owlolive

Everything that matters to me (and maybe you as well)

Archive for the category “Blogosphere”

25 Mar 2013
2 Comments

I Want To Make You Move.

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This is a post that has probably been in the making since the earliest stages of this blog’s creation. Its been a question that I’ve asked myself from the very start and that I don’t think I’ve been able to pin down an exact answer to up until ten minutes ago. Because now I think I’ve got an answer.

See, the question was this: What kind of blog is ‘OwlOlive’? I mean, there are fashion blogs, technology blogs, food blogs, news blogs, personal blogs, commercial blogs, “lifestyle” blogs (someone please define this term for me. It seems way too vague for me to wrap my head around.), and a trillion other kinds of blogs in the world. Everyone is trying to find a specific niche to define themselves within. And that’s fair. In fact, that’s totally smart.

When you define what is, more or less, your prime objective behind your own blog, you are informing your readers of what they should most expect from you. And bloggers owe that to their readers. For every reader that gives this humble blog the time of day and invests their own energy in me and my words, I owe that explanation. When I read a blog I expect to feel at least mildly rewarded for spending my time there or otherwise that blogs loses me as a reader. In that same way, you deserve to know what OwlOlive.com’s pay-off is for you.

And I’m sorry I haven’t given you guys that explanation yet. I think that saying this is a blog about “everything that matters to me” is, at best, a vague, slightly misleading premise and, at worst, a self-involved and arrogant ascription. I don’t like either of those ideas. And, to be entirely frank, its not really what I’m trying to do anyway.

I mean, sure, the issues and the topics that I talk about do matter to me VERY VERY MUCH and, in most cases, are derived out of personal experiences and personal ideas. In fact, I’ve made a few posts on this blog that revolve entirely around a certain experience I have actually had in my own life (although those aren’t the norm). I’m not being at all disingenuous when I say I post about “everything that matters to me” because that is entirely true.

But I’ll be the first to admit that “everything that matters to me” is probably the same “everything” that matters to almost all people on this earth. We all care about issues of family, traditions, social life, gender dynamics, political rights, culture, innovation, and the “everything” that indeed does matter to me (and maybe most probably you as well). I’m not talking about anything special or even obscure here. OwlOlive.com talks about the same, obvious, everyday schmaltz that we all talk about all the freaking time.

That’s actually the reason I’m so consistently surprised by the fact that so many people are interacting with this blog and are reading and commenting and investing valuable time in it. But now, after all this time, I think I’ve finally figured out what it is I’ve always been trying to do with this blog and what I think may have caught your attention (for which I am forever grateful and humbled):

The main objective behind this blog is, really, to make people’s minds move.

Beyond sharing experiences, lending support, highlighting important people, and talking about important issues, I want our minds to consider the same things in a new way, which is not something that our minds have ever naturally chosen to do. Our minds are set up to mostly just sit around and listen to stuff. That’s really the basic function of our mind. But I’ve always thought it was really important to somehow get past this initial stage and make our minds move in a way they may have never moved before. Make them move around the same issues and ideas and the same overall mental landscapes they’ve always lived in, but this time maybe through a different route.

Now, I could’ve either done this in one of two ways: I could’ve presented something entirely bizarre, mysterious, and completely new to you; OR I could’ve just pushed the same, age-old material around in a different (or different-ish) way by simply reconfiguring the representation of this material in word to word sentences. In most cases, I find myself going for the second option.

That’s the pay-off I’m offering you. In exchange for the time you guys graciously give me when you read my posts, write me emails, and make lengthy comments which I so deeply appreciate, my hope is to inspire you guys to do what I think is the most exciting thing a human can possibly do with their head: Move. I want you to embrace the fluidity of your own mind even when it comes to things you may already know or recognize. Essentially and beyond anything else, that is my biggest hope and aspiration for OwlOlive.com.

So if I have to decide on a single niche on which to sell the basic idea behind this blog (like those of you who sell your blogs as tech, or food, or fashion, or lifestyle blogs), it would be something along the lines of a “moving” blog (UGH. How hippy-dippy presumptuous does this sound? Will re-edit once I find a better word). A blog that, despite the slogan, aims to move you so much more than it does me (or whatever matters to me anyway).

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , ,
11 Feb 2013
4 Comments

The Blogosphere Marketplace (Of A Different Kind)

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So, yesterday, as some of you may or may not have noticed I got into something of a heated debate with fellow blogger Jacqui of Couch Avenue concerning the post I made about the complete and unquestionable racism which some Kuwaitis display by thinking that they, somehow, are superior to others due to their racial, a9eel lineage.

Or, rather, we debated my right, as an explicitly non-Kuwaiti blogger, to point out this racism (which we both agree on).

I was honestly very deeply disturbed (and a little hurt) by the words that were used against me, basically telling me that I should censor my thoughts and my experiences and my complete right to share them for the sole reason of the fact that I am not Kuwaiti. I was told that ‘if I didn’t like Kuwait’ (something that I have never said or even hinted at) that I should leave. That I will, no matter what, never really belong in Kuwait and that I am, regardless of how much care and devotion I put into Kuwait or even the blogosphere, but a mere visitor. I’ve always been very careful to verify my words as much as I can with some kind of prior evidence, to show that I’m not speaking from a place of hate or ignorance but a place of concern and foresight. Unfortunately, for Jacqui, despite my best efforts to prove the contrary, I still “know nothing.” All the while Jacqui, with all due respect, does not know me well at all and has no idea what I “know” and don’t “know.” But I’m assuming that wasn’t really her point behind that argument: my guess is she said that as a way of polarizing me and other non-Kuwaitis. As a way of saying that no matter how valid your points may be, expat, you and your voice simply don’t matter as much when it comes to the real issues in Kuwait. (Jacqui is always more than welcome to correct me and my assumption.)

Of course, I don’t believe or agree with any of the things that were said to me because I know that I have never had a malicious intent in any of the blog posts that I’ve made about Kuwait or anything else. I know that plenty of Kuwaiti people support and recognize everyone’s right and responsibility–expat or citizen–to comment, discuss, criticize and help weed out the bad so that we can all focus on making Kuwait good (and I really thank those of you who have reached out to me to say so). This post isn’t really about my discussion with Jacqui–it really isn’t. I’m only using it as an example of something else and something I actually want to see more of (kinda).

Y’see as disturbed as I was by Jacqui’s comments, I also have to say that I was really quite refreshed by them as well. And I mean that genuinely and without a shred of my regular, italicized sarcasm (I swear!).

Because, the reality is that the Kuwaiti blogosphere would be so much better off if it nurtured a marketplace of ideas and opinions which are freely exposed and shared without any barriers or preconceived notions of what bloggers “can” and “should” talk about. Where we can speak our minds freely about any topic we choose and discuss how, in the end, we all may see it differently or from different perspectives. I want the blogosphere to be a place where we don’t have to stoop to passive aggressiveness where we mention things vaguely and ironically, or where we even start to discuss specific blogger’s antics with everyone except the specific blogger. These things have happened to me personally in the short time that I’ve been a blogger and I was basically just told “Oh, that’s just bloggers.”

But nope. Sorry. I don’t accept that. Because I respect the Kuwaiti blogosphere and I respect its members even the ones that, in many cases, I am diametrically opposed to. And making the blogosphere seem like a society of specific ‘clubs’ and fake niceties is not respect.

What Jacqui did was respect.

By publicly and directly coming to me and voicing her opinions about me, my blog, and everything else that entails, on a certain level, she respected me as a fellow blogger who shares her blogosphere as she does mine. Even when I am completely and utterly against almost everything she stated against me and at me (like the insults of calling me an inferior brained joke, for one), I still respect Jacqui.

I respect her because, unlike a few unfortunate others (who, by the way, I truly have nothing against and still happily greet when I see them and follow them on all the social networks), she came up to me and said “Owlolive, I think you’re wrong” and, in doing so, she gave me the opportunity to say “no, Jacqui, I think you’re wrong.” And in that way we can actually share different ideas and opinions, and engage in a dialog that will help the blogosphere generally and this blog specifically grow and become more diverse in its content and points of reference. We don’t need to cloister ourselves in ‘groups’ and breed this passive aggressive poison in which every passing “dear” is filled with Mean Girls type hostility. We don’t need to start ‘blogger wars’ and purposefully set out to say hurtful things to one another instead of calmly and directly speaking our minds. I have never started such a ‘blogger war’ with any of my fellow bloggers nor am I planning to ever do so.

I hope Jacqui and every other person who ever decides to comment on the blog (both here or elsewhere) knows that even when they tell me things like, “Owlolive, I think you’re wrong,” that I will always fight for their right to say that both on Owlolive.com and anywhere else (however, they have about zero right to insult me personally and baselessly). I will celebrate the right of people to disagree with me and criticize me directly and explicitly because that’s how my blog and the Kuwaiti blogosphere along with it grows. That’s how any society and culture and pretty much every human construct since the beginning of time has ever grown.

That’s how we breed a marketplace of different ideas and how we get to truth and understanding between one another as a blogging community and as a group of people who are, at the end of the day, just trying to do our best to make Kuwait better.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , ,
07 Nov 2012
3 Comments

Service Hero and Es’al Emjarib: Keeping Everyone Honest

You guys know my feelings about making sure consumers get their money’s worth of services and products. I’ve always believed that sharing a more honest and open network of customer service experience is key to not only informing people about where to get the best products and services, but also to raise competitiveness among the businesses, entrepreneurs, and service providers themselves.

For a while, bloggers were (still are?) one of the most sought after sources of opinion on products and service in Kuwait. And you can bet that this arrangement has its problems. While bloggers definitely should act as voices that people can trust to give them information about local business, some bloggers can unfortunately compromise their real opinions for a number of reasons (some of which are actually very understandable) and, unfortunately, its the actual consumer who ultimately gets screwed on the deal.

This is why I’m so happy to share with all of you these customer service surveying outlets that put the consumers themselves in charge of informing everyone about what and where people in Kuwait should spend their hard-earned money on. Because as much as I love the blogosphere and want to see it grow as both a forum for public opinion and a source of information, I truly believe that the best place to go when looking towards bettering businesses and services are the public, unidentified masses. The hoy-paloy; the every man (OR WOMAN!); the average consumer who has nothing to gain but the service itself.

And these magical outlets of customer service bliss (too much?) are Service Hero and Es’al Emjarib (‘Ask a Consumer’ in Arabic).

Service Hero is an online-based surveyor of customer service and experience. Its goal is to, basically, take the information which the people who participate in these quick online surveys provide about the businesses in question back to the service providers themsleves and let them know where and how they should improve in order to make the consumer happier. Its a service which is set up to provide the average person with the power to not only reach out to your favorite business but also directly influence the growth of their own experience on a consumer level.

Es’al Emjarib is a Kuwaiti iPhone app which has been getting a lot of buzz lately and for good reason. Its really the first app of its kind that does what it does so freaking well. It virtually brings together every single service provider that Kuwait has to offer (banks/shops/restaurants/gyms/telecom companies/whatever) and allows you to rate them and provide your own commentary on the service which will then be publicly shared on the app for everyone else to see and learn from. I’ve tried this app out myself and, honestly, the design is super fresh, the interface is easy to navigate, and the feedback is so very helpful.

So be sure to check out both Service Hero and Es’al Emjarib if you’re looking to either get some helpful info on a particular service or if you’d like to share your honest experience with everyone in Kuwait and help praise the businesses who deserve it and criticize the ones who don’t.

All my love!

[Update: Turns out that Service Hero is providing their helpful survey service from October till the end of December. So be sure to give them any feedback you may have before time runs out!]

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , , ,
04 Sep 2012
21 Comments

So Some Kuwait Blogs May Suck, But Let’s Not Get Carried Away Here.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit it: Kuwait’s blogosphere is, to put it mildly, seriously lacking. In the last few years there has been a massive upsurge of people taking to WordPress or Blogspot in Kuwait and, unfortunately, tainting the blogosphere with their beyond annoying and money-hungry blogging practices.

From the established, big-time bloggers to the up and coming yearlings, the Kuwaiti blogosphere could undoubtedly stand to lose a good number of these needlessly wasteful blogs. Because the truth is that, to a great extent, a whole lot of blogs in Kuwait suck.

Now, you guys know I’ve never shied away from pointing out some mass discrepancies or flaws of which the blogosphere suffers. The number of problems have spiraled out of hand and have snowballed into a collective lack of ethics, originality, and purpose. I don’t have the experience nor the drive required to try and tackle this monstrously growing issue.

But I will admit that, even if you can’t fix the problem, it sure doesn’t hurt to vent about it. In fact, it can only help.

When you expose a problem in the blogosphere, whether specific or general, you have immense potential. You can inform both bloggers and readers of some harmful practices they might not notice otherwise; you can call out certain bloggers for their deliberate wrongdoing or exploitation on their respective blogs; you can help re-define the parameters of what it truly means to be a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ blogger.

Now, to do all these things requires a few gulping spoonfuls of the age-old, tough love medicine: criticism. Preferably constructive criticism (that which also provides a solution to the problem), but criticism nonetheless.

If someone is trying to scam people out of their money, they deserve to be called a con-artist. If someone is using words that aren’t theirs without mentioning a source, they deserve to be called a plagiarist. If someone is being obnoxious and rude, well, they deserve to be called an absolute twat.

Point is, if someone deserves to get called out for something they’ve done then there is no reason they shouldn’t get what’s coming to them. This is a statement which I will never take back. If you did the crime, you deserve the time. No exceptions.

Now, if you’ve read on this far and if you follow the Kuwaiti blogosphere you probably already know what I’m kind of hinting at here. That’s right, a particularly new blog on the block (which goes by the oh so subtle name of Kuwait Blogs Suck) seems to be stirring up a whole lot of drama as of late.

People either absolutely love this blog for its ballsy stance against some of the annoying and harmful habits in which some of Kuwait’s biggest blogging names partake, or they completely hate it for its less than diplomatic and, on a number of occasions, full-on insulting commentary on the bloggers’ personal choices on things like web design or on some writing mishaps.

As is usually the way, I’m going to play Switzerland in this scenario.

I honestly believe there is a real need for critical assessment of Kuwait’s blogosphere and I think that the person who can do that efficiently and can make people more aware of what constitutes a quality blog from a sham blog is definitely a very smart and commendable person. In the times that I have noticed Kuwait Blogs Suck make these kinds of useful, critical assessments on Kuwaiti bloggers I have mostly nodded to myself in happy agreement.

But whenever I was compelled to join the comment section and give Kuwait Blogs Suck a figurative pat on the back for exposing and criticizing key problems (even half-crimes) which some bloggers are fully partaking in, I would find myself holding back.

That’s because I’ll see another post in which Kuwait Blogs Suck completely eviscerates another blogger for using a header or a blog design which Kuwait Blogs Suck personally doesn’t like. Or I’ll see her throw in an insult to a blogger’s intelligence or their lifestyle within her ‘criticism.’ Or I’ll see her needlessly and tastelessly ‘trolling’ (publicly harassing or fooling) a blogger.

And, upon seeing these things, I just don’t know anymore. I mean, with a name like Kuwait Blogs Suck it’d be very easy to assume that this is a blog which is nearly begging people to pay attention to it and is pretty much baiting its readers for angry, negative responses. And then seeing these little insulting, personal jabs here and there reaffirms this assumption.

But then I read a post which Kuwait Blogs Suck made on behalf of the brilliantly verbose Caesar Fernandes of Kuwait Music fame and I’ve begun having a change of heart. The post was about the horribly worsening state of Kuwait’s blogosphere transforming from a portal of personal, local expression to a group of corporate-leeching zombies.

So I’m going to give Kuwait Blogs Suck the benefit of the doubt and assume that she’s really trying to do something good while unwittingly stepping into some critically questionable areas herself.

My final verdict on it is this: Sure, some Kuwait blogs may absolutely and totally suck. But let’s not get carried away with the trolling, insulting, hate-mongering comments that are based purely on personal taste. Let’s just stick to looking at content and all the other practices that come with the whole blogging shebang.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , , ,
05 Aug 2012
8 Comments

The Blogger As Writer As Critic As Celebrity (As Delusional Diva)

I’ve been very fortunate to have gained a faithful and respectable number of awesome readers for this tiny blog over the few short months that its been up and running. I am both honored and delighted to see so many people take an interest in what I have to say, and I am honestly having the best time getting to know everyone who has crossed my path because of this blog.

When I first got into the blogging thing, it was never because I cared about getting popular or reaping the material benefits that come with being a successful blogger. This is the truth.

Sure, its nice being able to attend cool, exclusive events and meet people I wouldn’t normally get to meet, but that has never clouded my perception of the fact that, at the end of the day, I’m pretty much an ordinary human being just like most people on this planet.

Sometimes, I like attention. Sometimes, all I want to do is live in a fall-out shelter for the rest of my life. Sometimes, I think I’m doing something special. Sometimes, I think this blog is about as interesting and unique as watching paint dry.

When you’re a blogger you get a taste of both basking in the glow of attention and needing some serious isolation; moments where you think your words are the elixir to all of society’s woes and moments where you just trudge along making posts that are just there to fill some space.

That’s totally fine and absolutely normal.

As bloggers we’re supposed to use our distinct writing voice to set us apart from the pack and familiarize ourselves with our readers. This makes us writers. The more loyal readers we accumulate the more pull we start to have with businesses, companies, and society as a whole and our voice can be used as a kind of public opinion shifter. This makes us critics. When we combine the growing audience with the larger social pull we become both loved and sought after. This makes us celebrities.

Ideally, most bloggers want to reach that final level of blog stardom in which they can both rely on the support of the fans that have been behind them from day one and relish in the glitz and glamour that comes with being someone everyone wants to impress. For a blogger to get to this point requires lots of hard work and patience. Getting there (or wanting to get there) is nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, I’d say its something to aspire to.

But, if you are blogger (or if you’re thinking of becoming one) please take this short and humble word to heart: Careful.

If you have the good fortune of becoming a big-time blogger with a huge fan base and that everyone in Kuwait wants to impress DO NOT delude yourself into thinking that you are the Kuwaiti, social equivalent of Mariah Carey.

Don’t think you can threaten people with your blog.

Don’t think you can throw fits because you didn’t get your way.

Don’t think you can get away with something another “lesser” blogger can’t.

Don’t think that everyone’s waiting at your beck and call.

Don’t think your blog is too big for some things (or people) and not others.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking that no one’s ever going to call you out.

Because, at some point, someone will.

All my love! (Picture credit)

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , ,
03 Jul 2012
4 Comments

Zain Celebrates Social Media Day (And I Master the Art of the Middle Eastern Greeting)

You know that feeling you have when you know you’re surrounded by people who EVERYONE knows while you might as well have the words “Who the Who?” tattooed on your forehead?

That feeling of happy anticipation tinged with a bit of shy apprehension because you want to get to know everyone and be the cool cat that just schmoozes into one fabulous conversation and out of the next, but you know that’s just not you.

This was kind of the feeling I had as I stepped into the Sky Lounge on the 55th floor of Al-Hamra Tower (oh yes, my friends), about 10 minutes before everything was supposed to start. Thankfully,  I immediately spotted a few familiar faces and was greeted by some lovely bloggers so I settled in quite nicely. And as more and more people started filing in, I recognized even more wonderful faces from Project X and immediately the whole atmosphere started to get more chill and laid-back.

Now, really, I’m not much of schmoozer or a social butterfly. I mean, I love to meet people but my awkward shyness sometimes tramples my attempts at actually making any introductory moves. Even worse, I’ve been told I can come off as unfriendly because of the fact that I’m so painfully shy. (Side note: I’m really not. I just have a problem with sparking new conversations.)

But, thankfully, everyone at the event was super duper nice and I ended up meeting and chatting with a whole lot of great people both within the blogging world and the social media biz as a whole. In fact, I got to meet and greet such a crazy number of fantastic ladies and gents that I have now mastered the art of the Middle Eastern female greeting.

As a rule, I usually do the whole one peck per cheek pattern and that’s usually enough, but I found myself pulled in so many awkward directions that, by the end of the night, I had a system down.

It goes peck, switch cheek, peck, and peck again. Done.

I found this pattern pretty full-proof and didn’t allow for a whole lot of awkward push and pull. Any lady who’s ever found herself mingling in a group of other ladies in an Arab country, knows what an uncomfortable moment this can be, but trust me this pattern totally works in any Arab socialization situation. You’re welcome.

But, hey, you want “coverage,” yes? Then coverage you shall have!

The night was kicked off by the ever energetic, charismatic, fully seasoned Man of The World, Omar Al-Othman of Omarker (and everything else) fame. He acted as the emcee for the event and did quite a good job at it as he kept the momentum of the night flowing with his very impromptu and approachable style.

Now, throughout the night, various speakers were brought up to talk to us about a certain experience or issue going on right now within Kuwait’s social media machine. The speakers varied from entrepreneurs, artists, comedians, and social media gurus. Most of the speakers had some very interesting ideas and entertaining anecdotes to share but, to me, the stand out speakers were Fatima Al-Othman and Mohammad Al-Muhaini.

As some of you may remember, I went completely bonkers when I found out about Fatima Al-Othman’s stolen F2O designs, so it was definitely great to see her stand up there and express the way in which members of the social media machine, like myself and other bloggers, have helped her build a real case against these people and have also helped her in her noble fight to stop such acts of property theft from happening in Kuwait again.

I also especially liked Mohammad Al-Muhaini’s speech because, as a member of Zain’s social media team, he gave a wonderfully detailed description on the amount of work and effort that it took to pull this great event off and made some really hilarious comments on the nature of Kuwait’s social media experience and the nature of working within this field. Seeing how decadent and organized the event itself actually was, I definitely had a real appreciation for the amount of time and creativity that this team put into making it so fabulous.

After all the ‘Tales from Social Media Land’ were done, the night was rounded off with a stand up comedy set by the local Kuwaiti v-logging trio, “Shino Ya3nee?” (or “So What?”). They got a lot of laughs from the crowd and provided a good set-up for a relaxed, feel-good close to the event. Personally, most of their humor wasn’t exactly my kind of humor because I’m more a fan of simple, anecdotal punchlines as opposed to loud, slapstick, slightly over embellished humor. But, still, I did laugh a few times here and there at their awesome integration of beat-box skills and their crazy physical gestures.

In a pinch, the night was quite memorable. Mostly because I got to meet and greet so many significant figures within Kuwait’s social media bubble. And while I didn’t get to speak to everyone I was hoping to because I stuck to the same corner of the room for the majority of the time (hey, Elizabeth Taylor made this a freaking art form!), it was still quite wonderful getting to know all the people that I did.

I’ve got to thank Zain’s Social Media team for being gracious enough to invite this tiny little blog to this huge, truly fantastic event. I got to meet so many people that are worth knowing and that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. I got to hear some great stories from some really inspirational figures. I got to eat, laugh, and relax in a classy, beautiful setting at the highest point in Kuwait City.

And I got to master the art of the Middle Eastern greeting.

All my love! (And, yes, I’m aware that I don’t have a whole lot of pictures. I’m sure if you step on over to any of the other awesome blogs that did attend you’ll get your share of eye candy)

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, News and tagged , , , , , ,
30 Jun 2012
2 Comments

It’s Social Media Day! Celebrate Us and All Our Wonderful, Virtual Souls!

As someone who has been blogging for about half a second when compared to the overall Kuwaiti blogosphere in which some have been blogging for nearly a decade, let me tell you, in my expert opinion, what social media is and what part people like me play in it:

In a nutshell, social media is a virtual enterprise that takes advantage of the fact that, essentially, we all just want a space out there in the world that revolves completely around us.

Yes, this is the very fact of human nature which the gazillionaires behind Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Flickr and WordPress and every other social networking medium have found a way to tap into. In a world that is so centrally focused on celebrity and the need for attention, everyone wants to fancy themselves special enough for the spotlight. We want to feel like we can speak to the whole world and that they’re listening. To feel like we’re in touch with everything and everyone and can create a personal relationship with whomever we want at the click of a button.

This is something that I have no problem admitting about myself and, in fact, I blatantly stated it in the very first post I ever made on this blog. So, come on, don’t be shy! Embrace your inner Narcissus!

Now, here’s where the social media machine comes into play. You see, social media is in its purest form responsible for one thing: Connection.

Let’s take this humble little blog I’ve got here. I started this blog in July, took a 4 month vacation from all the non-posting I was doing, then came back in November and tried to do this thing right. I worked hard and made sure to post almost every single day for around 3 months, and yet my viewer rating was very poor. Naturally, I was a little de-motivated. All this hard work with little to no interaction made my little spot in the world-wide-web feel kind of worthless.

But then I made a Twitter page.

I thought, there’s no way I’ll ever know if my blog is worth reading if I don’t actually put it out under people’s noses. So I followed some fellow bloggers of whom I have been a long-time fan; I followed the people who’s opinions and insights actually mattered to me; and I followed businesses and companies in which I thought it would be in the blog’s interest to know about.

And then I interacted. I responded to a blogger here, an artist there, and basically anyone who I thought might actually be worth talking to in real life. Basically, I joined in the social mix.

In the matter of a few months after I’ve made a Twitter page and an Instagram account, I have seen many things turn around for this wee little blog and its ever humbled blogger. I’ve gotten to know (and even meet!) a good chunk of the Kuwaiti blogging community, I’ve found a way to stay on top of everything that ever happens anywhere, and, most importantly, I’ve found a way to share this extension of myself with so many new and fabulous readers.

Even better: I got to interact with my readers in a way that is instant, specific, and personal.

Thanks to the power of the social media machine the readership of this blog has increased by three-fold and, after speaking to and getting to know all these wonderful, virtual souls who have taken the time to read even a sentence of this tiny blog, I am honestly enjoying the ride a whole lot more. Experiencing that great exchange between so many amazing people is what has given me the confidence to make this OwlOlive.com, and its what gives me the motivation to keep on posting despite the hard work.

So, on Social Media Day I just want to say this: thank you, oh great Social Media Machismo. I grew out of you and now I am a part of you. So now I am going to celebrate you. And me. And all the other wonderful, virtual souls!

All my love! (And that up there is a video which the Kuwait Social Media Club has put together featuring the many voices of Kuwait’s social media machine, of which bloggers are definitely an important part)

Posted in Beautiful, Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , , , , ,
13 Jun 2012
14 Comments

My Life Is Complete: I’ve Been Plagiarized (By Darbeel… Or Not Quite)

Well, my life has officially come full circle. That’s right ladies and gents, I’ve been plagiarized.

Apparently, this ‘Darbeel’ blog has decided to join the gang of copy-paste bloggers who have made it their mission to steal every bit of their content from other hardworking bloggers in an attempt at making an easy, quick buck off of the ad revenue that well-trafficked blogs bring in.

Like their buddies Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space, this Darbeel blog (who makes every post as ‘Darbeelna’) is so lazy that they can’t even plagiarize well. They basically just copy the text in another blog and paste it onto their blog as is but just under their name. This person was so idiotically lazy that he/she didn’t realize that, in the post they stole from me, I had linked two previous other posts of mine related to the subject. AND THEY JUST COPIED THE POST INCLUDING THE OTHER LINKED POSTS.

It’s like, do you want me to eat you alive?

Darbeel have also decided to join their previous gang members–Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space–in the memorable walking of the plank, where they will definitely meet their blog’s much deserved demise (preferably with sharks and electric eels).

I’m not even going to pretend to have any tolerance for this person or their actions. I already get extremely angry and start seeing red when I discover that someone has been stealing from anyone, and now stealing from me? Oh, they better invest in some good body armor.

Oh, and as is the usual way, this blog spared no exception in their choice of thievery. They’ve seriously stolen from every blogger under the sun, but I’m not going to give this horrible blog the satisfaction of receiving a single traffic click from me more than I need to provide so I won’t link the posts they’ve stolen.

One of the many bloggers that has also gotten her work stolen by this disgrace of a blog was UmKhaloodie, and she was nice enough to point me in the direction of a very helpful article on Kuwait’s legal position on intellectual property theft. Apparently, these laws exist in Kuwait and there are punishments in place for those people that try to act like they’re above THE LAW. Even in social media, these kinds of thieves could be facing “a punishment of imprisonment for no longer than a year or fine of more than KD 500 for plagiarizing a text produced by the original author.”

Hey, Darbeel–You feeling lucky now?

Please help me stop this blog and put it to rest just like we all did in the team effort to bring an end to Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space. There is nothing about this kind of action that is okay or that deserves to be treated as anything less than a crime. And I don’t really take to the habit of negotiating with people who have committed crimes (and crimes against me no less).

Oh, and one more thing. In case this Darbeel person is reading: Despite the fact that I want to annihilate your blog off the face of the internet, you should know that I feel very sorry for you.

All my love! (Again: please help stop and expose this person in whatever way you can)

EDIT: I’m happy to report that the plagiarized posts have been removed from Darbeel.com and that the blogger has issued an apology and an explanation. Now, personally, I don’t know how much I buy this because I’ve actually tried contacting and commenting on the stolen posts BEFORE making this post and as other posts were being made on this blog AT THE SAME TIME. But, still. I’m a reasonable person and I appreciate an apology in any case. And, at the end of the day, I’m just happy to see the content removed and the action stopped one way or another.

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , ,
11 Jun 2012
5 Comments

Project X Preliminaries: Fruits, Cheeses, Banana Leafs… and Creativity Abound!

So here it is: The culmination of endless hours of sleepless work, frantic grocery shopping, and tireless phone calls. Project X.

And, my God, was it amazing. Seeing the level of organization, of originality, and full-on fun that everyone was having is a true testament to the work ethic of everyone who put this insanely awesome event together.

It went off without a hitch; like a well-oiled machine; and pretty much every other saying for “hard work that looked easy.”

So, before I actually go into the event itself and provide you with the literally juicy details, I’ve just go to say this first: Bravo! And thank you. Seriously, the team behind this event deserve statues built in their honor. Basma, Ahmed, Victor, and Olga are ‘The Dream Team.’ They deserve everyone’s gratitude. For real.

Now, as for the actual cooking bonanza itself, I have to be honest and say it like it is: I did not have any particularly high expectations. Not that I thought the bloggers were poisonously bad cooks or that they weren’t capable of boiling an egg. I just didn’t expect to see anything stunning or really all that interesting.

And, well, I stand corrected.

I swear, almost every dish that I came across was a creation in its own right. The level of innovation, thought, and strong ability that a good handful of bloggers showed in the preparation, presentation, and overall concept of their dishes was a wonderful surprise for me to observe. Every single blogger who competed in Project X should, no matter what, be very proud indeed.

So, as you’ve probably already read on most of the contestant’s blogs, the bloggers who were lined up for the day one preliminary had to make a dish which could somehow incorporate the first secret ingredient: MANGO! There were salads, there was chicken, and their was pasta. Yes, mango was incorporated into every single one of those. And, yes, its as inspired as it sounds.

By the time the second round arrived, I, unfortunately, had to bolt (damn you, real life!). But, based on what I’ve heard and seen from other bloggers, it looks like second batch of mystery/joker ingredients–BLUE CHEESE AND HONEY!– were game changers. There was shrimp, there was mushroom, and their was dessert. Again: as inspired as it sounds.

After each round, the judges gave their opinion on each dish to the teams then had a little private pow-wow of their own to discuss what they thought of everyone’s dish in a broader sense. This was repeated in the second round as well.

Now, naturally, the judges were a little more thrilled with some dishes than they were with others but I think that, on the whole, they did a pretty good job of surveying all the necessary criteria and giving honest, helpful feedback.

The victors of the first preliminary cook-off were the following:

  • Moody (of the awesome Moody ‘N’ Cheeky duo) & one of the Triple Sisters (Je3da, I believe)
  • The other two Triple Sisters (Lil Teacher and Photographer)
  • FroyoNation & The Side Talk

The other teams that participated but did not luck out with a qualifying win were:

  • Jacqui & Swera
  • Fried Junk & 7abitain Blog
  • The fellas from ChapterQ8

AND ONTO DAY TWO!

In the same order as the first preliminary, everyone started to file in at around 3 PM, putting on their aprons and taking a glance or two at the pantry or the work stations. Once everyone, including the judges, had arrived and settled in, we were off and the first mystery ingredient was revealed: AVOCADO! The first thought I had was guacamole dip or sauce. It just seemed like the easiest, most obvious choice, but I was all kinds of surprised to see some people going in a completely different direction.

Sure, there was guacamole dip. But there was also avocado chicken, avocado mushrooms, and avocado shrimp to name a few. Clearly, most of the bloggers did not care about playing it safe and wanted to push the limit of their creativity here. As I was running around the kitchen area, frantically rushing to help out wherever I was needed, I have to tell you that watching the process through which some of these crazy yet awesome dishes were created was a total thrill.

In the second round, the competitors anxiously awaited the second mystery ingredient, as well as the “joker” ingredient to be revealed: BACON AND NUTELLA! Now, how any of them were able to pull a rabbit out of that hat and actually create something edible with these two things is seriously beyond me. I racked my brains thinking about how I would find a way to incorporate the two ingredients without suppressing the urge to barf AND I GOT NOTHING.

So, seeing some of the amazingly creative dishes that were presented was nothing if not stunning! Nutella wantons wrapped in bacon? Sure! Bacon-Nutella crepes? Of course! Bacon-Nutella burger, lettuce wraps? Well, DUH.

And that’s only the half of it. Seriously, pretty much every single dish that was being brought up in this round blew my mind in one way or another! Regardless of whether or not the ideas worked, they were some of the bravest culinary attempts I have ever seen.

Now, once again, the judges gave their candidly humorous and fair opinion of what they thought of each dish to the respective teams, then they had their own little roundtable talk on the side. And, I have to say, the judges were really quite good sports. They were truly patient and caring enough to endure some seriously spicy salads, salty shrimp, and raw dough. They had a humorous, constructive approach which put everyone at ease and didn’t dredge up any kind of tension.

In the second preliminary the three qualifying teams were made up of:

  • The El-Derwaza team
  • His&Hers
  • The Triple F & UrbanQ8

The teams that just missed the cut were:

  • Q8Rain & Dudette (from 7ajidude)
  • Our Family Nest
  • Danderma & PinkGirlQ8

Of course, as the saying goes, everyone’s a winner. Regardless of whether or not they had actually moved on to the final round, everyone was treated with an enormous amount of loot from the sponsors of the event and left the place with huge smiles on their faces.

I personally can’t express enough how much I enjoyed meeting (or re-meeting) all these awesome bloggers and how much fun it was to help out the creative force of nature that is Basma, Ahmed, and the Chef Boutique gang. Working with these guys and being a part of this amazingly inspired and one-of-a-kind event was a complete pleasure and I honestly can’t wait for next weekend to roll around so that I can be a part of it all over again!

Here are a few pictures of the assorted dishes the bloggers came up with in both preliminaries. They were taken with my iPhone so I doubt they’re going to show up in Epicurious any time soon.

Posted in Blogosphere, Food, Kuwait and tagged , , , , , , ,
30 May 2012
13 Comments

Hala Kuwait Blog: Home of the Plagiarizing Palooza!

Hey, you smell that? Why I believe its the distinct smell of someone’s pants catching on fire. That’s right, ladies and gents, we’ve uncovered yet another lying, thieving, plagiarizing gem. And this time, I have the pleasure of naming this honorable person a member of Kuwait’s blogging community.

It’s a proud day if there ever was one.

Today’s upstanding citizen is a blog that goes by the name of Hala Kuwait and, I have to say, if there ever was such a thing as ‘The Plagiarizing Olympics,’ then this fine fellow would certainly take home the gold.

You see he (or maybe she, not sure) didn’t stop at the pretty unacceptable act of plagiarizing just one post from one blog. This person has gone off the rails with this plagiarizing madness and has stolen almost every single post from almost every single blogger in Kuwait (and sometimes beyond).

That’s right! It’s a plagiarizing PALOOZA! And, well, I’m thinking of crashing the party.

So, without further ado, I leave you with just a minor example of some of the posts that were stolen from some of Kuwait’s biggest blogging names (not that this matters, but still) by Hala Kuwait. Oh and I also provided screen-caps just in case someone decided to get a little squirmy later.

Chikapappi

Stolen post | Original Post

Z-District

Stolen Post | Original Post

7ajiDude

Stolen Post | Original Post

248AM

Stolen Post | Original Post

BananaQ8

Stolen Post | Original Post

360 Dewan

Stolen Post | Original Post

Q8Path

Stolen Post | Original Post

Buz Fairy

Stolen Post | Original Post

See what I’m sayin’? PALOOZA! And, as I previously mentioned, this is but a mere smidgen of the amount of full-on thievery that this blog is committing. There is, quite literally, a post stolen from pretty much every single blog in Kuwait. If I made a list of every single one, I could publish it as a book. So, don’t feel left out, fellow blogger! I’m sure there’s at least one or two posts in there that were stolen from your very own blog. How considerate of Mr. Plagiarist-Man for making sure everyone felt included.

But, seriously, if you are a blogger then please don’t let this horrible act continue to violate both yours and others’ rights to your own original words and your own hard work. I think if we all applied some VERY HEAVY pressure on this person and tried to smoke them out that they could possibly stop.

And, if you’re just an awesome blog reader, then I’m sure you don’t like stealing anyway. So please help spread the word.

All my love!

(edit: I’m happy to let you all know that someone has reported this blog to Google for copyright infringement in the last few hours and that Hala Kuwait is now effectively CLOSED. Three cheers for teamwork!)

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , ,

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