- Last Thursday, local time, a bipartisan group of Senators presented US President Donald Trump with a deal to help immigrants who have been able to benefit from DACA and TPS. However, the US President rejected it and declared Haiti, El Salvador, and some parts of Africa as "s******e" nations. His racist outburst is merely the latest in a long line of bigoted words and actions.
- The NFL has announced the matchups, locations, and potential dates for their first ever playoffs in the United Kingdom. On October 14, the Seattle Seahawks will take on the Oakland Raiders at Tottenham stadium while the Philadelphia Eagles take on Jacksonville Jaguars on Wembley Stadium at October 21 or 28, and the Tennessee Titans take on the Los Angeles Chargers at the same location at the same unspecified dates.
- The SBS will air on Sunday 17 straight hours of a "slow TV" program called The Ghan starting at 0240 to 2030 hours local time. This "slow TV" program was billed as Australia's first foray int the "slow TV movement" and garnered 536,000 viewers on Sunday, it's highest-rating program in 12 months.
- Ginetta Cars unveiled their LMP1 entry at this year's World Endurance Championship known as the G60-LT-P1. Showcased at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham, it was powered by a turbocharged 3.4L V6 engine producing 650HP of power. It was named in honor of Ginetta's 60th anniversary.
- ICYMI: Wrestling superstar John Cena returns as this year's presenter of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.
- New Pokemon news on the radar! Get ready for the very first Pokken Tournament DX downloadable content coming to the Nintendo Switch this quarter of 2018. Expect two new playable Pokemon to master such as Aegislash and Blastoise along with two new Support Pokemon sets to take advantage of. Also, while we are heating up for the upcoming Detective Pikachu movie, the game that inspired it is coming to 3DS on March 23rd. In addition to the game, there will be a special Detective Pikachu amiibo to be released in the same day as the game and it will be the biggest amiibo in existence and when scanned, you will unlock special cutscenes in the game.
The leaders of South Korea and China agreed to continue working together to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, welcoming the result of the recent inter-Korean talks as part of such efforts.
The Cheong Wa Dae said President Xi Jinping welcomed the improvement in the relationship between the two Koreas as the result of the high-level talks between the two said he actively supports President Moon Jae-in and the South Korean government to that end.
The two leaders had a 30-minute phone conversation two days after government officials from the divided Koreas held talks on the North's participation in next month's PyeongChang Winter Games.
- The Armed Forces of the Philippines is targeting to gain 5,000 new recruits within this year, according to spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo.
- Valenzuela City donated 60 patrol cars to the police in a bid to boost the city's anti-criminality campaign. Aside from the vehicles, the local government also turned over 6 K9 units and kennels to the local police.
- The Malacanang Palace praises the rise in President Rodrigo Duterte's trust rating in the recent Social Weather Stations survey. Duterte's trust rating rose 15 percent in the last quarter of 2017, with an "excellent" net trust rating of 75 points, the SWS survey said. He rebounded from his previous quarter's net trust rating of 60 points, the lowest since he became president.
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rejected South Korea's request to help "comfort women" and urged Seoul to honor a 2015 pact on the divisive topic. Japan and South Korea share a bitter history that includes Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula, and the "comfort women" issue is especially touchy. The US allies are key to efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
- As Special Investigator Counsel Robert Mueller plans to set an interview with US President Donald Trump, the attacks from Republicans take on a whole new level as House Republicans and right-wing media are going after the federal investigators, calling for "purges" of the law enforcement professionals working on the investigation, comparing them to the KGB and even suggesting this is all part of a secret plot against the US President himself.
- Recently, two critical vulnerabilities, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, were discovered in modern processors which are found on PCs, mobile devices, and in the cloud. These vulnerabilities can potentially allow programs to steal data that is currently being processed on the computer’s chip. While programs are typically not permitted to read data from other programs, a malicious program can exploit Meltdown and Spectre to access data stored in the memory of other running programs. This might include passwords stored in a password manager or browser, personal photos, emails, instant messages and even documents containing personal information.
- "Fast" Eddie Clarke, the Motörhead guitarist, passed away at the age of 67.
- Renaultsport unveiled a special edition Clio RS 18 featuring a special black paint and yellow accents, a nod to Renault's 40 years of F1 involvement.
- Toyota unveiled the GR Super Sport Concept at this year's Tokyo Auto Salon. It features a hybrid powertrain inspired by the TS050 Hybrid Race Car.
- The second DLC Catalog for the PS4-exclusive THE IDOLM@STER Stella Stage is now available, featuring a brand new song titled 星彩ステッパー, the new 星先案内人 outfit, and many others.
Now, the moment of truth is time because it's now time to do...THE CUTE WALL!
(applause)
Yes, it's definitely a new year and what better way to kick off 2018 with some new set of characters waiting to be added on this wall, from SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE to NAKAKAGIGIL. Speaking of which, oh no... What do you mean "Oh no?" Some idiot from a distant land called a very tough anime had some cute characters on it. I disagree with it. Which one? I'm talking about MY HERO ACADEMIA.
(audience laughing)
Wait. I know what this show's about. It's about a young chap who inherited the power of the greatest superhero, pause, in the world, and ends up studying at a school of superheroes where, by sudden fate, the superhero he ran into, becomes one of his teachers.
(ooohh)
Buddy, everybody in the world knows this anime, but for now, I'm talking about an argument here and it's about someone putting something that does not belong on the topic of Cute Characters. I'm talking about what character from My Hero Academia is but as a word of warning, I'm aiming on the stars of the show because this show is...how can I say it...tough. And Cuteness does not belong in a very tough show like this.
(audience laughing)
So, who's going to be the victims to be put in SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE because that show is darn tough and that doesn't fit in the category? Wait a minute! This is all I got from the Funk Pop catalog and these folks are (ahem) Deku, Ochaco, Tenya, Katsuki, and All Might. That's all but I'm trying to figure out the rest so in the meantime... Whoa!
(audience laughing)
SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE. Tough guys like them belong here. I'm not done with you, whoever you are.
(audience laughing) So, who's next? These folks, sir...
IDOLISH7
(cheers and applause)
Saw that coming...
These folks are known as IDOLISH 7 and they have a TV show now.
Wow. And I thought Side M's rubbish.
(audience laughing, then jeering)
And also the Dear Dream boys from that other show. What is it again?
Dream Festival.
DearDream
Oh yeah. Now, as we all recall, we put every single Side M lead in the wall, well, SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE at least. From Juptier, DRAMATIC STARS, Beit, HighxJoker, W, and S.E.M, all of the boys ended up on the bottom of our list. Sadly.
(audience laughing)
So, what about these guys? These boys came from the same company as THE IDOLM@STER, which is Bandai Namco by the way, but they surely know how to solve Side M in a heartbeat.
In a heartbeat. Oh, touche. Both IDOLISH7 and Dream Festival were meant to be alternatives to Side M but there's something weird about that Dream Festival thing.
What's that? Oh wait, don't tell me. This is is known to be a grown man's Aikatsu.
(audience laughing)
That's what that is because of the outfits these boys are selecting via cards which pretty much behaves like every Aikatsu stuff I know.
I think you're right but even with all that Aikatsu know-how in a boys idol anime show, feels like it doesn't work.
(audience laughing, then jeering)
Awkward...
Speaking of awkward, well I pretty enjoyed their songs but let's slap them to SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE.
(Jeering)
What? These boys....
(Jeering continues)
Anyway, what about IDOLISH7?
They're nothing but Side M wannabes but at least they work their charms against the likes of other well known boy idol stuff like the ones from Ensemble Stars and Uta no Prince Sama. So, where do we put them?!
SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE...
(audience laughing, then jeering)
Also...I'd rather put some more on the list! The M4 from Aikatsu Stars and the WITH from Idol Time PriPara...
(audience laughing)
This is turning into a men's locker room right now!
(audience laughing)
So, enough now, man?
(audience laughing)
Well, enough for now as we shall pay attention to this...
Oh my goodness...
(cheers and applause)
C...ca...card....Cardcaptor Sakura?!
What's wrong? Oh wait. Don't tell me. You had a very traumatic childhood because of that show, didn't you?
(audience laughing)
Er....umm....well...uh....
What is it?
Gonna go to the restroom!!!
(audience laughing)
He's not really going to the restroom, ladies and gentlemen. He went far away so he can't hear what I'm talking about. This is a CLAMP masterpiece everyone knows and it's about a little girl named Sakura Kinomoto who accidentally released a set of mysterious Clow Cards everywhere and with the help of Kero-chan, she sets off to seal the Clow Cards. Of course, her goal of being the cardcaptor wasn't an easy one but thanks to her best friend, Tomoyo Daidouji, every moment of Sakura's adventures are caught on cam in a stylish manner.
(ooohh)
Gonna love her outfits she wore on the TV show. No wonder my little chap fall in love with it. Anyway, as her mission progresses, she comes face to face with some Hong Kong chap named Li Syaoran, who ended up being her fierce rival but later become, oh you're going to love this one...the best of friends.
(ooohh)
Anyway, don't want to get all Captain Slow on this one. This TV show ran from two years with two films offered with the first one where Sakura and the gang headed to Hong Kong and the second one is set after the dramatic events from the TV series. My chap just saw the latter one he borrowed at the library.
(audience laughing)
Much to the dismay of my imbecille colleague and also the delight of every CLAMP fan, it's back!
(cheers and applause)
The Clear Card Arc! It's proof that the legendary Sakura Kinomoto is back and I bet most of you watched the pilot episode last Sunday morning, except for the idiot far away.
(audience laughing)
Anyway, while he's away, I'll do the honors until he comes back. Let's see...hmmm...that's a SERIOUSLY NOT CUTE for Syaoran-kun, a CUTE for Kero-chan and Tomoyo, and because she is loved by many, including my idiot colleague...
(audience laughing)
...the legendary Cardcaptor Sakura stays at the NAKAKAGIGIL spot. Welcome to the top, milady.
(cheers and applause)
HEY! YOU CAN COME BACK NOW!
Is it over? Whew. I'm glad you sorted out for me.
Don't mention it, buddy. It's all part of the job.
This week's episode of Amazon Prime's The Grand Tour is all about second hand Jaguars trying to dispel the popular belief that they all break down, whatever that is.
The Grand Tour S2E06
With the US state of Colorado as the setting of this episode, Jeremy starts with an XJ8 saloon while James drives an XK8 Convertible and Richard drives a 420.
The first part is where they take on an offroad course and Hammond's 420 became the casualty of this challenge and it was replaced by an XJ6 saloon.
Then, the second part is where they will drive their cars from 0 to 100mph to 0. This time, the latest casualty is the XK8 convertible when James fell off the cliff but luckily survived. Sadly, he's now driving the 12-cylinder XJS coupe.
Before the conclusion, celebs Luke Evans and Designated Survivor's Kiefer Sutherland seize each other out for who is the fastest celebrity whose middle name is George in this week's Celebrity Face-Off. In here, Kiefer Sutherland wins with the time of 1:17.8 while Luke Evans did it in 1:21.3.
Returning to the Jaguar episode, the boys are taking on one last challenge which involves going skiing in their cars on a ski resort in Telluride. After doing typical things a Jaguar owner would do on their free time, they set off but because being rear-wheel drive Jags, they don't work in this place so instead they chained all of their rides as one and set off to the summit before separating them. With all three cars separated, the real game begins and having managed to survive the icy downhill menace, they made to the end until James' XJS, due to brake failure, ruined it.
US President Donald Trump voiced hope on Wednesday Washington time that recent high-level talks between the North and South Korea will lead to "success for the world."
The two Koreas met for the first time in over two years on Tuesday local time and agreed to hold military talks to ease tensions along their border. North Korea also agreed to take part in next month's PyeongChang Winter Games.
President Trump said he had just spoken on the phone with South Korean president Moon Jae-in to discuss the meeting. According to the White House release, Trump told Moon he is open for talks with North Korea "at the right time, under the right circumstances."
