I didn’t notice until just now that Montreal has reached critical mass! I’m shocked that the demand grew so quickly, but right now there are 91 people who want to see me do my thing (or a puppet show, I’m not good with French) and that’s enough for me to track down a bookstore and get things worked out.
CruiseTrek embarks on Saturday, 24 June (I wrote it that way just for you, Montreal) and I’m committed to some CruiseTrek festivities on Friday, 23 June, so whatever I do in Montreal will happen on Thursday 22 June. That’s also good for all you Browncoats up there, who would totally have to blow me off if my puppet show conflicted with the charity screenings of Serenity on the 23rd. Update: Shit. That’s actually extremely bad news for you Browncoats; the only day I can do a performance and signing is the 22nd, because I’m committed on the 23rd. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to jump onto any Serenity screenings or anything like that, because not everyone who is going to be there will appreciate me taking up any of their time, and if I understand it correctly, most of the people who have joined this demand are Serenity fans who. I’ll see if I can work out something in the late afternoon on Friday, before my evening commitments commence, but this event may end up not happening this time around. %$#@!.
I know nothing about Montreal’s book store scene, so if someone can help point me at an indie bookstore that wants to feel the love, leave some info in comments or e-mail wil at wilwheaton dot net.
I’m working on finalizing a venue for Boston today. I’ll post those details (and updates on Montreal) as soon as I have them.
Oh, and a quick note about demands: the critical mass is always going to vary from city to city, based on what it costs me to get there, the venues, and some other factors. I set critical mass for these two events at 75 because I figured that would be a sufficient number to get the attention of bookstore owners. It’s unlikely that critical mass will be lower than 100 or 150 for most events, just based on stupid economics.
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If you’re afraid of language issues you could always offer to mime a selection from one of your books…
Hey Wil 🙂
As you’ve probably gotten loads of emails from my comments, I’ll just summarize here. And then maybe copy-paste into an email 😉
1) Don’t worry about language, because most people speak both, or English, or understand English, or don’t really care because you’re famous.
2)The buzz in the Montreal community says you should hold this thing at the Westmount Library, in the Westmount Room. However, that’s supposed to hold 70 people. Which I’m sure is code for “if we pile in more than 70 ppl in here the cops will come and we’ll get a fine”. So if you’re thinking of doing something more cyclical, it works. Otherwise:
3) The Victoria Hall (not my idea personally, I know nothing about it). Apparently, it’s located across/close to the Westmount library and is bigger.
4)Renting a room (hihi – just you and me 😉 lol) at Concordia University. They actually have a really nice split-level type auditorium. And there’s always classrooms.
Also, people have suggested the Shatner building at McGill University, because, well… it’s self-explanatory.
If these options don’t quite work for you, let me know 😉
And yes, I shall be e-mailing all this.
I Demand Wil In Minneapolis!
I’ve done gone and joined voices in demanding Wil Wheaton come to Minneapolis for a book reading. Any other Minnesotans that would like a chance to met a fellow blogger go demand he come to Minneapolis. At last count it…
It’s a small Web, after all. Once upon a time, I was on MindVox. Now here’s Wil pimping my charity Serenity screenings plan.
Hi there.
I am Prakash, from Montreal, and I sent you(Wil Wheaton…) an email about the Serenity screening in Montreal, I assume you got it and read it? Do you plan to come to it? It would be really cool if you did. And just to pimp the info for our screening
http://serenitymtl.blogspot.com
Or you could do a reading AT the Serenity screening, and save us all the frantic rushing back and forth…
BTW, hi. First time posting. Love the blog.
Wanted to add that the screening in Montreal will be on June 22nd, not June 23rd.
Well, you could always tell the audience at your event that they should go home after, go to equalitynow.org, and contribute to them in honor of the screening taking place elsewhere that night. Heh.
I imagine you’ll get tons of questions about Star Trek XI while on CruiseTrek, but I haven’t seen any mention of your thoughts on the project here yet. I’d be curious to hear your take on it – Rick Berman will have nothing to do with the project, and J.J. Abrams (exec producer of ‘Lost’ and ‘Alias’) will direct and possibly write it. Sounds like a recipe for success to me…
Wil, you might want to tell the kids in Tel Aviv what the critical mass number would be for them. They’re up to 35 after just a few days, but something tells me it would take more than a spare couch and a round of Guinness. 😉
Two things: We all have Friday the 23rd off here in Montreal, thanks to St. Jean Baptiste Day. So a day-time event on Friday is not as bad as it seems.
Also, I’m unaware of any suitable independant bookstores (i.e. that would have space and are metro accessible), so finding a space might be difficult. So sharing a space with the Serenity screening becomes a lot more attractive.
Conclusion: Have the ads say “Serenity screening at x time, Wil Wheaton reading at y time”, so that people who only want one or the other can show up late/leave early. Have an independant bookstore help sponsor the event (and be there with copies of your books). You’ll be an extra draw for the screening/charity portion, it’ll be an extra draw for you, crossover geeks can stay in one place, everybody WINS!
Please?
If you swing by NYC after Boston I can promise you a great time with our Browncoat group 🙂
I am not going to let the NYC thing die, in case you were wondering.
Hiya Wil,
I’m glad you’re coming to Montreal, it will be nice to see you.
I would like to suggest Paragraph Books, on McGill College (avenue) and Sherbrooke. It’s a very well known spot and very central, so it might be a good place. (http://www.paragraphbooks.com/)
It used to be owned by my friend Jon Penny. I believe he still owns it, but I’m not 100% certain. I can do a little research if you’d like, and maybe get you his number so you can contact him directly, if this seems like an interesting option.
And don’t worry about the french- we’ll make sure you’re armed with all the right touristy phraseology before we let you loose on our town!
(Example, please note, when frequenting local eateries:
“Je veux une poutine” = I want a French-Canadian delicacy called ‘poutine’ which consists of french fries and curd cheese drenched in gravy and served in a styrofoam container with a plastic fork.
“Je veux un poutin” = I want a hooker
… I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it juuuuuuuuust fine!)
If you need any more info on Jon and Paragraph you can email me at: caitlynbowser at yahoo dot ca.
All the best,
-C-
Terheyt, that’s a good idea. June 23rd is a day off for most people. Another idea which I sent in an email(dunno if he read it), that if he wants to do the signing the day of 22nd, there is a University bookstore 1 minute walk away from the actual theatre(in the library building at Concordia). If he wants to do that.
Paragraph is a good bookstore, I have seen people give readings there.
Either way for us Browncoats in Montreal, it will be great if you can do both the book signing and the charity screening.
Oh and the language problem, I get by, and my french is basic basic, albeit it is a bit of a mark of shame :P. If you at least make an attempt at french(like Bonjour, comment ca va…), people are courteous and respectful. And poutine, a delicacy? Its a heart attack waiting to happen.
Wil Weaton in Montreal
Wil Weaton first appeared on our geekdar as a certain StarTrek-TNG ensign but he has since moved on to more fulfilling roles as a blogger, writer, comedian and celebrity poker player. I won’t even mention his contributions to blogging.la, the…
Me again 🙂
Putting together a pre-Wheaton gathering for Wil’s trip to Boston/Cambridge. We will gather and toast brew to our favorite actor, blogger, and geek!! 🙂
If you would like to be in on the mailing list, drop me a line at aubreeann”at”mac.com. Please put ‘Wil’ in the subject.
Hey Wil, I noticed the Toronto demand has been growing as well, trailing Montreal by a bit.
If the gig before CruiseTrek doesn’t pan out, maybe something can happen in July. I know Toronto Trek would love to have another Star Trek guest (Garret Wang is already scheduled to show). You could do Toronto, and then hop over to Montreal after.
Just a thought 🙂
I thought of Paragraph books too. First place I thought of. The only thing is, it’s not independant anymore. It’s owned by Archambault. Which is like the Francophone version of Chapters, but with more music.
It says so on the home page of the website. So to me, that’s not independant.
Mark another one for the Paragraphe bookstore as a good potential place. Large enough to accommodate people, yet not so big-box as Chapters (our equivalent to Barnes And Nobles). Hopefully, it’s still possible to schedule something. I sure would be attending. 😀
It’s really too bad that Nebula is no more — now, that was a great indie sci-fi/fantasy/media geek bookstore…
I’m sure Wil would have loved that place (at least its second location on Ste-Catherine street, near Astro Books, not its last one in the same location as Le Mélange magique)…
As a small note from Montreal. There are few independant bookstores left. The large conglomerates have hurt the independants badly and few have survived. Paragraphe is now a subsidiary of Chapters/Indigo. The only one’s left are Astro (which mainly deals in comics) and Le Melange Magique. For the fans of Nebula. It would have died 3 years prior to its death had the owner of Melange not been such a fan and bought it to try to save it. The clientel diminished over the years to the big stores and so Melange tried again to keep this struggling store alive by moving it into its own space to lower overhead costs. But there just was not enoguh to keep it alive. We all cried when we closed it.
Melange Magique (Magical Blend) is the only English independant bookstore in the main downtown area at the moment (besides Astro) and the only one I think that is in a financial position to cover costs required to bring Wil to Montreal. The bonus, it is run by Montreal Browncoats! We are ready and waiting for him to accept our offer to be in Montreal June 22nd. We will also ensure he can go to the Serenity Charity.
That would be absolutely amazing!!
I wasn’t sure if Magical Blend would be the right atmosphere for this thing, but hey! Two of my favorite subjects in the same spot 😉
Now I’m excited! 😀