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Last week I posted about the new order here intercom system at the Gulf Road McDonalds thinking it was something new in Kuwait (sorry I don’t use drive-thru much) and it turned out to be something old… very old. BUT, now that the system is setup I noticed the McDonalds one has a screen right under the mic where you place your order. How it works is you place your order by talking into the mic and then the employee at the other end punches in your order into their system and you get to see what you are ordering on the screen in front of you. So say you ordered a Big Mac combo and she heard it as a Quarter Pounder combo, you would be able to see that on the screen and correct her mistake. Now don’t shoot me if it turns out this system is available at every bakala in Kuwait, I haven’t seen it before myself.

Today is the first day of REUSE 4.0 which is being held on the premises of the Australian College of Kuwait. REUSE 4.0 features a dynamic mix of art galleries, music, film screenings, mixed media installations, a lounge, go-kart sprints, trendy eco-fashion & accessories, prizes, surprises & more. My brother got invited to exhibit his abandoned Amiri Hospital pictures at the event and he was there yesterday and took some pictures of the event which you can check out below.

REUSE 4.0 is being held from today January 11th till Thursday the 13th. It’s open from 4pm to 9pm and you can get a lot more information from their website [Here]

Last month I posted that the menu of Peacock will be transferred to Rangoli once the Radisson SAS closes down for renovation. Turns out that information wasn’t correct. Al Bustan all day dining was transferred to Rangoli, Peacock on the other hand was closed with the hotel. For those of you who don’t know Peacock, it’s one of the most popular Chinese restaurants in Kuwait and was recently nominated the best fine dining restaurant in Kuwait.

Picture from the Traveling Chemist

After I posted about the Fiat 500 being available in Kuwait their brand manager contacted me and offered the Fiat 500 to test drive over the weekend. So I picked it up on Thursday and spent the weekend just driving the 500 around.

The car is cute, to me it’s like a Vespa except it has 4 wheels. Everywhere I went people would check it out, kinda like the effect the Mini and VW Beetle had when they were modernized and first launched. The dealer has currently imported one version of the Fiat 500 which is the Lounge model with the 1.4L engine. It’s fully loaded with leather seats, electric sunroof, dual logic semi automatic transmission, automatic climate control, steering wheel controls, fog lights, chrome trimmings and more. It generates only 100hp which I thought would be pretty lifeless but was actually surprised by the performance… for a small 1.4L car.

Friday morning I woke up and headed out to the junkyard to take pictures of the car. I know junkyard? But truthfully it’s one of my favorite places to take pictures since the place has a lot of color. Driving the Fiat 500 on the 6th ring road the car easily managed to keep pace at 120KM/h without a sweat. What I found though is that the car is a lot more fun to drive in more densely populated roads and areas where the Fiat is easy to maneuver and navigate. Finding parking isn’t a problem for the 500, I got to Ruby’s Friday night and found a tiny parking spot where some motorbikes had parked, with a little skilled maneuvering I was able to squeeze the Fiat in and parked alongside the motorbikes. The trunk is pretty small as well with enough room to fit just one large travel bag. But when you fold down the rear sits you end up with a lot more space. I picked up my dad from the airport Friday night and I managed to fit two large bags and one carry-on with still plenty of room to spare. The interior console is also pretty cool, very retro and definitely an eye grabber. Headroom was a slight issue for me, I’m 6’1 and had maybe an inch or two of clearance on top of my head so someone taller than me might have a problem.

For me the car would make a lot of sense back in Lebanon, the low gas consumption and the small size would make a perfect day to day car. I could easily imagine myself driving the Fiat 500 to work daily and then using the Toyota FJ on the weekends. In Kuwait on the other hand gas is cheap and unless you’re driving around in Shuwaikh at 1PM you could really drive around in a Hummer H1 and not run into problems. But I guess sometimes when you just need to go on a quick short trip, maybe you need to go down to Hawalli and pick up a new hard drive or pass by Sultan Center in Salmiya on a weekend, I can see the Fiat being very practical in those cases. University students looking for a first car might also be attracted to it. There aren’t that many cars in the Fiat’s price range which have a personality of it’s own.

The Fiat dealership is launching sometime at the end of the month. At first they will just be selling the Fiat 500 but they will also be bringing in other Fiat models as well. The Fiat 500 is selling for KD6,500 which is similar to the UK prices. They’re also going to be bringing in a model without a sunroof which should cost around KD6,000. Now the #1 question I was asked by my friends about the car is if the dealer will be bringing the turbo charged Abarth models. Well according to the brand manager they are currently in talks with Abarth and they’re hoping to open the first Abarth dealership in the region here in Kuwait. So that’s good news for people waiting for the Abarth model. If you have any questions about the car you can ask me in the comments below and I’ll try to answer it.

For 2011 Cinemagic will continue the journey of The Old, The Latest and The Best. Films that would never see the light in Kuwait, films that you should never miss, films that you might like and others might hate but agreed that it added flavor to your taste, films that we should all discover and cherish. I’ve watched two of the movies from this months schedule, Son of Rambow and City of God. Son of Rambow was pretty cool but City of God is like one of the best movies ever made. If you’re going to choose one movie to watch this month then watch City of God.

Thursday, January 6th at 7:30PM
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Country: Sweden
Release: 2009
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 152 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Awards: Winner Best Actress, Best Foreign Film
Rated: R

Saturday, January 8th at 7:30PM
THE MAID
Director: Sebastien Silva
Country: Chile
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama
Running time: 95 minutes
Language: Spanish | English
Subtitle Awards: 24 awards, Best Actress, Best Film, Best Director…
Rated: PG

Thursday, January 13th at 7:30PM
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Country: Argentina
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Mystery
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: 34 wins, Best film, best actors, cinematography, editing, sound, costume…
Rated: R

Saturday, January 15th at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Director: Michael Haneke
Country: Austria | Germany
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Crime
Running time: 144 minutes
Language: German | English Subtitle
Awards: 24 wins, Best Director, Best Film, Best Cinematography
Rated: R

Thursday, January 20th at 7:30PM
SON OF RAMBOW
Director: Garth Jennings
Country: UK
Release: 2007
Genre: Comedy
Running time: 96 minutes
Language: English | English
Subtitle Awards: Best Script, Best Film, Best Director
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 22nd at 7:30PM
CITY OF GOD
Director: Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund
Country: Brazil
Release: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 130 minutes
Language: Portugese | English Subtitle
Awards: 55 Wins, Best Film, Sound, Editing, Cinematography, Script…
Rated: R

Thursday, January 27th at 7:30PM
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Country: South Korea
Release: 2008
Genre: Crime | Comedy
Running time: 139 minutes
Language: Korean | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Cinematography, Director, Editing, Soundtrack
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 29th at 7:30PM
IL POSTINO
Director: Michael Radford
Country: Italy
Release: 1994
Genre: Drama
Running time: 108 minutes
Language: Italian | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Music, Script, Director, Acting…
Rated: PG

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. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve always had a thing for headphones. I’m not sure why but I had everything from the dorky large headphones that had a built in radio to the cool waterproof Sony’s which didn’t turn out to be that waterproof (as a kid it’s easy to mistake splash proof for waterproof). I guess I liked the immersion headphones offer and this hasn’t changed as I’ve grown older. I currently own the Bang & Olufsen A8, Shure E2, Sure SE210, Sennheiser PX100, Sennheiser PXC250, AKG K81 DJ, UE Super.fi 5 Pro, a UE Triple.Fi 10 Pro and my latest acquisition which this post revolves around, the BeyerDynamic DT770. I never think I have enough headphones and I always find a reason to get another one, I’m just obsessed…

If you don’t want to get bored you can skip this whole paragraph. Before I decided on which BeyerDynamic model I wanted I had to choose between closed or open air type headphones. Closed usually offer better sound isolation so that the people around you don’t hear what you’re listening to while with open air the sound leaks out and could annoy people around you. There are other advantages and disadvantages to each but since I was planning to listen to these headphones in the living room in front of my computer where Nat would be watching tv, I went with the DT770 model which is closed. If you prefer open air then you would need to check out the DT880 and DT990 models. Now that I had that sorted I had to choose which DT770 model I wanted, Amazon had 5 different models, the DT770 32 Ohm, 80 Ohm, 250 Ohm, 600 Ohm and the M. Even though all 5 headphones are the same model, they all had different sound signatures but after a lot of research I finally decided on the 600 Ohm since they supposedly were the best sounding of the group but with a big disadvantage to the rest which is they needed to be powered by a separate headphone amplifier. The 32 Ohm and 80 Ohm could be powered by the iPod directly (but could benefit from a small portable headphone amp like the FiiO E5 or a home made CMoy). The 250 Ohm require a headphone amp but can be powered by some portable headphone amps as well. The M version is for drummers while the 600 Ohm requires an external powered amp to drive. So I had to research headphone amps and once I got into that I found out I could get even better sound by bypassing my computer internal audio car by using an external DAC (digital-to-analog converter). To cut it short I ended up getting the FiiO E7 DAC and the FiiO E9 amp. The amp had enough power to drive the my headphones while the E7 acted as a DAC when connected to the E9 but could also be used as a portable headphone amp with 20+ hour of battery life when used by itself although it wouldn’t be able to power the DT770 by itself.

I listen to a variety of music ranging from downbeat like Kruder & Dorfmeiser, A Guy Called Gerald, Tosca, Dzihan and Kamien and anything from the K7 label, 90’s alternative bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Blind Melon, Radiohead, NIN, Tool etc.. to electronic music like Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, Matt Darey, Underworld and Booka Shade. After having the headphones for a few weeks now I have to say I really like them a lot but slightly disappointed with them at the same time. Firstly the good stuff. These are the most immersive headphones I’ve ever had. They’re extremely comfortable since the ear cups are soft and the material nice to the touch. They also fit around my ears instead of pressing onto them which makes them less painful when listening to them for a long time. Once I have them on I don’t really notice them anymore, I could leave them on for hours without feeling any discomfort whatsoever. The build quality is amazing, they’re made in Germany and a lot of metal is used in the construction so they feel like they could last a lifetime and they should seeing how much they cost. The sound is also extremely well balanced, for example I love the Beats by Dre headphones but their bass dominates everything else and the music can end up sounding muddy. With the DT770 they’re perfectly balanced, a bit too perfect actually since sometimes I wish they did pump out more bass specially when listening to some electronic music. But that’s just on rare occasions, majority of the time they blast music wonderfully and I actually re-ripped some of my CD’s at higher bit-rates so I could truly appreciate these headphones.

But, like I just said, I wish sometimes the lows did dominate but I guess that gives me an excuse to also pick up a pair of Beats for when I’m in the mood to pretend I’m at a club. The second negative is the fact it doesn’t isolate as much as I was hoping they would. When I have the volume pretty high up the way I like it, everybody in the room could hear what I’m playing and if the TV is playing loud I could also hear it. I guess the solution to that would be to listen to music with my in-hear headphones but they aren’t anywhere as comfortable as the DT770’s.

Overall though these are pretty good headphones, the best I’ve owned and completely destroys everything I have except for maybe the UE triple.fi which I should review soon. Price wise they’re not that expensive but if you’re getting the 600 Ohm version then it adds up since you would need to purchase an external Amp to run them. I paid $244 for the DT770, $99 for the FiiO E7 and $130 for the FiiO E9. You could skip the E7 or just skip both the E7 and E9 and get the 32 or 80 Ohm DT770. The final score is a highly recommended 4 out of 5.

Amazon Links:
BeyerDynamic DT770 600 Ohm
FiiO E7 DAC
FiiO E9 Amp
FiiO L3 (iPod cable)

Tonight after my gym I passed by fashionably late to the The Gulf Run Dinner. It was an event organized to get all the drivers to meet each other, enjoy some good shawerma and sajj while checking out pictures of previous Gulf Runs. They also had a Ford GT, Mercedes SLS and a Ferrari 599 on display to check out up close.

One of the announcements I had missed with my lateness was that the SLS will be one of the taxi ride cars at the upcoming Gulf Run. Taxi ride cars are for the spectators who come to the track to watch the races. The spectators will be able to take a ride in the SLS (and other taxi cars) around the Bahrain F1 circuit while being driven by professional race car drivers (i.e. lots of fun).
Update: The SLS taxi ride will only be for the GR6 drivers. There will be other sport cars available as taxi rides for the spectators. My mistake, sorry about that.

If you want to know more about Gulf Run you can visit their website [Here]

Cinemagics have launched a film festival in hopes of paving the way for the new generation of film makers in Kuwait. You can find information on this competition on their website but here is the list of categories you can participate in:

– Cinematography
– Editing & Sound for cinema
– Advertising for Cinema & New Media
– Acting for Cinema
– Directing & Filmmaking

This competition is only for students (school/university) and people under the age of 30. If you are interested in participating in the film festival you can visit their website for more information and details. There is plenty of time to create something if you don’t have a film ready since the submission deadline is March 10, 2011. [Link]

Not sure if it’s a typo or actually an ingredient.

Thanks Zaid

Update: I got an email from 7Bars Restaurant regarding the above. It was a spelling mistake on the Scalopini Sandwich which has already been fixed. The correct word is tabasco.

This is just a reminder for the people who haven’t taken the survey yet. I will be closing it down tonight so I can spend all day tomorrow going through all the comments and feedback. If you haven’t taken the survey yet please do. It takes around 2 to 3 minutes to complete and it’s completely anonymous.

[Click here to take the survey]

Thanks!

Update: The survey is now closed since I exceeded my 1,000 submission limit. For everyone who took part thank you again!

Thanks to the help of some readers I managed to create my own customized survey for the blog. Basically I currently have no idea who reads this blog, what issues you might have with the blog and what you expect from my blog for the coming period. So, I created a survey that will help me improve things.

The survey is short and should take you around 2 or 3 minutes to complete. Please take the survey and help me make this blog a better place.

[Click here to take the survey]

Thanks!

Update: The response has been really great and some of you have been leaving a lot of interesting comments and feedback. Once I take down the survey and collect the results I will most probably dedicate another post answering some of the concerns that have been brought up through the survey. If you still haven’t taken the survey please do.

Update2: So far over 750 of you have participated in the survey. I was expecting originally to get only 200-300 participants this is really great. My limit actually is a thousand so in less than 24 hours we’re already nearly there. Thanks!

Update3: The survey is now closed since I exceeded my 1,000 submission limit. For everyone who took part thank you again!

This has to be the strangest local app so far and I doubt the creator got permission from Funoon. For those of you don’t know what “درب الزلق” is, here is a [Video]. On the other hand if you want the app click [Here]

Islamist parliamentarians yesterday proposed a law that would punish women who wore bikinis at the beach with up to one year in prison.

I hope this isn’t true. [Link]

Note: The source is not Kuwait Times

[YouTube]

I don’t know how many people remember Abdullah Al-Moussawi or know who he is but two years ago a video popped up on YouTube of this young charismatic Kuwaiti 9 year old playing football against older kids and outplaying them. He had long curly hair and people were saying he was the next Maradonna and watching the video above you could understand why. Well anyway a reader emailed me a story about Abdullah he wanted to share, it’s kinda long but it’s interesting to read.

[YouTube]

The story talks about how a talent scout in Holland saw Abdullah’s video on YouTube and came to Kuwait to watch him live. Abdullah was then given an opportunity to go to Holland and compete in a few trials where he proved to be extremely talented and one of the top young players they had ever seen. He was then accepted into one of the best football academy’s on a scholarship without any binding contracts or strings attached. Problem was Abdullah couldn’t move to Holland without his family so they asked for help from Kuwaiti officials who agreed which prompted the family to move with Abdullah to Holland so he could attend school there and join the football academy. They even made a documentary about Abdullah which was broadcasted on Dutch TV and also screened in the Gulf Film Festival held in Dubai last year (promo clip above). Problem is Kuwait never ended up helping out and so the parents were forced to move back to Kuwait after 2 months with Abdullah ending what could have been an incredible experience for him.

That’s basically a quick summary but I recommend you read the full story. It’s very sad how Abdullah was extremely popular and big in the Dutch media while no one gave him any attention locally. It’s also sad how things turned out in the end and I wonder how Abdullah is doing right now. Check the full story below.

It seems the ministry has banned the use of DSLR cameras (pictured above) in public places, streets and malls. You can take pictures with regular camera’s and camera phones but not with DSLR’s? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard.

I mean seriously whats the difference between a DSLR and Point & Shoot? Both can take pictures and both can have zoom lenses. Why ban the use of DSLR’s in public and not Point & Shoot cameras? I am not saying they should ban P&S cameras I’m just trying to highlight how ridiculous this new law is.

Maybe if someone from the ministry takes a few moments to go to flickr.com and search for the word Kuwait they can see exactly the kind of talented work they will be killing with this law. Maybe then they will realize how big a mistake this is.

You can read more about this on Kuwait Times [Here]