Categories
Movies Now Showing Television

Movies & TV Shows to Watch this Weekend

I traveled a couple of days ago and ended up watching two shows on the flight, Tires and Obliterated (both on Netflix). Tires just came out this past week and stars the comedian Shane Gillis. I liked the show, not sure if anyone else will unless you’re a fan of Shane since his humor isn’t for everyone. It’s only 6 short episodes so very quick to go through.

I also started watching Obliterated but haven’t finished it yet. Not as good as I was expecting it to be, but if you like the series Reacher you might like this since I find them pretty similar in style (comedy and story wise).

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Asphalt City (6.1)
Damaged (4.6)
Darkness of Man (4.5)
Ezra
Possessions (3.9)
Tarot (4.9)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Classic/2001) (8.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Abigail (6.8)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (8.1)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (6.5)
IF (6.8)
Inception (Classic/2010) (8.8)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (6.4)
Prey (3.8)
Sting (5.7)
The Fall Guy (7.3)
The Garfield Movie (6.0)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.




Categories
Sports Technology

F1 in Schools Opening in The Avenues

I hadn’t heard of “F1 in Schools” before so was confused when I found out they were opening in The Avenues. I thought it might be a racing school but it turned out to be engineering related. This is how it’s described on Wikipedia:

F1 in Schools is an international STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) competition for school children (aged 11–19), in which groups of 3–6 students have to design and manufacture a miniature car out of the official F1 Model Block using CAD/CAM design tools. The cars are powered by CO2 cartridges and are attached to a track by a nylon wire. They are timed from the moment they are launched to when they pass the finish line by a computer.

While researching I found out that in Kuwait, BSK were already involved with F1 in Schools (Check the post above). With The Avenues location opening the program will become accessible to more children. The Avenues location will be managed by the non-profit organization Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity and KFAS.

I’ve reached out to find out more about this and when they’re planning to open, but for now you can check f1inschools.com for more information or watch the video above to watch the 2023 world finals




Categories
Blog Info Interesting

I Love Ai

This morning I noticed a new “Made with Ai” label under my instagram post on @248am and I thought that was really interesting and worth talking about. The image was labeled “Made with Ai” because it was in fact made using the help of Ai. Although a bit too dramatic a label for this specific case, I do think this is a really helpful feature since so much digitally generated content looks real nowadays.

Throughout the years I’ve enhanced photos published on the blog, sometimes it’s minor stuff like increasing saturation, playing with contrast, or removing blemishes. Other times it’s more drastic like removing garbage from photos, or recently with instagram, adding more image to an existing image.

Before Ai, removing things such as garbage required the use of a Photoshop tool called the clone brush. It wasn’t too difficult to do, but depending on the scene, it sometimes required some skill to make it look natural.

But, over a year ago, Adobe introduced a new feature into Photoshop called generative Ai. This changed everything. I could now select all the garbage in a scene for example, and with a click of a button, Photoshop will remove it all. The Ai is so good you wouldn’t even be able to tell the image was manipulated.

With Instagram, I use Ai in a slightly different manner. Most images are shot in landscape, but all my posts are square. So, to get wide images to fit into my square without having to crop into the image, I sometimes add more image. For example, my lions post from today. I was limited with the number of photos available of the lions, so I had to use a screen grab from a video. The video was wide and so I could either crop into the image and lose some of the background, or keep the full image and just add more sky and more grass below. I chose the later. Because the video was only 1080p, cropping into it would reduce the resolution, but even if resolution wasn’t an issue, cropping into the photo would make the final image feel claustrophobic after adding my headline.

So let me take you through the different stages to better illustrate this. First one above is the actual screen grab from the video.

The photo above is after converting it to a square. Can you spot the difference? First thing you’ll notice is the extra sky and grass below the image. Then if you look carefully you’ll also notice a slightly increase in saturation and a visually more interesting sky with a cloud formation.

Finally, here is a side by side image of how my post have looked like without Ai on the left, and the final result with Ai on the right.

Not sure I like this specific photo being labeled as “Made with Ai”, since that’s not true, it wasn’t made with Ai. The main subject matter wasn’t changed, I didn’t for example generate fake lions or manipulate the story the image is telling, so I don’t feel it deserves that label. Maybe an “Enhanced with Ai” label would have been more appropriate here.

I think the “Made with Ai” label is meant to prevent the negative use of Ai, like in fake news, but in this case, Instagram is making it look like my image is fake news and not real when it is. But since Instagram is labeling all images that used some sort of Ai as “Made with Ai”, this label is going to be the new norm I guess.




Categories
Animals & Wildlife News

‘Kuwait 6’ Lions have a New Home in South Africa

Here is a feel-good story to start the week. Six lions rescued from Kuwait finally have a new home at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa. Known as the ‘Kuwait 6’, the males Muheeb, Saham, Shujaa, Saif, and females Dhubiya and Aziza were victims of the illegal pet trade. All the lions were less than two years old when they were either surrendered, confiscated, or captured in Kuwait after being abandoned by their owners.

Staff and volunteers at the Kuwait Zoo nursed the lions back to health and looked after them until they were able to find them a home. After a long 15-hour journey, the lions arrived in South Africa last week.

Animal Defenders International (ADI), the non-profit organization that campaigns against animal cruelty and exploitation, offered the lions a new life at the 455-acre ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. Qatar Airways Cargo assisted ADI in transporting the animals as part of their WeQare ‘Rewild the Planet’ initiative. Qatar Airways Cargo has an amazing and very caring program where they offer free transport to organizations involved in returning wild animals to their natural habitat.

For their first two weeks, the lions will be in quarantine before being released into the main habitat. ADI have been posting photos and videos of the ‘Kuwait 6’ on their instagram account @animal_defenders_international and it looks like the lions are in a really good place.

If you’d like to donate for the care of the ‘Kuwait 6’, you can by clicking this link. But, you also have the option to adopt one of the lions starting from just 20KD. For more on adoption, click here.




Categories
Movies Now Showing Television

Movies & TV Shows to Watch this Weekend

I didn’t watch a lot of shows or movies this week since I’m saving them for my long flight next week. But, I did finally get to watch “The Iron Claw“, not the storyline I was expecting so caught me by surprise, but damn it was such a good movie.

I also started and stopped watching Dark Matter. I think I made it to episode 3 before realizing I didn’t like the storyline and wasn’t interested in continuing it.

I watched the last episode of Under the Bridge yesterday, I thought last week was the last episode but turned out there was one more. It was a forgettable episode and the series didn’t really need it. Wait, I just checked and turns out there is still one more episode next week. wtf?

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (8.1)
Prey (3.8)
Sting (5.7)
The Garfield Movie (6.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Abigail (6.8)
Civil War (7.6)
Dead Racer (5.7)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (6.5)
IF (6.8)
Inception (Classic/2010) (8.8)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
Knox Goes Away (6.9)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (6.4)
The Fall Guy (7.3)
You Can’t Run Forever (N/A)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.




Categories
Blog Info Personal

Posts are taking longer than before

When I first started this blog I was posting maybe 5 times a day? It was constant content but mostly non-Kuwait related. Then overtime I realized people were more interested with the Kuwait content so my topics because Kuwait focused and I dropped down to around 2-3 posts a day. Then, it dropped down to 1-2 a day. 14,000+ posts later and now I’m barely managing 1 post a day.

A lot has changed obviously in the 20+ years since I started. Back then the only other source for content were physical newspapers and magazines. Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok didn’t exist and so my blog was the only source of interesting Kuwait related content that was fast/live. Magazines you had to wait till the end of the month to read about something and newspaper were just not interesting and still aren’t interesting.

But now with soooo many sources for content I’m still finding my way of how to still be relevant and interesting. I think 99% of the content out there is trash, and I still don’t get this yelling salesman style of tiktok videos that people seem to do.

It’s been over a year since I launched my Instagram account and I really don’t think there is anything like it in Kuwait, mostly because of the wide range of content I cover. I at least think it is all interesting. Well based on the engagement people are also finding it interesting. But I really haven’t changed my content style much, it’s always been random. Scrolling through my Instagram account now makes me more aware how my brain is all over the place.

But, content is also taking a lot longer to put together. I use the app Simplenote for my blog, basically anytime I have a topic idea I create a new note. Then as I collect information on that topic I fill in that note. As of right now I have 203 potential future topics to post about, with some of those topic ideas even broken down further. For example, I have a “Design Highlights” note but under that I have 9 future posts. And these are solid topics, not random restaurants I’m invited to try, which I have zero interest in going to.

Yet I can barely scrape together 1 post a day for some reason. I’m trying to understand why and I think that’s mostly because it’s taking me longer than before to collect the information for posts. I’m now turning 46, I was 25 when I started blogging. I have a lot less free time, I have more responsibilities now and I don’t think I can do slapstick posts, basically random posts without substance. I understand that because of my Instagram account where I’ve set a personal benchmark where every post needs to be a blockbuster hit, but I should be able to post random shit here. My Instagram posts take a lot longer to put together than my blog because I spend so much time on the photo, and so much time getting the headline interesting without having to clickbait, and then I need to manage my writing since I’m limited to just 2,100 characters on Instagram. But, I do a lot of random posts on twitter than I do here.

As I just wrote that last sentence, I think I answered my own question. It’s a lot easier to post on twitter than it is on my blog where I need to sit down in front of a computer and do it. I no longer get on my computer in the evenings, I don’t have a laptop open in front of me while watching TV. Maybe that’s what I need to change, either start getting on my laptop again in the evenings, or just get comfortable posting on the blog through my phone.

I tried posting from my phone maybe 10 years ago and it would mess up the look of the post. But the WordPress app has changed a lot since then and so has my blog theme so maybe it’s not an issue anymore. I’ll try to post from my phone again and if it works it should hopefully improve things moving forward.




Categories
Food & Drinks Promoted

My Absolute Favorite Cheesesteak in Kuwait

I’ve been ordering from Bite Club ever since they opened back in December. As a cheesesteak fan, I tried Bite Club on a friend’s recommendation and was instantly hooked. Since then, I’ve become a regular customer.

When the Bite Club team briefed me for this post, they mentioned they believed they had one of the best cheesesteaks in Kuwait. Interestingly, (they don’t know this) but before they reached out to me I had been working on a list of the top cheesesteaks in Kuwait, and Bite Club was #1 on my list. I don’t think it’s just one of the best; I think it IS the best cheesesteak in Kuwait.

Bite Club was created by a group of friends who are very passionate about food. One of the reasons I love their Philly Cheesesteak, besides the incredible flavor, is the high-quality meat they use. This commitment to quality ingredients extends across their entire menu, they even make their sauces in-house from scratch so they can control every ingredient.

They have three different cheesesteaks on their menu, but the only one I’ve tried and usually order is their regular “Rib-Eye Cheesesteak”. In addition to the cheesesteaks they also have smashed burgers and fried chicken burgers on their menu, as well as a variety of sides that includes both normal and sweet potato fries, and “chickies”.

If you want to try my favorite cheesesteak in Kuwait, they’re available on Talabat, Deliveroo and Jahez. They also offer V-Thru pick up from their location in Hawally. Check them out @eatatbiteclub




Categories
Music Shopping Technology

Review: LAICOMEIN 2-in-1 Bluetooth Adapter

This is just a quick review of this really great tiny and cheap Bluetooth transmitter/receiver. I’m posting about it for anyone googling a solution for their Bang & Olufsen A9 like I did.

Back in 2013 (so over 10 years ago which is crazy), I bought a Bang & Olufsen A9. Not sure what had gotten into me, probably related to some trauma from my divorce back then, but I somehow thought it was ok then to pay 890KD for it. The speaker actually ended up costing me more than that because after setting it up at home and realizing it didn’t look as good in my apartment as it did in the shop, I ended up redecorating my whole apartment around it (true story)!

Fast forward to today, I got married again and so redid my apartment and the A9 is back in the spotlight again. It looks even better now with my new aesthetic, but because technology has come a long way since I bought the A9, I was having issues streaming music to it. The AirPlay would work on and off, sometimes I needed to reboot the speaker to get it working right and it was just annoying to use, and so it was there for looks only. I was then googling to see if the unit had Bluetooth and confirmed it didn’t, but then I came across some people asking if there was a way to get bluetooth installed and someone mentioned getting a Bluetooth receiver. So I started researching and realized that, if I found a bluetooth unit tiny enough and ran off USB power, I could potentially strap it onto the back of the A9 with velcro or something, and just like that I’d have Bluetooth on my A9.

After doing some research on Amazon, I eventually decided on the LAICOMEIN 2-in-1 Bluetooth Adapter. It was both a Bluetooth receiver and transmitter, it was tiny, could be powered with USB, and it cost just $30. Now that I have it I can’t believe how perfect this little thing is.

My B&O A9 has a small compartment on the back with a cover. Inside the compartment is where you connect the power cable, ethernet, and RCA inputs. But, there is also a USB port which was used to connect to the iPhone during the first time setup. The LAICOMEIN came with everything I needed to connect to the A9 and the set up was SUPER easy. I just had to put the switch on the bluetooth unit to receiver mode, I then connected the USB cable and line-in cable to it, and then plugged the other end of the USB cable to the back of my A9 and the line out into the RCA inputs. As soon as I plugged it into the USB port a red light came on to let me know it had power, I then pressed and held the power button down to turn it on and switch to pairing mode. That was it! The A9 automatically detected there was a device connected to the RCA input so switched to that, and then my bluetooth turntable saw the A9 and connected to it. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes to set up.

The LAICOMEIN is also so small that I didn’t need to figure out a way to strap it to the back, it just fit inside the tiny compartment at the back of the A9, and then I just closed the cover and you can’t even tell there is anything there. It’s perfect!

Speaking of my bluetooth turntable. I recently found a great deal on a Pro-ject T1 BT turntable on eBay. It was a brand new open box unit and I managed to snatch it up for $284 with tax and shipping (add another 30KD to ship to Kuwait). In comparison it costs $499 on Amazon without tax so I basically got it for half the price. But, the T1 BT has the WORST implementation of bluetooth I’ve seen on any device ever. The bluetooth module is a separate unit at the bottom of the player with a separate on and off switch. The plan originally was to pair it with my KEF LSX speakers, but I couldn’t get the pairing to work. There are no lights on the T1 letting me know if bluetooth is on, if it’s connected to anything, or if it’s pairing and I just couldn’t figure it out. Eventually I gave up on it, but as soon as I installed the bluetooth receiver into the A9, I turned on the bluetooth switch on the side of the T1 just out of curiosity to see if anything happens, and right away it connected! So now my record player is connected to my A9 and I think I like this setup now.

So yeah, at just $30, LAICOMEIN 2-in-1 Bluetooth Adapter is a great purchase and I’m now thinking of getting one for my B&O Beolit 12 which I also purchased 11 years ago and also only has AirPlay. If you want to get Bluetooth on an old device, I totally recommend this, here is the link to it on Amazon.




Categories
50s to 90s Information Music Shopping

Where to find vinyl records in Kuwait (2024 Edition)

Since a lot of record stores pop up and close down often, I tend to update this list every few years.

All the small online stores that sold new records have closed down, including @vinyldestinationkw, and so if you want a new release, your best bet is ordering from Amazon.

But, if you’re looking for old used records, you actually have multiple options in Kuwait.

The Antique Basement
This basement in Salmiya has various stores selling vintage and antique items, three of them also have a small collection of old records. They’re not organized but instead are either just pilled up on top of one another, or randomly stacked in boxes. Finding stuff is a bit of an adventure, but on the bright side, they’re mostly English records. Here are the instagram accounts of those stores:

@tathkron
@fahad___bokhaled
@alnasser_antiques_kuwait

Nawader
This guy has the most insane collection of old music since he acquired all the remaining stock of the old record label “Bou Zaid Phone“, one of the most important Kuwaiti record labels. Nawader has a huge collection of new-old-stock records, cassettes and even 8-track tapes. Nearly all of the records he has are in Arabic, and he also has many very hard to come by ones. I got my 4-volume vinyl set of the “Kuwaiti Television Artistic Group” from him, and although he wouldn’t sell me his copy of the Iftah Ya Simsim record, he did hook me up with someone else who sold me theirs. He has a location thats by appointment only, but you can also purchase or request items through any one of his three instagram accounts:

@nawaderq8
@q8nawader
@istuwanat

Moqtanayaty
If you’re looking for a vintage record player, boombox, 8-track or even reel-to-reel players to buy, the best store in Kuwait is Moqtanayaty, or “My Belongings” when translated to English. I bought my vintage record player from there and they can even repair vintage music players, VCRs, or really old TVs. You can check them out on instagram @vintage_radio_

If you know of another place that sells records, let me know in the comments.




Categories
Interesting

A Secret Weekend Getaway in Wafra

Similar to the ‘A-Frame‘ Farm which I posted about a couple of years ago, the ‘Countryside Farmhouse’ is another picturesque farm in Wafra that is also available to rent.

The 3,000m2 farmhouse features 4 master bedrooms, a cozy living room, both an indoor and outdoor kitchen, and various outdoor seating areas including a rooftop with a beautiful view. The farm which can host up to 10 guests also has a swimming pool, gardens all around, and a dedicated kid’s play area, so plenty of room for you and your friends.

What initially caught my attention was the beautiful Mediterranean look of the farmhouse which is what I think makes this place feel like a secret getaway. The price to rent the farm is 165 KD per night during the weekdays, and 485 KD if you want to book it for the whole weekend. Not too bad if you split the cost with friends. If you want to check out more photos or to book, head over to their instagram account @countrysidekw




Categories
50s to 90s Photography

Photo of the Kuwait Shoreline Taken in 1903

I don’t recall coming across a photo of Kuwait’s shoreline that was older than this. I was doing some research for an upcoming post when I went down a rabbit hole and ended up coming across a report from 1903 that contained photos, maps and some interesting information on Kuwait. One of the photos was the image above of Kuwait’s shore which I hadn’t seen before, but there were also some other ones inside I also hadn’t seen which I’ve shared below.

The report is made up of 2 volumes and the original copy is part of the British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers . The report was compiled by Captain H. H. Dowding after his visit to Kuwait during the winter of 1901-02 while the photographs were supplied by Baron Curzon of Kedleston.

You can actually download the whole report as a PDF from the Qatar Digital Library. If you want to check it out, click here.




Categories
Promoted

YISWA – The Auction App where Prices Go Down

YISWA is an interesting local auction app where it works the other way around, prices go down instead of going up. It’s a new way to shop where the longer you wait, the better the price gets. But, wait too long and someone else might snatch the item up.

The way YISWA works is items go on sale one at a time in the app. They first get listed with the retail price, and then quickly start dropping down in price. The price keeps dropping until people buy the item and it gets sold out. Because there is no way to tell how many pieces are left in stock or how many people are interested in it, you want to set a price that is both reasonable for you and ensures you don’t miss out on the item.

So for example, starting tomorrow (Tuesday), YISWA will be selling pairs of VIP tickets for the Bassem Yousef and Maz Jobrani comedy show that’s taking place later this month. The retail price for the tickets is 140KD which is how much they will go on sale for. But, once the auction starts, the price will start dropping until the tickets get purchased by someone. The longer you wait, the cheaper the price will get but the higher the chance of someone else buying it.

YISWA have also included some features in the app to make the shopping experience easier. For example, you can preview upcoming auctions and ask the app to notify you when they start. You can also set a buy it now price for the items, so for example, you could set your buy it now price for the 2 VIP tickets at 100KD. If the price drops to your set price, the app will automatically purchase the tickets for you.

If you want to check the app out and just browse, you can do that without needing to sign up. Just download the app and check it out. For the download link, head over to their website yiswaapp.com




Categories
Movies Television

Movies & TV Shows to Watch this Weekend

I started watching Franklin this week, but couldn’t make it through the first episode. I did start watching X-Men ’97 and am loving it, for one it reminded me of Saturday mornings back when I lived in Canada, but also the plot is pretty good so I’m really enjoying it.

I watched the movie The Holdovers, it was good, don’t think I’d recommend it but it was fine. I’m a fan of Paul Giamatti but I remember I also found his movie Sideways by the same director also just fine even though it had gotten rave reviews back then.

Other than that I’m still watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith and just finished The Brothers Sun. Now deciding if I should start watching Obliterated or Baby Reindeer.

Let us know in the comments what you’ve been watching or planning to watch this weekend.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Bloodline Killer (7.5)
Inception (Classic/2010) (8.8)
The Fall Guy (7.3)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Classic/1988) (7.7)
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (5.4)

Other Movies Showing:
Civil War (7.6)
Dune: Part Two (8.8)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (6.5)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (6.4)
The First Omen (6.8)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (7.1)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.




Categories
Apple First Impression Information

Using the Apple Vision Pro in Kuwait

This past weekend I picked up the Apple Vision Pro and since then I’ve been using it daily, mostly exploring it and trying to figure out what to do with it.

First things first, if you’re planning to pick up an Apple Vision Pro in Kuwait, you need to know that you won’t be able to pick the proper sized light seal. Before purchasing the AVP from the Apple Store, they ask you to scan your face so they could recommend the proper light seal. You can do that through the Apple Store app and according to the scan, I needed a size 21W. If you’re buying an AVP from the grey market, there is no way to know what size light seal you’re getting since Apple doesn’t mention the size on the outside of the box. So it depends on your luck, I ended up with the light seal size 33W which was what Apple recommended for my wife. It doesn’t fit well on my face but I’m dealing with it till my light seal arrives. I got a brand new one off eBay for $150 but Apple sells them for $199. So just something to keep in mind.

Secondly, the AVP prices in Kuwait are quite a bit cheaper than Apple prices in the US. The cheapest price I found locally was 999KD at Best Electronics. In comparison, it costs around 1,160KD in the States with tax, but without shipping to Kuwait. Expect to pay around 20-30KD on top of that to ship to Kuwait since the box is pretty heavy. But then again, if you don’t end up with the correct light seal size you’ll have to pay for that, but it would still be cheaper to buy it locally and you’ll end up having an extra light seal.

Other than that, if you already have a US Apple Store account which I assume everyone already has, then you’re pretty much set. If you have a Kuwait Apple Store account it won’t work in the AVP since the AVP is only available in the US at the moment. If you want to use streaming services like Disney and Max, you also need a smart DNS proxy. Disney Kuwait won’t work (uses app from Kuwait store) and I don’t think there is a VPN option on the AVP, but smart DNS is easier to set up anyway.

My first impression of the AVP? It’s difficult to explain. I love it, it’s definitely the future, but if you’re asking me if you should get one, then the answer is no. If you already got one or are planning to get one, then you made the right decision. It’s confusing I know but if you already decided on the AVP it’s most likely for the same reason as me, to be there at the start of what I think is the future, and not because it’s worth getting one now.

It’s such an incredible device, using it and doing things with it is like nothing else I’ve experienced, so much so that I keep wanting to share my experience with someone else. That’s what’s also so weird about the AVP, it’s such a solo device but yet the experiences are ones you want to share with others. I’ve been constantly annoying my wife asking her to put on the AVP so I could let her experience various things I got to experience.

I will have to do a proper review of the device, but right now I’ve mostly been using it for two things, watching TV and playing ToXun. ToXun is a game that randomly puts you somewhere on Earth in Google Street View, and you need to guess where you are in the world. It’s pretty difficult but I’ve been quite good at guessing at least which country I’m in.

Watching TV on the other hand is just a really really incredible experience. For one thing, you can now have a TV anywhere. I have just one TV by choice in my apartment, but with the AVP I can now set up a large Cinescape movie theater anywhere I want in my place. I’ve watched a variety of content so far from simple TV shows to what Apple calls Immersive Videos. I’m not sure how to describe immersive video because until I experienced it I hadn’t experienced anything like it anywhere. Imagine a super large Imax screen that towers above and below you but is also in 3D. Actually, I don’t think that describes it properly. Imagine, you’re standing inside the film watching, that’s what these videos feel like. There aren’t many of them but my favorite is called Adventure and takes place up high in the mountains where a female climber sets up a high line to cross over a cliff. It’s really well shot, the 3D scenes make me feel like I’m right there, and anywhere I look I see beautiful views. They’re not 360 videos, but they do wrap around your peripheral vision.

But your regular 3D movies look great as well. I was never a fan of 3D movies because of the glasses you had to wear and how they darkened the screen. With the AVP they’re much much better. I watched the movie Gravity last night in 3D inside my theater and it was incredible, I felt like I was up there with them in space.

So far the AVP has been a great experience. I just ordered a compact carrying case for it from Waterfield in case I want to travel with it and use it on the plane. Not sure I’d be comfortable doing that just yet, but will see how it goes.

If there is anything specific you want to know or want me to try out, let me know in the comments.




Categories
Automotive Videos

Shmee was in Kuwait

The popular car vlogger Shmee was in Kuwait last week to film the car collection of Dr. Adel Quttainah, the plastic surgeon. I had assumed it was his first visit to Kuwait but in the video he mentions it was his second time although I couldn’t find any details of his first visit. If you’re into cars, check out his video on YouTube