I used to talk people out of their dreams. They would tell me about their dreams of doing jiu-jitsu full time, and I would reply with downers like “Who’s gonna pay your cancer bills?”
Quite hypocritical, seeing how I once flew to Thailand to stay and train in a Muay Thai gym for a month. Other random goals include joining a regional MMA competition alone and quitting my cushy job to a write a novel.
Continue readingThe machines are coming for my job. Oh, how naive I was when wrote this post. While I did accept that AI would someday rival our best writers, I did not expect to see its widespread use this soon.
You’ll find AI text in emails, press releases, even in actual magazines. How do I know? Because they sound like that annoying friend who’d just found crypto. Just like how they’d shoehorn the subject into every conversation—crypto is future-proof, crypto can heal your mother’s cancer, you can turn that sacrificial altar into an NFT—so too would AI use words that don’t belong in a sentence.
No, the term ‘meticulous detail to craftsmanship’ is not grammatically wrong. It just doesn’t fit the vibe of a Myanmarese night market vendor. I swear, if I have to read ‘a testament to its dedication to excellence’ to describe an underwear collection one more time…
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The Men’s Folio Malaysia and Singapore teams
So… remember this post when I shat on the editor’s role? Well, this happened. Here’s the TLDR if you want to save the click—I am now the managing editor of Men’s Folio Malaysia.
Since it’s been three months since taking on the new role, I can’t think of a better time to discuss the flip side of the coin. Because today, we’re going to explore all the good things about being an editor for a lifestyle magazine.
Continue readingEver since I joined the publishing industry, I aspired to be an editor. I just needed the writing skills, and I had a decent serving of that.
I pictured myself catching typos and lecturing writers on how they could improve their style. I’d be perched at my desk, approving or rejecting pitches like I was swiping on Tinder. Every once in a while, I’d throw out words like ‘pagination’ or ‘masthead’.
Turns out, I had totally misjudged that role. As a deputy editor for a lifestyle magazine, I get a first-hand look at what my boss does, and I’m quickly learning the many reasons why I might not want to be an editor, ever.
The first reason? I’m bad at dealing with people. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here are some of the other ‘interesting’ things an editor needs to do.
Continue readingI’ve taken to asking myself why I do things recently, and actually taking the time to scrutinise my actions.
Like browsing the Search tab on Instagram all day. Why? Is it because I just want to kill time? Why that app, specifically? And why the Search tab?
Turns out, it’s because of my self-improvement tendencies. I’m the type of person who thinks consuming inspirational content will help me land that promotion at work. As if watching videos alone will bestow me with the hidden kung-fu skills of life.
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Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 