High action minus the violence

Watch out Powerpuff Girls – the crime-fighting kid cartoon genre has just sparked a little more exciting as Disney’s Teamo Supremo premiered recently on the Disney Channel.

With its charming battle cry of "Wu-pah! Buh-za! Chi-ka!," the team of Teamo Supremo dares to conquer the animated landscape. But there’s one major obstacle: these super-pint sized superheroes composed of Captain Crandall, Skate Lad and Rope Girl are not actually super!

According to the show’s executive producer, the Teamo Supremo kids don’t have any super powers. But they have super gadgets and their lack of super powers are compensated by their positive attitude. With their motto, "Doing the right thing is super!", the three vow to save the world from evil forces... and still finish their homework on time!

This is an animated series which kids, and even their parents can enjoy. The team’s leader is Captain Crandall, who is really just a normal kid named Crandall. But he believes that he’s from another planet and his "alien powers" will just develop one day. He is a courageous little kid with delusions of grandeur. In spite of his late latent powers, Captain Crandall is an able leader of Teamo Supremo.

He gets advice from his two grandfathers: retired superheroes Silver Shield and the Dark Talon, played respectively by Robert Stack (of The Untouchables) and Gary Owens (the original voice of Space Ghost). Captain Crandall is voiced by Spencer Bruslin, who starred in Disney’s The Kid with Bruce Willis and was heard as Cubby, one of the Lost Boys in Disney’s Peter Pan: Return to Neverland.

His other team-mates are Skate Lad, the world’s best skateboarder and Rope Girl, a young lass who can make her lasso do anything. Together, they fight villains like Birthday Bandit (voiced by Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame), a clown who steals everyone’s gifts, The Laser Pirate, and Mr. Large, voiced by Hollywood heavyweights Tim Curry and Ed Asner, respectively. Other baddies include Hypnotheria, Baron Blitz, The Gauntelt, Lo-Fi, Mean Thumb, the Sinister Stylist, Le Poddle, Madame Snake, The Cheapskate, Mr. Vague, Helius Inflato, The Putdown Artist, Dr. Droid, Chopper Daddy, Dehydro, Lord Druid and many more.

The series has a super-stylized look. It has a retro-futuristic feel and comic book style which brings the quirky adventures of Teamo Supremo to life. It is enjoying high ratings in the US, reaching as high as 55 percent and attracting more boys than any other ABC programming.

I have become an instant fan of Teamo Supremo. I watch it with my adorable nephew Jake. It’s a high-action, hilarious animated series but without the alarming violence and sometimes graphic scenes of other animated shows.

Catch Teamo Supremo on the Disney Buzz block every Friday, 5 to 7 p.m. and every weekend at 2 to 4 p.m.

RP team claims victory

Congratulations to the Philippine team who took part in the Asian Moot Court Competition in Tokyo, Japan. The team, composed of Ateneo Law School Juniors Eirene Espina Aguila and Aimee Dabu swept all the awards. They won Best Team and Best Legal Briefs with Aimee ranking as Best Oralist. They beat participants from Japan, China, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The pair now looks forward to replicating their victory in the 2003 Jessup Moot Court Competition to be held in Washington, USA.

I cannot be prouder for Eirene, whom I saw as a little girl and who was raised into a wonderful young lady by her parents Boy and Maricar Aguila.

Private Ei8ht models

Congratulations also to the winners of the Private Ei8ht Model Search Tanya Scaife, Valerie Galang, Genevieve Marcelo, Christine Fernandez, Jansen Torio, Vladimir Jay Nesas, Ken Koizumi and James Hewitt. The four boys and four girls are now part of the Private Ei8ht group of Private Property and will soon appear in the apparel’s calendars, print-ads and special events.

The grand-finals of this model search was held at Robinsons Place Manila and was hosted by Ian Galliguez and Joel Yap. Image models for Private Property Leandro Muñoz and Monina Bagatsing were part of the panel of judges.

For more information, log on to www.yehey.com and meet the new batch of Private Ei8ht models.