Search: “sti”

I hate molokhia but, @cosmicxcircus somehow convinced me that I’ve been having bad molokhia all my life and that I needed to try it at her favorite place. She sold me on the theory and told me about a small hole in the wall in Hawalli called Layali Zamaan that supposedly made the best molokhia in Kuwait. So I decided to head there with her and a couple of other friends to try it out.

There are mainly two kinds of molokhia, the soupy Egyptian molokhia and the leafy Lebanese version. As this was an Egyptian restaurant they made the soupy kind. The molokhia meal at Layali Zamaan consists of bird tongue soup (chicken broth with orzo pasta), leafy veggies, rice, protein, Egyptian bread, and of course, the molokhia.

You have five different proteins to choose from, duck, chicken, meat, pigeon, and fish. I was curious to try the pigeon since I’ve never had it before but, since I was already out of my comfort zone with the molokhia, I decided to stick with meat.

The bird tongue soup which didn’t really look appetizing turned out to be actually really good, and I love carbs so the bread was great, and that is about it. Turns out I still really dislike molokhia because I hated it at this place as well. The whole time I was there I was thinking about what I would order off Carriage once I was back home. Everyone else I was with LOVED the molokhia but I have no idea why.

The best thing about Layali Zamaan for me was that it was located around the corner from the popular ice cream shop Bikdash Al Sham. The second best thing about Layali Zamaan was the price. We were four people and the bill came out to KD5.500 which I guess is a steal if you like molokhia. If you’re interested in trying the place out, they’re located in Hawalli, here is their location on [Google Maps]

You’ve probably seen the Land Cruisers 70 series on the road, they look like old cars because they originally came out in the early 80s but Toyota actually still builds them today with just minor changes. They’re probably one of Toyotas best sellers locally and on more than one occasion I’ve passed by the dealership only to be told the whole range was completely sold out. It’s mind-boggling which is why I’ve always been curious to drive one. Why are they so popular?

Personally, I became a big fan of the LC70 after coming upon Andrew White’s youtube channel. I was at one point considering getting a Land Rover Defender when I found one of his videos where he compares the two. Soon I was watching hours and hours of videos of him talking about his LC70 and all the stuff he’s done to it on his YouTube channel. At one point I was even contemplating renting an LC70 camper vehicle similar to his and going overlanding in South Africa.

My FJ is turning 9 years old in a few months and so I’ve been looking for a possible replacement for the past few years. Whatever I replace the FJ with has to be comfortable, durable and spacious. I was considering the 4-door LC70 because I loved the way they looked and their simplicity. The exterior hasn’t changed much since the early 80s so the cars don’t really get old in the same way the Mercedes G class or Land Rover Defender don’t get old. So last weekend I borrowed a friend’s 2-door Land Cruiser to test drive, and after giving it back I’m not sure I want one anymore.

The problem I had with the car was that it was just exhausting to drive. I drove the LC70 an hour out into the desert and then an hour back, and it felt like I had just gone on an 8-hour adventure. I can’t really pinpoint why the car exhausted me so much, it might have been because of the simple seats or the rough suspension, it might have been because the AC wasn’t cooling properly or maybe because the cabin noise was just too loud. Most likely, it was because of all of the above combined. Because the car hasn’t really changed much from the 80s, it lacks a lot of comforts. There’s no sound isolation which meant the interior was pretty noisy, it also meant there was no weather insulation so although the AC was blasting ice cold air, the car interior just wasn’t getting cold enough. The ride was pretty rough even on highways and the car I drove had an upgraded suspension so I can only imagine how much worse the ride is with the stock setup. The car was draining, even on short trips, driving felt like a chore.

On the other hand, I really love the way the car looks and I also love the barebones interior. Do we really need 3D surround view, heads-up displays, lane change and parking assist, massage chairs and digital dashboards? No, we don’t. The interior cabin although not that spacious was very bright and had incredible visibility because of the large windows and very small pillars. Most importantly though, the Land Cruiser felt like it would take a lot of abuse (and it can). But my favorite thing about the car has to be the fact when you’re buying an LC70, you’re actually buying a brand new vintage car.

The Land Cruiser 70 series starts close to KD9,000 and goes up past KD12,000 so they’re not cheap. You also don’t have many options locally, for example, the car comes with either a grey or beige/brown interior but the local dealer only gets the beige/brown one. Exterior colors are also limited to like 4. Do I love the car or do I hate it? I’m not really sure. I want to say I love it, but would I trade my FJ for one? The answer is no.

Thursday night I passed by Digits in Marina Mall and picked up the new iPhone XS a few hours before the official launch. Digits always hook me up with a phone ahead of launch and even discount the phones for me because they know they’re going to get publicity from me. I like this arrangement because it means I don’t need to wait in line or worry about the phone getting sold out. This year I actually had another company approach me with a better deal on the new iPhone, but my history with Digits goes way way back.

I’m a very nostalgic person and I’ve got a lot of nostalgia with Digits. I’ve been a customer of theirs since before they were called Digits, since before they were called Mac&More, since way before the iPhone or iPod ever existed, back when their store was simply called Apple Computer. Back then they were located across from Salhia and had beautiful beige Power Macs on display which I sadly never got to own. But, since the very beginning, they’ve been hooking me up with stuff like when I got my Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh from them or when they let me take their Think Different banners after their Salhia store closed down. And then I got my 15 seconds of worldwide fame because of them when my pictures of their abandoned store made their way around the web. So yeah, I’m a big fan of Digits and very loyal. I think their service center is great and I just love dealing with them which is why I’m always promoting them.

This year I had two options of phones to choose from, the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max. I was pretty tempted to get the Max but I already thought the regular XS was too big and so I knew I’d struggle with the Max. Since I sold my water damaged iPhone X around 3 months back I’ve been using an iPhone 8. I loved how small it felt and how I could easily reach all four corners of the screen with my thumb, but I did miss the full screen and I majorly missed the ability to switch between apps by just swiping left or right at the bottom of the screen. Although I was tempted to get the Max because it was a new phone and would give me more to write about on the blog, I knew the regular XS was the one I really should get. Judging by the poll I held on my instagram story though, it looks like the majority of you would prefer the Max.

The XS and X are virtually the same phone. Even though Apple could spend an hour talking about the differences, in reality, there isn’t that much of a difference. The only thing you might notice being different is the camera, the new camera is an improvement over the previous one but unless you’re taking two photos with the two different phones in the same spot and then compare them side by side… you won’t really notice a difference. Battery life still isn’t that great, when I went from the X to the 8 I was kinda surprised at how much better the battery life on the 8 was, I could spend all day on the phone and the battery wouldn’t drop down past 50%. With the X and now the XS, I could be down to 50% by lunchtime.

But truthfully, I’d rather be on the X or XS over the 8 any day. The iPhone 8 and any non-fullscreen iPhone really do feel and look outdated compared to the new iPhones with the fullscreen. Although I loved the battery life on the 8, I don’t mind the sacrifice for a larger and better screen. So moving from an iPhone 8 (or 7, 6, 5 etc..) to an XS is a no-brainer, the question really is if you have an iPhone X now, is it worth moving to an XS? The answer is no, not at all.

I was never a fan of the old Cayennes, not because I was Porsche purist and was upset that they had built an SUV, but because I thought they looked ugly. This new third generation Cayenne, on the other hand, is so hot looking which is why I got in touch with Porsche and asked them to borrow the car for the weekend.

Even before driving this third generation Cayenne I was pushing it off on friends. Anybody with a budget of around 30K I would quickly recommend the new Cayenne because it had two very important things going for it, a great looking exterior as well as a very modern looking interior. And, because the car just came out, you know this current look is going to be around for at least the next 7 years.

The model I picked up for the review was the “entry-level” Porsche Cayenne. After spending a weekend with this standard Cayenne I can tell you, you don’t need the faster Cayenne S or Turbo versions. The standard Cayenne with 340HP is no slouch which is what I was expecting it to be. The S version adds another 100HP on top of the standard Cayenne power and the Turbo version adds 200HP, but if you’re on a limited budget, get the standard Cayenne and use the money saved to fill it up with options. The car handled like you’d expect a Porsche to handle, it was very comfortable on bumpy roads but also stiff enough on fast hard turns. When I posted my Lexus LC500 review last week, a reader suggested I should test the cars by running them up and down the Crystal Tower parking lot so I decided to do just that for this review, as an agility test. If you don’t know the Crystal Tower parking lot, its known for being incredibly tight and people tend to scrape both sides of their cars going up and down the ramps. So I decided to have a bit of fun and mounted three GoPro’s to the Cayenne and decided to go up and down the lot to see how it handled tight turns. It passed! I think next time I should run the test when the parking is full since if the floors are empty it’s actually not that hard to maneuver through the floors.

The interior of the new Cayenne is another place it really shines. I personally think the Range Rover Velar raised the bar pretty high for slick and futuristic looking interiors but the new Cayenne manages to do that as well. The new Cayenne has a pretty huge screen with a really great looking infotainment system that also includes Apple’s CarPlay, but that’s just part of what makes the interior look so modern. The physical buttons in the center console area have now been replaced with backlit buttons and digital screens that are now touch sensitive. The whole center console looks like a giant screen and this helps give the interior such a modern look. Moving to the back the rear passengers have excellent legroom as well as having modern amenities like USB ports. The trunk is also pretty big and the rear seats fold down to make it even bigger but oddly enough, there are no controls in the trunk to automatically fold down the rear seats. I couldn’t find the option to add them either on the Porsche site which is bizarre because this is a pretty expensive car so you’d expect this pretty basic option.

Which brings us to the price. The starting price of the Cayenne is KD24,600 and I know this is going to sound weird, but that’s actually a pretty good deal. I would have expected the car to start much higher so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how much they cost. 30,000 would get you a Cayenne S but as I mentioned earlier, I’d use the money saved going with the standard Cayenne to add all the options you want and there are A LOT of options to choose from. One of my favorite things about Porsche is how you can configure and build your own car on their website. Their online configurator allows you to spec the car the way you want it while showing you the exact cost, and then you can take your build to the dealership and just order it. I tend to build a Porsche maybe once every couple of weeks just for fun (don’t ask) and the Cayenne I built with all the options I wanted came out to around 31,000 which isn’t that bad.

So yeah I pretty much loved the car. I think like all Porsches the biggest issue with the Cayenne is that it’s going to end up being too popular and so you’ll start seeing a ton of them on the roads. If you want to check the car out and take it for a test drive you can as well, just head to the dealer and book a drive. Also make sure you check out the Porsche car configurator [Here]

I’m thinking about getting a Pelican case for my camera gear and so the first place I checked was at Al-Sabih. But, not only did they not have the sizes I was looking for, what they did have was expensive, like double Amazon prices expensive. For example:

Pelican 1520 Case with Foam
Al-Sabih = KD73
Amazon = KD34

Then I remembered someone once mentioned a store called FITCO Systems once that also sold Pelican cases. So I googled FITCO and found pictures of what looked like a stationary store / hardware store / electronics store. I asked the guys in one of my WhatsApp groups about the store and a friend told me its a very weird place, so weird that he couldn’t explain what the store sold and that I had to go see it for myself.

FITCO Systems is located in Kuwait City right next to Tatami and behind Solo Pizza. When I first walked in I asked about Pelican cases and they have them. Their prices were also pretty reasonable:

Pelican 1400 Case with Foam
FITCO = KD32
Amazon = KD30

Pelican 1500 Case with Foam
FITCO = KD48
Amazon = KD43

Pelican 1600 Case with Foam
FITCO = KD65
Amazon = KD48

Anyway here is the interesting part. I started walking around the store to see what they sold exactly and they had so much random stuff all over the place. The store has been around since 1986 and I think they deal with businesses and wholesale (B2B) more than with consumers. So the store isn’t really in tip-top condition which is why I kept digging up so much vintage stuff.

The store has a ton of items still on the shelves from when they had opened back in 1986, items that are no longer useful but they’re still selling. The place is like a time capsule and I think I spent an hour flipping through their shelves taking photos of everything from Palm Pilot modems to storage cases for 5 1/4 Floppy Disks. They had brand new Windows 98 boxes as well as Microsoft Plus! 98. They had discontinued FujiFilm FP-100C instant film, old Nikon 35mm film scanners, a whole bunch of 8mm backup tapes and cartridges, old webcams, and just a huge amount of random items piled up everywhere. I shared a bunch of photos on my instagram story @mark248am if you want to take a look.

If you want to check the place out yourself, here is their location on [Google Maps].
They also have a website but like the store, it also looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 90s [Link].

Before the 1990 Gulf War, Kuwaitis used to live on Failaka Island. But, during the war, the island got destroyed and then was never rebuilt again forcing the “Failakans” to move and live on the mainland. Now 25 years later, Doti Watkins, a local resident is working on a project to preserve the stories of the Failakans. She’s trying to track down anyone who used to live on Failaka to interview them about their lives on the island, as well as hopefully share with her photos, documents or artifacts.

I think this is a really interesting so if you know anyone who used to live on Failaka, please get in touch with her (her details are below). Here is some more info on this project:

The Kuwaitis of Failaka Island
An Oral History Project

Failaka Island is a unique place in the Arabian Gulf in general, and Kuwait specifically. It is located 20KM from Kuwait City and is well known for its rich and diverse archeological sites. What is being overlooked is that the Kuwaiti settlement of Failaka is also an important archeological site and there is an urgent need to preserve the geography, culture, and history of the Kuwaiti’s who once lived there. They are the most recent people to settle on the island, with a history that is estimated to be 300 years

The Kuwait Failakans are of special interest because they were neither urban nor nomadic. Their landscape and resources were different from the Kuwait mainland. They had different soil and water sources for agriculture compared to mainland Kuwait. They lived in relative isolation and relied on marine travel for connectivity to the rest of their society. Additionally, their sense of place included the remnants of all the other settlements before them.

It has been more than 25 years since the Kuwait Failakans were removed from their homes. This means the surviving population is aging and it will only become more difficult with time to acquire firsthand information and preserve an understanding of what it meant to be a Kuwaiti Failakan.

The purpose of this project is to collect the oral histories of Kuwait Failakans and use GIS (Geographic Information Science/Systems) to develop a GIS database “library” which will store and preserve their histories, traditions, folklore, photos and other documentation as available.

Doti Watkins
[email protected]
96007801
@doti_watkins

Last week I got invited by VOX Cinemas to the premiere of Johnny English Strikes Again. The premier was showing at their VIP theater which they call “THEATRE by Rhodes”, after the Michelin-starred chef, Gary Rhodes. I hadn’t experienced the Rhodes theater yet so I was curious to try it out.

THEATRE by Rhodes is located in an area separate from the rest of the VOX theaters in Avenues. So while the VOX regular area was busy, once I stepped into the Rhodes area it was super chill and a completely different look. From a super bright white busy area, you walk into a much dimmer, quieter and moodier space, as if you’ve just walked into a lounge. Actually, it is a lounge with what looks like a bar on one side and lots of seating all around. Food and drinks were included with the invitation so as soon as we were seated the waiters brought me and my friend menus so we could pick out our three-course meal and drinks. There were a number of different options to choose from in every category, you had the usual stuff like nachos and hotdogs but of course, presented much nicer and composed of better quality ingredients, but you then had more interesting options which for the life of me I can’t remember what they were. I should have taken a picture of the menu but I didn’t. My starter though was a crispy shrimps dish and my main was chicken and shrimp satay on sticks.

After placing our order we were taken to our seats inside the theater. The seats are all reclining with an adjustable footrest as well. You also get a complementary blanket and pillow. It was super cozy and comfortable, like watching a movie at home except better since I don’t have a reclining sofa at home. The seating was easily my favorite part of the experience and the main reason I’d go back thats for sure. Once the movie started they began bringing our food out. I thought this was going to be annoying because you’d have waiters walking around and in front of the screen but the waiters were all pretty stealthy. You’ll barely notice them.

Even though the movie wasn’t great I had a good experience. The only issue really is that the seats are all too far apart from each other. So I couldn’t communicate with my friend at all throughout the film. It’s a very solo experience watching a movie in the VIP theater and you might as well just go by yourself, which actually is a great plus. If you’re an introvert and want to go and watch a movie by yourself, you’ll love this place. It just feels like everyone in the theater is sitting by themselves so you won’t feel self-conscious or awkward.

The price for a normal THEATRE by Rhodes ticket is KD10 but if you want the 3-course meal and drinks then the package costs KD20. For more information or if you’re interested in trying out the theater yourself, check out the THEATRE by Rhodes website [Here]

A few days ago I went to Green Island with my new camera to take some pictures and was stopped on the way in. I had already purchased my entry ticket (1KD btw) and as I was walking in they spotted my camera and told me I couldn’t bring it in. I told them I had a camera on my phone as well but they were ok with that, but that I just couldn’t bring my camera in. I was like ok fine, I went back to the ticket window to return my ticket and get a refund, but I guess that would have been too much of a hassle for the guy because he asked me if I just wanted to take pictures? I told him yes so he then let me in with my camera.

I have no idea why they would be anti-photography, Green Island is a desolate place that has nothing going for it other than it being an interesting place to take some photos. So weird.

Screenshot from Johnny English Strikes Again

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

New This Weekend:
Animal World (6.5)
Johnny English Strikes Again (6.7)
Smallfoot (7.8)
The House with a Clock in Its Walls (6.0)
The Steam Engines of Oz (4.4)
The Yellow Birds (5.7)
Wildling (5.5)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Alpha (7.0)
Boonie Bears: The Big Top Secret (6.0)
Christopher Robin (7.9) ★
Destination Wedding (6.1)
Final Score (5.5)
Juliet, Naked (7.0)
Luis & the Aliens (6.0)
Mile 22 (6.6) ★
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (8.9) ★
Peppermint (6.0)
Peter Pan: The Quest for the Never Book (N/A)
Reprisal (7.4)
Slender Man (3.0)
The Equalizer 2 (7.1) ★
The Little Mermaid (4.6)
The Predator (6.9) ★
The Meg (6.8)
The Nun (7.0)

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

Movies Showing Now:
Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Amazing Mighty Micro Monsters 3D (7.4)
Hurricane 3D (7.0)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Tiny Giants 3D (7.9)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in.

Have you ever been to the opera? Because I haven’t but I’m going to next week. “The Magic Flute” opera is going to be performing in Kuwait next Thursday and Friday at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre and they’ve given me four platinum tickets to giveaway to my readers.

“The Magic Flute” is one of the most popular operas composed by Mozart, and one of the most performed operas in history. The opera is described as an enchanting masterpiece, a fairy-tale adventure that will transport you to a world of fantasy. I don’t think I’m an opera kind of person, but I always like trying new things so I’m pretty excited about this.

The opera is going to be held next Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th of September. Tickets start at KD35 for the bronze seats but I’m giving away 2 platinum tickets worth KD170 for the Thursday show, and 2 more platinum tickets for the Friday one. So there will be two winners for this giveaway! If you’re interested in winning these tickets all you need to do to enter the draw is answer this simple question in the comments below: Where is “The Magic Flute” opera going to be held? I will stop accepting entries in the comments section tomorrow (Thursday) at 2PM and then randomly choose two winners and notify them via email.

If you haven’t been to an opera before this is a great opportunity. JACC also gave me a sneak peek of their upcoming events for this season and there are some really interesting things coming your way so stay tuned. For more information on “The Magic Flute” or if you want to buy your tickets, click [Here]

Giveaway Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. There will be two winners for this event, the first winner to respond to my email will get to choose which day of the opera they want to attend, the second winner then gets the other day. If a winner doesn’t respond within 24 hours, another winner will be randomly chosen. Good luck!

Update: Commenting has been closed. Thanks for participating, will randomly draw two winners later today!

Update2: Using Random.org I got two winners and contacted them. If they don’t respond within 24 hours I’ll draw another number out.

Since the weather is getting better I’m going to be reviewing cars again, mostly because there are a bunch of new cars I’ve been wanting to try. The Lexus LC500 was one of them, I hadn’t seen many on the road, maybe just two or three this past year and so it had always intrigued me. So I got in touch with the dealer and they lent me the car for five days to enjoy.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice how gorgeous this car is, it has an incredible rear end that looks like something from the future. As soon as I drove the car out of the dealership I could feel people checking out the car, and I really think its because of its futuristic look. The dealer used to have a yellow LC500 on display and before picking up the test drive car I was praying I wouldn’t end up with it. Luckily I got the best color combination I could have hoped for, a dark grey exterior with a maroon and black interior. The dark grey color helped with the futuristic look and made it super photogenic in front of the camera.

The LC500 has a 5.0L V8 engine sending 471HP to the rear wheels with a 10-speed automatic transmission. The car is pretty fast but what caught me off-guard the most was the exhaust sound. When you put the car into sports mode it starts sounding like an American muscle car, it was very un-Lexus like which is why I loved it. Sadly the soundproofing on the Lexus is so good, you really need to lower your windows to fully appreciate the sound. Lexus is still going to be Lexus and so the interior of the LC500 was, of course, comfortable, super quiet and just a wonderful place to be in. I had the car for five days and I just felt so chill driving it around. Even though Lexus are marketing the LC500 as a sports car (at least locally), it didn’t feel like one and I didn’t drive it like one. For me, the LC500 is a car that would take me from point A to B in style and comfort. Other than the infotainment system (more on that in a bit), the interior of the car is a fantastic place to be in during traffic. The car also comes standard with a lot of features like pre-crash safety system, lane keeping assist, dynamic radar cruise control, parking assist, a smart entry and start system, as well as a pretty kick-ass Mark Levinson sound system with 13 speakers.

But, like other Lexus’s, the LC500 has one major flaw and it’s the infotainment system. The interface not only looks outdated but is outdated without having modern features like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. If that wasn’t bad enough, the way you interact with the infotainment system is extremely clumsy using their touchpad which isn’t very intuitive, responsive nor practical when driving. I hated it. It’s really the only major issue I had with the car but one that would most likely drive me mad if I had to interact with it on a day to day basis. If all you want from your infotainment is to stream music via Bluetooth, then you’re going to be fine with a Lexus. But, if you want a visually pleasing interface that will run apps from your phone, you’re going to be extremely disappointed.

The Lexus LC500 starts at KD32,000 which I find mind-boggling because the car looks like it’s worth so much more. It really is a very hot looking car which is why I’ve been so eager to drive one. If you’re interested in test driving the LC500 yourself, the dealership has a car available. For more information, check out the LC500 product page on the Lexus Kuwait website [Here]

On a side note, I have a quick question. What do you want more from these car posts? I generally don’t try to go into too many details since I know a lot of people aren’t into cars, but what else would you want to see? Would a video walk around of the car and interior be something you’d like to see for example? Let me know in the comments.

So yesterday I posted about how you could 3D print yourself at the new Best Electronics store in Boulevard. Well, I spoke too soon since you can’t anymore.

From what I’ve managed to understand, due to religious reasons Best have been told to stop the 3D printing. I thought it might have been fake news at first but last night I passed by the store from outside and noticed they had removed all the 3D printed figurines from the display. Oh well…

Earlier this year I sold all my Nikon photography gear because I wasn’t really using them. They were large and heavy so I spent more time using my iPhone and compact but full-frame Sony RX1 camera instead. That setup turned out to be fine for 80% of my needs, but over the past few months, I realized how much of a handicap it was by not owning a DSLR with changeable lenses. So I started looking at compact mirrorless cameras, specifically the Sony A7 series and the newly announced Nikon Z and Canon R series. Mirrorless cameras had similar capabilities as much larger DSLR’s, but they’re a lot more compact. I was kinda leaning towards the Nikon Z mirrorless camera, until I found out that AAB World had recently become official Sony camera dealers. That news made my decision easier, I was getting the Sony A7 III.

Full disclosure, I have a long-standing relationship with AAB World. They’ve been very active with me and the blog over the years and they’ve lent me lenses and camera gear to review whenever I wanted and also hooked me up with discounts. I’m a huge fan.

I’ve had the Sony A7 III for around two weeks and I love it so far. My aim with the A7 III was for it to play two roles, I needed it to be compact when I needed something small and portable, but I also needed a full frame camera I could attach various lenses too˙. The A7 III has fulfilled both those requirements. First thing I did after buying the camera was to get the compact Sony 35mm F/2.8 prime lens for the A7 III. With the 35mm lens, the A7 III was not that much larger than my RX1 (check the picture above).

The second lens I picked up was the Sony 12-24mm F/4 lens and now I’m planning to get the Sony 24-105mm F/4 and Sony 70-200mm F/4 lenses. I’m going with F/4 lenses and not brighter F/2.8 lenses because the F/4 versions are lighter, smaller, cheaper and nearly as good for my needs.

The A7 III feels really great in my hands and I’m loving all its features and capabilities. I can understand why many are calling it the best camera of 2018. I’ll be posting a more comprehensive review after I get the rest of the lenses and shoot some more with the camera. But first impressions, the A7 III is great, it’s so good that I’ve actually decided to sell my Sony RX1, something I told myself I wouldn’t do.

If you’re interested in the A7 III, AAB World are currently out of stock but they should getting another shipment soon. Here are their preorder links on their website:

Sony A7 III (Body only) – KD679
Sony A7 III (Kit including lens) – KD749

Best Electronics have a new service which uses tech by the company Doob to 3D scan your full body and then print you out as a miniature figurine. The result looks pretty realistic and they have a lot of different examples on display for you to check out. I held one figurine and it felt light and fragile, so I wouldn’t give it to a kid to play with, they’re more for displaying not for playing with.

Although it’s pretty cool, especially if you end up getting a 3D scan of you and your friends together, there are two big negatives. The first is that they print these figurines in Germany, which means you need to wait around three weeks to see the results. The second thing is the cost. They can print different sizes figurines but the smallest one which is shorter than your iPhone costs KD40, while the largest size is KD230. If you and your friends get a group shot you have to pay per individual. So if you’re four guys and you want to print out the smallest size that’s 4 x KD40 for one copy.

If you’re interested to check this out, the “Doob” booth is located in Best Electronics at Boulevard in Salmiya. [Google Maps]

Thanks Sabah

As you probably noticed I haven’t been posting the weekend events list for the past couple of months and thats because everything stops during the summer. But, now that the weather is starting to cool down, things are starting to happen again.

I just added a bunch of events to the event page and will keep adding more as I find out about them so check them out. [Link]