Time Out – International Icon: Local Focus
Time Out is an international, multimedia publisher of cultural experiences that provides inspiration to city dwellers around the world. Currently operating regular magazines in 30 cities around the world and guidebooks in several more, the Time Out brand is instantly recognised and trusted by residents in all the world’s top cities.
In the summer of 1968, with only a £70 present from his aunt, Tony Elliott (a classmate of Richard Branson) published the first issue of Time Out London. In his opening editor’s letter, Tony wrote: ‘We have tried to make our information as comprehensives as possible but at the same time we have been very selective, in so much as the places we list are the places we think are worth your attention'.
True to his word and that commitment to his readers to offer a ruthlessly independent mag, Tony remains at the helm of Time Out's global empire today, committed now as then. In 2008, Time Out turned 40 and its reach has never been greater.
One of the newer members of the Time Our global network, Time Out Kuala Lumpur is an independent magazine and website published by a small team of hard working, dedicated and passionate KL-ites. Virtually every single letter or every single word of every single article is researched, written and edited by local residents.
Time Out KL is your guide to better living. Since launching in April 2008, we've become the pre-eminent entertainment magazine in the city. No one captures the pulse of this town and puts that heartbeat in print and online like we do. And we're trusted. We're committed to editorial independence. We don't take freebies and we always review anonymously – NO OTHER MAGAZINE IN KL CAN CLAIM THE HIGH STANDARDS OF JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY THAT WE DO – FACT.
We preview, investigate and celebrate everything that's hot and happening by tapping into KL's vast social spectrum of food, arts, bars, theatre, dance, film, spas, sport, fashion, nightlife, and music. Think of the mag in your hands and the website at your fingertips as bottled lightning - proof we live in a rich, racy, unique metropolis and that KL is a great city which deserves a great magazine and that Time Out is it.
Why does Time Out work so well in KL? Because local KL-ites are fun, interesting, diverse people with intelligent, sophisticated tastes, but who are patronised to by many other local media whose bland, PR, driven content fails to engage them. They deserve genuine, quality articles and to know the full extent of what’s going on in the city they live and love. We strive to feature the good, the innovative and important and to go beyond the obvious to reveal the unusual, unexpected and undiscovered.
Above all, our responsibility is to our readers. And although they're just as likely to be males as female and vary in age from 18 to 81, Time Out readers have a lot in common. They are affluent and intelligent, they're busy and savvy and, most of all, they like going out - to restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres, nightclubs but also into greater KL and all it's natural wonders - the parks, malls, streets and sprawling suburbs.
A magazine so firmly in the service of the people needs good people fueling its fire. Everyone who works for Time Out is passionate, even fanatical, about their subject. Time Out journalists are connected, respected and engaged - that makes them the best qualified people in town to collect definitive information in an entertaining way. Our reporters' mission is to do the best job possible of guiding both KL-ites and overseas visitors through the city we love and whose endless pleasures and hidden treasures are out there waiting to be discovered. What better way to do it than via a series of 12 mini-cultural magazines bolted together in 80 pages as Time Out Kuala Lumpur?
Let's cut to the chase - Time Out is the clued-up urbanites' most trusted guide to life. But even we're sometimes amazed by the prodigious amount of culture KL offers. That's why we publish our magazine in tandem with a website filled to the gills with erudite but acerbic news, reviews, interviews, previews, investigations and footage, much of it created exclusively for the website. A few clicks away at you'll find a gateway to a comprehensive archive of all the informed, up-to-date information you'll need to get the best out of KL.
With a year under our belt now and for the next 100 and beyond, Time Out Kuala Lumpur will strive to uphold Tony Elliott's pledge, inspiring the experiences that create the stories of a richer life.
Time Out Kuala Lumpur: The Team
Editorial Director: Matt Bellotti – Big chap with a beard.
Editor: Lim Chee Wah – Famed journalist par excellence, Chee Wah is the creative genius behind many of Time Out KL’s biggest and best features. He has risen through the ranks of the Time Out team rapidly to lead them to their most ambitious and successful issues ever. As well as overall editorial duties, Chee Wah drives the Consume and Travel sections, two of TOKL’s biggest and most popular.
Around Town, Borak borak: Emma Chong – Emma’s written about books, bathrooms and a man called Bear, and now heads the Around Town, Kids and Sport section. If she’s not out and about you'll find her head in a book or browsing the shops – purely for research purposes, of course. Emma also puts her pedantry to good use by sub-editing Time Out KL, and puts together the city’s funniest in Borak borak.
Film: Syazlynia Rahim – Syaz’s first film committed to memory (and her perennial favourite) is ‘Sound of Music’. She brings her love of all things cinematic, ranging from the blockbuster to the indie, to the Film Section. She can usually be found scrounging off various free films showing around KL or at her laptop, devouring the latest movie trailers of the day. She loves all things associated with going to the cinema, except for people who talk during climactic scenes.
Nightlife: Sam Coleman – Has a well-earned reputation for partying like it’s 1999 no matter the real year, month or day. Has more frequent clubber miles than about anyone and knows his nightlife after living in California and Amsterdam among other destinations in his hedonistically heathen history.
Staff writer: Kong Wai Yeng – Wai Yeng prowls on KL’s latest happenings and delivers them in a quirky yet pithy manner through TOKL’s previews and listings. An aficionado of classical music and soppy Korean flicks, this aspiring journalist also mulls over intellectual reads by George Orwell and Jane Austen. She believes that KL could be a lovelier place if people were more courteous, cheerful and punctual.
Performance: Rosheen Fatima – Rosheen is the city’s top specialist writer on the performing arts. Wherever the performance, Rosheen’s there. She has also ventured into the arts scene, stage managing for some of the KL’s most talked about productions.
Associate Art Director: Anthony Lau – Acclaimed designer, Anthony is responsible for all the pages of Time Out KL. Bringing life to the tried-and-tested design format of these pages, Anthony has the unenviable task of setting everything, and then doing the dozens of re-designs that are necessary to accommodate all the new information coming in from the team throughout the month.
Group Creative Director: Hyzein Kamarudin – Hyzein brings his considerable international experience to the overall feel and direction of the treatments to covers and lead features in Time Out KL. Ever wondered who it was that ultimately drove the ‘Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Music Issue’ or the girls from ‘KL Vs PJ’ boxing? Hyzein’s your man.
Within the site you will find everything you need to know about what to do, where to eat and where to go in
Kuala Lumpur - where nightlife, entertainment and the arts are booming like never before.
We have visited hundreds of venues including restaurants, bars, nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, spas, shops
and hotels. We review all venues and events with complete editorial independence and without influence from
advertisers.
Both savvy Kuala Lumpur residents and visitors planning a trip to Kuala Lumpur will find everything they need to
know on this site. If you live in Kuala Lumpur you can also buy Time Out Kuala Lumpur Magazine. If you are planning
a visit to Kuala Lumpur then we would recommend you buy the Time Out Kuala Lumpur City Guide - available late 2008 in your
home country or through www.timeoutkl.com
Time Out is available to buy for just RM 6.90 at all good bookstores and "mamak" stands in the Klang Valley.
If you are going to stay in a good hotel then there should be an up to date copy of Time Out Magazine in
your room. If there is not, please ask the Manager why not and email us.
Time Out Kuala Lumpur and timeoutkl.com are published by and copyright of :
Mongoose Publishing Sdn Bhd (580051-K)
33.04, Level 33, Menara AmBank,
8 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, 50450, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +6 03-2166 6650
Fax: +6 03-2166 6651
Disclaimer
Please bear in mind that owners, managers and governments can change their arrangements at any time. Before you
go out of your way, we strongly advise you to phone and check opening times, dates of events and all other
particulars. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this
guide, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors it may contain.
Time Out Kuala Lumpur is published under the authority and collaboration with Time Out International Limited, London UK. Time Out ® is the registered trade mark of Time Out Group Limited, London UK. The right to use the trade mark, name and logo of "Time Out" are licensed from Time Out Group Limited, London UK.