At the Launch of the Geek Calendar

A group of people sitting in a pub one night got a bit tipsy and debated the various aesthetic merits of selected sciency people, and plotted how to meet them.

From this drunken conversation came the Geek Calendar, born out of a chance to photograph the aforesaid geeks and nerdy sorts in flattering poses and flog the product to raise money for a good cause.

The idea of a calendar though still causes me to scratch my head in some confusion.

Every year, they end up dominating the book and gift shops as people select a wall hanging that most perfectly suits their personality. Indeed, a calendar can often be a more accurate window into a person than the entirety of the house, clothing, social life.

A person might be a total perfectionist or live a most ascetic lifestyle, but if that calendar is made up from 12 pictures of fluffy kittens, then that is who they really are.

In our modern computer lives though, do we really need the calendar hanging on the wall? I can’t even remember the last time I had one as I have long switched to using an online diary which lets me put all the details of the event on the day in question, rather than a tiny scribble on a wall hanging in the kitchen.

Still, if you are going to persuade people who rely on a computer based diary to switch to ye olde paper format, then offering a series of photos of geeks is probably quite a good start.

More importantly though, the Geek Calendar is fund raising for a good cause – to help reform the libel laws so that big organisations will find it harder to silence critics, more often through the threat of ruinous legal costs than any actual court battle.

Last Thursday was the launch party, which I was able to attend courtesy of the Londonist, although the only geek in town at the time was Simon Singh, who is probably more famous now for being the defendant in a libel case brought by the British Chiropractic Association than any writings he had done before.

Like most launch parties, a bit too noisy for my taste, but that is what everyone else wants, and who am I to overrule the democratic desires? Well, until it is time for my own party that is – which will be held in a Trappists’ monastery.

I did also pick up a copy of the calendar, although I am not really sure where to hang it.

Unlike most calendars though, you will need to buy this one before the end of the year, as it runs from December 2010 to January 2012, for reasons which I have forgotten.

You can also pick up a copy from the Geek Calendar website.

So, who’s doing a London Bloggers Calendar for 2012?