I guess the video below is supposed to excite people about moving to London, Ontario. While I do not doubt that any of the long list of London’s accomplishments are true, some of them come across as damning us with faint praise.
For example, early in the video the line: “where global ambitions are realized at the 12th best business school in the world” actually made me laugh. I thought it was going to be a spoof. Perhaps, “where global ambitions are realized at one of the best business schools in the world” makes the point without the whiff of podunkism I detect.
But seriously, London is great because Johnny Cash proposed to the wife he made miserable here? Hey, didn’t Elvis Presley eat a grilled cheese sandwich at Simpson’s in London, Ontario? (Actually, the video is quite accurate about the good food — we have a lot of great restaurants for a relatively small city.)
Johnny Cash wasn’t even Canadian, let alone a Londoner. What about actual Londoners we should be proud of? Tommy Hunter is a famous country singer (well, in Canada), and he was born in London. What about Guy Lombardo? No mention of Emily Chesley? Outrageous!
Still, at least Asteroid 12310 is named after us. I just think “Welcome to Asteroid 12310, Population 365,000” is going to be confusing on the signs at the edge of town.
Now, the video:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rq9BF1JFPBM[/youtube]
After, perhaps you can go visit humor-blogs.com, where it will be slightly less silly. Or, if you’re from London and you’d like to improve efforts to market our beautiful city (and it is), you can check out the Ambassador London website.