Plagiarism may not be a real crime, but it is so embarrassing!
Transworld Surf magazine went through one of the best re-designs ever before falling to the economic realities of print media in the modern world. Its covers, colorful and fun, stopped kids in the grocery store aisles. Its stories, written under the axe of impending doom, showcased the absurd and the grand of the surf life. It had just reached its zenith and then, like that, it was gone.
Still, its spirit and legacy live on, most recently on the cover of the newest issue of Surfer. The original surf magazine “borrowed” the same surfer (John John Florence), the same general concept and the same title, recreating, essentially, the same magazine.
To be fair, Watch the Throne is one of the greatest albums of the decade and Niggas in Paris one of its greatest songs but maybe that makes it worse since Transworld’s cover came out in early 2013 (the album came out in late 2011). Not a long enough time ago for Surfer’s issue to be homage. Not a short enough time ago to be “we thought of it first just printed late.” Just the right amount of time ago to be uh oh!
What do you think? Should Surfer be embarrassed or proud that they got to take a whole month off of work? Should they be forced, by law, to re-name the magazine Transworld Surfer?
I don’t think surf journalism has 10 people who could be considered writers. So this doesn’t surprise me.
Doubt if it was intentional, but even if it was, very catty Chas.
Thank you Negatron! I thought so too….
Option 3: Chris Cote becomes the new editor of Surfer, and they cancel Surfing Magazine forever.