- 31 people were injured after a minibus lost control and fell off the side of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in San Fernando, Pampanga, a day before Christmas.
- The NGCP helps SIARELCO resolve the widespread power outage in Siargao Island.
- Parts of the Bicol Region remained flooded due to continuous rainfall.
- Syria citizens protested over a burning Christmas tree, demanding their new Islamist leaders defend minorities.
- All American Airlines flights are grounded, as the company says they are experiencing a technical issue.
- Mazda unveiled the Roadster range's 35th-anniversary special edition featuring an Artisan Red Premium Metallic exterior color with a beige soft-top for the regular Roadster.
2025 Mazda Roadster 35th Anniversary
- TOEI announced the 2025 Super Sentai Series installment; No.1 Sentai Gozyuger. Premiering this February 16, 2025, it celebrates 50 years of the Super Sentai Series and will feature the franchise's No.1 monster enemies and past Red Ranger powers.
- Russian figure skater Aleksandr Korovin is now officially a Filipino citizen.
- Former child star Hopia Legaspi is expecting her second child.
- PH President Bongbong Marcos said he will sign the 2025 national budget on Rizal Day.
- The Games and Amusements Board revoked John Amores's professional license.
- Over 20 financial institutions responded to the PH Department of Education's call for loan payment deferral.
- The US House Committee released the ethics report into former congressman Matt Gaetz, an ally of President-Elect Donald Trump. The report finds that Gaetz regularly paid for sex and drugs while in office.
- Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York earlier this month.
- Team Penske inducted Gil de Ferran and Tim Lombardi into its Hall of Fame.
- The NCAA grants waiver to former junior college players while appealing to the Diego Pavia ruling.
- Universal Pictures announced that Christopher Nolan's next movie will be based on Homer's Odyssey. Titled The Odyssey, it will hit theaters in July 2025.
- The 80s sci-fi TV series V returns as a full-cast audio drama series from Big Finish Productions with the first volume releasing this January 2025. Annabel Baldwin, Janie Dee, and Jack Myers will be cast in the audio drama adaptation.
Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Kanketsu-hen Chapter 1 is the first chapter of the movie trilogy that serves as the true ending for the girls' adventure. In this movie, the girls are in Okinawa, taking on a new challenge; the School Idol GPX (Grand Prix). Ayumu Uehara, Kasumi Nakasu, Shizuku Osaka, Kanata Konoe, Emma Verde, and Zhong Lanzhu are chosen to take part in the event where school idols across Japan clash to become "the most popular school idol right now".
Sangoshou no Kioku
The original soundtrack for the first chapter of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club movie is now available. This two-disc OST features most of the background music from the film, along with movie-sized versions of the insert songs and solo renditions of the movie’s theme song, "Doko ni Itemo Kimi wa Kimi."
This OST is a way of expressing gratitude to fans for watching the first chapter of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club movie.
It's Christmas break again, which means no school until the start of the new year. Hooray! As everyone heads out for the long weekend and travels to different places, one thing should be on every vacation playlist: watching movies from the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival.
2024 Metro Manila Film Festival entries
So, what movies are showing in Philippine cinemas during the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival this Christmas Day?
- And the Breadwinner is... - Starring Maris Racal, Vice Ganda, and Eugene Domingo, this family comedy movie saw Vice Ganda as the breadwinner taking care of the family.
- Espantaho - This horror movie stars Judy Ann Santos, Lorna Tolentino, and Eugene Domingo. It centers on a mother and daughter mourning over the death of the family patriarch, only to be caught in a series of terrifying undertones.
- Green Bones - Dennis Trillo, Ruru Madrid, and Iza Calzado star in this emotional drama movie. A soon-to-be-released criminal and a corrections officer grieve over the death of the officer's sister, which complicates the prisoner's release.
- Hold Me Close - Jairus Aquino, Carlo Aquino, and Julia Baretto star in a romantic drama movie about a young man who arrives in Japan and makes a fateful encounter with a young woman who can sense feelings by touching.
- Isang Himala - Aicelle Santos, Bituin Escalante, and David Ezra star in a modern take on the cult classic Filipino movie "Himala." The story is about a young woman from a small village who becomes a beacon of hope and controversy when she is believed to have the power to heal after hearing a divine calling during an eclipse.
- My Future You - Almira Muhlach, Francine Diaz, and Seth Fedelin star in an unconventional rom-com about two lovers who met each other via a dating app, only to discover they're living 15 years apart.
- Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital - It's another horror movie in the MMFF 2024 entry list and this one stars Alexa Miro, Enrique Gil, and Jane De Leon. It features a group of celebrities trapped in the horrors of an abandoned hospital in Taiwan. Don't watch alone. You've been warned.
- The Kingdom - Vic Sotto and Piolo Pascual star in an alternate reality drama movie about what happens when the Spaniards don't invade the Philippines.
- TOPAKK - The only action thriller on the list, this movie stars Arjo Atayde, Julia Montes, and Sid Lucero. It's about a former special forces security guard on a daring rescue mission to save a woman who was held captive by a corrupt police force working for a drug cartel.
- Uninvited - Nadine Lustre, Aga Mulach, and Vilma Santos star in this revenge drama about a woman seeking revenge on a billionaire who killed her daughter.
The 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival begins on Christmas Day, December 25. During that week, all ten films will be shown in every cinema. Which film are you excited to watch?
- Pandi, Bulacan Mayor Enrico Roque was released two days before Christmas.
- Congressmen who are members of the Makabayan bloc have asked the House leadership to immediately take action on the impeachment complaints filed against PH Vice President Sara Duterte.
- 15 volcanic earthquakes were recorded around the Kanlaon Volcano, according to PHIVOLCS.
- The Armed Forces of the Philippines is tightening its intel monitoring this holiday season.
- Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control. Turkey says there's no room for Kurds in Syria's future.
- Germany promises a thorough investigation into the Magdeburg attack.
- The MF Ghost TV anime will return for its third season soon.
- Honda, Mitsubishi Motors, and Nissan have signed an MOU “to advance discussions among the three companies.”
- JTBC gives a sneak preview of its 2025 drama lineup coming soon on the said channel
- Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino supported the production of new polymer bills of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
- House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez defended the allocations for aid programs contained in the 2025 national budget.
- The Regional Task Force/Inter-Agency Coordinating Cell is set to present the Contingency Plan in relation to the ongoing eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.
- Volkswagen ended production of its VR6 engine. First debuted in 1991, this engine powered cars like the Golf, Passat, and the Corrado. Over 1.87 million units were produced.
- The ONE PIECE TV anime series will return on April 6 with new episodes and will air on an evening timeslot on Sundays at 2315 hours JST. In addition, Subaru Kimura will take over the role of Franky.
- The final season of My Hero Academia will air this Autumn 2025, but before that, the Vigilantes prequel anime will air this April 2025.
- The Chainsaw Man movie's Reze Arc will hit cinemas this 2025 with Reina Ueda joining the cast as Reze.
First emerging in 1954, the SL rewrote the rules of grand touring for seven decades from the gullwing-doored first-generation W198 model to the current-generation Mercedes-AMG SL W232 range. How does it start and go? Let's find out.
For seven decades, the lineage of the SL, ranging from W198 to W232, has epitomized the enduring legacy of one of Mercedes-Benz's most celebrated grand touring automobiles. This remarkable journey highlights the impressive design evolution and engineering prowess of the SL and its unwavering status as a symbol of luxury and performance.
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL, codenamed W198, was introduced in 1954 as a coupe with fascinating gullwing doors and later an open roadster. This car is a softened road-legal version based on the company's successful 1952 race car, the W194. It comes with the 3.0L M198 SOHC I6 engine fitted with a Bosch mechanical gasoline direct injection system that generates about 212-222 hp. It was mated with the 4-speed manual transmission.
What about the W232 model? No longer called the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, the first-ever Mercedes-AMG SL continues the SL lineage in a new approach. Sized and styled to AMG GT standards, the Mercedes-AMG SL is powered by the same 4.0L V8 Twin Turbo engine as the said model. In the SL63, it produces 585PS of power and while mated to an AMG Speedshift 9G and 4MATIC+, it does 0-100kph time of 3.6 seconds and 315kph of top speed.
I'm going to the sandy Bahia de Plano to see how much the Mercedes-Benz SL has evolved from the W198 to the W232. Let's roll the tape and find out!
Here are the results...
300SL (W198) - 1m14.908s
SL63 (R232) - 0m57.741s
According to my Forza Horizon 5 standards, it took over 17 seconds for the Mercedes SL to evolve from the W198 300SL to the Mercedes-AMG SL63. Impressive, I dare say.
The Mercedes-Benz SL has been around for a long time, and it's one of the longest-running nameplates in Mercedes history. As I've said before, the SL rewrote the rules of what a grand tourer should be in terms of elegance and performance. The W232 Mercedes-AMG SL is the pinnacle of the SL lineage, and with its elegance and performance inherited from its ancestors, the star is reborn after all.
With the SL's evolution check sorted, it's time for my little surprise for the Mercedes-AMG SL63. As I said before, my brain just hatched an idea. What role will the Mercedes-AMG SL63 4MATIC+ play in Horizon Mexico? It's long overdue but here goes...
Ight, this is what happens when you let an AiPri character, Airi Mitsuba of Quartet STAR, overcook my SL63 with power similar to today's SL63 S E Performance but with less torque and added anti-lag trickery to shoot some flames from its exhaust. This is like the time she called her cleaning robot Samba. Thanks, Airi-chan.
With trickery provided by Airi-chan, my SL63 is taking on an EventLab creation by AndyPsBack. It's based in the Playa Azul area but with some added high-speed straights and stuff inspired by the Singapore Marina. This player called his EventLab invention "Azul Bay" and I'm here to sample it. Roll the tape.
I guess this is what the journey to the mind of Airi Mitsuba feels like. Arriba!
There you have it, folks. The SL of the new normal. The Star is Reborn. I have nothing else to say but right now, if you have a backstage pass, now's the time to get one.
It's nice to see prize cars in FH5 permanently stay in the game's Backstage Shop, where you can spend your Backstage Pass for one prize car from past updates. The list updates regularly just so you know.
