Last weekend my brother and I were hanging around the video game and anime shops in Rehab Complex, looking for any interesting items to add to our collection. The shops that sell Anime related figures and collectibles are mostly on the ground floor and basement while there are some more shops on the first floor. You’ll also find a lot of shops selling video game consoles, games and mobiles and accessories.
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this site lately and what really got my attention was all the Nikon gear available at really superb prices. Last week a friend of mine received his Nikon D5100 with 18-5mm kit lens for about INR 38,000 which is less than what another friend paid for his Nikon D3100 from Kuwait!
Here’s another comparison; I checked out the price of the D7000 (body) at a couple of places here and the average price is 420 KD while the same body retails for approx INR 58,000 on Flipkart, which is an instant saving for 100 KD. I wanted to test their service first so I ordered some DVDs to be shipped to my home in Trivandrum and its already been shipped and they should be delivered to my home by the end of the week.
One thing I liked about Flipkart is that they have so many payment options. I initially wanted to charge all purchases to my ICICI card but I forgot that it didn’t have enough balance and for some strange reason my SBI card was not working on their payment portal. Luckily they have a COD (cash on delivery) option and that’s what I opted for. If you’re buying items worth more than INR 40,000 they have an EMI plan that you can pay in 3 or 6 months and I might use that if I’m buying anything expensive.
What I didn’t like was their shipping method, in my case they split it into two batches; one via BlueDart and the other via Aramex. Now it doesn’t make a difference in money or time delivered but I’d still prefer to receive all my items in the same batch.
I might do a small review on the Nikon D5100 my friend bought from Flipkart and get his feedback on his shopping experience as well.
Got an email today from q8india.com informing me about their ‘Find the Diya’ contest where you can win an iPhone 4S. What you have to do is find the lamps hidden around the page. I spent a couple of minutes looking and found just one. Here are the rules of the contest [link] and their Facebook page [link]
I recently recommended this lens to a friend of mine who required a quick focus telephoto lens for a safari trip. This is the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm lens and its a value for money purchase if you’re looking to get some close up shots of animals and even works as a good portrait lens.
Unlike my 55-200mm VR this lens has an ‘active’ mode in addition to the regular VR mode and I felt that this makes it capable of shooting handheld night shots a stop or two less than my lens. The night shots I took may look a little ‘noisy’ since I was shooting handheld at 1600 ISO and above without a tripod. Here’s my impression and some test shots…
I received a couple of updates from the cultural group at the Japanese Embassy in Kuwait about some upcoming events. I keep a tab on what’s happening in case I get a chance to meet cultural icons like my meeting with Go Nagai San last year. Here’s a summary on whats coming up;
Event: 50th Anniversary of Japanese Kuwait relations
Date and Time: Friday, November 25th , evening
Venue: Souk Sharq
Attractions: Opening Ceremony, Japanese drum concert, Bon Odori (Japanese folk dance).
Also you can enjoy shopping Japanese items and learning kimono, flower arrangement and origami (folding paper).
Event type: Open, free of charge
Event: Plamo contest
Time and Date: You have to submit your models by November 17th
Venue: Bo Saleh , Muthanna complex. Here’s my previous post about Bo Saleh [link]
You can enter plastic and resin model kits, they have to be made by you and not pre-assembled models. It can be Anime kits, mecha or military. For more information call Bo Saleh hobby shop Tel:22405086
These shoes are probably the strangest footwear I’ve ever worn and now they’re available in Kuwait. A month or so ago I was checking the forums to see if anyone in Kuwait had ordered these shoes online and I was thinking about getting myself a pair from an overseas vendor.
Luckily for me I was informed that these shoes were being sold at certain shoe stores in the city. I got mine from Foot Avenue in Jabriya since the shop in Avenues Mall didn’t have them in my size. They’re quite expensive but since I’ve made a long term commitment to the Kettlebell workout regime and Interval Running I figured this would be a sound investment.
With the weather getting more pleasant its probably a good idea to catch a movie at the rooftop cinema and plus they’re no longer charging 1KD. I wouldn’t mind paying though since its much cheaper than 3.5 KD at the multiplex. Here’s the schedule for the month of October [link]
I’m looking forward to seeing ‘The Shining’ on the big screen since I’ve only ever seen it on DVD.
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I found this video while going thru Ansam’s blog and was excited when I heard that old favorite once again. I was never aware of the singer who did the Arabic version so I did a little searching around and found a wiki on him in French. Here’s the translation;
Sami Clark Biography [link] He was born in Lebanon in the village of el Dhour Choueir. He sang in Arabic but also in English and won a number of international awards, as the price of Menschen und Meer Austria Mori Mori for his song that made him famous. His songs are characterized by romanticism. In addition to Arabic (Lebanon) and English, he sang in Armenian, French, Italian, and Russian and is thus one of the few singers who have sung in many languages.
Just came across a piece of news that Malayalam movie “ആദാമിന്റെ മകൻ അബു,” (trans: Abu, the son of Adam) is India’s official entry to next year’s Oscar awards. Personally I don’t think that getting a movie submitted to the Academy is any indication of the quality of the film (look at the endless series of crappy films in the past few years) but this should be interesting to Malayalam film goers and fans of Salim Kumar.
Now that temperatures are falling its a good time to head out into the open and take some shots during ‘the Magic hour’ or ‘Golden hour’. The approaching winter season and higher humidity levels in Kuwait gives us an opportunity to see some textures in the otherwise plain skies and shooting at the golden hour can further enhance your photos. Here’s a [wiki article] on Golden hour, also some articles on the subject [here] , [here] and [here]
I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot much this past couple of months but hopefully will get some time to do so in coming weeks. Here are a few shots I took during golden hour last year. Now even though its called the magic hour you really don’t get a full hour. In my experience conditions change in a matter of minutes and you lose sunlight with each passing second.
When all the sunlight is almost gone you’ll have a small window of opportunity to shoot in the twilight moment and this too is a fantastic way to enhance the quality of your photos. Here’s one I took during Ramadan. If I remember correctly this was taken just a few minutes after sunset and by the time I took a few shots it had turned into night. So be aware of the time while you’re composing and changing settings on your camera.
These shoes are probably the strangest footwear I’ve ever worn and now they’re available in Kuwait. A month or so ago I was checking the forums to see if anyone in Kuwait had ordered these shoes online and I was thinking about getting myself a pair from an overseas vendor.
With the weather getting more pleasant its probably a good idea to catch a movie at the rooftop cinema and plus they’re no longer charging 1KD. I wouldn’t mind paying though since its much cheaper than 3.5 KD at the multiplex. Here’s the schedule for the month of October [
I found this video while going thru 
Just came across a piece of news that Malayalam movie “
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