BCBusiness Report Card: Vancouver video games and what the BCLC can learn from JoJo

We assess how different people/things and, of course, businesses fared this week

The Cultch Theatre brought to life in the video game Minecraft

We assess how different people/things and, of course, businesses fared this week

Temperatures are supposed to dip below freezing this weekend, as Mother Nature apparently needs a reminder that it’s March in Vancouver. Where are the cherry blossoms, girl?

We’re going to assume that the weather is the reason all these people are buying in bulk at the grocery store. Folks need to chill out a bit; apparently the cold front is only going to last a day or two.

So yeah, relax, people. Sit back, have a Corona or something.

Here’s what made the grade (and what didn’t) this week.

Christine Boyle

Grade: A+

The Vancouver councillor put forward a motion asking the province to foot the bill for prescription contraception options in B.C.

Items like condoms and vasectomies are available at a reduced cost or fully covered by the province’s Medical Services Plan, and Boyle argued that the fact women don’t have the same coverage is a justice issue.

Hopefully the provincial government takes steps to make this happen.

And while we’re glad that the rest of Vancouver City Council voted in favour of the motion, we do sorta wish some voted against purely so we could roast the living daylight out of them.

The Cultch Theatre

Grade: A

The historic theatre on Vancouver’s east side has been replicated in the video game Minecraft as part of the promotion for the playhouse’s production of Mine.

And unlike Nintendo’s recent stab at shoehorning a Vancouver level into MarioKart, it looks awesome.

Some other landmark/video game partnerships we’d love to see:

  • Kitsilano Secondary School in the next Deadpool game
  • The Downtown Eastside in Grand Theft Auto
  • Vancouver House in Tetris

Oxymorons

Grade: A­–

BCIT recently renamed its business school the BCIT School of Business and Media.

And that feels a bit…contradictory? How often do those two things even go hand in hand?

Here at BCBusiness magazine, we just think it’s a bit ludicrous to link those two things like that.

BCLC

Grade: C

You know that JoJo song about her crush’s interest in her being too little, too late?

Well, to summarize, JoJo was young and in love and gave her partner everything. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t enough.)

Now the metaphor doesn’t work seamlessly, but we couldn’t help think of JoJo’s harrowing story of love lost when we saw this.

Don’t get us wrong: it’s good that BCLC is taking on these initiatives.

But as the song goes, “You know, it’s just too little, too late.”

The Vancouver film industry

Grade: D

A recent industry-led report found major underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in B.C.’s film and television workforce, something that was discussed at a panel presented by the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival earlier this week.

That’s a lot of information to take in, so here’s the gist: men outnumber women two to one in the live action production workforce, and racialized workers only account for 15 percent of the industry, despite the fact that this group makes up 30 percent of B.C. workers.

Can we get #VancouverFilmIndustrySoWhiteAndAlsoTooMale trending, or is that a bit long-winded?