Showing posts with label Kuwait Events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kuwait Events. Show all posts

Event: Pecha Kucha Night #4

5:04 PM | 0 comments


Host:
Pecha Kucha KUWAIT
Type:
Music/Arts - Performance
Network:
Global
Date:
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Time:
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:
Scientific Center
Ahmad Al-Majed & Rabaa Al-Hajri
Alia Al-Ghunaim
Maryam Al Hamad
Barrak Al-Babtain
Reham Al Sharif
Roa Al-Shaheen
Valerie Buchheit
Zed Alrefa

Event: A Night for Architecture

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Host:
TSquare Magazine
Type:
Education - Lecture
Network:
Global
Date:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Time:
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
The Americani Cultural Center, (on Gulf Road, next to the parliament)
"A Night for Architecture"
The night will consist of three events:

T-Square Magazine will host various Architects and professionals of the design field to discuss the theme of the upcoming 8th issue:

"Why Design? Cause and Effect"

KASA will present a mini-exhibition showcasing a sample of this academic yearʼs design work

AIAS will showcase a timeline of Kuwait Universityʼs Department of Architecture

Event: Tabouq by Deema AlـGhanim

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Here is the description from Al-Watan Daily. This artist did a similiar exhibit in December that I was saddened to not be able to attend as I was out of town, so I am happy to find that it will be shown again in the Sultan Gallery.
After a successful twoـday exhibition in early December held in Derwazat Abdulrazzaq pedestrian ramp and Safat Square, Deema AlـGhanim is holding more events under the name of Taebooq (bricks). Taebooq is made up of phases that are part of a greater architectural study on placement, displacement. The study evaluates patterns of the 1960s buildings in Kuwait and anticipates visions on urban planning.

The upcoming exhibition will be held at Sultan Gallery on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 and will showcase the photographs AlـGhunaim has previously displayed along with videos and images of the twoـday city exhibition experience.

AlـGhunaim is an architect, graduated from Kuwait University in 2008. She''s currently studying the architectural and linguistic morphology in Kuwait City by looking at facades of buildings and the layout of the land. Her focus is on the spatial and visual elements of buildings that are under the threat of demolition and she takes into consideration the history of those buildings as well as people who shaped them.

Review: Pecha Kucha Night Kuwait, 3rd Edition

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First of all, I must commend the event organizers for Pecha Kucha last night. Hosting the event along the sea was an amazing experience, and I really appreciate the lighting, tables, musical accompaniment and buffet that followed. Hats off for sure. The tech people, however, were slacking off a bit as the sound system went in and out on some speakers and it seems some presentations did not load correctly.

Unfortunately, I did not get a copy of the programme line-up with biographies on the speakers, so I am having to remember all the speakers from memory which is not my strongest suite, but I will try.

One immediate realization was the low number of speakers set to present: only 2/3 the amount of the first Pecha Kucha. While the organizers did a good job of filling the time with a musical performance (such a rarity in Kuwait!) during an intermission, all of us need to pitch in to work harder on brainstorming and volunteering for future presentations.

On to the presenters, Farah Behbehani did an intelligent presentation on several different themes and ways of turning around simple observations, steps, letters, characters or numbers into something more creative.

She showed how she noted us how she had tracked the different movements of two tango dancers over a two minute period (I believe?) and turned it into a chart, which sounds reminiscent of a very cool idea by one of my favorite musical artists M.I.A. who turned charts on economic and human development (child mortality rates, unemployment, etc) and turned them into a phrase: SUM LIFE and then made it neon and incorporated it into the stage design of her concert tour. That's the kind of out of the box thinking Kuwait needs!



Her work on the alphabet tree was also quite intriguing and her presentation made me leaving the event definately wishing I could get a copy of the book she made for her master's thesis. Great opening.

Next came blogger and Spaniard-despite-the-nam, Ismael Abedin who provided us with a photodocumentation of his experience moving to Kuwait from an expat's point of view. The title of the presentation was called Streetlife in Kuwait and attempted to look at a neglected side of Kuwait, the spaces in between buildings which tend to be dismissed as negative space rather than having a merit or culture of their own.

However, mid-way through his presentation he began to take a different tone, focusing on pollution of the desert, mistreatment and discrimination of other nationalities, the youth problem, and it might have come accross too preachy for citizens to stomach coming from a non-Kuwaiti.

Dana al-Hasan spoke passionately, but it seemed to be more of a premonitionary tip-of-the-tongue tangled abstract urban nebulous concept that she had a hard time concretizing into a definition and examples to make her ideas more tangible. I did not really get an understanding of what she meant to convey and her one example of turning an Macy's into an Opera House went so quickly that I think it did an injustice to her presentation by making the audience more confused than giving a clarificaiton.

Fared Abdel I believe was the guy who shot photographs of children around the world. The photographs were beautiful but I did not understand the presentation since it was an Arabic, and its really unfortunate for me. I wish I knew Arabic better. My suggestion to him is that he does a project on bedoon children here in Kuwait. He has the skills and talent and the experience.

Mr. Loaay Ahmed's presentation was fascinating but unfortunately it was a bit overshadowed due to the fact that the first presenter had also showcased calligraphy artwork. However, his cross-pollination of cultures relating Chinese characters to Arabic, and his detail of the history of the origins of our alphabet characters in daily objects (a subject I am very interested in) I really appreciated. It was only a few weeks ago that I was looking up the pictorial history of the alphabet letters on the internet.

Lastly, TEDDY B and his fuzzy wuzzy goodness! Wow! Excellent presentation, infusing the event with the emotional appeal that it really needed and leaving people empowered by demonstrating how the simplest of acts (one photo a day) by the most unlikely of small heroes (a teddy bear) can go so far and be seen by so many people. It was amazing!!!! Also, the marketing campaign of distributing teddy bear shaped business cards was a nice touch. Which one of those nice people passing them out is Teddy B? Or was the person behind Teddy B in the audience? Was she the voice heard in the presentation? The mystery certainly adds to the allure. One small thing though: no shout-outs to fellow fierce, plush homie Turtle T? Where's the love?

REUSE 3.0

9:09 PM | 0 comments

I am very excited about this. I really enjoyed the REUSE 2.0 and thought it was great, plus env is my favorite magazine coming out of the region...but the Avenues? seriously?!

Promoting Recycling Through Art. www.projectreuseme.com

Building on the success of last year’s REUSE 2.0 event, en.v announces a third and more elaborate installment of ‘REUSE’, under the patronage of Zain Telecommunications Company, Kuwait’s leading mobile telecommunications provider.

REUSE 3.0 will be hosted at The Avenues, Parking Lot D9, from the 7th to the 9th of December and will feature a dynamic mix of original artistic works by professionals, artists, students, and youth in general. The exhibition will be open to the public from 6pm to 9pm in addition to an allocated time for primary school student trips during the hours of 9am to 1pm.

About REUSE
REUSE is a 3-day exhibition whereby community members come together to recreate innovative design solutions in the realms of shelters, furniture, sculpture, artwork and more from scrap found around and about Kuwait.

OBJECTIVES

Culture & Youth
To incorporate the various roles that different sectors of society play in recycling and sustainable living and give youth ready access to information regarding environmental sustainability and its importance in daily life.

Social Responsibility
To raise awareness, serving as a means for dialogue and action amongst the private sector and the community.

Environment
In accordance with en.v’s ethos towards environmental responsibility, Reuse will be devised, executed and introduced as a “carbon neutral” event. Ensuring environmental concerns are addressed during every phase of the initiative as well as offsetting all damage done to the environment through investing in “green” projects after a carbon footprint audit is completed.

This Week's Events Around Town Round Up

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This week, a lot is going down in Kuwait. Here are some of the events (that I know of) that you might be interested in taking a look at...you're welcome!


1. Festival of India
The “Festival of India in Kuwait” is being organized from November 8-14, 2009, under the ambit of the India-Kuwait Cultural Exchange Programme 2009-2011 that was signed in April 2009 during the visit to Kuwait by Hon’ble M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India. The Festival is being co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), State of Kuwait.

It looks nothing short of amazing and you can check out the line up of performers, dancers, artists, cultural exhibitions, etc at this link with the schedule that Al-Watan Daily has kindly provided:

Personally, I am very excited to see the Odissi dance, which has always been one of my favorite Indian folk dances. Just check this video out if you are not convinced!




2. Lecture by Thomas Modeen
Thomas Modeen will present a lecture on "Kuwait School Manifesto ـ 8 Maxims & Designs" on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Al-Maidan Cultural Center. Thomas Modeen is currently teaching at Kuwait University, Department of Architecture and Department of Art and Design, and he is a fellow blogger that can be found at http://smarchitecture.blogspot.com/

3. Pecha Kucha Night No. 3!
This is the third volume of the successful concept devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide.
Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
Check out previous videos by presenters from Volume 1 and 2 at KASA Kuwait's youtube account. Here is information on Volume 3: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30pm - 9:30pm, Mövenpick Hotel & Resort @ Bida'

PKN #3 Presenters: Farah Behbehani, Ismael Abedin, Dana Al-Hasan, Fareed Abdal, Loaay Ahmed, Teddy B, Abd Al-rahman Al-Terkait

4. Cinemagic Opening
Its that time of the year where we can all slowly peek from our air-conditioned cocoons and enjoy the bright selection of critically acclaimed and assorted movies that the fabulous Mr. Michael Habre delights us with at Cinemagic Productions. Did I mention admission is FREE and free popcorn and refreshments are provided??

The film on Saturday, November 14th is entitled Banishment from Russia (2007), directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev, and here is the following description:
A husband, wife and two children come from an industrial city to the countryside, to the husband’s birthplace, to stay in his father’s old house. In contrast to the old setting, the new setting is Nature. It is a setting of breathtaking rolling hills, the bottom of a prehistoric sea, and fertile land, all lying in the ruins of dislike. It is sad even though it is proud. It doesn’t let on. It will demand great sacrifice. And no one will hold back the hand the father raises against his son. The voice crying out will not be heard. The lamb will not replace the son. For the one who rises the knife has ears that cannot hear, eyes that can not see, and a heart that can not feel. Yet his belief in the “law” of human pride is vehement and inexhaustible, as vehement as his remorse.

Green Caravan Film Festival 2009!

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There will be an environmental film festival here in Kuwait happening on October 28-29 in Al-Madain Cultural Centre and presented by Equilibrium, and environmental services company based in Kuwait. I am very excited about this!


The program can be found by clicking here. I plan to see both the 6:30 screening on Wednesday and Thursday. You can sign up to be a GCFF volunteer by sending an email to volunteer@thegreencaravan.com. This is a great initiative and I hope to see you there.

IREX Blogging Workshop: Mafi Anglezi!

, 7:26 PM | 0 comments

We live in Kuwait and the workshop has all the right to be conducted in the language of the people, however I wish it would have been written beforehand, or better yet to avoid confusion altogether, that the organizers had not sent invitations in English!


I left early.

Kuwait Blogger's Workshop

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Host:
Safat Bloggers of Kuwait
Type:
Meetings - Convention
Network:
Global
Date:
Monday, September 28, 2009
Time:
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
Marina Hotel
Street:
gulf street, marina crecent
City/Town:
Kuwait, Kuwait
Phone:
96566189918
Email:
exzombiesm@gmail.com

6 October 2009: Iranian Art Photography at Sultan Gallery

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(Information provided from Al-Watan Daily)

The exhibition presents the work of seven photographers from three generations: Bahman Jalali and his Image of Imagination series, Sadegh Tirafkan and Mehran Mohajer with Multitude and Camera Rosea respectively, and of the young and vibrant generation of Iranian artists, Dadbeh Bassir, Mohammad Ghazali, Arash Hanaei and Babak Kazemi complete the group.


Opening night on October 6 at 7 p.m. For details call Tel: 24714325 Ext. 110, Fax: 24714301 or visit Sultan Gallery, South Subhan, Block 8, Street 105, Building No. 168.

Pearl Diving Expedition

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Just returned from the celebration at the Kuwait Sea Sports Club of the return of the Kuwait traditional pearl diver's expedition to Bahrain. It was an amazing thing to witness and I hope to have pictures up soon. I think my friend and I must have been the only foreigners there. I had a great time. For those of you who don't know, Kuwait was a huge pearl diving nation before the discovery of oil. This trip aims at teaching male youth about their ancestry and the traditional way of living before the introduction of petroleum. I think its a really great experience.

Kubbar Island Kuwait

, 9:30 PM | 0 comments

Yesterday I took a ten hour boat ride for the day, stopping at Kubbar Island. I had mostly heard about the destination as a result of news headlines reminding readers that police authorities are considering taking major steps to boost up surveillance of "immoral" and "devious" activities that occur on and off the islands shores. Apparently, many yacht-cruising, mostly affluent Kuwaitis and foreigners, often go to the island to be able to party in peace. This tends to involve music, girls in bikinis and sometimes alcohol.




In any case, I went yesterday with a group of people and was pleasantly surprised by the coastline. Minus the ugly metal tower smack in the center of the island that reminds you there is hardly a natural scenery in Kuwait without a shoutout to scrap technology, the rest of the island is a lot more peaceful than anticipated. There are even scattered shade umbrellas available to the public. The waters are a beautiful topaz blue and more importantly, pristine, which is difficult to come by on the mainland. Many divers come here to explore the many coral reefs surrounding the island. Hopefully all the luxury boats docking near to the shore are not scratching up the coral reefs and natural aquatic ecosystems to badly. There are also plenty of birds and an area of the island that seems to be natural hatching grounds, as evidenced by the several dozen adorable chicks that were stumbling on shaky legs through the sand.


Aware Center Summer 2 Arabic Courses Beginning Soon

7:34 PM | 0 comments

The second cycle of Arabic courses will begin in mid-July. The announcement was made in the newspapers today. You can get more information about the scheduling on the website. I think its a shame to have been in this country without speaking more Arabic by now, but I had some financial constraints from being able to do the courses earlier. I plan to make the most of this summer though and enroll.

Review: Pecha Kucha Night Kuwait, 2nd Edition

, , 5:13 PM | 3 comments

In life, elements are most often judged as parts of a whole and this exactly why the inaugural session of Pecha Kucha Night Kuwait earlier this year seemed to gel. PKNK1 seemed to have a common thread tying many of the presentations together: the loss of identity and social cohesion in an urban landscape dominated by a myopic vision of modernity. PKNQ81 announced itself loudly with its statements, its pleas for change and call to action, all the while balancing the larger picture with targeted ideas for innovation.


This larger mission was notably absent at PKNQ82. Although the quality of many of the artists who presented was impressive, there was no symbiotic interaction of ideas between them. Moreover, the artists did not seem as concentrated on engagement of the audience (although some made a good effort) and instilling them with the values to which they wish to draw attention.

Ahmed Al Refaie: Digital Artist (www.owaikeo.com)
A meticulous painter with a penchant for drawing cyber-pirate-mermaid women with uncanny resemblance to Angelina Jolie as well as urban landscapes of the imagination. An impressive array of work, but I would have liked to seen the paintings in person in a gallery to spend enough time examining all the detail work. He himself seemed to acknowledge the frustration of viewing his work through 20 second slides as it did not do justice to the most probably pain-staking long nights spend coloring on the drawing board. I would have liked him to open up a little bit more about his motivation for his subjects and common themes.

Raffi Armoudjian: Architect (The Integrated Architectural Experience)
Unfortunately, I believe this speaker had a great amount of interesting messages to deliver to the audience, but his attempt to squeeze as much information as possible into each slide made so that the delivery was overly rushed and at some points, a bit unintelligible. This is really a shame because I think he had some very opinionated and worthy ideas and points. I did catch in his conclusion that more emphasis needs to be placed on teaching children through education softer skills about how to be creative, a productive member of society through innovation and how to learn to appreciate and recognize art.

Dr. Shurooq Amin: Artist. Poet (Ekphrasis: the Missing Link between Art and Poetry) (www.shurooqamin.com)
One of my favourite presentations. This is a poet (ok and artist) who has talent and is clearly passionate about what she does, bringing a rare confidence, vision and steadfastness to her belief in the presentation's idea of blending poetry with art. The poems she chose for each piece of art (some of which she wrote herself) were beautiful and well-suited for the pieces of visual art--much more than my skeptical self was originally expecting. In short, she sold me her idea, and elegantly in the process.

Nada Alshammari: Graphic Artist (Kuwait Narratives: Short Sharp Shocks)
Too much theory without any demonstration of the discourse in the Kuwait context. It seemed to be that the presentation was to be on spontaneous artistic use of public space in Kuwait-otherwise known as graffiti art. But where is all this graffiti? This was the great phantom in the discussion. I would have liked to see more about how she is certain that there are rumbles and stirs of people in Kuwait beginning to create short, sharp shocks in this manufactured, non-improvisational, cut-and-paste landscape.

Samer Mohammed: Student, Kuwait University (Architecture in Media and Influences)
Very interesting presentation, but like Ms. Danah's, it came off more as a book report. Nonetheless, this is a topic I find interesting, especially with his mention of Blade Runner and Los Angeles as maximum city (for anyone who has read City of Quartz by Mike Davis). But I would have liked to know what the role of the media is in influencing Kuwait's architectural vision and urbanscape.

Danah Al Rubabah: Student, Kuwait University (Behind a Woman's Face)
The title of her presentation had me transfixed and anticipating the presentation from the beginning, but I was disappointed to find out that the topic was simply an encyclopedic book report about a female artist (daughter of Mohammed Bushanaq. To put it simply, PKN is an inappropriate platform for such a presentation. She brought nothing of her own to the topic, it was more likes he was reporting as a spokeswoman for this artist. Furthermore, I never really understood why she was so enamored by the artist in the first place.

Bassem Mansour: Artist. Designer (Intention and Intuition: Its just a game)
My intuition was simply not potent enough to grasp the artist's intention, although my curiosity was piqued by his analysis of architecture and feelings of security.

Nofal Abdelali: Architect (Towards a New Pedagogy through Architecture: Educational Facilities in Kuwait)
Again, a visual presentation of an artist's portfolio, without the wind of a great, single idea behind it. Plus, the projects he presented had little to do with Kuwait in particular.

Monstar Co-Owner and Creative Director of Threplusone.com (Fun Things for Fun People)
His high-set bar of a title definitely lived up to expectations, this guy came out onto the stage with the perfect amount of energy needed to really wrap up the event in a positive, enthusiastic way. A great coda to the evening for sure. And all though he seemed to have many spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness thoughts ping ponging around the room--somehow it worked for him. His fetish for burka ladies will surely not go unforgotten. The great thing about this speaker is that he was able to sell his idea, with enthusiasm, confidence, but also look like he was having fun in the process. He almost doubled as a stand-up comedian.

Pecha Kucha Night No. 2

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Review will be up shortly

Al Watan Daily: "The Butlers Kuwaiti documentary movie to hit movie screens soon"

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Mixed reactions to this movie, but I will definitely be one of the first ticket purchasers. Mr. Al-Anjiri should have a screen filming that allows a question and answer period afterward. He should invite several members of society, including expat associations, human rights groups including the Kuwait Social Work Society and members of government, including the Labor Ministry.

It is no coincidence that Al-Watan Daily is mentioning a movie "to hit soon in theatres" on the Friday edition of news in the same week after Kuwait was attacked by both the Philippines and United States for its human rights record. The last paragraph of the article made me lose my patience. I bolded the parts. THOSE STRAY CASES ARE THE REASONS FOR INTERNATIONAL INDIGNATION. They may be stray, but that does not mean they are few. Also, they are cases with circumstances that just keep repeating and repeating themselves-stories that sound similar-which means that reform is needed to break the cycle. I refer you to the blog of the KSWS (http://q8sws.blogspot.com/).

"Film Producer Abdulaziz AlـAnjiri said that the documentary film titled The Butlers will hit Kuwaiti movie screens soon. He said the movie took almost a year to shoot which was shot extensively in Kuwait and India. The editing process too required a lot of time with considerable efforts put in by the crew. The movie is featured in Arabic with English subtitles thus addressing His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlـAhmad AlـSabah''s desire in regaining Kuwait''s reputation over human rights abuse.

Abdulaziz AlـAnjiri commended the wholehearted support and encouragement given by His Highness the Amir, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlـMohammed AlـSabah and the Deputy Minister of Information Sheikh Faisal AlـSabah. He also commended the role of the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Television Fawzi AlـTemimi who was keen on having the film released on prime time television presented by Kuwait Television.

The film is directed by Yareb BuـRahma and Abdulaziz AlـMershed along with Yousef Haider from the public relations management. The movie''s technical crew conducted several interviews with the EditorـinـChief of AlـQabas Newspaper Waleed AlـNesef who gave valuable insights about the freedom of the press in reporting human rights abuses along with interviews with Ghanim AlـNajar who has valuable experience in the field of human rights around the world and the Reverend Pastor Emmanuel Ghraib and many other personalities that have played pivotal roles in the context of the film. He said the film will represent Kuwait at the Global Festival in the documentary films category.

The movie is a social documentary and doesn''t seek to rake in profits like other movies since it intends to send out a message that would positively reflect Kuwait to the entire world and refute some of the allegations made by global human rights associations who project Kuwait in a bad light. The film portrays expatriate laborers in Kuwait enjoying free healthcare facilities, tax free salaries, annual holidays and freedom of religious practices. The movie does not portray some stray individual cases of abuse and violations in Kuwait since many foreigners respect Kuwaiti laws and love to work and live in Kuwait." (for link to article, click here)

Movie Reviews: Wonderful World and The Lost City

, 10:56 AM | 1 comments


Yesterday the Shashati Show at Cinemagic transpired. To give merit and lauds to the adaptability and endurance of the human condition, I managed to brave +40 Celsius heat for almost three hours, without breaking into a sweat. Among other noteworthy great feats and accomplishments of man, four different films from the region were presented. Although, I was deeply disappointed that the original host of the event, Showtime's upcoming standup comedian and the most famous Korean-Arab Wonho Chung was not in attendance, I was still pleasantly surprised by the experience. I will write about the two Kuwaiti films that were aired, one of which was my favorite of the night and the other, the least.

1. Wonderful World

Surely the most dazzling gem and well-marketed film of the set, "Wonderful World" by Tamir Naber brings to Kuwait a genre that I had thought previously unknown to these shores: The Musical. The invitation description of the movie is as follows:

This is the musical journey of star-crossed lovers Zaid (Nima Algooneh) & Zaina (Sama Falah) in their quest for marital bliss. Lost in a world where men and women speak different languages, they pay a visit to marriage counselor extraordinaire Dr. Brendt (Tamer Gargour), but little do they know, he has problems of his own!

Although I do not boast to know that much about the select amount of bonafied Kuwaiti films, Wonderful World surely adds a fresh, new element to this set. From the moment the ensemble of singer/actors/dancers breeze through their introductory musical item number in crayola, the audience knows its in for a sweet nectar of an experience. Even though the movie's main subject deals with marital conflict and personal crisis, the movie never forsakes allowing these actors to exhume their upmost cuteness throughout the entire duration.

Art does not incubate in a void, rather it is the product of the elements surrounding those who create it. Thus, many films in the region might be prone to reacting against a society that too often inhibits freedom of expression. In countries that aim to suppress, movie makers might aim to shock. In a political climate of segregation, religious extremism, and in some cases, conflict, directors and writers might focus on exploring these topics that shape their daily lives.

However, in this pure action-reaction paradigm, art often too easily becomes the mere foil of the oppressor, without its own backbone and often as buffoonish and as caricatured as the forces against which it fights. Therein lies my disappointment with the Kuwaiti movie, Banana, which I felt held little value other than to perforate norms of premarital sex and sexual frustration in Muslim societies with precisely this: shock, nonsensical-ness and interspliced images under the escape-chute of "surrealism".

And this is where Wonderful World steps, better said, pirouettes in. In its examination of a newlywed couple's first marital crisis, the movie does not attempt to tackle difficult subject matters of topics often deliberately ignored in the greater public eye, such as women's rights, domestic abuse, or empty marriages. Rather, it tells a universal, carefree bubblegum tale of two lovers (who also seem to be each other's best friend as well) too in love with their own love story to not make things work out. In this way, the movie is infused with its own youthful soul, as it has been created with its own image in mind, not a reactionary counterpoint to society.

The soundtrack is varied, has applicable lyrics and is executed well by the actors, who each deliver a their lines with an inviting singing tone. The two main actors are so down to earth and natural in both their character portrayal and delivery that you feel as if you already know the characters in your own life.

One of the greatest factors working in the movies favor is the wonderful love-hate chemistry between the two main actors. Zaid, a lovable Gen-Y husbum is played by linen-sporting, suspender strapping, fedora tilting eye-candy Nima Algooneh, while his outspoken, girl-in-charge wife, Zaina, is played by the honeydew Sama Falah. Their zingy one-line cut-downs and playful critisms of each other perfectly encapsulate the travails of newlyweds. They fight all the time over every new obstacle presented in their adjustment to married life, but at the same time, their fresh love makes it so that they almost seem to enjoy the banter of argument itself. The quick ignition disagreements lead to quick and tango-passion making up sessions, that if anything, seem to keep the couple entertained with each other-and the audience as well in the process. The role of the therapist was hilariously executed by Tamer Gargour with perfect Dr. Freud comical diction. However, what was missing was a greater interaction between the three of them. Dialogues were reserved for Zaina and Zaid, and monologues relegated to the therapist. Can there not be a three-way conversation?

In sum, I think its pretty obvious that this was my favorite movie of the evening. The character development was excellent, the wardrobe and set fresh, chic and contemporary, the actors executed their lines wonderfully, and the greatest credit can be given to the writer for the witty, tongue-in-cheek dialogue that had me laughing the whole time.

I would love to find a copy of this movie to post online.

2. The Lost City

Given my obsession with Kuwait's urbanization without a trace of history, the title "Lost City" mislead me into thinking the movie's focus would be as such. The film begins with the main character, a spiky-haired, mallrat suspect man in his twenties on his way to what seems to be a lazy-Friday middafternoon cheeto and redbull Baqala run. In front of the shop, he slips on some discarded batteries and knocks himself unconscious, only to find himself....low and behold!....in the middle of a souk in an pre-modern medina.

Although he like totally is so sure he randomly landed on some wack movie set, the picture does not seem to cut like it should after a take, and he soon realizes he seems to have transported back in time, or at least a long time ago, in a city far, far away. After being mistakingly thrown into the local jail, where he befriends a strangely cloaked man with a strangely worded mission, our digital-age protagonist seems to bypass the "oh shit, where am I?" factor to quickly take up his new friend's noble cause. And what might this cause be? Why restitution of the dethroned royal family over rule of the kingdom after having been maneuvored out of power by an evil, macchiavellian minister. In short, the movie seemed to me to have several different robbed elements: the set design and soundtrack of a sappy Lebanese historical telenovela, the entire plot, bit by bit of the Lion King, and the two-dimensional honor code of some of the later Lord of the Rings installments.

Most of all, the main actor's physical comedy wore my patience thin. A himbo through and through. his brain-dead theatrics pervaded through the entire film, which-while funny at first-only ridiculed and belittled the already pretentious moral airs of the royal family when the two parties were juxtaposed later in the film. For example, at the end of the movie, in a great WTF? moment, the newly instated King's first action is to appoint the main character to be one of his new ministers. The whole idea is implausible, and perhaps I am missing the point, as the entire world after all is a fabricated dream of the main character's concussion-induced delusion, but at the same time, it frustrated me that the main character did not seem to mature or learn from the experience in any way.

Rather than the story of a young man who develops an understanding of "doing whats right" for the good of a nation, a tale of the unyielding perseverance and sacrifice of good leaders over the morally corrupt and self-interested, or a message of "it takes a village", the movie plot comes off more as a Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Upon awakening from knocking himself out in his slip-up, he wakes up and realizes everything was a dream. Probably lacking the sufficient brain cells for adequate long-term memory, he walks off to the cue of the credits, leaving us unsure if the main character's dream lessons will be carried over in his daily behavior and actions. To me, it did not seem like our protagonist "got the memo", and even if he did, the whole plot of the gallant prince regaining grassroots following in his kidnapped kingdom to retake the land seemed extremely preachy to me. In fact, it seemed like a public service mouthpiece for the royal families in any of these Gulf monarchies.

In sum, The Lost City seems to me to be a lost opportunity to discuss a lot of other, more pertinent things: the lack of civic duty among youth today, the loss of traditional culture in the contemporary cityscape, even the Parliament-Royal family political divide. Instead we are given a loopy, ridiculous main anti-hero-whose goofy theatrics only make you more annoyed with him, and even with his entire generation of gel-haired, acid-washed jeans sporting, irredeemably dumb boys, by the end of the film.

24 June 2009: Second Pecha Kucha Night in Kuwait

2:36 PM | 0 comments

Host:
Pecha Kucha KUWAIT
Type:
Music/Arts - Performance
Network:
Global
Date:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Time:
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:
Al-Qabliya School
Street:
Ali AlSalem Street
Phone:
99480664
Email:
pechakuchakuwait@gmail.com

PechaKucha: Kuwait
Cordially invites you to a performance
PechaKucha Night #2
20 images x 20 seconds
to be given by:

Shurooq Amin
Nada Al Shammeri
Ahmed Al Rifae
Raffi Armoudjian
Danah Al Rababa
Samer Mohammed
Bassem Mansour
Nofal Abdelali

Date: Wednesday June 24 2009
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Al-Qabliya School - Kuwait City
Email: pechakuchakuwait@gmail.com
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/kuwait-city
Contact number: +965 99480664

Hosted by: PECHA-KUCHA NIGHT ORGANIZERS
Dr.Asseel Al Ragam
KASA (Kuwait Architectural Student Association)
Kynn (from Design Squared)

Moderated by: Haya Al-Munaifi

Sponsored by:
NCCAL (National Council of Cultural Arts and Literature)
Arnest Group

To see last event's videos, see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KASAkuwait

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