tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56762439539597740222024-03-05T07:01:13.400+00:00the nerds are on the marchThe official website of the Geek CalendarAlicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12498653879153240121noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-5059432126308400022011-01-28T14:52:00.001+00:002011-01-28T14:56:34.551+00:00Geek Calendar sells out<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/2265352667/" title="Sold Out by Jeremy Brooks, on Flickr"><img alt="Sold Out" height="333" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/2265352667_51be4294be.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">We've been fairly quiet since Christmas, as the project winds down. Christmas sales were spectacular and we've been keeping a watchful eye on the final sales since.<br />
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It is with great delight that we can now, officially, announce that Geek Calendar has <span style="font-weight: bold;">SOLD OUT</span>. The last of our copies shipped this week, so there are 2000 of you out there -- everywhere from Australia to South Korea -- currently enjoying a January of Adam Rutherford and his handsome bunny friend.<br />
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More importantly, we've raised an incredible <span style="font-weight: bold;">£15,433.84</span> for the <a href="http://libelreform.org/">Libel Reform Campaign</a>. Moreover, the spectacular <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/p/media.html">media coverage</a> (we're still hearing <a href="http://www.manifestoformediaeducation.co.uk/2011/01/media-education-should-be-6/">echoes of the project</a> every now and again) and your word-of-mouth has raised awareness of the issues even further.<br />
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We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped make this possible. Thanks to all our geeks for taking part in this crazy idea. Thanks to our fabulous photographers, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/11/our-photographers-part-2-ben-gilbert.html">Ben Gilbert</a> and <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/11/our-photographers-part-1-greg-funnell.html">Greg Funnell</a>, and awesome Designer, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/11/design-for-life-geek-calendars-cosima.html">Cosima Dinkel</a> for making such a beautiful product. Thanks to our amazing videographers, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/12/our-videographers-part-2-greg-foot.html">Greg Foot</a>, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/12/our-videographers-part-1-barry-j-gibb.html">Barry Gibb</a> and Tom Ziessen. We'd also like to thank Rob Sharp at <a href="http://www.englishpen.org/">English PEN</a> for all his help, particularly with distribution, behind-the-scenes. And Mike Harris from <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/">Index on Censorship</a> and Sile Lane from <a href="http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/333/">Sense about Science</a> for their encouragement and support. And, in the words of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_lee">Stan Lee,</a> you! We hope the Geek Calendar will bring you all much joy this year and beyond.<br />
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It's more than we'd ever hoped for a little project hatched by a bunch of geeks in the back of a pub. The nerds are indeed on the march.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Team Geek Calendar</span></div></div>Mun-Keat Looihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03552051542059410864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-34782208585278327172011-01-27T13:46:00.004+00:002011-01-28T15:51:35.751+00:00Team Geek Calendar<div>The Geek Calendar project is very nearly wrapped up. We're down to the last few copies and totaling up the takings -- announcement coming soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, it seems like a pertinent time to learn more about the three individuals so geeky they devoted much of their 2010 to it. I present to you, your organisers:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://alicerosebell.wordpress.com/about/">Alice Bell</a> </b>is Senior Teaching Fellow in Science Communication at Imperial College. She also writes a bit and once covered a bar at the Royal Albert Hall in custard FOR SCIENCE. </div><div><a href="http://lulucrumble.blogspot.com/"><br /></a></div><div><a href="http://lulucrumble.blogspot.com/"><b>Louise Crane</b></a> is a biomedical picture researcher at Wellcome Images, the Wellcome Trust's picture library. She hates having her photo taken, though has appeared on the cover of a magazine in spite of this (albeit wearing a comedy rubber mask).</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://munkeatlooi.com/">Mun-Keat Looi</a> </b>also works for the Wellcome Trust, where he writes about science and spends most of his time on the internet (for work, honest).<br /><br /></div><div><b>Would you call yourself a geek?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>AB: Nah, that's so last year ;) Always been a bit more of a meta-geek anyway (I study geeks).</div><div><br /></div>LC: I recently spent a large amount of money on a Star Wars Lego 'Battle of Endor' set. I do not have a small child or younger siblings. So, yes.<br /><br /><div>MKL: Obsessed with details, check. Socially awkward, check. Smart, not quite. But 2/3 ain't bad.</div><div><div><div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-t1jJSUHIi2WxtYm6tlFGvjv7sRaaeAUloqCWDUJTroyHkbpem7UYDEzVDoofFTFqZbYXaO6AMVv4tldanAVugWtpHeqe9gZDfZQeb5j_gISF05q9GQMYgoOGqUCZIIRSUH7mndSPy6n/s1600/IMG_0743.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566793023041066546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-t1jJSUHIi2WxtYm6tlFGvjv7sRaaeAUloqCWDUJTroyHkbpem7UYDEzVDoofFTFqZbYXaO6AMVv4tldanAVugWtpHeqe9gZDfZQeb5j_gISF05q9GQMYgoOGqUCZIIRSUH7mndSPy6n/s400/IMG_0743.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCBwBzn0zabGIjqwbwMYjhglmQYs0XXrbQqT7mmaaxieTSr0KcWGD83YWgRTEJYLwesm7YUG5UCIF6KevDABPZpbfR7tVDnfMM9nghdGYf14E2koN8OAsRlBXVxWc82b8bNEkm5acR27yK/s1600/bg-battle-endor.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><br /></a></div><div><b>What's the geekiest thing you've ever done?<br /></b></div><div><br />AB: I think our notions of geekiness are very subjective. One person's idea of geeky is another person's normal. My knitting can get quite geeky though, by most people's standards. I mean this both in terms of <a href="http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com/2010/09/knitted-higgs.html">what</a> <a href="http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com/2008/09/fo-cosmic-radiation-scarf.html">I</a> <a href="http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com/2008/11/ziggy.html">knit</a> and in terms of knitting <a href="http://slippedstitch.blogspot.com/2006/11/soysilk-tablecloth-done.html">something really complex</a> just to try out a new technique.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicerosebell/4295272846/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Marvin standing by alicerose, on Flickr"><img alt="Marvin standing" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2773/4295272846_a859b10d64.jpg" height="375" width="500" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>LC: Er, possibly building the aforementioned Battle of Endor Lego set, and displaying it at a party alongside a globe covered in tin foil as the Death Star. Also dressing up a cuddly toy duck as a <a href="http://flic.kr/p/9dyWb5">Klingon</a> when I was ten. I made it a tin foil (spot the theme?) bat'leth and cranial ridges from rolled up tissue paper. Also having a party dedicated to crumble. There were six kinds of crumble, including a savoury one. Oh, and making the Geek Calendar.<br /><br /></div><div>MKL: Apart from making this calendar? Compiling a map so I could visit every shop in Tokyo's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara">Akihabara</a> district? Writing anime fanfiction (though it did get published in a US mag)? Spending over £100 on a plastic model kit? And then buying a display cabinet for all my plastic model kits?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why did you decide to get involved in Geek Calendar?<br /></b></div><div><br /><div>AB: I'm not sure I actually decided as much as found myself locked into the center of it with no sign of escape. Honestly, I thought it'd be fun (it was). And Libel Reform, obviously.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>LC: My initial answer was: "I was drunk". This is a strongly true statement. In fact I was so drunk at the initial Geek Calendar discussion in The Doric Arch at Euston Station that after agreeing the calendar was indeed a stupendous idea, I performed the worm on the pub floor (the worm is a particularly athletic and idiotic breakdancing move). But the reason I decided to help make the calendar happen was because I love the idea of something that is just a thought becoming reality. Also, I am friends with two top notch photographers who I fancied getting involved. And not just cos I fancied them (I had a schoolgirl crush on Greg Funnell when I first met him, aged 13).<br /><br /></div><div>MKL: The opportunity to be part of something great comes along rarely -- you have to seize them. Even when you remind yourself (and the other two you're with) that "this is going to be a HELL of a lot of work".<br /><br /><b>What are your memories of Geek Calendar?<br /></b></div><div><br /><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">AB: </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Mainly, laughing. That, and writing blogposts and emails at two in the morning.</span></b></div></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b></div><div>LC: The first meeting with the Libel Reform guys, where they agreed we could raise money for the campaign with our calendar - and high fiving Alice and Mun-Keat as soon as we left it. Reviewing the last shots of Imran Khan after Ben Gilbert captured him on his sunset rooftop and realising we were onto a winner. Interviewing Adam Rutherford while an "invisible" Frank the rabbit nodded behind him - I could not keep a straight face. You can hear my bizarre horsey guffaw on the Geek Calendar trailer. Showing my mum the trailer and explaining three times that the handsome one in the dinner jacket was Professor Brian Cox and unfortunately he had already been snapped up by the wonderful Gia Milinovich. And when my nan asked for a Geek Calendar for Christmas, I nearly cried.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4740252260/" title="Interviewing Adam by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img alt="Interviewing Adam" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4740252260_8f9a54e2c4.jpg" height="500" width="343" /></a></div><br /></div><div>MKL: Volunteering to wear a costume on the hottest day of the year. Being very excited ALL THE TIME (often at two in the morning while updating spreadsheets).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's your most enjoyable memory?<br /></b></div><div><br /><div>AB: There are several, but they have one thing in common: seeing the image Ben or Greg had captured. We'd all be running around wondering how on earth the shoot would turn out juggling, props, settings, schedules and the weather and then Ben or Greg would quietly say "I think I've got it", we'd look at the laptop and go "wow".</div><div><br /></div><div>LC: Getting a phone call at work from Jonathan Ross, and seeing his name flash up on my mobile phone screen.</div></div><br /><div><div><div>MKL: WOSSY'S CEILING DISPLAYS SUPER MARIO SPRITES!!!</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4982408422/" title="Mario ceiling by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:black;"></span></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4982408422/" title="Mario ceiling by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img alt="Mario ceiling" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/4982408422_8d553c7d5e.jpg" height="500" width="373" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>What was the biggest challenge in organising Geek Calendar?<br /></b></div><br /><div>AB: Finding time to get some sleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>LC: Scheduling photoshoots for 23 busy geeks was pretty tough. Though the hardest thing was telling Mr Ross that I wouldn't be able to go to his house and meet him because I was both allergic to and phobic of his six dogs.</div><div><br /><div>MKL: Maintaining some semblance of a life.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's your favourite part of the calendar?<br /></b></div><div><br /><div>AB: I think my favourite picture is the maths one - there's something about the colour and setting that Ben captured that's really nice, as well as the interaction between Alex and Matt. I also love that it was shot in the Jeremy Bentham pub, and the fact the shot was inspired by</div><div>an old 16th century woodcut. I really like Aleks' picture too, it's so full of colour and personality, and Petra's, which has an incredible mood to it (and <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/09/shoot-thirteen-petra-boynton.html">wonderful back story to the setting</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>LC: I shouldn't play favourites with the geeks - for one thing it would upset my boyfriend. So I'm going to play it safe and say all the geeky dates we noted on the calendar days - who knew that dark, cold January would be so full of wonderful things, like the day the Lego brick was patented?</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>MKL: The whole package came out wonderfully -- better than we could ever have imagined. Everything from the spectacular photos, to the design, the cover, our videos (especially the trailer)... Actually my favourite part is the acknowledgements on the back cover. It reminds me of all the amazing people I got to work with and the awesome team I had around me.</div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Who's your favourite geek?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>AB: I'm going to steal Jonathan Ross' take on this: it's not fair to play favourites with geeks.</div></div><div><br /><div>LC: Henry Wellcome, because without him I wouldn't have a job. Seriously though, the man was one of the most remarkable collectors of the last century, obsessed by the history of medicine. He travelled the world picking up not only the medicines of indigenous tribes, but the gourd they came in, the mask of the witch doctor who prescribed them, and the canoe the doctor rode up in. He had accrued millions of objects by the time he died, was probably quite mad, and left a wonderful legacy.</div></div><div><br /></div>MKL: You're such a swot, Crane! Mine are Alice Bell and Louise Crane. They are awesome and amazing :)<br /><br />AB: Well, you two too OBVIOUSLY. Goes without saying, surely.<br /><br />LC: Aw, you guys...</div>Mun-Keat Looihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03552051542059410864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-60707162291650367752010-12-15T10:11:00.004+00:002010-12-15T10:15:29.142+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 15Today is the last day for orders before Christmas! Buy your calendar today and we’ll post it to you in time for the holidays. It’s the perfect gift for that special geek in your life – even if that geek is simply you.<br /><br />Our last advent present to you is another photograph of <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/10/final-shoot-jonathan-ross.html">Jonathan Ross</a>, looking quite the evil genius.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550850209707108578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTzcikG9OdMLN5l4nn1mgPI9Gm5VVCUZWOpK9yncq-DIQVtvBeqgifQzAsIwDVLmmOtHth2Wj1YDgJOrRqtF_TIIk-UTetKaQ5P82j_X-3xBIxx-bUY_GjGhGOY7yPHxVElZhcCRRIos-8/s400/LR_JonathanRoss_MG_9554.jpg" border="0" />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-10258728477395752462010-12-14T10:03:00.004+00:002010-12-14T10:09:07.823+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 14For a bit of fun, our journalists hid behind their newspapers in our September <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-eight-multi-media-one.html">photoshoot</a>. Having to hide your opinion about scientific and medical topics for fear of being sued for libel is wrong, and the laws that force this kind of behaviour are outdated. Geek Calendar is raising money for the campaign to change this. Buy your calendar today to support Libel Reform. And if you buy it now, we’ll post it to you before Christmas.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550477058137762290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz362dSaJjzCIIUjDoQTj8iIrP-k_ROI1AbusKA1UVrPgj8DiSjfVt5i9VZdgzhnDom9xLFvkYOzQKb8dAq_OtvSWkh2vt-RrPAwt7QO8Z1mukpGZQ0e2Pi9PYOE2gfRj2TISCP_FYAyys/s400/journalists-7.jpg" border="0" />For more out-takes from this shoot, pop along to calendar star Ed Yong's blog <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/11/05/im-mr-september/">post</a>.lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-2668864651889221962010-12-13T16:26:00.005+00:002010-12-14T15:57:33.528+00:00And the winner is...A couple of weeks ago we asked you to send in a photo of your Geek Calendar in a suitably nerdy setting. The photo that impressed us the most was by @kingmuskar on Twitter. Mostly because his calendar is so wonderfully framed by a Rancor beast, and at least one of the Geek Calendar judges is a big Star Wars nerd:<br /><br /><div align="center"><a title="@geekcalendar Yay, my #geekcalender arrived today and is bei... on Twitpic" href="http://twitpic.com/3c9jrm"><img style="WIDTH: 459px; HEIGHT: 298px" height="500" alt="@geekcalendar Yay, my #geekcalender arrived today and is bei... on Twitpic" src="http://twitpic.com/show/full/3c9jrm.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><p>You can't say we're totally biased towards our preferences though. The very same judge (okay, it's me) is very scared of dogs and yet this photo by @shell_here was chosen as the runner-up entry:<br /></p><div align="center"><a title="@Wossy The Professor's so adorable! Here are my elder st... on Twitpic" href="http://twitpic.com/3bw83k"><img style="WIDTH: 369px; HEIGHT: 489px" height="150" alt="@Wossy The Professor's so adorable! Here are my elder st... on Twitpic" src="http://twitpic.com/show/full/3bw83k.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br />Congratulation to @kingmuskar, who will win a signed copy of Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw's book, <i>Why Does E=MC<sup>2</sup>?</i>, and @shell_here, who is getting some limited edition Geek Calendar badges in the post.<br /><br />p.s. We also loved <a href="http://twitpic.com/3fb6d6">this</a> photo of the Geek Calendar and a Christmas pterosaur that was posted after the competiton deadline. Thanks @physicus!lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-54954599465463129902010-12-13T10:26:00.005+00:002010-12-13T10:33:10.582+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 13<a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/09/shoot-thirteen-petra-boynton.html">Petra Boynton</a>’s shoot took place at Cross Bones Graveyard, where prostitutes, the poor and other outcasts of society were buried until its closure in 1853. Every 23rd day of every month, a small group of people gather to honour those buried at Cross Bones. Their lives are commemorated with ribbons and tokens tied to the gates seen in the background of Petra’s calendar photo. In this alternative shot, you can see the gates in their full glory.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550111844609203986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2Xg3Xo237zq0j47704-sBw_tDHIp_gZM6FLd_Ap0EYXrkLUGkTQxXWjlrvwZWCUKk3c3quUUaAu4gcjtT7fBXZd__wAsOpTIF65z6D2WkOagoicM2s8ufBFbtD1TDSRIdiNEBXcTSD7P/s400/LR_Petra_MG_5599.jpg" border="0" />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-82177058659389193322010-12-12T10:05:00.005+00:002010-12-13T10:33:45.425+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 12We decided to see what Frank the rabbit got up to after <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/06/shoot-three-adam-rutherford.html">Adam Rutherford</a>’s Donnie Darko-inspired shoot. Frank said he uses public transport to reduce his carbon pawprint.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3YyKthNPKrXUTDRwbYe8X_51t49G1kgfMrAtTYvbhauNnydvz4kAjgdL34QHx2tghKMLGSZY9r19olm0wS8-zTLObt2vmOsTNwHvgl1KHgME3nN581uVlnXcaIlrW-hxyDsFDK-dCIDQs/s1600/photo%25282%2529.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549736392640447794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3YyKthNPKrXUTDRwbYe8X_51t49G1kgfMrAtTYvbhauNnydvz4kAjgdL34QHx2tghKMLGSZY9r19olm0wS8-zTLObt2vmOsTNwHvgl1KHgME3nN581uVlnXcaIlrW-hxyDsFDK-dCIDQs/s400/photo%25282%2529.JPG" border="0" /></a>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-89618884564018249772010-12-11T11:44:00.002+00:002010-12-11T11:46:55.689+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 11Photographing comic artist <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-seven-sydney-padua.html">Sydney Padua</a> in her studio was like capturing a lovely creature in its natural habitat. This alternative shots shows her drawing the cartoon that we included in our pre-order prize draw.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDQqxCdDMMe-OXZwsoP7CFq0ME0hrw1jVBtVJwA_OX6N_1ZcljAJC5dVQySVUHp9raEHzaBgCXjl4X_hoVwLRZEZw-9-istANGurHvLvc7Wls_AsVBumD6X1y15-XXQAhETamxfA_58o6/s1600/Sydney4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDQqxCdDMMe-OXZwsoP7CFq0ME0hrw1jVBtVJwA_OX6N_1ZcljAJC5dVQySVUHp9raEHzaBgCXjl4X_hoVwLRZEZw-9-istANGurHvLvc7Wls_AsVBumD6X1y15-XXQAhETamxfA_58o6/s400/Sydney4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549389529980921762" border="0" /></a>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-9263727073042029942010-12-10T10:10:00.004+00:002010-12-10T10:15:53.920+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 10When the Geek Calendar crew piled into the home of <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-ten-brian-cox-and-gia-milinovich.html">Gia Milinovich and Brian Cox</a>, a few days after Brian had recovered from altitude sickness and in the middle of them moving house, we did not expect our Valentine’s couple to be such good sports. Gia had back-combed her hair into the perfect 1950s hairstyle, and Brian looked dapper in his tuxedo and monocle. In this out-take, our photographer Greg took things back to basics with a lovely portrait.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548994858273427650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI83KM_Mkg81LkUgKS4dUJhp9wAhCWn1qfuMgiNZglKPNB1aXFDLP1norOaS_3eqKtBKQ6WAt-X0kAOH0j65iTydNhyphenhyphengwLaNC4PlWaD09ovoqJkBqoDoMpbVvcT4piN4PSu8mPfWlkuuRC/s400/LR_BrianCox_MG_8955.jpg" border="0" />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-75968254062721649462010-12-09T15:36:00.000+00:002010-12-09T15:36:21.370+00:00Our Videographers, part 2: Greg FootThe next in our series highlighting our videography team is our star Editor, <a href="http://gregfoot.com/">Greg Foot</a> (you've heard from him <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/10/geeks-on-film.html">on this blog before</a>).<br /><br /><br />This is something of a coup for us really, as Greg is now a TV star with a growing fan following. He recently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/gregfoot08#p/u/1/l1WGHI32s40">convinced Gavin Henson to take 750,000 volts of electricity</a> and you might have <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vs684">seen him on BBC3</a> recently. We knew him way back when he was but a wee lad....<br /><div style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><b><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><b><a title="Greg the filmmaker by geekcalendar, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4930514220/"><img height="375" alt="Greg the filmmaker" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4116/4930514220_74866ae8f0.jpg" width="500" /></a></b></span></div><br /></b></div><b>Would you call yourself a geek?</b><br /><br />Yep, definitely! Geek and proud! I don’t have an obsession over one particular thing like many geeks do, I’m just really interested in how the world works and finding fun, different ways to understand it. My <a href="http://twitter.com/gregfoot">twitter stream</a> is full of links to cool or quirky science stories I’ve come across, wicked little videos of experiments & high-speed camera stuff, or just some clever little animation.<br /><br />However, my main geeky side is probably linked to my love of escaping the Big Smoke for an adrenaline fix. I’m never happier than when I’m careening down a piste or surfing across a wave, but I’ll always find myself wondering about how long that wave has travelled to get here or how the latest climbing tech has been designed to get you up that rockface and keep you safe. So, my geeky passion is in uncovering the science that’s all around us and we never really think about.<br /><br /><b>What's the geekiest thing you've ever done?<br /></b><br />Ha! Well, that’ll probably be when I decided to get my mates together for a big dodgeball tournament (love that film!). That meant fancy dress of course, so I drew on some geek inspiration and went as C3PO. We’re talking full-on gold costume with wires, gold boots etc! The mask got in the way a bit tho. Which is why we didn’t win of course...<br /><br /><br />[INSERT IMAGINATION HERE. Greg declined to provide photographic evidence of this escapade, sadly.]<br /><br /><b>Which was your most enjoyable Geek Calendar shoot?<br /></b><br />Well, I actually only went to a couple of shoots as Barry J Gibb and Tom Ziessen kindly offered to go film them for us so I could tackle the editing! Watching Evan Harris maneuvering giant chess pieces in torrential rain in the BMA quad has to stand out!<br /><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a title="Face Off by geekcalendar, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4930507016/"><img height="375" alt="Face Off" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4930507016_e09a151cb9.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><br /><b>What was the biggest challenge in putting the videos together?<br /></b><br /><div>Trawling through over a dozen tapes and then cutting all that material down to a short trailer vid! Our geeks said so much interesting stuff about their jobs, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTVrRLHeVY">their geekiness</a> and their passionate <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCDvRJKQjSI">thoughts on Libel Reform</a> it was hard to select the best bits!<br /><br /><b>Do you have a favourite month from the calendar?</b></div><div><b><br /></b>I think <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/06/shoot-three-adam-rutherford.html">Adam Rutherford</a>’s photo is my favourite. It’s a brill shot in a great location that captures Adam’s film-loving geeky side. Plus, thinking of Mun-Keat being inside that bunny outfit on the hottest day of the year always makes me laugh – that’s some serious dedication to the Geek Calendar cause right there!</div><div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a title="January 2011 by geekcalendar, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5099439884/"><img height="500" alt="January 2011" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1264/5099439884_232cfc258c.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br /></div><div><b>How did you get into filmmaking?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>When I was at uni studying science I got really into making short films and radio shows. I still wanted to stick with my passion for science but wanted to combine it with this newly discovered creative side so after I graduated I spent a fun year doing a <a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/sciencecommunicationgroup/masters/mscinscinecemediaproduction">Masters in Science Media Production</a> at Imperial College London. That opened doors for some cracking work experience and since then I’ve been working in-front and behind the camera making science documentaries. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think the key now to getting a job in TV or as an online multimedia producer is to have as many strings to your bow as possible. So if you want to get into this sort of thing jump at every chance you get to learn how to shoot, write, edit and make great tea! Oh, and chat to as many people as possible as you never know where the next job will come from.<br /><br /><b>What's a normal day in the life of a filmmaker?</b></div><div><b><br /></b>I’m freelance so every day is different – which is great because you don’t get bored, but also a bit of a juggling act! Until recently I’ve been most often found huddled over a laptop coming up with new TV show ideas for an independent TV company, filming and editing taster tapes, or eating far too many biscuits in brainstorms! </div><div><br /></div><div>In amongst those days I’d been squeezing in the really fun days where I could be found on the beach teaching a bunch of students about the science of surfing or out filming a show and getting to do cool things like build an Archimedes Death Ray. In the last few months though I’ve been spending more time on the latter type, so fingers crossed for more!</div><div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><object height="340" width="560"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/701wrtzRrKw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object></div><br /><b>Who's your favourite geek?<br /></b><br /></div><div>That’s a really tricky one. I’m torn between two. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan">Carl Sagan</a> has to get a mention for being such a passionate science communicator and for enthusing so many people with the wonder of the cosmos. </div><div><br /></div><div>The second is a curveball – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Garrett_Lisi">Garrett Lisi</a>. He’s the guy who proposed his model for a unified field theory a few years back. But I don’t mention him for his scientific work (which received a whole barrage of both support and skepticism), but more his way of life: he lives in Maui and splits him time between theoretical physics and big wave surfing. And for me, that’s a geek I want to be like!</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_x2FYW1DEslY9HZvHuhyphenhyphenHnkdqBrDdZmVnwS3OcRL2xZMD0aC_EMBfYTxAhpoEVWc6Tddc4czNW-u6yN5FHHqiopq5tQKuxHZYSjRD-wyk8JqBlHpLhkuLBDlMkE62ONn_sZkjYnF6Ei1/s1600/AntonyGarrettLisi.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547708033099171842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 272px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_x2FYW1DEslY9HZvHuhyphenhyphenHnkdqBrDdZmVnwS3OcRL2xZMD0aC_EMBfYTxAhpoEVWc6Tddc4czNW-u6yN5FHHqiopq5tQKuxHZYSjRD-wyk8JqBlHpLhkuLBDlMkE62ONn_sZkjYnF6Ei1/s320/AntonyGarrettLisi.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><i>Anthony Garett Lisi</i></div>Mun-Keat Looihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03552051542059410864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-20871555057526787952010-12-09T10:26:00.003+00:002010-12-09T16:23:13.635+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 9<div align="left">This photograph of <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/08/shoot-eleven-chris-addison.html">Chris Addison</a> examining the runners of an airfix model spaceship was Mun-Keat’s favourite shot. It was a very close second indeed! </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548628209105699170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PiSa4WxxFdOdmkuvqqLGFQrBCIKAFyFzrHcywuh7oREpwVU0g0wuVo09ys3QzNTolA8S6mFKG91SEQnzrbjUICglTEP8CS_lVO3DlO-HqMwGfDmUEvfpBUim0cd8W-J4e0w6ooR6xfl0/s400/LR_ChrisAddison_PRE_EDIT_MG_0280.jpg" border="0" />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-29222868856243823872010-12-08T10:42:00.000+00:002010-12-08T10:42:10.216+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 8<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">The old adage goes “never work with children or animals”. In this shoot, we worked with both (although the animals</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">, including my cuddly polar bear Ice Cube, were stuffed)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">. In this shot, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/09/shoot-twelve-simon-and-hari-singh.html">Simon Singh</a>'s baby son Hari shows early signs of comedy genius as he yawns while Simon reads his great </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">tome, the <i>Big Bang</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14;"><span style="font-size:100%;">.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTidWKabMzFDJwaBu4oLq0Rl6L1AnR5BAoxs5KEBZRkmqTplrYB3RojFtAXt2e2uy6QdVxbQ9nXIXH5J4co7vapNtJDrI21JAqDqabhYtT97UYRKLGIuGm_eryotE21D-ol8TD9DGplpP/s1600/Simon+and+Hari.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545089869491063106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTidWKabMzFDJwaBu4oLq0Rl6L1AnR5BAoxs5KEBZRkmqTplrYB3RojFtAXt2e2uy6QdVxbQ9nXIXH5J4co7vapNtJDrI21JAqDqabhYtT97UYRKLGIuGm_eryotE21D-ol8TD9DGplpP/s400/Simon+and+Hari.jpg" border="0" /></a></span>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-7764892094394333572010-12-07T11:40:00.002+00:002010-12-07T14:26:30.408+00:00Our videographers, part 1: Barry J Gibb<div>Along the things we're most proud of at Geek calendar are our fantastic videos. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-WLIO00Js">trailer</a> has been viewed over 10,000 times (and not just by us!) and the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/oct/27/geek-calendar">Geeks on Geekiness</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/oct/27/libel-reform-geeks">Geeks on Libel Reform</a> vids were featured on the Guardian. All this was made possible by our fabulous videography unit, and we'd like to pay tribute to them with the latest in our series of posts on Team Geek Calendar.</div><div><br /></div><div>First up, star cameraman Barry J Gibb (no relation to a certain 70s pop star...). Barry is a Multimedia Editor at the <a href="http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/">Wellcome Trust</a> (watch his films on <a href="http://youtube.com/wellcometrust">their YouTube channel</a>), a former neuroscientist, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Guide-Guides-Reference-Titles/dp/1843536641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291674022&sr=8-1">The Rough Guide to the Brain</a>, and a massive gamer. </div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4757513658/" title="Barry filming by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4757513658_3a7d45888d.jpg" alt="Barry filming" height="500" width="373"></a></div></div><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Would you call yourself a geek?</b><br /><br />Affirmative. And in that sense I think I grew up feeling a bit abnormal. Not until I made it to university did I realise the planet was also populated by these other oddities who were obsessed by machines, biology, history, science... It was a nice moment.<br /><br /><b>What's the geekiest thing you've ever done?<br /></b><br />Maybe it was when I made my Steve Austin (the Bionic Man) action man figure ride the programmable vehicle, Big Trak. In my mind, this was technological nirvana. It might have been the time I wrangled over my gamer tag for days (until settling on 'digitaldestiny'). It's really hard to say; I still show off how many online kills I got to my wife as she nods wryly.<br /><br /><b>Which was your most enjoyable Geek Calendar shoot?<br /></b><br />Probably the one with <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-ten-brian-cox-and-gia-milinovich.html">Brian and Gia</a>, though not for the reasons people might think. I tend to be entirely oblivious to fame and celebrity - as far as I was concerned this was just another shoot for my mates. That said I'm quite voyeuristic and love watching people (this does help if you're a filmmaker). <div><br /></div><div>What struck me was, far away from the usual lights, cameras and fuss they must inevitably experience, were two lovely human beings with a young child and cats. And we were in their home. It was touching and a real privilege to share a slice of their 'real' lives.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/4813919394/" title="cat and camera portrait by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4813919394_69d9a81538.jpg" alt="cat and camera portrait " height="500" width="375"></a></div><br /><b>Which was the most challenging shoot?</b><br /><br />Easy. <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/06/shoot-two-guest-post-from-lewis.html">Lewis Dartnell</a>'s. Every thing about his shoot was a challenge (which makes it a lot more fun, actually). Interview? In the taxi on the way to the observatory - rubbish audio, confined space, jiggling around... </div><div><br /></div><div>Then we get to the observatory whereupon I felt compelled to explain to those around me (except Ben, the photographer) that cameras, like the human eye, tend to work by capturing light, a phenomenon that appeared to have escaped everyones attention as we stood in the pitch black dome. Pretty much every day I will thank the Gods for my iPhone but on that day it was vital: my entire dome shoot was lit by Louise's screen being maxed out. Oh, and I managed to get locked in!<br /><br /><b>Do you have a favourite month from the calendar?</b><br /><br />They're all such wonderful images but if I had to pick one it would be July (Aleks Krotoski). The composition and setting are wonderful and the intensity of her personality shines.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5099440160/" title="July 2011 by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1218/5099440160_3ee260cd16.jpg" alt="July 2011" height="500" width="350"></a></div><br /><b>How did you get into filmmaking?</b><br /><br />By sheer force of will. I don't believe you can do anything well unless you love it. For years I loved science at the lab bench but then I became aware of new ways of expressing this fondness for the natural world, through words and film. </div><div><br /></div><div>I resigned, went freelance (my parents thought I'd lost it), wrote <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Guide-Guides-Reference-Titles/dp/1843536641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291674022&sr=8-1">The Rough Guide to The Brain</a> and reinvented myself as a science filmmaker. I'd been using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Cut_Pro">Final Cut Pro</a> for fun since its very first version, so it was just a question of finding people brave enough to take a punt on me and my new camera. I worked harder than I'd ever worked before, got film gigs, became known at the <a href="http://sheffdocfest.com/">Sheffield Doc/Fest</a> and never looked back.<br /><br /><b>What's a normal day in the life of a filmmaker?<br /></b><br />A good day involves filming or editing. Everything else is a distraction. For example, I'm writing this on my iPad as I travel to Edinburgh to make a film about a very cool breakthrough involving blood. There hasn't been a chance to do a recce, so I'm walking into the unknown, as is frequently is the case. I'll show up (on time), must develop a good relationship with the interviewee in a matter of minutes, then acquire as many fabulous and relevant shots as possible to tell the story. Working with scientists is a bit like herding cats - apart from the odd few, most will happily avoid the gaze of the camera; it's my job to make them feel willing and comfortable.<br /><br />The flip side of this is editing. I'll need to sit down and watch all the rushes in real time, then start building the story, the film, from scratch. I love editing - it demands level of patience I feel carries over positively into many other facets of life. I've never yet met an editor I didn't want to sit and chat with over a beer.<br /><br /><b>What's the best thing about your job?</b><br /><br />Two things, dancing on the edge of chaos, and people. Documentary filming means knowing what you want but frequently having little idea of whether or not you'll be able to get it. I find this need to be adaptable and fast very fulfilling. You absolutely need to think on your feet and you must be able to work the camera flawlessly (geek alert) - what the camera sees and hears is the only thing that matters, knowing how to control the beast like it's an extension of yourself will save your life.<br /><br />And I love meeting the people. I'm getting to chat to scientists all over the country at the top of their game - it's fascinating and a genuine privilege. The other week I was having dinner with Sir Walter Bodmer and his team in Islay (see the film below) - amazing company (and lovely whisky).</div><div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="340" width="560"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PCwHCMfyW88?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></object></div><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Who's your favourite geek ever?</b><br /><br />It just has to be <a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough">Sir David Attenborough</a>. As a kid I watched this man on telly both obsess and enthuse over the various lifeforms inhabiting the planet and was immediately drawn into his world. He is the reason I became aware of the natural world, he helped inspire my entry into science and the work he still does acts as a source of continuous amazement. I once stood next to him in the Royal Society and was weak with admiration. Even away from animals, his humility and clarity of thought leaves my humbled. David, you rock.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/asimulator/2340790729/" title="david attenborough aka "god" by aSIMULAtor, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/2340790729_14e87c9d47.jpg" alt="david attenborough aka "god"" height="375" width="500"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span">I<font class="Apple-style-span">mage credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/asimulator/2340790729/">Flickr/aSIMULAtor</a></font></font></div>Mun-Keat Looihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03552051542059410864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-45437791069688447072010-12-07T10:24:00.000+00:002010-12-07T10:24:38.776+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 7When mathematicians get angry, calculators go flying. In the photo that made it to May 2010, <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-five-alex-bellos-and-matt-parker.html">Matt Parker and Alex Bellos</a> got a little verbal. In this shot, things are rather more heated!<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547624853347063106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 299px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqMkyaaf0iZkE141IeUCf9zp2K51awtEVOi2ABbPj0pcDYkaB6yBHfCqnhIB7l5UviwcASyWNMsyaY_2tgLOaClMzw7Vd4YiI1sNfsQ0HGxMtJxtbBZ9g74QXDlPG3xt6c5Rf00ZW0CIT/s400/Maths_00085.jpg" border="0" />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-72255765558595357752010-12-06T10:42:00.000+00:002010-12-06T10:42:29.841+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 6<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">So many people have asked if the Toy Story alien in <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/06/shoot-two-guest-post-from-lewis.html">Lewis Dartnell</a>'s picture was Photoshopped in. It wasn’t! I had to act as ball girl while photographer Ben threw the alien up in the air for each photo, retrieving the toy from wherever it landed in the Planetarium. Thanks to Ben’s great skill and timing, we got the shot we wanted. Here’s Lewis cuddling up to his extra-terrestrial teddy.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMLQ88KJ_Xo8uQnAGH_cTKy4z-KTfjMhmI1Lo5QuHM_duVNdskH7ZhtHMHLp5_I4yZsQVQcaUdGMpYP3O03VPoTqqBLylNnWhfAg3jr8kwP0ZnjEg0t2m4MB6oG7xSyZEk6OcwtnUYtLI/s1600/Lewis+Dartnell+3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545067715736052818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 299px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMLQ88KJ_Xo8uQnAGH_cTKy4z-KTfjMhmI1Lo5QuHM_duVNdskH7ZhtHMHLp5_I4yZsQVQcaUdGMpYP3O03VPoTqqBLylNnWhfAg3jr8kwP0ZnjEg0t2m4MB6oG7xSyZEk6OcwtnUYtLI/s400/Lewis+Dartnell+3.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-3252535931819867442010-12-05T11:58:00.002+00:002010-12-05T15:13:35.109+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 5<a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-four-kat-akingbade.html">Kat Akingbade</a> is so photogenic that we really struggled to decide on which photo should go in the calendar – she looks amazing in all of them! We decided on a close-up, but here she is standing in front of Henry Wellcome’s collection of glass bottles, skeptically examining some pills.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrTpjj6VvWKqesWgdK_qz_Eq7S2UtLiiB8KaiYTXbiZAfs2XTpbk8xfQeGHAYO98MormxIzqfJlOabuP7XD3Roks82TVPNj-9i91OUMVwxZ9WumLx-oJB6vAwcvgPQ-w__73ykcklsGVG/s1600/Kat+Akingbade+1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrTpjj6VvWKqesWgdK_qz_Eq7S2UtLiiB8KaiYTXbiZAfs2XTpbk8xfQeGHAYO98MormxIzqfJlOabuP7XD3Roks82TVPNj-9i91OUMVwxZ9WumLx-oJB6vAwcvgPQ-w__73ykcklsGVG/s400/Kat+Akingbade+1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545065450052425826" border="0" /></a></span></p><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrTpjj6VvWKqesWgdK_qz_Eq7S2UtLiiB8KaiYTXbiZAfs2XTpbk8xfQeGHAYO98MormxIzqfJlOabuP7XD3Roks82TVPNj-9i91OUMVwxZ9WumLx-oJB6vAwcvgPQ-w__73ykcklsGVG/s1600/Kat+Akingbade+1.JPG"></a>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-23768381845923293942010-12-04T12:59:00.001+00:002010-12-05T15:14:01.180+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 4<span style="font-size:100%;"></span><style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Se</style><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">My heart sank on the day of Evan Harris’s photo shoot. Having planned for a glorious, sunny photograph in the beautiful BMA quad, I couldn’t believe we’d had the bad luck to book the shoot on the one rainy day in August. But the soggy chess match between Sabrina Chevannes and Evan made for a perfect “April” showers spread. This photo comes midway through the match, when Evan still thought he had a chance at beating chess champion Sabrina.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pUK4OulXCEzwAc9omqZjOofqI4d_WVlLqkaNtzibS2oQr4bj3YFOqcnabvkHeK7MtCkIq0tHjrRbpRilrLZp2G-O9jCLDsiqWkFY2NiOF96uuMn6vaZu3I9J0_zZdTlIEpJuxUBWEFFG/s1600/Evan+Harris_0002.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pUK4OulXCEzwAc9omqZjOofqI4d_WVlLqkaNtzibS2oQr4bj3YFOqcnabvkHeK7MtCkIq0tHjrRbpRilrLZp2G-O9jCLDsiqWkFY2NiOF96uuMn6vaZu3I9J0_zZdTlIEpJuxUBWEFFG/s400/Evan+Harris_0002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545065044892156946" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;"><br /></span></p>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-707723400255462392010-12-03T10:28:00.002+00:002010-12-05T15:14:19.303+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 3<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">In this shot, the 1970s orange chair in Wellcome Collection’s Club room became <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-six-ben-goldacre.html">Ben Goldacre</a>’s throne, making the media his subjects.</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDTla3bpJACWzSLyb_6900nPzmktr04Tz2F-BLIavJiDPs7vW__jr63MwcmcRQff2GekgeTOokIaLJIn2QxUklPEuEdk3Xt1CzB96nsaCEF6QCV3M8UcShHwZ7TON4i0XpfrNP2uO2pFC/s1600/Goldacre-3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDTla3bpJACWzSLyb_6900nPzmktr04Tz2F-BLIavJiDPs7vW__jr63MwcmcRQff2GekgeTOokIaLJIn2QxUklPEuEdk3Xt1CzB96nsaCEF6QCV3M8UcShHwZ7TON4i0XpfrNP2uO2pFC/s400/Goldacre-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545064560736430562" border="0" /></a><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;"><br /><br /></span>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-63640724505977504642010-12-02T10:36:00.003+00:002010-12-05T15:14:36.376+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 2<span lang="EN-US">At Imran Khan’s <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/06/first-shoot.html">shoot</a>, our first idea was to photograph him with toys all over his desk at the offices of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, where he is (probably) the youngest Director ever. In the end, our photographer Ben noticed the beautiful sunset outside, and snapped the shot on the rooftop that made the final cut.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Here’s Imran’s desk as we imagined it should be, for minimum productivity and maximum fun:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetmkqVCMp7AWSeWfVh_s8YtG9X5Ta6DfsTH_HpkkzG6doUeyQvKffYrXOniLszBCKiOlvJDpeA7_GmSfDF19rQsIhubZRVWnLBATIT_K48Exun52jNhqccMd6rLWT2GMzXFA9iGeaunUO/s1600/image-5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545090281610053954" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; height: 299px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetmkqVCMp7AWSeWfVh_s8YtG9X5Ta6DfsTH_HpkkzG6doUeyQvKffYrXOniLszBCKiOlvJDpeA7_GmSfDF19rQsIhubZRVWnLBATIT_K48Exun52jNhqccMd6rLWT2GMzXFA9iGeaunUO/s400/image-5.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-86691971283620649032010-12-01T08:54:00.002+00:002010-12-05T15:14:54.475+00:00The Geek Advent Calendar: Day 1<span lang="EN-US">Over the next 15 days, we’ll be posting up photos you won’t find in the Geek Calendar. Some of them are alternative shots that were almost chosen for the final spread – we really agonized over these decisions! Others are out-takes that we hope you’ll find amusing.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><br />The last photo will be posted on 15<sup>th</sup> December, the day for last orders before Christmas. We can’t promise that any orders received after this day will be posted out before Christmas, but we will make sure that any received on or before this day will be with you before the holidays.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><span lang="EN-US"><br />To kick off, here’s <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-nine-aleks-krotoski.html">Aleks Krotoski</a> doing her best Minnie Mouse impression:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLdHLNsnFcUNSAzBKMCqcApcwciSbHqorFUfYS6hcVdoLdShi0-1eL_CNNP-64ALy-IeabTcLvwN-TY9Si4AHEOsba58OWO1I6MvBjNtraYNZYYVjR6A1u1gtP9JFyQRdfDR_5BquDuA5/s1600/Aleks_krotoski_MG_8671.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545063798598093778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLdHLNsnFcUNSAzBKMCqcApcwciSbHqorFUfYS6hcVdoLdShi0-1eL_CNNP-64ALy-IeabTcLvwN-TY9Si4AHEOsba58OWO1I6MvBjNtraYNZYYVjR6A1u1gtP9JFyQRdfDR_5BquDuA5/s400/Aleks_krotoski_MG_8671.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 267px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnkWxvTGVWHD2wX-EgFMXULi5FWrdYQCf6emAG3ThET0vtrm2FcexYIC_MRZWywGnnCMAb1OP46sXP_kv19JJEuWqFAxwbrJzZ5d4Fg1bbxsCHL4H6wTeErS-4v-WRfu9aBgQ-sorJXNX/s1600/Aleks_krotoski_MG_8671.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><br /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-70470888329009139462010-11-30T19:41:00.000+00:002010-12-01T11:11:18.623+00:00Geek Calendar photo competitionTomorrow is the 1st of December, the day when you can finally unwrap your Geek Calendar and hang it with pride on your wall (that is, if you haven't already). We want to see your calendars in action! Email or tweet us a photo of yours, and the pic we like the most will win a signed copy of Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw's illuminating book, <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Why Does E=mc<sup>2</sup></span>?<br /><br />Your photos will be judged on the following category: whatever makes Alice, Louise and Mun-Keat smile the most. Do whatever you can to show off your calendar, make it funny, make it beautiful. Send in your pics by the end of Friday, and we'll announce the winner next week.<br /><br />For inspiration, here's Mun-Keat's calendar at his desk at the Wellcome Trust:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545368039484774178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQHdJErRBDLWW92-b713z8k37avzvHAl-J2H2Lc8LCHXTnt2YH7375ekif7UCf3DRnA0GbGH3vklVF8z3PGIVVv_a91ukGH90rGg3IHbpHlPo6GHiDlg7O1W5CKeKfCuV-5wswlk1woU0/s400/mk+calendar.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><insert><br /></insert>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-26800866518907138812010-11-29T23:58:00.000+00:002010-11-29T23:58:14.752+00:00Season's Greetings"Season's Greetings" to you all.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK7zIPIIDXBsuDkADB3V3VvblFWc0vVrNcRMC4CG9SHRCR2zOXbd0mNJxlu12VJfATXbQJVGLac0CxgibsFW8CD1Vs-oGEBl3rShaSMGkq5iJIQbiYMCybcYfVmslZd_N-MMWbdGdG4L8/s1600/geekxmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK7zIPIIDXBsuDkADB3V3VvblFWc0vVrNcRMC4CG9SHRCR2zOXbd0mNJxlu12VJfATXbQJVGLac0CxgibsFW8CD1Vs-oGEBl3rShaSMGkq5iJIQbiYMCybcYfVmslZd_N-MMWbdGdG4L8/s400/geekxmas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Yes, we know it's a bit early but (a) Team Geek Calendar love Christmas so much so, we had a Christmas party in July. (b) We thought you might like to use this pic as an e-card to your friends (might be a good way to drop present hints...).<br />
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So if you like the card, please do forward it on. You can use our <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/p/xmas-card.html">Season's Greetings page</a> or <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5212117996/">download a larger version on flickr</a>.<br />
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Big thanks to <a href="http://alekskrotoski.com/">Aleks </a>for letting us use one of the out-takes from <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-nine-aleks-krotoski.html">her shoot</a>, as well as to <a href="http://www.gregfunnell.com/">Greg Funnell</a> who took the photo and our amazing designer <a href="http://www.cosimadinkel.co.uk/">Cosima Dinkel</a> for turning it into a card.<br />
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We have more out-takes of our shoots ready to share... watch this space.Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12498653879153240121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-75266715139388542442010-11-25T12:30:00.005+00:002010-11-27T22:34:58.441+00:00Design for life: Geek Calendar's Cosima Dinkel<div style="text-align: left;">A big part of Geek Calendar's character is its bespoke design, including our lovely logo (now plastered on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5100936168/">badges</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5208912164/">T-shirts</a> and the like!) and our fantastic infographic cover. All of this is down to our amazing designer, <a href="http://www.cosimadinkel.co.uk/">Cosima Dinkel</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>An ex-colleague of mine, Cosima's worked for a variety of geeky institutions including the Science Museum and the Wellcome Trust. I was lucky enough to rope her in early on in the project (little did she know what she was letting herself in for....). </div><div><br /></div><div>Here, Cosima gives a little insight into her inspiration for the Geek Calendar design, and what makes a Graphic Designer tick.</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5099452298/" title="GeekCalProduct-03 by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1252/5099452298_29aeae58b4.jpg" alt="GeekCalProduct-03" height="333" width="500" /></a></div><br /><b>Would you call yourself a geek?</b></div>A closet geek. I collect tea stirrers. I think that probably qualifies me. <div><br /></div><div>Actually, I think graphic design is a quite geeky profession. I like the mix of the creative and technology. Having said that I'm not particularly techie like some designers are.<br /><br /><b>What's the geekiest thing you've ever done?<br /></b>I once impersonated a typeface at a party. Everyone had to guess which typeface I was pretending to be. Is that geeky? Or just pretentious? It's a fine line ...<br /><br /></div><div><b>How was it designing Geek Calendar?</b></div><div>The pictures are so great, it really didn't need much designing! For the type, I thought it needed a geeky/quirky typeface so I chose a font called Pop designed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Brody">Neville Brody</a>, which seemed to fit the bill.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrlS4Ne1vOmio6_OL-_YrIUus9nrS4WENXoOVWPBqiNtb6LirFe6TX_EQOiXVJmmDX97k1olpNlDwHfMFpH1SkRHeQWCItWIpresBZ6ccXczOUc0GBAKABmvNmIVS7BO9aan1fQ8qv3GF/s1600/ff-pop.gif"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrlS4Ne1vOmio6_OL-_YrIUus9nrS4WENXoOVWPBqiNtb6LirFe6TX_EQOiXVJmmDX97k1olpNlDwHfMFpH1SkRHeQWCItWIpresBZ6ccXczOUc0GBAKABmvNmIVS7BO9aan1fQ8qv3GF/s320/ff-pop.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542876361208078002" border="0" /></a><br /><b>What was your inspiration for the cover?</b></div><div>The idea was to do an infographic depicting the a breakdown of the geek year, based on the participants and all the geek anniversaries we'd collected for each month. </div><div><br /></div><div>My inspiration was <a href="http://www.davidmccandless.com/">David McCandless</a>'s excellent book <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/book/">Information is Beautiful</a>, which is the obvious starting point for infographics. His diagrams are really interesting, depicting data in original and unconventional ways. I wanted to do my own version of one of those. I chose a pie chart as I could just about cope with the maths!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5098839455/" title="Geek Calendar cover by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5098839455_10013c40fa.jpg" alt="Geek Calendar cover" height="357" width="500" /></a></div><br /><b>What was most enjoyable about putting the calendar together?<br /></b>It was really good fun working on a project with lots of people who were all committed to producing a thing of beauty.<br /><br /><b>And the most challenging?<br /></b>The maths for the pie chart! See above.<br /><br /><b>Do you have a favourite month from the calendar?<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">I've got to admit I love the Cox/Milinovich because it's quite theatrical. But that might also have something to do with the ginger cat... ;-)</span></b></div><div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5099439918/" title="February 2011 by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1085/5099439918_3b8272866f.jpg" alt="February 2011" height="500" width="350" /></a></div><br /><b>How did you get into design?<br /></b>I've always been into art and design. My grandparents were artists. I did a foundation course and went to art school and then I got an Apple mac...<br /><br /><b>What's a normal day in the life of a designer?<br /></b>Lots of cups of tea. A fair amount of procrastination. I have to say the Internet is really really distracting!<br /><br /><b>What's the best thing about your job?<br /></b>The cups of tea. Seeing the finished product and sniffing the ink.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekcalendar/5099454232/" title="GeekCalProduct-14 by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1213/5099454232_3385d61d5d.jpg" alt="GeekCalProduct-14" height="500" width="333" /></a></div><br /><b>Who's your favourite geek?<br /></b>I'd have to say the photographer <a href="http://www.martinparr.com/index1.html">Martin Parr</a> because of his geekish obsession with collecting ephemera. I particularly like his collections of crap postcards.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/garethcourage/443338202/" title="Pontins, Camber Sands by Gareth Courage, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/443338202_72680ed2fb.jpg" alt="Pontins, Camber Sands" height="366" width="500" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Image: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/garethcourage/443338202/">Flickr/Gareth Courage</a></span></div>Mun-Keat Looihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03552051542059410864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-25375001724850374092010-11-24T13:45:00.003+00:002010-11-24T14:12:03.094+00:00From Greeks to Geeks<em>This post was <a href="http://wellcomelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/11/from-greeks-to-geeks.html">originally</a> written for and published on the <a href="http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/">Wellcome Library</a> blog. Thanks to Ross MacFarlane for letting us re-post it on our blog, and for coming up with the genius title.</em><br /><br />A 16th century woodcut from Wellcome Images has been used as the inspiration for a 2011 calendar page. The page from the <em>Geek Calendar</em> features mathematicians Alex Bellos and Matt Parker in a 21st century interpretation of an image from German writer Gregor Reisch's <em>Margarita Philosophica</em>.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536110814814186882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 247px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgblK_6NdEpnCiV9VI15pgGHOYHMsVne62X_o0-UprureSko7NniYMvFyeVrZDHVNKCubBp6PR1y-odnPhhMNP3zjm6RkJDCN9FBW2d3snmCVUGBJCjgrzJbep5RZOZphLaLZcL88i63BLl/s320/Reisch.jpg" border="0" /><br />The <em><a href="http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/bomarch/bomapril06.html">Margarita Philosophica</a></em> is a beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of knowledge created by Carthusian humanist Reisch (1467-1525). First published in 1503, it was used as a university textbook throughout the early sixteenth century. It contains twelve illustrated books on subjects including grammar, arithmetic, music, geometry, physics and physiology.<br /><br />The image that inspired <em>Geek Calendar</em>’s mathematical <a href="http://geekcalendar.co.uk/2010/07/shoot-five-alex-bellos-and-matt-parker.html">photo shoot</a> shows Arithmetica supervising a counting contest between the Christian philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anicius_Manlius_Severinus_Boethius">Boethius</a>, and Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician whose name will be forever associated with triangles. Boethius is using Hindu-Arabic numbers to calculate; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras">Pythagoras</a> a counting board. The image represents new versus old: Boethius is sometimes credited with introducing Hindu-Arabic numbers into Christian Europe.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjaGiKTOi6phyPzAiKLpAmsHqklqj4xFxjNQ37xIG6ROrgsRY2Cj75xmH_bLBnn3ztDEl4Qqz0VfT45TBeHWKAWLi1rc0LXxFZM6G4f8_LbhYc1giuYYIJZEDQBVvIV5eLrZ5uDj10UDit/s1600/GK2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536115781850068338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 224px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjaGiKTOi6phyPzAiKLpAmsHqklqj4xFxjNQ37xIG6ROrgsRY2Cj75xmH_bLBnn3ztDEl4Qqz0VfT45TBeHWKAWLi1rc0LXxFZM6G4f8_LbhYc1giuYYIJZEDQBVvIV5eLrZ5uDj10UDit/s320/GK2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />For May 2011, the <em>Geek Calendar</em>’s mathematicians are calculating a restaurant bill tip, one using a 1970s Casio calculator, the other using a modern abacus. Argument ensues between the two hot-headed counters, unlike the much more dignified Boethius and Pythagoras.<br /><br />The <em>Margarita</em> contains many more fascinating illustrations, including some famous depictions of the <a href="http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk/record=b1148834~S8">human body</a>. The Wellcome Library holds a <a href="http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk/search/a?searchtype=Y&searcharg=margarita+philosophica&SORT=D&searchscope=8">number of editions</a> of the work, the illustration shown above being taken from an edition published in 1535.lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676243953959774022.post-68803771024747036522010-11-23T22:21:00.002+00:002010-11-24T11:03:39.540+00:00Geek Calendar flyerWe're still looking for people to spread the word about Geek Calendar at universities and colleges across the country. We've uploaded our flyer to this website, so you can download it, print it out and stick it on a noticeboard near you. Please help give the Libel Reform campaign a boost by telling as many people as you can about the Geek Calendar!<br /><br />Click on the image below to download a hi-res version of the image that you can print out.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5202180155_b3520722aa_o_d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Geek Calendar flyer by geekcalendar, on Flickr"><img alt="Geek Calendar flyer" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5202180155_395b4bfe2b.jpg" width="378" /></a></div>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com