Let's Do The News! (January 10, 2017)

- A denial of service attack has kept the website of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines offline since Monday night. "We do not know by whom but this we can say – whoever are responsible for this attack are enemies of press freedom and of free expression," the group said in a statement on its Facebook page. The mainstream media by some supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte for being biased against him and his administration and this is not the first time that journalists and journalists' groups have been hit online.

- According to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, Vice President Leni Robredo is not involved in an e-mail group allegedly planning to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. Over the weekend, archives of supposed e-mails in a Global Filipino Diaspora Council Yahoo! Group between group members and supposed members of the Office of the Vice President circulated on social media. The supposed emails have been dubbed "LeniLeaks". Robredo denies everything, of course.

- The image of the Black Nazarene was returned to the minor basilica known as Quiapo Church, around 0345 hours local time after a 22-hour procession around Manila. The procession known locally as "traslacion" of the image pulled on a carriage left the Quirino Grandstand at 0520 hours on Monday, the start of the annual crowded Roman Catholic celebration.

- People in Nigeria have marched the 1,000th day since Boko Haram Islamic extremists abducted hundreds of schoolgirls. In April 2014, the extremist group took over 200 girls from their school in the western African nation, threatening to traffic them as slaves.

- A US Navy destroyer has fired warning shots at Iranian military boats at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Officials at the US Defense Department say that 4 boats from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps approached the USS Mahan at high speed on Sunday. Pentagon officials say that the Iranian ships ignored US radio warnings and came within about 800m of the US ship.

- Two aging nuclear reactors near New York City will be shut down by the next four years. The state of New York and Entergy, the operator of the reactors have agreed to take the two operating reactors at Indian Point nuclear power plant offline. The reactors were first licensed for operation in the mid-70's. The two reactors combined can produce over 2,000 megawatts of electricity.

- Russia condemned the recent US intel report which concludes that President Vladimir Putin ordered cyber-attacks to help Donald Trump win the US presidential election. Last week, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that Putin ordered cyber-attacks against computers used by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's team.

- The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported arrested an executive of Volkswagen on charges of conspiracy to defraud US regulators by altering emissions data. Reports told of the arrest of Oliver Schmidt, who headed the automaker's regulatory compliance in the US from 2014 to March 2015.

- In addition to US President-elect Donald Trump drawn flak by Meryl Streep's Golden Globe awards speech (and countered it via one of his infamous tweets), the mixed martial arts community got offended from her speech as well. Bellator MMA president Scott Coker wrote her an open letter inviting her to attend a fight to prove that MMA is art, as Streep opposed aside from American football as said from her speech.

- A new Biohazard/Resident Evil stage play will be running at Tokyo's Zepp Blue Theater Roppongi from the 10th to the 26th of February, and in Kobe's Shin Kobe Oriental Theater from the 4th to the 5th of March. Ryusei Yokohama, Yuki Fukumoto, Reo Shimura, and many others will star in the original stage play based from the hit survival horror franchise.

TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 3: Saint's Row

Cue the Legendary Tribe Music because it's time for another barn find rumor! And this month's barn find rumor is located somewhere beyond Yarra Valley. Some say that the barn find in question was famous for being a car of choice of a certain smart aleck detective and played by a certain someone who landed in this role before he became the agent we all know and love.

Without further ado, let's get this treasure-hunting started!

And now, the moment of truth...



Let's see...Hmmm...A car famed for being the choice of a certain detective from a classic TV show. No way! It's a Volvo 1800! This is the car of choice for Simon Templar, the smart alecky detective and the star of The Saint. It's the TV show Roger Moore starred in before he became 007 number three. Just imagine, living like The Saint is like you're on the move, stopping criminals with his brand of honesty and wise-cracking ideas, something you'd expect from binge-watching some detective shows.

Seen here is the 1800E and this Volvo comes with a B20E engine with fuel injection producing 130HP of power, resulting to a 0-100kph time of 9.5 seconds and a top speed of 190kph. Not as quick by modern standards but it is still a good car to drive. Picturing myself as The Saint driving this Volvo while gunning down against members of a drug cartel in their Jeeps, Broncos, and Scouts in a middle of a wilderness is something they should have done in the first place. In fact, I did trying to live the fantasy of The Saint giving chase to the notorious drug syndicate operating in Australia, just to give you a hint on its star power that Roger Moore propelled it in the TV show. Let's cue The Saint theme song and let's get cracking.



And they said The Saint got them red-handed. Case closed but not for me because there are still more barn finds waiting to be discovered within a couple of months so the case is still on for The Saint.

Let's Do The News! (January 9, 2017)

- President Rodrigo Duterte highlighted the fight against injustice, corruption, and abuse of power in his message for this year's Traslacion of the Black Nazarene. Duterte said Filipinos keep their faith as they strive to fight the ills of society. Duterte describe as "phenomenal" the expression of faith of the millions of Black Nazarene devotees, which comes in the form of gratitude, petition, and sacrifice.

- Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said he could not blame Malacañang for the decision to probe reports on an alleged plot by supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo to oust President Duterte which have surfaced online and called "LeniLeaks."

- Bong Go, President Duterte's longtime aide denied that the chief executive visited a cancer hospital in China while he was out of public eye during the first few days of the year. Go said the president never left the country during his private time.

- US President-elect Donald Trump was unamused over Meryl Streep's Golden Globe speech. Trump never seen Ms. Streep's remarks or other parts of the Globes ceremony, but added that he was "not surprised" that he had been drawn flak by the "liberal movie people."

- Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani passed way at the age of 82. Media reports that he died on Sunday at a Tehran hospital after suffering a heart attack. The Iranian government has announced three days of national mourning.

- 20 people have died in Europe as freezing temperatures grip the continent. Snowstorms have hit many parts of Europe for the past several days.

- British scientists warned that a huge iceberg is on the risk of breaking away from Antarctica. Members of Project MIDAS at the University of Swansea in Wales have been monitoring a rift across the Larsen C ice shelf. This extends west on the Antarctic Peninsula. The say the rift suddenly grew longer last month and is now more than 80km. There are 20km left before the shelf breaks apart.

- The popular Battle Girl High School app game will spawn a TV anime coming this Summer 2017.

- British car company Ginetta will join the 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship with their new chassis.

TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 3: Long-awaited Bimmer

While the cars of Forza Horizon 3 are freely roaming around in the roads of the Land Down Under, a car made with the futuristic necessities come shining through as it rolls by. This could only mean one thing; at long last, after two or three years of waiting to get this car featured in the Forza franchise after its launch, the long-awaited Bimmer, the BMW i8, has arrived, ringing the new year with a flashpoint of the future.

Yes, the BMW i8 has arrived, thanks to Forza Horizon 3's Rockstar Energy Drink Car Pack, available now, and with this car pack, our dream of driving BMW's flagship plug-in hybrid electric sportscar that is the spearheader of the BMW i range in the game has came true and we have plenty of reasons to drive "the ultimate driving machine" for the next generation. More like the next 100 years if you ask the Bimmer fanatics.

So, what's it all about the BMW i8? As the sensation of the year 2014, BMW's all new plug-in hybrid electric sportscar, the i8, ushers the new era of sporty driving with ecological conscience in mind. Drawing inspirations from the Vision EfficientDynamics Concept in 2009 and the i8 Concept in 2011, this concept-turned-reality PHEV is another reason why BMW is getting their eco-car game face on and it combines the fun-to-drive characteristics of a luxury sportscar with the ecology and efficiency of most hybrids and electric cars. With the 1.5L petrol and the hybrid synchronous motor working together, it develops a total output of 362PS of power, resulting to a 0-100kph time of 4.4 seconds and 2.1L/100km of fuel economy. Apart from that, the i8's bodywork is comprised of space-age materials, making it stiffer and lighter. All and all, the i8 is a PHEV that is here today, ready for tomorrow and with such unique packaging, no one can go wrong with it.

I feel like I'm one in a million people who demanded to have this car in the franchise since its 2014 launch as a 2015 model year and while it sounds too little, too late for us, it's better late than never to have BMW's flagship plug-in hybrid electric sportscar in the game. Because this is the one everyone's waited for so long, the BMW i8 is surely become their next favorite Bimmer to drive in the Land Down Under for days, even months, while experimenting its astonishing capabilities this PHEV can do. Yes, we do have the berks of the future in the range such as the P1, LaFerrari, the Tesla Model S, and even the latest NSX I drove a while back, but this i8 is all about being a step into tomorrow's world and while its eco-car credentials swoon weird-beard environmentalists and armpit hair enthusiasts alike, its performance is nothing to be called a dull ride to the playground. In fact, there's some work to be done with this...long-awaited Bimmer.

See what I did? Looks like the i8 got the "extra service" it deserved and speaking of which, who else to love but THE IDOLM@STER's Yayoi Takatsuki? I mean, come on. Is anyone still have love with the series for over a decade?! Still, the reason why I came this up is because while this basically an expensive car with a six-figure price tag, it is considered to be ten times less expensive than the "holy trinity" of hypercars. Sadly, the so-called "holy trinity" of the supercar realm are already sold out, hence this is the only hybrid sportscar you can afford. Still, that pricing kinda rings a bell when you compare it against another hybrid sportscar, the new Honda NSX. I love that car, anyway, but if you had to choose between the NSX and i8? Which would you like?

Sadly, this isn't the time to answer questions because it's time for the i8's no talk, just do it to the max straight approach! Hey! Where did I heard that before? Still, time to get the cameras rolling!

The BMW i8 is the car that was meant to be a future-ready innovation in the time when cars with big thirsty V8 engines are heading to the list of endangered species, just like what happened to the V10 engines, which sadly there are two remaining on the list such as the Lamborghini Huracan and the Audi R8. Like animals, car innovations don't live for a few years and the numbers will keep on declining for the next generation until one of them are declared extinct. Things change and and this is the very reality we're facing right now so we have to adapt through every situation as the world turns for better or for worse, like what the i8 is doing as it can adapt to the ever-changing world with its future-ready innovation that sets the template for BMW's centennial history. Anyway, that's all I can said it and I think that's enough for that.

Happy that you got to drive the i8? If so, you'll be glad that you had it since the car was launched in 2014.

Winners of the 2017 Golden Globe Awards

This year's Golden Globe Awards is an award ceremony heard round the world not just on tackling today's world affairs but to honor the best of cinematic and televisual greatness as judged by the panel of experts. So, in case you missed the recent awards ceremony, check out the list of this year's winners. You'll be surprised which one scored the most...

Best picture, drama: “Moonlight”

Best picture, comedy or musical: “La La Land”

Actress, drama: Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”

Actor, drama: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”

Actress, comedy or musical: Emma Stone, “La La Land”

Actor, comedy or musical: Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”

Supporting actress: Viola Davis, “Fences”

Supporting actor: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Nocturnal Animals”

Director: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”

Screenplay: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”

Animated film: “Zootopia”

Foreign language film: “Elle” (France)

Original score: Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land”

Original song: “City of Stars,” “La La Land”

Best series, drama: “The Crown,” Netflix

Best series, comedy or musical: “Atlanta,” FX

Best television movie or mini-series: “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” FX

Actress, mini-series or television movie: Sarah Paulson, “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”

Actor, mini-series or television movie: Tom Hiddleston, “The Night Manager”

Actress, drama: Claire Foy, “The Crown”

Actor, drama: Billy Bob Thornton, “Goliath”

Actress, comedy or musical: Tracee Ellis Ross, “black-ish”

Actor, comedy or musical: Donald Glover, “Atlanta”

Supporting actress: Olivia Colman, “The Night Manager”

Supporting actor: Hugh Laurie, “The Night Manager”

La La Land

It seems that the musical film "La La Land" is the big winner of this year's Golden Globe awards because it scored seven awards than any other films in this year's awards ceremony, making it an impressive record for a movie that starred award-winning stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone about love, difficulties, and success in the eyes of a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress. Come to think of it, La La Land has became the talk of the town ever since it shown in theaters since last month, and due to its popularity, it became the clear winner of this year's Golden Globe awards.

FH3 Blizzard Mountain: Snow Flower

As everyone remembered, this is the Lotus Exige S. With the added power from its supercharged V6 engine combined with the legendary Lotus dynamics that focused solely on weight loss, it is one of the most extreme Lotuses ever made to cater the most demanding drivers on the road and on the track. However, in a cold climate like Blizzard Mountain, there's no freaking way that this car can race here...or can I?

Because almost all of the cars offered in Forza Horizon 3 can be fitted with studless tires because without it, it would be difficult to drive it here, especially when you got an offroader in your collection. For a rear-wheel drive like the Lotus Exige, it's virtually impossible to drive it through ice so it's ideal to rig it with studless snow tires. Although, even with snow tires, it's still not going to make it through the icy conditions of Blizzard Mountain, or perhaps can you?

To find out, I am giving the Lotus Exige S the "extra service" it deserves. Aside from giving it some snow tires and some performance upgrades for competitive purposes, it's got some familiar looking design that was updated for today. The last time I made a design for the Exige S back in Europe, that Takane Shijou look gave it a more alluring flair and now, I've updated the design to meet Platinum Stars standards. Nothing says I took that looks from the pages of Ridge Racer's Fatalita "Takane SP" special machine.

Anyway, after long hours of extra service, the Exige is ready to take on a scene where different cars are racing through a village during a snowstorm at the dead of night. Severe snowstorm at nightfall? That is very scary and so are the cars getting ready for filming but the show must go on as planned and judging by the challenges set here, looks like I might run into some fierce resistance from the opponents. So, let's get this show started.

Man, that Audi TT S at the end of the race is a real thorn to me during the final lap, and despite my victory at the end of the race packed with extreme icy conditions, it's clear that even with snow tires, rear-wheel drives are almost impossible to survive, although this would pack some added challenge to the drivers who demand more. Like they said, a true champion always adapt to the battlefield, seeing the harsher conditions as a challenge, and taking a rear-wheel drive Lotus on the winter wonderland is a tough act to follow.

The Grand Tour - Episode 9

The Grand Tour Episode 9

In the ninth episode of Amazon's Original TV Series, The Grand Tour, the boys are stepping through the future by giving the motoring world a glimpse of tomorrow.

First up, James May is test driving the all-new Honda NSX supercar to see just how it lives up as the successor to Japan's legendary sportscar.

Then, with SUVs are becoming the new normal in the automotive landscape, Jeremy Clarkson devises a plan to create his own kind of "sports utility vehicle" using the underpinnings of the Land Rover Discovery as the basis. He once used the MGB's exterior for this experiment but moments later, it broke. Later, he used the old Mercedes SL roadster and christen it as "The Excellent".

After that, with an ongoing energy crisis going on in the world, the boys are trying to find any means to generate as much electricity as they can to solve the problem. Trouble is, they didn't.

And finally, when the world faces an imminent fallout, Richard Hammond creates his own take of a bugged-out car. In his first attempt, he created a VW-based survival vehicle, only to be then blown by Clarkson and May using conventional weaponry. In the second attempt, it got blown away by a tank. And in the third attempt, Hammond created a military vehicle, only to be then destroyed by a battleship's long-range weaponry.

FH3 Blizzard Mountain: The Living (Broad) Daylight

Back to some more James Bond references to do on Forza Horizon 3's Blizzard Mountain, let's move on to the Bond car used during the Timothy Dalton years, known as the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.



In the James Bond movie, The Living Daylights, when Bond's about to get pull over by a police car, he fired up the wheel's laser to split the police car into half, thus initiating a cat-and-mouse chase between the car and the Soviet army pursuing them. Then, when one of the tires got shot down, Bond initiated the car's winter feature until the car met its fiery death via the self-destruct button while he and Kara shake off pursuers until they reached Austria using Kara's cello.



Again, this is not in a snowy part of Europe where Bond got pursued by the Soviets after splitting a police car into half with a laser, because I'm still in the Blizzard Mountain, and while the V8 Vantage I'm driving right now doesn't have the weapons like you get in the Bond car, fitting it with snow tires is as close as you can get to the Bond car's winter equipment, minus the sleds. Although Bond fans like are excited to take this Bond car for a spin round Blizzard Mountain to reminisce its Living Daylights moment, this isn't the time to feel jumpy because this is rear-wheel drive and even when you fit it with snow tires, you might be having some hard time survive the slippery conditions this extreme icy weather can throw at you. However, those who are looking a little challenge seems like they're getting their "challenge accepted" face on. So, dare to race it on extreme icy conditions? Challenge accepted.





While the Bond people remain very quiet right now, fans are starting to honor 55 years of Bond by reliving every James Bond movie in history, from Dr. No to SPECTRE, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig, so much more to understand fifty-five years of James Bond films and here in Forza Horizon 3, those Bond cars featured in the game are so many reasons to honor the famed British spy that woos the ladies, foils the villains' plots, toying the gadgets Q Branch ever offered, and driving the fastest cars during his missions. Need I say more?

Hidden Figures

The launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit is one of America's most significant turning point in history that restored the great nation's confidence, made the turning point in the Space Race of the Cold War era, and forever changed the world. But behind the turning point of history are the unsung women who made this happened and in this inspirational tale, Hidden Figures will give viewers the unsung tale of the three women who forever changed the world during the Cold War era following the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, and Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson, three unsung African-American women working at NASA and responsible for the greatest turning points in the history of the great nation of United States of America. Behind their unsung success comes with their rough beginnings, about how they got to their posts to the first place and how did they work their way to the top of their own game.

Given to the caliber to this unsung tale of the Afro-American women, Hidden Figures is one way to start the year 2017 with a blast, no matter the political climate today's America is facing, and while it reflects historical events in a different point of view, it serves as an inspirational tale for those, regardless of any gender or race, to dream big and never giving up, no matter the odds of today's world.

As world affairs keeps on changing, this film will serve as one of the most remarkable points in cinematic history and Hidden Figures is just one of the main reasons to understand the life and times of American affairs in a different point of view and it doesn't really matter if you're into world history because this movie is a fit for everyone who has big aspirations for tomorrow's world.

My rating: 4.4 out of 5.

Bubble Gang - January 6, 2017 #BGBigTimeExtra

On the January 6, 2017 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Duguan gags

- Is someone with a nose problem considered to be disabled?

- My Husband's Dubber

- An extra on the set is a famous one...

- Istambay, Istambay sa Looban, Isang Taon Na Naman Ng Kantahan, Dahil New Year Ngayon Sa Tambayan, Simulan Na Natin Ang...KUWENTUHAN?!

- More news for moms in Balitang Ina.

- The dispute dilemma on a normal day...

- Basa-Basa-Pik!

FH3 Blizzard Mountain: Ghost of SPECTRE's past

The Blizzard Mountain has full of references festival-runners can come up with their near-endless imagination, and with the year 2017 signals the 55th anniversary of the James Bond films, it will take a lot of time before the franchise returns with new and exciting ways to keep the tales of the legendary British spy alive and well. In the meantime, festival-runners who are fans of the Bond films can picture so many Bond references to come up with and nothing is more so that revisiting the snowy ghost of SPECTRE's past, the Range Rover Sport SVR.

In the movie, a group of SPECTRE goons captured Dr. Madeleine Swann and then pursued by Bond in a snow plane at a snowy Austrian landscape. Sadly, there's no snow plane chasing you down and this isn't Austria, which is easily confused for Australia. This is Blizzard Mountain but driving the SVR as seen in the film is as close as you can get from the SPECTRE goons.

It has the same supercharged 5.0L V8 engine as seen from the Jaguar F-Type R and it produces 550HP of power and 502ft-lb of torque. Now a V8 engine like this sounds unfriendly to heretic environmentalists and polar bears alike but when you listen to it, it roars like a beast on the cold winter night and those who experienced it after the snow plane sequence on SPECTRE can have a clear expression of what's like to drive one of the cars reserved for SPECTRE. Now we're like living in a life of international crime with this one unless Bond can gut us out in the open.

Speaking of which, while the Range Rover Sport balances legendary Range Rover offroad capability with track-honed performance that upsets the little hatches, the SVR pushes the envelope on the other side. I presumed that the SVR is a track-focused Land Rover that trades its offroad capability to track-minded characteristics but seeing one in SPECTRE in action, it defies the point I made, knowing that despite its track-honed capabilities that lapped the Nurburgring in a blistering fast lap time for SUVs, it's still a Range Rover and I shall demonstrate it, knowing that I'm on a double dare that I can win this race with no studless tires equipped. I know it's hard to drive through Blizzard Mountain without it but by relying on the Range Rover's Terrain Response, I am trying to see if this Range Rover Sport lives up to its name or die trying.

Heh. It's worth the slippery risk but it feels like finding the lost remote nearby in the first try but I've been warned that if I keep this up, I'm in for some serious trouble until I find the answer to the hardest question. It's like setting the remote-finding challenge to the hardest level, if you know what I mean.



Still, with the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport, the Brits know how to make a legendary offroader that conquers almost all odds on and off the road with its ever-evolving capabilities that shaped these SUVs into the ones we're familiar with since the first Range Rover was born.

In a place like Blizzard Mountain, a winter wonderland full of so many Bond references you can imagine all in the name of 007's 55th anniversary, reminiscing the snowy scene from SPECTRE in the Range Rover Sport SVR is the best thing to do for Bond fans elsewhere.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Senior diplomats held talks in Washington

Senior diplomats from South Korea, the US, and Japan held a talk in Washington on Thursday local time. The three assessed the results of UN Security Council resolutions 2270 and 2321, and vowed to continue working together on the implementation of independent sanctions as well. Meanwhile, speaking ahead of his departure from office, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the new administration of North Korea. He said it should keep increasing the pressure on North Korea in order to get the regime to comply with its international obligations.

South Korea's National Security Council chief Kim Kwan-jin will visit the US for security talks with the incoming Donald Trump administration. In a press release, the presidential office said Kim's four-day visit starts Sunday. Talks will center around security policies ranging from North Korea to bilateral relations. The meeting is held with hopes of reaffirming the importance of further developing the alliance and continuing to coordinate, based on the common understanding of the severity and urgency of the North Korea nuclear issue.

Source: Arirang News