Smile magazine

created by cantsin

(idea) by cantsin (?) (print) ? (I like it!) Sat Nov 13 1999 at 14:17:15

Smile magazine is the international organ of the Neoist Cultural Conspiracy. It is a name shared by magazines around the world which desire fame and anonymity at the same time. Started in the late seventies by Karen Eliot and Monty Cantsin.

(thing) by kareneliot (4.3 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Tue May 28 2002 at 10:30:13

SMILE Magazine and the Principle of Positive Plagiarism

SMILE was just the first of a whole new generation of magazines promoting the principle of positive plagiarism. Smile exists solely to encourage other people to take up this principle and to produce their own neo-plagiarist magazines. Call the magazine that you start SMILE because plagiarizing this name will give you a good start on the road to copyright infringement, and I promise to take absolutely no legal action whatsoever against anyone who plagiarizes the title of the magazine. So now you have the title of your magazine and you're well on the way to becoming a successful plagiarist. In fact, all you need to do is to put your magazine into production, and that is where the great advantages of plagiarism begin to show themselves. Plagiarism removes the need for talent, or even much application, in the production of magazines or anything else for that matter. All you have to do is select what to plagiarize, do the layout and then find somewhere to get it printed cheaply. If you are not sure of what to plagiarize, a good place to start looking is in old copies of SMILE. You could even start by plagiarizing this article. A purist would plagiarize the whole piece verbatim, but you are free to change a word here or there, or place the paragraphs in a different order. A fine example of plagiarism inspired directly by the pioneering example of SMILE is SLIME. SLIME is even less original than SMILE and hence infinitely better.

-Monty Cantsin, 1975

Thoth, God of Plagiarism

Although he invented the entire literary process, the Egyptian god Thoth has been virtually forgotten by readers today. As 'secretary' of the Egyptian pantheon, he was commonly represented as an ibis-headed man wearing horns and uraei plumes. He is thus embodied 'divine intelligence introduced in some measure into animal form - the human.' Thoth (whose name means 'logos') made a tremendous contribution to Egyptian culture. The Greeks identified him with Hermes, and as such he was the reputed author of hermetic literature in general. Music, astronomy and the arts also numbered among his innovations. However, it is for the invention of writing that his name survives today.

An exceedingly prolific author, Thoth dictated thousands of books covering the entire spectrum of human endeavour. His huge output transformed the ancient world and ensured that the human race did not, at an early state in its development, 'die of ignorance.'

Nowadays, he continues to find favour with a tiny circle of devotees, thanks at least partly to his plagiarist associations. The concept of plagiarism, after all, is implicit in the concept of writing, and Thoth must therefore be regarded as the god of plagiarism, Lord of the plagiaristic process. It is for this reason that all future SMILE editions should be consecrated to his name.

Excerpt from SMILE Magazine, 1982

printable version
chaos

Neoism	Neoist Cultural Conspiracy	Monty Cantsin	Karen Eliot
Magazine	piss shy	mail art	Orientation for the Use of a Context
Hello!	macaroni and cheese on a stick	Cut and paste writeups	Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
apt festival	neoist	Plagiarism	originality
First Day Cover	rolling hitch	George W. Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address	Piers Anthony
FOUND Magazine	Isidore Ducasse	Thoth	Peking duck

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