Saturday 29 February 2020

When I read This Article.

I was reminded of a film that we both enjoyed,



The Legend of 1900, shortly after the Second World War, Max, a transplanted American, visits an English pawn shop to sell his trumpet, the shopkeeper recognises the tune Max plays as one on a wax master of an unreleased recording, discovered and restored from shards found in a piano salvaged from a cruise ship turned hospital ship, now slated for demolition, then hears the story of a piano player that has never left the ship in his life, 

as an aside, a real life and famous jazz player appears in the film, none other than Jelly Roll Morten, the man with the diamond smile, if you click on to the link you can read more about him, back to the article the reason it reminded me of the film was that it is about a boy with numbers as his name, apparently in Mexico many parents give their children unique, extravagant names, but even by these standards, the name Zero Zero Three stood out like a sore thumb, making its bearer an overnight internet celebrity, it all started when Casera Pizza, a well-known pizzeria based in Merida, the capital of Mexico’s Yucatan State, announced a contest for weird names, with the winner eligible to benefit from of its enticing promotions. People named Vercingetoriz, Nivea, or Bahtzibadi all made the final list, but none could hope to win against a young man named “Cero Cero Tres”, Spanish for ‘Zero Zero Three”, He won the coveted prize – two large pepperoni pizzas for just 49 pesos – and became an instant online sensation.

photograph Casera Pizza/Facebook, actually his full name is Cero Cero Tres Miller Santos Chablé, but he only learned that when he was 15-year-old, growing up in the United States, Zero Zero Three never knew his real name, because his parents and all his friends called him “Bambino”, but after returning to Mexico, his family decided that it was time for him to know his legal name and handed him his birth certificate. That’s when he asked his parents what the “Zero Zero Three” stood for, and they answered “that is your name”. Obviously, his reply was “WHAT?”, Miller calmed down a bit when he learned that things could have been worse. His parents originally registered him as 003, as in the actual number, but their request was denied because figures weren’t acceptable as names, so they switched to letters. He does admit that he faced some bullying because of his name at school, but claims that he still wouldn’t change it for the world, “I did feel that I was being bullied by my name, but over time I really learned that it is part of my identity, it has given me so many anecdotes and such good friends, that I am not ashamed to say that this is my name,” the Mexican youth said, I am trying to think of other instances of numbers being used as names,

 and I immediately thought of one in The Grand Budapest Hotel which recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, who appeared in it, a great film which I will watch again.


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