Rain or Shine wins PBA Commissioner's Cup

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters triumphed the PBA Commissioner's Cup championship after Game 6 victory against the Alaska Aces at the score of 109-92 last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

Apart from the team's unorthodox win, Elasto Painters' Paul Lee was named as MVP for his four 3-point shots and finished with 20 points scored.

This is the second time the Elasto Painters won championship title since their Governors Cup win five years ago with import Jamel Cornely.

Congratulations to the Elasto Painters for such win and it's great that the team got one heck of a Lee-thal weapon for the win.

URL: http://pba.inquirer.net/71770/rain-or-shine-smothers-alaska-in-game-6-claims-2nd-pba-crown

TGUSA: Military Might

Top Gear, the hit American TV show, goes to war (literally) as the boys ventured out to a top-secret National Training Center in Fort Irwin with their cars of their choice and see if these cars are tough enough to serve with the US Army. Rut goes for the RAM Power Wagon, Adam goes for the Jeep Wrangler, and Tanner goes to the Subaru WRX STi.

The first challenge involves a race against a heavily armed tank in a very punishing terrain designed for military vehicles. Although all three cars were slower than a tank, the Power Wagon was the fastest.

Next up is evasive maneuvers and the boys are driving through the obstacle course while evading sniper fire. The one with the least shots wins and in this challenge, Tanner and the STi wins.

While their cars are getting camouflaged for the final challenge, Tanner tries out one of his favorite extreme offroaders in his collection; which is a Polaris RZR XP Turbo and he's going to race through the finish line before Adam shoots 10 targets with the M1A1 Abrams tank. In the end, the tank finished first.

A day later, the boys' cars got camouflaged for the final challenge, involving a daring rescue mission in a simulated battle zone. Taking advantage of the cars, the boys will have to work together to survive the simulated war zone. After accomplishing this harsh mission, the soldiers evaluated how these cars progressed and out of the three, the Power Wagon is the clear winner. Tanner's Subie though, sealed its fate with the tank's shrapnel.

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution

Five years ago, the original HOMEFRONT game, once developed by KAOS Studio and published by THQ, two years before its bankruptcy, featured a fictional plausible take of the United States taking control by the North Koreans (who once unified the two Koreas not by the South but by the North) and the once America the Great is now abandoned and only a handful of resistance fighters wage war against the Korean People's Army. With the HOMEFRONT games now under Deep Silver's hands, the folks from Dambuster Studios rebooted the once-forgotten franchise with a bold new take.

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution (PC)

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution
(XBOX One)

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution
(PS4)

The revived HOMEFRONT game is now called HOMEFRONT: The Revolution and this game features a much different story than the old THQ-era HOMEFRONT game. In an alternate history, North Korea became a technological superpower thanks to a multinational technology company called APEX and with the whole world taking advantage of APEX's technologies, even the United States, it became one of the world's biggest companies. In the not-too-distant future, with the United States in the depths of financial ruin because of overspending with APEX-sourced tech from North Korea, the once great USA has been taken control by the Korean People's Army and a group of resistance fighters in Philadelphia is staging a revolution to take back America from the grips of not just North Korea but the corporation behind it.

The new HOMEFRONT game features open-world combat where players wage guerilla warfare and use any means necessary to slip past enemies in unbiased firefights. Apart from being a shooter game, The Revolution behaves like last year's everyone's personal favorite, Fallout 4, because you can gain new allies, make negotiations, establish bases and safehouses, create new weapons, and more. There are endless possibilities to create your own resistance to wage war against the KPA tyranny.

Believe it or not, playing The Revolution is becoming more of a party than your usual shooter because you can team up with other gamers and work your way through completing various missions from simpler ones to the most intense missions only the bravest heroes can ignite the revolution.

The fun continues because you can receive in-game bonuses by logging on to the official site or the Homefront Resistance Network app for iOS and Android. You can avail of the Expansion Pass to gain access to upcoming expansions coming this 2016 such as The Voice of Freedom and Aftermath as well as the Beyond the Walls expansion, due next year.

Thoughts on The Revolution? It's starting to behave like the Fallout games due to its open-world action and creating your own resistance out of the people you've trusted. However, the storyline and the action are too intense for the faint at heart and you have to be brave enough to endure the thrilling action The Revolution has offered. While this game is recommended to play on co-op because playing solo is not enough to finish the job, it is best to stick to the PC version because with paid memberships on the XBOX Live and PlayStation Plus plagued the newest consoles, you'll have to empty your wallet to enjoy playing with other players.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Trump says he would speak to N.Korea's Kim Jong Un

Republican US Presidentiable Donald Trump says he will be willing to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to stop the country's nuclear program.

In an interview with a certain news agency, Trump would speak to the North Korean leader and would have no problem doing so. Trump added that he would at the same time put a lot of pressure on China. He said China can solve problems with the Korean peninsula's nuclear program with one meeting or one phone call.

Trump's remark draw flak from the camp of Democratic Party presidentiable Hillary Clinton.

Source: NHK World

Let's Do The News! (May 18, 2016)

- The Philippines has gained a "new territory" through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's ruling on the 13 million hectare Benham Rise. Until 2012, the seismically active underwater region known as the Benham Plateau and extinct volcanic ridge had not been part of the archipelago, despite the Philippines is the only country within 200 nautical miles of the plateau.

- Philippine President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte's plans to revive the death penalty sparked criticisms from the public, even those from the Catholic Church and officials. Among the critics of the revival of life imprisonment is Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo, who is leading in the vice presidential race.

- In the latest presidential primaries for the November 2016 US Presidential Elections, the heated battle between two Democratic presidentiables Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are heating up as Clinton wins at the Kentucky primaries while Sanders won the Oregon primaries. As of now, Clinton now has 2,291 delegates while Sanders is 763 delegates behind her.

- Series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, have killed at least 70 people and injured 140 others. The Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attacks and all four bomb attacks took place within a few hours in areas populated by Shia Muslims. The Iraqi military and the US-led coaliton are stepping up an offensive against the Islamic State militants.

- US authorities opened the investigation into athletic doping by Russian athletes. According to reports, the US Justice Department is targeting anyone who might have benefited unfairly from doping. These would include Russian government officials, athletes, coaches, and anti-doping agency officials.

- In the ongoing fuel consumption crisis, South Korean authorities says Nissan manipulated emissions with their UK-built crossover with diesel engine, thanks to a dubious device that shuts off its exhaust reduction system under regular driving temperature.

- The long-awaited arrival of NASCAR in the world of Forza Motorsport 6 for the XBOX One console is here with the brand new FM6 NASCAR Expansion, now available for $20. The expansion not only sees the car roster full of 2016 season NASCAR machines but also the arrival of Homestead-Miami Speedway and the all-new NASCAR World Tour where players pit their NASCAR skills to the test against the world.

- Minzy, the former member of K-Pop girl group 2NE1, has officially signed with The Music Works Entertainment, a subsidiary of CJ E&M Music Performance Division. Minzy will be joining alongside singer Baek Ji Young on the record label.

- Torchwood alums John Barrowman (who played as Captain Jack Harkness) and Gareth David-Lloyd (who played Ianto Jones) are reprising their roles once again for their newest chapter of their Torchwood audio drama series titled Torchwood: Broken.

- With shooting for the fourth season of BBC's Sherlock has commenced, actor Toby Jones will be joining this season as a villain in the new season, due 2017.

TTFN!!!

F1 2016: Spanish GP

Image: Getty Images

The Spanish Grand Prix of the Formula One 2016 season held at Circuit de Catalunya became a historic F1 moment to remember because for the first time, a ranked outsider emerged a winner as Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who replaced Daniil Kvyat, became the youngest F1 driver to win a race and also the youngest to lead a race. Not bad for an 18-year-old ace driver.

Following Verstappen's historic win, two Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel placed 2nd and 3rd. Despite their podium finish, things are going to be rough for the Ferrari F1 team.

Misfortunes aside, we witnessed Mercedes' downfall in the race as Hamilton and Rosberg crashed their machines during the start of the race. Fernando Alonso from McLaren-Honda, meanwhile, once again retired because his machine failed to start. And then, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg's car caught fire.

The overall standings sees a drastic change following Mercedes' DNF in the race. While Nico Rosberg remains his lead with 100 points, Ferrari's Raikkonen is now 2nd place with 61 points and Hamilton dropped to 3rd with 57 points.

The next race will be at Monaco on the 29th of May, 2016.

Forza Motorsport 6: The forgotten jack knife

The Hyundai Veloster has been around since its launch in 2011, about the same year when FM4 came out on the old X360, and despite its unique 3-door design for a hatchback coupe, the Veloster never wins the hearts of many audiences apart from feeling  a bit small even the additional door on the passenger side couldn't help it because the rear's just too small to squeeze into. Even in this turbocharged variant, which comes with a 1.6L Gamma T-GDi engine that produces 201HP of power as well as improved dynamics, it's still less spicy as Europe's best hot hatchbacks.

Despite its overwhelming flaws, I am one of the few people who got enamored by the Veloster's uniqueness. It once got a starring role in the City Hunter Korean drama with Lee Min Ho on it. Anyone remember that? No? Well, for some point, as years pass by, more and more people are starting to forget about the Veloster, despite last year's update featuring a D-Spec model with a 6-speed manual gearbox on it as well as a 7-speed DCT. Nevertheless, despite being aged through the years, the forgotten jack knife made by the South Koreans won't stop until its last fight song has ended.

In order for me to look back at the forgotten jack knife I once being a fan of it since its launch, let me go to the Circuit de Catalunya's National Circuit layout because with this track layout, I'm starting to feel some flashbacks about how much I became a fan of Hyundai's unique 2+1 hatchback coupe that is part of its Premium Younique Lifestyle for the Korean car enthusiasts.

Although not the best performance I could have done but still, I made South Korea's forgotten jack knife in automotive history very proud. Sure the Veloster is becoming a lackluster as years pass by but when in partial terms of endearment, its potential status as a future classic is going to be a baby step for those who valued the Veloster for their lifetime. It may not be a threat to Europe's finest hot hatch but the Veloster is just one of the many Hyundais that shows that the Korean car company has some zest into it. Not bad for a rapidly growing car company from Asia.