Blog No. 222
Last week I rushed to get out what I thought my big Toronto reading was going to be like. As you may have suspected, I was a bit off. In hindsight, breaking into the Roger’s Centre is a lot harder than I thought. Trying to sneak in hundreds of people would be quite the challenge. Instead, I focused on the reading itself and things turned out well. Not key to the city well, but here we are. The folks at ChiZine were not only welcoming, but enthusiastic and fun! They even took us into the fold (but more on that later). For now I want to wildly speculate on my next trip to Toronto starting tomorrow!
As I’ve mentioned before, this month marks the tenth anniversary of Wii Like To Podcast. If you aren’t familiar, the website is still up and all the videos have been transferred to Youtube. There are thirty official episodes and some other fun content. It’s all outdated now, except for the entertainment. The little podcast that predated the trend was a big deal back in the day. Now, it’s mostly forgotten. Arvin and I remember it though. And we’re celebrating with a live show on Sunday starting at 2pm. Make sure to go to this link here and save yourself some searching time. I’m not sure how long we’ll go (likely too long) but it’ll be something to see and you can watch it from anywhere, so why wouldn’t you? There is a facebook event page too. It’s a good place to ask some questions that we will try to answer live, on the internet.
Even though the show is on Sunday, I’m heading up on the train Friday. I’m eager to have some hangout time with Arvin and his family along with all the work there still is to do. Not only are we putting the final touches on the WLTP Live Show, we are wrapping up the first episode of of new Podcast, Flags and High Fives. This one is audio only, but promised the same sensibilities as the original. Especially since it is a documentary/look back on Wii Like To Podcast. We’re currently working hard to get all the key elements up and running. It’s all very exciting and a bit nerve wracking. I’ve spent the last bunch of years hiding behind stories. I’m not sure I remember how to do live hosing anymore.
It’s going to be a good test for me though. (Segue!) Since the ChiSeries Reading, Christian and I have been in talks with Sandra Kasturi co-publisher at ChiZine. With their backing, we are going to be hosing a quarterly Windsor genera reading series. They have events across Canada and were taken enough with us to have us host the local chapter of their beloved series. The first one is going to be on Wednesday May 17th and will feature 
International Bestseller Nick Cutter, the prolific Michael Rowe, and Windsor’s own Justine Alley Dowsett. The Toronto crew is making the trip to kick us off too! There are still details to work out, but I’ll be touting this one often (I’m sure).
So, the first trip was a success and I’m hot on the heels of the second one. I just hope Toronto keeping being good to me this year. Make sure to check out the live show! It’ll be something. The next event is a signing at Coles in Tecumseh Mall from 1 – 3pm.
Ben Van Dongen 