Mazda Roadster ND

For over 25 years, the Mazda Roadster (MX-5 Miata in the world market) continues to provide exhilarating thrills in a lightweight package suitable for a Japanese sports car for the masses. Because it was influenced by British sports cars of the past century, it values aerodynamics over performance. With the lighter bodywork, smaller engine, and rear-wheel drive, the Roadster continues to impress numerous car enthusiasts worldwide and now, there's a new version.

2016 Mazda Roadster

Welcome to the all-new Mazda Roadster ND, the latest generation of the hit lightweight sportscar, and starting at just 2,494,800 Japanese Yen, it's still an affordable sports car you can buy. This is an all-new car because the new Roadster implements Mazda's revolutionary SKYACTIV Technology which balances fuel efficiency and performance at a same pace. This is an all-new car but even though it's all-new, the Roadster formula still remains; light body, small engine, rear-wheel drive, and its fun-to-drive character.

The new Roadster features an all-new body which is now 100kg lighter than the previous model and it's all because Mazda employed their "gram strategy", involving the extensive use of lightweight aluminum materials which makes it as light and rigid as the first-ever Eunos Roadster from the distant past.

2016 Mazda Roadster

In true Roadster tradition, the new model is powered by a small engine in the form of the new SKYACTIV-G 1.5L petrol engine developing a reasonable 131PS of power and 150Nm of torque while mated with either a 6-speed automatic (annoyingly sourced from the Toyota 86) or a newly-developed SKYACTIV-MT 6-speed gearbox developed specifically for the new Roadster. To further enhance the fuel consumption for the new Roadster, an available i-ELOOP regenerative braking system is offered, resulting to a fuel economy of up to 18.8km/L by JC08 mode standards.

Handling-wise, the new Roadster, thanks to its lightweight bodywork, is becoming more accessible and soon, more popular. The front suspension is double-wishbone, the weight distribution remains perfect, it's got electric power steering, and it's more enjoyable in the bends. The way it handles is becoming more generous than struggling with the more powerful sportscars and as long as there are blue skies and the long winding road ahead of you, the Roadster feels like it's completing an image of what motoring dreams are made of.

2016 Mazda Roadster interior

Even though this is a lightweight car, the new Roadster still comes with concessions of comfort despite being a driver-focused sportscar. You can have available leather seats, climate control, even the available MAZDA CONNECT, which allows the driver to stay connected with some apps, navigation, and entertainment. That's a great car to live in and it's not like you're sleeping in a storage room for numerous reasons.

2016 Mazda Roadster

If there's something I didn't like about the new Roadster, then probably it's the design that makes the case for itself. I know this car is good as well as the Kodo design language but I'm afraid that it wasn't as aggressive-looking as any other sports cars would be. It can be somewhat problematic on the city streets because even with the roof close, discretion is no longer a priority and people are starting to know you are driving this.

But it doesn't really matter though because despite its flaws, the new Roadster really has a lot to live up with. It's still one of the most enjoyable sportscars money can buy but there's a bit of an argument because most people will believe that the best lightweight sportscar you can enjoy is an Alfa Romeo 4C but you should remember that the new Roadster ND is more affordable than the 4C even if it has a Spider version coming up.

However, if you compare it to a much smaller roadster available in Japan in the case of the Honda S660, that's a different story because the S660's more cheaper than this and it's more enjoyable thanks to its MR layout but let's note that the S660's available only in Japan while the new Roadster will be available globally shortly after its Japan release. Fact.

Available colors: Ceramic Metallic, Soul Red Premium Metallic, Jet Black Mica, Meteor Grey Mica, Blue Reflex Mica,  Crystal White Pearl Mica, and Arctic White.

Photo: Mazda Motor Corporation

Let's Do The News! (May 20, 2015)

- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently announced that he will let the Republican-controlled Senate to vote on the controversial USA Freedom Act, which was passed last week, but he was threatened to block. With time running out, the Republican-controlled Congress have to act quickly before some key provisions of the Patriot Act expired, including the feared provision where the NSA has full authority to collect in bulk the phone records of all Americans.

- The Iraqi government calls on volunteers to help eradicate the Islamic State militants and recapture the city of Ramadi.

- Over 370 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, including at least 50 women and children, have been saved by fishermen off the coast of Indonesia as nations hold emergency talks regarding the recurring migrant crisis in ASEAN nations.

- PHIVOLCS released detailed maps that can trace the Valley Fault System through the Greater Metro Manila area, which consists of the 10km East Valley Fault and the 100km West Valley Fault. Is your home near the quake-prone area in an event a major quake strikes the Philippine capital?

- The owners of Kentex Manufacturing Inc., could face imprisonment for various charges, including violations of labor regulations that caused the factory in Valenzuela set on fire, killing 72 people inside last May 13., according to a report from the Department of Labor and Employment.

- Presenter Arnell Ignacio goes into his talent management business and the first person he'll be producing, well he's now a producer for new talents, is a male named Ken Psalmer,a singer he met and discovered at a certain comedy bar. Recently, Arnell plans to file for annulment on his wife.

- Former PBB All In housemate turned actress Maris Racal admits being affected by the loveteam between Manolo Pedrosa and Oh My G's Janella Salvador.

- The BMW E63 M3 saloon driven by Richard Hammond from a certain episode of Top Gear is now going under the hammer at between 7,500 to 10,000 pounds.

- ICYMI, yes, there's going to be a Muppets TV show coming this autumn on ABC and the folks from Disney released some exclusive pics for their upcoming TV show featuring your favorite Muppet characters including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and many many others.

TTFN!!!

Suzuki Spacia - 2016 minor change

2016 Suzuki Spacia

2016 Suzuki Spacia Custom

Two years ago, Suzuki replaced the Palette kei minivan with the Spacia, in two different flavors ranging from the plain but normal model and the spunky Spacia Custom. Both of them have best-in-class fuel economy benefitted by Suzuki's fuel-efficient technologies that its rivals can't keep up as well as cutting-edge safety features that make them a class apart from its rivals.

Now, they've launched improved versions of both models for the 2016 model year and apart from their updated looks, their class-leading fuel economy has been improved to 32.0km/L by JC08 Mode standards, thanks to the revolutionary S-ENE-CHARGE system that assists the 660cc R06A engine's acceleration with a motor by adopting the Integrated Starter Generator and a Li-ion battery that specifically made for this system.

2016 Suzuki Spacia interior

2016 Suzuki Spacia Custom interior

Apart from the added fuel economy, the 2016 minor change features, for the first time, a dual camera brake support system, which detects the vehicle and pedestrians from about 5kph in the speed range of about 100kph and to avoid collisions, the automatic braking feature triggers with the alarm and then it stops. Other features in this new system include a lane departure warning function, and a stagger alarm function, among many others. This new feature is an optional extra for all models.

The Spacia now starts from 1,274,400 to 1,503,360 Yen for the normal models while Custom models start from 1,528,200 to 1,762,560 Yen.

Photo: Suzuki Motor Corporation

Gran Turismo 6: What's Z11SN?

If you made it on Stage 3 of the annual Nissan GT Academy, you may have noticed that you are behind the wheel of a never-before seen vehicle for the first time in Gran Turismo 6 while trying to set a qualifying lap round Spa-Francorchamps. What you're looking at here is the Zytek Z11SN, specifically it's a #42 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN driven by GT Academy graduates Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough, alongside veteran racer Michael Krumm.



Used in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, this Z11SN is powered by Nissan's race-spec version of the no-longer-available-in-their-Japanese-cars VK45DE 4.5L V8 engine, lifted from race-spec GT-Rs used in the Super GT500 class of the Super GT, but accommodated with a new ECU and custom intake/exhaust materials, to comply with the rules that all LMP2 class cars must have mass-produced production engines.

This #42 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN was an important milestone between Nissan and Gran Turismo because aside from racing veteran Michael Krumm, GT Academy graduates Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough were behind the wheel of this LMP2 prototype and it placed 4th place in the LMP2 category, making it the fastest out of the Zytek entries. Not bad for their results.



For a limited-time, during the course of the Nissan GT Academy 2015, you can participate Round 3 and drive at least one full timed lap to acquire this new machine in game while gunning for a lap time that will take you to the final round of the Nissan GT Academy 2015 next month where you'll be driving a never-before seen vehicle and your chance to be part of the professional racing programme courtesy of Nissan.

Orphan Black Original Television Soundtrack & Original Television Score

Orphan Black Original Television Score

Orphan Black Original Television Soundtrack

Aired on BBC America since 2013, Orphan Black is a pulse-pounding sci-fi drama series revolves on the tale of Sarah Manning (played by Tatiana Maslany) as she sets on a deadly mission to uncover her origins upon witnessing the death of a woman who looks like her at a subway. This is the series that turned Tatiana Maslany from a newbie actress into one of the most fiercest females on television not just for being Sarah but also the clones such as the desperate housewife Alison Hendrix, intellectual Cosima Niehaus, the very lethal Helena, and Rachel Duncan, among many others. However, it's not just the actress who managed to pull off multiple roles at the same time, it's the explosive storyline that delivers an estranged cast of characters, the most suspense, the most thrills, the most plot twists, and the most fans who called themselves the Clone Club. Everyone's got in the edge of their seats upon watching the hit TV series, knowing what's next for Sarah and the other surviving Project Leda sestras.

For the first time, two soundtracks from the hit BBC America TV series have arrived. First, there's the Original Television Soundtrack which features the Orphan Black theme tune by Two Fingers as well as the compilation of songs as heard from the series. Second, there's the Original Television Score featuring the background musics from the TV show made possible by Trevor Yuile himself.

These two soundtracks from Orphan Black will get you through like piercing Rachel's left eye with a pencil or torturing Donnie with a glue gun so enjoy your oophorectomy...no wait...I mean, enjoy your easy listening because "you're damn right" about enjoying these two soundtracks from the show. Get it? You're damn right.

Orphan Black airs on BBC America. Check local listings.

TRACK LISTING (Soundtrack):

1. Theme From Orphan Black – Two Fingers (0:36)
2. Rain Of Gold – Young Empires (3:16)
3. It Ain’t You – The Ettes (2:23)
4. Earthforms – Matthew Dear (3:33)
5. Mon Ton Ton – Humans (4:38)
6. Shuggie – Foxygen (3:21)
7. Bitch – Merideth Brooks (4:13)
8. Blame Fiction – The Belle Game (3:51)
9. Live In The Bedroom – Tim Moxam (4:53)
10. Head Over Heels – Tears For Fears (4:15)
11. Crazy – Diana Salvatore (3:14)
12. When I Was Abroad – Daniel Romano (2:16)
13. West End Sky – Elliott Brood (2:39)
14. Love Is All Around – The Troggs (3:01)

TRACK LISTING (Score):

1. Orphan Black Theme – Two Fingers (0:38)
2. Previously On (1:07)
3. Kira’s Cue (1:47)
4. We Meet Helena (1:48)
5. Organic Eggs (2:32)
6. Duncan’s Demise (2:00)
7. Unconditional Surrender (2:07)
8. Kira & Intervention (3:06)
9. They’re Killing Us (1:42)
10. An Honour (2:55)
11. Cosima’s Treatment (1:45)
12. Alison Kills (3:20)
13. Marriage of Helena (2:14)
14. I Killed Ainsley (0:49)
15. Seqeunce of Events (1:32)
16. Cosima’s Dying (0:57)
17. Farewell Thomas (1:17)
18. Rachael Meets Duncan (1:31)
19. Maggie Chen Crime Re-enact (3:58)
20. Rachael’s Home Videos (1:40)
21. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (7:19)

Doctor Who Series 8 Original Television Soundtrack

The eighth series of BBC's phenomenal TV show, Doctor Who, sees the maiden voyage of Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor alongside Jenna Coleman reprising her companion role as Clara Oswald and over the course of the eighth series, which aired late last year, we seen them taking on a bigger threat at Victorian London, encountered a Dalek with a different personality, teaming up with Robin Hood, delving deeper on Danny Pink's past and future selves, staging a robbery at the Bank of Karabraxos, saving Coal Hill from the Skovox Blitzer robots, uncover the monster lurking in the moon, stopping the mummy from terrorizing the futuristic Orient Express, solving the mystery behind the walls, going through the London wilderness, and it all ends with a face-off against an army of Cybermen and a mysterious woman named Missy, who is revealed to be none other than The Doctor's arch nemesis, The Master. Oh, and there was last year's Christmas special where The Doctor and Clara had a fateful encounter with Father Christmas himself.

The eighth season really is a brilliant start for the 12th and so is the music prepped for the whole series. Now, you can finally listen to Series 8 background musics whenever you like with the original soundtrack where most of the music was crafted by the BAFTA-winning Murray Gold himself and performed by the ever-talented BBC National Orchestra of Wales. This three-disc compilation is a must have for every Whovians who witnessed the 12th Doctor's maiden voyage from saving Victorian London to his encounter with Santa Claus.

You have everything you need so, as what the Twelve says, shut up. Buy this OST anytime you want.

For UK customers: https://silvascreenmusic.greedbag.com/buy/doctor-who-series-8-original-tel-0/

Let's Do The News! (May 19, 2015)

- The trial over the negligence charges of sacked Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra has begun and during the brief hearing, she has pleaded not guilty on her charges but if found guilty, she will face over 10 years of imprisonment.

- Onto the Greek debt crisis, the nation's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said that the debt deal with the nation's international creditors is due next week. Greece's bankruptcy is imminent and they are due to make a payment of 1.5 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund on the 5th of June.

- US Secretary of State John Kerry mulls that the US and China are discussing the imminence of further sanctions against North Korea.

- The Japanese government wants the US to explain what caused the US Marines' MV-22 Osprey aircraft to crash-land in Hawaii on Sunday. The accident killed one person and wounded 21 others.

- Continuing on the investigation on the burnt slipper factory in Valenzuela, the city's government issued a provisional business permit to Kentex Manufacturing Corp, despite lacking the fire permit from the Bureau of Fire Protection. Last May 13, 72 people died when the factory burned down by accident.

- Veteran actor Robert De Niro revealed that he and his partners from Nobu Hospitality are planning to open the Nobu Resort in Manila in the near future. He was in Manila during the inauguration of the Nobu Hotel in City of Dreams Manila yesterday.

- The Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV lapped round the Nurburgring at 6:59.73, making it the only Lamborghini that can break through the seven-minute barrier round the Green Hell.

- Subaru announces a hybrid version of the Impreza Sport hatchback which is powered by a 2.0-liter SUBARU BOXER engine, coupled with a hybrid electric drive system. It's set to go on sale this Summer 2015.

2016 Subaru Impreza Sport Hybrid

- Uzuki Shimamura from THE iDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS gets her very own Nendoroid courtesy of Good Smile Company! She's set to go on sale this September for 3,900 Yen.

Nendoroid Uzuki Shimamura

- DID YOU KNOW? There's going to be a spin-off from the Disney Channel TV show Jessie coming soon and it's called BUNKD.

TTFN!!!