2013

What a terrible week it was in so many ways. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go to all of those affected by the terrible tragedy in CT. Sometimes in life you try to make sense of things but you just can’t. Tommy sent me a text on Friday to put the TV on, I was running around, trying to get to physical therapy on time that I did not even have a radio on in the truck. I am at the loss for explanations as a father, husband and just a human being on what happened. Tommy’s dad lost his battle with cancer this week and I know how much he hates the group hug stuff that goes on the other websites,,,but I just wanted to acknowledge it. Any person that is responsible for creating a genius art guru who makes the SJ come to life should be remembered with fondness.

After writing all this, the rest of the words, to be honest, seem irrelevant but just like we felt the world was caving in during Sandy and on 9/11, the sun came out the next day, athough in so many ways so so many, life will never be the same.I promised you some more details of what we have planned for you in 2013 so i will try to put them in some coherent sentences this week although I haven’t mastered the “coherent” part yet.

When we bought the new platform we thought our dreams have come true. Finally we get to embed videos and customize it with our logo, the way we wanted to fit. And unlike our old issuu platform which did not work with Ipad or any apple products, this one did. If you remembered we had a separate link for IPAD viewers and one for desktop. Not very professional but keep in mind that it’s just two dudes on shoestring budget. Yes, Tommy still made it look better than anything big boys out together put out but on the end of the day, we only have so many hours..and family always, always comes first. That is why I am typing this at midnight after they went to bed.

The platform promise was wickedly simple. You make a single file, upload it to a server and then the software recognizes automatically what you are using, mobile, tablet, desktop and voila, it adjust its layout so it can be optimized for that device. Thing of beauty I am telling you…except no one told us few things.

The most important in my view, and this is by no fault of anyone, just a nature of a beast, our landscape format….pages are  long and it’s impossible to fit two landscape pages onto a tablet (or a phone) and make them flip. So we decided that as of next issue in January SJ will be laid out in vertical format. Still same size but now in the classic format like most publications. Tommy is actually excited about the idea. He likes the challenge. I was glad to hear it because at first I thought he was going to show up at my house with a can of gas and matches. So that is number one. For the first time you will have a true “flip” viewer on your ipad

You’ve seen the sample of the video we embedded into the last issue. That was just a test run. I am of the opinion that the publications will feature more and more interactive content or other media formats besides just text and picture. And I want SJ to be on the forefront of this, just like we did with web publishing. We are developing an original series about history of surf fishing at Montauk Point. I’ve spent some time interviewing  fellows that were not part of Montauk Rocks Film. Guys like Fred Schwab, Vito Orlando, Manny Moreno or the Hardest Working Guide in the Business, Mr. Bill Wetzel. I know it’s going to take me a year or two to put the whole thing together and I am aware of my limitations too. It will never be as polished as Mr. Siberry film. Just like anything I do, it will have plenty of Zenoisams. But I think I can handle making 10 to 20 minutes “episodes” for each issue of the Journal. Look for this series to debut in the March issue of the SJ. I am hoping to have a trailer for you shortly, kind of see what it is all about. Not so much about the place as it is about the people and how fishing was in the 50’s trough today. Stay tuned for that

Btw thank you for the kind works regarding the SJ Holiday Video the other day. I watched my daughter play that song the other night at concert, the Carol of the Bells and it’s so powerful. Once I got home I started to work with a concept and hours and hours latter it was a almost a 2 minute video. Yeah, I suck at this.

We are also working on two how-to series and possibly adding a third one which will appear also exclusively in the pages of SJ. None of these videos will be on YouTube or another site. There are few more announcements, some that will surprise you, and some that will delight you, but I will save those for few more days as I have to still make sure we are all on the same page.

I am not going to bore you with details of what and why. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all of our supporters who advertised here on the blog and in the magazine. They made this dream of ours a reality. But after 20k or so of unpaid bills we have decided that we cant to this anymore. My dream has always been to have this grandiose publication that people are going to love and that will be about the sport that they love. That it would be the best, the longest, the most gorgeous thing you can think of. And I think we did that for the most parts but it’s time for me to throw in a towel in more ways than one (more one that latter). We decided that in order to keep peace at home, to pay the writers, the platform, the new servers for mag and blog (notice how this thing does not crash after we moved it from godaddy), more cameras and more content, we are going to make SJ magazine a publication for subscribers only for what we feel is very reasonable twenty dollar a year subscription. So now you are not only getting the magazine but exclusive content like how-to videos and original series. And yes, we are already thinking about another original project just for you.

I do want to say one thing in closing of today’s blog. In a lot of ways, the SJ is made for you guys here on this blog. I appreciate all the support from Facebook fans and people that stop by once in awhile to enter a giveaway. But to me, you guys on this blog are the reason why we do this. I was actually considering closing down the blog as of new year but believe it or not, our advertisers here were not happy with my idea. They felt that this is the best and most desirable group of surfcasters they want to reach. Which is very flattering. And it should be to you too. So like I have always done in the past, when I found a fork in the road and I had a choice to either fold or stay the course I did the third thing. Yeah, there is a third thing and its called making it better. Look for the news of expanding of our blog in near future too. And the blog will remain where it is, outside of the publication.

Anyway, that is enough typing for tonight. My elbow is barking and yes, after 3 months of pain that would not go away I am now in physical therapy 3 times a week trying to get rid of this pain before spring. Because on the end of the day, all I ever wanted to do is fish

Which is why you are here too

and in case you are jonesing for some “action” check out this sick video of GT rushing a school of bait. If stripers moved at this speed I think I would fish in Kevlar waders!!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/r4mA6WsFJQE[/youtube]