The Odyssey, one of the most hyped movies of the year, comes out in Kuwait today. If you’ve been following the movie, you might know that director Christopher Nolan shot the whole thing with IMAX cameras, similar to what he did with Oppenheimer.

IMAX is a large-format cinema system (taller screen than usual), and there are only three official IMAX theaters in Kuwait:

Cinescape, Al-Kout Mall
The Scientific Center, Salmiya
VOX Cinemas, The Avenues

The Scientific Center isn’t screening The Odyssey, so you only have two theaters to choose from if you want to watch the movie as intended by Christopher Nolan.

Both theaters use the IMAX 1.90:1 screen aspect ratio and not the rarer 1.43:1 expanded ratio. But 1.90:1 is still a tall screen, so you’ll be able to watch the film with less cropping than in standard theaters. Both theaters also project IMAX with laser.

When Oppenheimer came out in 2023 VOX didn’t have an IMAX theater, but they installed one this past December (pictured above) so it the newer of the two. When booking, just make sure you select the screening marked as IMAX since VOX has both IMAX and MAX theaters, and MAX isn’t IMAX.

It’s a quieter weekend than usual but I still managed to find a few interesting activities. Check them out below:

Thursday, July 16
Glassmaking – Galaxy Swirl Beads
Make your own summer trinket
The Joy of Watercolors
Community Culture & Dar Atma
Claw Clip Bedazzling Workshop

Friday, July 17
Friday Social Run
Pokemon Trading Event
Sunrise & Sunset Paddleboarding

Saturday, July 18
Sunrise & Sunset Paddleboarding
The Joy of Watercolors
Create your own lip balm case
Sketch Real Cats
Summer Wellness Dewaniya Talk
Story time at Amricani
Scavenger Hunt Family Day
Doodling Art Flow at Sluggish
Community Pilates Class

Writing about the potential demolition of the Palace of Justice and Green Island recently brought back memories of one of the most important places we lost, Entertainment City.

The park closed in 2016, and in 2017 it was announced that it would be renovated and reopen in 2021. That never happened. Instead, demolition of the park started at the end of 2019.

Abdulraouf Murad, the architectural documentarian whose photos of the Palace of Justice I shared a couple of weeks ago, passed by Entertainment City during its final days to document whatever he could. He took nearly 500 photos, most of them in January 2020, before returning in April 2021 to capture even more photos.

The first time I saw these photos, I remember being amazed by how much nature had taken over the park. Some of the scenes look like they were taken in Chernobyl. I really REALLY appreciate the fact Abdulraouf was able to document the park before it disappeared.

I originally planned to narrow the collection down to just 20 photos so I could fit everything into a single post, but I quickly realized I’d be leaving too much out. So far it looks like I’ll be sharing the photos across three different posts.

Just a heads up, if you grew up going to Entertainment City, these photos are really sad and might be hard to look at. The main rides featured in this post are Sinbad the Sailor, the African Boat Ride, and the American Railroad. I’ll have other rides like the Australian Log and the two rollercoasters in parts 2 and 3. Click here to view part 1 of his photos.

You’ve most likely come across an Espressolab in Kuwait, but chances are you don’t know much about the brand.

What most people might not know is that Espressolab is one of the world’s fastest-growing coffee brands, with more than 400 locations across 21 countries. It’s also home to Europe’s largest coffee experience center and has been ranked among the world’s 100 best coffee shops for two consecutive years.

The local franchise owner first discovered Espressolab while traveling and became a fan of the brand, which is why he decided to bring it to Kuwait.

They opened their first branch here just over a year ago at Marina Mall in Salmiya, followed by two more locations at The Avenues and Sabah Al Salem. The Salmiya branch is huge, with two floors of indoor and outdoor seating, plus a dedicated in-house bakery. It also has a drive-thru for those occasions when you want your coffee on the go.

With three locations already open, they’re getting ready to launch their fourth at the end of the month at The Walk Mall in Ardiya. If you want to stay updated on the opening, as well as future locations, make sure to follow @espressolab.kuwait

Back in April I posted Hoka opening a store in Kuwait and earlier today it opened at The Avenues. They’ve taken over the previous New Balance location near Toby’s Estate in The Forum.

Although Hoka sneakers are already available in Kuwait, official brand stores sometimes carry models you won’t find elsewhere. I found that out last year at a Hoka store in Japan when I came across a pair of monotone beige sneakers I hadn’t seen before. When I asked an employee about them, they told me they were exclusive to Hoka brand stores. They’ve since become one of my favorite pairs although I also posted recently about another pair that basically fell apart.

If you’re a Hoka fan the store might be worth checking out.

Last week I was invited to Green Island to meet with the developer behind the revamp project. The meeting came about after my post about the island’s demolition, and they wanted to clarify a few things. I left the meeting with mixed feelings, but overall I was more excited than disappointed.

The issue is, the things that got me excited were shared off the record, so I can’t talk about them yet. What I can say is that at least 6 major international brands are involved with Green Island, and if I broke the news on each one individually, every post would probably go viral.

Anyway, I’ll get the negative out of the way first which is that some buildings will be demolished. The developers made it clear they appreciate the island’s history, and they will be preserving its most important buildings, but the rest will be removed. The amphitheater, for example, is being saved and expanded. The area with the water features is being saved and turned into a native flora garden. But the iconic observation tower for example will be demolished.

One thing they kept repeating was that they wanted Green Island to be greener. Right now, 30% of the island is green and they’ll be increasing that to 42%.

Now onto the positives.

The dome area will still have a dome, but it will be rebuilt and turned into restaurant (major brand).

The bay in the center of the island will host 3 beach clubs each run by a different big European club brand. They mentioned they were even importing white sand from the Red Sea for the beach, and there will be a marina for yachts on the sea side of the island behind the clubs.

For entertainment, an international amusement park brand will be taking over a large chunk of the east side of the island. It will be an indoor park.

Finally, a major local gym brand will open its first mixed gym on the island.

While I was there, I also saw old plans for the island from a previous developer. At one point they were planning to build a large mall near where the entrance is now, while the rest of the island was gonna turn into parking lots. I’m not even exaggerating, and I’m so glad that never happened.

The new Green Island is expected to be completed between the end of 2027 or early 2028.

The Neighbourhood is a nostalgic café built around good coffee and food. They opened their first branch in Qortuba last year, followed shortly after by a second one in the Hessah District. They’ve now opened their third branch, this time in Mansouriya.

I’m a big fan of their pastries and I think they’re one of the main reasons people keep going back. At their new Mansouriya location, they’ve still got their great pastry selection while also introducing a few exclusive items and merchandise you won’t find at their other branches, including Overnight Oats, Greek Yogurt Bowls, and Protein Soft Serves.

To celebrate the opening, they’ve also launched a new digital loyalty card. If you’re planning to visit the new branch, make sure to activate it while you’re there. You just need to scan the QR code next to the cashier at the Mansouriya location, and once it’s activated you can use it at all The Neighbourhood branches.

The Mansouriya branch is located right next to the Al Arabi Sports Club and Stadium. It’s surrounded by a bunch of restaurants and cafes, making it a nice area to hang out. They also open from 6AM, making it a convenient spot to grab a coffee and pastry before work. If you want to check out the new location, the Google Maps link is in their profile @nbrhood.me

Back in December I posted about how Instagram AI flagged and removed my post where I compared Ozempic prices in Kuwait with the rest of the world. The AI told me I was violating the Instagram community standards by “selling prescription weight-loss injections” which I obviously wasn’t.

After going back and forth with support trying to explain to them my post wasn’t selling Ozempic I gave up and decided to wait out the restriction period.

A couple of months later everything was back to normal and my account restrictions were removed.

Yesterday I log into my account and I get a notification from Instagram that the EXACT SAME POST which was removed back in December was flagged and removed because selling prescription weight-loss injections go against Instagram community standards.

Ummmm what?

Obviously I was pissed and confused, Instagram removed the post back in December so how could I get a violation on the exact same post again? Now my account is restricted again. Thankfully nothing major, I just can’t mark my paid ads as being paid but still wtf.

I tried contacting customer support but it was like I was talking to a bot. First they ignored everything I wrote and told me they wouldn’t reinstate the post which I didn’t want to anyway. Then when I explained to them I got flagged on a post that they had already deleted back in December so how is that possible? They just replied saying they couldn’t see previous reports and were just unhelpful.

My restrictions will last till early August so not a big deal again. BUT, what if a month from now this post that got deleted for the second time gets flagged again? Instagram might hand over a suspension or ban for violating the same rule 3 times even though its a post that no longer exists! No idea how I’m going to sort this issue out now.

Back in 2023 I got a tour of the new Al Shaheed Park Phase 3, and one of the most impressive buildings I saw was the ice skating rink and snow park.

The snow park was huge, with slides, zip lines, an ice climbing wall, and plenty of areas for people to enjoy the snow. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos during the tour, but someone recently leaked some photos and they’ve been making the rounds on Twitter.

At least one of the photos appears to have been partially AI-generated. The photo above and below both show the same climbing wall, but in the bottom photo the wall is noticeably taller. So take these images with a grain of salt.

According to my notes from the tour, they were calling the area Snow World back then, although I’m not sure if that’s still the name. I’ve highlighted the location of the ice skating rink and Snow World below. I have no idea when Phase III is expected to open.

The official Instagram account also launched yesterday and it’s @alshaheedadventures

After my Redragon keyboard died on me a couple of weeks ago, I started looking for a new this time low profile keyboards to buy. I was ready to order a Keychron K3 off Amazon based on a readers recommendation but then decided to go with Logitech. I was avoiding brands like Logitech and SteelSeries since I wanted to go with smaller brands, but after my experience with Redragon I realized I should just stick to a big brand since I don’t want to risk another keyboard dying on me.

I went with the Logitech G515 keyboard and found it for KD39.9 on Blink which was the cheapest I could find online in Kuwait at that time, but PCKuwait now have it for KD38 so even cheaper. One of the reasons I went with the Logitech is that they sell Logitech keyboards locally without the Arabic characters which is something I wanted.

I’ve been using it for two weeks and I really like the keyboard. It’s low profile so my wrists are a lot more comfortable than they were with the Redragon. The buttons although don’t feel as buttery smooth as the Redragon are still ok. I only really started paying attention to the clicking because of all the YouTube reviewers but really as long as the keys are not super annoying and don’t slow down my typing, I don’t really care.

The keyboard has a major benefit over my previous keyboard and that is the RGB lights shine through the letters and not around. With the Redragon the actual letters didn’t light up so even if the LED lights were on it didn’t make it any easier to see the letters, if anything it made it harder. I also really like the Logitech keyboard software since it allows me to customize the keyboard per game and really easily. For example the image above is my keyboard setup for Doom The Dark Ages Revelation (which is really great btw).

The only downside so far is related to computer volume keys. The keyboard doesn’t have dedicated buttons for volume so I have to press FN and an another button to raise or lower the volume. Not too much of an issue in practice and I have those buttons highlighted with purple lights which makes them quick to find.

So far so good, and no regrets.