In a recent article, Newsweek magazine declared Grand Rapids, Michigan to be one of the Top Ten dying cities in America. The people of Grand Rapids, inspired by one of their native sons, Rob Bliss, had a very different opinion and set out to prove how incredibly wrong Newsweek was. They all got together and created this incredible "LipDub" video (watch full-screen & in HD for full effect) :
The video was posted last Thursday and went viral soon after. The following day Dennis Miller interviewed the fledgling director, Rob Bliss. In one of his funniest quotes ever, Miller said: "Newsweek telling you you're a dying city is like you visiting Moscow and Lenin sits up in his tomb and says you look a little pale!"
For those not aware, last year Newsweek was sold. The price? Just $1.00. I expect it's worth even less now!
For those interested in visiting Grand Rapids, much more information can be found at ExperienceGR.com.
Thanks for posting this. It's lovely and brilliant, etc., etc. FU Newsweek!
Well done Grand Rapids.
looking at "Newsweak's" list I see Pittsburgh has made the top 10, was it just a few months ago I read that it was one of America's most livable cities and noted that it's housing market had only slid a few points from it's artificial high.
I'm curious if Newsweak will revisit it's survey after the coming pension debacle. Perhaps 2 categories would serve it better, California, and then the other 49 states. But I know they don't like to revisit their predictions any more than the Goracle does.
Awesome video. Sadly, much like Detroit, Grand Rapids suffered the wrath of being a socialist basket case with hands outstretched. Couple this with America's manufacturing decline, and you have Grand Rapids: white flight year upon year (for the last decade, anyway) population loss.
Oh, and Newsweek is a worthless commie rag.
Grand Rapids, and the entire State of Michigan is indeed a dying city and state, and no cutesy feel-good video will make it better.
What to blame? Unions, Democrats and of course Canada's contribution to Michigan, Jennifer Granholm.
Marc, I had never seen the "Newsweak" transposition before. Absolutely brilliant! If you don't mind, I'd like to use that in the future. Just need to find a way to combine "Newsweak" and "Lieberal" into one sentence! :-)
don't see many black folks in the video
Brilliant video, well done
I have actually been to Grand Rapids a few times, and I found it a wonderful mid-sized city. Unlike many American cities, you can actually walk around the downtown - first, you feel safe, and second, there are actually interesting shops and restaurants that make the walk worthwhile. It's been ten years, though, and I don't doubt they've been hurt by the recession.
But I seem to recall people writing off Michigan after the recession in the early 90's, and they came back. I expect them to do so again.
In 2010 Grand Rapids was named the "most sustainable midsize city in the U.S." by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.( Source:Wiki, I know, I know ) Given that, it seems odd how Newsweek came to that conclusion. But I forgot. The C of C is Republican so they're idiots. Silly me. The public no longer reads that liberal rag anymore because they found it to be Newsweak, opinion heavy, and often factually faulty.
Grand Rapids holds one of the world's top art festival "ArtPrize" take a look.
http://www.artprize.org/
What a great way to promote your city.
Best wishes, Grand Rapids and all who live there.
Nice to see people fighting against the leftist gloom & doom crowd.
Don't believe it. I've been to GR a number of times and I think it is a great town - the right type of diversity, well tempered, hard working folks and creative, etc.. Sure GR have problems although to label as a dying town does not represent it well IMHO: as a bigger Michigan city, GR is a good town.
Grand Rapids is cool.
They have one heck of a gunshow too.
Great video!
Sarah Palin is the personification of Miss American Pie and the 0 is the other guy. I remember the music that died; it made people feel great, for that reason it was banned in Communist countries. The great music of Buddy Holly, Elvis, The Every Brothers, etc. was the music being played (with courageous defiance!) in Poland when I was there in 1984. That music and that optimism is America - only defeated people play ugly sounds and screams and call it musik.
Steady-on, Grand Rapids!
(By the way, don't believe everything you read
in a dying magazine)
Newsweek is a horrible leftist rag. Even worse than the Star Phoenix.
Refuse to yield.
I live in mid-Michigan and Grand Rapids is one of the finest cities in the state. I was shocked that it was listed as a dying city. Last fall we stayed downtown for a wedding and after the reception a lot of us started to walk around downtown and it was just a great time. I could never feel safe doing that in Detroit or Flint or Pontiac. Even Lansing is a bit scary but GR seemed just wonderful. Good luck West Michigan, you are headed in the right direction.
where are the black folk?
Grand Rapids Socialist? You obviously don’t know anything at all about Grand Rapids, and obviously have never been there. Grand Rapids is the opposite of ‘Socialist’. It’s a very conservative area, and home to Conservative political benefactors such as the Amway founder Richard DeVos and the DeVos family. The city and area have greatly benefited from Amway and and also from the office furniture manufacturers American Seating, Steelcase, Haworth and Herman Miller. This is not Flint or Detroit. Grand Rapids is economically diverse and is a wonderful and beautiful city.
In 2010 Grand Rapids was named the "most sustainable midsize city in the U.S." by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Civic Leadership Center and Siemens Corp.