Search: “mis”

A documentary on Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, the Kuwaiti psychologist who created The 99 comic books is going to premier in the States on PBS next Thursday October 13th. This is the description of the documentary taken from the Wham! Bam! Islam! website:

WHAM! BAM! ISLAM! tells the story of Naif Al-Mutawa and his venture to create the first team of superheroes from the Muslim world called THE 99. Following the tumultuous journey of THE 99 from concept to reality, from acclaim to censure by Islam’s cultural gatekeepers, from the edge of bankruptcy to plans for theme parks and an animation series, Al-Mutawa dodges cultural minefields and tries to tackle the harsh realities of the global marketplace while doggedly pursuing his vision to bring new heroes to Muslim children while re-introducing Islam to the West.

I’m not sure if the documentary will be available to download after the release or if it will even be available as a stream online. Once I find out how we can watch it I’ll update this post with more information. For now, here is the link to the Wham! Bam! Islam! website [Link]

I finally got to pass by Payless over the weekend. Payless is the X-Cite Electronics outlet and they’ve been open for a couple of years now (I think) but never really had a reason to pass by until now. I was looking for some Alpine components for my car sound system and I was told I would find some models at Payless. I didn’t end up finding what I was looking for but I still found the place interesting. They had a lot of random stuff all over this large warehouse and some looked like great deals while others didn’t seem discounted at all. They had a lot of laptops, phone accessories and I even spotted a bunch of Sonos devices. They’re located in Shuwaikh near the main Alghanim head quarters opposite City Center. It should be easy to spot since the warehouse has a large yellow sign on top.

Since we’re on the subject of good deals I managed to get my hands on an Alpine PDX-4.150 car stereo amp for just KD21! The retail price for this Amp was $399 in the US before it was discontinued and that’s without tax or shipping cost to Kuwait so KD21 is ridiculously cheap. For some reason X-Cite is getting rid of all their Alpine stock so you can find some really good deals.

If you’re interested in the PDX-4.150 I took a snapshot from their point of sale system showing all the available locations where they might still have them. I passed by the Hawalli and Marina branch but they both didn’t have them even though the computer says they did so I marked them both out. The Rai branch is where I got mine (it was the last piece) and the Baitak Tower branch has one on display but missing some accessories. That leaves 3 other branches which I didn’t pass by but they should have a piece each left so good luck finding one.

I passed by the junkyards earlier today to take some pictures and while I was there I noticed there were a ton of dogs. It’s not the first time I spot wild dogs at the junkyards but today I counted over 60 roaming around either alone or in packs. I started stalking a few and found them interesting to watch so I decided take pictures of many of them as I could so I could share on the blog

It wasn’t easy finding all the dogs and I’m positive I missed a lot since the whole area is full of streets and alleyways and unless I was planning to spend the whole day there I couldn’t go through each and everyone of them. I also only took pictures of the dogs that were on the streets but there must be a lot more in the actual junkyards or hiding in the cracks and crevices of old abandoned containers and cars.

I spent 2 hours driving around the junkyards looking for dogs and none of the ones I spotted seemed aggressive. Some looked sad and depressed while others seemed happy roaming around. One thing I noticed is the fact that none of the people in the area were afraid of the dogs. I spoke to a bunch of workers and from what they told me the dogs live and survive on their own without any help from humans. The workers in the area don’t feed or take care of the dogs but they also don’t mind them and none are afraid of them. It’s really sad but so interesting at the same time. Check out some pictures below.

This is very odd. On the front page of Al Rai newspaper there is a notice from Avenues saying that we can no longer mention Avenues, talk about Avenues or post pictures of Avenues without getting written permission first. That includes, newspapers, magazines, blogs etc…

I’m not sure why they would release something like this. I guess from now on I’ll refer to Avenues as Alshaya Mall?

Thanks Salah

Update: The Avenues have responded [Link]

I don’t miss the weather, but I do miss my internet *hugs modem*

9ura.com is a Kuwait-based group that was created to showcase talents and educate people about the Middle East through photography.

They just launched a few days ago and they’re holding their first photography competition with the theme “Environments in the GCC”. There will be three categories: Culture, Nature, and Urban and I think I already have a photograph that I will be submitting.

If you want to take part in this competition you need to upload your photo to their website some time between August 15th and October 15th, 2011.

Here is a link to their website [Link]

Photo above taken by Bader Al-Ajeel

IMPORTANT: I just read the fine print and there is an important point that I previously missed. According to their fine print, by submitting your photographs to 6ura.com each of your submissions becomes THEIR property. They will have free, permanent, non-exclusive, and royalty-free rights to use, reproduce, and/or display your photos in any format they please. Personally, this means I won’t be submitting anything to them since I want to remain the owner of my photographs.

As I’ve posted before I am now riding to and from my gym on my bicycle. The combined distance is around 16.5KM, it takes around 30 minutes each way and I end up burning around 600-700 calories in the process. Since I go to Core three times a week that means I’m basically burning around 2000 calories a week just by riding my bike to the gym.

The way I look at it is every time I ride to the gym that’s an extra 700 calories I’m burning which means I can have a burger that’s also around 700 calories and I would even out.

What this means is I now ride to eat. If anyone is looking for a way to burn calories I highly recommend riding. Even with this hot weather it’s not bad at all, it’s actually not that hot at night. Just park your car near Corniche Club on the Gulf Road and then ride to the Kuwait Towers and back. Easy as that.

I found out about this yesterday and I think it’s a great idea. The 3 Club along with Viva are launching a campaign to collect a thousand pairs of wearable running shoes from now till the end of Ramadan. Once all the running shoes is collected they will be sending them to Africa and given to people who really need them. So if you have sneakers lying around you don’t wear anymore (I know I do), then follow the instructions below.

For more information check out the The 3 Club blog [Here]

The donation boxes as of now are currently located in the following locations:

Extreme Sports – Tilal and Salmiya
Viva HQ – Salmiya
Lashes Salon for ladies – Yarmouk
Baking Tray – Kuwait City
Tatami – Kuwait City
AUK – Salmiya
ACK – Mishref

This is a list of confirmed (or at least 99% confirmed) and unconfirmed international food chains that will be opening in Kuwait. If I’ve missed anything out leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list

Confirmed
– Olive Garden
– Red Lobster
– LongHorn Steakhouse
– IHOP (International House of Pancakes)
– The Hummingbird Bakery
– Pei Wei Asian Diner
– The Cheesecake Factory
– Texas Roadhouse
– Potbelly Sandwich Works
– SNOG Frozen Yogurt
– The Upper Crust Pizzeria
– Tim Hortons

Unconfirmed
– Arby’s [source]
– Wendy’s [source]

Wishlist
– Five Guys
– In-N-Out
– Ben’s Cookies
– Pret A Manger

Just found out about this by mistake and thought it was worth sharing. I’m kinda surprised I hadn’t heard of this before.

Pavilion of Kuwait
With its exhibition hall buried approximately 20 feet under a marble dome, the pavilion was designed as a sculpture with flexible wooden arms that open and close to resemble a palm leaf. Through this design, the people of Kuwait expressed their history and life as follows: When the arms are closed like a seashell, it represents the protection of the Kuwaiti people. When the arms are halfway open it resembles a tent, which is a house for the Bedouin people to protect them from the desert storms. When the arms are fully opened, as shown in the photograph, it acts as a ship’s sail which explains Kuwaiti’s lives as traders and explorers of the sea before their blessing with oil. The building is made of poured concrete steel reinforced wooden arms which also provided shade during Seville’s hot summer days.

Inside the pavilion you could see a six minute video of the Kuwaiti people before the Gulf War, art, scale models of ships used for fishing and trading before the discovery of oil, and scenes of their Bedouin life. [source]

This architecture structure was built as part of the 1992 Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain. You can check out some pictures of it [Here]

Corbis has some pictures as well which you can view [Here]

[YouTube]

Brake Banzeen just posted a video showing a bunch of cars from the Gulf being ticketed in London. I spotted three cars with Kuwaiti plates but it’s not clear in the video why they were being stopped by the cops. At first glance it makes it seem that all the drivers in the video are guilty which is misleading.

According to the Small World news service, residents in the area having been complaining that some drivers are turning the streets into private race tracks. They also reported other problems with some cars not being insured properly as well as license plates that weren’t legible. In the video above the cops are probably just checking for these things and not necessarily fining the drivers (except for the Qatari Dodge Challenger).

You can read the Small World article by clicking [Here]

Back in January I posted about how they dug up the middle sidewalk in the old Salmiya. They decreased the walking space and created new dirt space around the already planted trees to add more greenery. I was against the idea since first of all they shrunk the sidewalk and second of all I knew it wasn’t going to work. The new Salmiya near Sultan Center and Al Fanar has never had a green middle sidewalk and somehow my old Salmiya was going to? A lot of you were against me and said I was being pessimistic, well the picture above is how it looks like 6 months later… very green indeed. It’s always going to be just sand exactly like how it’s always been sand in the newer Salmiya so I hope everyone now understands why I preferred to have a full proper sidewalk instead of “greenery”.

Check out the picture above. Do you know what that is? I think it was back in the late 80s or very early 90s someone decided to build a public bathroom right in the middle of Salmiya. I think it was functional for a month and then got destroyed by vandals and became so dirty that no one was using it and it just got abandoned. That was like 20 years ago, today it’s nothing. It’s not a bathroom, there are no doors, no toilets, no sinks or anything. Just a place to store red cones or whatever garbage is lying around. Recently as you can see in the picture they dug up the area around it to replace the floor tiles with newer ones but they left this abandoned ugly block of cement right in the middle. Couldn’t they have just demolished it?

Another strange thing happened recently, someone realized how much garbage was filling up the streets of Salmiya and so came up with a brilliant solution. They decided to put bright yellow garbage bins all over Salmiya and at around 10 meters apart. Check the video above I shot today. I drove maybe 200 meters and I counted around 66 bright yellow garbage bins! And that only includes the middle sidewalk and some of the sidewalk on the left but completely ignoring the right sidewalk since it was in the video. It’s the most horrifying scene since all you can see on the street now are the garbage bins. Do we really need that many bins in the middle sidewalk? [YouTube]

I’ll say it again, I love Salmiya and I want to be put in charge of it or at the very least Salem Mubarek Street. I’ll seriously make it the most beautiful place in Kuwait. I’ve been requesting this since back in 2006, so what do I need to do to make this happen? I’ve watched enough episodes of Parks and Recreation to know what it takes. Salmiya is my Pawnee.

The download cap issue was raised again by another member or parliament this time by MP Faisal Al-Mislem. According to an article in Al Watan, Al-Mislem met the minister of communication and discussed the case with him. He told the minister how Internet subscribers had subscribed to unlimited internet only to later be told that their connection is now limited. According to Al-Mislem as long as subscribers have a valid subscription then the internet providers don’t have a right to suspend or slowdown the service.

Here is the article on Al-Watan [English] [Arabic]

Thanks Salem and unim

I got a lot of emails regarding the political activist Salwa al Mutairi’s recent comments on how men should be allowed to have sex slaves. She even took the extra mile and brainstormed ideas on where the sex slaves could come from. Personally I think that is a terrible idea obviously and she probably lost a lot of credibility because of her statements but, it is her opinion and she is entitled to it. Freedom of the speech means even people with wacky ideas are allowed to share them. Anyway here is the link with the story in case you missed it. [Link]

The Hoppin’ John String Band, a Bluegrass group, will be in Kuwait as part of a U.S. Embassy sponsored visit and they’ll be conducting public performances in several locations. All public performances will open to the public and free of charge. No tickets or seat reservations will be required. Here are the details:

The U.S. Embassy Kuwait In cooperation with the National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters presents: The Hoppin’ John String Band

Date: June 15, 2011
Time: 7:15pm to 8:30pm
Location: National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters’ Al-Dasma Theatre Mishref Theater (next to the Mishref Cooperative)

Date: June 16, 2011
Time: 9:00am to 10:00am
Location: Live on Sabah Al-Watan (Al-Watan Television)

Date: June 16, 2011
Time: 8:30pm to 9:30pm
Location: The Higher Institute for Musical Arts

Date: June 18, 2011
Time: 6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: Live on Raykum Shabab (Al-Rai Television)

Date: June 19, 2011
Time: 7:15pm to 8:30pm
Location: The Al-Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry

Here is a link to the U.S. Embassy Kuwait Facebook page [Link]

Update: June 15th location was changed