Lego Burj Khalifa

Last month was the announcement of the lego architecture Burj Khalifa - and now the Burj sits with an elite group of building including the White House and the Empire State Building. Only these buildings have been made into lego sets. And the Burj Khalifa Dubai Lego set is the latest one. Giving it its proper name as the 21008 Burj Khalifa, this lego set is now available to the public and lego addicts worldwide.




We all know that the actual Burj Khalifa is a whopping 2716 feet tall. The lego version barely makes a foot, but you do get a booklet about the building, how it was constructed and its history.



Everyone loves Lego. Everyone will surely love Burj Khalifa Lego. From $25


Next up - the Burj Khalifa Opus...a little late

Burj Khalifa
21008 Burj Khalifa
Win Burj Khalifa Lego at Dezeen

Smurf Village Abu Dhabi

Weird and wonderful with a whole heap of nostalgia come those little blue people with white hats to Abu Dhabi All governed by their lord and father, the legendary Papa Smurf, and along with the only other real character, the solo female, Smurfette - will be something for the kids to do in the Summer heat. Although this is not strictly the first such smurf land, it's probably the only one at the moment.

Here's the PR:



"Abu Dhabi, UAE. 21 June, 2011: The world’s first first Smurf Village, a mini-world dedicated to the small blue fictional creatures created by Belgian cartoonist, Pierre ‘Peyo’ Culliford, is a keynote attraction at this year’s ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’ line-up at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).
Divided into 12 separate districts, Smurf Village features specially-created activities areas for children, including ‘Papa Smurf’s Story Corner’, ‘Smurfette’s Land of Beauty’, ‘Smurf Fun Park’, and ‘The Promenade’ - a tricycle track through the entire 42m-by-24m enclosure in Hall 11 - one of four multi-purpose halls housing this year’s ADNEC activations, which run from June 30 to July 30.

In Smurf Village kids can meet and play with the Smurfs in the ‘mushroom houses’ made famous by the loveable characters’ comic book adventures. In one of the main houses - ‘The Reel Mushroom’ – back-to-back episodes of the ever-popular Smurfs’ TV show will be screened.
“Part of Smurf legend is that outsiders cannot find their village except when shown the way by a smurf; thankfully Summer in Abu Dhabi has solved this problem,” said Faisal Al Sheikh, Events Manager, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), which organises the festival. “The Smurf Village is only one component of what we believe is our most exciting ADNEC activation yet. There really is something for everyone - young or old.”

Currently in the midst of a renaissance in global popularity, the characters’ international appeal will be further boosted when ‘The Smurfs’ movie is released in cinema screens across the world from July 29. Katy Perry, the American pop star, will voice Smurfette, while Hank Aazaria, one of the main contributors to the long-running US TV hit ‘The Simpsons’, will bring sorcerer Garamel, the Smurfs’ sworn enemy, to life.

Elsewhere at ADNEC, the all-new ‘Adventure World’ will find a champion who completes the 11 ‘telematch’-style activities in the fastest time; ‘Career World’ lets kids can dress up and try their hands at any one of 12 dream careers, and ‘Show World’ - a specially-constructed, 120-capacity theatre - will feature twice-daily shows by international favourites such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora The Explorer, as well as Marvel’s Thor, Wolverine, Captain America and Dr. Doom.
ADNEC entry rates are AED20 for children aged up to 12 years old – toddlers up to two years old go free - and AED40 for adults. Visitors can try out a host of activities and receive two free tokens for fairground rides. More details are available from www.summerinabudhabi.ae or www.abudhabievents.ae."

Happy smurfing - and beware of Gargamel!

Knowledge of the Smurf defined a generation. That generation will be taking their nintendo ds/iphone obsessed generation kids to see the blue people. Who knows how they will take to the little blue people?

Abu Dhabi and the case of the Chicago Parking Meters

When I heard about this, some months back, I was slightly bemused. What exactly was the investment? Was it a joke? Was it an urban myth? Well, it's took me more than 6 months to follow up and I can confirm that it was reported as true. It doesn't necessarily mean that it is true, but it looks like a sturdy investment.

It was December 1, 2008. That morning would be the first time that the Chicago City Council would be formally notified that Mayor Richard Daley had struck a deal with Morgan Stanley to lease all of Chicago's parking meters for seventy-five years. The final amount of the bid was $1,156,500,000, a lump sum to be paid to the city of Chicago for seventy-five years' worth of parking meter revenue....He then gave them the details: he had arranged a lease deal with Morgan Stanley, which put together a consortium of investors which in turn put a newly created company called Chicago Parking Meters LLC in charge of the city's meters. There was no mention of who the investors were or who the other bidders might have been. ... The council at this time has no idea who's actually behind the deal. "We were never informed," says Hairston. "Not even later."

Assuming that cars remain part of every day life and that people will continue to drive and that flying cars won't be able to "hover park" in the sky, then assuming the numbers add up, this is a solid investment. Who knows the number of parking meters. There probably are quite a few - Chicago is a big city - and so the calculation of days of the year and usage is a simple calculation - somewhat similar to RevPar with hotels.

And no doubt, the revenue that was brought in probably developed an idea to enforce MAWAQIF in Abu Dhabi - the bane of the Abu Dhabi driver.

The selling off of a bread and butter operation of parking revenue is short termist, but no doubt filled the short terms needs - but the Chicago driver must be feeling the pain of price rises and no free parking on holidays. There's no give without take!

Why Does Abu Dhabi Own All of Chicago's Parking Meters?

Copycat Dubai

Another day, another article slating Dubai. And this time it is from Slate magazine. There's the obligatory buzzword bingo moment - transient population, dark side. But to be honest if this was a slating by Slate, it was a pretty poor effort. There's talk of how appalled the author is about the buying in the names of the Louvre and Guggenheim. Well once upon a time, the US wasn't discovered and there wasn't any history and a certain pinnacle city was named after a place in England. Yes, New York was ultimately named in honour of the Duke of York and York. I love the USA like the next person, but everything has a beginning. Actually, the argument of that there is no past is a poor one:

To me, it seems stultifying as well as strange: Like Harriet Martineau, I feel as if I had been in another planet. Yet there have always been people who dream of escaping from their culture, who long to forget their history, and who are content to live without the past. And now, in Dubai, they can.

In fact, there is a past in Dubai, and it is alive and well in the culture that governs the ethos of the city. It appear that the writer didn't visit the Creek. And perhaps they didn't speak to a true Dubai Emirati to understand the real history of the Emirates. And I am quite sure they don't know that there was a monastery dating back to 600 AD located on Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. They probably didn't realise the United Arab Emirates is an evolving country, but one that is holding true to its past. They probably didn't realise all this because they only saw what they didnt like and chose to believe what they wanted to believe. Enough.

They probably wanted a reaction. I fell for it.

If you can stomach another one of these articles, here it is:

The New New World

The Streets of Abu Dhabi

No Comment required. The real feel courtesy of John Rosenblatt.

A Drive in Abu Dhabi with a GoPro from John Rosenblatt on Vimeo.

Backstreet of Abu Dhabi