Volkswagen New Second-Generation Touareg

The long wait is over, because Volkswagen, the world's number one car manufacturer in the world, has just unleashed the full model change of its flagship sport utility vehicle, known as the Touareg. Since its launched in 2002 and made a minor change since 2007, it is surprising that the Touareg is Volkswagen's first off-road sport utility vehicle, armed with the capabilities to tear down mud, sand, floods, rocky roads, and every city pavements. This machine is tougher on the outside, luxurious on the inside. This year, the new Touareg is more reinforced than the previous generation and it continues the tradition to please off-roaders with its pride and power, determined to be the best German SUV made for soldiers without frontiers.

The exterior of the all-new Touareg is honestly a "soldier without frontiers" because of the design, that others think it is the same Touareg, with some minor alterations to the front and back. This new style derives Volkswagen new signature look found on the Scirocco. As for the interior, the new Touareg looks like the luxurious premium interior found on the Volkswagen Passat CC, giving the soldiers in business suits some rest and relaxation while tearing down the warpath.

At this second generation's maiden voyage, the new Touareg has the maiden engine choices available such as the 3.0L V6 TDI BlueMotion Technology diesel engine, a 4134cc V8 TDI diesel engine, and the new 3.0L V6 TSI hybrid engine. For innovation, this German Mauser is now armed with the new glare-proof Dynamic Light Assist. The Dynamic Light Assist allows adjusts the Touareg's lighting pattern to reduce its glare and has the ability to perceive incoming traffic at its pace. Aside from this wonderful feature, the new Touareg has the host of features, which finds soldiers useful for terrain combat. The Adaptive Cruise Control seeks the car in front's speed, and intelligently tells to stop or go. This technology is mostly similar to the Toyota Crown Majesta's cruise control capability. The Lane Departure Warning System prevents the driver from crossing to unnecessary lanes (mostly double yellow lines separating the entrance and the exit), and it triggers a beeping sound when a soldier is changing on the wrong side of the lane. This technology is more as the one found on the Nissan Fuga and the Kia K7. A Blind Spot Monitor is added to detect an incoming object coming at the driver's blind spot. This is useful for escape tactics when you are surrounded by the enemy. Lastly, the Area View (similar to Nissan's Around View Monitor) is equipped for parking safety. These features are equipped for drastic combat measures and how you will use these innovative technologies is up to you to decide when or where will you use them.

In terms for escaping from a chase, the new Touareg is armed with the next-generation 4MOTION all-wheel drive system, generated to make full capabilities of its ABS brakes, EDS, and ASR for off-road driving like no other. A V6 variant can obtain a special 4XMOTION system that serves as a Terrain Tech package, gifted to tear down the battlefield at the choice of five levels: on-road, off-road, low, center differential lock, and rear differential lock. In case for soldiers without frontiers ready to find out what transmission is equipped, the new Touareg is armed with the 8-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission.

My thoughts about the Touareg:
As a favorite among SUV warriors, the new Touareg boasts good-looking design, smart technology, combative performance, and the feel that allows owners to call this car, their own Big Boss of the road. And by this SUV's "Big Boss" feel, the new Touareg targets its number one rivals: the Toyota Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser Prado, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, Mitsubishi Pajero, and the upcoming second-generation Porsche Cayenne. Combat veterans, powerful politicians, diabolical gang bosses, and wealthy armed men are always welcome to take the plunge of its "Boss" made from Volkswagen. For the second generation Touareg, this SUV will not win or lose; it always finds a reason to fight like real men fighting without honor and loss.

New Buick Regal -U.S. Spec-

2011 Buick Regal

Born and raised in Germany (see :Opel Insignia), appealed in the Chinese market, and prepared to amuse American buyers who are enough of their ordinary premium medium-sized sedans. It is a clear point that the U.S. spec Buick Regal is making a grand comeback to its home country after six years of absence. Of course, we recognize that the new Regal is an OEM of the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia sports sedan, only this time, the sedan variant is only available as of press time.

Just what makes the new Regal a true luxury sports sedan offered against the competition? Despite being a "foreign exchange student" from the Autobahn, the design flow from Buick is truly American, giving this new generation model a dual citizenship status from car addicts. Meaning this sports sedan is half-German and half-American, if you know what I mean. This applies the same at the interior as well. The interior of the new Regal is the same as the Opel Insignia, except for the steering wheel, the ice-blue lighting, and the XM Satellite Radio offered as an option. When you spot their differences, it is obvious that the new Regal is sleeker than its European Opel Insignia counterpart is.

In the performance side, the engine line-up of the new Buick Regal is less than the engine line-up of the Opel Insignia. When the Insignia offered several gasoline and diesel engines, including the 2.8 V6 engine offered in the Insignia OPC/VXR range, the Regal only gets two engines as of press time. At the launch, the 2.4L Ecotec engine (soon to be equipped on the second-generation LaCrosse) will be the only mainframe available, while the 2.0L Ecotec turbo engine will become available this autumn. The only feature available as of press time is the six-speed automatic transmission, because the manual version will be available later.

My thoughts about the Regal:
Being a sports sedan with the dual citizenship status is not a joke for this situation. That is because the new Buick Regal was a hailed from Europe as the Opel Insignia, then it made a sensation to the Chinese executives, and it makes a public North American appearance to show the competition in which one has the guts to be the best luxury sports sedan ever made. The new Regal is targeted against other luxury sports cars in the world such as the Nissan Skyline Sedan (Infiniti G Sedan), Honda Accord Euro (Acura TSX), Lexus IS250/350, Toyota Mark X, Audi A4, and the Volkswagen Passat CC. Just like the General Motors' "may the best car win" campaign, the new Regal stands tall from the competition, and who knows, we might cross our fingers that we hope we can bring the Regal to our shores, and if possible, the head of Regal Entertainment named Mother Lily Monteverde meets her match.

"Le Nouvelle TV5" Debut

Bienvenue, readers...

I saw an article that Philippines' TV5 (formerly ABC5) is making a major overhaul to prove it stands still against major Philippine TV stations such as ABS-CBN (the Kapamilya network) and GMA. (the Kapuso channel, one of my favorites) It's a fair fight but TV5 Philippines proves its still a worthy contender to the Philippine media industry. According to some sources, TV5 will shake off the "Shake mo, TV mo" slogan, making a logo facelift (a first of two years since TV5 debuted to Philippine soil), and promising a host of new shows, including a new comedy show starring Dolphy, a spin-off of Vic Sotto's Ang Darling Kong Aswang, a third installment of the Lokomoko series, and the return of children's favorite educational show.

Source:http://www.starmometer.com/2010/03/29/tv5-the-kapatid-network-launches-new-shows/

It's a "vive la vive" world for this channel, calling this station a "Kapatid", giving the Kapamilya and the Kapuso some hard time, and the Philippine households might have time to choose which station is the best.

Who's the best Philippine TV Station?

ABS-CBN?

GMA?

or

TV5?

Guess I'm not really bored. This is going to be a fair fight!

KAPAMILYA vs. KAPUSO vs. KAPATID!!!

The Samurai Code - Ending

Samurai Code finale

The ending of the Toyota Mark X special TV drama aired in TV Tokyo, titled Samurai Code, turned out to be quite good. In the last episode, there was a party going on around there. When Kohei Sudo (played by Koichi Sato) sees that his rival (played by Shingo Tsurumi) shows up at the party, we didn't know why his rival showed up. On the following scene, the Credit Stars senior director and the Wise Coleman funds fund manager (played by Sawa Suzuki) agrees on the Urban Square plan. Then, Sudo reminisces the words Kaori (played by Manami Honjo) told, saying that life will be the way it is. Then, the two rivals showed up, with no words, and became friends again.

At the end of Samurai Code, we see Sudo, with the Wise Coleman funds employee Akiyama (played by Yuno Nakazono) walking with him. He gave Akiyama a car key, and she's happy.

That's how the special TV drama came to an end.

Let's wish Koichi Sato good luck for his next projects. (... and resume duties as one of JRA's Club Keiba navigators)

Nana Mizuki's voice is too sexy for Paz. ;-)

When I was listening to the February 18 episode of the Kojima Productions Japanese Podcast, titled Hideochannel Radio (hosted by the Metal Gear god, Hideo Kojima, Yumi Kikuchi, and others), this Japanese podcast gave us the first taste of when will Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker release to the market. (As if, they will launch PW Asia-wide at the end of April and U.S. and European markets this June) Not only that, next month, the original game soundtrack and get this, Metal Gear series' first character song album are set for release. In case you didn't recognize, the Metal Gear series' first character song album will be released in Japanese music stores this April 7 and it packs not only the theme song, titled Heavens Divide (sung by Donna Burke), but also the series' first character song, titled Koi no Yokushi Ryoku, sung by the Japanese voice actress of Peace Walker's Paz Ortega Andrade (the leading lady of this game) and also the seiyuu of one of the hottest anime roles (Fate Testarossa from Lyrical Nanoha series, Moka Akashiya from Rosario+Vampire, and Hinata from Naruto series), Nana Mizuki!

I might be able to get a simple review, but remember, the launch date for this maxi single CD is on April, but I'll give you guys an early description on the first character song album from the Metal Gear series. I love the song "Heavens Divide". (as heard from the MGS:PW TGS 2009 official trailer) That song looks more from the ending theme from Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, titled Calling to the Night, sung by Natasha Farrow. Word from Konami is, they'll include this song on the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker OST on sale a week after the series' first character song CD debuted. For the song "Koi no Yokushi Ryoku":

What can I say? Nana Mizuki's voice is too...

too...

too...

......

......

......

......

TOO DARN SEXY FOR THIS! I LOVE THIS! (Can't wait 'till April 7 to acquire it at a very reasonable price!)

Before witnessing the character song's music video, the Hideochannel Radio podcast gave us the first listen to this song. Although, I got to say, Hideo Kojima-san and Yumi Kikuchi-san undeniably love it! The powerful tone (similar to Nana Mizuki's song, Phantom Minds, from Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st), the sexy voice, nothing can stop this song from uplifting not only MGS fans, but Nana Mizuki fans as well!

Let's give Nana Mizuki-san a massive two thumbs up for this song! (Best to forget from the Korean otaku marrying a Fate Testarossa dakimakura...)

Oh, and for fans living in Japan, best to catch the last Nana Mizuki Live Academy concert this March 27 at the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya. 

The Samurai Code

Toyota's second-generation Mark X proves this FR sports sedan is the modern-day Kenshin Himura for drivers. That is when the second-generation Mark X slogan was "SAMURAI X".




By bringing the phrase "SAMURAI X" to reality, TV Tokyo aired a special twelve episode drama titled "SAMURAI CODE". This drama doesn't involve samurai warriors fighting for freedom, it revolves in the life of a fictitious Wise Coleman Funds senior director, Kohei Sudo (played by Koichi Sato), who tries to negotiate his way against his former best friend (a rival), the senior director of the fictitious Credit Stars (played by Shingo Tsurumi), because of the mall plan targeted at the flower shop owned by Kaori. (played by Manami Honjo) With Kaori's disappearance, how far will the senior director of Wise Coleman Funds drive his Mark X and negotiate his way against Credit Stars?

Don't miss the last episode of the Toyota Mark X Samurai Code special TV drama, airing this Friday at 10:54 PM (Japan Standard Time) only at TV Tokyo!

MARK X SAMURAI CODE Special TV Drama

Cast:

Koichi Sato (as the main character, Kohei Sudo, the Wise Coleman Funds senior director and the proud owner of the Toyota Mark X)

Shingo Tsurumi (as Sudo's former friend, now rival, the senior director of Credit Stars)

Manami Honjo (as Kaori)

Sawa Suzuki (as the Wise Coleman Funds fund manager)

Chigusa Takaku (as one of the Wise Coleman Funds employees)

Yuno Nakazono (as one of the Wise Coleman Funds employees)

Munetaka Aoki (as one of the Wise Coleman Funds employees) 

Takeo Nakahara (as Kohei Sudo's boss from Wise Coleman Funds)

Run Time: Almost six minutes

Air Time: 10:54 PM JST

Station: TV Tokyo

Carmaker made possible for this drama: Toyota Motor Corporation

Atarashii Yes

Salyu's newest song, Atarashii Yes, as heard in the Toyota Sai Hybrid TV commercial in Japan, proves that our word "yes" has different meanings and how we say "yes" to the world is truly a commitment to the future. This maxi single contains the song and the medley of her upcoming single, Maiden Voyage, coming to Japanese music stores this week. About this song, Atarashii Yes changes the world with its simple tones, clearer sound, and greater expression for those who listened this new song. Of course, despite the Toyota Sai getting their bumpers kicked by the mass recall, most Sai owners really wanted to get their green ears listen to Salyu's new song that brings harmony beyond their acceptance. Because of this title, Atarashii Yes gives listeners how to express ourselves, aside from saying "yes" to ourselves.

It's your call. The word "yes" gives us new meanings once we listen to Salyu's latest song that was first heard on the Toyota Sai TV commercial.