Burn in hell, baby

Just when I was starting to settle down in Manila, my new universe because of work, sh*t happens.

When I reached the LRT-2 Legarda station Tuesday night, after a 30-minute walk (made worse by the rain) I discovered that my backpack was open, and my recorder was missing.

The snatcher apparently didn't find the secret pockets where I keep my other stuff (wallet, camera, IDs), and my laptop, I think, was too heavy, and it was fastened with a velcro strap.

The recorder was relatively cheaper that the other gadgets, but it is extremely important in my new beat. I need it to monitor the President's speeches and out of town events. They don't sell a tape recorder/radio tuner anymore.

This is the second time I fell prey to petty thieves. On July 13, 2005, while in the middle of a crush of people during Susan Roces' rally on Ayala Avenue in Makati, during the height of the "Hello Garci" scandal, someone snatched my barely two-week-old Nokia 3230.

I agonized for six months paying my credit card bill for the phone that I used for no more than 14 days.

I hope these thieves burn in hell, even before they get there.

Stupify me

I was mindlessly surfing channels Tuesday evening and came across one of the final episodes of Dyesebel on GMA-7. I don't follow the series but it was easy to get the drift -- Fredo (Dingdong Dantes) ventures into the ocean in search for Dyesebel (Marian Rivera) in the undersea kingdom of Sirenea.

Fredo was riding a submarine. If you watched the 80s cartoon "Silverhawks," it looked like the Squid/space ship of the head villain, Monstar.

In Sirenea, Dyesebel is resigned to her fate as heir to the throne. She's a princess now, with what looked like orange sea urchins for a crown. When she was a commoner fish, she had grapes or a bunch of whatever small and round fruits for a head dress.

This is so ridiculous and insulting to human intelligence, I don't even know where to begin. Even fantasy shows need to have at least a semblance of logic.

What's with the one-seater submarine? A character who I presumed was the inventor of the vessel, Gio Alvarez (remember him from Ang TV), frantically warns Fredo over the radio: "Kailangan mo nang bumalik, malakas na masyado pressure dyan."

Another character, played by Ricky Davao, putting on his best worried face, says "Fredo, mababa na masyado oxygen level mo."

Expectedly, Fredo ignores them. What the heck? Driving a submarine is like riding a bike, piece of cake.

Dyesebel, perched on a rock, with her kness bent (yes, mermaids in Sirenea have knees), seems to know that Fredo is in danger. At that point, I finally changed the channel.

I'm guessing the ending will see Fredo run out of oxygen and his submarine will collapse, but Dyesebel will rescue him. Sweet.