The one-of-a-kind lifestyle TV show that‘s all about the art of living smart is set to funk up your system with a whole bunch of interesting useful stuff this coming Thursday, March 27, 11:00PM on Studio 23.  Get a heads-up on the coolest gadgets and how to make the most of them (how about a 5-Megapixel camphone shoot-out?), a primer on some alternative sports and hobbies (ever heard of Flag Football and Lomography?), insider info on the hottest spots to chill in (hmmm)… and so much more!  Man and Machine will be hosted by meister of mischief Sam YG of Magic 89.9’s Boys’ Night Out, and perky Basketball courtside reporter Lia Cruz.  In between taking a stab at each other with their barbs of hilarious wit, Sam & Lia will fire-off Man & Machine’s bite-sized segments that you’re gonna find hard to get enough of.  
Man & Machine also airs back to back with the hottest show on cars & motoring, Auto Extreme- hosted by its Executive Producer Ardie Lopez, he’ll tour you around the most exciting international auto shows, give you the lowdown on the latest cars released locally, and provide you with an endless feed of useful tips and entertaining features to quench your thirst for things automotive.  
So, point your clicker to Studio 23 every Thursday at 11:00PM starting March 27 to learn the art of living smart with Man & Machine, back to back with the hottest motoring show around, Auto Extreme.  Both shows are presented in part by California Scents and Castrol Magnatec.

Hit My Ride on Auto Extreme

You drive around the streets of Metro Manila with a sticker on your rear windshield that reads “Hit My Ride”, you’re really asking for it. Those clueless about what it’s all about would assume that you’ve got a loose screw between your ears, or you’re a loser of a lawyer looking for a quick case. But those in the know would envy you for having a fair shot at bagging half a million bucks’ worth drool-worthy upgrades for your ride.

That’s what almost a hundred car owners ended up having, after the audition event for Auto Extreme’s reality-based contest boldly called “Hit My Ride” was held on an open parking lot at the Greenhills Shopping Center. An offshoot of “Hit Rides” from the Mafia’s long running radio show on 99.5 HitFM, I collaborated with them, mainly with Sam of Concept One, to conceptualize and breathe life into “Hit My Ride!”… which is kinda like several reality-based TV shows put in a blender set on high and poured into a tumbler to make one helluva crazy shake. The premise was simple, really. You drive in and have your car stickered up, and when the cameras aim at you, you’ve got exactly 30 seconds to do whatever you want… or whatever you can, to make a lasting impression with the Mafia. You make it to the finals, you’re assured of some sizeable booty for your car, and like a four-to-one chance of bagging the grand prize worth P500,000.00. So we opened the floodgates on the day of the audition, and the hopefuls steadily poured-in. Sure enough, hilarious chaos ensued.

Many were all psyched-up, but when the cameras rolled and the clock ticked, a lot of the auditioners froze, blanked-out, and simply begged and pleaded for their cars to be “Hit”. I could almost lip read the Mafia collectively mouthing “loo-hoo-sers!” without remorse. -And for good reason. They were looking for that X-factor… creativity spiked with a hefty dose of crazy, mixed-in with a jigger of shamelessness for good measure. Some did deliver, in varying degrees. There was a couple who spent 30-seconds lip-locking torridly, in full view of the crowd who couldn’t yell “ewww” loud enough… a goof who did a monkey-strut after a straight-faced speech; a pair who danced to the point of convulsion; a middle-eastern Schwarzenegger who lifted us hosts like rag dolls (a-a-aray!)… and many more crawled out of the woodwork, to our amazement and amusement. Four contestants’ antics stood out from everyone else’s, and needless to say, these guys were plucked and shoved into Finalist status.

Carlo, the schmoe whom we nicknamed “David Lame” for his hilariously pathetic magic tricks (and delivery style, hahaha)… Teejay, who had us shouting “what the f_ck!!!” in unison when he totaled his car’s roof by treating it like a trampoline (totaling his foot in the process). We called him “Jumping Jack Crash… Romell, who almost made our lunch go out the wrong way with his all-out “A-go-gay” dance routine, was baptized “Ago-go Boy”… and finally Jhic, whom we swore had Schizophrenia, when he declaimed in all seriousness that he’d make like a superhero, and proceeded to leap into the window of his banged-up car, leapt out the same way, and back to his declamation in less than 15 seconds. –We just had to call him “Batman”.

Fast forward to the final obstacle to determine their varying degrees of victory, the Mafia got really creative on the last stints the magic four had to accomplish. Each finalist nervously drew the names of each Mafiosi written on folded pieces of paper. Nervously, they listened as each Mafiosi barked-out the obstacles they had to do, tailor-made as finales to their winning antics from their auditions. Arvin of H&R Springs and Bilstein Shocks ordered Ago-go Boy to whip out his lascivious dance routine on top of a busy pedestrian bridge over a major highway for a full five minutes… wearing only his jeans and a lavender necktie! Benedict of Xenon Bulbs commanded David Lame to perform his “Magic” tricks in a restaurant jam-packed with diners and drinkers who didn’t wanna get bothered with their meals… -if he bombs, he’s out! Atoy of A-toy Body Kits presented Jumping Jack Crash with four objects he could get “creative” with on his car: a screw driver, a can of spray paint, a cross-wrench, and a bottle of brake fluid. Oh, we heard him “gulp” clearly. Sam of Concept One Wheels unraveled a Spiderman costume to “Batman”, consisting of a mask, a tight-fitting shirt, and an even tighter fitting pair of micro spandex shorts (a la Felix Bakat. Ngi!), effectively morphing him into “Spiderbat” (-eh?). –In his costume, he was to hail a car from the rushing highway traffic and hitch a ride in it to a designated spot blocks away, strut like the silly hero he is, and get back the same way! Of course they were all given an option to pick the back door and chicken-out, but to our delight, all four grit their teeth and dove into their respective obstacles full-on, with eyes wide open!

Dang! We literally heard our jaws drop as each one of them accomplished their tasks of shame with flying colors… Ago-go Boy managed to gross out a few ladies -and gentlemen, with his shameless gyrations! Pedestrians from below pointed at him in sheer horror. David Lame got convincing applause and thumbs ups after several tense attempts, from hardened drinkers and stiff reunionistas! Jumping Jack Crash performed “environmental art” on his car until it almost looked like it was trampled-on by a dozen elephants with PMS! And being ignored and ridiculed, Spiderbat got his ride from a “concerned citizen”, strode up a bridge in heroic-geek fashion, got body-searched by a patrolman, and got back to base via jeepney! -Man, we had such a blast, we all got gas!

After careful deliberation during a Mafia huddle, the half a million pesos’ worth of awesome customization… -alloy wheels, full body kit, audio-video set-up, trick suspension, HID lighting, and so much more… went to Jhic, a.k.a. “Spiderbat”! Of course, Jumping Jack Flash followed at a close second place, Ago-go Boy on third, and David Lame as kulelat! -Winners all, at Hit My Ride! At this very moment, Jhic’s car is on an advanced stage, inching closer to its awesome grand reveal slated for the next Audition Event. Teejay’s wreck-of-a-ride gets fixed on top of his 2nd prize too. Two more lucky owners’ rides are set to be showered by the Mafia with their fantastic embellishments until the end of this year. Could you be the next grand prize winner? Better think out that 30-second antic really well, and tuck-in your shame where it can’t reach ya, should you decide you’ve got what it takes. Better yet, watch Hit My Ride on Auto Extreme every Wednesday, 9-10:00PM on Solar Sports to see what you’re up against, or to get some wild ideas from. A blow-by-blow of the winners’ cars’ progress will be shown for you to drool at, as hosted by yours truly and DJ Sam YG of Magic 89.9, with the After-market Car Mafia. So, all you gotta do now is get your freak on, and Get In!!!

Hi there, if you're one of our cool viewers then you might wanna get a glimpse of some behind-the-scenes stuff on the production of Auto Extreme. These pics were taken from our studio/office, where Auto Extreme is partly shot and completely post-produced... meaning all the video editing, graphics rendering, voice-over recording, musical scoring and mastering are done. We have several video editing suites and one dedicated audio production suite which are all interconnected via network, so that means we all can work simultaneously on a single episode (each editor working on one segment), then when we're all done, we send it over to the Mastering Suite for final transfer onto a broadcast quality deck for submission to Studio23.

Funny it's easy to summarize our week-long work-flow in a paragraph, but there's actually a truckload of work involved in putting the show together... we just got it down to a system that's a lot less chaotic. Plus of course, the Auto Extreme production team is sharp as a razor! Roar! :)

At the center of this commotion is Botchi of Top Gear Magazine... we were goofing around waiting for a program at the Motor Show, when I pointed my camera and told Jinno & Ronnie of Hotwire (Studio 23) and Jose of our very own Auto Extreme, to "mob" him. -They obliged with delightful exaggeration! Haha, cool.

-Playing in a band that is. As far as I know, I've always wanted to be part of one. Not as the front man, I figured I'd be happy just playing away in the sidelines. I was a college Freshman when I got to finally do something about it, and put together a band named Frontier. That was when the so called "British Invasion" was in the thick of it, so lucky for us, a song I wrote became a favorite in one of the bolder stations who played music from unknowns... NU107. Because of this, Octo Arts (wow, have you even heard of that name?) one of the bigger recording companies, signed us to be part of a compilation album. -yes it was a Vinyl long-playing album, that played at 33RPM. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go ask a DJ. Anyway, our song "Take My Hand" was the carrier single, and we did the rounds promoting it by playing in a few TV shows. We lasted for at least 6 years, and the culmination of our so called career was a major concert opening for the Dawn at the Ultra, in front of thousands of people. It was a smash.

That did me in, because even after we disbanded from natural causes (!) I still kept on writing music. After working for about 3 years in 3 different Ad Agencies, I went solo as a freelance Jingle Composer/Arranger. It all went well. In a year's time I was able to build my own recording studio. Two years into it, I was invited by a drummer I met in a gig to form a new band. We all wanted to make an album, and ride the second wave of the music scene... Pitch Black was born, and I produced our first and only album. We did the Club circuit and several gigs. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick with their serious plans of going overseas for long-term gigs, so I faded-out while they pursued it.

Fast forward by uh, A LOT. As a TV Producer of a show on Cars & Motoring, it wasn't long until my musical leanings leaked-out. I was yanked more than a few times up the stage to jam with bands playing for car companies' events. Then one Christmas season, Honda actually approached a colleague of mine to ask us to play a serious gig on their party for the Motoring Media. To cut it short, I had to pull-in a couple of old friends to form the rhythm section, to at least sound decent. The gig went quite well, and that started me thinking seriously about it. the rest is recent history (?) -and SHIFT was born.

SHIFT are Jose Romualdez on Drums, Robert Urbano on Guitar, Roland Roque on Bass, Gani Valenzuela on Keyboards, and I on Vocals. "Honorary" members are heavyweights in the Motoring beat... James Deakin from C! Magazine/Philippine Star, and Dong Magsajo, Motoring Editor of the Philippine Star. -these two cool dudes are called upon whenever we get "Motoring" gigs. So you see, once you get involved with a band seriously at least once in your life... you're most probably destined to find yourself ending up in one in different stages in your life. I certainly didn't plan this "Shift", but I definitely welcome it. -Let's rock!