JULY 5 — Confession: I am a magazine fiend. I spend way too much money and time reading them and you know what, I love every moment. These days, there are a lot more titles to feed my habit.
To make matters worse, I like all sorts of magazines: news, fashion, health, yoga, interior decor, travel, pop cultures. There was a time when we got our magazines a month late but these days they are air-flown in and well... you’re reading “Vogue” the same time as American readers do.
Then there are also our very own home-grown titles like KLue. I have been a fan of this Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley guide since I first discovered it some eight or nine years ago. It’s fun, funky and informative.
Over the years, I have cut down on the number of magazines I get every month. I average about four to five titles a month now. Not too bad considering I used to be completely indiscriminate in my magazine reading habit.
I blame my mother for this because she was very strict about the magazine we could and could not read. Example: she didn’t allow us to have comics. No Beanos or Dandys (do they still have those?) for us; she thought reading them would give us wrong ideas about spelling or something like that.
However, she did buy us kids our very own magazines. We had two educational magazines: “Tell Me Why” and “Look and Learn.” Like all kids, we loved finding out how things worked so we looked forward to new issues every month.
Mum even got the old issues bound so we could refer to them whenever we wanted. This was way before the Discovery Channel and the Internet so those bound volumes were precious.
Come to think of it, that thirst to find out how things work is still there. Little wonder that some of my favourite Discovery Channel shows are “How They Do It” and “Mythbusters”! I haven’t thought about the connection but I guess it’s always been there: those shows are like live action versions of those childhood magazines.
Which brings me to the question: what were the magazines of your childhood? Apart from those educational magazines, Mum got me “Princess Tina” which was a girl’s comic/magazine. And sometimes she’d allow us to get a fanzine like “Tiger Beat”.
My brother loved football so he had “Shoot” and the occasional comic like Spiderman or Superman. As I grew older though, I became more interested in Mum’s magazines. I remember looking at my mother’s “Her World” magazine and marvelling at all those beehive hairdos. She also had “The Australian Women’s Weekly” which I loved.
It was from the latter that I learned all about lamingtons, Pavlovas and trifles. These were all desserts famous in Australia and I very often wondered what they tasted like. Years later, when I had my first lamington (disappointing) and Pavlova (yummy) I thought of my Mum.
While some people think magazines are a waste of time, I happen to think they add variety to one’s reading. When I am too tired to concentrate on a book, I flip through magazines. I like looking at the fashion and beauty pages, heck... I even enjoy the ads.
Some magazines require a bit more commitment and focus — “Vanity Fair” or “Economist” — while others are like meringues: light, airy and delicious. My favourite magazine “meringue”? “In Style”. Love it.
For the clueless out there, “In Style” is a fashion and beauty magazine. It has tips on how to wear the latest trends and enough Hollywood style to make you feel like an insider. I mean, how else will I know that nude lips are back and orange is a hot colour this summer!
So to all of you out there who are suffering from an overload of reality, I have a suggestion: pick up a magazine. Pour yourself a tall cool drink, put your feet up and relax with a magazine of your choice.
Depending on how I feel, it can be “O” or “Esquire”. It may be light reading but it won’t leave me feeling empty. Enjoy.
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