Chingy did some great things for the Holiday(e) Inn brand in the 90s, but that’s not something they could rely on in the 21st century, so you know what they did? They spent $20,000,000 turning an old Days Inn, into on of the nicest hotels in Toronto. Rates in the low $100′s for a room, $200′s for a suite is a steal.
I’ve stayed in several very nice hotels in Toronto (don’t ask why), and dollar for dollar, this one will be the best deal for the buck. Jeez, what a glowing review I’m giving… I’ll admit it… you put large scallops and fresh oysters in front of me, I’m going to be a little more affectionate than normal. But the reality is, it’s an incredibly nice hotel!
My camera was a little drunk… I need to get a better one.
Considering this was the official grand opening, we were treated to food and drink!
Tortilla Chips, Homemade “Miss Vickies” style chips, Cheddar, Mozzerella, Sage, Red Wine Cheeses, Paté, Various Dips and more!
Chicken Wings, Prime Rib (I believe) Puff Pastries, Steamed Mussels, two kinds of New Brunswick fresh Oysters and big scallops which were incredible! So smooth and buttery. My compliments to the chef on everything!
I got to spend the evening with some great people including @ValTorontoGal, @NearAfar (Who shortly after this picture watched me in horror as I spilled a drink on myself haha.) Also met @ReggieRamone, @BossLadyWendy, @LaneAndrew and @shotbyphil. Additionally met many of the @WSCanada team.
Oh and of course, our “buddy” Rob Ford who we got to share a hotel Suite room with. I’ve totally made it! Bahaha.
The art at the Holiday Inn Toronto is also pretty special. *Wink wink*
Thank you very much to the Holiday Inn Toronto for the fantastic time at your beautiful hotel! Anyone reading this looking to stay at a hotel in Toronto, I highly recommend this hotel! The rooms were fantastic and as I said earlier, the rates blew me away. I assumed they would be much higher! 513 rooms, 23 floors. If the food was any indication, an AMAZING restaurant, pool, and located right downtown! Check it out!
The Holiday Inn Toronto is located at;
30 Carlton Street
Toronto, ON
M5B 2E9
416.977.6655
Over 300 votes in yesterday’s four matchups! A great turnout for the first day, one that exceeded my expectations (had hoped for 100 votes). I’ve also decided that it makes sense to leave the polls open for three days before closing them. That way anyone who might have missed it and wanted to get their vote in can, though I do expect the amount of votes drop off as a new set of options open up!
Today, in Canada’s Sexiest Political Candidate Presented by (Interested in Sponsoring?) we bring some serious heavy hitters, including a white fox(not exactly silver anymore) separatist party leader and an early favourite to win it all!
So let’s get into today’s hot and sexy candidates!
| Marie-France Charbonneau | Ruby Dhalla |
|---|---|
|
Bloc - Marc-Aurele-Fortin, QC
|
Liberal - Brampton-Springdale, ON
|
| Riccardo De Ioris | Kevan Falsafi |
|---|---|
|
Conservative - Saint-Leonard Saint-Michel, QC http://www.facebook.com/RDeioris
|
Liberal - Longueuil-Pierre-Boucher, QC http://www.liberal.ca/fr/candidates/kevan-falsafi/
|
| Connie Laurin-Bowie | Farah Kalbouneh |
|---|---|
|
Liberal - Halton, ON
|
NDP - Mississauga South, ON
|
| Gilles Duceppe | Matthew Chisholm |
|---|---|
|
Bloc - Laurier-Sainte-Marie, QC
|
Green - Central Nova, NS http://greenparty.ca/campaign/12002
|
Over 300 votes in yesterday’s four matchups! A great turnout for the first day, one that exceeded my expectations (had hoped for 100 votes). I’ve also decided that it makes sense to leave the polls open for three days before closing them. That way anyone who might have missed it and wanted to get their vote in can, though I do expect the amount of votes drop off as a new set of options open up!
Today, in Canada’s Sexiest Political Candidate Presented by (Interested in Sponsoring?) we bring some serious heavy hitters, including a white fox(not exactly silver anymore) separatist party leader and an early favourite to win it all!
So let’s get into today’s hot and sexy candidates!
| Marie-France Charbonneau | Ruby Dhalla |
|---|---|
|
Bloc - Marc-Aurele-Fortin, QC
|
Liberal - Brampton-Springdale, ON
|
| Riccardo De Ioris | Kevan Falsafi |
|---|---|
|
Conservative - Saint-Leonard Saint-Michel, QC http://www.facebook.com/RDeioris
|
Liberal - Longueuil-Pierre-Boucher, QC http://www.liberal.ca/fr/candidates/kevan-falsafi/
|
| Connie Laurin-Bowie | Farah Kalbouneh |
|---|---|
|
Liberal - Halton, ON
|
NDP - Mississauga South, ON
|
| Gilles Duceppe | Matthew Chisholm |
|---|---|
|
Bloc - Laurier-Sainte-Marie, QC
|
Green - Central Nova, NS http://greenparty.ca/campaign/12002
|
Today we begin a grand journey into Canadian politics. Over the next 14 days, we will be looking at different candidates across the country from all the major political parties including the Bloc Quebecois, The Green Party, The Liberals, The Conservatives and the NDP.
I’m breaking that mold of boring election coverage! I want to literally LOOK at the candidates.
Today, we begin the search for “Canada’s Sexiest Political Candidate Presented by (Sponsor Unconfirmed)!”
The format is simple… March Madness Bracket! I’ve selected 32 men and 32 women that will go head to head in a open vote against each other. Only one can move on to the next round. By April 20th, we’ll crown the Sexiest Male and Female candidate running in the 2011 election!
So let’s get started with today’s pairings…
| Widler Jules | Nolan Leblanc-Bauerle |
|---|---|
|
NDP - Madawaska-Restigouche, NB
|
Conservative - Brome-Missiquoi, QC
|
| Kassandra Bidarin | Christa Baxter |
|---|---|
|
NDP - Newmarket-Aurora, ON http://kassandrabidarian.ndp.ca/
|
Green - Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, AB http://greenparty.ca/campaign/48011
|
| Graham Murray | Nicolas Dufour |
|---|---|
|
Green - Medicine Hat, AB http://greenparty.ca/campaign/48021
|
Bloc - Repentigny, QC
|
| Rebecca Helps | Josée Verner |
|---|---|
|
Green - New Westminster-Coquitlam, BC http://greenparty.ca/campaign/59017
|
Conservative - Louis-Saint-Lauren, QC
|
Today we begin a grand journey into Canadian politics. Over the next 14 days, we will be looking at different candidates across the country from all the major political parties including the Bloc Quebecois, The Green Party, The Liberals, The Conservatives and the NDP.
I’m breaking that mold of boring election coverage! I want to literally LOOK at the candidates.
Today, we begin the search for “Canada’s Sexiest Political Candidate Presented by (Sponsor Unconfirmed)!”
The format is simple… March Madness Bracket! I’ve selected 32 men and 32 women that will go head to head in a open vote against each other. Only one can move on to the next round. By April 20th, we’ll crown the Sexiest Male and Female candidate running in the 2011 election!
So let’s get started with today’s pairings…
| Widler Jules | Nolan Leblanc-Bauerle |
|---|---|
|
NDP - Madawaska-Restigouche, NB
|
Conservative - Brome-Missiquoi, QC
|
| Kassandra Bidarin | Christa Baxter |
|---|---|
|
NDP - Newmarket-Aurora, ON http://kassandrabidarian.ndp.ca/
|
Green - Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, AB http://greenparty.ca/campaign/48011
|
| Graham Murray | Nicolas Dufour |
|---|---|
|
Green - Medicine Hat, AB http://greenparty.ca/campaign/48021
|
Bloc - Repentigny, QC
|
| Rebecca Helps | Josée Verner |
|---|---|
|
Green - New Westminster-Coquitlam, BC http://greenparty.ca/campaign/59017
|
Conservative - Louis-Saint-Lauren, QC
|
Epic Rap Battles of History
Apr 05
I just learned about these today… Epic Rap Battles of History featuring some History’s big names. The rap battles that have occurred so far include;
John Lennon vs. Bill O’Reilly.
Dark Vader vs. Hitler
Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris
Sarah Palin vs. Lady Gaga
Hulk Hogan vs. Kim Jong Il
Justin Bieber vs. Beethoven
Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking
I’ve linked them all for your viewing/listening pleasure because honestly, best thing I’ve seen on youtube since my big Dorito hit! Haha.
I’m happy to report that my entry HAS been selected as a finalist in the Doritos Write The End contest! What this means is it is now official that I have made it to the finals. Doritos have released the top 14 (7 from each flavour) finalists today on their site! http://writetheend.ca/en/finalists
When all was said and done, and the dust had settled I had the MOST votes overall! Rather than the 1st place on my side, 1st place in total was the result! *Happy dance.* (Actually did one, it was pretty good too.)
In order to qualify, I had to answer some questions to verify I was eligible and then the dreaded “Skill Testing Question.” If you’ve never won a contest before, they basically provide you with a basic math question and give you two minutes to complete it.
Now, I’m not an idiot but when you know everything is on the line based on a silly math question, you tense up a bit. So as I sat there on the phone… 10 multiplied by 2, dividing by 5 then adding 16 and subtracting 2… I completed the question (18) and then in an instant was insecure about the answer. So I did it again. Again I got 18. But still wasn’t 100% sure. Imagine I got this wrong?! One last time… (I’m sure the lady on the phone thought I was a moron haha) 18.
“18?” I tell her.
She pauses “Can you repeat that?” OH NO! Panic alarm is going off, did I get it wrong?!
“Umm.. 18?” I say a little more cautiously.
Again she pauses, this time for longer, had to be about 6 seconds!
“That’s correct! Congratulation!”
Sigh of relief.
The next thing on the list after the finalists are chosen is a ‘pitch’ call where I’ll need to provide the director of the commercial and others on the judging panel with a verbal, more detailed version of how I envision the commercial playing out.
Well, this is another thing I did today!
This afternoon I made my pitch call with the Doritos team, including the commercial’s director, Nick. I prepped for the call as best as I could by writing out how I imagined the commercial to play out. I’m glad I did too because most of the questions they had asked I had thought through and had a good idea of how I wanted it to look. I did my best to describe something like shown below, but how do you describe something that is the absence of light? Haha.
Now we wait till May 5th. From what I understand it’s going be on Live TV on Much Music. “Bababooey”? Only if I lose haha. The reality is my chances of winning are still only 7%, so feel free to keep sending me your good vibes! I’ll need them.
That being said… let’s plan for the best by choosing the final two charities that $1500 each, of the prize money will be donated to! I’ve taken the top 10 suggestions and will leave the poll open till May 4th. The voting can be done in the sidebar above!
We managed to end the Doritos Write The End contest holding on to FIRST spot. Hopefully, I am in fact selected as a finalist. But regardless, this has been a HUGE success for the social media community. Through my networks on Twitter, Facebook, a foray into Youtube, my blog and of course a LOT of hard work we did some pretty incredible things.
To illustrate just what we accompished exactly I created my first real infographic! Also got a nice little offer included too!
CLICK the image a larger view (PDF)
PS. In the comments please include any charities you’d like to see our TWO donations of $1500 (if we win) to go to!
It’s 1:54AM EST a wild thing just unfolded on Twitter. The intern in charge of the Marc Jacobs Twitter account – @marcjacobsintl, on his last day has unleashed a barrage of tweets at his/her boss Robert Duffy.
The intern, tweeted the following;
1:23AM - "You guys and gals have no idea how difficult Robert is. I am only an intern. My last day is tomorrow. I wouldn't be tweeting this if not!"
1:25AM - "Good luck! I pray for you all. If you get the job! I'm out of here. See ya! Don't want to be ya! Roberts a tyrant! Seriously! He is tough!"
1:28AM - "I can call him out! I'm out! Won't work in this town again! I know that! Learned a lot. But, I don't have the energy for what is expected!"
1:36AM - "Yea, walk in my MJshoes! Don't judge me! I'm alone in this office having to try and entertain you all. This isn't easy. I have tried. Done!"
Obviously this is a PR issue for Marc Jacobs. But it begs some bigger questions… who should you trust with your social media accounts? Should major companies hand their brands entire reputation and voice over to interns? To an external company or person? Or should it be handled internally by someone established and permanent?
Well, the intern route is dangerous. Interns are more often than not over worked and underpaid. Some not paid at all. Yes, they are getting work experience and so they want a good reference, but has anyone tried living on a salary of nothing? Add in school, a part time job to make some cash, maybe a 2nd part time job and you’re looking at a situation that can lead to volatility! Youth also plays a role.
Next, the external company or person. Obviously this affects me because I do freelance social media work. However, I do not always handle accounts directly. Being human, (while I’ve been fortunate that they haven’t to me) mistakes do occur. On several instances I’ve tweeted from one of my personal accounts, when I mean to tweet from the other. It’s not a big deal when it happens to me personally, but if I’m managing a clients account – that can have serious repercussions. This is why I prefer to mainly do strategy, education and ongoing support and guidance.
We need only look at Chrysler’s recent ‘blip’…
Fired.
So what’s that leave? Well, it leaves it to someone internally who’s been with the company for a fair amount of time and is unlikely to depart anytime soon. This is the safest alternative for a company and protects against these kind of situations. Sure some employee may one day go rogue and do something like this, but the likelihood drops with a veteran with the company.
Now, this is the safe play… I know everyone can name an intern or two that did a fantastic job or how their marketing company did a fantastic job. I’m not denying interns and external companies can do it, and do it well. I can say I’ve done it well in the past. This is merely a safe recommendation. Put your social media in the hands of someone you trust with your secrets. Get guidance from companies or people that specialize in it. And rock the social media world!
(Oh, and if you are an intern… don’t go rogue. It may mean you never work for anything more than minimum wage. Ever.)
I’ll just let the video do the talking… but it’s all to win the Dorito Write the End contest!
PLEASE VOTE! – http://bit.ly/VoteZach
I didn’t make the video for my health lol… I need votes… please vote! – http://bit.ly/VoteZach
I received an email today from a friend of mine who’s been helping me with my Doritos contest bid. In this email she made a heartfelt request, that if I was willing, to tweet once or twice about a situation she’s directly involved in involving a young family in Japan and their 2 1/2 year old son Maleek. As soon as I read it, I told her instantly I’d help!
I don’t think she would mind if I shared with you the email;
I have a Canadian friend (Mairead) in Japan who has been trying to get out all week. One of her 2 boys has a serious medical condition which complicates things. They left their home in Mito with nothing but the clothes on their backs and some stuff for the boys, Mito is pretty close to the nuclear reactor that’s in serious trouble, about 100 km. Several of her friends have been trying to pressure the government to get them out. We’re almost there, she finally got flights confirmed for Sunday. But they need money desperately, and they have to pay back the government for their flights and other expenses. We set up a Facebook page with all the details including a link on how to donate. That’s all I’m
asking for, just your tweets ;-)
Since she sent this, the government has advanced their flight out of the country to tomorrow! But, their passport will be seized until they can pay back the loan. So one battle won (getting out) but another starts as a result.
Imagine for a second you have to evacuate and leave everything you know behind. You travel to a new country with your family with nothing but what’s on your back… what now? No job, no home, no belongings (clothes, toiletries etc) and you’re left with a major government debt for the evac.
It’s a terrifying situation to place yourself in…
This is why I felt compelled to blog about it. I want to help them out in any way I can, and maybe exposure will help. So to my readers, if you’re able to help in any way… like their Facebook page, read their about how you can help, donate if you can. Something so simple as a Facebook Like can create a wave of support to a point that a corporation, looking to do some social good, will see it as a good cause and help out!
Thank you!
This morning I realized I was in a relationship when one small insignificant thing caused me to get really upset. But this wasn’t a girlfriend causing me grief and it’s not going to be a long relationship either… in fact it might end on the 27th of March. I’m in a relationship with a contest. The Doritos Write the End contest that I’ve been pushing endlessly to friends, family, peers, enemies and to anyone who steps foot into the two Starbucks in my neighbourhood.
I’m cursed with a blessing of demanding the best of myself and in anything I do. So with this, I want to win. I don’t think anything short of making the final cut will I be satisfied with.
So I decided to make a youtube video that might grab some attention. I spent some dough on the supplies and filmed it all. I edited it and had it nearly complete…. then my computer crashed. Started over… finished. Saved it and shut down my computer (it was 5AM!) This morning I go to turn it on to post it to Youtube… no dice. My computer won’t even power up.
Chaos, rage, frustration!
I take my computer apart in hopes I can fix it. No dice. I decide I need to replace the power source (with help of people on Twitter). So after disconnecting about 14 connections I’m able to pull out the Power Source… then I realize… I’ll never be able to put this together again. While I’m great with the interwebz and how a computer functions (if I get a virus)… but I’m not anywhere near great with the construction of a computer.
After I calmed down and took a deep breath, I decided it’s not the end of the world. I’m still in 11th place in the contest (though… I did some research on the 10 above me, I know two people are cheating and suspect 1 other.) So I guess I have to leave a portion of this contest to luck/fate/good vibes.
That being said… I still have 9 days! So if you’re reading this the first time, vote for me in the Doritos contest here in Canada!
I'm sorry... I lost the patient.
One thing we should all be happy about… I’m not a doctor. If I was, chances are all my patients would die and their hearts be on the floor if my treatment of my computer is any indication!
Happy Friday!
PS. Here’s a teaser for the video…
