Saturday, January 24, 2009
24th January 2009, Saturday – Yesterday, I bought a copy of Car magazine (UK Edition) Issue 557 January 2009 from Best Eastern Plaza Athirah. The magazine costs me about BND16.20.
Actually, I intended to buy the magazine a few weeks ago. But, due to its price I need to hold on until yesterday. The reason why I bought Car Magazine UK is the magazine features “ The 64 Cars That Matter In ‘09”. One of the car is the latest Volkswagen Golf Mark 6 i.e The Big Drive: VW Golf (8 pages) and its GTI version i.e First Look: Golf GTI (6 pages).I do follow their development since their announcement a few months ago.
In addition, you can get to know more about Tata nano. And the magazine is not only covers the cars themselves but also the car industry. Lastly, it is not only about car, it is also about photography – car photography.
Too bad, according to the lists,there will be no new version of Suzuki Swift/Suzuki Swift Sport. I do not expect there will be a new version in 2009, due to the economic downturn. Hopefully, there will be a better Suzuki Swift/Suzuki Swift Sport in 2010. I may not buy the new Suzuki Swift (however, I will consider to upgrade to Suzuki Swift Sport), but a better Suzuki Swift will be good to the consumer and to the environment and to boost their sale.
I am looking forward the future Suzuki Swift, especially the Suzuki Swift Sport, will have a better automatic or semi automatic speed (5/6 speed and dual clutch gear, perhaps), direct injection engine, better look, better handling, better fuel economy, better stability (stability control – ESP, electronic stabilisation programme, perhaps) and a lot of optional items or accessories such as Recaro leather seats. And also with bigger diameter stock wheels with low profile tyres.
For your information, beside the UK Edition, the magazine is also published in their own version in 15 countries, such as Middle East Edition and Thailand Edition.
I really hope there will be Singapore or Malaysia Edition, which I expect to cost less than BND10.00. However, I prefer the Singapore Edition because it will be sold in Brunei cheaper than the Malaysia Edition. I speculate this because I always find out that Brunei’s reader has to pay equivalent or just a little expensive when buying the Singapore Edition than the Malaysia Edition.
For example, there is the Singapore Edition of a magazine costs equal or extra BND1 to the Singapore cover price. But the Malaysia Edition will costs BND1 for every RM1 and sometimes with extra BND. I just can not understand why this differences occur. I believe the Malaysia Edition of the magazine should cost cheaper than Singapore Edition when sold in Brunei.
My comments on the Car Magazine (based on the January 2009 issue): I really like the photographic style and quality of the magazine. The photos look clean and fresh. I like the photographic style of the Top Gear magazine, but I like the Car magazine’s photos more. The layout is well designed, and not look crowded.
And also, I like the UK magazines better than the USA magazines. May be it due to their contents, the layout, and the types of paper used which I find it better. The only USA magazine that I bought in 2008 was a professional magazine, News Photographer by National Press Photographer Association.
(Photos: Abdul Rashid bin Haji Tahir. Taken on 23rd January 2009)
Friday, November 28, 2008
I get my copy of MONOCLE magazine Issue November 2008 on 7th November 2008 from the Best Eastern (The Mall Gadong), through my subscription at the bookshop. I have subscribed the magazine just after I got its first issue.
ANIME MAGAZINE INSERT: KITA KOGA
As usual, the magazine has an insert in the form of an anime magazine: Kita Koga. Kita Koga is the work of Takanori Yasaka i.e for both the story and the artwork. The anime is exclusively produced for the MONOCLE.
Kita Koga is about a Japanese agent, Niel Watanabe, who try to save the Japan’s interest from being spolied by the terrorists or the rival parties.
COVER STORY: NEW DESIGN ON DIPLOMACY
Meanwhile, the cover story is about how an embassy premise should be. According to MONOCLE, “Embassies should be places of fun, a chance for people to meet, and cultural hubs.” The embassies also take the role as “a sale tools” of their countries.Therefore, according to MONOCLE, certain embassies do “branding jobs by choosing architects who can sell their respective national values”. In addition, MONOCLE highlights that “modern diplomacy…is public facing, daring and engages with cultures at street level rather than retreating behind barricades.”
And I do not know when will I can drop by at an embassy office just like I drop by at a bookstore or perhaps at a restaurant, here in Brunei Darussalam and in others countries.
DESIGN: ASANO HOME
Still thinking of what my second home will be…May be my next home will be like a spa center where I and my family can unwind and relaxing during weekend and a place to have a family gathering. There should be a place to have a BBQ. In addition, the kitchen and the dining room should openly connected to the exterior of the house, especially the BBQ area. May be, a feature on the Asano home (p.123-127) gives me some idea of certain parts of my next home.
Lastly, MONOCLE presents a feature and a photo essay about Sumo, a Japanese kind of wrestling. The feature touches on the issue that “sumo has been under threat in recent years from the dwindling numbers of homegrown wrestlers, match-fixing allegations, bullying and doping scandals.”
NEXT ISSUE
The December 2008/January 2009 issue will be on sale on 27 November 2008.
(Photos: Abdul Rashid Haji Tahir. Taken on 7 November 2008)
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