Let's Do The News! (September 11, 2017)

- Former BOC commissioner Nicanor Faeldon is facing the possibility of Senate arrest after failing to attend the resumption of the Senate hearing regarding the Php 6.4 billion smuggled shabu shipment through the Bureau of Customs. Last Friday, Faeldon was issued with an arrest order but was suspended due to his pending attendance on today's hearing.

- President Rodrigo Duterte challenges Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to "decode" his tattoo found on his right shoulder. Following his speech before soldiers at Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City, the President then proceeded to take off his jacket and roll up his sleeve to show his tattoo, which bears a rose.

- The National Bureau of Investigation has been ordered to examine the possibility of a sabotage regarding the recent spate of teenage killings by alleged cops. According to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, he wishes to know if the deaths of the teenagers are correlated to cause injury to the image of the government with regards to the administration’s ongoing war against illegal drugs.

- Five people are dead while 3.5 million residents left powerless as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida's Tampa Bay area with hurricane-force winds.

- A rear-wheel drive Audi R8 will make debut at this week's Frankfurt Motor Show.

- Another teaser for the upcoming Mercedes-AMG Project One hybrid hypercar is up before this week's Frankfurt reveal.



- The anime adaptation of the iDOLISH7 franchise is set to premiere on January 2018.

- Comedian and TV presenter Ai-Ai delas Alas reveals her wedding entourage ahead of her December 12 church wedding with her fiance Gerald Sibayan. Celebs like Marian Rivera, Sharon Cuneta, and Alden Richards were part of her entourage.

TTFN!!!

Top Gear America - The Best

BBC America's Top Gear America is on their seventh and penultimate episode of this season and this episode settles nothing more than the best as the boys find out which is the best used sportscar for under seven grand.

Bill Fichtner goes for a Chevy C5 Corvette, Antron Brown goes for the fifth-generation Ford Mustang GT, and Tom Ford goes for the second-generation Subaru Impreza WRX. With three cars present, the boys are taking on challenges to see which one is the best, well, for some.

While the Subie's out of equation, both the Stang and the Vette are handed to The Stig and lapped round track in 1:23 and 1:20.29.

Meanwhile, Brown and Fichtner are in a middle of an argument while driving SUVs that defined American motoring. and lifestyle.

Rapper, former Pimp my Ride presenter, and Empire actor Xzibit is this week's celebrity guest on the show and he sets a lap time of 1:29.38.

Then, Brown shows what an SUV truly means by driving Maserati's first-ever sport utility vehicle, the Levante, until his drive abruptly ended in a flat tire. When handed to The Stig, the Levante set a lap time of 1:17.37.

2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup - Federated Auto Parts 400

East Coast maybe under the Eye of the Storm but in Richmond, Virginia, the Federated Auto Parts 400 race of the Monster Energy NASCAR race series really rocked the spectators like a hurricane with their high-octane thrills you'd expect from America's premiere stock car racing in history.

From Danica Patrick spinning out of control after contact with Austin Dillon, to a pit-road incident that lead to some damaged cars, every moment in this race is as fierce as the most powerful storm in history that recently hit the East Coast and whether if its a close-quarters duel for a stage win or a overtime that just what he thought Martin Truex Jr. had it all, this is one heck of a race that swept through the spectators like a full-force gale.

After the heat of the Richmond battle, Kyle Larson gets his fifth career win and his first in Richmond.

Next race is at Chicagoland Speedway for the special Tales of the Turtles 400 race on the 17th of September.

FH3 Hot Wheels: Z has come to...

Hey! Remember this car? It's the S30 Fairlady Z that I replicated into the Devil Z a long time ago. Looks like the first-ever Fairlady Z can't leave me alone for a while and because this classic JDM icon heard about the thrills and spills from Hot Wheels Thrilltopia, it just couldn't contain itself and I decided to take it for a stroll round Thrilltopia for a change.



Well, here we are. One classic Japanese sports icon meets the fantasy world of Hot Wheels in obstacle-laden glory where it takes guts to gain glory in this twisted landscape. Need I say more? Anyway, the S30 Fairlady Z is enjoying some rollercoaster moments round Thrilltopia, sampling the sights and sounds of this epic fantasy playground little boys could dream of, and because the Z is having so much fun at this place, this car is decided to rally up some Z drivers for a battle to remember. Of course, while this Fairlady Z is replicated for highway battles like the Devil Z does in the Wangan Midnight series, it wasn't quite enough to survive the hidden perils of Thrilltopia so it's off to the shop and get prepped up for Hot Wheels duty.



One thing I'm aware on this update is that it lost some of its torque and gained some weight in the process but on the upshot, it massively gained a lot of power while retaining my little trump card that I used on this car, the 4WD powertrain swap because added power mean added trouble for a rear-wheel drive car. Although I'm not aware with the current situation with my Z, this classic car is brave enough to take the challenge while I'm figuring out what's wrong with this Z. So, without further ado, let the battle begin...



The S30 Fairlady Z proved the other Z-cars who's the boss and even in Hot Wheels Thrilltopia, that was the real decider. Speaking of which, I figured out what's wrong with my Z-car and it's on the size of the tires. Darn, should have known better, but still it was quite a journey for the S30Z to tackle through every Thrilltopia obstacle after another. Even for an old-timer, this classic S30Z knows how to take on leaps and bounds this fantasy playground can throw it with and that's quite an adventure for me to drive a legendary icon in this epic thriller of a playground.

Although I faced some mishaps with this car, who would have thought that a nice stroll with this car at Thrilltopia became something else? At least there's something I learned on this journey and whatever that is would be very memorable to me and a legend like the S30 Fairlady Z.

Bubble Gang - September 8, 2017 #BGDanceAudition

On the September 8, 2017 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Dance audition gags

- LeBrown James returns for another press conference!

- A man who got hooked on sound effects

- A former action star now works as a mascot operator

- Balitang Ina

- A platoon leader ready to give up his life for...something.

- A couple sharing the same goal

- Today's Patikim Ni Kim recipe is steak!

- Basa-basa-pik!

Let's Do The News! (September 9, 2017)

- Senators agree to the proposed suspension and review of the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs. According to Sen. Grace Poe, she condemns the death of 14-year old Reynaldo De Guzman, the latest of the recent controversial killings of minors, who was discovered in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, and covered in multiple stab wounds.

- Hurricane Irma, the historically powerful storm that struck the Caribbean days ago, has became a Category 5 storm again as it made landfall on the Camaguey archipelago of Cuba late Friday night as the storm edged closer to US landfall in the Florida Keys after leaving a trail of devastation and death in much of the Caribbean as it advanced toward South Florida.

- The TVR Griffith has been reborn as the revived British sportscar company's first offering, complete with the iStream architecture designed by Gordon Murray, Cosworth-tuned 5.0L V8, 6-speed manual gearbox, and 400bhp/tonne power-to-weight ratio, capable of reaching over 200mph of top speed and 0-60mph time of less than 4 seconds.

2019 TVR Griffith

- BMW will display the X7 iPerformance Concept at this month's Frankfurt Motor Show, previewing BMW's flagship full-size SUV.

BMW X7 iPerformance Concept

- Your first look at The Current War film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as rival inventors Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.

- Check out the trailer for the upcoming Wake Up, Girls Shin Shou anime series before its October 9 premiere.



- The trailer for the upcoming UQ HOLDER anime series is now up, prepping up for its October 2 premiere.



TTFN!!!

Renault Alaskan

Renault's first-ever midsize pickup truck, the Alaskan, has enjoyed its notoriety at Latin America, its target market, and now it's ready for showtime at Europe, where it will face stiffer competition against the likes of the VW Amarok, the Fiat Fullback, or even the Toyota Hilux. While this is an all-new model, the Alaskan bears a familiar side everyone knows about and there's a clear reason for that.

2018 Renault Alaskan

The new Renault Alaskan maybe the company's first-ever pickup truck but what's underneath is co-developed by Nissan due to the nature of the Renault-Nissan Alliance so the way the Alaskan behaves puts you into the mind that it's like driving the not-for-Japan Nissan pickup truck that I cannot mention it to you due to search query reasons. But before that, what do you think about the looks? Well, at first glance, this is the first time you saw a pickup truck bearing a Renault badge on it, which is not very fleur by the looks of it but it has some masculine sense on it you would expect from the fruit of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

2018 Renault Alaskan interior

2018 Renault Alaskan interior

Unlike today's Renaults, the interior of the Alaskan is very different compared with the others because this is the same interior as you would expect from a Nissan pickup truck of today, although the steering wheel is different than the Nissan's by the looks of it. For a pickup truck with the sedan-like creature comfort, the Alaskan is pretty impressive in so many levels and rather than using it for work, it can also be used for leisure and with an ample bed space, just think about the endless possibilities you can do with Alaskan, as long as you're not making trouble with the public.

2018 Renault Alaskan

Since the Renault Alaskan is a Nissan underneath, it uses a ladder-frame chassis combined with the super-high-tensile-strength steel which makes it as tough as a Challenger 2 tank blowing a safe and in terms of its off-road ability, the Alaskan is a French car that is not very French indeed, in fact, it's like a French-Thai-Latino fusion cuisine that doesn't have any lactose on it, only tougher and braver when it was served on a wooden platter, which is very unique.

Under the hood, the Alaskan is powered by a 2.3 dCi engine with various configurations. The highest power output offered is 190PS and with 450Nm of torque output, it has a towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes, which is very strong indeed for a foreign exchange pickup who got transferred from a banana republic to a superpower by chance. It's surprisingly durable as well.

As a pickup truck, the Alaskan offered different driving modes to choose from such as rear-wheel drive if you are driving normally (or if you are planning to slide this car through the road as a show-off), high-ratio 4WD if you're feeling under the weather, or low-ratio 4WD when things get rough. Apart from that, the Alaskan is prepared with a multitude of safety features such as ABS, ESP, EBD, EBA, TCS, that autonomous braking thing, and the one thing Nissan happily lend it to the Renault Alaskan; the Around View Monitor.

Should you buy it? The Renault Alaskan starts at 36,860 Euros, which is less expensive than the VW Amarok by a wide margin, and that makes it a fair value for those who want a pickup truck that can do so much more than 9 to 5. This pickup maybe made for the 9 to 5 stuff but rather than being a workhorse, the Alaskan can do some leisure stuff on the weekends. There's so much you can do with Renault's first-ever pickup truck as long as you're not a magnet of trouble with it.

Photo: Renault

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: US seeks toughest sanctions on NK as China's decision unclear

The United States is pushing for the toughest ever sanctions against North Korea in the wake of the sixth nuclear test.

It is still unclear how much cooperation the US could draw from China and Russia in eventually passing its draft resolution currently under discussion but the blacklisting of NK leader Kim Jong-un, which would be the first, would freeze his foreign assets and ban him from traveling abroad.

In addition, it calls for slapping an oil embargo on the North and mobilizing all means necessary to ban and search North Korean ships in international waters, which includes the use of military force. However, an unnamed official says China and Russia has yet to support the draft, which also aims to pull the plug on textile exports and the hiring of North Korean workers overseas, which has been a source of much-needed income for the Korean Peninsula.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (September 8, 2017)

- The Philippine National Police will support the National Bureau of Investigation in their examination of the deaths of Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo De Guzman. President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the NBI to investigate the deaths of Arnaiz and De Guzman since members of the police force are suspects.

- Senator Grace Poe has sought for a Senate investigation regarding the recent spate of killings of minors due to the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs.
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- The Commission of Human Rights admitted that it fears the possibility of receiving no budget for the fiscal year 2018 following the Energy Regulatory Commission’s 1,000 peso budget.

- Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson drew attention to herself after her alleged performance at a casino hotel in Pasay City, which violates the virtues of Presidential Decree No. 1067-B (series of 1977), as amended by PD No. 1869 (series of 1983), where government officials and employees are banned from entering, staying, or playing at casinos.

- As Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful storms in history, ravaged the Caribbean and killed 13 people, a warning is issued on the US state of Florida. Also, in areas ravaged by the most powerful storm in history, danger is looming because of the incoming Hurricane Jose.

- Donald Trump Jr., the son of the US President Donald Trump, is under Senate investigation as reports circulate the President's son wanted dirt on Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer during last year's elections.

- 143 million people in the US are could be heavily affected in a massive Equifax data breach.

- Mazda plans to electrify all models by 2035 beginning with mild hybrid and all-electric vehicles by 2019 followed by a PHEV in 2021. In addition, Mazda plans to make autonomous driving tech standard by 2025 with the first phase slated in 2021.

- The same GSi goodness from the all new Opel/Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport, now in the new Sport Tourer variant.



- Jaguar gave the iconic E-Type a modern twist with the Zero Concept, complete with a modern interior and an electric powertrain. It was presented during the Jaguar Land Rover Tech Fest in London in addition to the Future-Type Concept, which pinpoints the future of driving.



- Jonathan Pryce from Game of Thrones will be starring alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins in the upcoming Netflix biopic film about Pope Francis, titled The Pope.

TTFN!!!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Moon, Abe denounce N. Korean nuke test

The leaders of Japan and South Korea denounced North Korea's recent nuclear test and pledged to boost their cooperation between them to tackle this international problem.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met up during a bilateral summit on the sidelines of a regional economic meeting Japanese people and the South Korean public have come to be greatly concerned due to North Korea's ongoing threats.

Two agreed to push for new UNSC sanctions against the Korean Peninsula. In response, the Japanese PM noted the two countries are working closely together to fend off North Korea's threats and believes North Korea's repeated provocations pose a very dangerous threat unlike any other.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (September 7, 2017)

- President Rodrigo Duterte met with the parents of the 19-year old Carl Angelo Arnaiz, who was killed by the Caloocan police. The meeting happened at the Malacanang Gold Clubhouse last September 6, pass 3pm, before Pres. Duterte attended the 60th Anniversary of the Social Security System.

- Opposition lawmakers strongly condemn President Rodrigo Duterte's pronouncement of granting the Marcos family immunity from criminal prosecution in regards to their voluntary turnover of a portion of their alleged ill-gotten wealth.

- Thousands of residents fled their homes in Nueva Vizcaya due to intensified clashes between the AFP and the New People's Army.

- Reports show that numerous lobbyists, contractors, and others who make their living influencing the government pay US President Donald Trump's companies for golf club membership, a status that can put them in close contact with the President.

- Former Californian Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's push for nonpartisan redistricting gained numerous Republican support with Ohio Governor John Kasich signing on to his amicus brief at the Supreme Court and Arizona Sen. John McCain filing a separate friend-of-the-court brief.

- Lamborghini unleashed the Roadster variant of the improved Aventador S, ahead of its Frankfurt premiere.


- Three individuals were arrested for posting One Piece manga scans before publication. According to the police, the suspects scanned manga and earned money from website ads.

- Your first look at the upcoming movie The Man Who Invented Christmas, starring Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens.



TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 3: Toyobaru Revisited - Side BRZ

It's been half a decade since Toyota and Subaru introduced the world their compact front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports coupes sold under their respective names of Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ and as sportscars come and go by, rest assured that these affordable Asian sportscars never gone to waste even though they're not as fast as any European sportscars because what these cars are not just good-looking but also greater to drive which isn't so bad for a four-cylinder car to begin with if you're new into sportscars.

I already talked about the 86 a few moments ago so now it's the turn of its Pleiades relative, the Subaru BRZ.





The BRZ maybe Subaru's first coupe offering since the likes of the Alcyone, the SVX, and the Impreza Retna, but it's known forever as the sacrilege of the breed because of its rear-wheel drive powertrain, a treason to Subaru's four-wheel drive heritage, but I don't care if this car is a treason to Subaru's lineage because like the 86, the BRZ is a fun to drive car that knows no bounds. From its low centre of gravity, boxer-4 engine, and some basic dynamics that makes it easier to live with, the BRZ is all about giving drivers the fun they've been longing for and on weekends, it's a blast to drive.

Of course, while the BRZ and the 86 are the same beings, heritage is what separates them apart because while the Toyota 86 follows the tradition of Toyota's successful sports cars, the BRZ breaks the Subaru tradition like a village idiot in a family of geniuses. Differences aside, I'm starting to admire those Japanese sportscar heroes after being around for half a decade.

So, now that I enjoyed getting to know about the BRZ, how about a little treat for this rear-wheel drive hero?





I know, that design looks familiar to you but in an event a Hachiroku couldn't make it to future installments, the BRZ will provide the backup and with the design I made to love about it, it reflects the BRZ's personality as a machine. Wish I want to drive my special BRZ but Australia's starting to wear me out like an old man so instead...





I'm taking the BRZ at the Hot Wheels Thrilltopia for a rollercoaster drive it will never forget. The cool thing about the Thrilltopia is that with so much obstacles to conquer, it almost feels like the automotive equivalent of Ninja Warrior, the ultimate endurance challenge which tests one man's strength and spandex. The BRZ will be taking part of a challenge I line up for it and see if this car can make it or fall under the sea of disappointment.

Even though I made some improvements to make it competitive, I don't think this BRZ might have a fighting chance to survive Thrilltopia's obstacles but like everyone else, I believe in this machine. Cross your fingers for the ultimate battle of a lifetime...



The Subaru BRZ survived and won the challenge. What a day to be the ultimate Hot Wheels Thrilltopia Ninja Warrior, eh? Good show, and I think the BRZ earned it.

Call it a sacrilege or a treason on Subaru's heritage but the BRZ is all about being an enjoyable rear-wheel drive sportscar with a spritey personality and they did a really good job making a rather satisfying sportscar that caters the driver's desires. Looks like I have to give them a hearty thanks.