Let's Do The News! (October 20, 2016)

- Onto the situation of Typhoon Lawin, eight people were reported dead and two were reported missing in the wake of the typhoon, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government. DILG Director Edgar Allan Tabell said they have received reports of four deaths in the Cordillera Administrative Region, three in Region 2, and one in Region 1. Two more people are reported missing in Region 2.

- President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he is severing ties with the United States, the Philippines' long-time ally and trading partner. During his Chinese state visit, Duterte announced the separation from the US "not only in economics, but also military" at a gathering of Chinese businessmen.

- Meanwhile, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez says the Philippines and China will sign  $13.5 billion of deals during President Duterte's China visit. Earlier, the leaders oversaw the signing of agreements that touched on the financing of infrastructure projects, boosting trade and tourism, lifting export restrictions, and other issues.

- PNP Director General Ronald Dela Rosa assured the public that the police officers involved in the violent dispersal outside the US embassy are now being investigated. Dela Rosa said he ordered National Capital Region Police Office Regional Director Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde to place all the officers involved in the dispersal under administrative relief to ensure the impartiality of the probe,

- Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sized each other up in their third and final presidential debate held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final debate tackles more on the current issues that America is facing right now as well as themselves. In the end, Clinton's debate performance stood out.

- Following the failed ceasefire for Syria last month, over three thousand people are killed in battles and airstrikes.

- Under cover of the historic offensive to take back Mosul, a tunnel has been found in a village on the outskirts of the city. The path is believed to have been used by Islamic State militants as an evacuation route and a bunker to escape from air bombings.

- Tesla uncovers their Level 5 autonomous driving hardware that will soon be placed on future Teslas, including their new Model 3 saloon. The new Level 5 is different from the controversial Autopilot system as it relies on eight cameras that can provide a 360-degree view around the car at distances up to 250km. Then, new sensors let a Tesla detect objects at twice the distance of the previous one. And a new neural net will make use of all the visual, sonar, and radar data.

- The Seat Leon range has been updated for the 2017 model year, featuring a revised look and new features.

2017 Seat Leon

TTFN!!!

Barangay Ginebra wins 2016 PBA Governor's Cup Finals

Six out of seven games, more than enough to put the epic close battle between the two PBA teams; the Barangay Ginebra and the Meralco Bolts, to a conclusion and with a very close score of 91 to 88, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel team made a saved-by-the-bell victory to clinch the Governor's Cup title.

One of the most epic parts in the final moments of this game is when the clock is nearing zero while both of the teams scored 88 points each, a miraculous last-second three-point shot from BGSM's number 32, import player Justin Brownlee, made the final seconds of the game into a historic achievement for BGSM after a close match against the Bolts.

By winning the championship title, the BGSM team has named LA Tenorio as their MVP, having averaged 17.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in-game.

So, with their eight-year drought is finally behind them, the Barangay Ginebra finally got the championship title win they deserved, just. Congratulations to BGSM for winning the 2016 PBA Governor's Cup Championship!

Further reading: http://pba.inquirer.net/77628/brownlee-nails-buzzer-beater-ginebra-wins-title-ends-drought

Let's Do The News! (October 19, 2016)

- Lawin has now intensified into a supertyphoon as it moves closer to the Cagayan-Isabela area, according to PAGASA, As of 1:00 PM, Lawin was located 300km east of Casiguran, Aurora with max sustained winds of over 225kph and gusts of up to 315kph. It is likely to move west northwest at 24kph. Lawin is forecasted to make landfall over the Cagayan-Isabela area between late Wednesday and early Thursday and will cross Apayao and Ilocos Norte provinces.

- A police van has rammed into protesters in front of an US Embassy in Manila as an anti-US rally turned violent. Protest leader Renato Reyes says at least three student activists had to be taken to a hospital after they were ran over by the police van.

- President Rodrigo Duterte's recent visit to China will be closely scrutinized for signs on how seriously the new Philippine leader intends to pursue a shift away from the US and toward China, a move that could have a major impact on regional power dynamics. Duterte was greeted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on his Beijing arrival on Tuesday evening. He was set to meet Thursday with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and, and third-ranking official Zhang Dejiang, the head of the legislature.

- US President Barack Obama criticized the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for asserting that next month's elections is "rigged". He told Trump to "stop whining". Obama told reporters that he has never seen in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit elections before votes have even taken place.

- Russian defense minister says that both Syrian and Russian air forces have halted all air strikes on Aleppo, 2 days ahead of a planned pause in all attacks.

- Iraqi troops have airdropped millions of leaflets to urge residents of Mosul not to cooperate with the Islamic State militant group. The Iraqi and Kurdish troops launched a historic offensive on Monday to take back the city that was under ISIS's control for over two years.

- In honor of BMW's recent DTM championship win, a new M4 DTM Champion Edition was launched, packed with an upgraded 3.0 turbocharged engine that produces 500PS of power. Only 200 units will be made and priced at 148,500 Euros.

BMW M4 DTM Champion Edition

- The new Ultimate Summer costume and returning hit songs like Ｌ・Ｏ・Ｂ・Ｍ are the highlights of the 4th DLC Catalog for the PS4-exclusive THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars game, available to download this 25th of October.

- Before the Pokemon Sun and Moon games coming out on the 18th of November, the TV anime will be premiered on TV Tokyo on the 17th of November with a one-hour special. Z-moves, new Pokemon, new friends, and school life for Ash will be expected on the new show!



TTFN!!!

THE IDOLM@STER PLATINUM MASTER 03 Amaterasu

THE IDOLM@STER PLATINUM MASTER 03 Amaterasu

The third volume of THE IDOLM@STER PLATINUM MASTER lineup, inspired from the PS4-exclusive THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars video game, has arrived and as inspired from the recently launched third DLC catalog offered in-game, the full M@STER VERSION of the new song as heard from Platinum Stars, titled アマテラス, has arrived.

Judging from their cool ancient-style outfits featured in the cover, just like in-game, you can expect that this latest song has a blend of ancient Japanese stuff and the similar iM@S upbeat rhythm you would expect in most iM@S songs. If you had enough fun listening to their latest song several times, there's two audio drama part that will take you behind the scenes on this latest song; including the 765 Channel part inspired from the song and another one of Kotori Otonashi's files that will delve you deeper to the latest song.

Something missed? Oh yeah! Because with everything's in full place, Kotori and 765Pro's President Takagi have a big word for all of you and if by "word", they meant of course a song! That sounds awkward to hear music and vocals by these two but looks like you'll be joining the fun as well.

The game's theme song, Happy!, and the other PLATINUM MASTER installments, are also available so be sure to collect them all if you can!

TRACK LISTINGS:
1) アマテラス(M@STER VERSION)
2) ドラマ「765チャンネル vol.3 〜天照突破アマテラス〜」
3) アマテラス(M@STER VERSION) オリジナル・カラオケ
4) ドラマ「音無小鳥の妄想編集室 vol.3」
5) 飛べない鳥は夜に鳴く
6) 飛べない鳥は夜に鳴く オリジナル・カラオケ

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

- Typhoon Lawin (Haima) may be almost a super typhoon when it makes its expected landfall in Northern Luzon this week, according to PAGASA. The typhoon is expected to make landfall in early Thursday morning in the Cagayan area with very strong winds between 200 to 220kph. The government will raise Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 4 if Lawin reaches such intensity. Lawin is expected to leave the PAR by early Friday morning.

- President Rodrigo Duterte told Chinese reporters that China is the key for the development of the Philippines. His visit to China starting Tuesday points toward a restoration of trust between the sides following recent tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. He said China is a potent source of capital for infrastructure development and the Philippines should leverage its 2-million-strong ethnic Chinese minority as a bridge to encourage Chinese investment.

- The Supreme Court has extended the halt order on the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos until November 8. This move halts the supposed internment of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

- The House of Representatives Justice committee approved its report on the inquiry into the proliferation illegal drugs in the New Bilibid Prison. The report was approved through a viva voce vote after 47 hours of hearings and two executive sessions.

- The Nobel Foundation has yet to receive word from singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who was the recipient of this year's Nobel Prize in literature. The selection committee tried to reach him several times but it has not heard back from him in the 4 days since the announcement.

- 60 people have died during intense fighting in South Sudan between the government and the rebels.

- The United Nations Security Council issued a press statement on Monday following the failed launch of an ICBM by North Korea last Saturday. The UNSC strongly condemned the recent failed launch from the Korean Peninsula.

TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 3: Day off with a Subie

While I'm in the middle of a do-nothing day, I set off in a VAB Subaru STi to see how much fun this four-door sports saloon forged from Subaru's motorsport heritage in rallycross and endurance racing where it dominated the SP3T class of the NBR 24HR challenge. Nothing like taking a little time off with my favorite Subie on Australian roads while taking some time off from Horizon duties.

As I recall, the latest WRX STi is the high-performance version of Subaru's WRX line, which is now based on the Levorg station wagon. The WRX line comes in two different versions; one is the comfort-purpose S4 with the 2.0L DIT engine with a CVT and this, is the STi which comes with the same turbocharged EJ engine mated to a 6-speed manual. In Japan, just the two-liter is offered while world markets get the bigger 2.5L engine but either way, they produce almost the same, if you know what I mean?

Anyway, because the current STi is a high-performance variant of the WRX range and because it's civilized version of the WRX was called S4, not to be confused with the Audi S4, that rang me a perfect idea so I headed back to the festival to do some brainstorming and then doing some stuff before hosting an event just for this beauty I lined up.





Okay, you got me, but my Subie's now themed after the elite honor students as seen from the Aikatsu Stars anime series, which are called, of course, the S4! S4?! Would I expect to put the S4 in the STi? That sounds a rather redundant joke but there are other things why I made this thing up from scratch. The first thing they might realize is that they might mistake it for an ordinary WRX S4 that has been swapped with bits and bobs from the STi or perhaps a WRX STi that wants to be an S4 for no reason.

Enough about that but I'll give you a little secret. I had a cousin who used to own a fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro and because the fifth-gen Camaro has gone out of style with the introduction of the latest model, he traded in his Camaro with a brand new Subaru WRX. What kind of WRX has he got? Nope, you're wrong because it's an S4...except for one bit; it has a manual gearbox that the Japanese version didn't have. Yep, world-market WRXs come with either a CVT or a manual, which sounds unfair to Japanese drivers.

Anyway, now that you got the idea, time to spice my Subie with the elite idol schoolgirls from Aikatsu Stars, which is the S4 by the way, by playing rough in an event made for Subies, by Subies.

Lights! Motor! Action!!!



Heck yeah! It pays to have a cousin driving a Subie, which is cooler than my grandma's friend who also drives a Subie except it isn't as cool as my cousin's. This is what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.

Wait, where did I get that line before? Oh well...

Let's Do The News! (October 17, 2016)

- As the nation is reeling from the aftermath of Typhoon Karen, Typhoon Lawin approaches the country's vicinity. As of 0500 hours local time, the storm, with the international name Haima, packs max sustained winds of 175kph near the center with gusts of up to 212kph, according to the US's JTWC. It was tracking north westward at a pace of 27kph early on Monday toward waters off Northern Luzon.

- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed a bill which seeks for the creation of an independent Foreign Policy Advisory Board which will have the same status as that of a national agency under the Office of the President.

- President Rodrigo Duterte agrees that giving up Scarborough Shoal to China is an impeachable offense and he will not "barter" away the country's territory and economic rights as he headed to China for a state visit this week.

- Saturday night in North Carolina, there was an attack occurred on a Republican office at Orange Country. A bottle of flammable liquid was thrown through one of the building's windows, igniting a four-room fire and leaving behind blackened walls and charred campaign posters - but no casualties.

- Iraqi troops launched a historic offensive to take back the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants. Mosul is the militant group's largest stronghold in Iraq.

- In case you missed a special announcement from last weekend's THE IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls 4th Live concert, the Cinderella Girls are back in a form of pint-sized anime shorts called Cinderella Girls Theater! The staff from the Puchimas shorts will return to make the shorts featuring your favorite 346 Production idols! Also, there will be a new web manga called Cinderella Girls U149, highlighting the unsung idols.

- New Pokemon Sun and Moon info on the radar! The latest info involves new evolved forms and new characters. Check it out and...beware of Alolan Grimer and Alolan Muk because...they're ultra scary to look at them.

TTFN!!!