The Big Tease
Coming soon…. …
Social Marketing
Bot and Sold
I suppose I should feel flattered. Scores of Twitter bots, those automated, pre-programmed fake accounts, started following me last week. I didn’t even realize it was part of a trend until London’s Medical Officer of Health tweeted about it. Then CTV London did a story about it, explaining that ‘prominent’ Londoners were being targeted by these sinister little twits. …
Filling the Hole in the Soul
What in the world happened in Toronto yesterday? Ten people are dead after a man ran a van along a sidewalk I walked a million times as a Torontonian. We can dismiss people as evil but that’s too easy. The hard stuff is trying to understand why they did what they’ve done. …
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Sibling Supremacy
My brother and I argue about the most inconsequential things. Last week, we spent more time than I care to admit in opposition over what a piece of melted cheese looked like. …
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Parting Advice
After a life marked by illness – chronic and acute – and several conditions that resulted in frequent hospital trips and stays, our friend’s adult son chose to end his life. He had suffered heart attacks and mini-strokes for a month straight. He stopped dialysis treatments and finished his life on his terms. Bill said his goodbyes. He donated his eyes so others could see. He asked that people celebrate his life as opposed to mourning his death. …
Book Review: Collusion
Don’t mistake this book for being like all of the others about the Trump administration. Collusion was written by a journalist with rock-solid credentials including more than a decade embedded in Russia. Luke Harding has sources who go on the record and are legitimized in several other ways. He shares specifics about the US President’s deep financial ties to Moscow, Putin and Deutsche Bank – a bank with a history of fraud and deception.  …
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Thankful Thursday – A Life of Bounty
One of the great privileges of my career has been to meet so many people and hear their stories. It’s fun to meet the rich and famous, sure, but it’s the ordinary folks fighting various battles who have made the most impact on me. As Amanda Marshall sings, “Everybody’s got a story that could break your heart”. …
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Hear My Voice
After more than a year away, I signed up once again to Voices.com. (I wrote about it HERE.) I was annoyed with them. My booking rates had fallen and they had doubled their escrow rates without notice. It went from 10% to 20% overnight. That’s the amount they charge a client based on the rate paid to the talent. The amount comes out of the total budget, ostensibly reducing how much the talent, like me, can charge for the job. …
For Better or For Purse
What a difference a name makes. When fake leather was known as pleather it was considered cheap, as in, spend a few more bucks and buy real leather. Now that it’s got a better name – vegan leather – it’s the cool and cruelty-free thing to own. …
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Clean Getaway
Derek and I have been looking around to invest in a vacation retreat. Something modest to match our budget. A little place near water we can spruce up and customize. Our summer home when we’re ready to become snowbirds. We’re looking everywhere – from other provinces to other countries. Nothing is off the table. If you’ve explored the cottage areas of Ontario and you don’t have a million dollars to spend, you know how difficult it is to find something affordable close to home. …
March Saneness
So many young people. Millions around the world and even some in my own city, joining in Saturday’s March For Our Lives. Also, Parkland school shooting survivors and others, enduring taunts and ridicule from adult gun advocates. But gathering support from thousands of others. …
Leftover Rant
I was “let go” from a magazine before I even got started! The Managing Editor hired me to write a column titled Brandt’s Rant and then she left for another job. The new M.E. didn’t see me as a fit for the mag unless I wanted to write about something I have no interest in. And so it goes. …
Thankful Thursday – Radio Days
Radio has given me a voice. It’s been loyal to me even when I wasn’t loyal to it. It’s forgiven me when I was a jerk (and there were times when I was a jerk!) and afforded me opportunities I wouldn’t have found anywhere else. Radio introduced me to some of the most wonderful people in the world, and some of the most famous. They’re not always the same thing. It legitimized me to strangers and gave me confidence until I built some of my own. …
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The Fish Sex Movie and Others
The Oscar-winners for Best Picture and Best Director often leave me baffled. Except for Titanic more than twenty years ago, the winner is rarely the most popular film. The Shape of Water certainly fits that mould. It’s a surreal cold-war tale about a monster from the sea and people on land who can’t seem to connect with others. …
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Keep Talking
I’m concerned that the new era of openness about harassment, bullying and toxicity is going to have an unintended consequence: driving the sexes even further apart. …
Ducks Aplenty
The humble duck plays a major role in my home life. It’s all because of this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We insert a duck into every conversation that we can. …
Thankful Thursday – Meals on Wheels
Some of the simpler things in life aren’t so simple for many people. Having enough to eat. Being able to look after themselves. People struggle with these things every day. Last week I was asked to help deliver lunches with Meals on Wheels and saw first-hand how important their work is. I’m thankful for the experience. …
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Birthing Another Book
I’ve signed the contract with Hibbert & Stiles . The manuscript has been edited. My fifth book is in production to come out as both a book-book and an eBook. Be Our Guest (working title) will be spineless, not in tone but it physical nature. It’s a quick read meant for publicists, talent managers and anyone at all who has an interest in radio and in getting a guest spot on the air. …
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