My 7 Most Enjoyable Plagiarism Today Posts

This month represents the twentieth anniversary of Plagiarism Today. In that point, I’ve revealed over 6,000 posts, roughly evenly divided between full articles and three Count columns.

One factor that I’ve (largely) tried to do is hold myself out of it. Outside of the About Page and my consulting site, I’ve needed to maintain a laser deal with the problems I cowl.

With uncommon exceptions, this has meant omitting my private emotions. I’ve made each effort to maintain my particular person preferences, political views, and private life personal on this web site.

But that doesn’t imply that I haven’t written a number of posts only for enjoyable. Sometimes I wish to cowl one thing foolish just because it’s about one thing that I really like or one thing that I feel is humorous.

When I look again on the previous 20 years, a lot of these tales are amongst my private favorites. Though they could not have been necessary and even attention-grabbing to anybody apart from me, they make me smile.

So, with that being stated, listed below are seven (plus) Plagiarism Today posts that had been largely only for enjoyable.

1: The Plagiarism in Pop Culture Series

When I clarify to strangers what I do for a residing, which is amazingly troublesome, one of many first questions that I usually get requested is what I take into consideration a specific work that had plagiarism as a plot level.

It made me understand that, for most individuals, probably the most they consider plagiarism is when it seems in popular culture, which impressed this sequence.

Currently, there are 43 entries. I’ve coated video video games, movies, TV reveals, songs and even stand-up comedy routines. One version, The Kids Are Alright, even obtained consideration from the present’s creator, Tim Doyle.

I admit that this can be a cheat as a result of it’s a sequence, and the portrayal of plagiarism in popular culture is a severe concern. However, I’d be mendacity if I stated I didn’t take pleasure in it and am trying ahead to resuming it shortly. Additionally, it prevents this checklist from being virtually solely entries from the sequence.

2: Repo: The Plagiarism Opera

Repo! The Genetic Opera, aside from giving my grammar checker suits, can be my favourite movie. I’ve seen it effectively north of 100 instances and really personal a number of of the posters and different gadgets used within the movie.

However, I discovered that the movie had been a part of a plagiarism debate. It shared many themes, most notably organ repossession, with a later movie entitled Repo Men.

To be clear, the plagiarism kerfuffle was nothing. It was a case of unbiased creation, one thing simply confirmed by the timeline of the 2 movies. They are additionally two very totally different films that discover comparable themes.

Still, that didn’t cease me from writing practically 1,500 phrases in regards to the story, overlaying the historical past of each movies and discussing why it’s not a case of plagiarism. It additionally didn’t stop me from making a number of dozen Repo! puns alongside the way in which…

3: Copyright and the Rocky Horror Picture Show

However, it’s not simply Repo! The Genetic Opera that I’m a fan of. I’m predictably additionally a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Rocky Horror, to my information, was by no means the topic of a plagiarism controversy. However, when a pal requested about displaying the movie in his pub, I ended up taking a deep dive into the movie’s historical past and possession, which I became this text.

The copyright standing of the movie is shockingly mundane. However, it was nonetheless enjoyable to go over the main points and slip in no less than 10 totally different Rocky Horror callouts alongside the way in which.

I used to be additionally amazed by how many individuals had been in a position to spot all 10 references. It seems I’m not the one one in copyright circles who does the Time Warp.

4: Creating a Fake Plagiarism Story

Speaking of Rocky Horror, I obtained an opportunity to revisit it and mash it up with one other one among my fandoms, Star Trek.

While rewatching the unique sequence, I got here throughout the episode Catspaw, which shared various similarities with the movie. This obtained my accomplice and me discussing how we might create a pretend plagiarism story by evaluating the 2.

I needed to take some liberties with the retelling of the tales, however I used to be in a position to present that it was attainable to craft a plagiarism narrative when none existed. To be clear, no plagiarism exists in these works; each are merely taking part in off comparable tropes.

5: Falsifying Attribution for a Bad Pun

Shifting gears, one among my different hobbies is studying about cosmology and quantum physics.

While I’m on no account an knowledgeable, it’s one thing I really like, to the purpose I’ve made a number of journeys to Livingston, Louisiana, to go to LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), the place the invention of gravitational waves was made, together with the Washington state location.

However, one among my favourite tales dates again to 1948. That was when physicist George Gamow and his PhD pupil Ralph Alpher had been getting ready to publish a paper describing how the assorted components had been created within the nascent universe.

At the final second, Gamow, a lot to Alpher’s chagrin, added fellow physicist Hans Bethe to the paper, regardless of Bethe not having contributed. This led to the creation of the “Alpher, Bethe, Gamow” paper, a pun on the Greek alphabet’s alpha, beta, and gamma.

It’s not usually a narrative combines physics, authorship and a foul pun. Three issues I’ve devoted a lot of my life to.

6: The Greatest Anti-Plagiarism Video I’ve Seen

One of the issues I’m typically tasked with is analyzing plagiarism insurance policies at varied faculties. Normally, that is among the many most boring and tedious elements of my job (which I’m nonetheless very grateful for).

However, the University of Bergen in Norway took a barely totally different method.  Their anti-plagiarism video, entitled A Plagiarism Carol, is a brisk 5 minutes and presents the difficulty by a parody of the basic Dickens work, A Christmas Carol.

But that is no atypical parody. In addition to ghosts, it lampoons science fiction, crime reveals, and motion movies, and even concludes with a large musical quantity. Even although a lot of the movie isn’t in English, English captions can be found.

It’s well worth the watch in all its mildly NSFW glory, even should you aren’t all for plagiarism points. Then once more, why are you studying this should you aren’t no less than considerably in plagiarism?

7: How the Seuss Estate Stole Christmas

I first obtained concerned in plagiarism after discovering that my poetry and different work had been being plagiarized. I haven’t written a lot poetry previously 20 years, however each every so often, I choose up the pen and write meter.

In 2016, the Dr. Seuss property tried to shutter an off-Broadway play entitled Who’s Holiday, a parody of Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The estate eventually lost the case, permitting the play to go forward. However, its preliminary debut had already been cancelled, limiting the play’s attain.

In late 2017, I made a decision to create my very own parody of the e-book. It’s a line-by-line parody describing the historical past of the case entitled How the Seuss Estate Stole Christmas. I stay shockingly pleased with this work, and it took much more time than I wish to admit.

It will not be a comedy masterpiece (it’s barely even a bit), however it’s undoubtedly a few of the most enjoyable I’ve had.

Bottom Line

20 years of 8 posts per week might be greater than a little bit of a slog. While copyright and plagiarism will not be probably the most urgent points on the earth, they’re certainly very severe. Unfortunately, they will also be fairly dry.

On the constructive facet, these subjects impression nearly all areas of creativity. This signifies that, it doesn’t matter what you think about your self a fan of, copyright and/or plagiarism have seemingly impacted it not directly.

This is true for holidays. Both Halloween and Christmas had been deeply formed by copyright points. Many of the traditions and media you take pleasure in round these holidays are attributable to copyright, plagiarism, or associated myths. Copyright even affects how you celebrate your birthday.

While these articles have been enjoyable to put in writing, in addition they function an exploration of how these points have affected the issues I really like.

So, I’m realizing that, even once I’m “cutting loose” and having enjoyable, it’s nonetheless a considerably severe exploration.

Even if it’s solely severe to me.