Vancouver General Discussion Thread

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

when did this happen? they removed the ugly looking poles?


fashionmag.com

A sanitized image. Looks like they Photoshopped them out, plus all sorts of other things like the sign on the second floor over Thurlow, traffic lights, street lights, fire hydrant and newspaper box. lol



March 14 '16, my pic

[Klazu]

That effort goes to tell that Prada cannot be very happy with the poles either! And here I was for a second thinking one of you went to remove them in the darkness of the night. It would have been an Easter miracle!

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Another think I don't get, is the strong hate towards CBC, which in my opinion provides a really good public broadcasting service. Yes, I can see there being a slight bias towards the Liberals in some discussions, but to me the political discussion is most of the time intelligent, about the real issue and to the point. I really enjoy watching it and there is lots of criticism towards the government actions, just as there should be by the media!

I think CBC does a good job and I am happy that they were handed extra money to continue their work. It costs money to keep a nation-wide news service and do investigative journalism, but that is exactly what they are doing most of the time. Just leave out some of those brief fill-in viral video segments before the hour.

Just looking to hear some thoughtful comments on the subject.

I think there's a whole segment of the population that doesn't watch broadcast television anymore, doesn't enjoy watching repeats of American programs or want to pay for something they don't watch to watch. I think journalists can be biased, just be up front with their leanings and hide the charade of being objective as some religious requirement for their profession.

And I'm pretty sure this is off-topic maybe move this to another section?

[trofirhen]

The whole Thurlow Street telephone pole issue is pathetic. In any other city this size, the most upscale shopping district would have been at least put in basic order by now.
The poles ruin the look and feel of the district, but city council apparently doesn't care. WTF, Vancouver is still a lumberjack town anyway, and sorry if I sound snotty, but ....

[Pinion]

Vancouver is the polar opposite of a lumberjack town and I don't mean that as a compliment.

[Metro-One]

Call me crazy, but with our lack of decent signage and lighting throughout the city I actually like the unedited Prada photo better. At least there is some character and texture. the edited photo is amazingly sterile and depressing.

Also, I don't understand this forum's fascination with turning every corner of downtown retail into luxury brands. Maybe I am the minority here but i personally rarely can afford to shop at such stores, the 7-11 and dollar store that use to be there on the other hand, I used often (seriously, there is a major lack of corner markets, thrift stores, independent bars / restaurants, etc... downtown now).

I actually find that everything becoming luxury stores is making downtown more boring. An area does not need to be super expensive to be kept clean (Japan proves that every night for me).

[dreambrother808]

Agreed.

Walk by that area and you rarely see customers in these luxury stores. Is this vibrant, urban life? Staid, uncomfortable, utterly class-driven experiences?

I'm all for pretty facades and the options of luxury but these are not ideals.

[connect2source]

The city should contribute to giving the area an upscale feel, the wooden poles would be a start but also a unique sidewalk treatment would go a long way. Most other luxury zones in the world have an overall tony treatment from the light standards to the sidewalk and street furniture. We're way behind in this department.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

A sanitized image. Looks like they Photoshopped them out, plus all sorts of other things like the sign on the second floor over Thurlow, traffic lights, street lights, fire hydrant and newspaper box. lol

I guess their photoshop skills didn't extend to reinstating the 2nd floor PRADA sign fronting Thurlow (like they did for the Alberni sign)

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Vancouver is the polar opposite of a lumberjack town and I don't mean that as a compliment.

What do you mean , in fact, by "the polar opposite?" A sort of overpriced "plasticville," or what? Can you explain? I'm interested. Thanks

Originally Posted by connect2source

The city should contribute to giving the area an upscale feel, the wooden poles would be a start but also a unique sidewalk treatment would go a long way. Most other luxury zones in the world have an *overall tony treatment from *the light standards to *the sidewalk and *street furniture. We're way behind in this department.

Right on, all points, IMHO

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

And I'm pretty sure this is off-topic maybe move this to another section?

This is the official off-topic thread. Feel free to discuss whatever you like.

[SpongeG]

i thought it was photoshopped but i thought well maybe it happenned lol

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

What do you mean , in fact, by "the polar opposite?" A sort of overpriced "plasticville," or what? Can you explain? I'm interested. Thanks

Fake, superficial, full of passive, shy, weak people who haven't worked a day in their life and think people are impressed by their white German cars that look like everyone else's white German cars.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Fake, superficial, full of passive, shy, weak people who haven't worked a day in their life and think people are impressed by their white German cars that look like everyone else's white German cars.

... ... That, in fact, is rather true. Thanks for the incisive city portrait! (esp about the fake and superficial part!! That IS true)

[Klazu]

Greetings from warm Orlando! I arrived here today after spending three days in the Metro Miami area and one day nearby Cape Canaveral. Miami, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale were all very nice beach cities and I was very happy to see how people of Miami are embracing Downtown living! There is a lot of high-rise construction going on everywhere and the Brickell area just south of Downtown looked very nice. There is still a lot of work to do to replace the remaining parking lots and build a proper connected public waterfront, but things are looking encouraging for an American city. People Mover is also a very convenient little thing in Downtown.

I am actually not that surprised by the desire to live Downtown, as traffic in Miami is HORRIBLE. Traffic is gridlocked on most major arteries throughout the day, no matter that some Interstates are up to 14 lanes wide. Road tolling doesn't seem to help much and roads are just a constant parking lot. Road tolling is still everywhere, especially here in Orlando and people must be spending hundreds of bucks annually on tolls. Fortunately gas is very cheap down here ($1.95/gallon).

What makes the traffic even worse is the local driving culture. I have never seen such reckless and aggressive drivers than in here! Tailgating at high speeds and cutting lanes without any use of indicator are so common that it is scary. It is no wonder that there are badly crashes on every road and this driving style makes an already congested traffic even worse with so many close encounters. I can tell you that I am really happy to have a collision insurance on my car while in here!

Kennedy Space Center was probably the coolest place I have been. There is so much to see and do in there and I couldn't even see it all in ten hours I spent there! Definitely a place to return to and much better than the Johnson Space Center in Houston (which is also interesting, but not as great as KSC). I just wish I would one day manage to see a rocket launch. This time we missed on by a week.

Today I arrived in Orlando and spent my day visiting Holy Land Experience. Only in America can one find a big theme park dedicated to the life of Jesus and The Bible! The whole place was very plastic and cringeworthy, but the live shows were very good. They felt like a Broadway show meets a musical meets a religious mass. Quite an unique experience and was definitely worthwhile.

Tomorrow and on Sunday the plan is to visit more theme parks and on Monday I will head to Tampa to check it out. My flight back to Vancouver will be on Wednesday, after finishing my first ever trip to Florida.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Kennedy Space Center was probably the coolest place I have been. There is so much to see and do in there and I couldn't even see it all in ten hours I spent there! Definitely a place to return to and much better than the Johnson Space Center in Houston (which is also interesting, but not as great as KSC). I just wish I would one day manage to see a rocket launch. This time we missed on by a week.

I loved Kennedy Space Center, so much cool stuff. If they are doing *any* kind of launch while you are in the area you should check it out. Even a small satellite is really great to see.

[SpongeG]

i watched a show about the shuttle that blew up last night, it was quite sad

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i watched a show about the shuttle that blew up last night, it was quite sad

Are you referring to the Challenger disaster?

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I loved Kennedy Space Center, so much cool stuff. If they are doing *any* kind of launch while you are in the area you should check it out. Even a small satellite is really great to see.

Yeah, any space nut will just love KSC. Best place I visited on this trip and I visited many places! Of course with my luck there is a SpaceX launch this Friday, but I will be flying back to Vancouver tomorrow (TPA-IAH-YVR on UA).

Over the weekend I was in Orlando and visited many theme parks. Gatorland was a really cool and well-implemented place and worth a stop. On Sunday I spent a whole day at ECPOT which was my first Disney park experience. Boy, are Walt Disney World and EPCOT alone huge! I spend 10 hours exploring the park and managed to ride all rides that were open. The crowds were huge (110 minutes queue for some rides) and Disney must be making crazy amounts of money. I still hated how they charge you $20 for parking, which is just a huge paved lot! Parking should be free, when the day tickets are over $110 per person. Otherwise the park was cool and I enjoyed the more towards adults geared theme.

On Monday I then drove from Orlando to Tampa and en route visited Legoland Florida. I have never been to a Legoland either and it was a fun five hours. Sure it is geared more towards kids (who will love it) but they do have roller coasters and for a Lego nut it is still great fun all around. The park is located in the middle of nowhere, which is why I suppose it wasn't that busy. Still also they charged $17 for the privilege of parking there.

Today I was then exploring Tampa and St. Petersburgh, which both turned out to be busy and bustling cities. I had never realized that the Tampa Bay metro area is over 4 million people (larger than Orlando!) and traffic is also a nightmare similar to Miami. Great beaches all around and such a nice blue sky summer day to be out and about!

So quite a trip down here in Florida and so much more remains to be seen in the future, like Key West and the Everglades. There was just no way of fitting everything into a 10-day trip.

Seems that there are also lots of vacationers from the northern states here right now. I have seen lots of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and New York plates everywhere. The biggest surprise has been seeing over ten New Brunswick plates, as it is a long drive for those guys. Few crazy individuals from Manitoba, Oregon and Washington state as well. No BC plates have caught my eye, but I am sure there are people crazy enough to drive 5500 kilometers - one way! Has anyone ever done the BC - FL trip?

Good to get back to Vancouver tomorrow, although I will miss these temperatures.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Yeah, any space nut will just love KSC. Best place I visited on this trip and I visited many places! Of course with my luck there is a SpaceX launch this Friday, but I will be flying back to Vancouver tomorrow (TPA-IAH-YVR on UA).

Over the weekend I was in Orlando and visited many theme parks. Gatorland was a really cool and well-implemented place and worth a stop. On Sunday I spent a whole day at ECPOT which was my first Disney park experience. Boy, are Walt Disney World and EPCOT alone huge! I spend 10 hours exploring the park and managed to ride all rides that were open. The crowds were huge (110 minutes queue for some rides) and Disney must be making crazy amounts of money. I still hated how they charge you $20 for parking, which is just a huge paved lot! Parking should be free, when the day tickets are over $110 per person. Otherwise the park was cool and I enjoyed the more towards adults geared theme.

On Monday I then drove from Orlando to Tampa and en route visited Legoland Florida. I have never been to a Legoland either and it was a fun five hours. Sure it is geared more towards kids (who will love it) but they do have roller coasters and for a Lego nut it is still great fun all around. The park is located in the middle of nowhere, which is why I suppose it wasn't that busy. Still also they charged $17 for the privilege of parking there.

Today I was then exploring Tampa and St. Petersburgh, which both turned out to be busy and bustling cities. I had never realized that the Tampa Bay metro area is over 4 million people (larger than Orlando!) and traffic is also a nightmare similar to Miami. Great beaches all around and such a nice blue sky summer day to be out and about!

So quite a trip down here in Florida and so much more remains to be seen in the future, like Key West and the Everglades. There was just no way of fitting everything into a 10-day trip.

Seems that there are also lots of vacationers from the northern states here right now. I have seen lots of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and New York plates everywhere. The biggest surprise has been seeing over ten New Brunswick plates, as it is a long drive for those guys. Few crazy individuals from Manitoba, Oregon and Washington state as well. No BC plates have caught my eye, but I am sure there are people crazy enough to drive 5500 kilometers - one way! Has anyone ever done the BC - FL trip?

Good to get back to Vancouver tomorrow, although I will miss these temperatures.

Weather Network is predicting 23 for Thursday, 20 for Friday in Vancouver...maybe you don't have to miss them too much