Thursday, October 16, 2014

Forza Horizon 2: Barn Find #01

As you continue your Horizon journey in the French village of Sisteron, you pick up a Barn Find Rumor about an abandoned Renault Alpine A110 located somewhere in the vicinity of Sisteron. It took me numerous travels to decipher that barn find rumor and that the barn find in question is located 2.2 miles from the Sisteron Horizon Hub.

barnfind barnfind_1

If you found the barn find, wait for a couple of moments until you'll get a notification saying that the barn find you found has been restored. If you received that notification, head to the nearest Horizon hub and claim your legendary machine for use to drive in the game. There are 10 total barn finds scattered throughout Southern Europe. Can you find them all?

alpine

Anyway, let's talk about the Renault Alpine A110, the first barn find in Horizon 2 and a legendary rally classic most Forza fans can't wait to get their hands on.

The roots of the A110 began in the 50s when a Renault dealer named Jean Redele pursued his dreams as a rally driver and his tweaked 4CV, despite its size, was capable enough to win an Alpine rally against numerous opposition which had eight cylinders and four or five-litre engines. He won 15 races including the Liege-Rome-Liege rally and the Italian Mile Miglia, quite an achievement he had done.

Moments later, Redele developed his first prototype Alpine with some of the components lifted from his 4CV, called the A106. Over 200 A106 models were made, in a coupe and open-top convertible. Soon afterward, the A108 was launched as the successor of the A106. The A108 uses components from the Renault Dauphine and it was available first as a cabriolet and only later as a hardtop coupe.

With the introduction of the much more sportier Renault 8 in 1962, Alpine decided to build the A110 because it was the synthesis of the past two machines; the A106 and A108, and even by modern standards, this old machine still has the magic touch. Yes, it still has the touch. The A110 uses components from the Renault 8 and it featured a steel backbone chassis with a fiberglass body. The engine. Early models come with the R8-sourced engines, namely a 1.1L, a 1.2L, and a 1.3L 4-cylinder engines. They were fitted with two 40 DCOE Weber carburetors, a Type 80 exhaust manifold, and a hemispheric cylinder head with spark plugs, created by Amedee Gordini.

Two cars a week were being produced in 1964 and sales of the A110 are at record high because of its involvement in motorsports so that's why in 1968, Jean Redele built a new factory that produces six to eight Alpines a day.

In the year 1966, Alpine entered five specially-built prototypes of the A110 to take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Having spent 24 hours of struggle on the track, those Alpines are fighting like rapiers and they're doing this to wave the flag of Renault in Le Mans. It was an excellent year for Renault because after racing for 24 hours, it was a 1-2-3 punch for Alpine having consumed the least amount of fuel. Again, a remarkable feat for a small company.

With Renault completing the buyout for Alpine, the A110 faced its greatest moment yet and that is taking on the World Rally Championship where it scored eight wins out of 13 events since 1973. It was great at first until the global energy crisis plunged the fate of this tiny car. Sales of sports cars are in an all-time low when the oil crisis looms and speed limits are first introduced.

With Renault took control of Alpine, tough decisions were made about the future of Alpine and that's why they created the less-successful A310 which placed the end of the A110's story.

Guess we'll leave it here but it's time for me to give Dieppe's pride some more love in present-day Southern Europe and I used this car in the Classic Rally championship, the one where Fulvias and Stratoses are king. To do that, some improvements to be made to make the A110 competitive.

alpine_1

I decided to give it some originality when it comes to creating liveries specifically for the Horizon Festival but it doesn't matter because it's already as competitive as it was five decades ago. Trust me on this, the A110 is a legend worth driving for and you'll fall in love with its lightweight bodywork and its nimble mobility that will slice the opposition like butter. It may be old enough to be in the museum but you're free to throw a boatload of cash into customizing it.

Balitang Six Six for 10/15/2014

Breaking news from the October 15, 2014's Banana Nite's Balitang Six Six!

1) Man does breakdance, here comes his full moon!

2) Boxer tries to get up on the ring but he dropped himself on the ring!

3) Man tries to rush into something, got slipped, and hit a man!

4) Man wants to jump on the pool but he got hurt because the swimming pool's too hard!

5) Man looks up during his graduation march and he didn't watch where he's going. That's why he got tripped on stage!

6) Fisherman just fished...his own!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Let's Do The News! (October 15, 2014)

The big scoop today...

- The United Nations warned that the Ebola Outbreak could reach over 10,000 victims a week by early December of this year.

- Meanwhile, the CDC has monitored 76 Texans for Ebola.

- Back in Hong Kong, protesters erecting new barricades have clashed with police. Over 40 people are detained in custody as they're tightening security around the area. The People's Daily, the People's Republic of China's newspaper, has blamed student activists for the current unrest in Hong Kong.

- TEPCO or Tokyo Electric Company has detected high levels of radioactive cesium in groundwater at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after last week's heavy rainfall from typhoon Vongfong (or Ompong).

- The Ombudsman has issued a suspension on Ronnie Ricketts, the chairman of the Optical Media Board, for six months without pay after he and his OMB officials violated the Republic Act 9239 and R.A. 3019 or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

- It is said that allies of Philippine VP Jejomar Binay has accused Senator Antonio Trillanes IV of owning a fleet of eight undeclared "luxury vehicles". Five of them are second-hand Mitsubishi Delica passenger vans, which Trillanes said they can be bought for a cheaply 100,000 PhP each.

Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon
- AT LONG LAST! Latias and Latios' Mega Evolutions are unveiled as the release for next month's Pocket Monsters Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire 3DS games draw near. There are new details emerged too! You can expect summoning them with the Eon Flute and, we're not joking, the sky is yours. You can fly freely on the open skies of the Hoenn region! Also, legendary Pokemons from the past games will be appearing on ORAS too. Ho-oh and Lugia from Pokemon Gold and Silver (Heart Gold and Soul Silver) games and Pokemon The Johto Journeys TV show, Dialga and Palkia from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl games and TV show, Reshiram and Zekrom from Pokemon Black and White games and TV show, expect them to appear via "mirage spots" so be prepared for the unexpected. That's not all because Pigeot and Beedrill will be getting Mega Evolution as well.

Mega Latios and Mega Latias

- Shooting for the fourth season of the Disney Channel hit series, Austin and Ally, are now underway!

TTFN!!!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Mazda Demio is Japan's 2014-2015 COTY

2015 Mazda Demio


It's official, after numerous votes from the judges, the winner for Japan's 2014-2015 Car of the Year goes to the recently-launched, fourth-generation Mazda Demio (known as the Mazda2 in the world market), beating the likes of the Mercedes C-Class W205 and the BMW i3. With its 1.3L petrol and 1.5L diesel engines available as well as its innovative design, legendary Mazda dynamics, and its reasonable price, it's good to know that the new Demio is a sure winner to the home crowd.

Results:
1st: Mazda Demio - 423 points
2nd: Mercedes-Benz C-Class - 404 points
3rd: BMW i3 - 340 points
4th: Subaru Levorg - 124 points
5th: Suzuki Hustler - 65 points
6th: Nissan Skyline and Peugeot 308 - 41 points
8th: Jeep Cherokee - 15 points
9th: Honda N-WGN/N-WGN Custom - 13 points
10th: Toyota Noah and Voxy - 9 points

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day



Imagine the day when most of your family faced the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fate like you had everyday. It's going to be one heck of a rollercoaster ride to mayhem as on this film, it's definitely as what your family will be...ending up on the same mess that you had. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a hilarious Disney movie that stars comedian Steve Carell, actress Jennifer Garner, as well as Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey and many others.

11-year-old Alexander, played by Ed Oxenbould, experienced the biggest calamity of his entire life and it begins when his hair got stuck with a piece of chewing gum followed by another disaster after another. Miserable, Alexander wonders what if his family will face the same fate as his and the result; a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

Sometimes, the worst day in your lives could turn out to be the best and for this movie, it's not quite Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad at all because being a family movie, it's all about having fun watching with the entire family but because this is all about one family facing the worst, this is like going out for a rollercoaster ride and you'll end up with some massive spills and a slight smile on a face. Speaking of slight smiles, there are some slight problems with this movie and it's all in the worrisome storyline because it's kinda confusing what comes next after another as well as the casting.

Even though it wasn't turned out to be a good movie for the eyes of moviegoers, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a fun-for-the-family movie that will surely love and in one day, they will be on the same situation as Alexander's. At least, that's what I want to believe.

My rating: 3.4 out of 5

Let's Do The News! (October 13, 2014)

The big scoop today...

- Typhoon Vongfong (otherwise known by us as Ompong) is sweeping through Japan after twice making landfall. So far, one person remained unaccounted for and 56 others badly injured. It landed near Makurazaki in Kagoshima Prefecture at around 8:30 AM JST and downgraded to a severe tropical storm.

- The search for the missing victims from the Mt. Ontake eruption has been called off due to Typhoon Vongfong (or Ompong).

- The US officials are taking measures to stop the Ebola outbreak from spreading through the entire nation ever since a healthcare worker in Texas became the first American to be infected by such disease.

- International communities are vowing over $5.4 billion in humanitarian aid for the victims in the Gaza Strip conflict.

- Back at the Mayon Volcano, some fresh lava is cascading down the recently erupted volcano located in Albay. Volcanologists warned the public to brace for another eruption.

- Authorities from North Cotabato have in custody a vital witness who holds the key to solve the mastermind behind the grenade attack on the United Church of Christ i the Philippines in the village of Pikit, North Cotabato, last week.

- Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman released a statement regarding the Argentinian trip that got the hosts attacked by Falklands War vets over the plate number mishap. Read here.

Top-Gear-in-Argentina
Top Gear in Argentina

- In case you missed it, Tesla Motors announced the high-tech and more powerful version of the Model S called the Model S P85D which features Dual Motor for added performance and the added Autopilot feature that lets the car to run unmanned.

- Former Disney celeb Bridgit Mendler plans to make a difference this Christmas season by joining Save the Children's "Make the World Better With A Sweater" campaign.

- Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale collaborated with fashion firm Abercrombie & Fitch for National Bullying Prevention Month. She appeared in the 20-minute clip to spread the message about anti-bullying and "being an ally".

TTFN!!!

F1 2014: Russia GP

F1 2014 Russia GP

Russia's Sochi Autodrom is new for the 2014 season and even though this is a brand new location in the world of Formula 1, the spectators fall silent upon watching the suspense unfolds from the hearts of F1 racing drivers as the battle rages on. Williams' Valtteri Bottas set the fastest lap time of 1:40.896 but he placed 3rd while Mercedes' Hamilton placed 1st place ahead of teammate Rosberg.

A 1-2 finish is more than enough to clench the constructor's world champion title for the Mercedes F1 Team but it's not over yet for the team members as Lewis Hamilton's 17 points ahead of Nico Rosberg while Red Bull's Ricciardo is still in 3rd place overall for 199 points.

The next race will be at USA on the 2nd of November, 2014.


Image: Formula 1 official