Kuwaiti TV Ads in the 1980s

Here are a few TV ads that where constantly broadcast on Kuwait TV in the 80s.



Americana Cake



Pizza Italia



Dalal Oil

The Origins of Kuwaiti Area Names

Sheikh Abdulla Al Jaber in an interview speaks about the different Area names in Kuwait and where they came from.

Thanks and credit to Hummer15al for posting this video, check out his blog at q8istuff.blogspot.com and his youtube channel here.

First Kuwaiti Nationality Card

Here is the first Kuwaiti Nationality Card (actually it is a little black book) with the number 1.



and if you are feeling nostalgic, here are some old pictures of Kuwait taken in 1948.



To hear some Kuwait National Songs, you can download them from the link on Mark's 248am blog.

With Hamad Pencil

Remember this?



Are they still teaching kids to learn with Hamad? or did they change the school books?

Television Series Intro (My Favorite)

What happened to TV Series intros? These days the intros are a countdown clock beeping (24), or a bland pop song with someone saying "I will be there for you" (friends) or a funky guitar intro (Seinfeld).

Before, you waited for the TV show just to see the Intro. Some of my favorites are: (in no particular order)



Makes you want to ride in a super secret helicopter and pulverize the bad guys.


The car technology today appears old fashioned, but the intro still is great.


You can almost hear your bionic power sound effects when you do some heavy lifting after watching the 6,000,000 dollar man.


This video will self destruct.


Everyone's favorite intro.

Mission Impossible - Season 1

I got a DVD of Mission Impossible - the first season. It is copyrighted 1966, so it must have been taken in 1965. The different episodes are all good though a little old fashioned of course it has that unforgettable theme music.

I took some screen grabs of things that interested me, especially the "advanced" spy technology they had before.







The Mission is spoken through a tape deck just like the two above that gets destroyed in white smoke when the tape is fully played. Those mini tape decks where very bulky but it was the best technology on hand at that time. Remember, that was ages before the invention of cassette tapes, or MP3 digital players or mobile video phones concealed in sunglasses.




The Mission Impossible team meets to discuss the mission and set the plan. Check out those suits and slim straight ties.

Sophisticated spy gadgets are also demonstrated at these meetings to be used during the mission.




Check out this arm fitted tape device. Super secret advanced technology back then.

Or this mini handheld camera.





I Liked their cars, look at the lines on this Mercedes limousine which I would love to drive today.





This Cadillac (at least I think it is) is very classy also.





Lady spies wore hats indoor and dresses and used their feminine charm instead of double barreled sawed off shotguns to get the information they needed.





Advanced technology was used in most episodes to fool the enemy like this playback tape deck.





and this audio mixer.





Or inside the spy van parked outside the target's house.





If the technology ever broke down, you took out your soldering iron and fixed it while the clock was ticking.





In conclusion a very entertaining series, even if it is around 40 years old.

Old Kuwaiti Street

A street in Old Kuwait, an oil painting by Ayoub Hossein Al-Ayoub. (click on the picture to enlarge)

Houses where placed close to each other with small doors and narrow streets to maximize the shade and to help avoid the scorching sun. Kuwaitis lived near the sea coast to allow the humid sea breeze to be absorbed by the house walls and provide a cooling effect inside the house.

More about Ayoub Hossein Al-Ayoub here.

Bad Boy

When I was around 13, together with my best friend, we where walking on the park's fence which had a brick ledge. We wanted to walk all around the park's low wall and iron grate fence.

The park attendant saw us and shouted at us to get off. We flipped him the bird and he got mad so he chased us. We ran out of the park, into the street and down into an underground parking basement of one of the nearby apartment buildings. We took the utility elevator up to the 9th floor and hid there. We looked down the stairwell window and saw the park attendant looking for us down in the street. That was the baddest thing I can remember doing at this age.

I guess 13 year old boy's are more sophisticated these days. Check out what this bad boy did.

McDonald's is changing its fries soon

Hurry everyone; go to your nearest Mc Donald's and stock up on the fries. I tried all kind of fries but nothing tastes as good as the Mc Donald's fries. It is slightly crispy outside and soft inside. You can take a single piece of fry and break it with a distinct snap to it. You can see the vapors float up from the two broken pieces. The taste is also better. I have been told by an expert cook that animal fat is used with the fries and the proof is when the fries cool down they are still crispy and not soggy like all the other fries. According to my expert friend, only food cooked with animal fat can do that.

Mc Donald's just announced that they will be changing their frying oils but did not announce when. You can read more here.

I think I am going to buy a few hundred kilos of McD fries and cryogenically preserve them, and then when they stop producing the classic fries, I can resell it for a higher price to my nostalgic customers or on ebay.