By Ashley Carter

Hey you with the hat and the self-screened t-shirt, whatchoo up to, say, this Sunday? Wouldn’t happen to be Broken Pencil‘s Canzine would it?
Canada’s Largest Zine Fair and Festival of Alternative Culture is hitting the Gladstone again this weekend, this time with the always dangerous theme of “comedy.” Seriously, with that pie in the face graphic and events called Funniest Readings Ever (featuring Torontoist’s own Stacey May Fowles), we had better laugh, Broken Pencil.
Canzine regulars can expect the usual coolguy stuff like All Day Underground Video Screenings, where folks are encouraged to drop off their own films (10 minutes and under, VHS/DVD only) to be screened for the adoring masses, and workshops like Start Your Own Cooperative Zine and Book Distribution Outlet, which we can only hope will make us rich and famous.
And speaking of rich and famous, an interesting new feature at this year’s hootenanny is something called the One-Two Punch Book Pitch wherein you get two minutes to pitch that book your friends keep saying you could totally get published to a group of qualified judges (including ECW editor Michael Holmes, Literary Agent Samantha Haywood and Broken Pencil cofounder/writerly dude Hal Niedzviecki). And they get one minute each to tell you why you have no chance in hell of ever getting a book deal. Hey, according to the Facebook event, there are still a few participant spots left for this one. So if you feel like having your hopes and dreams swept out from under you, sign up! Best pitch gets a BP prize pack worth $150. Hooty Hoo.
Sunday! 1 p.m.! Gladstone Hotel! Five bucks at the door gets you access to all of these monumentally exciting—and potentially funny—things as well as the current issue of BP and access to 150 zines from all over Canada for your perusal/purchase/tradesies.
Photo courtesy of Broken Pencil.