Geek Pride Day

May 11th, 2001, the whole world said goodbye to Douglas Adams, british writer who merged together and like no other science fiction and british humor. Two weeks after his death, May 25th, legions of fans created in his honor the so called Towel Day inspired in the hilarious description he does about that objetc in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Since then, every year, when that date arrives, there aren’t few of Adams’ followers who go outside with a towel in hand, prepared to flee the planet if some alien race decides to demolish Earth in order to build a galactic higway.

Could this date be more geeky? Well, it could and, in fact, it is, because also was a may 25th -but of 1977- when George Lucas saw the birth of his dreamed star wars. A New Hope hit the cinemas and turned in the origin of one of the greatest film and commercial phenomenon in History.

Those two quirky events were the base for may 25th to be the chosen date in Spain to celebrate, since 2006, the Geek Pride Day, a day in which Star Trek fans can leave their batcave with a towel in their shoulder, a light saber in the right hand, a sonic screwdriver, their pocket, and a handful of lembas bread in the backpack.

This year, the call is for giving leadership to names as Indiana Jones, O Apóstolo film, or El Ministerio del Tiempo tv series, a surprising Spanish new fiction phenomenon. However, although the Geek Pride Day is the ideal to show without reserves the passion for comics, films, video games or even animated series like Adventure Time, is not the only day in year in which the world unleashes its geekism. The lovers of stories of the undead -which is a fashion that seems to be here to stay-, celebrate their hobby each February 4th, Zombie Pride Day, because in that day, in 1940, George Romero, director of The Night of the Living Dead (1968, and the main reference of the genre), was born. The last few years, series like The Walking Dead, books as World War Z, and video game sagas like Resident Evil have taken over the duty of keeping the dead more alive than ever.

A month and a half later, March 25th, comes the ideal time to delpoy a Middle-Earh map, and start practicing elvish, since in this date is celebrated the Tolkien Reading Day. Watching the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films directed by Peter Jackson doesn’t count, what is promoten here is the reading of professor Tolkien’s works, not the eating of visual effects. This event was created in 2003 by the Tolkien Society, which choose that date because it was a March 25th when the One Ring was destroyed and put and end to Sauron existence. The ones who are left craving with more Tolkien or want to watch the movies without guilty conscience, must wait until September 22th, date in which Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were born, and declared in 1978, the Hobbit Day (along with the Tolkien Week).

A little bit more than a month after the Tolkien Reading Day, May the 4th, the geek world leave behind Rivendell and the Misty Mountains to follow the path of the Force to planets from a Galaxy far, far away. Athough the first Star Wars film was released a May 25th, the fans of the saga decided to choose due a curious game of words: the flagship catchphrase «May the Force be with you» bears a great phonetic resemblance to «May the Fourth be with you».

But it’s not all harmony and pod races in the Galaxy, there’s also the Dark Side threat, and their followers don’t hesitate to celebrate it. Since May 5th, 2005,the humble servants of Darth Vader celebrate the Revenge of the Fifth, in response to May the 4th. May is time for a lot of geekism. Since this very year, May 9th is officially labeled as Goku Day, the main character of one of the most popular manga and anime of all times, Dragon Ball. This tribute came into being after Toei Animation studio fromally asked the Japan Anniversary association the consecration of a day ofr the most famous creation of Akira Toriyama. The choice of the ninth day of the fifth month to remember the powerful space warrior is not accidental.  In japanese, the numbers 5 and 9, are spelled ‘Go’ and ‘Ku’ respectively. The proclamation of Goku Day has concured with the announcement of the return of the series to TV after 18 years of absence. The new stage of the fiction, which will premiere next July in the land of the rising sun, will be called Dragon Ball Super and will continue the story in the point after the battle between Goku and his friends against the pink monster Buu.

In midsummer, July 23rd, geeks now done a tight black suit to run after the call of the batsignal which shines the skies of Gotham City, because it’s the Batman Day. Although the bat man was created in 1939, this is a new celebration. It wasn’t until the past year, in 2014, due the 75th Anniversary of the character, DC Comics decided to give his day to the dark knight. Since then, the Justice League cheers for their surly partner while the crazy villains cry from Arkham Asylum.

If you’re of the people who look awry and with a bit of pity those self proclaimed geeks who happily celebrate all the mentioned dates, put aside your complaisance and take July 13th to ingratiate yourself with them, since this is the Hug a Computer Geek Day. You don’t know who is a Computer Geek? A computer geek is someone who in March 31th observe the Backup Day, May 17th use the Internet Day to thank Vinton Cerf for the existence of the Web, August 30th post in his/her binnacle that it’s the Blog Day, September 13th call half of his/her friends to congratulate them for the Programmer’s Day, September 25th calls again because it’s the Webmaster’s Day and November 30th lives with a smile on his/her face the Informatic Security Day conscious that, thanks to it, the next year can and will repeat the process again. Your tight schedule is not enough for so many festivities? Don’t worry, put on a mask and a cape, and take the chance that this «all in one» which is the Geek Pride Day has to offer, a Spanish-born event that has already crossed borders. Happy Geek Pride Day!

(Translated from http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2465320/0/dia-del-orgullo-friki/fechas-frikis/superheroes/#xtor=AD-15&xts=467263)