Let's Do The News! (May 7, 2018)

- Senator Risa Hontiveros chided the Duterte administration's “sheepish response” to China’s installation of missiles in Philippine reefs in the West Philippine Sea. Hontiveros said President Duterte’s image as a strongman is wilting in the face of his pro-Chinese position.

- The NAPOLCOM is set to activate the Freedom of Information Section under the Public Information Division of the PNP Directorate for Police-Community Relations to ensure the transparency of information. NAPOLCOM vice chairman and executive officer Atty. Rogelio T. Casurao said the PID-DPCR will be the primary repository of requests for access to information under resolution 2018-182.

- President Rodrigo Duterte secretly visits a shopping mall in Makati last weekend, only to find out he was approached by mall goers eager to take a picture with him. Duterte had gone to the mall after attending the 51st annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong City Saturday evening.

- Cirilo F. Bautista, National Artist for Literature and multi-awarded poet, fictionist, and essayist, died at the age of 76 yesterday.

- Florentino S. Dulalia Jr., chairman and CEO of Dulalia Group of Companies, has been elected as 2018-2019 Vice-President of Paris-based FIABCI, an organization of real estate professionals around the world. Dulalia will also serve as the FIABCI World President in 2020-2021, the first Filipino to do so.

- Vladimir Putin to begin his historic fourth term, extending his almost two-decade rule by another six years after predictably winning Russia’s March presidential election.

- Multiple earthquakes rattled southern El Salvador on Sunday, damaging nearly 200 homes and touching off small landslides, but there were no reports of serious injuries or deaths. The USGS said at least nine quakes of magnitude 4.3 or greater struck the region beginning in the morning, including three of magnitude 5.2 to 5.6.

- US President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, has been offered to withdraw her nomination amid concerns that a debate over a harsh interrogation program would tarnish her reputation and that of the CIA. White House aides on Friday sought out additional details about Haspel’s involvement in the CIA’s now-defunct program of detaining and brutally interrogating terror suspects after 9/11 as they prepared her for Wednesday’s confirmation hearing. This is when she offered to withdraw, the officials said.

- Aston Martin teases Vantage GT3 and GT4, set to be introduced to customer teams in next year.



- Volkswagen teases their Golf GTi TCR ahead of next week's Worthersee event.



- The Ensemble Stars anime series is geared for 2019 launch.

TTFN!!!

2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - Perth Supersprint

The 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship continues at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway for the two-race Perth Supersprint event where there has been some drama going on around the track such as the track limits crackdown occurred in the last day of the event and the sad qualifying stories for some drivers but as the drama unfolds for them, the race goes on smoothly as we expect.

Once again, Shell V-Power's Scott McLaughlin proves that his time is not up in this season as he won Race 11 and 12 of this season and we can expect more to come for this driver.

Next race is the Winton SuperSprint on the 18th to 20th of May, 2018.

MNL48 teams assembled

With the MNL48 all set last week with Sheki as the center girl, just as we thought that it's finally over now that the Philippine sister group of AKB48 is all set, we were very wrong because this week is all about assembling teams by Teams MII, NIV, and L, and the endgame is where the girls will get to pick who's their overall Group Captain.

During the course of this so-called "Team Captain Election", there has been a departure of Kenkyuusei members as recently appointed Kenkyuusei members such as Ann, Celine, Nix, Reiko, Reina, and Kana. With six Kenkyuusei members bid the MNL48 farewell, the remaining members get to pick who's their captain. By AKS standards, members vote for who will be their captain and after the votes tallied, the one with the highest votes has a choice whether to accept the responsibility of being the team captain.

Complicating the agreement maybe, the members who voted by the girls as team captains managed to rise up to their new challenge. For the Kenkyuusei, they named Arol as their team captain.

Anyway, let's get to know who are the members of Team MII, NIV, and L. Those highlighted in bold are named Captain.

MII: Alice, Cess, Dana, Erica, Essel, Faith, Jan, Mai, Necca, Nice, Sayaka, Sha, Shaina, Sheki, Trixie, and Van.

NIV: Abby, Aly, Alyssa, Belle, Brei, Daryll, Ecka, Ella, Hazel, Jaydee, Jem, Joyce, Lara, Madie, Ruth, and Zen.

L: Ash, Dian, Gabb, Gia, Grace, Jewel, Kay, Kyla, Lei, Mari, Princess, Quincy, Sela, Shaina, Thea, and Tin.

So, Alice is named Team MII captain. Ecka as Team NIV captain, and Kay as Team L captain. Question is who is the overall Group Captain, the one in charge of all three teams? The answer is, after nailing a landslide win and accepted the terms, it was Alice who assumed responsibility as Group Captain.

Now that the teams are assembled, what's next in store for the newly reformed MNL48 and what was become for the remaining Kenkyuusei? Keep watching MNL48 online updates Mondays to Saturdays for more.

Bubble Gang - May 4, 2018

On the May 4, 2018 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Camping gags

- The killer wife

- Short pants, you want?

- Istambay, Istambay Sa Looban, K Ganda, K Saya Ng Kantahan, Dahil May K ang Pag-uusapan, Tungkol sa Pagdating Ng...KOREAN?!

- The social media loser gets interrogated by cops!

- Bubble Gang does Breeze with ActivBleach by spoofing this commercial as FREEZE WITH ACTIVBLEACH! 1 LABA GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK.



- Addicted to honesty

- Today's Patikim ni Kim recipe is hotdog!

- Basa-basa pik!

PriPara and Kiratto PriChan Kirakira Memorial Live

As a Children's Day treat in this last days of Golden Week and in preparation for the Pretty All Friends project celebrating 10 years of Takara Tomy's Pretty shojo franchise, the stars of the Pretty franchise are gathered for the biggest Pretty experience little girls would definitely enjoy for more.

PriPara and Kiratto PriChan
Kirakira Memorial Live

The film is titled PriPara and Kiratto PriChan Kirakira Memorial Live and despite the title which involves the recently concluded PriPara saga and the new series it replaced titled Kiratto PriChan, this film is a celebration of the Pretty franchise because it's got all of the Pretty protagonists in one roof, reminiscent of something of infinite proportions. There's Aira Harune from Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream (played by Kana Asumi), Mia Ageha from Pretty Rhythm Dear My Future (played by Rumi Okubo), Naru Ayase from Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live (played by Emiri Kato), Pripara's Laala Manaka (played by Himika Akaneya) Idol Time PriPara's Yui Yumekawa (played by Arisa Date), and lastly, Kiratto PriChan's Mirai Momoyama (played by Koko Hayashi) and Emo Moegi (played by Miyu Kubota).

You can expect almost all of your favorite characters popping up in this film, depending on one of the three routes moviegoers will run into, in tradition of Pretty movies where moviegoers get to pick which of the three routes will watch. Anyway, routes aside, they get to experience the biggest crossover film event that is infinitely cute in so many levels and because being in the world of PriPara and Kiratto PriChan, there is no escaping from the hilarious cast of characters, unforgettable songs for all kids, and an endless array of outfits. Although corny and too much of an eye sore, this film is what makes the Pretty franchise special and believe it or not, they really want to watch it until the end of the film, which is also special because right before the film, they asked all the little kiddies to submit their PriTickets for the finale they lined up on the film and here it is. At the finale, is your PriTicket one of them? Don't miss every last minute of the film.

Blending the past and the present installments under one roof, Kirakira Memorial Live not only stirs up nostalgia but keeps them prepared for the Pretty All Friends project coming very soon. It's a long wait for Pretty fans but in the meantime, the whole family will have to enjoy the biggest treat ever to emerged from the Pretty universe.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5.

SUPER GT 2018 Round 2 FUJI

The Japanese public are in a middle of the Golden Week but the best day in a middle of Golden Week is when they rushed at Fuji Speedway to see the second round of the 2018 Autobacs Super GT Championship and what a way to spend the last days of Golden Week by witnessing the best racing driver tackling on a former grand prix track with some twists and turns in store for them.

At the end of this race, the real shocker in the GT500 class is the come-from-behind win by the #23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, leaving the #39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Sho Tsuboi 2nd place and the #38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura 3rd place. In the GT300 class, meanwhile, the winner goes for the #55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 driven by Shinichi Takagi and Sean Walkinshaw with 2nd place goes to the #31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT driven by Koki Saga and Kohei Hirate and #11 GAINER TANAX GT-R driven by Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda.

Highlights:



Next race is at Suzuka on the 20th of May.

Driving Music Vol. 89

Preparing for a weekend drive with the family? Before setting off, have a set of ten driving musics to listen at while cruising on a long weekend drive from a traffic-stricken town all the way to your ideal points of interest for your out-of-town pleasures.

1) Beneath the Leaves by Julie Doiron - from a US Subaru Outback commercial

2) Unstoppable by The Score - from a new Jeep Cherokee commercial

3) Back That Thang Up by Juvenile & Lil Wayne & Mannie Fresh - from the Chrysler Pacifica S commercial

4) Higher Love by James Vincent McMorrow - from the US Hyundai Kona commercial

5) She's Got Love by Frills - from the Toyota Europe C-HR commercial

6) The Good Life by Sacha Distel - from the Citroen C4 SpaceTourer commercial

7) Super Bad by James Brown - from the Acura RLX Hybrid commercial

8) Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head by Nataly & Ryan - from a US Audi Q5 commercial

9) Where You Want To Be by UMI - from the Ford EcoSport commercial

10) Outro by M83 - from the Mazda USA Mazda6 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.