Oprah in Australia

[Waldo]

If someone says, I'm going to...!" and puts their hand out saying, "You pick up the tab", of course I object.

Be it the Queen or whoever, to me they are just a person like you or me, and I don't think they deserve anything more than you or I get.

[Grumpy John]

Grumpy, you can easily measure ROI in a gallery to the exhibitions they hold and compare footfall on previous exhibitions.

Pompei, The Titanic, Entombed Warriors etc. Did you go to any? If so, why and why not at another time when they had the usual stuff on display, for example coming up in April 2011 is 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs', a returning exhibition I saw in Brisbane in '88, of which I will be going to.

Excellent point Waldo, yes I went to the Pompei exhibition because I SAW IT ADVERTISED, I was also extremely disappointed. Not going to the 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs', going here instead, to see the real thing , also because I saw it advertised.

[silentC]

I wasn't comparing people/art

Tongue in cheek, Grumpy

However, if Nelson Mandela did come here, he would deserve to be treated as a head of state, since he actually was one.

My objection though, and it is a minor one, is based purely on the principal of this type of spending, not on the amount or the personality.

[Waldo]

Excellent point Waldo, yes I went to the Pompei exhibition because I SAW IT ADVERTISED, I was also extremely disappointed.

I was too, that paying public were treated like cattle and were raced through the exhibition. An exhibition I saw many years ago in Brisbane about Dali - I spent 2 hours looking at one painting.

[silentC]

Excellent point Waldo, yes I went to the Pompei exhibition because I SAW IT ADVERTISED

I was going to say that, yes without advertising you would not have known the exhibition was on, and that hopefully we don't rely on advertising to make people aware Australia exists... but then I remembered we are talking about Oprah Winfrey's audience, so yes I take your point

[Lignum]

That's gotta be a violation of "The Code" .

But i have photo shopped a tool belt and Domino onto her so i figure its ok

[Grumpy John]

....... but then I remembered we are talking about Oprah Winfrey's audience, so yes I take your point

Apparently these are big sellers in Europe , my son brought one back for me.

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[artme]

So far everything seems to have been positive with Oprah's visit. She has a good impression and her guests seem to be enjoying themselves.

Whatever your personal thoughts about the lady this is probably going to be better for the tourism industry than anything that has happened in the country so far - save perhaps the Olympics.

[Lignum]

I wonder if Eddy will get a photo of her in a filthy Magpie jumper

[jimbur]

Age Green guide had an article on her.
Cheers,
Jim

[silentC]

Whatever your personal thoughts about the lady this is probably going to be better for the tourism industry than anything that has happened in the country so far - save perhaps the Olympics.

I'm so glad you mentioned the olympics. As a matter of fact, the Auditor General found in 2003 that the net cost to the public purse of the games was somewhere between $1.7 and 2.4 billion. That's after extra income tax revenue etc was taken into account. Far from making us money, it cost us billions. We're left with infrastructure that nobody uses and that costs millions to maintain, and the tourist bubble that was supposed to follow never happened. In fact growth of tourism into NSW was less than for the country as a whole in the years that followed. So as a financial growth strategy, it was a marked failure. That's not to say we shouldn't have done it, but let's not muddy the waters by claiming it boosted the economy, because it clearly did not.

[Lignum]

Oprah Watch - She is now at Healesville Sanctuary. I suppose as I type this, some lucky Koala will be getting a nice ol feel

And I couldn’t believe when I heard that women with sleeping bags and thermoses are already camping at Fed Square in Melbourne.

[Bob38S]

Oprah Watch - She is now at Healesville Sanctuary. I suppose as I type this, some lucky Koala will be getting a nice ol feel

...

Am I seeing the dangling of the prawn in the pond - just to see who will rise to it?

[Woodwould]

Am I seeing the dangling of the prawn in the pond - just to see who will rise to it?

It's all just a ploy to spam his new web site.

[silentC]

I feel so used