What's in our Car Town garage today? (December 29, 2013)

What's in our Car Town garage today?

2004 Acura NSX

Shortly after Honda launched their facelifted NSX for the 2002, Acura followed suit for the NSX facelift since 2004 as a 2005 model year. The biggest change is the lamps because they've replaced the old retractable headlights with a fixed squarish headlights to add some style on Honda's only midship sportscar. Midship aside, the NSX is powered by a 3.2L V6 engine which produces 290HP of power and 224lb-ft of torque.

2004 Acura NSX

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454

Ever since General Motors lifted the ban on high displacement on midsize cars, Chevrolet's Chevelle SS 454 herald the rise of the 455-cid mills, even though this car has a 454-cid V8 engine on it. This model could actually have two different 454-cid engines but the best thing to put in the SS 454 is the one with the LS6 engine on it because it comes with the 800-cfm four-barrel on the aluminum manifold, better compression ratio, and tons of enhancements. No other engine had a higher factory horsepower rating than this when it came out in the 70's.

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454

2000 Honda Suki's S2000

A custom machine made for Suki from 2 Fast 2 Furios, the sequel to The Fast and The Furious movie where Brian O'Connor teams up with convict Roman to take down a criminal mastermind in Miami. It uses the 2000 Honda S2000 as its base. For a tuner car, it looks stylish, fast, and drop-dead gorgeous, suiting Suki's personality as a street racer. The pink coloring adds a nice touch, too.

2000 Honda Suki's S2000

REMEMBERING 2013 - Part Four

Hello, and welcome to the fourth part of my year-ender called Remembering 2013. I'll be randomly listing stuff that came throughout 2013. From good things, bad things, best things, worst things, whatever you name it, that year-ender list is on me. It's on my head so let's get cracking!

Bee and PuppyCat

In the summer of 2013, the folks at Cartoon Hangover streamed an original web short called Bee & PuppyCat. It's created by Natasha Allegri, who is responsible for the gender-swapped episodes of Adventure Time. 

In case you never heard of it, there was a gender-swapped episode in Adventure Time. There was Fionna the Human Girl, her best pal Cake the Cat, Prince Gumball, Marshall Lee the Vampire King, and the Ice Queen. Long story short but you get the idea.

Anyway, it's about a girl named Bee who got herself sacked from the job and she made a fateful encounter with a celestial being who is a cat? Maybe a dog? Nope, it's PuppyCat, the one who sounded like a Vocaloid.

Even though it's a short, the netizens got hooked over and because of such support, the producers opted to spawn this into a series but they gonna need a lot of backing from the fans so that's why they set up a Kickstarter goal to fund as much as $600,000 to give Bee and PuppyCat a series it deserve.

It was a slow start at the first day but several weeks later and just 6 days to go before the deadline, success at last. They meet the Kickstarter goal. Just as the clock reached zero, 18,209 backers pledged $872,133. With that funding, the series will have just about 8 episodes...I think...

The Office (US) bids farewell

After 9 seasons, it's a fond farewell to everyone at the Dunder Mifflin paper company as the US version of The Office bids farewll. In the final episode, the workers of Dunder Mifflin, past and present, gather for a wedding.

The death of Cory Monteith

Fans of the hit musical TV series Glee were saddened by the news that the actor Cory Monteith, the one who played as quarterback Finn Hudson, found dead at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. The cause of death were supposed to be...drug and alcohol abuse last Summer at the age of 31.

An episode from the latest season of Glee titled The Quarterback bids farewell to Finn Hudson and the staff of the show weren't allowed to use the actor's cause of death to send message about drug abuse and for that, Finn Hudson's death remain unknown. Because of this, the next season of Glee will be the last season...ever. Quite sad, isn't it?

Pagani Huayra is the fastest on the Top Gear track

Pagani Huayra and Richard Hammond

Since Series 19 of Top Gear began earlier this year, Richard Hammond reviews the latest Pagani hypercar, the Huayra. After the review, they lend it to The Stig and in the end, the Huayra is the fastest road-legal and streetworthy car ever to go round the Top Gear Test Track, setting a time of 1:13.8 on street legal, Zonda R-derived Trofeo tyres, beating the previous record of 1:15.1 set by the Ariel Atom V8 in January 2011.

Yes, really. Street legal Pirelli Super Trofeo tyres. Just a response from the scandal claiming that the Huayra cheated on the track but whatever.

Wander Over Yonder

Wander Over Yonder

There's a new show aired on Disney Channel titled Wander Over Yonder. Yes, just another cartoon that looks a bit...well, you get the idea, and surprisingly, it's made by the man behind PPG and Foster's. Again...Craig McCracken, the man responsible for The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, made this Disney Channel original cartoon. Quite a departure but to me, there's a lot of reason why you should like this cartoon more than the well-established ones.

Wander, the interstellar fellar who loves being happy and helping others, and his best friend and trusty steed Sylvia travel through different parts of galaxy in search of intergalactic fun-packed adventures while messing up Lord Hater, the most evil villain in the universe, and an army of Watchdogs led by Commander Peepers.

Whether if its an encounter with a flesh-eating monster, an asteroid filled with bad guys, securing a package and not open it, ignoring the troll's, well, trolling, or just getting stuff from Wander's bigger-on-the-inside hat, there's nothing more enjoyable than the newest addition to the Disney family.

Liv & Maddie

Liv and Maddie

Another newcomer to the Disney family is the Rooney twins Liv & Maddie in a new Disney Channel comedy series Liv & Maddie. They're both played by a newcomer teen star Dove Cameron.

Phineas & Ferb Mission Marvel

The first ever Phineas & Ferb crossover episode featuring Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor from The Avengers and Spider-Man. In the special episode, the Marvel heroes stand powerless when one of Doof's inators zapped away all their powers and now, it's up to Phineas, Ferb and the gang to get their powers back. One of the most surprising parts in the episode is the special cameo appearance of Stan Lee.

Tokyo will host 2020 Olympics

After much bidding, it seems that after the Rio 2016 Olympics, the next country to host the 2020 Summer Olympics is Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo blitzes Istanbul and Madrid by a long shot, although I felt kinda sad to the Spaniards after their nation got eliminated from the bids. Pity though and since Spain's on the financial brink right now, there's no way that thing could happen.

This isn't the first time Japan had hosted the Olympics because the first time they held the Summer Olympics was in 1964, which is the first Asian nation to host such an event. There was this show called Eagle Sam, which is about Sam the Eagle, the mascot of the 1984 Summer Olympics in LA and oh, the venue that was gonna used for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was featured in the post-apocalyptic masterpiece by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira

The end of The Eleventh Doctor

In the world of Doctor Who, Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith announced that he will leave Doctor Who for good. Having been around for three years, Matt Smith changed the history of Doctor Who forever. He propelled Doctor Who as the flagship of BBC with thanks to current showrunner Steven Moffat, he was voted Best Actor by Readers of Doctor Who Magazine for the 2010 season, he won Most Popular Male Drama Performance award in 2012 NTA, the first actor to to be nominated for a BAFTA in the role, one who revolutionizes bowties and fezzes as cool stuff, the man who yelled "GERONIMO" in the show, and starred alongside different partners such as Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) and most recently Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman).

Matt Smith was replaced by Peter Capaldi, the guy who's very good at political satires as proven in In The Loop and The Thick of It, at the end of the 2013 Christmas Special titled The Time of The Doctor.

Before he left, he has one thing he just told to us...

THERE'S MORE TO COME IN PART FIVE OF THIS YEAR IN REVIEW! TTFN!!!

The best Bubble Gang moments of 2013!

2013 is coming to a close and on the December 27, 2013 episode, Bubble Gang highlights the best moments of 2013 such as...

10) Tata Lino and Mr. Assimo

9) Mabait na cowboy, tutol sa libingan, and Harlem Shake Bubble Gang-style

8) Ugly man Diego gets leveled up in stuff like Pangit ka Mas Pangit ako, Diary ng isang Pangit, and the segment called ATLIT.

7) News gets messed up in REPORT REPORT, an interview with a vegetable rights advocate,

6) The Bubble Gang Summer Special 2013

5) Boy Basag defeats Boy Pick Up, and Cyber Katipuneros.

4) A Bubble Gang kontrabida named Antonietta, and a drama gets all weather-weather stuff in Bukas May PAGASA Pa

3) After 15 years, Brod Pete and his pals returned to answer life's hardest questions in ANG BAGONG DATING DOON, Secretary De Anim bares all in the name of politics, and pork barrel queen Tina Pulez doesn't know a thing or two in a senate hearing!

2) Stuff from the internet gets acknowledged in the segment called IKAW AT ANG INA.

and the number one Bubble Gang moment of 2013 is...the 18TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!!!

2013 has been quite a big year for Bubble Gang. From new segments, more messed-up jokes, commercial spoofs, and new faces as well as familiar ones from the best funnymen in the history of Bubble Gang, it has been proven a big year for the longest running gag show in ages. See you in 2014!

Genesis finale

In the final episode of Genesis, Isaak (Dingdong Dantes) risks everything to save his people from an imminent apocalypse but first, he's risking it all to save President Sandra (Lorna Tolentino) and the Filipinos before Former President Ramona (Jackie Lou Blanco) initiates her plan to leave them face the world's end.

Although he managed to save the president, he failed to stop Ramona's evil plans into fruition, therefore, along with the high-ranking officials, Ramona left Earth with the spaceship heading to the mothership.

With nothing left, it seems that all the hope is lost and the impact from asteroid Cerberus is imminent until...a miracle happened.

An asteroid just hit the feared Cerberus asteroid and shattered into meteorites...and hitting the spaceship where Ramona and the high ranking officials on it.

With the spaceship got hit by a meteor and the feared asteroid impact now turned into a meteor shower, the world is saved!

Moments after the world is spared from the apocalypse, President Sandra adressed herself with a speech stating that the salvation of the Earth will serve as the new beginning for those affected from the major calamities.

Isaak finally reunited with his family and that concludes the story of Genesis.

Genesis ending

REMEMBERING 2013 - Part Three

Hello, and welcome to the third part of my year-ender called Remembering 2013. I'll be randomly listing stuff that came throughout 2013. From good things, bad things, best things, worst things, whatever you name it, that year-ender list is on me. It's on my head so let's get cracking!

Mitoy Yonting is the first Voice PH winner

Mitoy Yonting. If my memory serves me correctly, he was once a person who used illegal drugs in his youth years as a band member but now, his life changed forever ever since he became the first winner of The Voice of The Philippines.

The first-ever winner of The Voice of the Philippines is named on the grand finale held at Resorts World Manila and the 42 year old vocalist, is hailed the victor on this reality singing competition. A member of Team Lea, Mitoy garnered 57.65% of votes to beat Team Sarah's Klarisse de Guzman based on the number of votes including iTunes and truetone downloads. Team Bamboo's Myk Perez and Team Apl's Janice Javier were among the Top 4 finalists.

Team GILAS

Despite getting nuked by Iran in the final round of the FIBA Asia Cup, the all-Filipino basketball team, called TEAM GILAS, finally gets a shot at life at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain next year. Since defeating numerous Asian teams, especially those from South Korea, GILAS marked in the history books as the Filipino basketball team to take on the world series. Good luck to the Team GILAS for the FIBA World Cup next year!

Top Gear UK's new reasonably priced car

Series 20 of BBC's Top Gear sees the arrival of a brand new reasonably priced car, the 2013 Vauxhall Astra Tech Line (with Lifetime Warranty...) and to kick off the arrival of the new reasonably priced car, a selection of D-list celebs such as AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Jimmy Carr, David Haye, Warwick Davis, Rachel Riley, Charles Dance from Game of Thrones, Joss Stone, and Mike Rutherford from Genesis to lap this newcomer round the track and something else...

Manila Kingpin kicked Dirty Harry's butt in Manila

Joseph Ejercito Estrada
(photo: Interaksyon)

Just kidding. Just a metaphor because on the recent elections, former PH President Joseph Estrada, nicknamed "Asiong Salonga" for the Manila mayoral race, won the elections and claimed the mayoral seat for Manila, dethroning Alfredo Lim, nicknamed as "Dirty Harry", and this puts to an end to one of the most grueling rivalry of the 2013 elections. If that wasn't enough, Vice Mayor Isko Moreno also won the elections against actor Lou Veloso, who ran with Lim.

The Gwiyomi song



The word Gwiyomi is a South Korean slang for "cute" or "cute person". The Gwiyomi song was composed and performed by musicians Dandi and Hari and it was uploaded since January and released as a digital single a month later. It became the most search term in the Korean search engine NAVER and now, it's spreading like wildfire, something that last year's Gangnam Style and the biblically terrible Harlem Shake can't catch up...

Ogie Alcasid now a Kapatid

Ogie Alcasid bids farewell to GMA7 as he signed contracts with TV5 at Aracama Restaurant at Bonifacio Global City. Ogie Alcasid's official twitter posted a tweet about his new milestone as a Kapatid;

"My friends, I humbly ask you for a prayer as is sign with tv5 this afternoon. Kayo naman lagi ang nariyan and once again I ask 4 yr support"

Aside from being a full-fledged Kapatid, he will also head the network's new music department.

You can see Ogie Alcasid in Tropa Moko Unli and The Mega and The Songwriter on TV5 as part of the Weekend Do It Better Lineup.

Orphan Black

March 30, 2013, hour after Series 7 of Doctor Who returned on BBC America, there is a new BBC America original series titled Orphan Black. Newbie actress Tatiana Maslany stars as Sarah Manning, a woman who was caught by a conspiracy that she was one of the clones. With the help of her clones, Sarah risks everything to solve the conspiracy that lurks behind them.

This show is a huge hit in America and thanks to Maslany's success as Sarah and the Clone Club, she won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Tatiana Maslany

Such success prompted BBC America to renew Orphan Black for the 2014 season and expect more plot twists than the first one.

The next-gen consoles

Sony PS4

XBOX One

2013 sees the arrival of next-gen consoles such as the Playstation4 and the XBOX One. With the $100 difference between them, both the PS4 and the X1 are packed with next-generation technology gamers would die for. So, which would you like to have it in your home? That depends but you know what? My cousin has a PS4. Good job on that...

The Royal Baby

Royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who will serve as their future successor. It happened since July 2013 and the whole world awaits the rise of their future heir to their throne. The Royal Baby's name is...George Alexander Louis. Yep. George Alexander Louis is the name of the Royal Baby capable enough to become the future royal successor to Prince William and Prince Charles.

I WILL BE BACK FOR PART FOUR!!!

What's in our Car Town garage today? (December 27, 2013)

What's in our Car Town garage today?

2003 Bentley Continental GT

This pure British beauty combines the luxuriousness of a premium saloon car with the sportiness of a sportscar, making this ultra-expensive gran tourer doubles as a daily driver, luxury cruising on the city streets and sporty driving on the open roads. The Bentley Continental GT comes with the 6.0L W12 twin-turbo engine mated with a 6-speed automatic gearbox, which delivers supercar-like performance in a luxury packaging. This is the first time this Bentley was made under the supervision of its new owner Volkswagen ever since they took over the British marque in 1998.

2003 Bentley Continental GT

1963 Aston Martin DB5

This classic Aston Martin needs no description because this is well known to be the famous Bond car a secret agent would drive for. Aston Martin cars and James Bond movies have been hand-to-hand for decades and ever since it showed up in the Bond movie, Goldfinger, it sparked a wondrous partnership between Aston Martin and James Bond. Having one of these feels like you're a secret agent from Her Majesty's Secret Service.

1963 Aston Martin DB5

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

For its second facelift on the second-generation Subaru Impreza WRX STi, this tuner favorite born from the success in World Rally Championship gets even more fiercer than before, probably thanks to its reworked grille that was inspired from its aircraft roots. Of course, Subaru, the carmaker, was born from its aircraft beginnings as Nakajima Aircraft, but this is no time for history lesson. For the 2006 model WRX STi, it's powered by an EJ25 boxer engine developing 280PS of power, comes with the updated DCCD, and the added wheelbase as found on the JDM Spec C model.

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

2014 Nissan Serena C26 Minor Change

2014 Nissan Serena

It's a new Nissan Serena! Well sort of. Anyway, the fourth-generation Nissan Serena gets is first facelift after having been around since its 2010 debut. It maybe a worth contender in the MPV market but don't be fooled, the Nissan Serena has been a favorite among Japanese families when it comes to conveniences, fuel economy, and refinement. Now, let's get my 47 Second Science ready.

2014 Nissan Serena

On the facelifted Nissan Serena C26, the exterior design hosts a wide array of changes to keep Japan's favorite MPV updated for more. The front bumper's revised, the headlamps now looking similar to next year's Nissan Elgrand E52 facelift, a new front grille, new alloy wheels, and new LED rear combination brake lamps with an S-shaped design. On the inside, it still looks intact to me. It's still comes with a choice of a 7-seater or an 8-seater. With the 8-seater model, it comes with 14 seat configurations to choose from depending on the scenario the user faces.

2014 Nissan Serena interior

2014 Nissan Serena interior

Nissan said that the 2WD S-Hybrid model, the one with the small electric motor fitted alongside the MR20DD engine, now has improved fuel consumption and how much is it? 16kmpl in JC08 Mode standards. Aside from being more fuel-efficient than the pre-facelifted model, the Serena C26 is now made even safer with the addition of Emergency Brake, Lane Departure Warning (LDW), AVM (Around View Monitor) with MOD (Moving Object Detection), Emergency Assist for pedal misapplication and Driver Attention Alert.

2014 Nissan Serena

Because this is the S-HYBRID model, this Serena comes with an ECO Motor which controls Idling Stop and functions as an alternator during deceleration. Of course, it even comes with an Idling Stop System, which shuts down the engine when idle, and restarts in just 0.3 seconds after the brake is released.

The new 2014 Nissan Serena C26 starts at 2,184,000 Yen for the entry-level 20S model up to 3,018,750 Yen for the 20G with the "Advanced Safety Package". For recommendation, Nissan recommends the Highway Star model with the Emergency Brake option for 2,568,300 Yen, the Highway Star model with the Advanced Safety Package for 2,654,400 Yen, and for 2,927,400 Yen, the Highway Star G Advanced Safety Package. What's a Highway Star G you ask? It's the one with the 16-inch alloys on it.

Available Colors: Tiger Eye Brown, Blue Moon White Pearl, Premium Deep Coral, Rose Bronze, Brilliant White Pearl, Diamond Black, Brilliant Silver, Crystal Mist, and Solid White.

Photo: Nissan Motor Company