How many geeky things can happen in a single day? Today is the third annual Towel Day, a day to honor the memory of Douglas Adams by carrying around a towel all day as if you were going to have to ward off the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal or something. Today’s installment of Savage Chickens -- always one of my first surfing stops of the day; it helps turn my Arthur Dent-esque early morning scream of horror into a chuckle -- reminded me that today is the 29th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars in the United States, which is not only geeky in itself but was a major touchstone for Generation X’s twisted psychological development. An unrelated trip to the IMDB alerted me to the fact that today is Ian McKellen’s birthday, and he certainly has lots of geek interest, what with him being Gandalf, Magneto, and Frankenstein director James Whale all at the same time. (Also having birthdays today: Muppeteer extraordinaire Frank Oz and horror writer Poppy Z. Brite.) And on this day in 1961 is when JFK announced the Apollo program, without which we wouldn’t have Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 and a ton of other cool shit like technology that helps us make better pizza, and kidney dialysis machines.

So have a geeky day this May 25, and remember that geekiness is all around you, especially that guy in the next cubicle wearing a towel around his head.

(Technorati tags: Towel Day, Douglas Adams, Savage Chickens, Star Wars, Ian McKellen, Apollo program)