One summer when I was a kid, I decided to make my very own homemade version of Sports Illustrated. I used my dad's old 386 PC, and I typed out a few "articles" in Word, based on what was reported on Sports Center that morning. I repeated this each morning for about a week. Once I had printed out all the articles, I stapled them together, drew a cover, and I had my own magazine. As I recall, the end product looked pretty crappy, but I could not have been more than 10 or 11 at the time. I don't even recall showing my magazine to my parents or any of my friends. It was the dog days of summer. I was bored, but I loved magazines.
The printed magazine is still my favorite form of written media, even more so than the web. This journal is sort of an ode to my affection for the magazine, as each article is individually art directed, like a feature in a magazine would be. There are people who prefer a printed book over an e-book. I can identify with those people, because given the choice between a printed magazine and a digital copy, I will choose the printed magazine every time. There is just something about the way that you can physically flip through the pages and the way you can fold it in order to hold it with one hand. I love weighty feel of good quality magazine paper. A magazine's batteries will never go dead. In fact, it never needs to be charged. Furthermore, it does not rely on an Internet connection, and it is perfectly readable in the sun.
Don't get me wrong, I love the web and all things tech. The open Internet is after all the great enabler. With little more than a smart phone and an Internet connection, one can publish anything and have it read by millions of people. But at the same time, I am sad to see once full magazine shelves dwindle to only a few titles. So I do what I can to prolong the inevitable. I subscribe to the print versions of a few different magazines, such as Game Informer, Wired, and Sports Illustrated. I eagerly await their arrival in my mailbox at their specified times each month (or week, as in the case of SI).
I have been giving a lot of thought about turning this journal into a bespoke print magazine of sorts. It would be something that could be printed on demand and on quality paper. Right now, however, it is little more than just a thought.