bazaar July/August 2015

Jul/Aug2015 | Issue # 194 www.bazaar.town

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AUK Experience...

The

The American model [Liberal Arts] is more “open to you asking questions, critically

thinking, thinking outside the box…it helped me develop confidence and knowledge that I would never have achieved if I haven’t gotten involved [at AUK].

”

Rama Sabano

Class of 2007 (Business Administration) Assistant Director, Student Life - AUK

Watch the complete AUK Alumni Documentary in our YouTube channel, directed by AUK Alum, AbdulMohsen Al-Hashem, Class of 2010.

www.YouTube.com/theAUKVideos

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UK

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Int

In light of the country's recent events, we loved this Instagram capture by @ForthesakeofHumanity.

Thousands of people rushed to the Kuwait National Blood Bank to donate blood for those injured in the awful bombing of Al-Imam Al-Sadeq mosque. Kuwait will persevere and rise above those who wish to divide its citizens. Shortly after the incident, the hashtag #OneKuwait went viral, and locals took to Social Media to denounce this act of terror to the world in one, united voice. May God bless Kuwait, His Highness The Amir, and its citizens.

Friday, June 26th was a black day for everyone in Kuwait because of the horrific suicide bombing that took place at the popular Al-Imam Al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City. As I try to write these words, everyone is still reeling from the shock of what happened and trying to come to terms with it, since so many innocent people lost their lives, or were injured, and because Kuwait is such a small country with such a tight knit community, almost everyone knows someone affected by what happened. We were all affected by what happened. However, one thing immediately became obvious in the hours right after the bombing, and that is that any attempts by ISIS to divide Kuwait failed very badly. Kuwaitis of all sects, and expats of all nationalities and religions, all rushed to the scene of the bombing to try and help, or rushed to the Blood Bank to donate in the thousands. On the very same day of the bombing, Muslims of all sects intentionally went and prayed in each others mosques to prove that there was no difference between them and that if anything, the bombing had brought them closer together. I'm positive that Kuwait will come out of this stronger and more united than ever before

The bazaar team...

While this issue of bazaar is a combined one that covers both July and August, we still celebrate the wonders of Kuwait with our incredible features. As this issue hits the stands, we are mid-way through Ramadan. We were lucky enough to head down to the Cube Mall in Salmiya and break our fast by sampling the mouthwatering Before Chocolate Café concept. They graciously allowed the entire bazaar mob in for this review (once we heard that chocolate was involved, there could be no other conclusion than downing tools for the day and getting our dessert on), and we absolutely loved it. Not only were there sweets a plenty, but also a great selection of savory snacks and sandwiches.

Staff Writer/Online Media

We also got musical this month, first getting up close and personal with +Aziz who spoke to us about putting the Gulf on the indie music map, which is no easy feat by the way, Ramadan and his inspired song "RMDN", and his debut album Soho Spirit, which was the perfect soundtrack to our hectic month preparing for the summer. We then met up with the awesome DJ Maha, who you may recognize from The Drive Back show. We are sure you will agree, she has an awesome taste in music and we got to the root of where that comes from, her strongest musical influences, her views on regional talent and of course, her ultimate playlist! In fact, we spent so long chatting and laughing with Maha that we couldn’t physically fit it all into one issue, so for an extended interview, head on over to the bazaar.town. As we prepare to go away on holiday, remember that we bazaarites need a summer break too, you know! If you need your bazaar fix once you’ve read this issue cover to cover, make sure to visit www.bazaar.town!

See you in September, and in the meantime be safe and have a great summer holiday.

Ahmed El-Adly

Boss Ahmed El-Adly

Operations

Ben Schiller Ruby Rice Fatmah H. Al-Qadfan Ayman Nasser

Tim Burns

Contributing Photographers

Business Development

Lynda Higgs Chase Warne Lynda Higgs Parvin Mirza Zainab Mirza

Ihab Mokalled

Design Ahmed AL-Ashab Padmini Chandrasekaran

Staff Writer/Coordinator Yasmine El Charif Sarah O. Wali

Staff Writer Amira Haroun Brook McClurg

Communications Hala Y. Sharara

Editor

Syndicates & Sources Barakabits Fast Company LA Times MCT International Newsweek Tribune Media Services USA Today Variety News Service Washington Post

Printing

Alia Al Duaij

British Industries for Printing and Packaging

Contributing Writers

members of:

Dr. Susannah J. Schuilenberg Patrick Makhoul Nicole Lapone Jamie Etheridge Shabana H. Shaikh Parvin Mirza Elizabeth Segran Lynda Higgs Bibi Al-Falah Adele Peters Lena Kassicieh Dalia Mortada Jessica Leber Reem Al-Gharabally Stephanie Vozza

w w w. b p aw w. c o m No one likes to be dumped;

recycle me, please.

The views expressed in bazaar magazine are those of the respective contributors and not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff (but sometimes they are).

tel. 2461 0017 – fax 2461 0018 info@bazaar-magazine.com www.bazaar.town | Al Argan Complex, Shuwaikh Free Trade Zone @bazaargram bazaarmagazine @bazaartweets

ECCO +965 2530 9618

360 MALL, LEVEL 1

INDEX JUL/AUG '15

36 BEFORE CHOCOLATE CAFÉ Experience that special moment before you yield to the pleasure of chocolate. The bazaar team goes dining at the new boutique café and chocolatier in the heart of Salmiya, and forgets their worries by indulging in sweetness. Join us as we delight in the incredible creations and stop remembering everything that came Before Chocolate.

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PALAU WOW

ANKA OPRISOR

Chase Warne takes on a journey A quick search of the hashtag through the coral reefs and #DamnyouOprisor reveals a deep-sea treasures around lot about this month’s Truth or the islands of The Republic Dare candidate, but that only of Palau. Float along beside scratches the surface. We met him as he dives through the up with Anka Oprisor of 20/ various islands and reflects on Seven Fitness Studios and the incredible luxury and travel found out how this impressive opportunities that are afforded change maker is shifting people’s to us while living in Kuwait. perception of wellbeing.

52 BILBAYT

RICKSHAW RACE

If you’ve ever endured the pain of calling up a caterer and asking about the thirty odd items on their menu, then you’ll see why Bilbayt. com is the way forward in the catering industry. Check out how you can make your next catered event stress-free with just a few clicks.

When four friends living and working in Kuwait decided to take on the Rickshaw Race in India this August to raise funds for charity, we knew we had to speak to the team dubbed Fiasco De Gama. In this interview, we find out more about their upcoming adventure and how anyone can make a difference.

Palau Wow p.76

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DJ MAHA

RIMA RABBATH

If you’ve ever been stuck on one of Kuwait’s arterial routes during the lunchtime/school run/ shift change rush hour traffic, you’ve probably tuned into The Drive Back show hosted by DJ Maha. Lynda Higgs chats with the intriguing DJ with an eclectic playlist and a passion for all things music.

If you plan to attend Rima Rabbath’s yoga class at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in NYC, you better turn up early to get a spot. In this month’s Arabs abroad, connect with the yoga teacher who is teaching people to understand that the only space they need, is within themselves.

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LOVE/HATE: PETS!

CHARRIOL

PLUS AZIZ

OKHTEIN

SAFAT HOME

When trend forecaster +Aziz decided to pursue his ultimate passion, music, we were there to find out all about it! We got up close and personal with this Jack-of-all-trades and even got a sneak preview of his debut album! His single, RMDN, is out on Soundcloud for you to enjoy!

Craving something new and different, sisters Aya and Mounaz went on a mission to create unique bags for the world to carry. Their brand, Okhtein, doesn’t just produce beautiful bags, but it makes sure they’re produced with love. Made in Egypt

by Egyptians, for the world to covet – Okhtein is sizzling this summer!

The fun continues with Safat Home’s Décor Center! Our favourite design dream team and a very lucky couple embark on this amazing makeover – turning their house into a home.

Join us as we journey through time to see what’s happened so far, and what’s yet to come.

Once upon a time, a talented and It’s vacation time and sadly ambitious Frenchman helped Cartier that means leaving our wee reach stardom. The multi-faceted furry ones behind. So while you head out for your summer “world citizen” has since then launched his own name and watched it grow. holiday, in honor of the pets left Philippe Charriol continues to be one of behind, take a glance at our pet-centric version of the top five the leading watchmakers in the world offering the wearer a distinctive style conundrums that you love and with their beautifully unique designs. hate at the same time.

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IVANKA TRUMP

bazaar connect Freedom to find us

30,000 readers

With a bilingual audience of both English and Arabic, we cover everything from what’s on, to the bizarre. We print and distribute 10,000 copies of bazaar every month; each copy is read by an average of 3 people, giving us a total readership of over 30,000. bazaar is published every month (except August), delivered free of charge to a large subscriber database, and distributed free of charge in all of the following locations: Cafés & Eateries

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Souk Sharq The Avenues The Palms Hotel Zahra Co-op

Clinics & Hospitals

Al Mubarakiya Dental Clinic - Egaila, Salmiya Al Safat American Hospital Boushahri Clinic Dasman Diabetes Institute Diet Care Center Gulf Clinic International Clinic Maidan Clinic - Fahaheel, Farwaniya, Hawalli, Sharq, Subah Al Salem Noor Clinic Salam Hospital Seif Hospital Soor Center Taiba Clinic The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic

Hotels & Health Clubs

Al Corniche Club Crowne Plaza, Farwaniya, Salmiya Hilton Kuwait Resort & Spa Holiday Inn, Salmiya, Inspire Pure Fitness JW Marriott – Residence Inn, Sharq Millenium Hotel & Conference Center Pilates & More - Salmiya, Mahboula Spaloon The Palms Beach Hotel The Yoga Center

Malls

Al Salam Mall Arraya

Haagen Dazs Galleria Al Hamra Elevation Burger Mall 360 Dunkin Donuts Marina Mall/Crescent Casper & Gambini Chocolate Bar Johnny Rockets P.Q. Paul Souq Sharq Starbucks Haagen Dazs Breadz Symphony Mall Juan Valdez The Avenues Elevation Burger Johnny Rockets Paul Starbucks Airport Mall Starbucks Dar Al Awadi I.O. Center Spoons Chocolate Bar Salhiya Complex Starbucks

beau-Tique cosmetics British Embassy Brush Salon CAP Gallery Cookie Dough Dar Al Funoon Dar.Nur Gold Class Lounge - Grand Cinemas Al Hamra I. O. Center Italian Center Jacques Dessange Salon, Shaab KAICO Kuwait Airport Business Class Lounges N Style Nail Lounge Media Elephant Pink Moon Boutique Sultan Gallery THE One The Chairman's Club USA Embassy

Stand Alones

Kuwait University

4 Boutique Alghanim Marine Alghanim Showrooms - Safat Al Rai, Shuweikh, Sharq, Fahaheel

Schools & Universities American International School American University of Kuwait Australian College Kuwait Bayan School (Hawalli) Boxhill College BSK - British School of Kuwait Retail Academy Universal American School Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks

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bazaar magazine has been a member of BPA Worldwide since June 2010, ensuring complete transparency, verifying bazaar as an audited publication which distributes 10,000 copies on a monthly basis. To access our BPA report, please visit: www.bpaww.com or log onto our website www.bazaar-magazine.com for a downloadable pdf version.

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In addition to delivering our readers with our monthly print installment of bazaar, we’re here to pick your brain daily with www.bazaar.town-- The ultimate guide to Kuwait! Packed with a little bit of everything for everybody, with daily updates on events in Kuwait, tips for life, inspiring interviews, polls, competitions, reviews, a classifieds section, and of course a comprehensive dining directory including addresses, telephone numbers, and links to each restaurant’s location on Google Maps, it will not disappoint!

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what’s trending Travel Essentials As much as we work our hardest to give you one rocking print issue after the other, we’re socially active (or try our best to be, we are bazaar humans after all) and we love it!

Find us online: It makes our day when we see your tweets/mentions/likes/comments/shares about your favorite features and more. facebook.com/bazaarmagazine

what: @gypsysoulkw info: Boho-chic inspirations and products. editor’s note: Adventures with the right accessories!

what: @airbnb info: Why book a hotel when you can stay in a home? editor’s note: Your home away from home.

what: @bookscalling info: The urge to read strikes at any time. editor’s note: No matter where you are, always have a book!

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what: @pianoaround info: Bringing music to every city, and every country. editor’s note: A traveler and his piano – enough said!

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what: @scrabble.kw info: Mobile phone cases and accessories. editor’s note: Express yourself with beautiful phone cases!

what: @passionpassport info: Your passport for travel from the comfort of your home. editor’s note: Our travel Bucket-Lists are currently overflowing!

what: @Discover.Greece info: The Greek islands are glorious – this is your portal. editor’s note: See Greece through tourist and local eyes.

CAVALLI

bazaar love/hate

PETS! By bazaar staff

It is that time of year again – ghost town! Most of the bags have already been packed, shipped and joined their respective owners beachside in the Seychelles or lounging at a café in Europe.

But what happens to our wee furry ones when we are gone? If you are smart, you start planning your summer pet care well in advance. If you are like me though, you often forget until it’s too late and are subsequently forced to trade the proverbial farm for the hope that someone you trust might watch your animal for you. In honor of the pets left behind while you vacation, we give you the pet-centric version of Love/Hate. Here are your conundrums… #5 Inappropriate animals for the climate – Okay, I think we can agree that super furry wolf dogs are about the cutest thing ever. It makes it pretty hard to not want one. Even if they have about as much reason being here as...well, they’ve got no business being here. The desert is too hot, and the conspicuous lack of snow is also troublesome.

For my part, I have one of those hairless breeds that are equally not fit for this climate — perhaps even more so. I have to be sure to walk him by night just to avoid the chance that he might melt the second he hits the sun. Plus, when people see him, they definitely assume he is a sickly wild dog I just brought home for supper. Still, he is my favorite pup, so we do what we have to! #4 Treating your pet like a child – Ok, I must admit that I do this sometimes, but not as bad as some of you out there. Is your dog sitting next to you on the couch reading this article right now?

If so, you may have a problem. Let your dog be a dog, and not a baby surrogate. Let him play and get dirty, and by all means, stop dressing him in little girl outfits! #3 People who look like their pets – This one's not so much a pet peeve (get it?) as it is a sociological oddity. How does it happen? Does a person subconsciously morph and change themselves to look like their dogs' appearance?

Or, contrarily, does the dog head into the puppy barber and say, “give me that owner look?” Either way, it’s amazing. Please people, continue looking like your pets or I won’t have anything to laugh at. #2 Cat People VS. Dog People – Like every great rivalry ever, it is tough to tell who started this one. Is it that the specific yearnings that guide you towards these pets are themselves are so different OR is it that cats are brainwashing everybody’s minds against dogs? Yes, dogs are kind of dumb and super messy and awfully drooly, but they come when you call them and they always want to be by 16

your side. Yes, little ol' you. Cats, by contrast, are smart and never need to be walked which, most days, would be enough to convince me right there.

Still, there is something in their cold aloofness that has me convinced I’m going to come home one day locked out of my house and a cat will have already moved in and be sitting in my favorite chair laughing at me. The cat-pocalypse takeover is possible – perhaps probable even. Just saying! #1 The Pet Sitting – And it all comes back to where we started – pet sitters! It really does not seem like it should be that hard to get somebody to watch your animal. Normally you have to sweeten the deal of course. My usual spiel goes like this:

come on over, just for a few days, I’ll fill the fridge with goodies you like, and you have free reign of the pool, games, and entertainment system. And yet still, you simply mention the words “can you watch my…”and all of a sudden, your friends become wildly unavailable. It’s just an animal, people — not my elderly grandmother! Can’t you please just watch him for a week while I go sit on a beach somewhere? What’s wrong with people? Oh well, I guess I'll just go back to snuggling with my dog.

Love/Hate is your guide to all of life’s little conundrums, and a good excuse to beach-out!

aaw

MINDFULNESS

By Dr. Susannah J. Schuilenberg

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, living in splendid isolation in the Back-of-Beyond, or making a living playing video games, “mindfulness” will have impinged on your consciousness somehow.

Maybe at this point you’ve already rolled your eyes and prepared to move on to the next page of this groovy magazine.

Stop!

No, really.

Stop. Don’t turn that page.

Mindfulness is not just a trend that will pass out of favor in a month or two, nor is it a trendy word to describe something bohemian or airy-fairy that only upcycled hippies do after hot yoga.* There’s some really awesome science behind the practice of mindfulness, and the fact that it’s become a buzzword used by everyone and the neighbor’s dog ought not take away from the value of the practice itself. (I don’t know about you, but talking dogs get MY attention) Mindfulness is first and foremost the discipline of giving attention to what is, now; right now, at this convergence of time and space and presence. It’s something we ‘higher order sentient beings’ are incredibly bad at. In fact, we’re the worst at being present in the moment; connected body, heart, and mind. The majority of us live on autopilot, navigating our current activity/space with mind and psyche reliving the past (negative or positive) or anticipating the future (negative or positive) and experiencing the emotional fallout in the present.

Newsflash!

This is not living. This is existing. (What is catastrophizing but mentally predicting a future you don’t want and freaking out about it now?) Living requires presence. The thing is, sometimes (often) the present is emotionally uncomfortable. We must face something we’ve been avoiding; acknowledge a reality we don’t like; admit a truth we’d rather not; or just be quiet in a noisy, chaotic world. Most of us are not good at simply being.

Mindfulness is a discipline. It is a habit of mind that must be cultivated, practiced, nurtured, and continued. There are numerous ways to develop a quiet mind, and a quick Google search will pitch up a number of options for you to choose from. What I actually wanted to emphasize here are the reasons to develop a habit of mindfulness. There are many studies that support this practice, and the positive benefits are well documented. Here’s a short list, by no means complete, but certainly enough to get you thinking about why it might be a good idea to pursue this practice.

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Reduced rumination. This is a fancy-schmancy way of saying less time spent thinking the same thought (or set of thoughts) over and over and over.

Rumination is a cognitive rut that causes anxiety, increases stress, and often leads to avoidance behaviors. (Our thinking habits have a profound impact on our behavior) Stress reduction. It shouldn’t be surprising that purposefully taking time to be quiet reduces the amount of stress we feel. Not only does the habit of mindfulness reduce the stress we feel, it also reduces the physiological impact of stress.

Blood pressure is reduced, heart rate drops, and the physical discomfort of stress (aches, pains, skin prickling, tension headaches etc.) is lessened.

Increases working memory. Remember, I’m offering benefits that peer-reviewed, double-blind, replicated scientific studies have uncovered. When we choose to practice mindfulness regularly, the working part of our brain is refreshed, and the positive effect is a better memory. Who doesn’t want that?

Emotional stability. People who practice mindfulness are less likely to experience emotional reactivity – in other words, even in stressful situations, they are able to manage their emotions and choose a response rather than merely reacting.

The difference in outcome between responding and reacting can be HUGE. Mental flexibility. In order to be creative, we must have space to consider the problem at hand, its scope, and implications of any possible solutions. When our minds are stretched to capacity by everyday junk thoughts, creativity suffers. Mindfulness measurably increases creative capability.

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Relationship dividends. It logically follows that if I, as part of a relationship, am fully present for the other, communication will be more satisfying, there will be less misunderstandings, and with the increased mental flexibility that mindfulness promotes, I’ll be able to be creative about resolving conflict.

There are too many benefits to fit in this article, but the few I’ve chosen to list should make it evident that mindfulness is a worthwhile effort. As with anything worth having, it takes a conscious choice and continued investment to create a practice of being present that will bring these benefits to fruition in your life.

I started small – not being given to quietness in anything – by doing Zentangles to learn what it felt like to have a quiet mind. From there, I tried a few different forms of mindfulness (having visited Google) until I found one that felt ‘right.’

Why not do the same? Try it consistently for 30 days. I’m confident the positive benefits will be enough encouragement to continue. The habit of mindfulness is a simple, doable way of increasing quality of life.

*’Mindfulness’ is, of course, a form of meditation… that’s been around for millennia.

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Baitak Tower: 22257908 | Behbehani Complex: 22403954 | Symphony Mall: 22441614

[PLUS] OF ALL TRADES New Orleans to Kuwait,

and the beats in between By bazaar staff

30 20

up close and personal

N

ow I may not be the most active person on Twitter, some may even say I’m more of tweectator (Twitter spectator) than a tweeter. Imagine my surprise when I got a pitch for a story through Twitter.

Obviously my lead’s reputation precedes him, because when I shared the news with the office everyone got giddy. Naturally, I pursued it and was stupefied by how eloquent he was. A few direct messages later, I got an email loaded with information. The pitch: a unique album that’ll be released later in the month, a beautiful single that resonates with the soul, and an in-depth feature about the man behind it all. We get up close and personal with the eloquent +Aziz, despite his very busy schedule!

Indie Folk is the best way I can describe the sounds I’m listening to while typing away. As a writer that’s fluent in Arabizee (an amalgamation of Arabic and English) +Aziz’s debut album SoHo Spirit depicts the flawless utilization of this “language”, and it makes perfect sense to me.

“It’s important to note that bilingualism in rock music is not uncommon,” he explains, “Jónsi from Sigur Ros went as far as creating his own language to sing in. What matters most is the feeling you communicate.” As an amateur music aficionado, I completely agree. Music is a personal experience that resounds with the listener on a deeper level, and has a much more intimate connection. As an Arab, it is important to him to express his heritage through the music. Combining the rhythms of the East with a distinct sound of the West and both languages melodically synced, you find yourself transported to a deeper plane of musicality that transcends lyrical content.

In places like Cairo, Beirut, and Amman, the indie music scene is thriving both on local and international levels – the Gulf, Khaleeji, region on the other hand, not so much. Sensing this gap, +Aziz decided to put the Gulf on the indie musical map. While mainstream Gulf music has been utilizing other Arabic dialects, +Aziz wants to revitalize his native dialect particularly through the indie and world music scenes.

“Khaleeji music has virtually no presence,” he explains, “it’s overshadowed by related cultures like Turkish, Indian, Iranian, Lebanese, Egyptian, and so on.” Although he tends to draw on different dialects while performing, the Gulf dialect takes center stage when he sings in Arabic. Quality also plays a huge factor in Arabic music these days. According to +Aziz,

digital and analog instrumentation need to mesh seamlessly for better quality music. Motivated by the aforementioned lack of Arabic music, his biggest passion is to create beautiful music that unites the East and the West.

With Ramadan upon us, we all get into the spirit of fasting and breaking our fast together.

For +Aziz, it’s bigger and more challenging than that. His single, “RMDN,” makes that apparent.

“Ramadan has a very special energy for all of us,” he smiles. The Holy Month is a time for families to be together. Growing up, +Aziz had his days surrounded by family and filled with family meals. Upon relocating, it has been a trying time since he’s been left to fast, and feast, alone for many years. “’RMDN’ is a song that works to surface my feelings about this sharp contrast,” he begins, “feelings which are reinforced by the hierarchy of social media and my inability to belong despite being swallowed by social media platforms.” SoHo Spirit being his first public EP is a big deal for him, but it’s his single that’s most special and his favorite song written so far.

Inspired by the meeting of the raw and refined in the New York neighborhood of SoHo, the album name SoHo Spirit was conceptualized to sync perfectly with his musical notion. He also performed and recorded the EP in an office building he worked at on Hudson Street in SoHo. Still, +Aziz managed to perform and record his shorter sessions at the Karrouhat Studios in Salwa, Kuwait. He split his recording sessions between New York and Kuwait encapsulating both cultures and sounds through his music.

While his “musical ethos” lies in alternative rock, he’s become very inspired by Second Line music (New Orleans’ renowned parade music). The Gulf

rhythm, however, resonated with him through friends like Kuwaiti composer Mishari Hamad and the Bahraini sound artist Hasan Hujairi. On collaborating mainly with producer Seif Al-Din, +Aziz explains, “[he] helped me develop beats and the sonic texture of the EP.” He also worked with Karrouhat Studios’ Basil Al-Hadi and folk musician Matthew Halley who lent the banjo sound and backing vocals to his tracks.

“Crafting a message” is not part of his lyrical process. +Aziz’s method focuses on communicating a feeling as opposed to a meaning or narrative.

“Lyrically, [I] have two processes – first, the song is birthed within minutes after picking up a pen or guitar,” +Aziz elaborated, “and second, the song is layered and fragmented.” While layering and fragmenting are more common processes for +Aziz, his music sheds light on several musical cultures and their flawless meshing.

A sound to follow – +Aziz’s musical journey might just be starting, but he’s already got another project in the works. Inspired by the sounds of the American south, his next project will dig deeper into the fabric of New Orleans to uncover the city’s sound. Combing it with the sounds of the Gulf, +Aziz’s next project – like this one – will celebrate both Khaleeji and New Orleanian musical heritages as a unique collaboration. Lastly, when asked about his album’s cover image taken by photographer Ghada Khunji while in Manama, he said, “[It] conveys the driving concept of SoHo Spirit: the contrast of the raw/rustic/gritty against the refined/smooth/sophisticated.” The image is just as captivating as the sounds of SoHo Spirit and all encompassing of the true spirit of Ramadan. [continued...]

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up close and personal What do you most value in your friends?

Reliability and responsiveness.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A world that is run by women.

What is your greatest fear?

Divorce.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

The way I expect so much from others.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Fear of reputation damage; we’re only human.

Which living person do you most admire?

Sabah Al-Rayes. A highly cultured Kuwaiti architectural engineer at PACE who encouraged me to develop and sharpen my musical IQ. What is your greatest extravagance?

Asking everyone to put a plus sign in front of my name.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Cultural insights, corporeal, ethnomusicology.

What is it that you most dislike?

Cover songs.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Lucid dreaming.

If you could have any job, what would it be?

A freelance ethnographer.

What would you consider your greatest achievement?

Raising $11,000 for my crowdfunded project, UNCOLLECTABLE in 2013.

What is your most treasured possession?

My bicycle.

What is your most marked characteristic?

The black polish on my fingernails.

Where would you most like to live?

A city without cars.

What are your favorite words to live by?

Artists don’t sell out, companies buy in.

If you want to follow +Aziz’s musical journey and generally find out more about him, his music, and his many, many trades – check out his social media accounts on Facebook: KhaleejiInNewOrleans and @PlusAziz on Soundcloud, Twitter, Vimeo, Tumblr, ENGAGE. You can buy the full album from CD Baby, iTunes, or Amazon – Check out the single on Soundcloud @PlusAziz.

You can also tune in live on the livestreaming app Periscope @PlusAziz on Wednesday nights for band rehearsals at 3 a.m. and Sunday nights for his practice sessions from home at 7 p.m.

Kuwait local time. Photography by Ghada Khunji and André Steënkamp.

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[...continued]

FOR INFORMATION CALL +965 25309676 | 360 MALL, LEVEL 1 | WWW.VERSACECOLLECTION.COM

versace

THE STATE OF REMASTERS

By Patrick Makhoul

A lot of online gaming experiences tend to revolve around a lot of mature content and are catered to a very specific audience.

Splatoon, with its colorful, cartoonish visuals and it’s squid-kid characters and amazing art direction fills a void that we never knew needed to be filled. Splatoon is an online thirdperson shooter that looks like it caters to the casual gaming market, but it’s also a game that has some deep gameplay mechanics that will satisfy the older and more experienced players.

The first thing most people notice when they see Splatoon are the visuals. Splatoon has a unique art direction with its use of bright colors, weird characters and the world that Nintendo built. The game is often compared to an old but memorable Dreamcast classic, Jet Set Radio, which was unique for a variety of reasons. It was a game where

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you roller-skated around a city, spraying graffiti on various surfaces. It was a game that was different; visually it was unique and bright, while the music was eclectic and upbeat. Mechanically there wasn’t anything like it. You weren’t killing anything. Splatoon is similar. It’s a third person shooter but instead of shooting bullets or laser, you shoot bright colored ink. You’re not human, but an Inkling with the ability to morph between your humanoid and squid form at will. When you play in your humanoid form, you can shoot ink that covers the environment around you in your team's color allowing you to also swim through the ink as a squid if you choose to. Swimming through ink as a squid makes you faster and it’s an effective tactic if you want to out maneuver and flank your opponents. All this comes together to create an atmosphere that exudes positivity and cheerfulness.

Splatoon features two modes, a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode. The single player mode plays similarly to Super Mario Galaxy where you’re flying from one section of the map to the next, navigating obstacle courses and taking down the evil octopus race, the Octarians. The goal of each level is to rescue the Zapfish, the source that powers your city, Inkopolis. The multiplayer aspect of Splatoon is split into two, Regular Battle and Ranked Battle. The more casual of the two is Regular Battle in which both winners and losers gain experience and money depending on how well each individual does in their respective teams. The Regular Battle mode is called Turf Wars. The goal of Turf Wars is to cover as much of the environment in your teams ink-color within three minutes. The mode for ranked battles is called Splat Zones, a king of the hill style mode in which your squad of Inklings fight to control a designated area by covering it in your team's ink and then holding on to it for an allotted amount of time. This is a high risk, high reward mode, because if you lose, you don’t get any money or experience, but if you win, you win big.

The money you make in these two modes can be spent to improve your character by buying new equipment: t-shirts, shoes, helmets and weapons. Each day the shops will have different stock. Each piece of equipment offers different stat and ability boosts. There are three different types of weapons you can purchase. You have your Shooters, Chargers and Rollers. Shooters shoot ink rapidly while the Chargers are inspired by sniper guns and have a long but narrow range, and rollers are just that, paint-rollers that can cover lots of ground but have a short range. Each type of ink weapon has its pros and cons and each weapon has its own sub-weapon such as ink sprinklers, ink mines or bombs.

Splatoon encompasses what makes Nintendo a great company. It doesn’t attempt to cater to one specific group of people. It’s a game that can be played by the young and old. A game that doesn’t take itself too seriously while treading into new territory. It’s a game that can be played for short or long bursts. Nintendo seems to have struck gold with Splatoon and I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned it into a new franchise just like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. Splatoon is a wonderful experience and brings new life to a genre of video games that has been growing stale and is another reason to consider owning a Wii U.

audi

bazaar movie night night The latest from the big screen playing in cinemas across Kuwait in July & August

TERMINATOR GENISYS

MINIONS

PIXELS

Release Date: July 16 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger/Emilia Clarke

Release Date: July 16 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family Cast: Jon Hamm/Sandra Bullock/Allison Janney

Release Date: July 23 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Action, Comedy Cast: Michelle Monaghan /Adam Sandler/Sean Bean

Synopsis: As if the Terminator timeline wasn’t confusing enough, the latest addition is all set to add to the chaos! When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance against Skynet, sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator assassin, an unexpected turn of events creates an altered timeline. Instead of a scared waitress, Sarah is a skilled fighter and has a Terminator guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) by her side. Faced with unlikely allies and dangerous new enemies, Reese sets out on an unexpected new mission: reset the future.

Synopsis: The little yellow creatures from Despicable Me that everyone fell in love with get their own movie! Evolving from single-celled yellow organisms at the dawn of time, Minions live to serve, but find themselves working for a continual series of unsuccessful masters, from T-Rex to Napoleon. Without a master to grovel for, the Minions fall into deep depression. But one minion, Kevin, has a plan; accompanied by his pals Stuart and Bob, Kevin sets forth to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. Their search leads them to Scarlet Overkill, the world's first-ever supervillainess

Synopsis: In 1982, in the hopes of establishing peaceful communication with extraterrestrial life, NASA launches a time capsule into outer space containing images and footage of Earth life and culture. However, aliens misinterpret enclosed video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war. They attack the Earth using the games as models for their various assaults, including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Centipede.

President Will Cooper (Kevin James) calls upon his childhood best friend, former video game professional Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), who is now a home theater installer and had a previous relationship with Cooper's wife (Jane Krakowski).

ANT-MAN

TED 2

DARK PLACES

Release Date: July 30 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Action, Sci-Fi Cast: Paul Rudd/Hayley Atwell/Michael Douglas

Release Date: July 30 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Comedy Cast: Mark Wahlberg/Seth MacFarlane

Release Date: July 30 Theaters: Cinescape Kuwait-wide Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller Cast: Nicholas Hoult/Charlize Theron/Corey Stoll

Synopsis: Ant-Man is an upcoming Marvel superhero film based on the comic characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. The film was directed by Peyton Reed, with a screenplay written by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats.

Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Synopsis: Ted 2 is an American comedy directed

by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. It is the sequel to MacFarlane's 2012 film Ted. The film stars MacFarlane as the title character, along with Mark Wahlberg and Amanda Seyfried. In this new instalment, Ted marries Tami-Lynn, his girlfriend from the first film, and the couple try for a baby together, with Ted asking his best friend John to provide help in conceiving the baby. However, to have custody of this child, he must prove to a court of law that he is human.

Synopsis: Set in a farming town in Kansas, Dark Places follows Libby Day (Charlize Theron), the only surviving witness of a horrific massacre that took her mother and sisters. Believing the slaughter to be the work of a satanic cult, Libby testifies in court against her own brother. Twenty-five years after the murder, she remains haunted by the gruesome violence of her past when she meets a group of amateur investigators who call themselves "The Kill Club." Looking to satisfy their morbid curiosity, the group begins their own inquiry about the case, believing Libby's brother is innocent.

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For more details on movie timings and the cinema nearest you, visit: Cinescape: www.cinescape.com.kw or Facebook: Cinescape – Kuwait National Cinema Company.

*Above programs are subject to change without prior notice.

Adolfo

truth or dare

ANKA OPRISOR By bazaar staff

A quick search of the hashtag #DamnyouOprisor might reveal a lot about this month’s Truth or Dare candidate, but that would be barely scratching the surface when it comes to getting to know the awesome Ana Maria or Anka Oprisor. Anka has been kicking this bazaar team into gear with her work at Kuwait’s 20/Seven Fitness Studios that launched EMS (Electro Muscular Stimulation) training in Kuwait. Others might know her from the radio, where she helps listeners with advice about wellness and nutrition. Anka is an impressive change maker, and not only is she changing our fitness schedules, she’s truly changing people’s perception of wellbeing.

Anka considers herself the ultimate perfectionist. The law graduate and conflict mediator is also a Master Trainer and certified nutritionist. Her love for fitness stems from such a young age. She explains, “I started sports when I was 9-years-old and I forgot to stop. I was a professional handball player.” With a stellar record of personal bests and championships won, Anka was also part of the National team in her home country of Romania, doubling as a game coordinator since she was only 16. While health problems prevented her from pursuing this path, her passion for fitness never subsided. A law degree did not stop her from practicing sports, 28

and when it came to building her career in the law realm, Anka went on to start and teach a Tae Bo class before and after her working hours.

Her true journey began, and continues to this day, as Anka earns certifications in the field, sharing her newfound awareness with people to help them improve their lives. While some consider her the tough cookie, hence the famous hashtag #DamnyouOprisor, everyone leaves any given training session with a new sense of understanding about their health.

For Anka, moving to the Middle East arrived as a natural decision. She was always attracted to the culture, religion and the lifestyle. She says, “As soon as I landed in Kuwait, I felt like I was home!” Armed with her knowledge, she set out to work, and it never ends! From her position with 20/Seven Fitness Studios to her live segment on the local radio, Anka is on a mission to revolutionize people’s perceptions of fitness and wellness in Kuwait. As the only EMS Certified trainer in the Middle East by the German Glucacoleague Institute, Anka is playing a huge role in growing this community in Kuwait.

When it came to broadcasting her message to the masses via the Radio, Anka recalls the first time; “I can still remember the tremor in my voice. All I thought about was my Russian accent! In all seriousness though, I believe that

it is a huge responsibility when you’re live, with so many people listening and taking your advice.

I’m not here to give people information that can be easily Googled, I am trying to communicate real advice based on wellness lifestyle coaching.

We want people to change their habits for the better to improve the quality of their lifestyles.”

Her future ambitions couldn’t be clearer. Along with an expert team of trainers and visionaries, Anka sees huge developments for 20/Seven Fitness Studios. She says with conviction, “We have our own style and we believe in it.” She is also planning on attaining her official certification as a wellness lifestyle coach from the US. Until then, you will find this sea lover by the beach whenever she gets her downtime. This stunner also dabbles with modelling, and thinks it’s a great way to meet people in Kuwait.

How would your mother describe you in one word?

Ambitious!!!

How would you describe your mother in one word?

Ruler – she likes to lead. She doesn’t lead me though.

What is the most ridiculous question you’ve ever been asked?

What are you doing for a living? Ask me about my profession, and not what I do for a living! I usually answer this with ‘I’m a beggar.'

What is the most spontaneous thing you’ve done?

Went from school to a tattoo saloon and got an eyebrow piercing with two friends.

What is your theme song?

Actually, when the sound goes down I totally enjoy the silence (because of all the loud workout music I have in my ears all day long due to my work). I don’t have a theme song per say, but I like Deep House, Future House and Trance music. Believe it or not, sometimes I love to shake my head and wave my hands on Arabic and oriental music.

What word in the English or Arabic language do you wish you had invented?

Hyperism – because I am always hyper.

Where would you like to live? What is your dream retirement location?

I am already living where I wanted to – which is the Middle East. It happened to be Kuwait, but I like it and I am totally enjoying my time, my work and my life here. While I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I would choose an exotic place like Thailand.

A life on a beach, bungalow home, coconut water and fresh fruits!

What is the first famous quote that comes to your mind?

We are what we eat, drink and think! Not famous but something I believe in. And especially what we think. Your thoughts become your words.

Your words become your actions. Your actions define you.

What animal best describes the kind of partner you’d be interested in?

Dolphin.

What do you miss about your childhood?

My grandparents and the holiday at the village.

Fresh cow milk and running bare foot.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

I would not change it. I love it: Ana Maria, but lots of people know me as Anka.

What is the toughest part of your character?

I am a perfectionist.

Who is your favorite historical figure?

None – I believe even history is changed so we got whatever others wanted us to believe as the truth.

What in the world do you least desire?

I just want peace and harmony, love and understanding. Wellbeing in one word.

What do you think is lacking in the world, which if there was more of would make the world a better place?

Less hate and envy. We have all we need from God. We are the ones making our lives harder to live.

Why do you think most girls/guys like you?

They don’t. Look up #DamnYouOprisor and you will see why.

Finish this sentence: “Happiness is (a thing called)…”

Chocolate.

You can follow Anka Oprisor's wellbeing journey on Instagram @Anka_Oprisor and @20SevenKw. 29

CHARRIOL

Trafalgar’s exclusive coveted deal By bazaar staff

Charming, suave, and perfectly embodying everything wonderfully French – Philippe Charriol is a multi-faceted and very humorous man. “I’m a true citizen of the world,” he exclaims with a grin on his face. Having traveled the world and lived in different corners for extended periods of time, his children were all born in Hawaii – evidence of which can be seen in their middle names.

“Each of my children’s names means something in Hawaiian,” he explains.

Once upon a time, Mr. Charriol helped with the building of Cartier, “I’ve been in the watch and jewelry business for a very long time – don’t ask how long,” he laughs. Many years later, Charriol was born and hasn’t stopped growing since. Staying true to their unique ethos – Charriol continues to be one of the leading watchmakers in the world offering the wearer a distinctive style.

Inspiration came in the form of an ancient art. While in London, Mr. Charriol visited the British Museum only to find his revelation deep inside one of the exhibitions. Determined to find something new and different, he draws inspiration from the Celtic arts. Incorporating a modernized approach of steel cable into all his designs, the 30

Charriol watch has become a symbol of unique and subtle elegance. Through that, his need to create something new that stands out has been met.

“You see,” he points at his watch smiling “Charriol watches can be spotted from a distance, you never need to ask what the watch’s brand is". According to Mr. Charriol, the watch might not be an heirloom of sorts, but it is a true representation of “making a statement.” And as a designer with a distinct style, Mr. Charriol aspires to always be different – both personally and professionally.

Initially, the watches were thought to cater to the male market due to the steel cabled nature of the bands. He was quickly proven wrong as women sought out the coveted design regardless of the design’s target market. From there it became apparent that the Charriol client is daring – always a trendsetter and never a follower. While the world is moving towards a more digitized realm, Mr. Charriol believes that he’s in the market to sell style over technology. “You won’t see a Charriol digital watch,” he explains, “I’m leaving it up to the client to decide whether they’re after style or digital.” Ringing true on many levels, the Charriol watch is known for it’s self-marketing skills. “People

seek out our designs,” Mr. Charriol smiles, “sales representatives never need to bring our watches to their attention.”

Distinctly branded, the Charriol brand speaks volumes through their image and style. With the brand’s bold color choice they stand out amidst their peers with this rich and “difficult to imitate” color. Currently and exclusively, the Charriol watches and accessories can be found at any of the Trafalgar stores across Kuwait. A true marriage between two style connoisseurs, this partnership will be bringing Kuwait the latest releases from the coveted Charriol range. Lastly, when asked how the brand’s name came to be, he laughingly exclaimed, “You launch a name and hope, that one day, it becomes a brand.”

Make a statement and be the envy of any gathering by heading to your nearest Trafalgar shop to check out the latest stunning Charriol releases. Follow Trafalgar on Instagram @TrafalgarKuwait and Charriol @CharriolOfficial to be in the know. For more information visit www.charriol.com and check out www.trafalgarkuwait.com.

marriot

HBO TO NETFLIX: BRING IT ON

By Nicole Lapone

HBO is arguably one of the best television networks of the last 15 years. Most of us, even if we didn’t realize, have watched at least one HBO show.

The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos and of course Game Of Thrones. Certainly we here at bazaar are huge fans of many of their shows. Such is their vast portfolio and fan base that HBO even have a streaming service and app dedicated solely to their shows. Meanwhile, their main rival Netflix continues to expand as people's viewing habits change. The war is officially on.

In January 2013 Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, declared, "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us." Since then, Netflix has launched original series such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, acquired the right to air five new Marvel series and Chelsea Handler’s next project, grown from 33 million to 57.4 million subscribers, and increased revenue from USD 3.6 billion (KD 992,970,696) to USD 5.5 billion (KD 1,655,038,020), while boosting its stock price almost 400%. "Two to three years ago, the average user was watching almost 60 minutes of Netflix a day. Today, it’s nearly two hours," says Liam Boluk, a media strategy consultant at Redef.

"Netflix is bigger than every single cable and premium-cable network in the U.S. No matter how well programmed, powerful, or profitable HBO is today, you can’t look at that scale and might and not feel the need to act soon."

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HBO has not exactly been standing still over the past two years, adding more subscribers in 2014 than in any of its previous 30 years; its creative hot streak has continued with True Detective, Silicon Valley, Looking and more; and it’s far more profitable than Netflix (USD1.8 billion (KD 541,628,680,897) versus USD 403 million (KD 121,269,539) in 2014). Yet this good fortune hasn’t prevented the network from recognizing the potency of the threat that Netflix and its ilk present. A new service, called HBO Now, is a stand-alone version of HBO Go, an app that gives access to just about every episode of every HBO series, as well as tons of movies, documentaries and sports. Rather than merely being a bonus for people who subscribe to HBO through an existing cable provider (usually paying something like USD 15 (KD 4.5) a month), HBO Now will not require a cable subscription. It will be available at launch to anyone with an Apple device. The move seems risky. What if people dump their regular HBO subscriptions? What if the cable providers, who generate virtually all of HBO’s revenue, remain displeased by this run around them? What if Now, which may feature content never before seen on HBO, is less consistently excellent than the existing HBO service? And what if this pushes Netflix to become even more aggressive? HBO has fended off earlier waves of competition, in the

mid-2000s, when AMC and Showtime emerged as rivals for premium original content. But Netflix seems to be a much bigger contender to handle.

HBO has had Netflix on the brain for years.

When it launched HBO Go in February 2010, it touted the app’s 600 hours of programming by imploring users to "Watch something you haven’t watched a million times before." Courteney Monroe, the former SVP of marketing at HBO who’s now CEO of the National Geographic Channel, admits, "There was some implied digging there that this was a better alternative" to Netflix. Still, HBO Now is certainly a big step forward for the company. HBO CEO Richard Plepler lights up when he talks about what the service means for talent – his favorite species of human. It gives creatives all kinds of dexterity." You want to do five specials? Put it on HBO Now," he says he told one producer. He claims that another A-list director has already showed up with a series of three-minute movies that he wants to post daily over the course of several months. Plepler told him: "We’re in."

All of the cool TV channels are selling direct to consumers via the Internet. Here’s hoping that these services make it to Kuwait soon, so that we can enjoy the exclusive content and great new shows at the same time as the rest of the world.

HBO and Netflix, if you’re reading, consider this a formal request!

jansport

FOR THE

LOVE

OF A GOOD PEN Ode to a pen

By Jamie Etheridge I am addicted to pens. Or rather, not addicted exactly, but more like fixated. I want; I need a very specific type of pen. My preferences are absolute: extra fine point (7.0); rollerball ink; variety of colors (I’m especially partial to blue, orange, purple and green and my daughters both like pink).

It should have a slim barrel, capped (never retractable) and lightweight. There should be enough ink to last a few months. It may sound eccentric, but I will go out of my way to find the right pen – visiting shop after shop, driving half way across the city or in some cases ordering cases of them online and shipping them to Kuwait.

I know this sounds silly. A pen love so strong, someone would pay KD 30 just for shipping!

But hear me out. Most of us, even if we don’t realize it, have a special relationship with some of the objects in our lives. Imagine the love a guitar player feels toward his instrument, or an architect for her drafting table.

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Pens are to writers as knives are to chefs. A good pen is essential for facilitating the desire to write.

(And don’t even get me started on notebooks!) Even though I now spend hundreds of hours typing on my computer keyboard for every minute spent writing longhand in a notebook, the right pen still holds a place of reverence in this writer’s life.

Stop and think for a minute about the objects in your life that you can’t live without. Most of us would immediately say: mobile, car keys, wallet, bag. But what about your favorite cooking pots and pans if you are a foodie? Or your favorite clubs if you’re a golfer? How do you think an artist feels about her paints or paintbrushes, or a bricklayer about his trowel, or a solider about his gun?

Objects are more than just the price we pay for them. The tools we use in our lives to create, to build and to work also in many ways shape our experience.

They inform our physical experience of the world, influence our emotional states, serve or hinder our ambitions and can, in many respects, be the servants or barriers to our success. From an early age, children

often attach importance to objects, usually soothers like pacifiers or security objects like blankets or a special stuffed animal or doll. They typically rely on them when feeling anxious or tired.

But as adults we shift from relying on objects as soothers to utilizing them as tools. We might still attach special significance to a beloved family heirloom or favorite photography. But the tools we rely on in our daily life – especially in our professional life or when practicing our passions or hobbies – become, in a sense, a part of who we are. We treat them as a natural extension of ourselves, another hand or eye that helps us achieve whatever we’ve set out to do. They are not to be revered, however, but to be used.

Jamie Etheridge is a writer and mom of two living in Kuwait. She is the founder and editor of the Kuwait Moms Guide. Follow her on Instagram @kuwaitmomsguide or you can visit the website www.kuwaitmomsguide.com.

fiat

bazaar goes dining

BEFORE CHOCOLATE CAFÉ A boutique café and chocolatier in the heart of Salmiya By bazaar staff

God bless those Ramadan cravings. They leave you wanting everything and anything right before Iftar. Here to satisfy those crazy cravings, and give you a list of reasons why you should make chocolate a part of your every day routine is Before Chocolate Café. This boutique café and chocolatier by chocolate lover Raghda Al Essa will have you wondering what you did with your day before you came to find this destination.

Trust us on this one!

Located in Salmiya’s all-new The Cube Mall, Before Chocolate Café will immediately grasp your attention as soon as you walk through the doors of this majestic glass structure. The space inside is always flooded with beautiful, natural light. The café is perfectly situated in the middle of the mall, and you can’t help but be drawn into the kitschy, vintage inspired décor that will make you want to bring your favorite book and wile away the hours sipping on their chocolate-infused delicacies.

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The details in their dessert displays are magical–the café creates calming facades on all sides that are visible to passersby.

The design of this café is completely locally conceived, where owner Raghda brought in her vintage collectibles to make the space inimitable in every way. Before Chocolate Café is a soulful space and every corner of the café communicates this ethos. We loved the old typewriter, perched on the whimsical wall next to the cashier, and the conversion of an old wooden barrel into an almost invisible bin is genius. With every visit to Before Chocolate Café, you will uncover more beautiful corners and you will fall in love with the plush and cozy seating arrangements.

The boutique café prides itself on the highest quality of Swiss chocolates that were specially crafted for this café. Raghda spent at least six months working on Before Chocolate Café’s

signature recipe. This chocolate connoisseur has been in love with the cocoa bean ever since she was a child, and creating this space is her dream come true. The handmade chocolate perfectly complements an incredible gourmet menu.

According to Raghda, the name of the café means everything to her because it communicates the café’s story: “Imagine that special moment just before you yield to the pleasure of chocolate. That one fleeting moment when everyday worries, noises, stresses, workloads, delays and disappointments are momentarily forgotten in anticipation of the bite that is yet to come. A bite that engulfs you in sweet indulgence and numbs your mind to the point that you cannot truly remember what was…

Before Chocolate.”

The menu at Before Chocolate Café allows you to indulge in every way. You can start with a chocolate shot. With this drink, you will relish

in this café’s signature dark or milk chocolate with a strong shot of espresso. If you’re all about the cocoa, have it without the espresso. You can come to the café for a coffee and one of their choice croissants or pastries like the Brioche with dates, or the chocolate cheese roll. Trust us when we say that the mélange between sweet and savory in this pastry will delight your palate.

If you would like something savory before your dessert, their selection of sandwiches that are prepared with freshly baked, brown cereal sour dough bread will definitely impress. You get the best of both worlds at Before Chocolate Café, an exceptional chocolate selection that is delightful in taste and presentation as well as the perfect gourmet menu to complement.

For the main event, and by main – we mean dessert – we highly recommend that you come here for something sweet after Iftar with the family. Better yet, start off with their savory goods

and spend hours feasting on their amazing creations! At Before Chocolate Café, you can mix your two favorite passions, freshly baked cookies and brownies, and design them to your liking! Choose from chocolate chip cookies with hazelnut or honeycomb toppings and milk or dark chocolate sauce, or you can choose a double chocolate chewy cookie. We picked the ultimate indulgence: The Davos Cake, with melted cookies and brownie fudge, and a hearty scoop of vanilla ice cream that simply melts with this concoction. Your taste buds will be screaming with joy! You can alternatively enjoy their homemade Tiramisu, or experience a Fondue with your closest friends. Their cakes are ridiculously delicious, and you can choose from a dark chocolate tart, a more decadent version with honey roasted whole pecan nuts, white chocolate cheesecake or a light and airy frost white chocolate berry cake.

The Chocolate Jars Shakers are reason enough to make your first visit to this café a repeat event! Imagine this: Ice cream based drinks, served shaken and not stirred. You have the option of sinful strawberry cheesecake, their signature St. Moritz shaker that offers a beautiful medley of traditional vanilla and blended oriental Basbousa with a honey topping and a crunch!

After all of the delights that we have sampled here, we promise you that your next cheat meal, or cup of coffee, will be an unforgettable experience at Before Chocolate Café.

Before Chocolate Café is located on the ground floor of The Cube Mall on Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya. For more information, please call 2205 6660 or visit beforechocolate.com.

Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @BeforeChocolate.

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bazaar techno Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

The Perfect Bake

MICROSOFT WINDOWS 10

BATTERISER

For anyone who’s got problems getting a perfect ten with baking, The Perfect Bake is the ideal solution. This new kitchen gadget promises to turn you into nothing less than a master chef! Available in Kuwait exclusively in Fantasy World as an Eid attraction, Perfect Bake directs you right from start to finish to make up your perfect bakery ingredient.

It helps you in proportionating each ingredient for accuracy and uses built-in timers to alert you when you’re done mixing, baking or cooling. Hurry up this Eid and grab your must-have kitchen essential, only available at Fantasy World!

So, it was announced some time ago, but finally Windows 10 seems set to make its grand appearance soon. Some additional great news for those that like to have the most up to date operating systems is that for existing legitimate Windows owners (i.e., not pirated) is that the transition to Windows 10 will be a free upgrade. Did anyone notice that weird little Windows icon in the bottom right of their toolbar, near the clock? Click on that to register for the upgrade (which should be out this summer sometime). We registered and eagerly await this promising update!

Fed up of your battery lifetime? Meet Batteriser, a KD1 gadget that extends disposable battery life by up to 800%!! The ingenious stainless steel sleeve attaches to AA, AAA, C, and D-cell batteries and is thin enough (only 0.1 mm) to fit in most battery powered devices, such as your power hungry magic mouse and trackpad. The magic is possible because Batteriser uses proprietary circuitry to use all of the battery energy (most batteries only use 20% of their full capacity). Alternatively, if you no longer want to be short changed by battery companies, make the change to rechargeable!

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Mixfader is the first connected object for DJs. It allows you to perfect all mixing techniques, in particular scratching, which requires a certain manual dexterity, difficult to reproduce on a tactile surface. Mixfader can be connected wirelessly to an application that computerizes your vinyl turntable and brings together all the essential elements for mixing your music. It connects wirelessly and automatically to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. Thanks to an application available for iOS and Android, Mixfader allows you to mix your music and practice your technique on the go. Not quite turntablism, but a nice modern day alternative.

Theatre Box is a thrilling innovation in the audio industry, as it is the most compact wireless home theater speaker, making 360-degree 3D surround sound portable. Manufactured by Acemile, the Theater Box promises to fill a 2,000 square-foot room with immersive 360-degree 3D surround sound, without the need for numerous speakers, costly components or cumbersome cables!

It delivers a 360-degree 3D surround audio experience to everyone in the room, no matter the orientation to the speaker, bringing you thrilling enjoyment of superb sonic realism ready for movie lovers, music fans or game nerds. Just remember to respect your neighbors!

G Drive ev ATC (All Terrain Case) is the hard drive and case set to get if you need something really rugged, that can withstand harsh conditions. Once the hard-drive is protected inside the ATC, It's water and shock proof, it even floats in water, keeping your data protected. Featuring storage capacities of up to 1TB, with transfer rates that can go as fast as 136 MB/s and compatible with Mac or Windows, this pack also includes 3.0 USB cables. It’s the perfect device if you ever need to backup or simply store your data outdoors, where nature is always able to surprise you.

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fossil

ZEINA HASHEM BECK’S ODE TO ‘BYEROUTH’

By Shabana H. Shaikh

In May, poetry lovers in Kuwait had the opportunity to meet Dubai-based Lebanese poet and winner of the 2013 Backwaters Prize, Zeina Hashem Beck, when she was invited by the American University of Kuwait. Zeina, who is also an active performer of her work, took the audience on an evocative trip through a labyrinth of streets, past graffiti and bulletridden walls, and into homes of resilient people of Beirut or ‘Byerouth’, as she calls it in one of her poems, “Rewriting Beyrouth.” By the time she finished reading from her debut collection, To Live in Autumn, I felt like I had been on the famed Hamra Street, met Umm Jamal, and passed the homeless ‘Ali’ on Bliss Street –when indeed none of it had ever happened.

Vivid and engrossing are two words that aptly describe Zeina’s potent style of poetry written in simple language. To Live in Autumn is a collection of 45 poems divided into 5 sections, published by the Backwaters Press and launched in September, last year. The book took Zeina around seven years to complete, and drew heavily on memories of Lebanon, especially Beirut, although she claims she did not, at the beginning, consciously set out to write a whole book about the city.

“I was just writing these poems, without realizing that I had written a series of them on Beirut,” says the poet. Yet, the book isn’t entirely nostalgic. While most of the poems in the book were written after Zeina had moved out of Lebanon, ‘Fresco’ was penned while she was still a student studying at the American University of Beirut.

The book was also a runner-up for the Julie Suk Award, a category finalist for the 2015 Eric Hoffer Awards, and it was included on Spilt This Rock’s list of recommended reads for 2014.

She has also been nominated for two Pushcart 40

Prizes, most recently, by the prestigious literary magazine Ploughshares.

While in Kuwait, Zeina held workshops, a public lecture at AUK, and a performance at the Amricani Cultural Center for DAI. She mesmerized us with some of her works, including the iconic ‘Ali’ and the audiences’ favourite, ‘Correcting My Mother’s Essay’, which is currently nominated for the Pushcart prize.

“This poem has almost become a star. I love it and hate it, because I’m often asked to recite it at readings,” Zeina laughs, adding goodhumoredly, “and I’m hoping it will win and not at the same time, because then my mother won’t let me hear the end of it!”

Although writing seriously since 2006, Zeina’s love affair with poetry goes back to her childhood, when, in her own words, ‘memorizing poems was her favorite homework.’ So, did she know she’d become a poet one day? “I can’t say I did,” she replies, candidly. “But my mom always knew. She always repeated, ‘You’ll become a poet one day. I can see it.’”

During our interview, Zeina clarifies that even though the book is about Beirut, it doesn’t idealize the city where she spent her student years. In fact, it is full of contradictions, like the city itself, and is often critical. Zeina highlights its post-Civil War era, streets, beggars, neighbors and their daily life struggles. “To write about a city is also to write about its people,” she explains.

As such, many of her poems are portrayals of everyday people, most notably ‘Ali’, which is about the cigarette-wielding homeless man who roamed Bliss Street and was found dead one day because of exposure.

In the poem ‘Spring’, she writes about the Syrian refugees seen on the streets of Beirut ‘selling roses’, which resonates with the sights of children we see in Kuwait selling watermelons by

the roadside in sweltering heat; while in ‘Dance’, she leaves us with the haunting words: “we carry cities, instead of angels/on our shoulders, we trail them/behind us like old hurts”.

Zeina says that when she was little, she remembers being moved by Victor Hugo’s poem ‘Demain Dès L'aube’, which is about a father revisiting his daughter’s grave. She also admires T.S. Eliot, Sharon Olds, Dorianne Laux, Richard Blanco, and Naomi Shihab Nye, to name a few.

But, she tells me she dislikes the question, “Who is your favorite poet?”

Speaking about her personal writing routine, Zeina says, “I don’t always write every day, but I read daily. I’ve learnt to let the words/ideas simmer in my head, before I pen them down.” I also found Zeina very confident and composed while performing on stage. “I’m a natural performer,” she says, then adds, smiling, “and I practice in front of the mirror. I also carefully choose which poems to perform.”

When asked what she would be, if not a poet?

She promptly replied, “Stage actress, or a singer, if I had the voice!”

Undoubtedly, To Live in Autumn is an ode to a city the poet holds dear in her heart. Some of my favorite lines are from the title poem: ‘We’ve burnt in winters,/ listened to the shooting/of words, such empty bullets,/learned to stand/ next to open refrigerators doors/to keep our hearts from melting.’ She even autographs copies of her books with the words: “May you carry this city with you.” Indeed, even if you haven’t been to Beirut, you will still feel like you know it in an intimate way.

Zeina, who has had her share of rejections, says, “Poetry is the most beautiful form of writing. It makes people see familiar things in unfamiliar ways. If people read more poetry, the world would be a little bit better.” She is currently working on her second book, but says it’s too early to share details.

To Live in Autumn is available for purchase in Lebanon (Virgin Megastores and AltCity) and Dubai (Kinokuniya, Dubai Mall, and Book Munch Café), as well as online on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Powell’s Books, and SPD. Zeina Hashem Beck is also the founder of PUNCH, a Dubai-based poetry and open mic collective, and sits on the editorial board of All Roads Will Lead You Home, a new online literary journal by VAC poetry. To follow her, visit Facebook or Twitter @zeinabeck, or check out her website: www.zeinahashembeck.com Images credit: ©2015 Courtesy of the Office of Public Affairs (American University of Kuwait) Miral Bushnaq

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EXPLORING BUDAPEST

By Parvin Mirza

INSPIRED BY ISLAMIC ART & CULTURE, WITH A SCANDINAVIAN TWIST

Budapest is a dear old friend but it still holds surprises for me and often takes my breath away. It has made me gape with wonder, filled me with joy, soothed me, added a spring to my step, intrigued me and often made me smile for no reason at all.

With its magnificent buildings and beautiful bridges, it is rightly called the ‘Queen of the Danube.’

The river divides it into verdant and hilly, Buda and the flatter Pest. The majestic Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion and St. Mathias Church dominate Buda, while St. Stephen’s Basilica and the Parliament house grandly grace Pest. Spanned by the Chain Bridge, either side is an awe inspiring sight. It’s probably best viewed from a boat and river cruises are very popular, but walking along the Danube can be rewarding too.

My great favorite is the cafe in Fisherman’s Bastion where one can enjoy Gypsy music and the best views of the Parliament House. There are many historical places close to Budapest and the day after I arrived we visited Esztergom, one of Hungary’s oldest towns.

We drove through some lovely scenery with forests on one side and wildflower meadows sloping into a valley on the other.

The Esztergom Basilica dominates the town and the countryside. The paintings and sculptures inside match the splendor of the exterior as do the intricately crafted, bejeweled, golden articles in the treasury. Later we climbed up to the dome and the vistas simply took our breath away. Below us lay the stately town of Esztergom and spread out beyond it was the verdant landscape in two countries, with the Danube flowing between them. The river’s width was spanned by the Maria Valeria Bridge, and later we walked over it to Slovakia, for the best views of the 42

Basilica. As we turned back, our last view was of a glorious sunset and it made me smile to think that in that part of the world, the sun rose over one country and set in another.

The next day I visited Hősök tere or Heroes’ Square.

The statues of the seven chieftains of the Magyars always fascinate me as does the Vajdahunyad Castle behind it. The castle is part of the City Park, Budapest’s biggest park. It’s a lovely area to just walk around in and explore. Close by are the Budapest Zoo and the Széchenyi medicinal baths, the largest in Europe.

Winding, shady paths of the City Park stretched out invitingly before me. I sat down on a bench in a clearing under some trees to drink in the sights and sounds: the cooing of doves, the chugging of sprinklers, an incessant call of some bird, sudden flutter of wings.

Sweet sounds of peace. A slight breeze stirred the leaves into life and the willows moved gracefully, I felt a deep tranquility within. From Heroes’ Square, I walked down the famous Andrassy Avenue. Tree lined, with grand mansions flanking it, it was a treat to walk on.

The next day we decided to pamper ourselves and spent it exploring the beautiful Hungarian countryside and some of its spa towns like Sárvár and Hévíz. The thermal waters in Hungary have great medicinal properties and are found in a number of places, especially the thermal lake at Hévíz. Whether one is seeking wellness, beauty, medical treatments or just some pampering, Hungary is the place to find it. Returning to Budapest we caught glimpses of Lake Balaton, Central Europe’s biggest lake, popular for sailing and water sports. The day after, we visited Lazar Equestrian Park near Godollo, close to Budapest. The landscapes of Lazar Park were

beautiful as was the surrounding countryside. We had a great lunch after which we enjoyed a spectacular horse show. Later we returned to Budapest. Walking down Basilica Street we stopped for lemonade at a restaurant beside the statue of the gendarme, one of Budapest’s many statues of ordinary people. A band playing in front of the Basilica invited passersby to stop for an impromptu dance. Others posed with the statue. Sounds of chatter, laughter and music filled the air. Sounds of happiness! It was exhilarating.

We found time to eat the famous rose shaped gelato in the shadows of the Basilica, as the evening sun turned it golden and its bells chimed. Later we walked down the famous shopping street, Váci Utca and made our way to the Central Market. The market stalls were vibrant canvases of still life, stacked with gleaming fruits and vegetables and decorated with bunches of bright red Hungarian paprika. Time was short; I was greedily drinking in all the sights, sounds and smells I could. We walked back down Váci Utca to Deak Ferenc Ter. Another band was playing here.

People were picnicking on the grass, some were dancing, the excitement was infectious and we could not stop smiling.

On the last day my friend and I decided to visit old haunts, to climb up to Gellert Hill from where we could enjoy the best views of the city. The sky was a deep blue, the sun was shining and as we cut across the park in front of her house, filtered sunrays lit our path through the trees. Despite the sun, the park was cool and we skipped along, uncaring of everything, feeling the decades slipping off, laughing joyfully, we were five again. It was a moment to treasure forever.

safir

OKHTEIN Egypt’s hottest bag designers By bazaar staff

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B

fashionality

orn and raised in Cairo, this Egyptian design duo found their muse in the form of history, artistry and passion for their city. “Egypt is, and always will be, our main inspiration,” Aya Abdelraouf said with a smile. Sisters Aya and Mounaz Abdelraouf created and launched Okhtein – which means ‘Two Sisters’ in Arabic – in 2013. Sensing a gap in the market, they set out to reintroduce the luxury of local craftsmanship to Egypt and draw international attention to true Egyptian craftsmanship.

A breath of fresh air, Okthein’s first designs were inspired by the architectural greatness of Fatimid Cairo. Palmette flowers, Domes, and the Fortress are just some of the names given to their bags – all names stem from one architectural design element or another found in Old Cairo. That was their first collection – their second collection is an entirely different story. And since every woman owns at least one bag, Aya laughingly added, “We like to produce carry- able art.”

[continued...]

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Okhtein’s Aya and Mounaz believe that bags can make an outfit – so, they decided to design their own to suit their unique artistic needs. Using nothing but the finest materials, Okhtein’s bags are absolutely stunning.

From exotic leathers to PVC, and all the way to woven rope and embroidery – the sisters have an eye for what combinations work. To bring their designs to life, Aya and Mounaz regularly visited Khan El Khalili, and in particular, El Moez Street. From there, the inspiration for their Fatimid Dynasty theme flourished and was clearly visible in their first collection.

For their second collection, Okhtein have decided to introduce a little bit of summer into your carry-able wardrobe. Their latest collection pays homage to Egypt’s beautiful beaches and the culture around them. By naming the collection Weaving Waves, they brought the vibrant side of the beach to the totes and clutches. The #CandyLikeCairo campaign revealed the bag that stole the spotlight, the Mini Weave.

Taking a more philanthropic direction with their company, the ladies decided to utilize the local artisanal scene that Egypt is known for.

In that spirit, every bag produced by an artisan supported by local NGOs gives each design a story and a deep-rooted cultural ethos. “Before

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[...continued]

launching our brand, we thought of producing our bags abroad,” Aya explained, “but after visiting several [local] workshops and witnessing their superb talents, we wanted to encourage Egyptian workmanship.” Entirely produced in Egypt, by Egyptians – Aya and Mounaz didn’t lose hope in their country. “Egypt is full of potential,” Mounaz stated. With many women in Egypt facing hardships due to their unnoticed talent, local NGOs provide Okhtein with talented artists. With the help of an NGO in the area of Stable Antar, Okhtein is provided with beautiful embroideries while a small village in the province of Fayoum provides the ladies with woven straw.

They also work with an NGO in Cairo’s Mokkatam area called Romana to help promote anything handmade locally. Okhtein is definitely a brand to watch, and a bag to covet!

Questionnaire Does fashion ‘make’ the person or does the person ‘make’ fashion?

Mounaz: It’s one of those questions that you can’t really give one right answer to. It’s a “which came first, the egg or the chicken” kind of question - so we believe that a person ‘makes’ fashion just like fashion can ‘make’ or inspire a person.

Why are bags considered statement pieces?

Mounaz: We believe that because bags are always carried around at all times, everywhere and anywhere - the more unique and original it is, the more they become statement pieces, or carry-able art so to speak.

How would you describe your style and what inspires it?

Both our styles have a classy yet edgy twist to them.

How do you get inspiration for your designs?

Aya: We’re both visual ar tists so anything that stimulates us visually whether colors, trending patterns, cuts, cultures always end up inspiring our bags. I think the main inspiration behind our designs are our personality traits and how different yet similar our tastes are.

Who from the fashion world would you love to collaborate with?

Mounaz: Dolce and Gabbana, Versace and Fendi are all great designers we would love to one day collaborate with.

What is the one bag that every fashion lover should own? Why? Aya: The Chanel bag 2.55, it’s a classic.

What does it take to become a style innovator?

Aya: Uniqueness and originality are both qualities that set trends.

What’s exciting right now in fashion?

Mounaz: Patterns, especially when using them in the most unexpected way.

Who or what has been your greatest fashion influence?

Aya: Olivia Palermo, Alexa Chung and Chiara Ferragni are all great to follow as they have influenced us greatly in terms of style and fashion.

Who are your favorite emerging designers, and what is it that you love about them?

Aya: Nathalie Trad and All things Mochi are two of our favorite emerging designers from the Middle East. We believe they have great taste as well as innovative designs.

Every fashionality has as a style obsession, what’s yours?

Mounaz: We both have different style obsessions, I obsess over bohemian chic garments and styles while my sister, Aya, obsesses over minimal cuts and designs.

Do you follow any fashion influencers (Instagram/Blogs etc)? If so, who are they and which would you recommend?

Aya: The bloggers and stylists we follow on Instagram have contributed to our inspiration big time. Bloggers like Negin Mirsalehi and Chiara Ferragni are great to follow.

What item of clothing or accessory (if any) do you wish that people wore more often?

Mounaz: We think headpieces are great!

They’re fun, elegant, and when worn properly can be ver y stylish yet a lot of girls aren’t audacious enough to wear them while going out. We’d like to see girls go out with statement headpieces.

To be stylish is to be fashionable. True or False and why?

Mounaz: False, a person can be “stylish” or have a unique sense of style that does not necessarily fall into the category of being updated in fashion, aka fashionable. Sometimes we see people wearing “fashionable” items yet not know how to style them properly.

For the latest on Okhtein’s whereabouts and their glorious collections follow them on Instagram @okhtein. You can also follow them on Facebook: Okhtein or check out their website www.okhtein.com. If you have a question, email them on admin@okhtein.com and if you’re in Egypt, give them a call at (+2) 0120 0027 319. If not, shop them online on www.coterique.com. Okhtein is also available exclusively at Melocoton Boutique (Instagram @melocotonq8) in Kuwait. You can also find them at Creme in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and soon at Blush Boutique in Bahrain.

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bazaar music ’Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin', too’’ - BB King

TWELVE REASONS TO DIE ll

By Ghostface Killah

By The Chemical Brothers

BORN IN THE ECHOES

WORKING GIRL

This, the 10th album by Wu Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, is actually a concept album based on a comic book of the same name. This is the sequel to the original Twelve Reasons To Die, which came out in 2013 and saw Ghostface portraying a fictionalized version of himself in a Spaghetti Western-style story. This new album features guest appearances from Wu-Tang members Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Cappadonna along with William Hart and Killa Sin. For the hip-hop purists, Linear Labs has a vinyl package featuring the instrumentals of Twelve Reasons to Die I and Ill.

The Chemical Brothers are back with a new album called Born in the Echoes, out in July.

Guests on the album include St. Vincent, Beck, Q-Tip, Cate Le Bon, and Ali Love. The First single "Go" featuring Q-Tip, has been out since May. In an interview, Tom Rowlands said, "The most important feature of the album is that it connects with us emotionally in some way. We hope for finding a new way to make you feel. We dream of new sounds and different frames. We have worked with some guest singers but mostly the album is pure Chemical Brothers."

Little Boots will release her third solo album, titled Working Girl in July. It’s an exciting time for fans of the electro-pop artist, born Victoria Christina Hesketh, as the project’s track list and a new song, “Better in the Morning,” hit the Internet ahead of release. After taking a four year break between her first and second albums, Little Boots has cut down the turnaround time for her third effort. The concept album is said to focus on “our hyper-active, paranoid and posturing modern world,” while referencing the film of the same name.

BAD MAGIC

By Little Boots

By Motörhead

By Zahed Sultan

Reyeamsound’

KILL THE LIGHTS

Motörhead will celebrate their 40th year as a band with an equally huge feat: releasing their 22nd studio album. The speed metal group announced Bad Magic on their official site along with an August release date. Singer and bassist Lemmy Kilmister first indicated that the band would work on new material in September 2014 during an interview with radio show Full Metal Jackie. He revealed that they would "probably" enter the studio in January, though it was still tentative at the time. "We don't have a plan," he explained. "Motörhead never has a plan."

Reyeamsound’ is a significant departure from Zahed Sultan’s previously released works of music. It resides in a more alternative space and is made up of intricate song arrangements that take their time to wind and weave. Inspired by vulnerability and aspiring to evoke emotion, the album embodies prominent elements of live instrumentation as well as improvised textures.

With lyrical content gathered from perceptions at the forefront of cultural development in the Arab world and beyond, several discourses are confronted; the disconnect between community and capitalism, where lost love meets social justice. The power of the album is in this defeat, whereby listeners are encouraged to embark on an emotional journey of rhythm, rhyme, and release.

2015 is the year for new music from Luke Bryan.

The singer announced Kill the Lights will drop in August, but hasn’t revealed too much more about which songs or songwriters he’ll pick for the project. The track listing for this album has not yet been announced. Typically Bryan’s songs haven’t served as auto-biographies, with the exception of the personal “Drink a Beer.” That means it’s unlikely you’ll hear much about Bryan’s recent household changes, or any struggles he and his wife have experienced together. In any case, fans of country music should look forward to this latest offering.

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By Luke Bryan

ameican eagle

SPRUCE UP YOUR HOME THIS SUMMER Find the perfect fit with AAW Furniture by bazaar staff

Dusty weather getting you down? Is your outdoor seating area starting to look boring and bland? Freshen things up this season and turn your patio, deck or garden this summer into a beautifully designed set-up that offers both comfort and style with the outdoor furniture collection from AAW. As a leader in the furniture industry in Kuwait since 1947, this season AAW Furniture are offering gorgeous outdoor looks for the taking, full of delicate knits, intricate details and neon brights. Your visitors will be showering you with compliments at your next gathering, and some will even be green with envy! Follow our tips below to help find your perfect outdoor set: 1. SELECT YOUR MATERIAL When it comes to outdoor furniture and choosing the type of material to set the tone of the area, the choices are endless! From cedar, oak, teak, and wicker to cast aluminum, each material presents itself with different factors to bear in mind. When it comes to picking the right material for Kuwait, it is best to work with wood. It does not absorb heat, and tends to be rot-resistant and lightweight, especially if you use cedar or oak. The natural oils found in cedar wood preserve it from insect damage, decay and moisture, while the density of wood found in teak also helps protect your set from decay.

In most backyards, cast aluminum is used. It is lightweight, durable (can be exposed to rain), and affordable, does not rust, provides a polished appearance, and is available in a variety of colors.

However, it should be avoided in Kuwait’s summers as it absorbs heat.

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2. SELECT YOUR STYLE Once your space is determined and you’ve decided on the type of material to use, next comes style! Select a style that compliments the exterior of your home and fits the space you are filling. When it comes to sizing, if the area is round or squared, then it is suggested to go for a round seating arrangement with even seating on both ends. A typical set-up includes a table, four to six chairs, action/stationary chairs, end or wide tables and a chaise. Style should always be dependent on your own, as well as the exterior of your home. Outdoor furniture styles include casual, contemporary, traditional and Tuscan.

A casual setting carries natural colors such as browns and whites, with darker tones such as maroon or navy used for contrast. Casual style works best in gardens or backyards filled with trees and grass. Contemporary settings consist of clean lines and sleek, fresh designs and neutral colors such as black, dark brown, or white with bold tones such as cherry red used for accent. Contemporary style is simple, smooth, consists of straight lines with heavy uses of stone, metal and glass.

Traditional settings are most common, consisting of classic pieces as part of the same set. Traditional style colors are available in a variety of tones or printed fabric that may include patterns, prints and shapes. Tuscan settings consist of vintage pieces, rustic looks and natural elements such as plants, fountains, statues, and walkways or patios with stone or brick. Many Tuscan styles consist of brick, ochre, terracotta, gold, browns, greens and blues mixed with neutral tones or beige and browns.

3. SELECT YOUR DETAILS When it comes to decorating outdoors, intricate details are key. To fill the seating area, an allweather rug will be an important piece, particularly during hot summer months. Lighting, lanterns, and candles are key to set a mood after sunset, while firepits are great for those cool nights. Adding more plants, urns, statues, fountains or greenery go a long way, helping draw attention to the details of your outdoor home as well as making it cozier and comfortable for your family, friends and guests.

Want to know more about AAW’s furniture?

Follow Ali Abdulwahab Al Mutawa Commercial Co. on Instagram @AAWFURNITURE, contact the hotline at 180 4449 or one of the following AAW showrooms - Al Dajeej: 2226 1720 / Al Shuwaikh: 2226 1890 For more information visit: www.aaw.com.

the promenade

BILBAYT, YOUR GATHERING MADE SIMPLE Bilbayt introduces Kuwait’s first digital casual catering platform By bazaar staff

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I

t’s Monday afternoon, and you are already worried about the Friday gathering you set up in your home with the girls.

Everyone has confirmed, but you have no clue what you are going to do about food. Never much of a cook, you have a couple of tried and true catering concepts saved on your phone. Yet, this time, you are looking for something different.

So you pick up the phone and call a concept your friend recommended. You are on hold for five minutes before the catering department comes on the phone. You ask if they have availability, and are on hold for another 10 minutes. Finally, your date and time is confirmed, but now you have the daunting task of going through the entire menu on the phone.

“I have that issue,” said Latifa Benessa co-founder and Business Developer of Bilbayt.com. “Honestly, although I would love to know how to cook and everything, I don’t. When we have gatherings I’m always running around. The extra thing is the food. It’s just such a hassle.”

Benessa, along with her husband Ahmed Salamah and his long time friend Ali Al-Awadi, launched Kuwait’s first digital casual catering service Bilbayt.com. Both Al-Awadi and Salamah knew they wanted to start a technology-based company together, and that it had to be about food. It was Benessa who, while out to lunch one day with Salamah, identified the challenges of scheduling catering in Kuwait.

They came up with a plan for a website that not only saved you time and energy when setting up the food for your event, it also eliminated much of the headache when dealing with restaurants.

“Imagine calling up a caterer or restaurant and asking what the menu is,” said Salamah. “Some of the restaurants have like 30 items on their menu. Sometimes you have different nationalities, so there is always a language barrier. You also can't see their setup or how the food is served. Imagine all of this and being on the phone. Bilbayt eliminates all of that.”

Using Bilbayt.com is as simple as a few clicks. You enter the date and time, and are presented with a list of available caterers.

You can then click through each one, check their menu, catering and station photos, and special requirements. Concepts like AJ’s Food Truck need a place to park the truck, while Breadz can set up anywhere in your home. Once the order is confirmed, the restaurant will call just to confirm the details, and you, the hostess, can relax until the day of the event.

What makes Bilbayt’s website truly unique is their user experience and the ease of ordering your live cooking station online by immediately identifying the restaurant’s schedule and menu offerings. They also include a checklist of requirements for setup, including electricity, special needs and physical space.

Customers can make requests for female only servers, and any other special needs they may require.

The site, only fully launched in March of 2015 now has contracts with almost thirty restaurants, some of which never offered catering before Bilbayt. Behind the screen, the team offers consulting services for the menu creation and development of a catering concept. It’s this personal commitment, Al-Awadi says, that has strengthened their business.

“We usually start with the owner, who directs us to the person in charge of catering, who directs us to marketing,” said Al-Awadi. “So we have to balance all these people. It’s good because we have a personal relationship with them. They know that we are on the ground and doing the work ourselves.”

The team has also recently launched a mini catering service for those of us who cannot facilitate a live cooking station, like hosting smaller parties in apartments and meetings in an office.

The new packages are designed by the Bilbayt team, and will offer ready-made boxes for a small party of 10 – 50 people.

So whether it’s a small gathering or a big party, check out Bilbayt.com. Leave the food to them, so you can enjoy your guests.

To make an order or find out more information check out their website bilbayt.com. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @Bilbayt.

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LET THE KZ GAMEZ BEGIN!

KidZania launches the KZ GameZ as part of their 2nd anniversary celebrations By bazaar staff

If your little ones are feeling the heat from the great outdoors this summer (I mean, who isn’t?) then break the routine of staying indoors and allow them to engage in awesome fun games while making new friends at KidZania Kuwait!

Considered as this fun facility’s game event of the season, the KZ GameZ allows your children to compete in a series of challenging, but always fun, games. Winners who make it to the top of the scoreboard win a wide array of exciting and everso-Kool prizes! Winners with the highest overall scores after each challenge will be given special prizes which range from winners’ certificates, entry tickets to KidZania, a whopping 100 kidZos – that is also KidZania’s official currency – and goody bags from KidZania’s National Store.

The KZ GameZ program has been launched for the very first time in KidZania Kuwait, and follows in the thrilling footsteps of the Winter Festival and the Kids for a Greener World program.

What’s different this time is that the edutainment activities reach a next level, where children are given a sense of competition and excitement for winning potential prizes!

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The six-week event is actually a part of a greater celebration for this establishment that is all about fun and education, where KidZania in Kuwait celebrates turning two! The six-week event kicked off last month on the 7th of June and will continue until the 18th of July. Launched as part of KidZania’s second anniversary celebrations, the program features six exciting challenges every week.

Rather than leaving the little ones in front of the TV all summer long, they can now enjoy a variety of games that are both fun and educational, as the KZ GameZ are prepared to hone kids’ intellectual, physical and social skills including coordination, balance and persistence. From speed stacking, naming the capitals of the world, to the loudest shout, it is fun on the go for kids at the KZ GameZ. There are weekly regular challenges, like Speed Cup Stacking! Your kids will be competing on who could pile cups on top of each other to make the highest stack. Another fun weekly challenge is the Most T-Shirts In A Minute, where kids compete on who could put on as many t-shirts as you can in a minute! The funnest weekly challenge, one that should be made available for adults, is the Loudest Shout Challenge whereby, the loudest yell wins!

For the period of July 2 to July 8, the KZ GameZ program includes a CD Flip competition, where the child who flips the most CDs in a minute wins. Also on the roster of challenges is the delectable M&M Mania competition! Kids will compete on who is the fastest to sort M&Ms with a set of tweezers; they just need to resist eating them. Finally, music fans will enjoy the final challenge of the week, where the child who holds a musical note for the longest time wins!

For the final period of KZ GameZ, from July 9 to July 18, a Clothespin Coverage competition awaits. Let your kids practice their chores with this challenge, as they would have to pin the most clothespins on clothes in a given time limit! The Sock Sorter Supreme will be equally entertaining for parents to observe, as your kids would have to compete in sorting socks into pairs as quickly as possible! Finally, the Spin to Win challenge will offer fun for all, as the kid who spins a coin for the longest time wins!

KidZania Kuwait is a (7,000 square meter) facility, located in The Mall - The Avenues. For more information visit www.kidzania.com.kw and follow KidZania online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube @KidZaniaKuwait.

cliffs

bazaar apps Literally at your fingertips

GOOGLE PHOTOS

HOUND

POPCORN BUZZ

HANGKEYS

SPARK

KAMCORD

If, like most people, you have thousands of photos on a hard drive, doing nothing and in no kind of order, you need Google Photos, one of the biggest apps released so far this year. If you have read anything about it, almost certainly you will have only seen glowing and great things. A virtual personal assistant that arranges your photos to a point that you appreciate old pictures that you previously thought were worthless. Go read more, right now and then download it. You read it first here in bazaar, and you can thank us later!

This app is perhaps a tad overkill for personal use, however at its most basic, Popcorn Buzz lets you connect with friends through a phone call — just like the good ol’ days. But here’s the trick, you can add up to 200 people to the call. Is that excessive? Well, yeah probably. But the technical feat is pretty impressive considering services like Skype only support 25 people on a call at once. This might be more directed at businesses that want to have confrence calls with clients, but even your average user can benefit from the added feature.

There are a lot of great email clients out there, and at first glance, Spark seems pretty similar to what we’ve already seen. The UI reminds us of Acompli (or Outlook), but Spark does have a neat design element where it smartly batches similar emails together so you can easily consume, read and delete email quickly. There’s a stressful moment I face every day when I log in to Gmail and see 100+ unread messages. If Spark can help lessen that moment of dread, I’m all in.

Another advantage is that it is free, so, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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Do you need a voice assistant, but don’t like to use Google Now? Try Hound for Android. It’s a surprise competitor that’s actually pretty quick with answers, considering it’s not built into an operating system like Siri, Google Now and Cortana. Much like Google Now, you activate the assistant by saying, “OK, Hound.” One missing feature is that it doesn’t actually talk back, so it’ll be a pretty one-sided conversation. If you want the ability to have a voice assistant on your phone but don’t like the idea of using the inbuilt stock options, Hound is worth a shot.

When we were in high school and needed to kill a few minutes, we’d usually turn to our closest friend and play a quick game of Hangman. It’s fast, easy, everyone knows the rules, and it supports a strange antiquated way of capital punishment.

But when we were in high school, smartphones weren’t really a thing, so now — we imagine — we’d be using HangKeys instead. It’s a keyboard for iOS specifically built so you can play Hangman with anyone via SMS. It’s not exactly going to revolutionize the way we use our personal pocket computers, but it’s fun nonetheless.

This screen recording app allows you to record your Android gameplay seamlessly – the app targets gameplay footage (it pauses outside of games) and allows you to record the voice-over audio as well, which in turn leads to easy-to-make 'Let’s Play' videos. After recording the footage, you can easily share it within the app and build a fanbase around your profile. While this is no Twitch or YouTube, it might allow you to target the Android audiences that you might not be able to easily find on other 'Let’s Play' platforms. There is always someone willing to watch 'Let’s Plays'.

chrysler

MATCHA MADNESS It's a thing

By Elizabeth Segran

It's a potent Japanese green-tea powder that leaves you craving for another hit. If you’re a New York City dweller, you’ve probably already sampled this latest drink obsession. During New York Fashion Week, models were spotted sipping bright green matcha instead of energy drinks.

Matcha is on the menu at eateries across the city: David Chang sprinkles matcha powder on dishes in his tasting menu at Momofuku Ko; Voila Chocolat serves it on top of hot chocolate, while Maman offers a matcha-infused almond latte; you can have it prepared according to the rituals of a Japanese tea ceremony at Cha-an or Ippodo. Williamsburg, naturally, is now host to the nation’s first dedicated matcha cafe, MatchaBar. The path to one's matcha obsession usually starts the same way. Graham Fortgang, who launched MatchaBar with his brother last year, tells me that he was in search of an alternative to coffee that was powerful enough to fuel his busy life, but that did not lead to acid reflux, jitteriness, and the inevitable energy crash. He chanced upon matcha at a tea shop and was hooked: the drink produced sustained energy for several hours that petered out in a mellow fashion. "There’s a lot of science to why this happens," Fortgang explains.

"The caffeine molecules in matcha are binding to catechin, an antioxidant that is found in green tea leaves. It slows down the release of the caffeine, so what we’re getting is extended-release caffeine."

To simplify matcha for new drinkers, the Fortgangs identified their favorite high-quality tea leaves from Nishio, Japan, imported them, and packaged it all under their own private MatchaBar label. They then set up a physical store that would allow customers to feel the effects of the beverage firsthand and learn 58

how to make it at home. This approach has worked well: business has been booming, and on a good day, they sell 450 cups of matcha.

MatchaBar offers a modern, unique interpretation of matcha. Apart from the straight shots, they have created a wide variety of matcha drinks that would be familiar to crowds who grew up with fancy coffee beverages. If you like macchiatos, they offer a "matchiato." If you like your fall pumpkin spice latte, they offer a cinnamon spice hemp milk matcha latte. They have also modernized the art of blending matcha into hot water by selling matcha kits with a metal electric whisk. "We try and put it in terms that are relatable to people by taking on the template of an espresso bar," Graham Fortgang says.

Panatea, a New York-based startup launched last year by husband-and-wife team David Mandelbaum and Jessica Lloyd, takes a totally different approach to matcha. They’re thinking way beyond New York to the rest of the country— even the world. "Matcha started in New York as trends often do, but it is having a ripple effect," Lloyd says. "There is not one state in the U.S. in which we don’t have a customer. We also have loyal customers in Australia, Africa, France, and Guam."

Rather than launching with a store, their entire business takes place online, where the brand introduces consumers to the art of making a cup of matcha at home. The Panatea team worked closely with Satoko Mori, a Japanese tea master, to identify a tea leaf that was both exquisite but also appealing to the American palate, and began to import it under their own label. They also tried to learn as much about the tea ceremony as possible to inform the tea set they designed. "We wanted to make sure we did not bastardize matcha in any way," Mandelbaum

says. They sell matcha sets for USD 59 (KD 18), which includes one tin of powder, and customers can purchase more powder on the site when the tin runs out. Coffee and tea bars can also buy Panatea’s matcha powder wholesale. In a year, they’ve attracted 40 wholesale accounts and close to 5,000 individual customers who have bought tea sets.

There is a slow, elaborate tea ceremony that accompanies matcha in Japan; Panatea wants to introduce this art to consumers. "Our goal is to bring matcha, this ancient ritual that has been around since the 12th century, into people’s homes," Lloyd says. "We want them to be able to take a meditative pause as they are making it and sipping it."

For Panatea, the struggle has been to balance bringing the sacredness of this process to the American market without losing consumers by making it too complicated. They’ve tried to simplify tea making as much as possible with product design. Their website is very clean, and the brand only offers one variety of high-grade ceremonial tea to cut down the number of decisions a consumer has to make. The tea set has a spoon that measures out exactly how much matcha to use, and there’s a line on the glass drinking bowl that explains exactly how much water to pour..

While MatchaBar is reinventing matcha for an American audience, Panatea wants to hearken back to matcha’s ancient Japanese roots. And while MatchaBar wants to fuel the passions of busy New Yorkers chasing their dreams, Panatea is all about slowing life down a bit and taking the time to reflect. MatchaBar’s bottled matcha will be a fast-paced alternative to Panatea’s more meditative approach to whisking your own tea at home. Is Kuwait next?

Refresh your

Summer Shopping souq sharq

www.souqsharqmall.com

Tel.: 22415645 - 22410975 Ext.: 207/208

@souq_sharq

Fax: 22428107

@souqsharq

P.O. Box 22644 Safat 13087 Kuwait

NOT YOUR ORDINARY, EVERYDAY

DJ

By Lynda Higgs

If, like me, you’ve ever been stuck on one of Kuwait’s arterial routes during the lunchtime/school run/shift change rush hour traffic, you’ve probably tuned into The Drive Back show hosted by DJ Maha. With her non-regional English accent, Arabic name, eclectic playlist, and close to no online presence, Maha intrigues people and I thought it was time to get to know her a little better.

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uwaiti-born Maha is warm, thoughtful, funny and friendly in person – pretty much how she sounds on the radio. Having spent her childhood years in the UK, she returned to Kuwait in her teens before completing a degree in Mass Communications and Art at Intercollege, Nicosia. Spending her formative years in the UK has clearly had a strong influence on Maha’s musical taste.

As anyone who listens to her show will confirm; she is a huge fan of 80s post punk, new wave and electronic artists, including The Smiths, New Order and The Cure.

After completing her degree, Maha returned to Kuwait and briefly worked in retail, but it wasn’t where her heart was and it was at this point, in 2003 that her mother suggested applying to RKFM. They were looking for a DJ for their Late Night Lounge slot, which turned out to be perfect for her creative style and diverse taste in music.

So what got Maha into music originally? “Gary Newman! The Pleasure Principle album in its entirety was genius. It was ground breaking and experimental and it’s amazing how it’s being referenced and sampled even today. Our Friend’s Electric, for example, which came out in the late 70s, is still being sampled today.

He experimented with electronica, found sounds (tin cans, etc) and crossed over with something that shouldn’t have been according to the rules at the time.

His work hugely influenced subsequent bands, right up to today.” Whilst the 80s had a strong influence on her early musical tastes, Maha is always equally on the look-out for new bands and sounds, particularly anything that is crossover and derives influences from traditional sounds like Afrobeat and Rai. When Maha joined RKFM, all the prime time shows were live, but these days most of the daytime programming isn’t. I observed that a live DJ brings so much more to a show. Even if they aren’t always to everyone’s taste, it makes the listening experience more interactive than having an automated playlist. “Yes, a live show is more engaging, but for whatever reason, there aren’t many live DJs on the station at the moment. It’d be great to get new talent on the station, but…who knows?”

After a few years of presenting LNL, she took a break, but returned to the airwaves when she was asked to present The Drive Back. “I was hesitant at first as I knew I’d have to play more mainstream music, including pop, which was an adjustment and I wasn’t sure about it initially. I’ve managed to find a way to play 'my music', particularly with 'Alternative Tuesday', and still cater to a wider audience. I’ve also grown to like (some) pop music, but I love that I have listeners who only tune in on Sundays (Oldies) and Tuesdays (Alternative). When it comes to putting together my

shows, it’s sort of both planned and organic. At the start of a show I will play a mainstream or dance number to get it going, but then I’ll blend a more alternative or indie track in amongst the pop and genre-referenced tracks.

I do need to be organized and have an idea in mind for each show and have prepared a playlist, which allows me to be organic and react to listener’s requests. Also, it’s really important, when you go on the radio, to leave whatever happens outside out of the studio at the door and not bring it on air with you. So being prepared, but equally there are times when I say: “You know what?

I’m not having the greatest day and I thought it’d be nice to listen to a chilled out, acoustic track,” and I will ask listeners to let me know what their favorite acoustic track is and I’ll just go with it.”

So, I wondered, does anyone ever react with surprise that a female DJ is playing such diverse and nonmainstream tracks? Maha laughs: “Yes! I had Matuto on my show last year, a band from NY who were brought here by the U.S embassy, and they were really shocked when they were in the studio with me. They said “We’re here in Arabia being interviewed by a woman and she’s talking to us about bands from NY that we play with!”

That women are often underestimated means they regularly surprise people with their passion for music and the breadth of their musical knowledge; it can be [continued...]

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John Peel and The Peel Sessions – he’s my idol, he is what I want to be (in DJ terms). I want to expose these artists. He knew if a band had “it” and he was like “these guys are good and he put them on (air).” I know there isn’t a universal love for Alternative Tuesdays, but my listeners support it and hopefully I can take it further and use it as medium to introduce new talent to my listeners. I’m also really lucky to have a lot of support and this makes such a difference. In fact, the reason it’s called Super Station – well, it’s run by super women! From production to presenting, it’s almost all women and it happened organically. We are very lucky with our extraordinary boss, Sheikha Shejoun Al Sabah.

She gave us the freedom to do what we do – within some limits, of course. This station exists because of her! Of course, it would be great to have more live shows, primetime shows, with diverse DJs on the station – currently there are only two male DJs, Aki in the mornings and DJ Rakesh at night.”

After a long, laughter-filled conversation, I asked if I could take a photo of her but Maha deferred: “The reason some DJs don’t last is because they’re there to promote themselves or they think of themselves as celebrities…well, we’re actually here to provide a service to people. We’re making someone’s day with music, so if someone’s here to self-promote, if they come on the radio thinking they’re going to be famous… It’s about the music on radio - this is a service. People forget that and then it doesn’t work” Clearly Maha lives for music and it is as much part of her life as breathing and eating, so before saying goodbye I had to ask: “If you were to host your own Peel Sessions - or The Maha Sessions - which three local artists would you feature?”

1. Empty 1/4 (Ahmed Jaafar) 2. Galaxy Juice 3. Yousif Yaseen “And your dream The Drive Back playlist would be…?” an advantage. “That’s the thing, women are always underestimated and it’s presumed that we don’t know about certain genres or aren’t drawn to them. For instance, DJ Bonita, who’s on in the evenings, is not only really good at what she does, but her wealth of knowledge about hip-hop is amazing. She’s a great personality on air and she educates people on hip-hop as a genre – she is so passionate about it and she’s so well-informed that it shines through.”

One of the freedoms of doing a show like The Drive Back and having a reputation for an eclectic musical taste means Maha can interview musicians and singers from diverse genres, as well as people who use music to cross over into other arts and forms of expression.

Maha and I further discussed what has traditionally been classified as ‘World Music’ crossing over and becoming mainstream, either when an artist works with a famous producer, or mainstream artists sample traditional sounds or someone features alongside a mainstream

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artist (Cheb Khaled working with Pitbull on ‘Hiya Hiya’ a few years ago, being an example). ”Yes! For example, a band like Vampire Weekend, taking Afro-beat and mixing it with mainstream stuff, and allowing it to cross over to the mainstream. Talking Heads started it back in the 80s, but lately it’s being brought into mainstream music. I think that hip-hop is saving music by doing this.

They’re mixing these amazing sounds, which is a good thing, but sometimes…well, I hope they don’t neglect to credit or reference the source.”

Always keen to interview and promote local and regional talent, Maha is looking for new artists when she visits locations across the region. “In fact, I went to Bahrain a couple of weeks ago just to check out the music scene and I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of support their bands and singers have locally.”

I asked if she believed there was the potential to develop Kuwaiti and regional artists if there were a regular DJdriven show along the lines The Peel Sessions? “I LOVE

1. Broadcast - 'Come On Let's Go' 2. Talking Heads - 'This Must Be The Place' 3. Beatles - 'The Sun King' 4. Peace - 'California Dayz' 5. Bibio - 'You Won't Remember' 6. Grizzly Bear - 'Ready, Able' 7. Allah-Las - 'Catamaran' 8. Velvet Underground & Nico -'I'll Be Your Mirror' 9. Beach House - '10 Mile Stereo' 10. Vashti Bunyan - 'Train Song'

Tune into Maha’s ‘The Drive Back’ show on 99.7FM from 1-3 P.M, Sunday to Thursday, or listen online at media.gov.kw.

Find Lynda at www.LyndaHiggsPhotography.com or on Instagram @thesometimephotographer.

eastpack

bookworms

PAM’S LABYRINTH The ultimate reading list – according to Pam By bazaar staff

Welcome to Pam’s Labyrinth – the wild creative that designs this magazine. But alas, no more, for she is leaving us, and this maze of sorts, into the capable hands of another. Yet the labyrinth will never be the same without this mad designer, and we begrudgingly attempt to move on. But not before one last hurrah: I, resident bookworm, dedicate this column to our very own Cheshire Cat – Fforde’s Cheshire Cat that is, the librarian. To Pam, because we’ll all miss you terribly and I’ll miss getting random book suggestions from you. Let us venture into her book world and some of her book proposals.

There are two kinds of people in our world, squibs and muggles – we’ve all given up hope on being proper wizards as the sad but eminent truth set in: we’re too old to catch the train to Hogwarts.

According to Pam, that is but a lie. She is in fact a wizard while the rest of us are mere muggles.

Confused? FOR SHAME! If you haven’t picked up the Harry Potter series yet, do it now! Action, drama, friendship, and tragedy all lay between the pages of this magical series. Live the tales of loyalty and 64

bask in the glory of wisdom, these books have proven time and time again that knowledge is power. Oh Professor Dumbledore, your insight has taken us far in life. We might be born muggles but deep down, we can all be wizards.

“This book is life-altering! You have to read it!”

Those were her exact words when she suggested I read All The Bright Places by one Jennifer Niven.

While I might have not exactly started reading it – I found a copy at the airport and haven’t had the chance to properly sit down with it – the story does seem compelling to read. Like those books you pick up one evening with a good ol’ cuppa then suddenly you have three pages left, your tea’s gone cold, and you have to go to work. This intense work of Young Adult fiction revisits the tale of life and death while shedding a very real spotlight on the struggles of mental illnesses. Spoiler alert: you will cry! Also, give this book a chance and read it the way the author intended – with a paperback or hard cover in hand and not a soft copy off your e-reader/tablet.

My last suggestion for the summer was tricky to find – Pam suggests at least two books a month.

After careful consideration though, I have come to a conclusion: we must take a moment to salute all the fanfiction writers out there. In my humble opinion, they invest blood, sweat and tears into their borrowed stories with zero expectations from the outside world. To understand how a fanfiction author operates and what their thought process and lives are usually like, I suggest none other than Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. It’s an easy read that’s as light as popcorn. It’ll make you laugh, giggle and in parts, shed a tear or two – but it’s a lot of fun.

Besides, beach season restarts soon and you’ll be itching for a book to read whilst tanning!

And just like that we say goodbye to our bookish designer – may your journeys take you to spectacular places and your adventures be epic. Keep suggesting books, and as always, I’ll keep reading them!

If you find yourself intrigued enough to read some actual fanfiction, check out www.fanfiction.net. On a different note, tune in next time for some more awesome reads. Carpe Libro everyone!

safat home

CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE IN 2015

By Bibi Al-Falah

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MY

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Remember when phones didn’t have cameras?

Remember when Whatsapp didn’t exist? When one simple SMS telling someone where and when you would meet them was enough? Remember a time when the word “Snapchat” would have no significance? I remember, and I miss those times.

I understand the concept of sharing a moment with the people you love, but how much could you possibly love the 40+ people on your Snapchat list? How much do you love your hundreds of followers on Instagram? I can’t imagine you love them as much as you love their perception of what you’re posting and what that might imply about you as a person and the lifestyle that you lead. How “cool” that post makes your life appear to be. What is the real source of the pleasure that stems from how many likes we generate on a social media post? How can it be quantified?

It’s wonderful to share experiences with others but we must also decide where to draw the line.

When you begin to base outfit choices, outings, and even vacations on what would look the most envy-worthy on Instagram, is the same moment that you need to decide what your life is really 66

worth and how you are spending it. I apologize for any offense that this article might cause to some people, but there are some things that have to be said that are simply not.

First of all, every member of the human race with a smartphone has completely lost touch with reality and what it means to be in the moment, myself included. Why is it that in a room full of our best friends, we are on our phones trying to see what our mere acquaintances are up to? Why is it that it’s not enough to live a moment and capture it on a camera, but we need to create a virtual storyboard and share it with a bunch of random friends that may or may not see it that day? Why do we let people into the inner most parts of our lives, from who we deal with on a day-to-day basis to what songs we listen to in the car just to have something to add to our so called “story”? What kind of story do you want to tell? Personally, I’d rather have one great story with someone important to me that was told in spoken words and in person, than a thousand stories compiled over pictures and video content with “friends” on a list. My biggest fear is that by the time our children are born, they won’t

even learn how to write with a pen. Call it nostalgic, call it old fashioned, call it whatever you want to call it, but I am so grateful to have grown up in the 90s and not today.

Personally, I find it really hard to find a new human connection with someone. It’s rare to meet a person now that isn’t hopelessly addicted to capturing the time we are spending together on a post of some sort. I was in Dubai recently and there was a table of at least six girls next to my friends and me. Not a single one of them was talking to the other. Every single girl was looking down at her phone. It just makes me sad to see how much our reality has become so blurred with our virtual reality.

Not to be dramatic, but I think this has become a serious problem that is detrimental to our social growth as individuals and in situations that call for group communication. The more focused people become on their virtual connections, the more they lose touch with their real life human ones that actually care and mean something. I am grateful for my friends who still understand this concept, and hope that more people could just take a few steps back and appreciate actually being alive.

marriot2

CELEBRATING

11 YEARS By bazaar staff

Kuwait’s leading provider of fully furnished and serviced office

E stablished

in May 2004 at Araya Center, IO Centers believed by many small business owners as the ultimate solution to their growing concerns of finding the appropriate office facilities. As the first serviced and furnished business space provider in the country, the center’s popularity grew rapidly, which led to the company opening its doors to the second center at Dar Al Awadi, Sharq, Bringing it to a total of 133 offices as well as meeting and conference facilities.

Today, IO Centers celebrates its fast growing network of upscale, affordable and ready-to-use

business spaces with the company’s 11th anniversary.

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In order to develop our newly established business, we needed to impress our visitors, suppliers and clients with a easy to access office location. We needed to have full support from a professional team providing us with communication tools, meeting rooms and reliable furniture, hardware etc. But we also needed to minimize the recurring expenses.

With IO Centers, compromising is not an option on all of the above. All our focus was on improvement of our business while IO Centers took care of the rest of our needs. We are still enjoying the hassle-free business environment for the past 8 years!!

In fact I have been in IO Centers for the last seven years and to be honest I am quite satisfied from the services you are providing not to me only but to other offices as well.

For me it’s an ideal location which could not be for the others but still I believe that it is a quite suitable place to do business in a peaceful atmosphere.

Services of IO Centers, have been extremely satisfactory and they have been providing great services as and when required. We are happy and satisfied with IOCenters. The best thing we liked was the prompt services of the staff. We would surely recommend their services to our friends and others.

Jihad Arnaout Regional Sales Manager

Elian Farah Owner

Mohamad Jradi General Manager

Eleven years ago, IO Centers was established at the Arraya Center, Kuwait with the vision to become a trusted provider of modern, fully-serviced office spaces, a mission to understand client requirements, and provide services and facilities with the highest standard of quality, reliability and professionalism.

In February 2006, IO Centers opened a brand new center in Dar Al Awadi, an architectural icon of prominence, prestige and pride, located in the heart of the capital with a beautiful view of the Persian Gulf.

In 2009, IO Centers became an ISO 9001:2008 certified organization, recognizing that its policies, practices and procedures ensure consistent quality and the highest efficiency in the services provided to clients.

Today, IO Centers continues its legacy and mission to provide ready-to-use office spaces located in prime locations for

both short-term and long-term purposes.

They also provide fully equipped office packages, ranging from small suites to large open layouts, for small businesses, large corporations and emerging startups.

Eliminating the need for up front capital expenditures and inflexible, costly long-term leases, IO Centers allows clients to select a term that works best for them and upgrade their office space as their business grows.

All office spaces are equipped with beautiful, modern furniture and finishing, offering clients the luxury to work in comfort and present a professional work environment and look to their own business associates.

IOC also offers a wide range of facilities and services catering to a client’s every business need including premium furnished office suites, multilingual secretarial services, local business facilitation and processing service, conference rooms, reception area, advanced Cisco IP phones, technical

services - high speed internet access, fully secured with 24/7 access, hospitality services and daily office cleaning.

In keeping with the IO Centers' goals to provide modern, innovative services, IO Centers offers clients special virtual office packages to provide all the facilities of a business space without paying for a physical office.

In the last eleven years, IO Centers has demonstrated a standard of excellence, culture of innovation and a relentless pursuit of perfection through its wonderful decade of achievements, dedicated employees and loyal customers and clients. They aim to continue to nurture a corporate environment of excellence and deliver incredible service to their current and future clients.

To learn more about IO Centers, visit www.iocenters.com, or call 2232 2999.

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big boys toys Because grown men still need to play

PHASE ONE XF CAMERA

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2016 BMW X1

Let's be honest: odds are, you don't need this camera. But that doesn't mean you can't want it.

Packed with an abundance of professional-grade features, the Phase One XF Camera is built to be the only camera you'll ever need. Its modular design can accommodate different viewfinders and digital backs, which currently include both a solid glass prism viewfinder and a waist-level finder, as well as backs ranging from 50 to 80 megapixels, all of which provide outstanding dynamic range, unrivaled color rendition, and more resolution than you'll ever need. It's compatible with a family of over 60 lenses.

Designed for the military. Available to the public.

The Ripsaw EV2 Luxury Tank is designed to handle any terrain or obstacle in style. Arriving in all-black, this high-speed vehicle is based on the fastest dual-tracked vehicle ever deployed, the unmanned Ripsaw MS1. In addition to its obvious off-road prowess, it also has a diesel engine putting out over 600 horsepower and an upscale interior with features like leather seating and a touchscreen entertainment system. We have seen some weird and wacky vehicles in various places of Kuwait… how long will it be until we can tick this tank off the list also?

The offroad capability of an SUV in a city-friendly form. That's the idea behind the 2016 BMW X1.

Improvements include way more room for both passengers and cargo, a taller body with a raised seating position that gives a better view of the road, and a series of five new four-cylinder engines — two gas, three diesel — offering between 150 and 230 hp, and paired with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed Steptronic transmission.

More aggressive body styling, a re-engineered xDrive all-wheel-drive system, and available HeadUp Display and Driving Assist features round out the highlights of this all-new model.

www.uncrate.com

www.uncrate.com

www.uncrate.com

TOUCHJET TOUCH SCREEN PROJECTOR

PRISMA SKATEBOARD GUITARS

AP BRIAN REDMAN EDITION WATCH

It fits in the palm of your hand. Yet its screen is larger than anything you can fit in your backpack.

The Touchjet Touch Screen Projector combines the innards of a tablet with a projector and an optical sensor, allowing the projected image to work as a giant 80" touch screen. It has 4GB of flash storage and another 16GB on an internal SD card, a 1.6Ghz dual-core processor, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and offers compatibility with apps from the Google Play store. Arrives with a remote, as well as two styluses for interacting directly with the screen.

The worlds of rock music and skateboarding aren't that far apart, but they are truly combined in the form of these Prisma Skateboard Guitars. Built using wood from broken and used skateboards, each guitar is legitimately one of a kind. The beautiful instruments use anywhere between 4 and 44 skateboards before they are completed by the 22 year old self-taught woodworker who creates each one from scratch. Hours of skating get recycled into hours of strumming in the form of these truly unique pieces of musical art. Now, who’s up for pioneering a new genre of Board Rock?

Racing legend Brian Redman enjoyed success during the '60s and '70s, one of the most challenging eras of driving. One of his more notable wins was in a red and white Porsche 908/02, in which he outlasted a Ferrari at the Nurburgring. The Autodromo Prototipo Brian Redman Edition Watch celebrates his career, with a nod to that specific car coming in its red and white face. Limited to 500 pieces, the 48mm x 42mm timepiece has a stainless steel case — the first 100 pieces are covered in 18K gold plate — and it's powered by a Seiko VK63 chronograph movement.

www.uncrate.com

www.uncrate.com

www.uncrate.com

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v-kool

THE HOLLYWOOD RESTAURANT THAT GROWS THE FOOD BY YOUR TABLE

By Adele Peters

One restaurant is adopting a drought-friendly kind of farming. At the Hollywood location of Tender Greens, a California fast food chain that serves salads and sandwiches, diners are surrounded by next week's lunch: A forest of aeroponic towers grows everything from peas and strawberries to squash and bell peppers.

"We've always been interested in growing on -site," says Erik Oberholtzer, co-founder of Tender Greens. "But all of our restaurants are in high-density urban areas, so aside from a few planter boxes we thought there was nothing beyond decorative that we could ever do."

When the founders began researching vertical gardens, they learned about aeroponic towers made by a company called Green City Farms — basically, plant-filled poles. "They're perfect for our patios because there's not much energy needed and the water usage is minuscule," Oberholtzer says. "We can grow 44 plants per tower. In Hollywood we have 24 towers, and they're just popping with all kinds of fruits and vegetables."

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Once a week, the restaurant harvests produce from the towers and uses it in a daily special.

"It's fun for chefs," he says. "They're absolutely connected to the plants, because they've been watching them grow all week."

With the restaurant's high demand, the towers can only provide a tiny fraction of the food served (and, sadly, diners can't harvest their own greens to put directly in a salad). But the towers serve as a visible sign of the company's bigger shift to ultra-efficient farming as California's drought worsens. Hydroponic farming can save as much as 90% of the water that would be used to grow food in the field.

"We're all in on controlled environment agriculture," says Oberholtzer. "This sets the occasion for us to have a conversation with our guests around the future of farming and the role that we intend to play in that."

Eventually, the restaurant hopes to source as much as 60% of the produce it buys from aeroponic or hydroponic systems. When we spoke on the phone, Oberholzer had just

come from installing a new aeroponic system at Scarborough Farms, a large farm north of LA that supplies much of the company's vegetables. They also buy from Alegria Farm, a parking-lot sized urban farm in Orange County that uses hydroponics.

They also hope to work with startups using hydroponics indoors. "In the city, we can reactivate old warehouses in industrial zones where the rent is relatively cheap but it's central for distribution purposes, adding green jobs and providing food that would otherwise be shipped in," he says.

Indoor technology still faces some challenges from the large amount of energy required for lighting — which is one reason Tender Greens has started with outdoor poles on the patio. "A lot of the indoor technology came out of the herb business," says Oberholzer. "I think everybody got excited about it and then realized that arugula has a different margin, and therefore different economics than marijuana. So we still have to figure out the economics for the energy."

beau-tique

SKATEISTAN

Helping Kids Through Sport By bazaar staff

Though the invention of skateboarding is shrouded in myth, it is known to have been seen in the streets of Southern California as early as the 1950s. These early skaters were surfers looking for a way to continue their sport on the streets; the boards resembled little more than 2X4 pieces of wood with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. It would not be until two decades later that the sport began to resemble anything that we recognize today—the 'Ollie', the first airborne trick invented around this time—opened the door to the growth of this sport. Today, with numerous worldwide events, the skateboarding industry is a global one that continues to grow beyond any expectations.

As with all sports that mature as they gather a worldwide following, skateboarding has in recent years looked for ways to give back to the communities it serves. One of these great organizations is the project known as Skateistan, a nonprofit organization that uses skateboarding as a tool for empowerment. Started by Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich after a 2007 trip to Kabul in which the local kids were all asking to be taught how to skateboard, the organization has tried to spread to larger aims as well. Skateistan is a non-profit whose aim is to “grow a sustainable organization that is recognized locally and globally

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for changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth through skateboarding and quality programs– creating leaders that change the world.”

Skateboarding in Afghanistan may seem a bizarre entrée for sport in the region. However, they believe it is uniquely positioned to aid kids and young girls in particular—another outlet for play.

Since Afghan girls can’t ride a bike for example, but are permitted to skateboard, skating was perceived by the founders as a potential workable way to engage children in sport while respecting local culture as well. Still, skateboarding is just an entrée into whatever other academic adventures the children wish to pursue.

Skateistan's development and aid programs work with growing numbers of marginalized youth through skateboarding by providing them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment programs.

They have also expanded their skateboardbased development activities to include full-time programming for youth in new locations, including Cambodian youth in Phnom Penh, a state-of-the-art learning/skateboarding center in Mazar-e-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan, and a project for youth in Johannesburg, South Africa.

What began as a grassroots 'Sport for Development' project on the streets of Kabul in

2007 is now an award-winning, international NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) with 4 bases in three countries. They are also the first international development initiative to combine skateboarding with educational outcomes.

Non-political, independent, and inclusive of all ethnicities, religions and social backgrounds, the group seeks only to provide opportunities for youth in sports and education. Currently they work with children ages 5-25. At present, 40% of the kids they work with are girls and 60% are low-income youth.

Tony Hawk, a Skateistan ambassador says, “Skateistan is the epitome of what skating is all about” and says that he “honestly share(s) in the excitement those kids feel!” On October 29, 2009, Skateistan completed construction of an all-inclusive skate park and educational facility on 5,428 square meters of land donated by the Afghan National Olympic Committee. The crew at Skateistan has also recently completed a book full of pictures and stories. This 320-page book illustrates with the entire story and would compliment any bookshelf. All the proceeds from the book go towards supporting Skateistan projects.

Learn more about Skateistan by reaching out at www.skateistan.org.

v-kool

PALAU WOW! A world-class scuba diving destination

By Chase Warne

I was sitting on the wing of a well-preserved Japanese Aichi E13A-1 Seaplane from World War Two. In itself, that is pretty cool, but it sounds even better when I add that I was 12 meters underwater off the coast of one of the Pacific’s smallest nations. As my bubbles rose lazily to the surface, I watched dozens of different types of reef fish darting in and out of the coral beneath the plane’s ghostly frame and I could not help thinking of how much I love Kuwait.

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My family and I moved from the UK to Kuwait two years ago for my work. While we had visited the region several times previously for work and holidays, this is the first time we put down proper roots. Kuwait has turned out to be a wonderful experience for many reasons including the friendliness of the people, the different culture and the eternal sunshine.

Kuwait has also proven to be a fantastic springboard to travel to places in the world that would normally have been out of reach from the UK because they would have been prohibitively expensive. In our first 15 months here we visited Jordan, Oman, Myanmar, Malaysia and Djibouti.

We love the sea. Our best times as a family have either been next to it, on it or under it. My wife and I are both sport divers and we have dived in some beautiful places. But we were looking for something a bit different and off the beaten track. After several days of thumbing through

dive magazines and browsing sites on the Internet, we settled on a small group of islands that appeared frequently in ‘top 10’ lists – Palau.

The Republic of Palau is a nation of over 250 islands that sits geographically at the western edge of Micronesia. While it retains close links with the United States for economic and security reasons, it has been an independent and self-governing nation since 1994. It has, however, changed hands quite a few times over the years. Originally inhabited

by Philippine migrants over 3000 years ago, in the last 150 years it has been successively part of the Spanish East Indies, German New Guinea, the Japanese South Pacific Mandate and the United States Trust Territory of Pacific Islands. Notably, the islands hold a special place in the heart of many Americans as it was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the World War Two Pacific Campaign.

[continued...]

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[...continued]

We flew from Kuwait to Manila. There, we took the opportunity to spend a day looking around the bustling and chaotic city, take a stroll around the leafy gardens of Fort Augustin and lunch in Intramuros, a great way to shake off our 12-hour flight. We then picked up a 3 hour connecting flight to Koror and arrived in the early morning darkness. Koror itself didn’t particularly light our fires, but we only stayed until the following morning when we picked up a small boat that took us out to the Ngellil Island Resort on the eastern side of the island chain.

Jungle Paradise As the boat pulled into the small pristine white beach, it was almost impossible to see through the jungle. The single wood and bamboo building gave nothing away of what lay just beyond. If you are looking for a simple, back to nature island hideaway, as we were, then this place ticks all the boxes. As we stepped from the boat and walked through the trees a large grass area opened up inside a natural rock amphitheater. On the far side was a Pacific Longhouse that contained the only eight rooms on the island. Better still, we were the only people staying. We unwound and slowly transformed ourselves into pacific castaways. We explored the island on foot, including climbing to the highest peak which had the most spectacular views; we teased the island’s giant coconut crabs, snorkeled on a sunken Japanese warplane that had been hidden from the advancing Americans in a creek, and began the long series of holiday dives at German Channel and Malakal Wreck. When we left Ngellil Island after four days we were sun-kissed, recharged and full of excitement for what was to come.

Back to Koror, another boat trip and we landed at Carp Island, a beautiful star-shaped island on the western fringe of the islands. The resort was completely different from Negellil but just as idyllic. Wooden chalets stood on stilts across a grassy area that was dotted with palms. The reception, dive center and restaurant were all housed in a large wooden building at the end of the jetty. It had that friendly communal atmosphere that seems to go hand-in-hand with off the beaten track diving the world over. Most importantly, it was only a ten minute boat ride from Palau’s top diving sites.

World Class Diving We dived a lot over the following four days and experienced some of the spectacular sea life that Palau has become famous for. Literally dozens of Grey Reef sharks at New Drop Off, Graceful Hawksbill and Green turtles at Blue Corner, Mandarinfish and Clownfish at Ngedbus Coral Garden, the wonderfully friendly Napoleon Wrasse at German Wall and the stunning giant Manta Rays in the German Channel. If that wasn’t enough, we also had the opportunity to swim in 'Jellyfish Lake’ which contains millions of stingless Golden Jellyfish. We could have stayed at Carp Island forever, but we had one more famous island to

visit and a few more dives to complete before our holiday was over.

Drama ti c h i sto ry Pelileu has a special place in modern history.

On September 15, 1944, the US Marines landed on the tiny island to take the Japanese airstrip as part of the wider Pacific Campaign. Major General William Rupertus optimistically predicted that it would take four days to secure the island. The reality was dramatically different. The island was eventually captured after two months, at the cost of nearly $10,000 (KD3025) and 11,000 Japanese casualties. Amazingly, one Japanese officer and 26 soldiers managed to hold out in the island’s caves until finally surrendering in April 1947. Today, Pelileu is considered to be one of the world’s most preserved battlefields and visitors from all over the world come to walk across the island and see the detritus of war. I did the same and was amazed by crashed fighter planes in the jungle, destroyed tanks on the side of the road, huge artillery pieces hidden in the hills and the sobering sight of hundreds of Sake bottles abandoned by Japanese defenders in their defensive caves. It was a truly humbling place.

We stayed at the Dolphin Bay Resort, one of the very few hotels on this small island. We took the opportunity to dive at Ngemelis Coral Garden and Ngemelis Wall (aka The Big Drop Off), once described by legendary diver Jacques Cousteau as ‘’the best walled dive in the world.’’ The thousand feet drop did not disappoint as we were met by White Tip Reef sharks, Grey Reef sharks, Lionfish, Stonefish and thousands of other marine species in the myriad coral fans and blooms. Perhaps the best moment of the day for my wife came between dives when we were joined by dozens of Spinner Dolphins. These mammals were quite content for us to swim close to them as they performed their acrobatic corkscrew jumps out of the water.

With our Palau adventure approaching its end, we returned to Koror for a couple of relaxing days at the Palau Pacific Resort. This luxury hotel seemed a million miles away from the other places we had stayed on the islands. But I had one more dive to tick off before I could consider the holiday complete. So, on our penultimate day we dived at Saies Corner before moving on to Jake Seaplane. Although this last dive was the easiest of the holiday, it was the one that sticks most in my mind. As I finned lazily back and forth over the now silent warbird, I could not help but reflect on how amazing the trip had been. Without doubt, the holiday was only made possible by the fact that we live in Kuwait and as a result, could reach that little bit further around the globe without huge expense and lengthy commutes. All that remained was to enjoy our last sunset in the Pacific Ocean and reflect on how Palau really had provided us with the WOW we had been looking for.

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Loaay's Two Cents Got business problems or challenges at work? With his Two Cents page, Loaay Ahmed shares his expertise in strategic management consulting to help managers, employees and entrepreneurs thrive.

Q

How is it ever possible to become an innovative company when there is almost nothing that hasn’t been already invented?

Take a time machine ride to the year 1815. Become a fly on the walls of entrepreneurs and company directors. You will notice three attitudes: the optimist who believes that we can invent and sell anything; the skeptic who believes that glory was in the past and feels insecure about keeping the shop doors open; and the opportunist who believes that successful products that worked in distant markets are worth importing and making big profit from. Take your time machine again and head to the year 2215 and you’ll find that life is radically advanced from now. It is natural for most people to feel that we live in an age of abundance, and to a certain extent we do, but there are always visionaries that have a natural urge to push the envelope and change the status quo because they believe that life today could be better, different or both.

Innovation doesn’t have to only be about coming up with a totally new product or service; it can be in the way you address certain needs or wants. For example, the iPod was not the first portable music player, but its innovation was in the software and in the way you purchase, play and store content. Innovation can be in the form of merging two different trends, services or products to come up with something that adds value. For example, Moovo is Uber for mini trucks in India. You can order a mini truck to move furniture, deliver goods, construction material or whatever your needs for a mini truck may be. Moovo used the concept of Uber and introduced it to the cargo logistics business. Don’t be surprised if Uber like the Moovo concept and decide to apply it globally. That’s still innovation...and that's just my two cents.

Q

It’s frustrating when we work hard with our team on our plan and to no fault of our own matters don’t work as planned. What’s the point of planning when we can’t control external factors?

What a boring and limited life it would be if every single plan worked exactly as it should all the time. There are many great benefits in being challenged and forced to rethink your plans. You’re forced to consider alternative directions, which could lead to better outcomes than of those in the original plan. You could realize the faults of your initial assumptions. You could find ways to reach your objectives with less cost, manpower or resources in general. There’s a saying in business, “You succeed or you learn”. It’s not that you don’t learn at all from your successes, but failures and challenges teach you a lot more, and in many circumstances they help you reach better results. Having said this, it doesn’t mean you should not fight for your objectives if you believe in them; I’m only saying there could be a silver lining in disruptions.

Naturally, it seems like a waste of time at first when things don’t go as planned, but let us entertain your proposition for a minute.

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What if you never planned anything? What could go wrong? If you hire doers who act more like robots than human beings, you’re in a monopolized market without any threatening competition, you have no ambition to lead growth and you’re just happy with whatever profit the market gives you, then you can say it with full confidence, “My plan is to have no plan”. However, if you hire smart people who like to think on their own, if you have some serious competition, and if you have a vision for the future of the business, you need to have a plan. Best plans are the ones kept short and updated as needed, to intercept and counterattack the changes in the marketplace...and that's just my two cents.

Q

Annual performance reviews are awkward. And in most cases great employees end up being disappointed and soon enough they leave. Is there anything we can do to make evaluations work better?

Cancel them. Here’s why: Every year, managers are supposed to go through forms and meetings to personally and subjectively evaluate each team member reporting to them. The problem here is that you’re relying heavily on the quality and character of the manager. What if your manager is too subjective and she judges employees’ performance based on her own had she done it herself? What if the manager fails to recognize a genius employee because he takes the disagreements as disobedience rather than gifted, radical, analytical thinking that can add value to the project? Ranking is another problem. While titles and ranks may attract attention, the danger you face is mass dissatisfaction because not everyone will move up to the next grade or receive an “Outstanding” score, which means low morale.

Focus on the success criteria for each project per participant.

Reward and recognize as you go with a few pleasant surprises here and there for consistent achievers. The employee, direct supervisor and an employee from another department who was on the receiving end of the employee’s work can all contribute to the employee’s review in a specific project. For example, an assistant chef can evaluate her own performance in a catering project based on set criteria. The chef as her superior, and a waiter who’s been collecting plates from her to serve can contribute. Yes to rewards, bonuses and recognitions, but not rankings. Just because she’s good at cooking it doesn’t automatically make her good at commanding kitchen staff. If she wants the jump, prepare her first...and that's just my two cents.

For Loaay Ahmed’s advice on business or work matters, send a short email to loaay@knightscapital.com. Regrettably, only the questions chosen for publishing will be answered.

Loaay Ahmed is a management adviser and strategic expert. To learn more about Loaay and his consulting service, strategic business therapy, visit www.knightscapital.com.

meis alghanim Ramadan Kareem

Enjoy a unique experience with a special variety of Iftar & Ghabqa dishes among Family and Friends at Mais Alghanim Restaurants ( Sharq & Mahboula) or by ordering from our To Go outlets or through a professional services from our Outside Catering.

www.maisalghanim.com

Let's Socialize

ONE MAN’S SPACE JUNK… Is another girl’s treasure

By Lena Kassicieh

Space junk. By now, we all know that for every useful satellite buzzing around space, be it guiding us by GPS, beaming live television events, providing weather updates or allowing us to call and communicate with people all over the world, there is also a ton of rubbish and debris floating around up there. This space pollution can cause real damage to those useful satellites when it comes into contact with them. While most teenagers are focused on the exploits of their favorite celebrity, shopping, or anything that generally only concerns themselves, one young girl from Jordan has been thinking of a solution to this issue.

Dana Arabiyat, a 15-year-old Jordanian student had to create a science project for her school’s science fair. And what Dana created was so surprisingly innovative she was able to present the details of her research project at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Created by the Society for Science and the Public, which also publishes Science News for Students, the event brought 1,702 student project finalists from more than 70 countries to Pittsburgh, Pennylsvania in May this year.

15-year-old Dana attends the Al-Ridwan School in Amman, and her research found that around 82

20,000 bits of debris, each the size of a tennis ball, with some much, much larger, floating around the Earth. Dana’s science project is an innovative satellite designed specifically to collect this space debris and then properly dispose of it, making our atmosphere a much cleaner one. She accurately reports that this space debris could be dangerous, as the larger pieces could potentially collide with a satellite or the International Space Station.

Here’s how her device would work: A radar system aboard the satellite would scan for and find a piece of space junk. Then, thrusters would change the satellite’s orbit so that it could chase down the errant object. As the satellite closes in on its prey, cameras would keep it on target. At the last minute, a door that leads to a bulletproof container would open. This container needs to be strong so that it doesn't break apart when the satellite swallows the space junk, Dana explains.

In some cases, she notes, the difference in speed between the satellite and the debris could still be pretty big. Finally, when the trash container is full, it would be lowered toward Earth on a kilometers-long cable and the contents released into the upper atmosphere. There, the space junk would harmlessly burn up just like a meteor does.

Meanwhile, her satellite would reel the container back up so that it could collect more trash.

Dana’s satellite will be able to collect bits of debris up to 50 centimetres (about 20 inches) across. If engineers wanted to catch larger bits of space junk, they could build a version of her design with a larger door. But that might also require a far stronger trash bin. That’s because the bigger the junk, the more damage it could do to the container as it’s caught.

Some facts about space junk: •More than 200 objects, most of which were bags of rubbish, were released by the Mir space station during its first 10 years of operation.

•At any one time, as many as ten million pieces of human made debris are estimated to be in orbit.

•A crash between a defunct Russian satellite and an Iridium Communications satellite in 2009 left about 1,500 pieces of junk flying around the Earth at 7.8KM per second.

•In 1965, during the first American spacewalk, Gemini 4 astronaut Edward White lost a glove. For a month, the glove stayed in orbit with a speed of 28,000kph. This became the most dangerous garment in history.

sultan center

The Safat Home Makeover

THE STORY SO FAR By bazaar staff

It feels like it was only yesterday when we sat with the Safat Home Décor Center to discuss this ongoing project at length. Searching for the ideal candidates wasn’t easy for them, until they met with a newlywed couple who just got a new house. Let’s start at the very beginning and see how the story has panned out for the incredible dream-team at Safat Home’s Décor Center and our lucky couple.

APRIL

Meet the couple: Farah AlFadhalah and Bader Al-Sarraf, newlyweds with a gorgeous new home.

Officially considered their first home, this beautiful structure has two-stories and a basement, and is in its renovation phase. The Moorish-style exterior will remain untouched and the interior should compliment it. With a creative carte blanche, the Safat Home Décor Center deemed the house their new playground. Taking us on a journey from start to perfection, the team is creating: a reception, living space, bedroom, dressing room, nursery, and dewaniya for our couple. A mission and a half, but if anyone is up for this challenge, it’s most definitely the Safat Home Décor Center.

MAY Mood-board galore! Creating the perfect interior to match the beauty of the exterior can be daunting – but not when you have Safat Home’s Décor Center by your side! Team Safat and the couple went over several scenarios and found the couple’s design ethos: the Sakura. Inspecting the elements that make up this breathtaking Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree, the color scheme was chosen and the selection process started. Neutrals with pops of color, the house’s interiors will be unified with a sense of serenity to it and the exterior’s identity preserved gloriously. With a simple yet modern aesthetic that speaks volumes, the house is starting to feel like a home.

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Decor Center

by Safat Home

JUNE Armed with state of the art 3D technology software, Team Safat was able to recreate entire kitchens for the couple to pick from. Keeping Farah and Bader’s needs in mind, the designs were kept minimal and timeless – as a kitchen should be – with elements from the home’s theme incorporated. The location of the kitchen was a slight hurdle for the Safat Home Décor Center, but that wasn’t going to stop them from achieving excellent results. Ergonomics and functionality are the key features in every aspect of kitchen design for Safat Home so the couple was pleased with the options they were given. Elements from nature, and gorgeous finishes – operation dream kitchen is a go!

JULY Fun times in the couple’s home! This month Safat Home’s Décor Center along with Farah and Bader started working out the details for the furniture.

The best part of any makeover, the spaces have been planned and measured, and the latest home furnishings trends considered. The hardest part of any room is its focal point – but once that’s chosen and out of the way, everything else falls into place.

For the living room, the Dream Team along with Team F&B have picked out a beautiful sofa that has allowed for the rest of the room to be built around it – even the window setup! Paint swatches have been tested, approved, and applied and fabrics have been chosen and ordered; the house is coming along beautifully. We can’t wait to see the end product!

The fun continues! Tune in next issue for the home’s final reveal! You won’t read about this anywhere else.

The Décor Center can be found at Safat Home’s location in Al Rai and the service, along with the Fitted Kitchens, Tiles & Flooring services can now be found exclusively at Safat Home’s newest and largest showroom in Shuwaikh. For more information, please visit safathome.com or call 183 8883. Follow Safat Home on Instagram @SafatHome, Twitter @Safat_home and Facebook: SafatHomebyAlghanim. Follow the epic journey over on Snapchat @SAFATHOME. 85

SURFING GAZA’S WAVES

By Dalia Mortada

INSPIRED BY ISLAMIC ART & CULTURE, WITH A SCANDINAVIAN TWIST

While many people might not be aware that Gaza is costal, others know it's actually got some spectacular surf-worthy waves. In 2008, the Explore Corps launched the Gaza Surf Club and the program has been a hit since receiving broad coverage from international media.

Today, the group has grown to 30 surfers and each has their own surfboard. The club has been thriving with no government or political

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affiliation, and despite the obstacles they face in the region. The Explore Corps’ goals for the Gaza Surf Club is to connect Gaza surfers with international surfing communities through online tools, to facilitate the development of the surf industry and to promote ecological awareness for coastal development – amongst many others.

Each summer, the Gaza Surf Club hosts a series of workshops on topics ranging from surfing

etiquette and surf exploration, to equipment maintenance and repair; all with an emphasis on locally available materials. Next year, the Explore Corps is planning a multipurpose clubhouse for surfers to serve as headquarters for the Club’s activities. The clubhouse will host workshops, movie nights, a professional board repair facility, as well as serve as a social space to build a stronger community and host guests.

MCDONALDS

bazaar books Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. ~ Jessamyn West

HELLO LIFE!

by Marcus Butler

GO SET A WATCHMAN

By Harper Lee

LIFE WITH A SPRINKLE OF GLITTER

ALLEGIANT (DIVERGENT TRILOGY BOOK 3)

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB

Imagine you are in one of those glorious vintage shops where every surface is laden with treasure. Cut glass, pill boxes, old cameras, pendants, chests of drawers and stacks and stacks of books. This book is like that. Each chapter is one of those gem encrusted tins that you can open, peep inside and enjoy. You can either methodically wander the entire shop, looking at each individual item in order, or, you can dance around with wild abandon, opening and closing whatever you like, whenever you like. You can take in tiny bits of it at a time or you can devour it all in one go. The author doesn’t mind, as much as you take something from it. Divided into four sections: Glitz, Create, Need to Knows and All About Love, you'll find little tips and tricks, stories and insights and nuggets of advice. You should walk away from this book feeling uplifted and as though you are equipped to deal with something in your life and deal with it in the best possible, positive way.

What if your whole world was a lie? What if a single revelation – like a single choice – changed everything? What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected? The factionbased society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties and painful memories.

But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless.

Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature – and of herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love. Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world.

She is the girl with the dragon tattoo. Lisbeth Salander. An uncompromising misfit whose burning sense of injustice and talent for investigation will never respect boundaries of state or status. He is a campaigning journalist. Mikael Blomkvist. A lone wolf whose integrity and championing of the truth bring him time and again to the brink of unemployment and prosecution. The call comes in late at night: a superhacker has gained access to critical, top secret U.S. intelligence.

Blomkvist knows only one person who could crack the best security systems in the world.

This case has all the hallmarks of Salander. She is accused of acting without reason, taking risks just because she can, but though they have lost touch, Blomkvist knows Lisbeth better than that. There must be something deeper at the heart of this - maybe even the scoop that Millennium magazine so desperately needs for its survival. This exciting and tense book is a story about a tangled web of truth that someone is prepared to kill to protect.

By Louise Pentland

Marcus Butler's irreverent YouTube channel has long combined laughs and comedy sketches with thoughts on more serious issues. What sets him apart from the rest is his ability to mix light-hearted banter with a deep empathy for the problems facing young people today. Thanks to his experiences of family illness, his parents' divorce, weight issues and catastrophic hair days, Marcus is in a unique position to share everything he has learned about healthy living, relationships and dealing with the daily pressures life throws at us all. Working with journalist and writer Matt Allen, in Hello Life! his part-autobiography, part-self help guide, Marcus shares his trademark bigbrotherly advice and unveils his roadmap to success for anyone navigating the trickier aspects of modern living.

Funny, cool, fully illustrated and totally readable, this book is the ultimate must-have for fans of Marcus Butler. For the uber fan, there is a limited run of 2000 copies of Hello Life! which have been signed by Marcus himself, and are sure to sell out quickly, so if you are interested to get one, act fast!

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The novel follows an adult Scout Finch who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. According to the publisher, Scout "is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood." Go Set a Watchman includes many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird. Though the book has been characterized in media reports as a sequel to Lee's best-selling novel, Go Set a Watchman was written in the mid-1950s, before she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960. She set it aside when her editor suggested that she write another novel from the young Scout Finch's perspective. The manuscript was then lost for many years, until being rediscovered by her lawyer in the fall of 2014. It will be published as originally written, with no revisions.

By Veronica Roth

By David Lagercrantz

Source: www.amazon.co.uk

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THE POWER OF HUMAN RESILIENCE

By Jessica Leber

Two years before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, killing 1,800 people and destroying more than 60% of the city’s housing stock, a group of researchers embarked on what was then an average academic study designed to improve the educational performance of about 1,000 low-income parents enrolled at two community colleges in the city. Researchers had the unique chance to measure the "happiness" of vulnerable New Orleans residents before and after Hurricane Katrina. The results are uplifting.

The storm disrupted the researchers' entire study but proved to have a silver lining: Their initial survey was suddenly incredibly valuable for an entirely different purpose. If the researchers, based at several universities around the country, could get in touch with everyone again, they’d have something relatively rare in social science research: A before and after comparison of how people respond to the worst and most unpredictable kinds of disasters.

The Resilience in Survivors of Katrina ("RISK") Project was born, and the researchers ended up tracking down about 70% of their initial cohort twice: one year after the disaster and again after four years. They conducted the same surveys again, also adding questions about how the hurricane had affected their lives. In the years since these surveys, the RISK project has published dozens of studies that compare the pre- and post-Katrina results on topics ranging from post-traumatic stress, child outcomes, residential mobility and mental health.

One of the intriguing studies to come out of the work was published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies. It looked at what you’d expect: The pre- and post-disaster levels of happiness among 491 of the survey participants, all women. It honed in on how they answered the survey question, "If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are?"

The results, according Rocio Calvo, an assistant professor at Boston College’s School of Social Work and the lead researcher on the happiness study, were encouraging and surprising. Even only one year after the storm, almost 89% of women remained in the "somewhat happy" or "very happy" categories, though there was a drop in happiness on average.

However, by four years after the storm, almost all of the respondents had gone back to their pre-storm happiness levels. "I think individuals are more resilient than they are given credit for," she says.

This is amazing to think about. These are already vulnerable women who went through major stress because of Katrina—85% of their homes were seriously damaged and almost one-third had lost a family member or close friend. On average, they experienced at least three major stress factors during the storm, such as no medical care for themselves or a loved one or no food to eat.

There was one exception: 38 women who 90

continued to have lower levels of happiness even four years after the storm. They were more likely to be living on their own after the storm and reported consistently lower levels of perceived support from their communities.

"Our research showed that social support, both before and after Hurricane Katrina, was the main factor associated with women's happiness," Calvo says.

Calvo, who also studies happiness in Latino immigrant communities, believes the study underlines the importance of supporting the community fabric in vulnerable populations. Social workers, she says, can’t just come in and dictate how communities should use resources, even if they mean to help. "Communities might be poor and vulnerable, but they may know better than you what works," she says.

burj hamam

RIMA RABBATH

By Reem Al-Gharabally

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Arabs abroad

I

f you plan to attend Rima Rabbath’s yoga class at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City, you better turn up early to get a spot. The granddaughter of Edmond Rabbath, the acclaimed Lebanese jurist and writer, is one of New York City’s most popular yoga teachers with an average class size of 70 people every time she teaches.

Her regulars say, despite the large numbers, she has the uncanny ability to remember everyone’s name and we wondered if she has a special trick. She laughs and says in her characteristically husky voice, “I don’t think of myself as someone who has a visual memory, but when someone tells me their name I very sincerely and genuinely try to be present at least for the moment they are giving me their name and it somehow gets recorded in my memory.”

She considers herself one of the luckiest yoga teachers in the world because many of the people in her class are regulars who attend up to four times a week. She adds, “There is nothing like walking into a class at the Jivamukti Yoga center in New York City and knowing almost everyone there and the energy that emanates from 76 people not minding having no space between the mats because they understand the only space they need is within themselves.”

She admits she has never read any of her famous grandfather’s books. Edmond Rabbath is well known for his writings on Pan-Arab unity and one of the architects and commentators of the Lebanese constitution.

“He lived on the ground floor of the building where I grew up – politics and intellectual discussion and books were very much part of the environment. I have some of his books in French and in Arabic but they are very dense.”

Despite her family’s intellectual credentials Rima was drawn to spor ts and played competitive tennis for most of her teenage years, the discipline from which she says she applied to her yoga practice later in life.

She has lived in New York City for the past 20 years, first working as a marketing consultant with Colgate-Palmolive until she discovered yoga. Her destiny unfolded and she stepped into her role as one of the city’s most sought after yoga teachers.

“I never visualized being a teacher. I find that the things in my life that have fallen into place in the most auspicious way, have been those where I had a perhaps hunch about but

didn’t cling onto the idea,” she says. “The same with teaching. I was still working in marketing when I did my yoga teacher training in 2005.”

How does she reconcile the yoga teachings, which says that we should not cling onto cultural separation between people, and reflecting on cultural identity? Rima says, “When I first left, the first thing I would say was ‘I grew up in the war’. I am a product of the war. Now it is something that is part of me but I try not to hold onto it as much.”

“Arabs who are living abroad want to hold onto their identity because when you leave your homeland that is what keeps you connected, reminds you of your heritage, so it is a ver y natural human thing to want to remember, not to forget. There is a difference between forgetting and letting go or dropping the stor y line. Forgetting is like tr ying to push something into a bottom drawer. Dropping the stor y line is seeing what your habitual patterns are.”

What is your favorite part of your job?

I am a yoga teacher and my favorite part of the job is to connect with people from all walks of life on a very subtle, raw, authentic level, where all facades and masks have been dropped off. People are extremely vulnerable in a very courageous and fearless way when they come to the practice - even if it is their first time. There is something about walking into a yoga room that kind of disarms you in a very wonderful way.

What are you working on currently?

I am launching my website finally after 9 years of teaching. It is called Souk. It is an eventbased company where I collaborate with artists from different fields to create an experience for students of yoga. So the platform will facilitate the exchange of information, talent and energy just like goods in a traditional souk. So let’s say an artist could be creating a piece live as I am teaching a yoga class, and that piece and also collateral materials will be available for sale to the participants, but also for those who didn’t participate.

What do you find most different about life inside and outside the Arab world?

I grew up in Beirut. There is an intimacy that is unmatchable. I would say in Beirut, but probably in other cities of the Arab world. It is an intimacy that is something people begin to cherish when they leave the Arab world. It can feel overwhelming when you are in it, but then it is something that you miss when you leave.

There is a hospitality that is also indescribable and unmatchable and a cultural way of being that is traditional, but also at the same time modern. And it is that mix that is so magical in a way. I can speak for Beirut but I am sure it would be the same in many different cities of the Arab world.

What do you find most different about work inside and outside the Arab world?

Somehow there is this idea floating around that things don't run as effectively inside the Arab world. And maybe that's the reality for some, but I know that often, things get done more quickly inside the Arab world because you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. The difference is really a difference in perception.

Where are you originally from?

I was born and raised in Beirut. I left at the age of 16. I had one foot in East Beirut and one foot in West Beirut. It is a very particular story, but my parents divorced when I was 6 and a half. I grew up in East Beirut, but my Mum moved to West Beirut and they shared custody, so I literally had a foot in each side.

I grew up with my Dad and ended up going to school in East Beirut, but I was often stuck in West Beirut when I went to spend weekends with my Mum. Crazy as it sounds, my school had two branches in both East and West, so whenever I was stuck on one side I would go to school in West Beirut. It was nice because I did not feel the separation that a lot of kids ende up experiencing just because they were going to school on one side versus the other side.

Where is most of your family?

All my family is in Beirut. I do not have family abroad.

[continued...]

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What were the circumstances under which you/your family left your home country?

It was unplanned. I was about to take my French Baccalaureate. I was in high school. I was 16 and a half and the war was raging and the airport was closed, so I had to take my French Baccalaureate in September instead of June. The whole summer we were in the basement because of the war. So in September my parents, along with parents of other friends of mine, decided we could go to Paris to take our French Baccalaureate because they had special seats for people who could not do it like the Lebanese. We went by boat from Beirut to Cyprus in one of those very long, slow boats.

It took us 12 hours and they were shelling the sea so just to get on the boat was a big ordeal.

We got to Cyprus – we had not seen the sun for the whole summer so we hung out in Cyprus for 94

[...continued]

a week and then we went to Paris. I was just supposed to be there for 2 weeks for my exam but I ended up staying for 4 years.

Where have you lived?

Beirut, Paris and New York City What is your favorite thing about where you live now?

I love everything about NYC. I love that it is a city where I can walk everywhere. It makes life so much more intimate and approachable. I know it sounds counter-intuitive as NYC seems inaccessible, but it is not so once you live here, especially below 14th street in Manhattan.

What is the worst thing about where you live?

Nothing! But if I put my mind to it, I would say it is the sound of the sirens. It's such a vivid reminder of how life can tip the other way at any moment, a reminder of impermanence the hallmark of our existence.

Where will you eventually retire?

I love New York. It is totally my hometown so I want to grow old in New York, but ideally I would like to have a beach house somewhere.

Of course Beirut, Lebanon is my hometown a house in Lebanon in the mountains and a beach house somewhere else would be ideal.

Finish this sentence: In a year from now I will be…

I will be as happy as I am today Finish this sentence: When I die, I will… …be re-born

To find out more about Rima, or to get in touch with her, you can visit her profile at jivamuktiyoga.com/users/rima-rani-rabbath.

She will have her own website soon, which is still under construction, but will be available shortly at www.soukofrima.com.

TCL

SEVEN HABITS OF OPTIMISTIC PEOPLE

By Stephanie Vozza

Optimists aren’t just people who see the glass half full. They also make more money than pessimists and enjoy health benefits such as fewer colds, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and a longer life. That’s something to smile about.

"Children are born optimists and over the course of time, life happens," says Jason Wachob, cofounder and CEO of the healthy living website MindBodyGreen.com. "Circumstances change and cynicism sets in, but deep down most of us want to get back to the optimism of our childhood."

David Mezzapelle, author of Contagious Optimism, has studied optimistic people for five years: "Some people are naturally more optimistic," he says. "I believe, however, that somebody who is negative or pessimistic can control it and improve upon it."

Optimism isn’t a pie-in-the-sky ideal, says Mezzapelle. "It’s not closing your eyes and being in the clouds," he says. "People often tell me they’re a realist, but reality alone may prevent you from getting past first base. Combine optimism with acceptance of the life you’ve been dealt, and the sky’s the limit."

Like any healthy habit, Wachob says optimism is something you need to practice every day. He and Mezzapelle share seven traits optimists share and the habits you can implement to become one, too: 1. THEY EXPRESS GRATITUDE – Being appreciative of big blessings isn’t enough; Mezzapelle says optimists are grateful for the smallest things in life. "The sun coming up in morning, your child or dog excited to see you – being thankful about the littlest thing makes the bigger things that much better," he says.

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Optimists also find good in hardships, obstacles, and failures, because these are the situations that give you strength and resilience: "When optimists stumble across problems, it doesn’t seem as bad because they’ve learned to always find the silver linings," Mezzapelle says.

2. THEY DONATE THEIR TIME AND ENERGY – Whether it’s helping at the local charity or being available to people you know, Wachob says giving back is a habit optimistic people practice.

"This helps you feel grateful for what you have," he says. "It’s a good place to start if you want to become more optimistic."

Mezzapelle agrees: "No matter what you’re going through, you need to be good to others and help when you can," he says. "The spirit of altruism can make you feel optimistic about your own life."

3. THEY’RE INTERESTED IN OTHERS – When people hear the stories of how others persevere, it fosters optimism, says Mezzapelle.

"People often think they’re alone in their struggles, such as divorce, cancer, or financial problems," he says. "When they hear about people who’ve experienced the same thing and came out on the sunny side, it can give them hope, and hope is the foundation of optimism."

Wachob says simply reading inspirational stories can help. "This is something everyone can do on a daily basis," he says. "There are so many amazing stories about amazing people who overcome incredible odds."

4. THEY SURROUND THEMSELVES WITH UPBEAT PEOPLE – You are the sum of the people you spend time with, says Wachob.

"If you are with pessimists, every time you hang out with them it can be draining. If you’re with optimists, however, it’s easy to absorb that energy and it can be powerful."

Mezzapelle likes a phrase coined by Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton: "Optimism is a happiness magnet." "It’s true," he says. "When you’re around people who are positive and upbeat, it brings you up."

5. THEY DON’T LISTEN TO NAYSAYERS – What other people do or say is a reflection of their own reality, not yours, says Mezzapelle. Optimistic people don’t take the opinions of others too seriously when they don’t agree.

This means not listening to the naysayers who will tell you that you can’t achieve your goals: "You can disagree with other opinions – that’s the beauty of life," Mezzapelle says. "Don’t look at it any other way and don’t let it affect you. It’s their reality, not yours."

6. THEY FORGIVE OTHERS – While this can be easier said than done, Mezzapelle says optimists have an ability to forgive.

"The easiest way to forgive is to reflect on the fact that the past is the past," he says. "Make peace with it so that it doesn’t spoil the present."

7. THEY SMILE – Smiling creates a happy environment that draws others in, says Mezzapelle, and happiness, even in brief doses, releases serotonin, a hormone that contributes to the feeling of well-being.

Smiling also has health benefits; a study from the University of Kansas found that cracking a smile – even when you don’t feel like it – reduces the intensity of the body’s stress response, regardless of whether a person actually feels happy.

regency

NO MORE EXPIRATION DATES

By Ben Schiller

MIT is developing sensors to detect when food is going bad, so forget dubious dates on containers‌These sensors could tell when food is starting to rot, and reduce food waste.

One reason that the U.S. wastes 40% of all the food it harvests is that we don't have a good handle on the status of that food. As consumers, we rely largely on 'best before' and 'use by' dates that are notoriously conservative, and often flat-out wrong. Actual food decays at variable rates that aren't reflected in that information.

That's why new types of food quality sensors could be so useful. If we can assess the actual state of each food item, that should allow us to make more informed choices and thus manage our fridges better. All things being equal, better information ought to lead to better decision-making.

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One promising technology: the sensors being developed by Timothy Swager's lab at MIT. Swager is testing an electrically-conductive material that changes resistance in the presence of gases called amines, which are released when food starts going bad. By reading that resistance from outside a package, you can figure out how edible the food is inside.

"You can put in tags about the size of business cards with an antennae, and then power them and read them with a smartphone," Swager says. "You can have the sensor buried in the packaging where it's not even obvious, and you can read it with a near-field communication device."

The device could be several inches away, like with a contactless payment or ticketing system.

The sensor inside the packet contains high-tech nanotube material that reacts to the amines. It's

really nothing more than two contact points with a conductive strip running between.

Swager has set up a company to commercialize the technology and he expects to do the first demonstrations to interested clients this summer.

The first applications are likely to be for food workers working with meat and fish, but there's no reason why consumers shouldn't get their own devices in due time.

There are efforts to create visual clues for food status. But Swager says his method is better because it doesn't rely on perception: it produces hard data that can be logged and tracked. And it also has potential to be very cheap.

"The resistance method is a game-changer because it's two to three orders of magnitude cheaper than other technology. It's hard to imagine doing this cheaper," he says.

falken

RICKSHAW F O R T H E C A U S E The Fiasco De Gama crew takes on the Rickshaw Run for SOS Children’s Villages By bazaar staff

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W

hen four friends living and working in Kuwait decided to take on the Rickshaw Race in India this August to raise funds for charity, we knew we had to speak to this team! With a name like Fiasco De Gama, this adventure-seeking foursome are ready to take on a race that starts from the North of India all the way to the South in a mere three weeks. We sat down with the Fiasco De Gama team, which includes Vyola Gomes (VG), Anthony Jouannic (AJo), Laurent Feraudet (LF), Antoine Junker (JA), to learn more about their upcoming adventure, and how anyone could make a difference in the lives of children living in India and Nepal in more than 90 villages.

Hi team Fiasco De Gama! Please introduce yourself and your team to our readers.

JA: I’m Antoine, a civil engineer here. I’m in Kuwait for a year now working with Laurent.

LF: I am an engineer as well and I have been working in Kuwait for more than a year now. I am trying to see the world as much as possible, either studying, working or just for a vacation. I have lived in Europe, America, Asia and now the Arabian Peninsula and have been through many inextricable situations but I’m still looking for more adventures! I’m probably the least crazy of the team, I am always calm and focused and I think this should help us to make it to the end of the race.

AJo: Sometimes I wake up and I think I should start wearing a beret, but I don't do it because I am 25-years-old and it looks ridiculous. I am a French guy who came to Kuwait 3 years ago and now I work for Tariq Alghanim here (if you need some catering for your company, don’t hesitate to call me). In my spare time I like to create videos, run and everything that is related to traveling. Also I love tacos.

VG: Everyone who now knows I’m going to this race was like ‘We didn’t think you’re the kind that likes this sort of adventure.’ Well I am the kind that loves this sort of adventure and everything wacky! I’m the most nervous about this race among the 4 of us.

In Kuwait I’m a sales manager with Warp It Movers (If you’re relocating or need logistics anywhere in the world who know who to contact).

For those of us who don’t know, can you please explain the concept of Rickshaw racing to our readers? Why did you decide to do it?

JA: The Rickshaw run is a charity rally across India during three weeks with a tuk-tuk. The point is to cross the whole country from North to South, to get people to follow the adventure, provide them with the awareness of the country’s culture and situation and also to motivate them donating to the charity we’ve selected. It seemed to be a real adventure, very different than anything I know, that’s why I decided to take part in it.

LF: We talked a lot about this adventure with Anthony and how he wanted to register for a while but never got to do it. He couldn’t find the time or gather the right people to make it. I got really excited, I love traveling but I have never done anything like that, it seems quite crazy and we get to do it for a good cause.

AJo: Rickshaw racing is completely the opposite of the Formula 1. The Rickshaw is something that always breaks and is very unstable. The goal is to manage to cross 3,500 km through India in 18 days.

It is more of an orientation race with the ability of going through mechanical problems, group cohesion problems etc… We decided to do it because it sounds like a really bad idea and usually bad ideas turn out great. Don’t they?

VG: Anthony introduced us to this idea almost a year ago and finally we’ve managed our leaves & have registered to the race! Yay!!! This race is so different; it offers you adventure and a cause!

What else could you ask for? I don’t know how I’m going to survive in a rickshaw for 3 weeks. The thought of it gives me the shivers. That’s the point!

Can you tell us about the Rickshaw Run? The Rickshaw Run is an adventurous rally. (A rickshaw is a rickety vehicle that will break down every time you try to cross 50/km) It’s a challenge to cross the whole of India in this very breakable machine; we can choose our own route to travel from Shillong (Near the Himalayas) and all the way down to Cochin in the very south of India. It is a rally in a rickshaw or Tuk-tuk and covers 3,500 km in 18 days (with a few Delhi Bellies on the way)!

To add to that the most beautiful part of it all is that we are doing this to raise funds for a charity in India, What’s better than empowering children? Hence we chose to go with SOS Children’s Villages who do just that.

How are you and your team preparing for this huge endeavor?

JA: We try to get people involved in our project by sharing our videos, following our Facebook page and maybe donate, if they feel like it. We also meet once a week to plan and see what we can do next to be ready when the first day of the race arrives!

LF: We still have so much to do prepare for the [continued...]

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adventure and we need to work on our plan so we can make the most out of our time there. How many SOS Children’s Villages we can stop, which places we can visit and how far we can go out of our route and still make it on time to the finish line! In the end it is still a race and 3 weeks is not so long to cross 3,500 km with a rickshaw.

AJo: It took a lot of our time. We took almost 3 weeks to create our presentation video. We always had ideas coming in but couldn’t find a way to all put them together and to make things more difficult, my video editing skills are similar to the one of a skilled cow, so I had to spend days learning that on the Internet and we decided to stick with something simple at the end.

VG: The last month we’ve been working on the video, I didn’t do much there, we might have another video coming up soon. In the meanwhile I am eating healthier and trying to get fitter for this adventure!

About learning to ride a rickshaw we will be having a training one day before the race.

What are you guys looking forward to the most when you take on this huge race?

JA: For me it’s the challenge of doing something out of the ordinary that motivates me the most. It’s a one time adventure that I’ll remember my whole life.

I’m also looking forward to taking many videos and 102

[...continued]

photos to share this experience with the whole world.

LF: I met many people from the Indian community in Kuwait, at work or outside and I’m always asking about the culture and the country. This will be the first time I will go there. I’m looking forward to being on the roads and meeting people throughout the country or just enjoying the landscape. It’s going to be a shock coming from Kuwait!

AJo: I am mostly looking forward to take a swim in the Ganga River. I see it all the time in documentaries and I want to see what is so special about it. I am also really looking forward to going inside the SOS villages and playing football with the kids.

VG: I’m looking forward to seeing all of India and its diversity! I’m all set to be amazed! I’m going to be challenging my limits here and I couldn’t ask for better company. I also look forward to meeting the SOS Children whose lives we hope to benefit!

How will you be raising funds for your campaign?

We’re raising funds through a platform on virginmoneygiving. They take no fees and all what is given is directly transfered to the children. It’s like Talabat.com but for NGOs and without a delivery charge. We are targeting individuals that want to contribute to changing the world. We are also looking for some companies but it is different and is not going through the website. We deal with them directly.

We have a Facebook page called ‘FiascoDeGama’ where we are seeking support from Facebook users, mostly our friends. Kuwait Today has also published our campaign on there to give us more visibility.

Can you tell us more about the charity that your team will be supporting?

AJo: SOS children’s Villages are one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world. Today they are taking care of more than a 100,000 orphans in 132 countries. Typically a SOS Village is made out of 10 to 15 houses that are each home to 10 children with their SOS Mother. They take care of abandoned or abused children and offer them a new home. They help orphans get a normal life by getting them a mother, a family, a community and a lot of love. Most of the time they build a school that is accessible to the SOS Children but also to the community. So far, they created a few schools in India that are now welcoming up to 3000 students from every horizon.

You can show your support to the Fiasco De Gama team by following them on Facebook and YouTube by looking up Fiasco De Gama. Support their project and make a donation to SOS Children's Village on this site http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fiascodegama.

The money will go directly to the charity. Any amount, big or small, can make a difference.

sakura

CREATIVE COMMONS Some rights reserved By bazaar staff

When we think of the world of creative endeavors we often think of ownership. Simple ideas like, ‘I made this, therefore I own it,’ are true – but in a way they are only as true as they are enforceable, and only as enforceable as they are successful. In a time when many recording artists will just steal something and then pay later – one thinks most recently of Sam Smith and the settlement requiring him to pay 11% to Tom Petty for basically ripping off his melody – it can be tough to figure out where you stand. Many people make different types of creative content without hopes of them doing more than just appreciated. With all this in mind, let's discuss the idea of Creative Commons.

At its core, Creative Commons is basically a licensing arrangement, but even that sounds more complicated than it needs to be and you would be forgiven for starting to tune out if this isn’t your thing.

Let me make it even simpler: Creative Commons is basically FREE STUFF of the creative kind. Or in other words, these are things made by people who have made the decision to allow their output to be out in the world for free. The money hungry out there might be forgiven for wondering what the catch is – there isn’t one. But let’s examine what might make somebody do this sort of thing.

Creative Commons is a non-profit company that releases licenses free to the public. It allows people to check out work and use content or build on it all 104

depending on what type of rights the owner of the content wants to reserve. In 2006 they had roughly 50 million pieces of work on their site, as of 2014 they had 882 million pieces of work. 58% of those allow for free commercial use of any work and 76% allow for adaptations.

According to their site, Creative Commons, “seeks to support the building of a richer public domain by providing an alternative to the automatic ‘all rights reserved’ copyright, and has been dubbed ‘some rights reserved.’” David Berry and Giles Moss have credited Creative Commons with generating interest in the issue of intellectual property and contributing to the re-thinking of the role of the "commons" in the "information age".

Beyond that, Creative Commons has provided "institutional, practical and legal support for individuals and groups wishing to experiment and communicate with culture more freely."

Creative Commons attempts to counter what Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, considers to be a dominant and increasingly restrictive permission culture. Lessig describes this as "a culture in which creators get to create only with the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past.” Lessig maintains that modern culture is dominated by traditional content distributors in order to maintain and strengthen their monopolies on cultural products such as popular music and cinema, and that Creative Commons can provide alternatives

to these restrictions.

Consider this…at their core, creative types often just want to be noted and appreciated for their creative endeavors. The Hawaiian’s have a proverb that often gets translated and coopted but it is basically this, ‘There are two ways to be rich: earn more, or desire less.’ Personally, this has always spoken to me (normally at some really low volume while I was en route to my day job, no doubt), but the basic premise is the understanding that there are other ways than purely financial means for one to find value and meaning in their life. I won’t run this the Hallmark route by going too far down this line, but suffice to say there have been times where we all have done work that was appreciated and that felt good enough to justify doing it. That is the idea behind Creative Commons. People are doing their work and just want it to get out.

What Creative Commons seeks to do, is get all that amazing art that people are creating – both professionally and as enthusiasts – out into the world and allow people to see, use and appreciate it. Some people suggest that Creative Commons serves a remix culture that just essentially has people adding or mixing on to other people’s projects. There may be some truth to that, but at its best, isn’t that what a community is?

Learn more about Creative Commons by visiting www.creativecommons.org.

burj al hamam

PHONES

When opportunity, etiquette, and responsibility collide By bazaar staff

Do you suffer from nomophobia? The cell phone is the single most prominent artifact of our daily lives, and as such, has its own term for anxiety related to being without it. They are on us at all waking hours. Sometimes we sleep with them beneath our pillow at night. They come everywhere with us, but what does that mean for those who choose to not drop everything and react each time their phone rings? First of all, if you have tried to call me lately, and I have not picked up…my bad. I really don’t mean to ignore you or put you off. But, I am afraid that when the workday is done and business is out of the way, I can scarcely be bothered to talk. Maybe I can text but that’s about it. It is a bit of a problem actually — let’s examine.

It is important to acknowledge that all of our relationships with phones are different. For example, I still hear stories from my own mother about how back in the day when she would pick up the phone: it was actually tied into the entire neighborhood and you had to kindly ask someone to get off to let you use it. These party lines, though now a relic in themselves, if not a statue 106

showing how quickly things are changing, deserve to be noted. Now, not only does she have her own phone, and a cell phone that I got her, but so does my grandfather. The fact that neither one of them can seem to manage to pick up the phone, check their messages, or do anything other than yell at me for what I am not currently doing, is another matter altogether. I digress…

The pace of life is changing. You used to be able to just check your answering machine at the end of the day and get back to people by the day after. However, nowadays, if you don’t call somebody back within in an hour, they get offended. The consequences can be even worse when work-related.

The reality though is that, now that our phones are on us all the time, when it rings, it is interrupting some other real-life thing happening at the same time. Not every social situation is appropriate to interrupt by picking up the phone. So generally, if I am in a situation where I do not want to stop talking to the person, I will simply hit ignore no matter who is calling (that said, there is a code where a second or even third call would let me

know it is an emergency and must be picked up).

Am I missing opportunities by not answering the phone? I certainly must be. In fact, I know it has happened. I have, in my business life, been told by a client before that I didn’t get their business because I wasn’t there when he called at all times of day and night. Still, it is hard for me to be upset about that, because what I have lost in business, I have gained in the strength of my relationships (hopefully). I didn’t interrupt dinner every time my customer called, and I don’t stop my friend from sharing his story when someone else does, and I believe those relationships are the better for it. Of course in the end, these are all roads of societal norms that we must navigate ourselves.

Perhaps the last and most important thing here, regardless of the phone as a communication tool, is the fact that answering the phone — much like watching TV or listening to your headphones — takes you out of the current moment, lessening the power of the present in the process.

If you want to talk about this phone thing give me a call — I can’t promise I’ll answer though.

naz

bazaar a la mode AMERICAN EAGLE TAKES YOU TO THE BEACH WITH ITS SUMMER 2015 COLLECTION AEO’s Summer “APRES SURF” collection screams boho-style complete with florals, fringe, crochet and of course destroyed denim. No matter where you are, you’ll feel like you are in sunny California with AEO! American Eagle has all the essentials that guys and girls need for the ultimate summer vacation. Guys will be able to stand out and rock the color block and bright stripes in AEO timeless T-shirts. Pair a t-shirt with geo-print board shorts and you’re ready to hit the beach! An AEO men’s collection would not be complete without tipped polos, oxford shirts, classic shorts and destroyed denim. Guys can choose from a variety of denim this season. Girls can let their inner hippy shine in feminine fringe, lace and crochet. The collection showcases shades of white, cream and natural tones. For girls who like a little more color, the collection offers ethnic island prints and bright accessories. Other summer essentials include cotton muscle Tees and Tanks, textured kimonos, printed skirts and comfy rompers. Being America’s favorite jeans brand, denim is still a big part of the collection. Girls can enjoy a variety of denim shorts with color crochet, prints, embroidery, heavy destroy and patching.

CENTREPOINT EMBRACES THE SPIRIT OF RAMADAN With the Holy month of Ramadan upon us, the warm spirit of togetherness and festivity can be felt at the Centrepoint store where a warm and ethnic shopping environment has been created to symbolize the festive spirit. Traditionally, Ramadan sees a rise in the number of families meeting for suhoor and iftars and with the Holy month coinciding with the summer holiday months, Centrepoint stores have launched a Ramadan and Eid specific collection, which is comfortable for this heat while exhibiting the festive season spirit. “Centrepoint has worked carefully toward providing its customers products that blend in the festive spirit while retaining the fresh summer look across its brands. We have embraced the spirit of Ramadan and what shoppers will be able to experience will yield a vibrant, ethnic feel in our stores,” said Vinod Talreja, Director, Centrepoint. You can also shop for home accessories like electric lanterns and floor lamps that are truly bound to give your house a festive feeling during the special occasion of Ramadan. The products are designed to be contemporary and yet include a touch of sophistication that makes them the ideal home furnishings for every household.

Visit Centrepoint at The Avenues, Hawally, Salmiya, Fintas, Jahra, Fahaheel, Sulaibhikhat, and Kuwait City.

HAPPY HEARTS COLLECTION AT CHOPARD In 2015, Chopard is revisiting the Happy Hearts collection by approaching it from a whole different angle. Color makes a majestic entrance, accompanied by precious materials. Throughout the Happy Hearts jewelery collection, the traditionally openwork hearts now welcome ‘solid’ turquoise, onyx or mother-of-pearl hearts placed along slim white or rose gold chains. These series of colorful, openwork hearts are also interspersed with tiny hearts, housing moving diamonds. In these gently undulating jewelery creations, an appealing sense of lightness mingles with a carefree spirit and infinite tenderness. The mobile nature of the diamonds, together with the random arrangement of the motifs, give rise to a line exuding an aura of chic and exquisite femininity. Vivid or subtle depending on the choice of gemstone, the use of color expresses a decidedly modern mind-set. Happy Hearts are heirs to a longstanding tradition at Chopard, of which the finest hours have long since been marked by Happy Diamonds. Inspired by sunrays glinting on the drops of a waterfall, they swiftly established themselves as a brand signature and have consistently revealed their iconic, spirited character through countless different variations. After adorning watches with their whirling, playful and joyful touch, they have naturally found their way into jewelery.

NEW VIVID COLOR AND FUNCTIONALITY AT H&M SPORT THIS AUTUMN H&M have a new Autumn collection prepared for release this month. For women, loose and body-fit tanks in pops of pink or blurred black and white graphic print, fitness tights in bold zig-zag stripes or in all-over print with shape-defining waist and batik print running tights with reflective patches, all come in quick dry function fabric as the seasons change.

Bodymind bra tops and tights come in comforting melange fabrics with soft color blocking, while the warming layers for outdoor activities are topped by a hybrid hoodie with a padded front and melange sleeves. For men, training gets new attitude with quick dry T-shirts and performance tights in black, grey and blue melanges or nature-inspired all-over prints. Longsleeved training tops are quick-drying and breathable, while new technical training shorts have a cotton-like feel for comfort. Seamless and featherlight running T-shirts, a zip-up jacket and a gilet, all equipped with technical layers for when the weather worsens. The influence for outdoor activities is both urban and futuristic, with skin-tight base-layers that have panels like an action hero, along with looser cargo pants with multiple pockets. Hooded shell jackets and beanies complete the look in black and grey.

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VINTAGE SUMMER 2015 COLLECTION AT ICONIC ICONIC’s new Summer Collection has hit Kuwait’s shopping malls and it’s all about vintage-inspired fashion this season.

With a modern spin on trends from the 50s through to the 80s, fashion aficionados will find their perfect outfit this summer season in a collection that incorporates something for everyone. The much loved 70s Boho look is characterized by intricate laser cutting, fringing, embroidery and applique on sleeveless jackets, floor sweeping dresses and palazzo pants.

Or, you could choose to make a bold statement with the 60s Mod collection, featuring stripes and florals in key pieces including sleeveless long jackets, tent dresses, printed culottes and boxy t-tops in pastels, ivory and black. The vintage inspired 50s mid-century romance range features folklore prints on free flowing silhouettes in neutral hues with primary bright tones of reds and yellows. While for a more modern summer look, our Resort Chic inspired line will see you cruise into the summer with cotton and linen midi-skirts, printed bomber and jogger sets, pencil joggers and jumpsuits in navy, beige and yellow. Featuring light linen and cotton fabrics with threadwork and cutwork detailing, this collection is ideal for a long summer break in an exotic location.

Head to ICONIC and shop the latest summer collection available at The Avenues, The Mall, Level 1 and at Salam Mall in Salmiya.

ONTIME LAUNCHES DIESEL 2015 ‘STRONGHOLD’ COLLECTION ONTIME announced that it has launched the new Diesel Stronghold 2015 collection, which can be found in all ONTIME stores across Kuwait. Through this collection, Diesel commemorated its lineage and launched a collection that showcases its trademark design elements; unrivalled size and outstanding materials. The new Diesel Stronghold collection is the newest addition to the brand’s oversized family, which features a unique chronograph movement. The rich dial details and dynamic construction components convey the brand’s commitment to the tiniest intricacies, and are available in either a steel bracelet or a leather strap. Stronghold delivers the next phase of oversized style housed by a powerful 51 mm case; a truly versatile package. The only design element more prominent in Diesel’s designs than its size is its use of distinctive materials, such as Denim. Denim has been the most integral factor of the Diesel brand formulation since inception. This season, the watch collection has celebrated this contemporary yet timeless fabric, as it shines with a lush denim strap, in addition to the innovatively implemented denim on the dial for a truly multi-dimensional artistic feel found in the Mr. Daddy cornerstone collection.

Visit the nearest ONTIME store near you at The Avenues, Marina Mall, Bairaq, Gate Mall, Awtad Jahra, Al Kout, 360 Mall, The Airport branch, Mohalab, Fanar and Discovery Mall.

PINKBERRY SPREADS THE RAMADAN FLAVORS WITH A NEW DESSERT COLLECTION Pinkberry, the original frozen yogurt, is celebrating Ramadan with the launch of two new indulgent desserts, Baklava and Basbousa. These delectable Ramadan Collection treats will be available across our stores in Kuwait, KSA and Bahrain all through the month of Ramadan. The Ramadan Collection has been locally developed to satisfy your Ramadan dessert cravings. The first dessert is a clever twist on the traditional Baklava, made from 2 layers of filo pastry with a refreshing filling of original frozen yogurt, a drizzle of sugar syrup and topped off with creamy Nutella, crunchy pistachio and shavings of milk chocolate. The second combination, the Basbousa, is an ageold Ramadan favorite. The dessert includes a piece of Basboosa with sugar syrup crowned with original frozen yogurt, crunchy almonds, fresh pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup. These innovative treats blend traditional taste with the burst of flavor from Pinkberry. The Ramadan Collection consists of the finest ingredients and premium quality non-fat frozen yogurt.

It’s the perfect treat to share with friends and family this Ramadan.

You can visit Pinkberry in Kuwait at multiple locations, including The Avenues, Marina Walk and Mall, and Arabella.

TANGLE TEEZER’S NEW BLOW-STYLING HAIRBRUSH WILL BLOW YOU AWAY! Faster drying. Volume. Shine. Professional finish. Every time. Who doesn’t want that power from a paddle brush? Now you can experience all four with our break-the-mould Blow-Styling paddle hairbrush. Just like our other hairbrushes, the innovation is all in the teeth. The individual teeth formation allows for free flow tension whereby hair will pass through in a snake like motion. Doing so will remove excess water from the surface layer, leaving the hair ready for blow-styling.

Breaking all the rules, there’s no need for pre-drying, which will help minimize tangles and furthermore the hair is not stretched whilst drying. The results? No dragging and pulling, your blow-dry time is quicker and hair will retain its natural volume and movement for longer. The teeth also help smooth the cuticle down to promote look-at-me shine. Amazing!

A paddle brush like no other, crucially both the speed and the heat of your dryer can be brought down for a salon professional result. And witness the cleaning grooves allowing for easy removal of any loose hair without causing damage to the brush. It’s a new era hairbrush that will put the fabulous back into your style.

Tangle Teezer Blow-Styling Hairbrush is exclusively distributed in Kuwait by beau-tique cosmetics international. For any inquiries you can call beau-tique on 2225 1285 or visit www.beau-tiqueonline.com.

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ATTILA

The flavors of Mongolia, now in Kuwait

By Ruby Rice

Tucked away in a quiet corner of the sun soaked Miral Complex in Mangaf, Attila, the Mongolian grill restaurant with Japanese influence, is a real hidden treasure. Its small, spotlessly clean indoor seating area is modestly decorated with traditional Mongolian ornaments, and there is a small amount of outdoor seating from which you can enjoy a fantastic view of the beach, which sits right on Miral’s doorstep.

Besides the picture-perfect views, we noticed that the restaurant also offers an interesting selection of juices from their menus, all of which appear on iPads, taking the seemingly traditionally decorated restaurant into the future. We decided to start our meal on a refreshing note, and ordered their mango juice that was perfect for these hot summer days.

For a starter we ordered Arabic cucumber rolls, which included radish, tomato, white onion and Rocca leaves drizzled in olive oil, salt, garlic and pepper sauce, all wrapped in fresh, crunchy slices of cucumber. Though Attila does offer a wide selection of mains that are pre-cooked, we decided to go through the Deli-esque selection process.

Taking a tray and a small bowl, first you go to the meat station, where you choose from a selection of raw teriyaki chicken, normal chicken, lamb, or beef.

After selecting one, you move to the vegetable station, where you can choose from tomatoes, broccoli, onions, pepper, lettuce, and much more.

After that comes the noodles, and you can choose between rice noodles, eggplant noodles, and stir-fry noodles. Once the choosing process is complete you move on to their signature sauce section, which offers a staggering twelve varieties.

At this point we asked for the chef’s opinions, who promptly filled one of our bowls with three types of sauces that we would never have put together, but proved to be perfect for our meal.

They then take your tray and grill the food on the flat oven where you can stand and watch it, or sit with your drinks and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere.

We chose a combination of the lamb kebab meat, broccoli, onions, tomato, chives and lettuce, rice noodles, with sweet & sour, sesame seed, and hoisin sauce, which brought all the food together under a wholesome, wonderfully savory flavor. The chef’s recommendation was completely on point!

For dessert, we chose the fried ice-cream and the banana tempura, both of which were mouth watering, sweet and refreshing, and we came away feeling full and energized, two words that rarely go together.

If you are looking for a healthy, fast option that will leave you very satisfied, Attila is the place for you.

Attila Mongolian Grill is located in Miral Complex in Mangaf. For more information, call 2228 8247 and visit attilagrillkw.com, and follow them on Instagram @Amg_kw.

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75% SALE ON EVERYTHING

beau-tique river

Alrai - main street TEL : 24714646

bazaar around town EXPERIENCE A PERFECT RAMADAN WITH DEAN & DELUCA At Dean & Deluca, foodies can enjoy a set menu for a minimum of four people, allowing friends and family to enjoy choices of soups, numerous mezzah options and a choice of three main course dishes, followed by one of Dean & Deluca’s famous fresh-baked seasonal Arabic sweets, all-inclusive for KD 9.950. Also new this year for Ramadan, Dean & Deluca will be offering a special Iftar Menu for the first hour after the breaking of the fast. The Iftar Menu will feature a collection of traditional Ramadan dishes complemented by Dean & Deluca classics like fatayer, shawarma and wood-fired dishes, before reintroducing the traditional café menu. For Ramadan, guests can enjoy dishes like Lamb Freekah and Rice Mansaf, a Dean & Deluca creation which features richflavored oriental style rice spices served with cucumber and yogurt salad; or the exclusively curated Jambalaya, a Cajun favorite with a regional twist that offers a flavorful fusion of seafood in dill, turmeric, tomato and saffron flavored rice, served with dakkous. Guests can also enjoy home-style Ouzi to experience the warmth of the season’s hospitality, followed by a range of enticing desserts like Been Nareen Kunafeh or Qataief Asafiri to bring a sweet touch to the end of any gathering.

Dean and Deluca can be found in The Avenues mall.

FEELING THE HEAT IN YOUR VEHICLE! We are in the peak of the summer season, and while we hydrate ourselves with lots of water, and take cover from direct sunlight from 11am to 4pm, we tend to overlook some sort of protection when we get into our vehicles that we love and depend on so much to transport us from one location to another. That’s why we have shown you an analogy of placing your hand on the ad on page XX and feeling no heat, which would be the similar experience if you were to place your hand on an actual vehicle window installed with V-KOOL premium film. Alternatively, the heat demo experience at V-KOOL outlet can assure you of the same result, and you would conclude to never ever install any other window film on your vehicle other than V-KOOL because that’s how magnificently V-KOOL film blocks heat causing Infra-Red (IR) rays, and the harmful Ultra-Violet (UV) rays. In fact the premium film V-KOOL 70 series rejects 99% UV rays and 94% Infrared rays. Plus based on research originally related to US aerospace and military use, V-KOOL is the world’s first wavelength selective window coating that provides a virtually transparent protective barrier against the sun’s heat and radiation.

Go check out and experience the ad on page 71.

AL MULLA & BEHBEHANI MOTOR COMPANY PRESENTS FULL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT BUSINESS PARTNER EVENT Al Mulla & Behbehani Motor Company (MBMC), the sole distributor of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Mopar in Kuwait, held a special event at the Salwa Sabah Al Ahmad Theater & Hall, with a VIP audience that included leading Government and Ministry officials, fleet customers and key business partners as well as the Kuwaiti media. At this event, the company also revealed the new Chrysler 300 C and Chrysler 300 Limited. “The Chrysler 300 as well as the Dodge Charger have enjoyed remarkable success in the Kuwaiti fleet sector, and this occasion gave us the opportunity to showcase our full, expanded range, consisting of Jeep, Ram as well as Alfa Romeo, Fiat and our commercial range of Fiat Professional vehicles” said Oscar Rivoli, General Manager at MBMC. MBMC also outlined the ways in which it can help businesses through a comprehensive product range that is supported by a dedicated infrastructure and service that is designed to improve efficiency and contain costs. “The success of our customers is our success, and that’s the reason why we have invested and introduced changes to create an infrastructure that is designed to comprehensively support our fleet and business customers at every level,” added Rivoli. MBMC and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles offer an unrivalled range of cars that encompasses everything from compact city cars like the Fiat 500 range through to the affordable luxury of the Chrysler 300 and the high performance SRT models. There’s also a full line up of Jeep models, including the Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. The Jeep brand has been synonymous with unrivalled off-road capability for over seven decades and continues to strengthen its position as the benchmark for off-road vehicles whilst adding even more on-road refinements. MBMC’s range also includes a wide range of dependable, adaptable commercial vehicles for every business need. Everyone knows the Ram 1500 Laramie, one of the most luxurious and well-appointed trucks available in the market, but the Ram range also includes heavy-duty workhorses like the 2500, 3500 and chassis cab, which are available to suit multiple applications. Add to that the Fiat Professional range, which includes the Doblo, Fiorino and Ducato Vans with many different specialist applications including chiller units, ambulances, disabled transport and passenger transport, offering more functionality, performance and value.

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NEW ADDITION TO HARIBO ANNOUNCED Al-Bustan Al-Khaleeji, a leading distributor of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Kuwait and a subsidiary of Towel International Holding, has announced permanently allocating a new candy corner for the famous German brand Haribo in City Center, Salmiyah. This new implementation is looked upon as an added value that ought to bring prosperity, and takes the brand to a whole new level of growth, allowing both children and grown-ups to rejoice in a wide range of confectionaries that Haribo provides, where there will be plastic bags available for visitors to fill them with the appropriate amount of Haribo sweets and candies. A City Centre official stated: “We are very delighted with our extended relationship with Al-Bustan Al-Khaleeji. Where we have been strengthening this rising partnership throughout our branches in Kuwait, since 1999, we are eagerly anticipating the success of the new Haribo Candy Corner.’’ Haribo was founded in 1920 by Mr. Hans Riegel in Bonn, Germany. Today, Haribo represented by its famous mascot, the Goldbear, has become the leading jelly manufacturer around the world with products available in more than 100 countries. This is in addition to the fact that Haribo produces certified Halal Jellies manufactured in Turkey, which have been available in Kuwait for some time.

STARBUCKS READY-TO-DRINK CHILLED COFFEES Starbucks coffee company launched its ready-to-drink chilled coffees, Starbucks Discoveries, in Kuwait, allowing coffee fans to grab their favorite drink at any moment to lift their day. The Starbucks Discoveries range will be sold in the chilled section of supermarkets and convenience stores across Kuwait. Starbucks Discoveries chilled coffees are delicious ready-to-drink beverages and are inspired by the Starbucks coffee house lattes. They are made with top-quality fair-trade certified, 100% arabica espresso roast coffee, like the beverages in Starbucks stores. With the introduction of the ready-todrink portfolio in the Middle East, three global classic flavors are launched: Starbucks Discoveries Seattle Latte: a perfect blend of fair-trade certified Starbucks espresso roast coffee and creamy milk.

Inspired by the original Starbucks caffé latte. Starbucks Discoveries Chocolate Mocha Latte: crafted with 100% fair trade sugar and cocoa, this is a creamy blend of our bold espresso roast coffee and temptingly rich cocoa flavor. This pairing brings espresso and chocolate lovers to stores every day.

Starbucks Discoveries Caramel Macchiato Latte: this signature favorite, first introduced in Starbucks stores in 1987, is a creamy blend of fair-trade certified Starbucks espresso roast coffee expertly mixed with rich, indulgent caramel flavor.

ً ‫ طف‬150 ‫مخيم أرجانا الصيفي ينطلق بمشاركة أكثر من‬ ‫ال‬ ‫ بمشاركة‬،‫أطلقت شركة أرجانا للمنتجعات والفنادق مخيمها الصيفي المتميز الرابع في فندق ومنتجع موفنبيك البدع‬ ً ‫ طف‬150 ‫أكثر من‬ .‫ عقب النجاح الباهر الذي حققته مخيماتها في السنوات الماضية‬،‫ سنة‬12‫ و‬3 ‫ال بين الفئة العمرية‬ ‫ تسعى الشركة لتطبيق خطتها السنوية للتنمية المجتمعية من خالل تعزيز دورها‬،‫وبإطالق مخيمها الصيفي الرابع‬ ‫ وقد أولت هذه السنة اهتمامًا كبيراً لألنشطة الرياضية والثقافية واإلجتماعية والترفيهية ذات‬.‫في خدمة المجتمع‬ ‫ إضافة إلى الرحالت الترفيهية ورحالت خاصة لمؤسسات المجتمع المدني لتفعيل دور القطاع الخاص‬،‫الصلة بالمجتمع‬ ‫ وقد حرصت أيضاً من خالل هذا المخيم على استثمار أوقات‬،‫في هذا المنحى وهو جزء من عمل شركة أرجانا الهادف‬ ‫الخريجين الجدد من المدارس والجامعات من خالل اإلستعانة بهم في تنظيم وإدارة المخيم لإلستفادة من طاقاتهم‬ ‫ ويعتبر مخيم شركة أرجانا الرابع وجهة رائعة‬.‫وتشكيل خبرات جديدة لديهم تهيؤهم لبدء مرحلة حياتية جديدة‬ ‫ إذ يمثل تجربة منعشة وممتعة للصغار تأخذهم في رحلة استكشافية للعالم من‬،‫لتعلم الصغار في أجواء مرحة‬ ‫ ويمثل المخيم الذي يتواصل خمسة أسابيع وسيلة رائعة لصقل مهارات الصغار وإثراء معرفتهم في مجاالت‬.‫حولهم‬ ‫ ألعاب‬،‫ موسيقى وأزياء‬،‫ حرف‬،‫ فصول رقص‬،‫ فنون الدفاع عن النفس‬،‫ سباحة‬،‫ كرة الطائرة‬،‫ كرة القدم‬:‫عدة مثل‬ ً ‫ شركة أرجانا تخص بالشكر ك‬.‫ باإلضافة إلى الرحالت الميدانية وأعياد الميالد‬،‫ذكاء‬ ‫ وشركة أمريكانا‬ABC ‫ال من‬ .‫ وبنك برقان وشركة فور فيلمز وفور فيست على رعايتهم الكريمة‬،‫وديكاتلون وفانتزي وارلد‬

PICKLES-PART OF THE SULTAN CENTER’S GROUP OF RESTAURANTS If you wish to get your burger fix, you can head over to Al-Bida’a where you will find a cozy burger place situated in the corner to satisfy your craving. Belonging to The Sultan Center’s Group of Restaurants, and created by Kuwaiti Chef Ahmad Al-Bader. Pickles has a contemporary rustic vibe with its woody seating and plating, along with lights in pickle jars hanging overhead that add warmth, while accentuating the name of the restaurant.

For starters, you can choose from a selection of the restaurant’s variously flavored signature pickles to give your burger some company, namely the standard long pickles called the “stackers” or another popular choice, the banana pepper rings. Whichever one you go with, you can have your mouth-tingling pickles either fried or fresh accompanied with a wide range of sauces and dips like honey mustard, sour cream whip, apple sauce and the list goes on and on. As for burgers, common picks are the BBQ Heaven Burger, and Mexican Burger with guacamole and sour cream. A common favorite is the succulent shredded short rib mushroom Swiss burger that detonates a fiesta of flavors. The delicious ingredients of each burger are sandwiched between soft potato buns.

You can find Pickles at Al-Bida’a and Marina Walk Arabian Gulf Street, where you can dine while enjoying a spectacular sea view.

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QUESTIONING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

By Fatmah H. Al-Qadfan

More often than not, I wake up craving a pancake. Well, to be a little more precise, I wake up craving a high stack of fluffy, golden, cardamom pancakes – topped with tart berries and drizzled with pure maple syrup. On those mornings, I splash cold water on my face and make a beeline for the fridge. Eggs? Check. Flour? Check. Yogurt or buttermilk? Check. (I bet you thought I was about to give you my secret recipe!) My focus does not falter until that first mouthful.

These days I walk through the supermarket with disdain. Frozen chicken nuggets? Kraft products?

How many calories in a soda? And no, thanks. I’m all about the greens: kale, spinach, and broccoli!

Don’t be surprised if you see #eatcleanandgetlean #smoothies4life #paleobrownies or a variant of those hashtags on my social media accounts during those phases.

Then there are the late nights on the couch.

You know, just me and a box of pizza. Sometimes feeling a little shame, although mostly feeling empowered and grateful for every piping-hot extracheesy bite. But all this fluctuation makes me wonder, is my relationship with food “normal”?

Where have I picked up certain habits? When did I first hear about a diet?

I’m a second year graduate student in drama therapy, dragging my feet with my thesis. To date, I have worked with a number of different populations from children with autism to young professionals who seek creative means of self-expression.

Drama therapy is an active approach of solving problems and achieving goals or catharsis through storytelling, movement, play, and improvisation.

In March of this year, I spent a week interning at Castlewood, an Eating Disorders treatment facility in Missouri. I was shadowing Laura Wood, a primary therapist who facilitates individual and group therapies. Her focus areas include the treatment of trauma and dissociation, attachment, grief and loss and the use of drama therapy and expressive action based methods to treat these areas.

It was my first time at any kind of treatment facility, and it was not an easy experience. I went in with nothing but textbook definitions for Eating Disorders. “Feeding and eating disorders are characterized by a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that results in "the altered consumption or absorption of food that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning” (DSM-5). Like most people, I used to picture a pale anorexic female figure, a woman obsessed with trying to lose weight to look better.

The mental image that I’ve created, no doubt through what I have been exposed to in the media, couldn’t be further from the truth. Individuals with eating disorders can be male or female, young or old, with any body shape and size. In some cases, they are well-aware of their disorder, their symptoms and the risks. In other cases, the disorder goes 114

unnoticed by the individual or the family.

The one thing all the cases have in common, however, is a complexity beyond a lack of willpower or a simple need to shed a few pounds.

During my time at Castlewood, I learned about different levels of care that are provided to individuals with eating disorders. I shared what I was learning with my online community, listening to people’s reactions to this very taboo topic. Since my internship, I have been questioning social values and traditions that revolve around food. What kind of dishes are celebrated at family’s Friday gathering?

How does the dessert on the table contradict the healthy messages we are taught and know to be true? I also began to look at food trends more closely. When is a paleo diet harmless and when is it pointing to an underlying issue? When should I be concerned about a friend’s excessive exercise

habits and when should I be motivated to join her?

I left my internship equipped with new therapeutic techniques and more knowledge about eating disorders. Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating) are often the result of a combination of factors, including genetic, psychological, cultural and environmental. At the beginning, the eating disorder is often a coping mechanism or a way to relieve stress, but in the long-term the eating disorder increases anxiety and harms the body.

When I interned at Castlewood, I identified with Laura Wood’s approach, “Coming to understand the protective functions of an eating disorder is one of the first steps in formulating a treatment approach.”

I am now inspired to bring this conversation to my country, to raise questions and encourage a debate. What can we do to address eating disorders in Kuwait?

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THE FLUIDITY OF THOUGHT

By Ayman Nassar

We are what our thoughts make us, so take care of what you think – Swami Vivekananda.

Since the dawn of time one aspect of mankind has remained intact for throughout the generations, from cavemen to astronauts, from street sweepers to Kings and royalty; our thoughts and how we think.

Our minds wander for hours and hours each day thinking of the most bizarre and absurd scenarios within the confined safety of our heads.

Sometimes we think of riches beyond measure, of having the ability to be truly financially independent.

How glorious it would be if with the wave of a magic wand our bank account would suddenly burgeon and burst at the seams, enabling us to finally live the life of our dreams. Oh the things we would buy, the places we would see, the people we would meet. And then all of a sudden we are jolted into reality as our manager’s hoarse, coffee-stained yell of our name awakens us to the world at hand, and that report that was due two days ago that still remains at the bottom of our desk.

No matter. A short while after that, our minds are again captivated by the thought of, if you could be a superhero, what would your powers be? How would you make the world a better place? Or would 118

you use your newfound abilities for evil? Who would you tell your secret to? Who would you avoid? If you used those abilities to save the life of a rich and powerful person, or better yet, if without powers you still risked your life to save a rich and powerful person, would that lead to the first thought we just had, of having wealth beyond measure? You would be a media sensation, every newspaper, radio and TV station would line up to interview you. Oh what if you were a celebrity…

The process is endless. Sometimes, it is nice to lose our way in the maze of our own thoughts, to play-out scenarios that defy logic and reason simply to entertain ourselves. The mind is a powerful weapon, however the power of thought comes with a high price. We cannot always shape our thoughts and control what we think of. Much like molecules of water, our thoughts are fluid in nature. Each thought collides with the next, excites it, and elicits new thoughts, like waves traveling in a multitude of different directions, one atop the other making us both happy and sad, laughing and crying, making us feel both opportunity and remorse, simultaneously.

What if I got into a horrible accident whilst driving? Or if I were simply walking on the road and someone ran into me? What if I suddenly caught a disease that leaves me bedridden for months?

What would I do if a friend dies? Or a close relative?

Or a family member? How would I grieve? How long would I grieve for? How would relationships with everyone else be afterward? Will I take time off work? Would I quit work altogether?

Our thoughts have the ability to send us over the moon in grand elation, or stop us dead in our tracks with paralyzing trepidation. Our only defense is to not give voice to our disconcerting thoughts, trapping them in the nether regions of our minds, pushing forward past the discomfort. Or is it?

We cannot switch our brains off, much to our chagrin. Our mind remains the conductor along this bumpy ride we call life. One way to cope with the multiple thoughts we have is to write them down, breed imagination from fear, and tailor it to be a short story or a work of pure fiction.

Our thoughts are a tool, if properly used, it’s the greatest instrument we will ever own. Let the adversity of thoughts unleash the creativity within.

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blended beverage

bazaar scopes what’s your sign?

LEO JUL 23 – AUG 22

PISCES FEB 19 – MAR 20

Don’t let insecurities get in the way of opportunity.

Believe in yourself and others will, too. A down-andout friend will come to you with a problem. Don’t be afraid to give honest advice. It may hurt at first, but they will appreciate it in the long run. The mail brings good news.

Don’t back down if you feel strongly about an issue.

Even if you’re not the most articulate debater, you’ll get your point across with pure passion. Something that started as a temporary situation will turn permanent. A heart-to-heart discussion makes the summer more meaningful.

VIRGO AUG 23 – SEP 22

ARIES MAR 21 – APR 19

A dream you have will help you figure out an answer to an ongoing problem. Mid-July, you could be faced with a confrontation in the workplace. Don’t back down – especially when dealing with authority figures. New romance is a big possibility these months.

Trying to manipulate others to get your own way will only backfire – especially when it comes to family.

Instead, try a straightforward approach. You’ll see that it’s much more effective. If changes are going on in the workplace, this may be the opportunity to advance.

LIBRA SEP 23 – OCT 22 Do you have a big home project planned? Enlisting the help of friends could cut the work time in half.

Just be sure you give detailed instructions or you might not get the result you want. And don’t forget to reward these friends. A look towards the future gives you reason to smile.

TAURUS APR 20 – MAY 20

SCORPIO OCT 23 – NOV 22

GEMINI MAY 21 – JUN 21

A scandal in the workplace makes the beginning of July more interesting. You’ll find out some interesting and shocking news. Now’s the time to make a move.

You may find out something new about yourself.

An unexpected show of emotion from a work associate will take you by surprise. You’ll see a completely different side of this person. What seems like a wild goose chase early in July could lead to an opportunity later on. You’ll feel that it was “meant to be.”

SAGITTARIUS NOV 22 – DEC 21

Unforeseen interruptions will keep you from your original agenda during July and August. It will be especially frustrating because you will probably have no control over the situation. Good news comes late in the August.

CANCER JUN 22 – JUL 22 Out of town visitors brighten the time ahead.

You’ll have fun playing host and tour guide.

An up-coming celebration in July gives you an excuse to splurge a little. A relationship you form now could hold important meaning in the years to come. You may need to be patient with an irritable Libra.

A series of mishaps could delay plans. If you’re in a new relationship, this could be a tricky time. Keep things at a slow pace or the object of your affections could get scared away. This is especially true with Leo. A reminder of your past comes late in August.

CAPRICORN DEC 22 – JAN 19 Take a stand now or you’ll be taken advantage of. Your willingness to please needs to be curbed especially when it comes to business. In matters of love, you could be in for a pleasant surprise. When a friend secretly confides in you later in July, be sure to listen well with both ears.

AQUARIUS JAN 20 – FEB 18 A spur-of-the-moment night out will set a relaxing tone for the rest of July. You’ll pledge to take life less seriously. News of a friend’s good fortune will provide inspiration. A Scorpio’s actions will affect you in some way later in August. Keep a tight hold on finances.

source: www.2015horoscope.com 120

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