Monday, September 11, 2017

Let's Do The News! (September 11, 2017)



- Former BOC commissioner Nicanor Faeldon is facing the possibility of Senate arrest after failing to attend the resumption of the Senate hearing regarding the Php 6.4 billion smuggled shabu shipment through the Bureau of Customs. Last Friday, Faeldon was issued with an arrest order but was suspended due to his pending attendance on today's hearing.

- President Rodrigo Duterte challenges Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to "decode" his tattoo found on his right shoulder. Following his speech before soldiers at Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City, the President then proceeded to take off his jacket and roll up his sleeve to show his tattoo, which bears a rose.

- The National Bureau of Investigation has been ordered to examine the possibility of a sabotage regarding the recent spate of teenage killings by alleged cops. According to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, he wishes to know if the deaths of the teenagers are correlated to cause injury to the image of the government with regards to the administration’s ongoing war against illegal drugs.

- Five people are dead while 3.5 million residents left powerless as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida's Tampa Bay area with hurricane-force winds.

- A rear-wheel drive Audi R8 will make debut at this week's Frankfurt Motor Show.

- Another teaser for the upcoming Mercedes-AMG Project One hybrid hypercar is up before this week's Frankfurt reveal.



- The anime adaptation of the iDOLISH7 franchise is set to premiere on January 2018.

- Comedian and TV presenter Ai-Ai delas Alas reveals her wedding entourage ahead of her December 12 church wedding with her fiance Gerald Sibayan. Celebs like Marian Rivera, Sharon Cuneta, and Alden Richards were part of her entourage.

TTFN!!!

Top Gear America - The Best

BBC America's Top Gear America is on their seventh and penultimate episode of this season and this episode settles nothing more than the best as the boys find out which is the best used sportscar for under seven grand.


Bill Fichtner goes for a Chevy C5 Corvette, Antron Brown goes for the fifth-generation Ford Mustang GT, and Tom Ford goes for the second-generation Subaru Impreza WRX. With three cars present, the boys are taking on challenges to see which one is the best, well, for some.

While the Subie's out of equation, both the Stang and the Vette are handed to The Stig and lapped round track in 1:23 and 1:20.29.

Meanwhile, Brown and Fichtner are in a middle of an argument while driving SUVs that defined American motoring. and lifestyle.

Rapper, former Pimp my Ride presenter, and Empire actor Xzibit is this week's celebrity guest on the show and he sets a lap time of 1:29.38.

Then, Brown shows what an SUV truly means by driving Maserati's first-ever sport utility vehicle, the Levante, until his drive abruptly ended in a flat tire. When handed to The Stig, the Levante set a lap time of 1:17.37.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup - Federated Auto Parts 400

East Coast maybe under the Eye of the Storm but in Richmond, Virginia, the Federated Auto Parts 400 race of the Monster Energy NASCAR race series really rocked the spectators like a hurricane with their high-octane thrills you'd expect from America's premiere stock car racing in history.


From Danica Patrick spinning out of control after contact with Austin Dillon, to a pit-road incident that lead to some damaged cars, every moment in this race is as fierce as the most powerful storm in history that recently hit the East Coast and whether if its a close-quarters duel for a stage win or a overtime that just what he thought Martin Truex Jr. had it all, this is one heck of a race that swept through the spectators like a full-force gale.

After the heat of the Richmond battle, Kyle Larson gets his fifth career win and his first in Richmond.

Next race is at Chicagoland Speedway for the special Tales of the Turtles 400 race on the 17th of September.

FH3 Hot Wheels: Z has come to...

Hey! Remember this car? It's the S30 Fairlady Z that I replicated into the Devil Z a long time ago. Looks like the first-ever Fairlady Z can't leave me alone for a while and because this classic JDM icon heard about the thrills and spills from Hot Wheels Thrilltopia, it just couldn't contain itself and I decided to take it for a stroll round Thrilltopia for a change.



Well, here we are. One classic Japanese sports icon meets the fantasy world of Hot Wheels in obstacle-laden glory where it takes guts to gain glory in this twisted landscape. Need I say more? Anyway, the S30 Fairlady Z is enjoying some rollercoaster moments round Thrilltopia, sampling the sights and sounds of this epic fantasy playground little boys could dream of, and because the Z is having so much fun at this place, this car is decided to rally up some Z drivers for a battle to remember. Of course, while this Fairlady Z is replicated for highway battles like the Devil Z does in the Wangan Midnight series, it wasn't quite enough to survive the hidden perils of Thrilltopia so it's off to the shop and get prepped up for Hot Wheels duty.



One thing I'm aware on this update is that it lost some of its torque and gained some weight in the process but on the upshot, it massively gained a lot of power while retaining my little trump card that I used on this car, the 4WD powertrain swap because added power mean added trouble for a rear-wheel drive car. Although I'm not aware with the current situation with my Z, this classic car is brave enough to take the challenge while I'm figuring out what's wrong with this Z. So, without further ado, let the battle begin...



The S30 Fairlady Z proved the other Z-cars who's the boss and even in Hot Wheels Thrilltopia, that was the real decider. Speaking of which, I figured out what's wrong with my Z-car and it's on the size of the tires. Darn, should have known better, but still it was quite a journey for the S30Z to tackle through every Thrilltopia obstacle after another. Even for an old-timer, this classic S30Z knows how to take on leaps and bounds this fantasy playground can throw it with and that's quite an adventure for me to drive a legendary icon in this epic thriller of a playground.

Although I faced some mishaps with this car, who would have thought that a nice stroll with this car at Thrilltopia became something else? At least there's something I learned on this journey and whatever that is would be very memorable to me and a legend like the S30 Fairlady Z.

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Bubble Gang - September 8, 2017 #BGDanceAudition

On the September 8, 2017 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Dance audition gags

- LeBrown James returns for another press conference!

- A man who got hooked on sound effects

- A former action star now works as a mascot operator

- Balitang Ina

- A platoon leader ready to give up his life for...something.

- A couple sharing the same goal

- Today's Patikim Ni Kim recipe is steak!


- Basa-basa-pik!

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



- Senators agree to the proposed suspension and review of the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs. According to Sen. Grace Poe, she condemns the death of 14-year old Reynaldo De Guzman, the latest of the recent controversial killings of minors, who was discovered in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, and covered in multiple stab wounds.

- Hurricane Irma, the historically powerful storm that struck the Caribbean days ago, has became a Category 5 storm again as it made landfall on the Camaguey archipelago of Cuba late Friday night as the storm edged closer to US landfall in the Florida Keys after leaving a trail of devastation and death in much of the Caribbean as it advanced toward South Florida.

- The TVR Griffith has been reborn as the revived British sportscar company's first offering, complete with the iStream architecture designed by Gordon Murray, Cosworth-tuned 5.0L V8, 6-speed manual gearbox, and 400bhp/tonne power-to-weight ratio, capable of reaching over 200mph of top speed and 0-60mph time of less than 4 seconds.

2019 TVR Griffith

- BMW will display the X7 iPerformance Concept at this month's Frankfurt Motor Show, previewing BMW's flagship full-size SUV.

BMW X7 iPerformance Concept

- Your first look at The Current War film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as rival inventors Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.



- Check out the trailer for the upcoming Wake Up, Girls Shin Shou anime series before its October 9 premiere.



- The trailer for the upcoming UQ HOLDER anime series is now up, prepping up for its October 2 premiere.



TTFN!!!

Renault Alaskan

Renault's first-ever midsize pickup truck, the Alaskan, has enjoyed its notoriety at Latin America, its target market, and now it's ready for showtime at Europe, where it will face stiffer competition against the likes of the VW Amarok, the Fiat Fullback, or even the Toyota Hilux. While this is an all-new model, the Alaskan bears a familiar side everyone knows about and there's a clear reason for that.

2018 Renault Alaskan

The new Renault Alaskan maybe the company's first-ever pickup truck but what's underneath is co-developed by Nissan due to the nature of the Renault-Nissan Alliance so the way the Alaskan behaves puts you into the mind that it's like driving the not-for-Japan Nissan pickup truck that I cannot mention it to you due to search query reasons. But before that, what do you think about the looks? Well, at first glance, this is the first time you saw a pickup truck bearing a Renault badge on it, which is not very fleur by the looks of it but it has some masculine sense on it you would expect from the fruit of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

2018 Renault Alaskan interior
2018 Renault Alaskan interior

Unlike today's Renaults, the interior of the Alaskan is very different compared with the others because this is the same interior as you would expect from a Nissan pickup truck of today, although the steering wheel is different than the Nissan's by the looks of it. For a pickup truck with the sedan-like creature comfort, the Alaskan is pretty impressive in so many levels and rather than using it for work, it can also be used for leisure and with an ample bed space, just think about the endless possibilities you can do with Alaskan, as long as you're not making trouble with the public.

2018 Renault Alaskan
Since the Renault Alaskan is a Nissan underneath, it uses a ladder-frame chassis combined with the super-high-tensile-strength steel which makes it as tough as a Challenger 2 tank blowing a safe and in terms of its off-road ability, the Alaskan is a French car that is not very French indeed, in fact, it's like a French-Thai-Latino fusion cuisine that doesn't have any lactose on it, only tougher and braver when it was served on a wooden platter, which is very unique.

Under the hood, the Alaskan is powered by a 2.3 dCi engine with various configurations. The highest power output offered is 190PS and with 450Nm of torque output, it has a towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes, which is very strong indeed for a foreign exchange pickup who got transferred from a banana republic to a superpower by chance. It's surprisingly durable as well.

As a pickup truck, the Alaskan offered different driving modes to choose from such as rear-wheel drive if you are driving normally (or if you are planning to slide this car through the road as a show-off), high-ratio 4WD if you're feeling under the weather, or low-ratio 4WD when things get rough. Apart from that, the Alaskan is prepared with a multitude of safety features such as ABS, ESP, EBD, EBA, TCS, that autonomous braking thing, and the one thing Nissan happily lend it to the Renault Alaskan; the Around View Monitor.

Should you buy it? The Renault Alaskan starts at 36,860 Euros, which is less expensive than the VW Amarok by a wide margin, and that makes it a fair value for those who want a pickup truck that can do so much more than 9 to 5. This pickup maybe made for the 9 to 5 stuff but rather than being a workhorse, the Alaskan can do some leisure stuff on the weekends. There's so much you can do with Renault's first-ever pickup truck as long as you're not a magnet of trouble with it.

Photo: Renault