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A new trailer is out for Cloverfield and it practically confirms there is a monster… although we still can’t see it. The release date is coming up quickly and if we are lucky it will get released in Kuwait the same time as the US. I was just checking the Cinescape website and The Matador just got released here.. two years behind so you never know. [Trailer]

I am back in Kuwait after what surprisingly was an exhausting weekend. The Gulf Run was incredibly fun and the guys were all really entertaining on and off the track. Everyone either knew everybody else or had one friend in common at least. I think in total there were either 22 or 24 cars that raced on the track ranging from Porsches and Nobles to a Murcielago and a Ford GT 40. My favorite car probably has to be the yellow RUF which although didn’t participate on the race track did participate in the drag race.

Although the event wasn’t held in Kuwait it was a Kuwaiti event and like the Red Bull Flugtag that was held a few weeks ago, its good we have these events happening in Kuwait. We really need more of these events and we REALLY need a race track here in Kuwait. I would like to thank the organizers of Gulf Run for putting it all together and the sponsors who helped made it happen including Magic, Agility, Huper Optik and U Shop We Ship.

I took around 80 pictures at the event trying my best to capture the moments, the people and the cars. In this post I have only 7 pictures, I might post some more again later but the majority of my pictures have people in them and those I will only be sharing with the Gulf Run participants. I will go through my pictures again and see what else I could post but you can enjoy these for now.

More pictures [Here]

Right after work I will be heading out to the airport with a friend of mine where we will both be taking the Jazeera Airways flight to Bahrain. Gulf Run will be held tomorrow at the Bahrain Circuit from 8AM to 6PM. I will be taking my cameras so I will be probably posting pictures once its done and maybe even video if I have the time although I doubt. I don’t think I will be blogging much until I get back Friday evening but I will probably be doing some picture blogging using my phone.

I’ve been wanting to try out Ricardo ever since I was a kid. I used go have lunch at Al Hambra Restaurant with my family before the Gulf War and when I was done I would wonder around the large hotel lobby and then all the way to the back where Ricardo is located and it always looked mysterious and a place for grownups. Fast forward to the present, I no longer pass by Sheraton as much since there are a lot more restaurants available in Kuwait and more competitively priced. But, when I do pass by its always back to Al Hambra where they have one of my favorite buffets in Kuwait. Yesterday night though I decided to break my routine and finally go and try Ricardo.

I made reservations earlier in the day and we got there on time and were quickly seated in a non-smoking section as I had requested. Problem is like every other restaurant in Kuwait, all the best tables are in the smoking section. Still, ours wasn’t bad and we had a good view of the live band that was playing. When we got the menu I realized they had a much larger variety of dishes then I had expected. I was expecting a small menu with a few appetizers and a handful of main courses but instead I was greeted with two pages of appetizers, around eight pages of main courses and two pages of specials. Too many choices. In the end we settled for fried calamari and prawns and cream of mushroom soup for starters, then I had the salmon tortelloni for my main course while Nat went with the giant prawn ravioli.

Our starters didn’t take too long to arrive and when they did I was surprised by the quantity. They aren’t stingy thats for sure. The mushroom soup was one of the best I’ve ever had and the calamari and prawns was also really great. The tartar sauce that came with the calamari and prawns was the same one they use at Al Hambra which is what I use as a basis for all tartar sauces, its just delicious. So far I wasn’t disappointed.

Soon after our main courses arrived and thats where I wasn’t impressed. My tortelloni sounded a lot better in writing, salmon stuffed tortelloni covered with a creamy sauce containing two types of caviar and salmon and prawns on the side. The sauce though wasn’t that great and since the sauce was one of the primary sources of flavor the end result was a good dish but nothing special. Nats ravioli was also just good but the problem with her dish was that it was over priced mostly because the prawns weren’t really giant.

We didn’t have dessert although I was tempted to but as I said earlier, their food quantity is good and so we were really full by the end of our meal. Overall the experience was good, the music although not my style suited the candle lit table and the service was excellent as expected. The price on the other hand I have mixed feelings about. Our starters, the calamari and prawns cost KD6 while the mushroom soup cost KD3.5 which I think is very fair for both dishes. My main course the salmon tortelloni cost KD12 which isn’t too bad either. Nats dish on the other hand, the giant prawns ravioli was for KD15 which I think is over priced, it should also have been KD12. Over all the prices are a lot more decent then I was expecting them to be. Most of the pastas on the menu were under KD10 while the main courses ranged in prices from KD12 to KD20 with only one lobster dish costing KD35. In the end though I am going to have to give it a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Maybe if we had ordered different main courses the score could have been as high as a 4.5 but based on what we had and not on what we could have had plus the fact that I didn’t think the prawn ravioli should have cost that much, 3.5 is what I am forced to give it. I will be going back again thats for sure if I can pull myself away from Al Hambra that is.

Ruby Tuesday have redesigned their identity and it was handled by Pentagram, the same agency who were responsible for the Commercial Bank of Kuwait identity back in the 70s. I prefer the new logo and how its being applied but I know a lot of people think type based identities are the lazy way out. What I also find interesting is that Appleebee’s just rebranded, so now I am wondering if Chilis or TGIF could be next. [Link]

via Brand New

I’ve been wanting to watch the movie Sharq ever since I first saw the trailer back in February and it seems the movie is finally getting released. The new website is up and running at www.sharqfilm.com and you can now book tickets to the early screenings of the movie for November 18 and 19th. If you don’t know what the movie is about then check out the trailer on their website. I just booked two tickets for the 18th. [Link]

update: According to reader comments it seems the movie was already released a few months back and is available on DVD.

So a friend calls me up and tells me to tune into 99.7 at around 7PM. He tells me there is this DJ, shes new, been on the radio now for maybe 6 months and she sucks really bad, like worse than Dr La Bouche. So I was in the car on the way to have dinner when I decided to turn the dial to 99.7. Once the song Barbie Girl finished playing (yeah they still play it) the DJ came on and thats when I wished Barbie Girl would play again. OK maybe she wasn’t THAT bad but she was bad, she had an annoying voice and she wasn’t make any sense. What is she doing on the air and who is she? Under normal circumstances I would check the official 99.7 website except that their site is still suspended. I did record some of the radio broadcast though using my phone and you can listen to it by clicking [Here]

A bunch of motorbike riders from Kuwait have left on a long road trip to Beirut. One of the riders is Hellraiser, a fellow blogger whos actually gone and setup a blog specifically for this journey. He has a digital camera and Internet access and will be updating the blog often. Its an interesting trip so check out his blog for updates. [Link]

Earlier I posted about the paper bags at the Co-op’s, well the group behind it turned out to be CEC, a local environmentally friendly company. Seems they are running a one month campaign called Environment Friends Campaign which involves different activities including the paper bags at the Co-op’s. So sadly I am assuming that once this one month campaign is over the Co-op’s will be going back to plastic bags. [Link]

Thanks Drunk_n_Gorgeous

The local Co-op’s are now placing customers items in brown paper bags instead of the usual plastic. The paper bags are made from recyclable paper and are more environmentally friendly compared to the old plastic ones. This is a great move and one that I would have expected from other supermarkets like Sultan Center or Carrefour but not the Co-ops.

Just booked my tickets to Bahrain via Jazeera Airways. They are practically giving them away, it cost me only KD23. Weird thing is after I booked I was checking the passenger name and it was written TESTTT, TESTT. I called Jazeera Airways up a few minutes ago to fix it and I am actually still on hold waiting for someone to pick up while I am writing this post.

So anyways, Gulf Run is next week, I am going to be taking both my video cam and digital camera so I can take a ton of shots. Marzouq, Bader and Khalid are also going and I don’t know if there are any other bloggers also going. If you want to find out more about Gulf Run you can check out their website on www.thegulfrun.com

And Remember, Magic is the Natural Energy Drink 😉

By the way, I am done writing this post and I am still on hold!

update: After waiting for like 10 minutes they hung up on me, I called again and I am now still on hold

update2: Finally got a hold of someone who was very professional and straight to the point. Fixed my problem instantly. I guess they just need more operators.

I hate the sneakers that are available at Foot Locker and Athletes Foot here in Kuwait. In the past few years I don’t think I’ve even purchased any sneakers from here, I always ordered them from Amazon and other retailers online. Other than the fact that they don’t carry certain brands here, most of the retailers play it pretty safe and just get your average looking regular dull models. In the UK for example Foot Locker isn’t even counted as a trendy store for sneakers, Size?, Offspring and Foot Patrol for example all have better taste and carry funkier collections. Athletes Foot barely even exists outside of Kuwait!

One of my favorite TV shows is Entourage and one of the characters on the show is called Turtle who is a sneaker collector. That gave me the idea to also start my own sneaker collection. Its still really small but I only just started so it should grow a lot more in the coming year. You can check out some of my sneakers below.

I think Ramadan put me out of touch with food in Kuwait. This is like the third time since Ramadan ended that I discover a new item at a favorite restaurant. Today for lunch I passed by Sbarro, I hadn’t been there since before Ramadan and today I found out they had a new item that seemed interesting. Its a stromboli and up until today I hadn’t heard of it before. It’s something like their stuffed pizzas except the dough is rolled up.

I usually order the stuffed sausage & pepperoni pizza but I decided to try the stromboli version today. Although it looked interesting it turned out to be let down. The stromboli was very dry and in some places there wasn’t any sausage & pepperoni just dough. Compared to the stuffed pizza, the stromboli was boring and bland. It costs 950 fils which is the same price as a stuffed pizza except I would choose the stuffed over it easily. Its worth a try though. Final score 3 out of 5.

I just got back from a late night ride. I hadn’t ridden since the beginning of summer and ever since TriStar had picked up my bike and serviced it last week my bike has been begging to be taken out. Tonight was his lucky night.

I was walking Geo and noticed the weather was just amazing so when I got home I suited up and went out for a ride. Salmiya was deserted and I had all the streets to myself so I took full advantage and rode up and down at my pace enjoying my time. I was a bit rusty so I felt a lot more comfortable riding alone with no traffic just in case I made a mistake.

One thing I realized, the weather is a lot nicer in shorts and a tshirt. My full bike gear which includes thick riding pants and a thick riding jacket kinda made things hot but it still felt great riding. I think I will do this every night, its very peaceful and mind clearing.

I got the following email from Agnieszka and it seems like an interesting opportunity for anyone whos interested.

—————————————–

I am currently looking for freelance copywriters based in the Kuwait market, working in Arabic, to work on some of our projects.

World Writers is a centralised creative and language resource based in London. We work with both agencies and direct clients to create international advertising. Our services include international copy adaptation, copywriting, cultural filtering, brand name screening, local client liaison and TV/print production management.

Over the years we have worked with numerous agencies such as Weiden & Kennedy on Nike, Vodafone and Siemens; with Springer & Jacoby on DaimlerChrysler; with Ogilvy on Huggies and so on.

Creative copywriting: Our work is mostly adaptations, based on the approved global English version. But we do understand the need for local improvisation and we do not want literal translations!

You will be involved mainly with international adaptation of advertising and marketing copy, from English into your own language and market.

Excellent understanding of English, translation skills and creative flair in your target language are crucial; knowledge of your local market – essential.

If you are interested to work as a freelance copywriter for us, please do drop me a line.

It would be great if you could send me your updated CV showing your experience in copywriting or translation (marketing, advertising preferably), a few samples of your work and let me know your availability and contact details.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Agnieszka Jablonska

www.worldwriters.com

World Writers
phone: +44 (0)20 3217 2418
fax: +44 (0)20 7251 9710
29 Clerkenwell Road
Farringdon
London
EC1M 5TA