I just had a chat with Mr Looi Miin Wei, editor extraordinaire of FHM Malaysia. Wonder if the extra 'i' in his name denotes something extra 'interesting' about him. ^_^ He is only 30, good looking, down-to-earth and already an editor of one of Malaysia's best read leading brand magazine. Only one word - YOWWZA! I guess I must thank Aunty Ida after all for setting this meeting up for me - yes I know I whined and all but I didn't know he was with FHM! Haha, call me two-face whatever; I don't care coz I've just been to FHM MY headquarters. Though the office is nondescript, and plain with the usual bourgeois brand of office furniture and clutter (my imagination: Transformer and Ja Ja Binks or Obi-Wan Kenobi figurines cluttering their desks, a temperature glass bird, Stitch in mock growl, ball-bearing toys); the atmosphere after 10am (when most of the staff came in from their teh tarik sessions) was not charged per se but 'vibrative' - background music turned to Hitz Fm and murmurs of conversation about design, laughter and what-did-you-see-during-the-weekend-over-the-shoulder chats. It really seems like a fun place to work in. I think there were about 9 people working in that office and all of them seem really cool to work with - they were dressed in cool duds. Mr Looi came in fashionably late (I had to wait a while) with tinted fashion glasses - makes me wonder what kind of car he drives. =P
So, we were in the conference/storage room, chatting ackwardly coz yours truly here asked a question and got an unexpected answer. ...(wait for it)...
Me: So how do you know Mrs Mukherjee?
Miin Wei: Oh I don't. She just called me up out of the blue.
What the-??!! They don't know each other! I was mortified. Here I was thinking that Aunty Ida was pulling strings for me; I just didn't realised how long that ethereal string was! Of course, Miin Wei was very nice about it and going so far as to say what a nice teacher I have to do this for me. (Aunty Ida introduced herself as my old English teacher!)
So we chatted, and he gave me some of his insight into the world of advertising (he still does freelance copywriting from time to time), ask me a few questions about myself as he was scouting for future employees (his words not mine) and some more insights into the world of magazine writing. Apparently, there aren't many good writers in Malaysia; "anybody with a good command of English can be an editor," he said. Interesting bit of insight that. I don't know much about our writing community much less be in a position to judge its competency but for a cool mag editor. After that (30 mins) he asked for my contact number, and we shook hands and parted ways. I wish, I wish, I wish our paths might cross again. It'll be darn cool writing for a men's magazine even though I ain't no hairy, ball scratching, two headed hormone-driven homo sapient. *Trill of laughter, distinctively feminine...* ^_^
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