Message in a botelya

This was one of the causes of my near death situation over stress this week. Thank gawd it's done and over with. This green vintage bottle was one of the main stars in the movie a client of ours had made which they will show in barangays all over Manila. The film stars some of Philippine cinema’s most seasoned and awarded actresses - Anita Linda (who turns out to be a co-workers grand aunt), Caridad Sanchez, Boots Anson Roa, Angel Aquino, Katrina Halili, Alessandra da Rossi and Rosa Rosal, in a rare cinematic and rather comedic appearance. Set during the war, the flick starts out r e a l l y s l o w. Then starts picking up about 15 minutes into it. The real action begins when Katrina gives away her baby and a bag filled with baby essentials (like the green bottle of oil) to Alessandra because Katrina didn't have space in the bangka when the entire town (uhm.. about all 5 bangkas of them) were fleeing from the Japanese. She bawls on the shore while everyone is trying to escape. "Waaaahhh... anak ko!!!" Alessandra and Marco Alcaraz raise the baby as thier own and names him Julio. Alessandra and Marco remain poor throughout the movie so to make ends meet, Alessandra helps hubby sell his paintings. One night, she ends up in Rosa Rosal's house who invites her to dinner (because she's nice and all). Rosa eventually buys a painting and the green bottle because she found it "pretty." Why it never occurred to her that she can always buy one for herself at the grocery is a mystery to me. When Julio grows up, he marries Boots Anson Roa, who gives birth to Angel Aquino. Angel marries Paolo Paraiso who leaves for some country to work and comes home to tell his wife that he fooled around and now has a family with another girl. Obviously, they break up. Angel raises their son, JD, with her mother. When JD is all grown, he stumbles across the green bottle when he goes to Rosa Rosal's garage sale. He suddenly feels this connection with the bottle and pesters the girl selling it to ask Rosa if they he can return the next day so she could tell him more about the story behind the bottle. She eventually does and sees the painting that was bought from Alessandra. He remembers that his great grandmother, Anita Linda, in Laguna has paintings that are of the same style (boring and amateur) hanging in her house. So one afternoon, JD together with his grandmother and mom visit her and grill her about the bottle. She eventually spills that her son (JD's grandfather and Boots' hubby) is actually not her son. End scene is Anita visiting Caridad Sanchez (old Katrina) to give her back the bottle and a photo of the son that she never saw after she handed him over to Alessandra decades before. The film was nicely directed but was peppered with so many flashbacks that it took me a while to understand who was who. Since it was made for the baby oil manufacturer, it was only but natural to have the brand slapped on scenes where it was applicable which was practically half the film.

Dealing with stress

Things to do to rid you of Monday morning stress: 1) As soon as you get to work, write a to-do list. I find that this helps when you've got a gazillion things to do. Feels so good when you've got a lot scratched off the list after you're done with them. 2) Take a mid morning break. I've always felt that taking breaks is healthy. If you can't spare 10-15 minutes, make yourself a cup of Lipton Milk Tea (shameless plugging!). But it's seriously good. And healthy. 3) Listen to happy music before going to work. My current pre-work tunes include Madonna's Jump and Dance 2night, U2's Beautiful Day and Vertigo, and Duncan Sheik's On A High 4) Tell everyone to simply bugger off. 5) Chomp on a bar of Snickers. Or two. or three, depending on how much stress you're under. 5) Look at this picture of Maggie when you're about to explode.