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Yesterday the second Formula 1 race of the season took place and I’ve been getting questions by people asking me how I’m watching it. The answer is simple, I’m watching the races on F1 TV, the question of how is a bit more complicated.

Early last month BeIN decided not to renew their F1 broadcast rights and instead MBC picked up the rights. You can now watch Formula 1 live for free on MBC Action but there are two main issues, the broadcast is in Arabic and there doesn’t seem to be a way to stream the races for people like me who don’t have satellite TV. That also means you can’t watch the races on your phone.

Last year Formula 1 launched their own channel called F1 TV where for $9.99 a month you can stream the race weekends live as well as watch older races from their archive. Technically F1 TV doesn’t work in Kuwait but since I have a US-based credit card, I was able to subscribe and then watch the races over a VPN. It worked for a short while last year, and then F1 TV got strict and started blocking VPN’s, but my internet connection was also an issue since it wasn’t fast enough to stream properly through VPN. So last year I ended up giving up on F1 TV and had to go back to the BeIN digital service which I didn’t like. Since BeIN was out of the picture this year, I decided to try F1 TV again, and my experience this time around has been much better.

This time around my internet is a lot faster since I signed up to Zain Beam last month (for those wondering, I’m still getting a stable 30Mbps download speed with Beam). I also changed my VPN service from StrongVPN to SmartDNSProxy and so far, F1 TV hasn’t blocked a single stream. The F1 TV service has also been polished up since they first launched and there doesn’t seem to be any weird streaming issues (like their stream crashing at the start of the race). I also discovered a cool trick the other day where if I use my TV as a second monitor, I could use one browser tab to stream the race on my TV and then use the laptop screen with another browser tab open to a live race data stream or a driver cockpit view. And on top of all this, I’ve also been able to stream the race on my mobile phone using the F1 app.

So if you want to watch Formula 1 in Kuwait, your only options (at the time of this post) is MBC Action or F1 TV if you have a foreign credit card.

Highway 60 which is the long bit of highway that flies over Shuwaikh is now open again. The bridge which previously use to drop you at the start of the free trade zone now flies over it landing you at the very far end of it. This bridge will also soon connect to the world’s longest bridge, the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Causeway which is set to open next month.

I drove on the new bridge extension this past weekend and it reminded me of the old video game Tokyo Highway Challenge. I wouldn’t be surprised if the bridge turns out to be popular with street racers especially considering there is only one speed camera.

I don’t recall I’ve ever seen a building in Kuwait get demolished like this before. [YouTube]

Below is this weekends list of events. As usual, if I missed anything, let me know in the comments:

Thursday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Exhibition: Sami Mohammad
Kuwait Yacht Show 2019
Souq Buhayra
Spring Break Playground
Family Carnival at Arabella

Friday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Exhibition: Sami Mohammad
Kuwait Yacht Show 2019
Souq Buhayra
Spring Break Playground
Spring Craft Market at The Promenade
Road Rush
Family Carnival at Arabella

Saturday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Exhibition: Sami Mohammad
Kuwait Yacht Show 2019
Souq Buhayra
Spring Break Playground
Guided Tour: Liberation Tower
KTAA Spring Bazaar
Dare to Do Mighty Things: Hitting the Road On Mars
Earth Hour

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

Screenshot from Dumbo

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

New This Weekend:
Dumbo (7.1)
The Professor and the Madman (7.9)
We Die Young (5.7)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Alita: Battle Angel (7.6)
Captain Marvel (6.0)
Cold Pursuit (7.3)
Escape Room (6.4)
Five Feet Apart (7.2)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (7.9)
Mirai (7.1)
Take Point (5.7)
The Hole in the Ground (5.8)
The Upside (6.4)
Us (7.3)
Wonder Park (7.1)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Penguins (6.7)

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

Around 4 years ago I passed by The Kuwait National Library. The library wasn’t officially open then but I had a meeting with the team there and before my meeting started, I wandered around a bit and explored what I thought were all the English books they had in this very small section near the meeting room. I wasn’t that impressed.

Since then I’ve been meaning to drop by again but never did, partially because I wasn’t impressed the first time but also because their opening hours are terrible, 9AM to 1PM during weekdays.. basically when everyone is at work. But, I did manage to finally drop by the library this morning and I’ve changed my mind, I now love the place.

The national library is spread out over three floors not including the ground floor. I’m sure the way the books were divided kinda made sense, but I was just wandering around exploring and randomly looking for English books. So this is the thing I didn’t realize the first time I was there, there isn’t just one section where all the English books are located. Instead, the library is divided into different areas like Encyclopedias or books about Kuwait etc.., and in each of these areas you’ll find an English books corner.

There were a handful of people in the library when I was there (because everyone has a day job obviously), so I was able to just walk around the different floors and sections, randomly exploring without disturbing anyone. I’m not sure I managed to see all the areas but even if I did, I really do have to go back and spend a lot more time there.

My favorite sections were probably the books on Kuwait section as well as the newspaper archives section. If you check my instagram story I shared some videos of that section. The newspaper archive section had these massive books of different Kuwaiti newspapers from the 60s, 70s, 80s etc.. and you just flip through them, every page of the book is a page from a newspaper. They’re so good and there were so many of them so I really want to go back and flip through more of those books.

There was also this very cool section with shelves that opened and moved with a touch of a button, there was a section where employees were busy digitizing books using these super cool laser scanners (pictured above), and there was even a rare books section.

I really love old books, especially ones related to Kuwait so I really did enjoy just sitting on the floor and flipping through random books. You can’t take the books out of the library, but that’s really not an issue for me and if anything, I prefer it since the books will always be there to check.

Their opening hours are terrible and that really is my biggest issue with the place. I really want you all to pass by and check the library out, but I also know that the majority of you have jobs and aren’t going to want to take a day off just to explore a library. But if you can, then they’re open from Sunday to Thursday, 9AM to 1PM. The library is located right next to the Sadu House and the National Museum [Google Maps]. Everyone can access the library, and it’s free. You just need to give them your Civil ID card at the door.

If you follow me on instagram (@mark248am) then check out my story today, I’ll also have it as a highlight for a few days in case you read this post late.

The National Library of Kuwait’s website is nlk.gov.kw

I’m trying to put together a list of local podcasts that are in English for those who might be interested. So far I’ve got a few which I’ve listed below:

At My Kuwaiti Table
Dardish Show
Hold My Camel
Kounter Culture
LCL • local • living a creative life
Loving Kuwait
The Project Kuwait
The Third Wheel

If you know of any other (active) podcast, let me know so I can add it to the list.

Starting today, City Center is now carrying Waitrose products inside their stores. At this moment the Waitrose products are only available at their Salmiya location, but they will soon be adding them in their Dasma and Shuwaikh stores soon.

Currently, only around 30-40% of their total shipment has arrived, with the rest of the Waitrose products expected to be in store in around a months time.

This isn’t the first time Waitrose products have been made available in Kuwait, around 5 years ago Sultan Center started carrying Waitrose products as well. The biggest difference this time around is that City Center have segregated the Waitrose products into their own section which makes it easier to find stuff.

I’ve featured the work of AGi architects on the blog before but most of the projects I featured were beautiful residential homes they had designed. I think this is the first commercial project I’ve seen by them and its as beautifully designed as their other projects.

I haven’t been to this mall myself yet and so have no idea what stores are open there, but I’m planning to pass by just to check out the architecture. The AGi website has more photos and details on this project which you can check out on their website if you’re interested [Here]

Update: Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Yesterday, Kuwait Motor Town held their second open track event and once again, it was so much fun. Things were already great at their first event, but the KMT team worked out some minor kinks which made this second open track even more enjoyable. For example, there used to be an extremely annoying siren that would blast loudly every time a car would drive into the pit lane (which is all the time), they stopped that now. Fuel was also an issue at the first event since there wasn’t any available at the track, this time around they set up a fuel station at the end of the pit lane for refueling.

There are two more open track events taking place next month and they’re open to the public. There’s music and food trucks at the track as well as a play area for kids. So it’s a good event to come by and chill at since you can hang out in the grandstands and watch the cars race around the track or even sign up to be a passenger. I’ll keep you guys posted about the next event but I really have to say, KMT has turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I have to admit I did have low expectations, but still I’m really impressed with what they’ve managed to accomplish in such a short period of time. They are constantly having something going on so keep checking their instagram for updates @kmtkw

Thank you KMT!

Below is this weekends list of events and a bunch of interesting things happening including two events at the race track, the Drag Racing Championship and the Open Track. As usual, if I missed anything, let me know in the comments:

Thursday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Visual Art Exhibition at American International School Kuwait
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Thriller Live
Kuwait International Drag Racing Championship – Round 2
Food Festival

Friday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Thriller Live
Kuwait International Drag Racing Championship – Round 2
Food Festival
French Bazar
Alsouq Market

Saturday
Exhibition: RE_USE
Exhibition: Laura Boushnak | Read | Write
Thriller Live
Food Festival
Shinsawi: Outdoor Basketball
Yoga & Art
KMT Open Track

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

Screenshot from Us

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

New This Weekend:
Five Feet Apart (7.2)
Manou the Swift (7.6)
Mirai (7.1)
The Brand New Adventures of Aladdin (3.0)
Us (7.3)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Alita: Battle Angel (7.6)
BOO! (4.2)
Captain Marvel (6.0)
Cold Pursuit (7.3)
Escape Room (6.4)
Fighting with My Family (7.8)
Greta (6.1)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (7.9)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (8.6)
Take Point (5.7)
The Hole in the Ground (5.8)
Wonder Park (7.1)

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

Amazon Adventure 3D (6.6)
Fly Me to the Moon (4.5)
Galapagos 3D (8.6)
Oceans: Our Blue Planet (7.4)
Penguins (6.7)
Planet Power 3D (N/A)

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

Hey, this is your local film buff checking in on my yearly visit to this blog to spout out my favorite films of the year (because my opinion is right and everyone else is wrong).

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this article, I hadn’t seen the following highly acclaimed films that might have had a spot otherwise: Border, Caphernaum, Minding the Gap, The Rider, and Suspiria

Note: This year has proven to be one of the worst years for Hollywood Big Studio films, but an incredible year for independent cinema. As such, you may have never heard of some of the films listed below, but how boring would it be if I wrote this entire giant article just talking about films you already know. Wouldn’t it be great to be recommended stuff you haven’t heard of, so you can find it in you to take a risk and watch it? Who knows, you might find yourself surprised to discover a gem you would have never searched for otherwise…

Draewil is a car booking app similar to Uber and Careem, but is meant to compete more with the likes of Grand Limo. They got in touch with me a couple of weeks back and asked me to try them out, and it was perfect timing since I had to drop my Lotus off at the garage to get new brake pads.

One of the biggest advantages Draewil has over Grand Limo is the app itself. It looked better, worked a lot faster and payment is automated since you can add your knet card to the app. I got KD20 credit loaded up into my account by Draewil, and so decided to splurge by ordering their Luxury category vehicle. Draewil has three categories to choose from, executive, luxury and SUV with the availability of each being different as well as the cost. I had dropped my car off at the garage in Al Rai and needed a car to drop me off to my office in the city. Their luxury vehicle needed around 17 minutes to get to me which was long, but ok in my case since I still had some paperwork I needed to sign.

I ended up being picked up by a brand new Lexus LS which is cool, but I was actually hoping to be picked up by one of their new Audi A8’s since I hadn’t been in one of those yet. The car had plenty of legroom and was immaculate, but that makes sense since Draewil is fairly new so their cars are all brand new as well. The ride from Al Rai to Kuwait City ended up taking 18 mins and cost me KD7.250.

The second time I tried them out was the same day when I wanted to head back to the garage to pick up my Lotus. I ended up ordering their executive car and had it pick me up from Crystal Tower in the city. There was a vehicle in the area so it took just 2 minutes to pick me up. This time I was picked up by a Genesis, another car I hadn’t been in before. Surprisingly, the car was as comfortable as the Lexus and even felt a bit more spacious since the Genesis didn’t have a large TV console between me and the driver. The journey again took 18 minutes, but because I chose an executive vehicle, the price came out slightly cheaper at KD6.

So would I use them again? Yeah, probably. I don’t generally use cabs a lot only when I need to drop my car off somewhere like when I want to get detailing done or if I’m servicing it, so I can afford to splurge on a cab on the rare occasion that I need one. The biggest advantage to me for using Draewil over similar luxury car booking services is the app, I like it a lot. It’s really easy to use, I’ve already added my most used destinations to it like my office, my home, the garage etc and I’ve also added my knet card to it. The service is also new so their cars are brand new and they’re still adding more vehicles to their fleet on a monthly basis. At the moment Draewil is only out for iOS devices, but I was told an Android app is being released before the end of the month. If you have an iPhone, you can download the app right now from the Apple Store by clicking [Here]

Back in January I read that the driving license renewal process will be moving online similar to how the Civil ID renewal process is right now. Looks like its going to happen soon since a few days ago while renewing my car registration I spotted the driving license renewing machines above. This service is going to be available to Kuwaitis first followed by expats at a later stage. Hopefully, by the time I have to renew my license in May this service is going to be up and running because the process right now is a complete mess.

Previously, expats were able to renew their license for 10 years but a couple of years ago they limited it to match your residency (so 1 or 2 years) and that caught the traffic department off guard. They weren’t prepared for the amount of people who would be renewing on a daily basis and so the process became an unorganized mess with extremely long lines and multiple visits. Just thinking about renewing my license is giving me anxiety right now…