space of 15 minutes that summarizes the problem with the people at the zoo. The first incident took place at the elephant enclosure. We noticed a woman with her young kid had climbed over the fence, through the cactuses all the way to the wall of the elephant enclosure and were taking pictures next to the trunk of the elephant that was sticking out. One of the zoo employees who was with me yelled at the women to get away from the elephant because it was dangerous and the woman just coldly took her time making her way back out over the fence as if she had done nothing wrong. A few meters away on the other corner of the enclosure there was a kid next to his mother with a bag of oranges throwing them at the second elephant. Again the zoo employee had to stop the kid from throwing oranges at the elephant while the mother was pretending she wasn’t noticing any of this.

The third incident occurred just a short distance away at the baboon enclosure. As we arrived we noticed a kid was on top of the fence sticking french fries into the baboon cage trying to feed them. His mother and his sister were standing next to him watching and then the baboon stuck his hand out of the cage and the little boy tried to kick it hard but ended up missing and hitting the cage. The zoo employee I was with yelled at the boy to get down and then pulled the kid down but the kid kept climbing back up wanting to feed the baboons. The employee was telling the kid how dangerous it was since the baboons can bite and scratch people when his mother started shouting at her. She told the employee that no one cares about her kids more than her and if this was dangerous she wouldn’t be letting her kids feed the baboons. I was just standing there going WTF?

Visitors are one of the biggest issues of the zoo. I’ve already posted about how some kids try to kill the animals with slingshots and how the trash people throw into the cages end up killing the animals as well. A lot of kids are uneducated and abusive throwing whatever they can at the animals or in the case above trying to kick them. This is why the zoo tries to protect the animals using chicken wire (a fence with very small openings) around the cages, cactus plants, higher fences and security guards. But even those defenses fail all the time, people still manage to shove food into the cages, they pull down the chicken wire fence and put it on top of the cactuses so they can walk on them towards the cages. Even security guards get ignored and the guards are too afraid to confront the visitors anyway.

No Budget
Now this second issue is the bigger of the two. The zoo has limited financial resources. Although Kuwait is a rich country, the zoo and animals aren’t really a priority. Right now there are two major enclosures for example that need to be changed or fixed but the zoo staff haven’t been able to secure the budget for them.

The first problem is the elephant enclosure. Right now there are two elephants and the enclosure is pretty tiny. The larger of the two elephants has started destroying the walls of the enclosure because of frustration. The zoo submitted a proposal to double the size of the enclosure since there is an empty plot right next to the elephant enclosure but the proposal was rejected. Instead a construction company was brought in to install large metal beams around the elephant enclosure as a solution (pictured above).

The second problem that is in dire need of attention is the chimpanzee cage (pictured above). There are four chimps in one of the most depressing cages I’ve ever seen. They have no entertainment whatsoever inside, it’s just a rectangular dark cage with concrete floors and thats it. But, there’s a great spot in the zoo which the staff want to convert to a chimp enclosure. It’s a large space (see below) that can be planted with trees and greenery and chimps can roam free in it. The plan was proposed but rejected due to budgetary reasons. So now the space is gonna be turned into a reptile enclosure filled with a few crocs and turtles which is going to be a complete waste of space.

So although the staff do want to improve the zoo they just don’t have any money do so. It’s very depressing. Even when it comes to fixing enclosures or purchasing new medical equipment it’s all handled in the same low priority “put a bandaid on it” way.

The Solution
The visitors problem is very difficult to fix. One way would be to increase the prices of the tickets (currently it’s 500fils) in hopes that would stop or lessen the amount of visitors that come to the zoo. Educating the parents and the children is too large a task for the zoo to handle and signs and leaflets really have no effect. The most realistic solution to the people problem is to continue and try to protect the animals (I suggested replacing cactus plants with barbed wire) and hiring Kuwaiti security to replace the current expats.

The solution with the budget should be simpler… just increase the budget, but that’s not happening. A more realistic option we discussed is sponsorship by private companies. Companies could sponsor an animal enclosure and the money would be used to build it or improve it. It’s something that’s done in other zoos around the world and in this situation it would be a great way to solve a lot of the problems.

By the way you’re a company and are interested in doing this, email me for more details [Here]

It’s really sad that the zoo doesn’t have any money to improve the situation for the animals. It’s not only the elephants and the chimps that are in trouble but those two are the priorities right now. The baboon cage for example has around 70 baboons inside and is over crowded. The tiger needs more space, the hippos need a new water filter for their pool and one of the giraffes is limping but they don’t have a portable xray machine to check and see why. They even have one animal enclosure nicknamed Guantanamo because it’s that bad.

The problems with the zoo are major and hopefully I was able to bring it some exposure.

Spotted the above pack at Sultan Center and couldn’t resist picking it up. After Sultan stopped getting Count Chocula, Cocoa Puffs became my favorite Friday morning cereal so when I saw this muffin mix I decided to grab a box to try out.

Making these muffins was super easy. There are two packs inside the box, one for the muffin mix the other for the Cocoa Puffs toppings. You take the muffin mix and empty it into a bowl. You then add an egg and some vegetable oil and mix it all up and that’s basically it. You then just pour the mix into muffin cups, add the Cocoa Puffs toppings on top and bake the muffins for a few minutes in the oven.

The result wasn’t that great. I thought the muffin tasted pretty good but the Cocoa Puffs toppings didn’t actually taste like the Cocoa Puffs cereal. I actually would have preferred the muffin without the Cocoa Puffs toppings. What I would do next time is make a proper home made muffin (not the ready made stuff) and just add Cocoa Puffs on top from a cereal box.

Bazaar released their 2013 Dining guide this month and for the first time ever they’re making it available as a digital download so you can read it on your iPad, computer or any other device that’s capable of reading PDFs. It’s 500 pages big and if you want to download it just follow this [Link]

Note: You need to create an account or login using your Facebook account to download the PDF.

I was contacted by Alghanim Automotive asking me if I’d be interested in reviewing the new Camaro ZL1. I’m honestly not a big fan of American cars and if they were asking me to review the regular Camaro I would have most likely said no, but… the ZL1 is a different kind of Camaro, it’s a Camaro with a V8 6.2L 580-freakin-HP monster engine. So I said yes.

There’s a popular saying that people don’t change, well that’s not true. I’m usually a law abiding, non-agressive and courteous driver, but once I started driving the ZL1 I changed. In my neighborhood I became the asshole down the street with the loud car who tries to run down all the cats. On the highway I became the jerk that cuts everyone off, at u-turns I became the douche that slides his car at full thrust and at red traffic lights I was the dipstick who kept revving his engine loudly. This car is dark and evil. It changes people. All I wanted to do is drive around with my middle finger sticking out the window while doing donuts in the middle of every intersection on the Gulf Road. Oh and a large FUCK YOU sticker on the rear window would have been nice as well. I really loved this car.

The ZL1 I picked up was pretty aggressive looking. The color was a very dark gray (jet black), the 20inch wheels were black and the interior was also black. If I was to choose a color combination for my car this would have been exactly it. I am really thankful to Alghanim for not providing me with a bright yellow Camaro with black stripes running down the middle since I would have most likely puked all over it. The interior as I mentioned was also black but they also used Alcantara (suede like material) for the steering wheel, gear stick and dash which made the interior very sporty looking. I had a choice between an auto and manual but since my stick shift skills are as good as Kim Kardashians acting skills, I chose the auto to the dismay of all my friends. I don’t regret I did. Although the automatic gearbox has a lot to be desired in term of responsiveness and speed, it didn’t really matter to me since I wasn’t on the track and I was just having too much fun with the car to notice. The car really is a lot of fun to drive. The first two days when I picked up the car it was raining so obviously the roads were wet and a 580HP rear wheel drive car on a wet surface is asking for trouble (the good kind). You really do need to respect the power which I wasn’t really doing hence why I got the scare of my life when I was driving at around 110KM/H and gave the car a kick down which to my surprise slid the ass sideways so much I nearly hit the car on my right. This car is a beast. It’s loud, it’s angry and it wants to kill you. I have no idea how I didn’t get stopped by the cops and deported in the five days I had the car. It was crazy good times.

I do have a bunch of negatives about the car though. For one thing the seats aren’t sporty enough. I would have wanted them to be deeper bucket seats and tighter since I was sliding left and right on my seat without much side support. The stereo was also a disappointment even though it was a 250w Boston Acoustics sound system, it just didn’t have the oomph. Externally, the front and sides of the car look pretty aggressive but the rear not so much. If I bought this car the first thing I’d do is replace the rear wing with a carbon version to match the carbon on the front hood, I’d also black out the chrome around the rear lights and more importantly replace the rear bumper with one more aggressive looking and possibly one with a rear carbon skirt. Finally gas consumption. If you drive the car like an old women the gas consumption is actually not that bad. On the other hand if you drive the car like it’s meant to be driven then you’re going to consume a lot of gas, and I mean A LOT of gas. There was one day where I filled the gas tank full three freakin times! I’ve never done that with ANY car before not even on long road trips.

The price of the auto ZL1 in Kuwait is KD19,695. The manual version is for slightly less at KD19,195. If you’re looking for a very fun monster but one that’s still comfortable as an everyday car then I can’t think of anything better than this. I want this car.

Note: No cats were harmed during the making of this review

It’s pretty impressive that a company founded back in 1889 still exists today and is considered one of the most innovative and creative companies in their field. Nintendo has survived throughout these years not by sheer luck, but by being able to adapt to markets and get ahead of the game. Nintendo didn’t always make video games – it started out making playing cards and when that business was waning the CEO of the time Hiroshi Yamauchis decided to move into other businesses like instant noodles, a taxi company, and even a TV network. Eventually, Nintendo made its way in the video game business and released the NES; 27 years later, Nintendo has finally released its sixth console, the Wii U.

Nintendo’s philosophy has never been about creating the most powerful console with the best graphics, but to create a console that anyone could enjoy, developers could create fun games for, and is affordable. They constantly try to innovate without going overboard. The Nintendo 64 was the first console to introduce analogue sticks and 4 player controller ports right out of the box that competitors adapted in the future. We’re seeing similar advancements with motion controls that Nintendo introduced with the Wii and now Nintendo has taken another step forward by introducing the Wii U and the Game Pad.

Mark was able to hook me up with a Wii U from X-cite to review and I got the chance to test it out by playing Super Mario Bros U, ZombiU, Nintendo Land and Batman Arkham City.

The first thing I was curious about was Nintendo’s new social network called the Miiverse and so far it’s been informative, entertaining, and pretty promising. For those who don’t know, the Miiverse is where you interact with other Wii U users through a community for every app or game out for the Wii U. So if you want to discuss some Youtube videos, you can go to the Youtube community and post about it there and other users can reply or give you a “Yeah!” (equivalent to a Facebook “Like”). If you want to discuss a specific game and you’re unsure about buying it, you can go to that game’s community and ask them about it. Other times, people will draw some really elaborate drawings using the Wii U’s gamepad and the community walls turn into a temporary art exhibit. And it works well – comments are posted instantly without delay. People will comment and try to solve things. For example, I was going through the ZombiU community and found a thread with over 25 comments of gamers trying to decipher some code someone found spray-painted on a wall in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if communities like this sprang up in the next iteration of consoles Microsoft and Sony release.

Tonight was such a crazy evening. Me and a friend headed to Avenues at 2:30PM so we could get into Millions of Milkshakes before the mall got crowded. Kim was supposed to arrive at 4PM but she ended up coming around 2 hours late. I wasn’t too surprised really since this was Kim Kardashian and I was expecting her to be fashionably late although I figured she might be around an hour late and not two. I was planning to stream Kim’s arrival live from location but for some reason the alleyway where Millions of Milkshake was located didn’t have a strong 3G connection so the video that I was streaming online turned out to be very choppy and low res. That’s why I decided to stop the live stream and shoot a regular video and upload it to YouTube instead. As soon as Kim arrived everyone went crazy as you can see in the video below. I have no idea why people over react like that.

[YouTube]

Once Kim got into Millions of Milkshake things didn’t get any better there either. Although there wasn’t a large crowd inside people were still pushing and shoving trying to get to Kim. We stayed out of the way as much as possible and tried to take our shots from a distance. I then got some really great and close up shots of Kim when she was making milkshakes. Because the crowd was so chaotic they ended up changing her schedule a bit and I didn’t manage to get my video interview done tonight. I am disappointed but it’s fine since I know how unexpected events can screw up schedules. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done tomorrow night at the gala dinner. On the bright side I did get my picture taken with Kim and I think she looked really hot. I took a bunch of shots tonight but my favorites are the ones below. Overall I had a good time tonight and I got to make some new friends. Tomorrow tonight things should be less dramatic.

The Future Shorts Festival is the biggest pop up film festival of its kind, showcasing the most exciting short films from around the world. As part of their Autumn Season world tour they’ll be making a stop in Kuwait next week at the Contemporary Art Platform.

Date: Sunday November 4th 2012
Time: 7:00 pm
Entrance fee: 3KD to be collected at the door
Location: Contemporary Art Platform (https://capkuwait.com/location/)

The Autumn Season will feature the following short films:
Café Regular, Cairo – Ritesh Batra
A Brief History of John Baldessari – Ariel Schulman & Henry Joost
Rite – Michael Pearce
The Black Balloon – Ben Safdie & Joshua Safdie
On The Line – Reto Caffi

There will also be a special live music set after the screening. There are limited seats so make sure you come early. Doors will close at 7:30 pm.

My friend who was attending a conference in Doha today snapped the picture above. The photo on the bottom right in that presentation is the one below which I shot back in 2005 at the Kuwait Airport. It’s by far the most popular photo I’ve ever taken since it been making its away around the world popping up in different places as an epic fail photo.

Thanks Alex

There was a time when open world games like Grand Theft Auto III were a big deal. Nowadays, it seems like there’s an open world game being released every year. There was also a time when open world games were flat 2D worlds like Super Metroid or The Legend of Zelda. Today, it’s vast and deep 3D landscapes with big cities (or deserts if we’re talking about the great Red Dead Redemption). The problem with most games that share this genre is that they’re automatically labeled a “GTA-clone”, so in order to be successful, the developer needs to create something unique or at least innovative. Sleeping Dogs might not be incredibly unique (a cop and gangster game set in Hong Kong), but it does take the GTA formula further by innovating it, making it its own.

Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. – wikipedia

There were a bunch of things I really liked about Sleeping Dogs. One example that pops right into mind is that the game lets you cycle through your objectives without the need to pause or go to the map screen. To add to that, it’ll show you how to get to your objective and how far your destination is. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it helps with the pacing of the game. There’s no need to pause, go into a menu, and look through a big map. One thing that bugged me about GTA was that there was no reason to pay attention to traffic laws and pedestrians, but in Sleeping Dogs you lose points if you vandalize, steal or kill pedestrians while you’re on a mission. These points can help you level up and unlock more items and moves and they’re part of your overall mission score that gets uploaded and shared with your friends. That’s another thing the developers have added: the “Social Hub”. The Social Hub basically uploads your mission scores and other stats (longest wheelie for instance) and compares them to your friends who are also playing the game.

Exit is a short film that revolves around a Ministry building in Kuwait. It’s really not that great a video but I really liked the idea of a bored employee making a film at his workplace. [Vimeo]

The Future Shorts Festival is the biggest pop up film festival of its kind, showcasing the most exciting short films from around the world. As part of their world tour they’ll be making a stop in Kuwait next week at the Contemporary Art Platform.

Date: August 8th, 2012
Time: 9PM
Location: Contemporary Art Platform, Shuwaikh
Ticket: KD2

For more information on the Future Shorts Festival click [Here]

Veep
Veep is a new comedy from HBO starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elain from Seinfeld) and Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development). Julia is the vice president of the United States of American and she’s surrounded by a team of dimwit advisors. Super funny. [IMDB]

Continuum
It’s a sci-fi thriller and a good one which is a rare find these days. The show takes place in two timelines, 2077 and 2012. Without ruining the story too much, a few terrorists from the future end up making their way to 2012 and a female detective accidentally ends up in the past with them. They want to change the future and she’s trying to stop them. [IMDB]

Touch
Honestly I thought this was going to be a lame drama about a single father trying to take care of his disabled kid and the only reason I considered watching it is because the father is Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer from 24). But, after watching the pilot episode I’m so hooked on this show. It’s nothing like I expected it to be and if you loved the movie Magnolia you’re so going to love the pilot. [IMDB]

StudioNUNS are supposedly two Kuwaiti Girls who have been making their own music videos covering various popular songs. The first song they did was Call Me Maybe last month and they released a new video a few days back covering Teach Me How To Dougie. In all their videos so far they’re wearing masks which allows them to have all the fun they want without being judged. Check out their YouTube channel [Here]

Thanks epetome

The number of Indians living in in Kuwait has quadrupled in the past decade to an estimated 650,000 – making them the country’s largest foreign population. For a long time seen as blue collar workers – now a new generation of Indian businessmen are changing the perception of their community by being partners in some of Kuwait’s top firms. Howard Johnson has been to Kuwait to explore the secret of the Indian community’s success. [YouTube]

Note to self: I need to try Amman Bhelpuri.