Does anybody watch Oprah ???

[@theCBE]

I don't think I have ever watched an episode and I can't see myself starting to in the future... but I might buy a ticket to watch one of the taping if this is what I could expect

Oprah's Surprise

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Well I am not a huge fan of her show, as I have testicles she does do a lot of good stuff for others and damn she has a huge and I mean huge following.

[La Flames Fan]

Wow....I'm going to a show, I don't care if anyone thinks I'm that way.

[calgaryred]

I haven't watched Oprah since the late eighties. I remember she had a show with skin heads. I'll never forget a skin head stood right beside her and called her a monkey and laughed at her. I was shocked!!! I'll give her credit she has done some pretty incredible shows in her time. I think the format now from commericals is very touchy feely.

[spydermal]

at least the people were deserving of a new car. I would do this to if i was a billionair. Did anybody see the pepsi show where they almost made that guy a billionair but unfortuanatly the guy just walked away a millionair lol

[Calgary Flames]

I can't stand anyone who has their own magazine with their own face on it every month...

[Reaper]

Originally posted by SuperNilson@Sep 13 2004, 12:26 PM
I can't stand anyone who has their own magazine with their own face on it every month...

Ah, that's just pure jealousy. If I was as rich as Oprah, I'd own an NHL team and my face would be the jersey logo. What's the point of being that filthy rich if you can't make people bow down in awe of your riches?

[JohnnyO]

A new G6 I think that car is pretty nice. No more cladding and a nicer interior. Huge Advertising boost for GM to do that on Opera.

I can't stand that women. The wife watches and I end up coming home from work and it is on.

[Bill Bumface]

Professor: "If only he had joined a mainstream religion, like Oprahism or Voodoo."

[Flames89]

That Oprah is good shi .... stuff

[octothorp]

She's such a cultural phenomenon. Personally, I blame her for the fact that reading literature is now seen as a primarily 'female' activity. I admire her for her attempts to encourage people to read and she does a great job of bringing good books to women who otherwise wouldn't read Love in the Time of Cholera, for example, but at the same time disuades guys from reading the same books.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by octothorp@Sep 13 2004, 01:36 PM
the fact that reading literature is now seen as a primarily 'female' activity.

What?

When did that happen?

[octothorp]

Lots of stats in Canada, the US and Britain coming out over the last couple years point to sharp declines in male readership, particularly concerning literature. I don't have any articles at my fingertips, but I can track them down if you're interested. And I've certainly noticed it in my life--almost every girl I know reads avidly, belongs to book clubs, etc. I know only a couple guys who read more than one or two books a year.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by octothorp@Sep 13 2004, 01:36 PM
She's such a cultural phenomenon. Personally, I blame her for the fact that reading literature is now seen as a primarily 'female' activity. I admire her for her attempts to encourage people to read and she does a great job of bringing good books to women who otherwise wouldn't read Love in the Time of Cholera, for example, but at the same time disuades guys from reading the same books.

As cornball as the whole show is, she does pick very good books.

Ever hear of the Jonathan Franzen thing? He said something like "I don't want her sticker on the front of my book" and that caused a minor fracas. Pretty dumb thing to say though -- it's like saying "I don't want your million dollars".

The book was "The Corrections" and it is great, btw.

What dissuades guys from reading books? Is it the sticker on the front? Or do you think it's a whole cultural thing like "Oprah is for chicks, so books must be for chicks too"? If so, then that is pretty stupid.

[octothorp]

Originally posted by RougeUnderoos+Sep 13 2004, 12:50 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (RougeUnderoos @ Sep 13 2004, 12:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-octothorp@Sep 13 2004, 01:36 PM
She's such a cultural phenomenon. Personally, I blame her for the fact that reading literature is now seen as a primarily 'female' activity. I admire her for her attempts to encourage people to read and she does a great job of bringing good books to women who otherwise wouldn't read Love in the Time of Cholera, for example, but at the same time disuades guys from reading the same books.

As cornball as the whole show is, she does pick very good books.

Ever hear of the Jonathan Franzen thing? He said something like "I don't want her sticker on the front of my book" and that caused a minor fracas. Pretty dumb thing to say though -- it's like saying "I don't want your million dollars".

The book was "The Corrections" and it is great, btw.

What dissuades guys from reading books? Is it the sticker on the front? Or do you think it's a whole cultural thing like "Oprah is for chicks, so books must be for chicks too"? If so, then that is pretty stupid. [/b][/quote]
Yeah, I remember the Franzen thing. As you say, it was fairly silly of him--nothing wrong with someone saying, 'I think your book is great and I want to promote it to millions, because I think it prompts interesting discussions."

Here's an article that talks a bit about the issue of men reading literature (talks specifically about a Penguin marketing campaign, but about half-way down it starts talking about the overall male readership issue):

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/ge...1233121,00.html


The idea that Oprah is partly responsible for this is completely my own conclusion, though. It's the entire 'book club culture' that I see going on right now. I know several women who belong to book clubs, and each of those book clubs has an entirely female audience, and they meet at a coffee shop, drink tea, and focus on the relationships within the novels. Two of these three clubs use the Oprah book list. I think what we need are guys book clubs, which involve going to bars, drinking beer, and keeping an eye on the sports-ticker while discussing books like Roy McGregor's great hockey novel, 'Last Season'.

edit: apologies to CBE for hijacking your thread!

[moon]

I wouldn't want Oprah to endorse my book solely because I do not like her and some of the things that I believe that she stands for.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally posted by moon@Sep 13 2004, 08:38 PM
I wouldn't want Oprah to endorse my book solely because I do not like her and some of the things that I believe that she stands for.

Can you elaborate on that one, from my understanding she doesn't support the IRA, Osama Bin Ladin or anything like that. What does she stand for?

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by Mean Mr. Mustard@Sep 13 2004, 02:42 PM

Can you elaborate on that one, from my understanding she doesn't support the IRA, Osama Bin Ladin or anything like that. What does she stand for?

Telling everyone on her show not to eat beef a couple years ago was slightly annoying.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

He He He. I belong to a book Club. It's the Dino's Rugby Book Club.
The way we saw it, whenever you hear about chicks in book clubs, the usual story is that they were all supposed to read the book but none of them had the time to finish so they just sat around and drank wine.

That's what we do, only instead of being to busy to read the books, we just don't pick books, and instead of drinking wine, we drink Lots and Lots of beer.

[@theCBE]

Originally posted by octothorp@Sep 13 2004, 08:28 PM


edit: apologies to CBE for hijacking your thread!

No worries... I'm actually quite enjoying the discussion