Search: “maki”

Pinot is a digital artist that was living in Kuwait up till 2014 and is incredibly talented in pixel art and animation using vintage computers. He gained worldwide fame through the service Vine which back before Twitter acquired it, used to allow users to share six-second-long looping video clips. Eventually a digital agency in New York found out about him and offered him a job so he packed up and left Kuwait with his family to work and live there. Since then he’s gotten even more popular with nearly 400K followers on Instagram and even ended up on an MKBHD episode where he showed Marques how to paint on an old Mac.

His Childish Gambino video that went viral

Sadly back in June he suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. Since then he’s been gradually progressing ever so slowly and eventually was taken off life support since he started breathing by himself. He also started making hand gestures and moving one of his arms and legs and is still slowly improving.

Art for Pinot is an initiative from the Indonesian NFT community to help him by inviting fellow creators to donate their artwork as a form of support. If you’re an artist reading this you can help by donating an artwork. For more information visit bit.ly/ArtforPino

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pinot (@pinot)

If you’re not an artist but still want to help, there is a GoFundMe page.

If you’re just curious and want to check out some of Pinot’s work, his Instagram is @pinot and his twitter (which he posts animations in progress) is also @pinot

If you want to stay updated on his progress, his wife is sharing updates on her Instagram @ditut

It’s been a month since I got my Toyota Hilux and since then I’ve done two Saudi trips and driven over 5,000KM in it. I’ve also started personalizing the car with various upgrades similar to what I did with my FJ Cruiser 12 years ago and my Wrangler before that. But, the difference this time around is that I’ve mostly managed to find everything I needed locally instead of having to ship things in. Here is what I’ve gotten done so far and from where:

Window Tint
The first thing I did was get my windows tinted, I previously used Huper-Optik on my FJ and decided to use the same brand again since I didn’t have any issues with it after 12 years. Motorworks are the dealers for it so went and got my tint done there at their new workshop. They took over the old Mercedes garage on the 4th Ring Road so their place is now HUGE. I dropped the car in the morning and picked it up in the afternoon and it cost me 110KD. Need to actually take one of my other cars back there to get tinted as well now that I think about it.

Paint Protection Film
For PPF I decided to get it done at ProTech Monte-Carlo. To save money I originally went and got it done at another place first, but they didn’t do a good job and had missed some spots so I decided to get it done again at ProTech. This happens when you try to save money, you end up spending more than if you had done it right the first time around. I only got the front of my car done, so full hood, full fenders, front bumper etc. I think I paid around 190KD but that’s because I kept some of the previous PPF from the first place on. ProTech are really the best at details with the aim of making sure you can’t tell there is any protection on the car. I really regret not going there to begin with but oh well.

Wheels
I originally was planning to buy my wheels online but the vast amount of options available was giving me anxiety, especially since you basically have to imagine them on the car. In the end I decided to go local and ended up trying to decide between two brands, EVO Corse (Epic Overland are the dealers) or BRAID (Formula Wheel are the dealers). I decided to go with BRAID and now that they’re on the car I think I made the right decision. The original Hilux wheels were 18″ but I went with 17″ BRAID’s because I prefer having more rubber between the road and the car. I tend to hit or scrape my tires on curbs so more rubber means less chance the wheels are getting scratched. I paid 590KD for 4 wheels.

Tires
I’m a big fan of BF Goodrich and Michelin tires, the same dealer (KAICO) sells both brands and they’re the only two tire brands I use on all 7 of my cars. I decided to get the BFG All-Terrains for the Hilux, the same ones I had on my FJ and they’re great because they’re pretty much puncture proof. The original tires on the car were 265/60/R18, I decided to go larger and so went with 265/70/R17. They’re just over an inch taller and I was able to fit them with no bodywork modification. Other than looking better and raising the car height, my speedometer is now also accurate instead of it being around 10km off. Four tires cost me 420KD.

Lift Kit
To fit the larger tires and also improve the ride quality a bit I had to get a lift kit. There is only one place I trust for any 4×4 work and its ORP. I posted about them 12 years ago when I had the lift kit on my FJ installed there. Back then they had just opened, it was a tiny garage and they were just getting started. Since then they’ve grown a lot and now have a pretty big showroom with a much much larger garage in the back. They are also dealers for multiple 4×4 brands including Old Man Emu, ARB, WARN, Rhino, Mickey Thompson, Fabtech, Total Chaos, Method, TJM, FOX, you name it. They’re so good that people from around the GCC bring their 4x4s to them to get them modified for offroading. They’re so miles ahead of everyone and their customer service is the best there is.

Anyway, because I’m continuing to stick to brands I trust I went with Old Man Emu for my suspension again which is the same brand as what I had on my FJ and my Wrangler before that. ORP was out of stock on my rear shocks so had to get those from Alsayer who are also the dealers. I then needed OME upper control arms and both ORP and Alsayer were out of stock so I checked in Dubai and Riyadh since I had trips to both places. Dubai was also out of stock but I did find one last piece at the OME dealer in Riyadh and so got it from there. In total it cost me around 450KD for everything including installation and alignment (which ORP do in-house). Installation took a day so dropped the car in the morning before work and then picked it up after work.

Sound System
The last thing I did to my Hilux was upgrade the sound system and I decided to go with FOCAL since they made speakers that were plug and plug with my Hilux. I ended up installing the speakers myself which were relatively easy and only took a few hours following a step-by-step video on YouTube. What a difference the speakers made, I can’t believe they sound this good and they didn’t even require me to install a separate amp. I ended up ordering them from a website in South Africa called Angrijeep because the price there was 50% cheaper than anywhere else. They cost me 115KD and another 35KD for shipping plus I ordered a Dynamat Kit from Amazon which cost me 30KD plus 16KD for shipping. I definitely got the best bang for my buck.

Whats Next
I’ve pretty much done everything I wanted to do except I now need to get a roll cover for my tub in the back. That way I can put tools and gear in the back and not worry about them getting stolen or damaged by the weather. I want a Mountain Top EVOm roll cover and the only dealer in our region is Arctic Trucks Dubai, so I’m heading there in a couple of weeks. Since I’m driving all the way there I’m also going to get a few other things including a Mountain Top spots bar and Rival 4×4 skid plates. Once I get those fitted the only thing left will be installing a tailgate control locking kit since right now the tailgate doesn’t lock and unlock with the remote. I think I’ll be done after that, I hope.

If you have any questions or are curious about the availability of any brands locally, let me know in the comments.

Update: Ended up driving to Dubai and getting the Mountain Top EVOm roll cover installed, plus the sports bar and the Rival Underbody guard. Got it all done at Arctic Trucks Dubai.

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan then you probably already know that yesterday the first episode of the GOT prequel House of the Dragon was released. I watched the first episode last night and it was amazing and I can’t wait for the rest of the season to play out. If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones that’s fine, you can still watch House of the Dragon since it’s a prequel and so you don’t need to have watched GOT to understand whats going on.

I watched House of the Dragon on HBO Max on my AppleTV using a smart DNS service. I’ve posted about this service before but I’ll explain it again for those of you who missed my previous posts. Smart DNS works like a VPN into making the streaming services think you’re living in the US. But, unlike VPNs, setting up a smart DNS service is easier and it’s not something you need to turn on and off all the time. It also doesn’t slow down your internet connection.

You need two things to start streaming House of the Dragon, a smart DNS, and a HBO Max subscription.

Smart DNS
If you have an Apple TV or a Smart TV, setting up smart DNS is as simple as going into your settings menu and adding some numbers. I use a DNS service from Smart DNS Proxy (affiliate link) and it allows me to stream from any of the services including Showtime, HBO, Huly, Paramount, Dinsney and more. They also provide easy step by step guides on how to set up the DNS service on your Apple TV and other devices. I’ve been using them for a few years and never ran into issues with them. A full year subscription costs my $18. Link

HBO Max Subscription
Subscribing to HBO Max or other US streaming services is also really simple as long as you do it through your Apple device. If you have an iPhone you might also have a US Apple Store account. An easy way to know if you have a US or Kuwait Apple Store account is how you pay for your apps and subscriptions. Is your Kuwaiti credit card connected to your Apple account? Or do you buy Apple cards and recharge your account that way? If it’s the latter then you probably have a US account. In that case, you need to subscribe to the streaming services either through your phone or other iOS devices. That way the subscription will be deducted from your Apple account and you won’t have to use a US credit card to pay.

That’s pretty much it. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

I found out about the website and app Nabati from a vegan friend of mine, it’s an online grocery store that specializes in only vegan products. They check the ingredients for each and every product they sell to make sure that what they’re selling is totally vegan making the shopping experience super convenient for vegans.

My two best friends are vegan, well one is an ex-vegan now but I’ve spent a lot of time shopping with them to know it’s a slow process of having to read the ingredients of items they haven’t purchased before to check and see if they’re vegan or not. Having a store where you know everything they’re selling is vegan-friendly takes a lot of hassle out of shopping.

If you’re a vegan, check out nabatistore.com

SodaStream is a very popular company that makes home carbonation appliances. It’s a small kitchen appliance that allows you to create sparking water by forcing carbon dioxide into regular water making it fizzy. You can also add different flavors to create your very own mix. The only problem is that SodaStream is an Israeli company so we can’t get their machines or CO2 canisters in Kuwait.

But, there is now a local brand that just launched called Gulf Soda that sells a machine that does the same thing. They’re selling the soda machine for 50KD without the gas cylinder and come in three colors. The CO2 gas cylinders cost 15KD each and 5KD to refill. So you’re going to pay an initial cost of 65KD to start making your own home carbonated drinks.

If you want to check out their products, their website is gulfsoda.com and their Instagram is @gulfsoda

The Supra name evokes the power, performance, and handling that defined a succession of world-class cars for a quarter of a century, which built a reputation both as formidable performers on the road and all-conquering machines on the racetrack. The GR Supra is the first Toyota global model developed entirely by GAZOO Racing (GR). The team has been developing its cars and people through its participation in motorsports with the goal of making ‘ever-better’ cars ever since first competing in Germany’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race in 2007. GR’s years of knowledge and expertise have been channeled into bringing the Supra back to life in the form of Toyota GR Supra, an all-new expression of pure sports car performance that people the world over will find fun to drive.

The launch of the all-new GR Supra marked the end of a 17-year hiatus since the production of the previous generation concluded in 2002. As with all previous generations, the GR Supra is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicle powered by an inline six-cylinder engine. Extensive attention has also been paid to the fundamental elements of wheelbase, tread, and center of gravity, thus achieving superior handling performance befitting a pure sports car.

GR Supra’s 3.0-liter turbocharged engine produces up to 335 hp and 500 Nm of torque. The torque comes on strong even from very low engine speeds, thanks to a combination of a twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel injection, and continuously variable timing on both the intake and exhaust camshafts. Engine response is further enhanced thanks to the inline six’s variable intake-valve lift system, which adjusts intake valve timing and duration for optimal performance. The 8-speed automatic transmission delivers speedy up and downshifts, and features paddle shifters for manual control when desired. Short ratios for the lower gears and a launch control function, which is not intended for use on public roads or repeated short interval use, enable powerful acceleration with maximum traction.

The Supra offers two driving modes, Normal and Sport. The Sport Mode sharpens throttle response, increases steering weight, and improves transmission shift crispness. This mode also engages a more aggressive active differential tuning and amplifies the exhaust sound. Meanwhile, Traction Mode can be activated as part of the Vehicle Stability Control System to provide track-driving capability by reducing the intervention of the traction and stability control functions. Launch Control is available only when the vehicle is in Sport and Traction modes.

For performance driving enthusiasts, the all-new GR Supra offers an active differential that uses an electric motor and multi-plate clutches to control lateral torque. The active differential precisely controls torque distribution between the rear wheels when cornering under both acceleration and braking, enabling greater momentum through a corner, with step-less variable locking from 0-100 percent. Excellent handling and stability and superior ride comfort are realized through the vehicle’s optimized construction, which incorporates both front double-joint type MacPherson strut suspension and rear multi-link suspension.

For more information or to book a test drive, click here.

There is a local Instagram account that sells children’s books paired with themed dioramas. I originally thought these themed dioramas came with the books and the account was just reselling them, but it turned out that the person was making each diorama themselves.

It’s a cool idea that can make reading more fun so if you have kids check the account @story.trunks.kw

Over the weekend the US Embassy in Kuwait posted a message by President Joe Biden in support of Pride Month and as you can imagine, that didn’t go well.

As of this post, there are over 21,000 comments under that Instagram post with the majority of people being really upset about it. The story was picked up by the international press and is now making its way around the Internet.

I was curious about whether the US Embassy in other Arab countries also posted a similar message supporting Pride Month, and if they did, what kind of reaction people had to it. Below are two lists, one relating to Instagram posts and another relating to Twitter:

US Embassies Pride Post on Instagram
US Embassy in Bahrain – Yes (633 Likes – 4.8K Comments)
US Embassy in Egypt – No
US Embassy in Jordan – No
US Embassy in Kuwait – Yes (2,930 Likes – 21.8K Comments)
US Embassy in KSA – No
US Embassy in Lebanon – No
US Embassy in Qatar – No
US Embassy in the UAE – Yes (609 Likes – 1K Comments)

US Embassies Pride Post on Twitter
US Embassy in Bahrain – Yes and Banner (18 Likes – 73 Comments)
US Embassy in Egypt – No
US Embassy in Jordan – No
US Embassy in Kuwait – Yes (1,009 Likes – 2.3K Comments)
US Embassy in KSA – Yes (560 Likes – 1K Comments)
US Embassy in Lebanon – Yes Retweet (39 Likes – 99 Comments)
US Embassy in Qatar – No
US Embassy in the UAE – Yes (41 Likes – 156 Comments)

A few interesting things. Firstly this wasn’t a universal message posted on all the embassies’ social media accounts. The US Embassy in Bahrain went a step further and replaced its Twitter banner with a Pride Month one. Finally, one thing is pretty apparent from the lists above, Kuwait’s social media response completely shattered the other Arab countries when it came to comments and likes. I’m now curious to see what’s going to happen next if the US Embassy doesn’t remove the post, are we going to boycott US products? Doubt it.

Tim Hortons, the popular Canadian coffee chain is making a comeback in Kuwait after closing down all its locations a few years ago. They’re now coming back to the market with at least two new locations, one in Bida’a next to Melenzane and a second in Kuwait City next to Muthana Complex.

The UAE company Apparel Group is the master franchisee of the Tim Hortons brand in the Middle East. They also have a number of other brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Aldo, Jamie’s Italian, Cold Stone Creamery, and Rituals.

Thanks Basel

Zahra Marwan is an extremely talented visual artist who was born in Kuwait. When the British rule ended in 1961, her father failed to register his citizenship and so was considered stateless (Bedoun). Although her mother was Kuwaiti, Kuwaiti law stipulates that the citizenship of the children is passed on from their father so Zahra was born stateless. As more and more rights of Bedouns were removed, Zahra and her family left Kuwait and immigrated to the United States.

Zahra’s Instagram account is filled with beautifully painted memories and dreams, many of which are related to her time growing up in Kuwait. I’ve got one of her illustrations hanging on my wall and I love it along with the story behind it. I actually met Zahra a few months ago when she was visiting Kuwait and she’s as bubbly and imaginative in real life as her illustrations depict her to be. She’s a great storyteller, not only with her illustrations but also with her captions which is why when she recently published a children’s book, I ordered a copy right away.

“Where Butterflies Fill the Sky” is a book based on the true story of her and her family’s immigration from Kuwait. Her story and memories are beautifully illustrated and written making it as fun to go through for adults as it is for children. Sadly, I just checked all the online English bookshops in Kuwait and none of them seem to carry the book. I ordered mine from Amazon so I guess you’d also have to get it from there. She has a Kindle version available if you don’t want to wait, but I’d definitely recommend the hardcover edition. Here is the link to the book on Amazon.

Also make sure you check out Zahra’s Instagram account @zahra_marwan

A couple of months back I got a new iPad Mini from Xcite and posted a review about it. I spoke about how it would most likely replace my 12.9″ iPad Pro for traveling because of it’s small form factor, and since that post, I’ve actually done just that. I’ve taken my iPad Mini on three trips so far and here is a quick followup review.

Firstly, as I had predicted, the size of the iPad Mini is perfect for traveling. It’s light so it doesn’t add much weight to my backpack, and it’s small enough to fit on the plane’s dropdown table even when not fully extended. I wish I had a photo but I also managed to fit it right next to my food tray, I just had it angled on a corner so I could eat and watch my shows at the same time. The battery life has also been great, unless you’re on a long-haul 16-hour flight from Dubai to LA, you’re not going to need to charge the iPad Mini for the whole trip.

I did come across a downside though and that’s the storage space. I have the 64GB version which I thought would be more than enough for storing shows and movies for my flights but that’s not the case. Well, I also like to take a lot more shows and movies than there is time to watch because I like to have options. So for a two-hour trip I’d like to have around 20 hours worth of content to watch and I can just choose what I want. I mix it up with different genres as well as durations, so some 20min shows, some longer 50min ones, some comedy, some drama etc. But now I’m traveling to London tomorrow and I don’t have enough space to carry the ratio of content to trip duration (In my case it’s like 10:1 I guess 😅). So far this is the content I have downloaded for my trip:

Amazon Video
The Outlaws – 6 Episodes

Apple TV+
CODA – Movie
Severance – 1 Episode
Slow Horses – 1 Episode
The Afterparty – 4 Episodes

HBO MAX
Julia – 3 Episodes
Raised by Wolves – 4 Episodes

Netflix
Indian Matchmaking – 4 Episodes
Formula 1: Drive to Survive – 3 Episodes
Cobra Kai – 6 Episodes
Space Force – 6 Episodes
The Tinder Swindler – Movie
Kate – Movie
Murderville – 6 Episodes

Paramount+
Star Trek: Picard – 4 Episodes
Mayor of Kingstown – 4 Episodes

Showtime
American Rust – 4 Episodes

Not sure if you think that’s a lot or not but for a 6+ hour trip that’s not enough content for me to pick and choose from. In addition to the above, I have around 21 magazines downloaded and I just tried downloading one more and it’s telling me I don’t have enough space. So unlike what I originally stated in my review, 64GB actually isn’t enough and I’d now recommend the 256GB version instead. Other than that, the iPad Mini is the perfect media companion on flights. Here is a link to my previous review.

In May 1960, an international competition was held for the architectural project for the Kuwait National Museum which would be located in the cultural district of the 1952 Master Plan of Kuwait. The competition was won by French architect Michel Écochard and the museum was finally opened in 1983 where it stayed open up until the 1990 invasion. The museum was badly damaged during the war and most of the buildings remained closed (some photos of the destruction here). There were talks at one point of demolishing the museum and building a new one but thankfully in 2014, it was decided to save the existing museum by restoring it.

The restoration project is now complete and the museum is currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. I got invited to a sneak peek of the museum, something that I’ve been wanting for years. I was lucky enough to visit the museum back in the 80s, and although I don’t remember much of it, I do appreciate the fact that they decided to restore the landmark building instead of demolishing it as is the case most of the time.

The Kuwait National Museum is part of the Qibla Cultural District (Google Maps) which includes the Sadu House, the National Library, and Al-Qibla School for Girls Education. The main museum complex comprises of four buildings each housing a different part of Kuwait’s history:

Building 1 – Archeology of Kuwait
Building 2 – Ethnographic History of Kuwait
Building 3 – Ancient East
Building 4 – Ancient East

Buildings 1 and 2 are already open while buildings 3 and 4 are the ones heavily damaged during the war and the ones I got to tour. Buildings 3 and 4 are the largest buildings and will cover art in the Ancient East starting in the 3rd millennium BC going through Arabia before Islam, then the beginning of Islam, followed by the full chronology of Islamic Art.

All four buildings are connected by closed bridges. This means once you enter a building you can navigate the whole museum without stepping outside making it very convenient during the hot summer months.

Minor changes were made to the structure of the buildings, large semi-opaque windows were installed to bring in more daylight, and some minor new stairs and walkways were added due to updated fire safety requirements. All the work looked very tasteful and well-executed although I do wish they had kept the original pink brick facade.

There is also a planetarium outside the museum which you’ve most likely seen driving by on the Gulf Road since it’s the building closest to the road and its round spherical shape is hard to miss.

The planetarium is also in the final stages of renovation and will be reopening soon.

As I mentioned early on in the post, buildings3 and 4 of the museum are currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. They’re expecting that would happen in two years’ time, around 2024. In the meantime, buildings 1 and 2 are open and you can visit those now, here is my previous post about them. Link

Washington Post published a not-so-nice article today about Kuwait that has been making its way around the web. The article, in summary, talks about how Kuwait is a significant polluter, has poor plans in eliminating emissions, and how nobody really cares, yada yada yada. One thing that did catch my attention though was in this paragraph:

An hour drive outside the dingy suburbs of Jahra, wind turbines and solar panels rise from clouds of sand — the fruit of Kuwait’s energy transition ambitions. source

What turbines?? I was pretty surprised I hadn’t heard of it before or seen any pictures. A quick search on Google Maps for “Shagaya Energy Park“, the name of the project, quickly pops up with imagery showing the turbines as well as the solar panels.

It’s on highway 70 which I’ve taken multiple times but I’ve only ever been as far as the Salmi scrapyard. The energy park is a short distance after which is why I never came across it. It might be worth checking out since it seems you can just drive up to the turbines if you go off-road. Here is the location on Google Maps

iHop shut down all their locations in Kuwait earlier this year but it looks like now they’re making a come back again. A few days ago iHop updated their instagram page saying were back.. but only as a delivery brand on Talabat.

Hopefully, they’ll eventually reopen a physical location since I always liked their breakfast.

Good espresso machines aren’t cheap and if you’ve never used one before you might be hesitant to invest in one which is why getting a used machine could be a good idea for a lot of people. There is a local Instagram account that specializes in selling used coffee machines, grinders and various accessories that usually are pretty expensive like Acaia scales. A lot of the items available for sale aren’t even available locally so most likely they were ordered online like I did with my setup.

Some cool brands of machines and grinders I spotted for sale include Baratza, Breville, Eureka, Profetic, La Marzocco, Niche, and Rocket. If you’re interested in making your own coffee at home but don’t want to invest a lot of money, check out what’s for sale on @coffee_market_kw

Thanks radaaitor