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For those of you who are UFC fans you’ll be glad to know that the UFC is planning to come back to Abu Dhabi sometime this year. No exact date has been announced yet but my guess is sometime end of the year. The last UFC fight that was held in the region was back in 2010. [Article]

Since we’re on the subject, in case you missed my old post there’s a Kuwaiti MMA manager that manages a bunch of UFC fighters including Michael Bisping, Matt Mitrione, Uriah Hall, Ross Pearson and Conor McGergor among others. Check out my old post on him [Here]

Update: It’s just been announced, UFC is going back to Abu Dhabi on April 11 and will be headlined by Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Nogueira

[YouTube]

Mr.Fari is a Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican musician whom I’ve featured on the blog before with his music video “WebCam Girl“. He’s now being given an amazing chance to win a months stay at a hotel recording studio in Ireland (who knew such a thing existed) where he would be able to professionally record all his work in the same studio where artists like Muse and Michael Jackson have previously recorded.

Out of over 100 artists in the GCC, Mr.Fari was chosen to be amongst the five finalist to represent Kuwait in The GAP Recording Room competition where he faces other artists from Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. The video above is one of the songs he’s entered into the competition and to help him win you just need to visit the competition website and share his profile. So help him win by sharing his profile at this [Link]

The P2BK 2014 event launches this coming Thursday January 30th at the Kuwait International Fairgrounds [Map] and will last up untill February 25th. This year the set up is going to be similar to last years with an outdoor old souk that was built specifically to host this event. There will be a ton of Kuwaiti businesses participating including already established ones as well as new ones plus you have the Remal sand sculpting festival taking place alongside it as well. P2BK will be open daily from 10AM to 10PM and for more information you can check out their Instagram account [Here]

On a side note, companies seem to be neglecting their websites and are starting to rely solely on Instragram. I tried to google information on P2BK and all I ended up with was my blog since their website had no information on this years event. And, none of the information was made available in English. Events like this should be advertised to the expat community as well to make sure everyone else is included to share the experience.

There’s a small store tucked away in a back street of old Salmiya that I’ve been driving by for years but didn’t go into until last night when curiosity got the better of me. Turned out the store specializes in film making gear and they had a ton of items like dollys, stabilizers, camera sliders, tripods, lights and a bunch of other stuff like Rode and Zoom brand mics, Blackmagic cameras and various tools and accessories. Their prices are also pretty much similar to Amazon. For example, the Blackmagic cameras prices compared to Amazon are as follows:

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
Their price: KD300 (with local warranty)
Amazon price: KD282 (without tax or shipping)

Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera
Their price: KD600 (with local warranty)
Amazon price: KD566 (without tax or shipping)

The store is called ‘Media System for Video Equipments’ which is not very catchy at all and they’re located in the area opposite Marina Mall [Map]. They’re open from 9:30AM to 1:30PM and then again from 4:30PM to 9:30PM. Their phone number is 25713384.

The new point to point cameras that are installed on Highway 40 on the road to Saudi Arabia and the chalets (pictured below) are going to be activated on February 1st. The cameras are located in a number of different locations along the long stretch of highway and work by calculating your average speed from one camera to the other. If your average speed is higher than the speed limit you will get issued a ticket and there’s no way to escape these cameras.

The Remal International Festival will be opening on January 30th at the Kuwait International Fairgrounds. 73 of the world’s best sand artists came to Kuwait and worked together to reimagine the stories of 1001 Nights and according to the organizers, the sand park will be the world’s largest. The festival will be running from this Thursday all the way till the end of April and you can check out my previous post to get an idea on how grand this festival will be [Link]

The Contemporary Art Platform has a couple of interesting exhibits taking place right now but the one I got to check out recently and found fascinating is “Scattered, Gathered”. Part of the “Scattered, Gathered” is the works of Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj who I was lucky enough to meet when I was visiting CAP. I thought his exhibit was really interesting because of the story behind it and the the result of it. Issam had been working on an architectural project in the city of Cambridge for a couple of years and as the project was about to move forward with construction it suddenly got canceled. That put Issam in a depression and he retreated to his apartment where he spent the next 10 months venting out his anger and frustration on twelve volumes of the 1890 Britannica encyclopedia. He superimposed his visual diaries onto 10,232 pages of the now they’re being displayed for the very first time at CAP.

The exhibition is running until February 8th and its worth checking out. For more information on the exhibit click [Here]

A couple of days back I passed by the Kuwait National Museum for a little bit of exploration. Last week some friends of mine were given a tour of the two buildings that were still vacant and in shambles since the 1990 invasion and I really wanted to go check it out for myself. I’ve always been curious to see whats inside so I headed there on Thursday to take a look.

The museum is made up of four main buildings with two being occupied and two vacant. One of the vacant ones had under construction hoardings all around but the other building didn’t and the door was open so I just walked in. I took some photos which you can check out above, the black and white ones are from the first building I walked to while the colored ones are from the second building. There was nothing really to see since it looks like they’re finally renovating the building but at least I got to satisfy my curiosity.

If anyone knows where I can get some photos of the museum taken right after the invasion let me know. Also if anyone can get me access to the abandoned Al-Salam Palace then please email me.

Art Exhibit: Scattered, Gathered – Artist Books
Art Exhibit: Stages of Ascent
Art Exhibit: “Muhawwil” by Monira Al Qadiri
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Talk to Her
Cinemagic Rooftop Movie: Offside
Guided Tour: Liberation Tower
K’S PATH Shelter Open Day in Wafra
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
The Kuwait Motor Show 2014
Workshop: Graffiti in the Garden

Solo Tacos is a new local restaurant that opened up just this past Saturday in Kuwait City right next to Solo Pizza. It’s owned by a few people including the owner of Solo Pizza as well as the two Mexican women who used to run the Mexican home catering service I previously posted about, Sahuaro.

The restaurant is pretty small with a few tables inside and outside as well as a bar on both sides of the window to sit on. One wall is covered with photo frames while the other wall has a cabinet with some colorful Mexican wrestling masks on display. Their colorful menu located on the wall on top of the kitchen counter is very focused with just quesadillas, tacos, a bunch of sides and drinks.

I originally ordered just the beef taco but found it so good that I ended up ordering the fish taco as well. Between the two I preferred the beef taco but next time I’ll also have to try the chicken. One of the Mexican partners was there and she told me about how they don’t fry anything and how they don’t even have salt on the tables because they’re trying to keep things as much on the healthy side as possible which I found comforting. On my way out I also got to sample two of their drinks, their Jamaica hibiscus juice (pronounced khamaica) and the Horchata (pronounced orchata) which smelled of beautiful spices and was the one I preferred from the two.

I really liked the food and I’m definitely going back but I also do think it’s a bit on the pricey side. For more information including a map to the location you could visit their website [Here]

I just passed the scene above awhile ago on my way home on the First Ring Road. From my position it looked like a nasty accident but I just saw the video below and the accident turned out to be a lot more horrific than I first imagined. This took place during rush hour which means there was heavy traffic. How can such a terrible accident occur during rush hour? It’s insane, it doesn’t make any sense.

Qatar Airways have a 3-day sale taking place that started yesterday and finishes tomorrow. They’re offering 30% off on flights so Kuwait to London for example now costs KD168 and to New York just KD238. If you’re planning to travel next month during the national holiday, this could be a good deal. Check it out [Here]

The 2013-2014 ‘Global Competitiveness’ report ranked Kuwait the worst GCC country in:

1. Access to loans
2. Direct foreign investment
3. Government surplus/deficit
4. Financial services
5. Quality of primary education
6. Quality of higher education
7. Quality of math and science education
8. Procurement of advanced technology products
9. Intellectual property protection
10. Bribes
11. Governmental laws
12. Brain drain
13. Extent of staff training
14. Starting a business
15. Technology transfer

Ouch. [PDF]

via Kazima

I got an email a couple of hours ago from Courtyard by Marriott letting me know they are holding a Greek Nights Festival for the next four days. It has to be perfect timing because just last week I posted about the lack of Greek cuisine options in Kuwait.

Starting from January 20th till the 24th, Greek chefs Loannis Tsivourakis and Papderakis Michalis will be serving a taste of Greece buffet from 7pm to 11pm. Price is KD12.5 per person, if you’re interested you can call them up for more information or reservations on 22997000.

The World Design Rankings is based on the number of designers that have been granted an A’ Design Award. Kuwait is ranked 16th (which is pretty high) mostly because of AGi Architects who’ve won 14 awards so far. AGi are the guys behind projects like the Secret House pictured up top and the Star House pictured below.

I absolutely hate the architecture of residential buildings in Kuwait so it’s always great seeing how buildings can be beautiful in Kuwait if they’re done right. Check out all their projects on their website [Here] and their Facebook page [Here]