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hardly worth it but..
Posted on 09/03/2007 6:16:15 PM PDT by Shermy
A trio of University of Victoria students has pulled off a minor public relations coup, convincing climate change crusader Al Gore to speak over the Empress Hotel's famous high tea in late September.
"It's going to be a 'green tea' of sorts," chuckled Justin Yorke, 20, who still can't believe their good fortune in securing the former U.S. vice-president for the Sept. 29 event at Victoria's conference centre. He and two pals, Jeff Jacobson and Stefan Krepiakevich, all of them fourth-year students minoring in commerce, worked for months on the deal.
Six hundred guests will pay $200 apiece for the chance to listen to Gore, participate in a question and answer session and enjoy tea and watercress sandwiches.
The former U.S. vice-president turned environmental prophet is one of the hottest prospects on the professional speaking circuit, especially since winning an Oscar earlier this year for his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," with its hard-hitting message about climate change.
"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," states the introduction to the home website of the movie. "If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin."
Jacobson, using some Google prowess, had managed to track down the Harry Walker Agency that acts as Gore's agent and sent out a feeler about a possible Victoria stop just before the Academy Awards.
Worried that their status as mere students may prove a hindrance, the three created a company called DSJ Communications to front their pitch.
The three all but gave up hope to bring him to Vancouver Island after Gore's Oscar win and a nomination for the Nobel Peace prize.
"We had accepted the truth, inconvenient as it may have been, that he was not coming," said Jacobson.
Then, in late July, the agent left a message saying Gore would do it. Yorke has saved the voicemail on his laptop.
While they were given the option of having Gore present his popular "Inconvenient Truth" slideshow, they decided they wanted something different for Victoria, a city they say is striving to become more sustainable in its outlook and policies.
"It's a pretty green city," said Jacobson, adding that appears to have tweaked Gore's interest.
"It just shows he really does care about the grassroots side of things and does care when there are places in the world that are trying to do things in a sustainable fashion."
Instead of the slide show they opted for a conversational talk on what they call "casual solutions."
"Something (where) he can really just let loose and talk about what he really thinks about...how citizens and local businesses can help in the fight against climate change," said Krepiakevich, adding that they anticipate it will be far more interesting than the slideshow because many people will have already seen the documentary.
"It's Al Gore. Speaking his mind in Victoria!"
The trio's vision didn't end with filling the convention centre with hundreds of guests forking over their money for crumpets and conversation.
Below the convention floor is a 400-seat lecture theatre that will be crammed full of students watching a live, closed-circuit feed from upstairs.
"We're not going to ask students to pay the same rate. It's going to be a cheap ticket," said Jacobson, who quickly added a bit of an apology.
"I'm sorry to all my fellow students, no high tea," he explained. "Only the guests in the big room get tea. At the kids' table, no tea."
All three are still a little stunned at the interest the event is generating and said the buzz is unbelievable.
"It's blowing us away," Jacobson said, explaining that many were initially very skeptical over the expense and that Gore had really been persuaded to speak.
But the three are convinced they're offering something very different than what others will get when Gore speaks in Vancouver the same evening at a $500-a-plate presentation where he'll be introduced by Premier Gordon Campbell.
"We think we're offering something really unique and authentically Victoria."
I hope they crack the window, wouldn’t want them to be overcome by the brownhouse gases.
Tell me when they have Doug Flutie in. I prefer Earl Grey.
Check out how the student peons will have to pay to watch a TV.
We should pay them to keep him.
Forever
Will Al fly up there on his private jet?
GorePing
“who still can’t believe their good fortune in securing the former U.S. vice-president”
They can belive their “good fortune” because they are paying it.
A fool and his money..., A fool and another person's money..., A fool and his maniacal ravings...Does it make any difference?
If Al would only accept a high colonic. Maybe that bug would git dislodged.
Hemlock tea? I hear it’s effective in reducing human carbon footprint.
How about environmental meadow-muffin head...
Gore’s high all right..........
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
Oh yes, and costumed freaks and assorted weirdos protesting all sorts of nonsense (for example, one guy tried to get me to sign a petition to end ferry services between Victoria and the US to protest the "illegal war in Afghanistan" - I agreed that Canada should stop sending fairies to America...he didn't get it). IMO, not as bad as San Fransicko overall.
Beautiful city otherwise (and probably > 50% normal, except when Gore visits - at least in terms of mass).
You’re talking about brainwashing him, then?
Are you kidding? No event would be too small for the Rev. Gore to come and preach the Global Warming Gospel. He's got to singlehandedly save the world, don'cha know!
Evidentally the truth hasn’t read theses folks yet.
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/09/03/the-year-the-global-warming-hoax-died/
How about environmental meadow-muffin head...
How about: The former U.S. vice-president turned who's turning a tidy environmental prophet profit...
I guess it’s better than a regular 9 to 5r, getting about a normal guys yearly salary for one regurgitation of lies.
So, how is this kook planning on getting there? By private jet?
The visual is too much. He's gonna break a frickin' Victorian antique side chair within 15 minutes of his fat a** sitting down. There goes the priceless bone china teacup, shattered. There will be watercress sandwiches flying when he reaches for the table to break his fall. I predict his prophetic words will be: "Yeh, and people in hell want snowballs" when asked to pay for the destruction of High Tea.
Guess we need a fire hose then.
If your agent can’t be found get a new agent.
As for this kid’s mad Google Prowess, I’m speechless. This “journalist’ is perhaps still in school.
As for the venue and their luck, Algor will speak anywhere that he’s paid to on the condition that there be nobody in the audience who can or will challenge him on fact or theory.
Sounds like he has a great venue lined up!
(Lucky for us, I guess, we're leaving our vehicle in P.A. and will walk or take public transportation - hopefully the enviros won't accost us.)
High tea is not watercress sandwiches. Mrs. jimfree has more than once corrected this notion. I’m shocked that citizens of a Commonwealth country could get this so wrong. I always thought BC quite a bit British. Oh well.
High tea is also the meat tea. It’s an early supper. High does not refer to the formality.
Okay, okay. Most of the world has now accepted high tea as elegant tea. I just had to get this in for Mrs. jimfree.
Meanwhile, please join me between 5:00 and 6:30 September 29 in eating a bologna sandwich (or your favorite casual meat dish) while quaffing a beer or coffee or tea (or whatever beverage appeals to you at the time.) Let’s give the goracle the support and respect that he deserves.
Oh, please enjoy this repast at a high or main table (thought to be the original “high” in high tea) instead of the smaller lounge table where we all usually enjoy afternoon tea.
When I lived in Canada’s far north, some of us referred to Victoria as a granola city: a bunch of flakes with lots of fruits and nuts.
Now that I live here, I’m a bit more circumspect.
It really was beautiful - to be honest, I regret not having been able to stay longer. :)
What kind of degree does this lying phoney have anyway?
Is he a climatologist? An archaeologist? A paleontologist? A geologist perhaps?
I think he’s just a slip and fall attorney who wandered into politics.
The reporter’s an idiot — he was just making things up.
Like a lot of things in Victoria, the high tea at the Empress is more British than tea in Britain. It’s a proper high tea, with a variety of little sandwiches, pasteries, etc.
The setting is second to none — and you pay a lot for it. It costs about $CDN50 during the season, and $35 in the off-season. You can get similar fare at lesser (but still great) locations for about half that price. It’s all about supply and demand — the hotel is simply charging what the market will bear.
Many people attending the talk will probably tell themselves that they’re “only” actually paying $150.00 to hear Gore, because they’re also getting the Tea. OTOH, you’d have to pay me more than that to attend while he’s there expelling carbon dioxide.
More on Maurice Strong............."Strong is also involved in the U.N. Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Through his work in UNESCO, Strong promotes Gaia, the Earth God, among the world's youth. Strong is also the director of The Temple of Understanding in New York. He uses The Temple to encourage Americans concerned about the environment to replace Christianity with the worship of "mother earth."
Strong also directs the U.N.'s Business Council on Sustainable Development. Under his leadership, the council tries to affect peoples' lives through U.N. policies that attempt to reduce the availability of meat products; limit the use of home and workplace air conditioners; discourage private ownership of motor vehicles; encroach on private property rights; and work to reduce the number of single family homes." 1997 The National Center for Public Policy Research
http://www.nationalcenter.org/DossierStrong.html
Right up Gore's alley.............
“A sucker is born every moment” P.T.Barnum
Something you should do right now, if you can, is go to http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca and buy tickets for the Titanic exhibit at the Royal BC Museum, to make sure you get in.
Something you should avoid, sadly, is Beacon Hill Park, a few blocks away from the museum. It used to be quite lovely (very cute petting zoo there), but now it's the prime junkie/homeless hangout, with discarded needles all over the place. Really sad.
Commerce students should be a heckuva lot smarter than these clowns are.
If he’s giving a talk in Vancouver the same night, I abso freakinglutely guarantee that he’ll be coming over in a helicopter.
It’s nowhere near as bad as that. I live there, and would be happy to play tour guide (and meet some FReepers, but I’m 800 miles NE at my sister’s place.
I am looking forward to possibly FReeping AlGore when he arrives, mind you. It’s all dependent on my work schedule.
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