THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong Un and wife attended performance by South Korean art troupe

North Korean leader Kim Jong un and his wife attended a historic performance in Pyongyang by a South Korean art troupe on Sunday, according to the South Korean culture ministry.

The couple was present for the concert by the 160-member South Korean art troupe at East Pyongyang Grand Theater. The group included 11 Korean pop musicians such as Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, Choi Jin-hee, Red Velvet, and Girls Generation's Seohyun.

Kim became the first North Korean leader to attend the performance by a South Korean artistic group. His appearance was somewhat expected as South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended the Seoul performance by a North Korean art troupe in Feburary in celebration of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the South.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (April 2, 2018)

- While Senate president Koko Pimentel doesn't see any clashes between Davao Mayor Sara Duterte’s party and the ruling PDP-Laban, he said senatorial bets who are eyeing to run under or coalesce with Hugpong ng Pagbabago could only be “accommodated” within the Davao Region (Region 11) because the presidential daughter’s group is not a national but only a regional party.

- EPA chief Scott Pruitt's position is in danger after reports that he paid below market rate to live in a condo owned by a lobbyist who deals with issues overseen by his agency, lawmakers and a former Trump official said in television interviews on Sunday.

- US President Donald Trump said that there will be no deal to legalize the status of young adult immigrants called Dreamers and he said the U.S.-Mexico border is becoming more dangerous. Meanwhile, Mexico’s presidential front-runner, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, launched his campaign close to the border on Sunday demanding respect for Mexicans and signaling he may take a harder line toward Trump if he wins the July 1 election.

- France demanded Israel to show restraint following its military response to Palestinian demonstrations on the Gaza-Israel border that killed at least 15.

- Half of the Japanese votes don't support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration amid suspected cronyism and cover-up, opinion polls by Japanese media showed. The Yomiuri newspaper’s survey issued on Monday showed that the disapproval rating for Abe’s Cabinet rose to 50 percent from early March, compared with 47.5 percent in the Kyodo news agency’s survey published on Sunday.

- China's Tiangong-1 space station re-entered the earth's atmosphere and burnt up over the middle of the South Pacific on Monday, according to the Chinese space authority. The “vast majority” of the craft burnt up on re-entry, at around 8:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), the authority said in a brief statement on its website, without saying exactly where the remnants might have landed. The remnants of Tiangong-1 appeared to have landed about 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Tahiti, said Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University.

- Former Guatemalan strongman, Efrain Rios Montt, hounded by charges of genocide for decades, passed away at the age of 91, leaving bitter memories of his brutal rule of the Central American nation during its civil war. Thousands of mostly rural Maya civilians were victims of massacre, rape and torture under a “scorched earth” policy implemented during his 17-month rule between 1982 and 1983 at the height of the Cold War-era conflict.

- The March update of the GT SPORT video game is now out, featuring the return of Tsukuba Circuit, and additional vehicles, among many others.

- At last week's New York International Auto Show, Acura unveiled the new-generation RDX, featuring the return of the VTEC Turbo engine in an Acura via the new 2.0L DOHC VTEC engine with Dual Variable Timing Cam mated to a 10-speed AT, as well as Torque Vectoring SH-AWD.

2019 Acura RDX

- Genesis showcased their Essentia Concept at the NY Auto Show.

Genesis Essentia Concept

TTFN!!!

At the Sakura Con 2018

During Easter weekend, the biggest anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, Sakura Con, returned for their 21st outing and it ran at the Washington State Convention Center from the 30th of March to the 1st of April, 2018.

Throughout the course of the convention, there has been some star-studded celebrities from the world of anime and gaming appeared as well as world premieres of new anime shows coming this season such as the anime adaptation of the Caligula video game and a new action anime series called Fist of the Blue Sky -Regenesis-, which is a prequel to the cult classic post-apocalyptic martial arts anime series, Fist of the North Star. There's also a special panel dedicated to the phenomenal Fate Grand Order app game as well with special appearances by seiyuu Rumi Okubo and FGO creative director Yosuke Shiokawa.

Apart from the wonderful panels, cosplay has been a common piece at the convention and I got some pics at the convention to make you remember post-convention. See you next Easter weekend!



More photos: https://www.flickr.com/gp/leopauldelr/h502S1

Top Gear S25 FINALE

Easter Sunday, April Fools, the recent Top Gear is no joke because it is the Season 25 finale and in the finale, crossovers and a burning new Alpine are in the hooks.

It all starts with the newest midsize SUVs in the market as Matt LeBlanc drives the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Chris Harris drives the new Volvo XC60, and Rory Reid drives the new Range Rover Velar, getting involved in a messy comparo at the Burghley Estate via horse trials. Sounded familiar?

Harris, meanwhile, tries out the return of the Alpine A110 round the track. Later, he puts it to the ultimate test at the Rallye  Monte Carlo, with Eddie Jordan as his co-driver. Sadly, the A110 caught fire, spectacularly. When given to The Stig, it set a lap time of 1:22.9 round the track.

Jason Manford is the last SIARFC of this season and he set a lap time of 1:40.6 round the track.

And that concludes the 25th season of BBC Top Gear. After an American V8 Road Trip, hunting bigfoot, a trip to Japan, a look back on the 2CV, building the Track-Tor, and saddling crossovers, this season has been quite a ride for the boys and let's hope we'll see them again someday.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One

This is by no means one of the most anticipated films in the Spring season and this film, some say, will put Wreck-It Ralph to shame, as Ready Player One brings cinemagoers to a whole new experience that is more than enough to blow everyone's minds off because of the geekdom all rolled into one melting pot of awesomeness.

Based on an Ernest Cline bestseller novel, this sci-fi action adventure stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. Set in the year 2045, all of humanity are leaving their derelict reality behind and live in a virtual reality world called the Oasis where it's like heaven, only virtual. The Oasis is where people are free to be who they want to be but with the sudden passing of its creator, he releases a video where he challenges its users to find his Easter Egg which will give the finder a fortune. That's where the main character of the story comes in as he will risk everything to find the Easter Egg and save the world, whatever lays ahead.

This film reminded us of some that mashes up our favorites such as Wreck-It Ralph and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? because this film jumbled up all of our favorites geeks and nerds can easily recognize such as the DeLorean time machine from Back To The Future, the spaceship from Cowboy Bebop, The Iron Giant, and handful of video game characters including those from Overwatch, all rolled up into a melting pot of mind-blowing masterpiece Steven Spielberg can think of and while some say that this is have overdone it because it jammed up too much pop culture references like fitting so many stuff in a small backpack, Ready Player One is a tour de force that makes us shocked with awe, astonished us with surprises, faked out with twists, and many more, all in the name of geeks and ners waiting to get some more.

While this flick is not for the faint at heart, those moviegoers who are brave enough to watch it can be considered themselves dignified because Ready Player One is a film made for the dignified, not for the regrettable.

My rating: 4.3 out of 5.

Driving Music Vol. 88

Getting ready for the Holy Week exodus? Before hitting the road for the long weekend ahead, get your car audio pumped up for the long trip with some ten Driving Musics that will keep you peppy even when you and the gang are stuck in a heavy traffic.

1) Love Today by Mika - from the Peugeot 108 Collection commercial

2) OPR by Gesaffelstein - from the BMW X2 commercial

3) Oh! You Pretty Things by MMode - from a Mercedes-Benz GLC commercial

4) All in All by Superjava - from the Citroen C4 Cactus commercial

5) 808 by Suchmos - from the Honda Vezel commercial

6) 夕焼けは、君のキャンバス by 稲垣潤一- from the Daihatsu Move Canbus commercial

7) Take what you want by ONE OK ROCK - from the Honda Civic "Go Vantage Point." commercial

8) Because We Can by Fatboy Slim - from the Toyota Aqua "Crossover DESIGN" commercial

9) KATOKU by レキシ - from the Daihatsu Thor commercial

10) MEXICAN FLYER by SKEEWIFF - from the Honda StepWGN Modulo X commercial

Driving Music from Leopaul's Blog is the segment where solves every car enthusiasts' questions about the title of the song of car commercials...with the risk of MATCHED THIRD PARTY CONTENT on their status. It's your jam. Drive to the Music You Love.

BMW X2

BMW's naming scheme has been taking a confusing turn since the 2-Series Active Tourer and the 6-Series GT and with the advent of the new X2, you might think that it will be a Sport Activity Coupe equivalent of the X1 but no. It's just another midsize crossover that is about the same size as the X1's and I'm here to investigate.

2019 BMW X2

The luxury compact crossover market has been on the roll now these days and BMW is no stranger to these so with the arrival of the new X2, people starting to raise a question if this is a coupe utility or not because in reality, this is not a sport activity coupe just like the X6 and the X4. In fact, this is just a fancy looking X1 in Reeboks or so I thought and while the design is not what you called noticeable by crossover standards, you can call it humorous because BMW tried so hard to convince that this crossover really is a BMW and as demonstrated by putting too much BMW badges on all sides. One in the front, one in the left, one in the right, and one in the back. How funny is that? It's like trying convince the world that your jeans is Levi's by plastering Levi's logos all over it.

2019 BMW X2 interior

2019 BMW X2 interior

The interior is typical BMW and there's nothing special about a well-functional interior that takes time to toy around its gizmos but in terms of creature comforts, it's not really half bad to get acquainted with its decent dimensions as well as the boot space sizable enough for this week's groceries or everyday trips to the thrift shops. It's silly to have a pricey luxury compact crossover go on a shopping spree at the thrift shop but hey, the crossover lifestyle is just about do what you want to do, right?

2019 BMW X2

Under the the hood, the BMW X2 comes with a choice of a 1.5L petrol, a 2.0L petrol, and a soon-to-be-outlawed 2.0L diesel engine, with different configurations. Yes, there are two-liter variants of the X2 but it's too expensive to have a crack at the TNVS business with this. Besides, they might regard that the X2 is just more of a high-riding hatchback rather than the SUV and hatchbacks are banned for TNVS duty so that's no-no. Anyway, the most powerful in the range is the one with the 2.0L petrol producing 192PS of power and depending on the variant and the gearbox of choice (be it Steptronic or DKG), it can go up to 224kph so it's not half bad for a crossover like these.

Front wheel drive variants can be somewhat average to drive but four-wheel drive variants can go from average to decent, which is like one-upping your driving experience, because of its capability to traverse through today's weather forecast and road conditions and with an array of safety features, the X2 feels right at home on the city streets in all of the slightly wrong barrels unless you want to take it out on a road trip through the countryside.

Prices start at 34,050 Euros, which is slightly more pricey than the X1, which sounds quite a lot, but considering how much the X2 possess, it can be either a good crossover or a bad crossover as long as they spend so much time getting to know about the newest entry to the fastest-selling crossover market. Whether you're a crossover fan or not, getting to know the X2 is half the story because if you're going for the long term, feel free to do so as long as you had your final verdict at the end of the day.

Photo: BMW AG