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I have seen the future and it's...Vancouver?

 
Bartender
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OK, so I've been watching rather too much TV via DVD box-sets recently, to distract from this summer's endless sporting events, and I've come to the conclusion that whatever the future holds, it's going to look suspiciously like Vancouver. I am driven to this inevitable conclusion by the fact that most of the science fiction I've watched (and, well, there's been quite a lot of it) seems to have been made in and around Vancouver. True, Toronto occasionally gets a look-in, but Vancouver always seems to be the end state.

Examples range from the venerable "X Files", through several "X Men" movies (X clearly marks a spot somewhere in BC), not to mention tons of other movies, through the excellent Battlestar Galactica to the more recent and rather less excellent "Falling Skies" (set in Boston and the eastern US but apparently filmed mostly in rainy BC) and "Continuum" (the only one actually set in Vancouver), plus my current favourite "Fringe", also set in Boston but much of it filmed in Vancouver.

I have seen this charming city presented as the gleaming capital of an alien civilisation, or the wreckage of our own world invaded by aliens, as a parallel Boston or New York with airships and weird gadgets, or as a generic US City to be fought over by mutants. And I've lost track of the many incarnations of Vancouver's striking public library...

Clearly the zeitgeist is picking up on some deeper trend here, and the only sensible conclusion is that Vancouver really is the future.

As SF author William Gibson says:

"The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed".


And he lives in Vancouver too.

So what's your candidate for City of The Future?
 
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If you are serious, and you visit Vancouver, drop me a line and I'll show you around. Talking to several IT recruiters over the last few months, Vancouver needs "back-end developers" (C#, C++ and Java). We have too many "front-end developers" (HTML, CSS, PHP) (though, some friends at EA told me there are many, but very few good "front-end developers". If you are good it shouldn't be a problem).

Due to the difficulty in obtaining H1-B USA Visa, many big US players are now setting up shop:
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/10/amazon-vancouver-office-to-set-up-at-new-telus-garden/
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/03/facebook-vancouver-office/
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/05/microsoft-announces-90-million-expansion-pacific-centre-office-space/

Of course, EA has been here for decades and Google is rumoured to be coming to. Plus, lots of smaller firms you would recognize (PlentyOfFish, HootSuite, Global Relay). Essilor (the huge French company) recently bought a Canadian company called Clearly Contact. I've heard from one of the PMs there, that Essilor is planning to hire a bunch of Java devs to buildout the platform to support SE Asia and the USA. Good things are happening here in Vancouver!

Before you get too excited, though, make sure you check out the cost of our real estate. All that coolness comes with a price tag.
 
chris webster
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Great insider info, Chris.

I've visited Vancouver a couple of times and really liked it. I'd move there tomorrow (despite the weather), but sadly I've never managed to persuade my wife that our future should be there! I've just been struck by the way it's become the backdrop to so many imagined futures, and wondered what makes some cities somehow feel like "the future".

But I'd be glad of the services of a native guide next time I'm in BC!

 
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Vancouver is popular for location shooting of movies and TV shows because:
  • Its usually has nice weather
  • its close to Hollywood with good travel connections
  • its not as unionized as Hollywood
  • Canada and Vancouver offer incentives to shoot there.
  • the natives speak English and the food is good.
  • its cheaper to shoot there.
  •  
    Marshal
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    Chris R Barrett wrote:Before you get too excited, though, make sure you check out the cost of our real estate. All that coolness comes with a price tag.



    I can attest to that. I just came back from a vacation in Norway -- one of the world's most expensive places to live -- and my wife's relatives there were astonished when I told them how much my house was worth.

    However renting is not quite that bad. It's true that rents are pretty high but they aren't yet at London or Hong Kong levels.
     
    Bartender
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    Chris R Barrett wrote:If you are serious, and you visit Vancouver, drop me a line and I'll show you around.


    Are you actually living in Vancouver then Chris? I spent roughly half my adult life there (about 15 years in the West End), so consider myself an "honourary Vancouverite".

    If there's a more beautiful major city in the world, I'd like to know about it; but that beauty sometimes comes at a price, because from time to time the rainclouds bang up against those North Shore mountains and stay for days. I remember when I went back in March 2001, and it rained for 7 days non-stop (and I DO mean 24/7 - not even a 5 minute break in 7 days).

    But yeah, you're right. It's the SF capital of the world. Surprised nobody mentioned "Dark Angel" though.

    Personally, I blame "21 Jump Street" and Stephen Cannell. That's when it all started.

    Winston
     
    Chris Barrett
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    I had no idea so many here have a connection with Vancouver. A pleasant surprise.

    Winston Gutkowski wrote:Are you actually living in Vancouver then Chris?


    I grew up in Nanaimo (on Vancouver Island) and moved to Vancouver in 1995. Been here ever since. I haven't travelled to Europe, but comparing the cities I've seen in SE Asia with Vancouver's green spaces and clean air, I understand why so many want to come here. Though, as you said, the rain here can be a big downer. Especially in the late fall to spring time period when you do get weeks and weeks of rain and cloud. Many who move here don't anticipate that. Paul's right about the rent - $1,000 a month can get you a decent 1 bedroom downtown, or a good size 2 bedroom basement rental 15 minutes from downtown via Skytrain (aka MRT).

    Paul Clapham wrote:I told them how much my house was worth.


    I've given up discussing Vancouver real estate with extended family in Manitoba and Ontario. When you start talking about $1.7 million for a tear-down, the response is usually silence. In theory, the land value of my two-car garage is more than my grandmother's house in Winnipeg.

    Oh, and I think we missed the "Supernatural" TV show on the list.
     
    Ranch Hand
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    I grew up in Washington state and I always thought Vancouver must be cool.
     
    Winston Gutkowski
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    Chris R Barrett wrote:I had no idea so many here have a connection with Vancouver. A pleasant surprise...


    My main complaint about the place was that, with all its natural beauty, it seemed incredibly parochial - the "little town that grew up" - provincial liquor stores that were closed on Sundays, and amazing places like the Sylvia and O'Doul's on Robson Street (sadly gone) cheek-by-jowl with seedy, dark bars with terry-cloth tabletops.

    I even remember one election back in the days of BVZ where the Socreds got back in for the umpteenth time by lopping 5¢ off the price of a can of beer.

    My sister tells me it's very different now: Microbrew pubs all over the place, and lots of new development on Alexander St. Sadly, I'm old enough to remember when Yaletown looked like a bomb site, and a "Powell prowl" meant taking your life in your hands.

    Hope the sushi is still the best though.

    Winston
     
    Chris Barrett
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    Winston Gutkowski wrote:I'm old enough to remember when Yaletown looked like a bomb site, and a "Powell prowl" meant taking your life in your hands.


    Post:Olympic/Post:Real Estate Boom Vancouver looks very different from Pre:Olympic/Pre:Real Estate Boom Vancouver. The Real Estate Boom brought condos to all the areas you talked about (the warehouse districts around Yaletown and the wasteland around BC Place). Then, the Olympic Boom brought the infrastructure. The Olympics also pushed through some changes to the liquor laws to keep our European visitors happy.

    When I first moved to Vancouver, I stayed with friends on Davie & Drake. Back then, that was the edge of "boy's town" (the male prostitute area on Seymour). I had no idea. A big eye opener for this small-town kid.
    Of course, 99% of that is now gone and replaced with green areas, parks, condos and families. The whole False Creek area is now beautiful with million dollar yachts.
     
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