REMEMBER THE NUMERO

Recently watched an updated version of The Alamo. As far as I can remember it was an improvement on the John Wayne version - it was certainly shorter. But it left me with a nagging question: can Dennis Quaid act? I say not. Billy Bob was ok, as was Leon Rippy, and Jason Patric coughed a lot. Should it's scheduling coincide with your having absolutely fuck all better to do, watch it. Otherwise, hop into that vacuuming you've been putting off.

Soldier: "Brung you 32 good men, Sir."

~~ The Alamo

Bit of a trick here - this is an example of how 32 doesn't work. You see, at the Alamo there was indeed a relief column of 32 men, it wasn't made up by the writers. Keep that in mind next time you spot the number.

Comments

[CB]

So technically, he brung 33?

[Tony.T]

Make what you will of this from the website:

At dawn on the first of March [1836], Capt. Albert Martin, with 32 men (himself included) from Gonzales and DeWitt's Colony, passed the lines of Santa Anna and entered the walls of the Alamo, never more to leave them.

"Martin with 32 men (himself included)" just doesn't seem to make sense to me. Something wrong there.

[CB]

Clearly, Santa Anna wasn't quibbling over minor numerical details when in the words of Marty Robbins,

'Santa Anna breached the wall,
And he killed them one and all...'

Should the Ballad of the Alamo be written to now include the terms of reference, 'and he killed them one and the thirty two others who arrived late?'

[p. drano]

He said, "Here I am with 32 men (myself included)." And that's how the legend began.

[Tony.T]

The sports center in San Antonio is called The Alamo Dome. Nothing like a cavernous arena to celebrate the memory of dead heroes.

[Nabakov]

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould

Now they're just taunting us with this hermetic shit, I tell you.

I've always wanted to name a company Illumanti Productions.

[Tony.T]

I had to look up hermetic for your context, Nabs. I thought you might have meant hermetically sealed as in "This milk is pasteurised, homogenised and hermetically sealed". But that didn't seem to have much connection with movies.

[CB]

I tried to get Google to define "hermetic shit". It ended up as contextually confused as I was. Ergo, my understanding of Nabs comment is heretofore completely fucked.

[Brownie]

1. cb - it's the '32' thing: "dramatised documentary about the eccentric Canadian pianist Glenn Gould is broken up into thirty-two short films (mirroring the thirty-two part structure of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', the recording that Gould made famous)"

2. The Alamo building is very small. 32 men in it would have had a 'Brokeback' experience I'm sure.

[Tony.T]

I went to The Alamo in 1999, and you're right, it's miniscule. And it's also a surprise the way it's tucked into that little park in the middle of town. You could probably fit it in the Melbourne City Square. (Well - rectangle.)