Monday, August 14, 2006

More on Oprah

I just watched another episode of Oprah on StarWorld TV. Iconic figures and personnels, the rich and famous, the envy of all society across geographical regions view it an honor, a privilege to appear on her show. Here's the influence of Oprah, the inspiration to women (and c'mon, admit it gentlemen, you too) worldwide.

Here's an excerpt from Time.com

"Winfrey stands as a beacon, not only in the worlds of media and entertainment
but also in the larger realm of public discourse. At 44, she has a personal fortune estimated at more than half a billion dollars. She owns her own production company, which creates feature films, prime-time TV specials and home videos. An accomplished actress, she won an Academy Award nomination for her role in The Color Purple, and this fall will star in her own film production of Toni Morrison's Beloved.

But it is through her talk show that her influence has been greatest. When Winfrey talks, her viewers — an estimated 14 million daily in the U.S. and millions more in 132 other countries — listen. Any book she chooses for her on-air book club becomes an instant best seller. When she established the "world's largest piggy bank," people all over the country contributed spare change to raise more than $1 million (matched by Oprah) to send disadvantaged kids to college. When she blurted that hearing about the threat of mad-cow disease "just stopped me cold from eating another burger!", the perceived threat to the beef industry was enough to trigger a multimillion-dollar lawsuit (which she won)."

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