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The blog was down this morning due to some technical issues. Basically the blog was infected with a malware and I had to restore the blog to an older backup from last week. Currently going through everything to see what information/comments the blog lost and trying to restore things to normal. Please bear with me.

Update: Everything is back to normal, no posts or comments were lost.

Not a very big list of things to do this weekend but there is a decent variety. The biggest thing taking place is the Startup Weekend but the mariachi concert seems interesting as well. Check out the full list below.

Thursday
Startup Weekend
Movie Night: Shahid
Wanderlei Silva Seminar
The Mariachi Romaititlan Concert
Exhibition: SELECT

Friday
Startup Weekend
Book Club Meeting

Saturday
Startup Weekend
Yoga at the Park
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Auditions: Ikara

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

A reader sent me the two news articles below to check out. Both covering the same story but each with their own interpretation on the nationality, airport and container the marijuana was found in:

Kuwait Times
Customs officers at Sheikh Saad Al-Abdallah airport foiled a Sri Lankan man’s attempt to smuggle two kilograms of marijuana inside two cans of dried chili. He was sent to the Drug Control General Directorate (DCGD) for questioning. (Sep 13)

vs

Arab Times
An Indian expatriate was arrested at Kuwait International Airport for attempting to smuggle two kilograms of marijuana into the country. According to an informed source, when customs officers were checking the luggage of the passengers who arrived in the country on Friday, they noticed that one of the passengers was nervous. They checked his details to discover he is an Indian expatriate and they checked his luggage to find marijuana hidden inside a pack of almonds. He was arrested and referred to the Directorate General for Drug Control for necessary legal action against him. (Sep 13)

Why is there so much discrepancy between the two articles? If they can’t get a simple story right how badly are they doing on more complicated ones? Last month Arabian Business was also caught making shit up related to Kuwait as well.

On top of those inaccuracies, I’m not an expert here but how the hell do you fit 2KG of marijuana in your luggage yet alone in a chili can or a pack of almonds? So much of the above doesn’t make any sense. Check this video on YouTube to see how 2KG of marijuana looks like [YouTube] (Spoiler: It’s huge)

Update: Arab Times have posted the same news story again for a second time today with a slight adjustment.

Arab Times (Try #2)
Customs officers at the Sa’ad Al-Abdullah Airport recently foiled an attempt by a Bangladeshi to smuggle 2 kilos of marijuana in to the country, reports Al-Anba daily. According to security sources, the suspect arrived at the Kuwait International Airport from a neighboring country. The drugs were reportedly hidden between chili powder packs.

Note they don’t mention its a correction, they just treat it as a new news story. So they basically could be copying pasting old news as new news to fill up their pages and no one will be any the wiser.

A friend of mine wanted me to post about this but I told him unless it was a really slow news day and I was desperate for content I wouldn’t. Well I’m desperate for content so it looks like I’m posting about this. There are a bunch of people in Kuwait who have setup Instagram accounts for their pets with two being pretty popular. Those two accounts actually have more followers than me which I’m not sure what to think of. Below are five animal accounts I was told about, if you know of anymore let me know.

@Agent_Dianaa (15.8k followers)
@BERtheBunny (6,289 followers)
@Guntherthebulldog (698 followers)
@Holly_Malamute (257 followers)
@Sa3ad_515 (214 followers)

Update: Here are some more…
@MrFluffyQ8 (5,368 followers)
@DrogbaTheFrenchie (2,492 followers)
@bald_bros (3,431 followers)

Not sure if this is new but I just found out about it yesterday and find it very odd. Instagram is blocking alcohol related accounts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (and maybe other countries as well). If you try accessing accounts like @absolutvodka, @heineken or @jackdaniels_us you’ll be met with a message stating you can’t follow them in your region. I don’t understand the reasoning for this and if it’s Instagram or the brands themselves blocking access. It’s not like we can drink any alcohol by visiting those accounts. Plus the ministry doesn’t even ban alcohol related websites in Kuwait, you can visit Heineken.com now and it’s not blocked. Oddly enough @budweiser, @greygoose and @stoli are accessible on Instagram and so is @playboy. To add to the confusion, if you visit the blocked Instagram accounts from your browser they’re accessible.

via @ahmed

Has anyone here dropped OSN (or any other cable provider) for Netflix and Hulu? I’m currently subscribed to OSN just for the History and Discovery channels but for the first time ever I’m actually considering canceling my subscription. I’ve started spending more time with Netflix and Hulu so don’t see a reason anymore to keep my OSN subscription.

Right now I’m paying around KD12 a month for my OSN subscription which is $40 a month (the Pinoy Plus Extra package). Netflix costs like $8 a month, Hulu is another $8. If you want to be all fancy you can add the Showtime Network to Hulu for another $9. If you want to splurge, you can add HBO GO which is $15. All combined come out to $40. I get a ton of more shows than I do with my OSN subscription and I can watch them whenever I want, from wherever I want.

For those of you wondering how to get Netflix, Hulu and the rest working in Kuwait it’s easy. Previously I’ve recommended using a VPN but unless you had a very fast connection and a decent VPN service, there would be a lot of slowdown. Now I’d recommend using a smart DNS service. It’s cheaper than VPN, faster and it’s really easy to setup. I tried three different DNS services but ended up going with SmartDNSproxy.com.

Have you dropped your dish provider?

Update: I just called OSN and cancelled my subscription.
Update2: I’ve dropped StrongVPN and instead started using SmartDNS so updated the post to reflect that.

Last week after posting about how the new Iftah Ya Simsim was now being filmed in Abu Dhabi instead of Kuwait, two readers commented that even though Iftah Ya Simsim was being shot in Abu Dhabi, some of the editing was still being done in Kuwait. One of the readers even invited me to pass by the GCCJPI facilities to check it out which I did.

GCCJPPI stands for Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Program Production Institution. A super long name but if you grew up in Kuwait during the 80s, all it takes is one look at their logo to recognize who they are. GCCJPPI are behind some of the most memorable shows on television back in the 80s. They were behind most of the popular Arabized cartoons and they also created shows like Salamatak (سلامتك), Quff (قف) and of course the Middle East version of Sesame Street, Iftah Ya Simsim.

The GCCJPPI facilities are located in Salmiya across the street from Souq Salmiya. It’s a building I’ve driven by on numerous occasions but never really paid any attention to. The ground floor of the building has one of the largest theaters in Kuwait containing 850 seats while the rest of the floors are offices, recording and editing studios and my favorite, the GCCJPPI archives.

I had assumed all their archive was lost during the 1990 invasion but turns out they still have copies of everything, their archive is stacked old tapes. According to Nawaf Alshallal, the technical advisor who was showing me around, the Kuwait GCCJPPI office is currently digitizing their whole archive which I got to take a peek at. Not only are they digitizing all their videos but they’re also scanning all their old photos as well. Since I recently watched the documentary “I Am Big Bird” I was curious to see if they had behind the scene photos taken on set of Iftah Ya Simsim. Turns out they did and I flipped through them and there’s some really great never before seen stuff. I’ve already submitted a request to get a copy of these photos so I could share them on the blog. Hopefully I get the approval.

From what I felt during my visit, the GCCJPPI are finally coming back to life. I was even told they’re planning on bringing back Salamatak and Quff which is something I think we really need. I just hope whatever they create ends up on YouTube because theres no way I’d go back to watching KTV again.

It’s been awhile since I’ve put a things to do list but thats because there wasn’t much taking place over the summer. Now it looks like things are starting to pick up again, it’s still not a big list but it’s a start.

Thursday
KASA 11th Annual Exhibition
Public Speaking: Perfect Pitch

Friday
KASA 11th Annual Exhibition
Bahri Water Sports Event
Staged in Kuwait Welcome Lunch

Saturday
KASA 11th Annual Exhibition
Bahri Water Sports Event
Yoga at the Park
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
BAIA Carnival
Eat Pray Love

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

It looks like Instagram ads have started popping up in our region. I spotted the ad above in my feed while another user spotted a Kraft ad. As I mentioned in my previous post, they’re soft launching at first with some preset partners, two of which seem to be Kraft Foods and Unilever. If you run into any ads let me know in the comments, I’m trying to figure out who all their partners for this soft launch are. On the other hand according to a blog post by Instagram, they’ve opened Instagram advertising to all businesses in the US market so Kuwait will most likely follow before the end of the year.

I was recently looking into getting a Honda dirt bike to off-road with this winter season when I found out from a friend who works for Honda that they’ve just opened up a brand new showroom. I saw sneak peek photos of the showroom when it was still empty and it looked pretty interesting so I told them to let me know once they had the bikes on display so I could pass by and check it out.

The new Honda showroom is located right across from Ace Hardware in Al-Rai. It’s three floors, the ground floor is where they have all their bikes and ATVs, the basement is where they have all their power equipment like lawnmowers and generators while the top floor has all the riding accessories along with a lounge. Theres also a service area in the back as well as their spare parts shop. The place is currently open although when I passed by yesterday they were still working on displaying all the accessories upstairs. The official opening of the showroom will be soon. [Map]

According to a Zain press release, Zain and Uber have partnered up to offer Zain customers discounted and preferential services when using the Uber platform. The service is already active in Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia but according the press release, Kuwait is next. If this isn’t definitive proof that Uber is coming to Kuwait I’m not sure what is. [Link]

Thanks Musaed

When I first viewed the video above I didn’t think much of it since I’ve seen better shot videos of Kuwait. BUT, then I found out that if you click and hold down the mouse button on the video while it’s playing you could move around in 360. You could look up, down or turn around completely while the video is playing. That’s pretty cool. [YouTube]

A reader of mine captured the video awhile ago in Egaila. According to my reader the coast guards where testing out the hovercraft which is around 2-3 years old but hasn’t really gotten much use. It’s currently being surveyed so they could start using it on a regular basis. If anyone can hook me up with a ride let me know! [YouTube]

Thanks Fahad Al Hindi

The Ahmadi Music Group is Kuwait’s oldest and largest performing arts organization. Their concerts include orchestra, choir, rock band, ballet, hip-hop and everything else. They’re currently looking for new members to join, no auditions necessary and everyone is welcome regardless of experience.

So if you’re interested in joining them you can pass by their first rehearsal next Sunday (13 September) between 7-9PM at the New English School (NES) in Jabriyah. There will be free donuts.

For info, call Richard Bushman 97288859 or [email protected]

For the past year on my way to The Avenues I’ve been passing this large rust colored warehouse located on the main road. I didn’t know what the building housed, I knew it had something to do with sports because of the large neons covering the building but I couldn’t tell what was inside since the building looked like it was still under construction. Then last week I found out the place was an indoor football arena and that they had actually been open for a few months now but still look like they’re under construction because of the empty shops facing the main road. So I passed by to check it out.

The large building houses three indoor football fields and has air conditioning which means no matter how hot or cold it is outside, you could play football anytime of the year. MAS also have showers and locker rooms in case you want to change before heading out which is something I haven’t seen at other football fields. Price wise they’re much more expensive than the outdoor fields, an hour of indoor football is going to cost you KD45. If you’re interested you can book a field by calling 66148079 or 22230096. They’re open from 9AM to 10PM and here is their location on [Google Maps

Update: The official opening is next month