(Full Disclosure: I wanted to test drive the Jetta Turbo Hybrid so badly, that I had my friend take me all the way out to a Richmond industrial park to beg and plead with the folks at VW Canada to let me take one out for a week long spin. Thankfully, they said “Sure! Why not?”)
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Another Auto Show has come and gone in our fair city. Not that anyone really noticed, because as much as the New Car Dealer’s Association of BC would like to claim the contrary, people in Vancouver just aren’t that much into cars, other than from a strictly practical sense or to flaunt their questionable taste or wealth. And while the organizers of the 93rd annual Vancouver International Auto Show made some headway by trying to engage a generally indifferent audience
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It’s the time of year when the New Car Dealers Association of BC gathers their rosebuds and packs into the Convention Centre, all the new automotive offerings for the BC market. Car manufacturers from around the world have rolled into town to showcase their latest and greatest and to compete for your hard earned dollar, while the media (myself included) replenished our stocks of 2GB flash drive press kits courtesy of the friendly brand reps.
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Vancouver is often touted as a world class city by local boosters. While the costs of living and real estate prices are certainly indicative of that caliber, our culture (or lack thereof) and the locals inability to get to know themselves without making a big stink about how dissatisfied we are with one another, leaves us to question whether or not our very young city is really ready to step up onto the global stage. There’s only so many years a city can ride on having hosted the lesser of the Olympics,
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It’s harder and harder to find good quality fun these days, especially in Vancouver. No matter where you look, there’s some smug NIMBY greenwasher telling you to trade in your car for a bike, because it’s “sustainable” or some such crap. And even when you do get your velo on, those same greenwashers nail you with a two hundred dollar ticket for not wearing the protective gear they think you should. What’s an average red blooded human being to do?
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Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D Printing, is finally coming into the mainstream. It seems like everywhere you look there’s some story about how 3D Printing will usher in the Third Industrial Revolution. All industries, from small batch personal fabrication to architecture will be affected by this deceptively simple manufacturing technique. And now, Vancouver will play host to North America’s largest 3D print, at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens, as local engineer, JF Brandon unveils the RYGO to the public, on Thursday, July 26th, at 6:30 PM
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Last week I was invited by the Ford Motor Corporation to not only take one of their newest models for a week long test drive, but also to attend the Further With Ford Trend Conference in Detroit. Now what does a massive multinational conglomerate based in the U.S. Rust Belt have to do with our fair city? Well actually, it’s a hell of a lot more than you think.
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A while ago I wrote about Vancouver’s role in pop culture and especially science fiction. Having stood in for countless worlds and futuristic cities around the globe, I lamented the fact that our ‘burg has never received the sci-fi street cred it deserves. Well, folks, this is no longer the case. Showcase’s new time travel / cop show, Continuum, finally adds a much awaited futuristic spin by showing us a possible Vancouver of 2077. And the way things are going it’s not that far a stretch.
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With gas hitting upwards of $1.50 per litre in Vancouver, drivers are being bent over the proverbial barrel. So what’s an upwardly mobile downtown condo dweller to do? Car-Co-ops can offer some respite from being pumpjacked, but really, who wants to share a set of wheels with some random granola greenwasher with a body odour problem? Naturally, the only solution is to go looking for an even more fuel efficient car. Better yet, it might make sense to start thinking about a car that doesn’t consume gasoline in the first place.
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