I would like to find a specific web page, in English, about the 1987
Wim Wenders film ?Wings of Desire? (Der Himmel über Berlin) which I
have read once but "lost" - that is, I saw it, found the content
interesting, didn?t bookmark (doh!) it but assumed that I would be
able to find it again easily enough - and now I can't, after quite a
lot of trying.
To say this is annoying is putting it mildly.
Here?s the specification.
The page I?m looking for is probably a user-written review, something
like the customer/user reviews you get at Amazon, IMDB or
epinions.com. So I believe that it?s probably written by a
contributor, not the "owner" of the page. But bear in mind that a
person stupid enough to not bookmark something they wanted to read is
probably also stupid enough to get that bit wrong as well!
The page I want to see contains a sentence or two, clearly and in
quite a strongly worded way, suggesting that there is something in the
scene in the bar, near the end, between Damiel and Marion, which you
have to look very closely to see. It?s something which is not obvious
and I think it happens quickly or in a hidden way. Annoyingly I cannot
remember the exact wording the author used - I thought it might be
something like "blink and you?ll miss it" but sadly this phrase is
used a LOT on the web and I haven?t got a search strategy refined
enough to help me with it. Also, it may not be that exact phrase ? it
could easily be something entirely different but with a similar
meaning.
I must emphasise that the comment about the hidden thing you should
look for and appreciate comes from this one web page author - it?s not
a comment made by a character in the film - it?s a third-party comment
on the scene. It's this comment that will ID the page I want.
I will know immediately if it?s the right page or not ? there are
*loads* of pages about this film but I have not yet found any that
urges you to look, perhaps look again, and see the thing you might
have missed that is in the scene for just a moment.
Other points that might help you:
I am a lousy researcher but have done, in a crude way, quite a lot of
looking for this page. I?ve just used Google and tried lots of
predictable search terms - "blink and you'll miss it", "bar scene",
Wenders, wings, Marion, Damiel, glimpse, "look again", "catch it", etc
etc. The reason I am asking your help - and offering what I hope is a
reasonable fee, if not please comment - is my hope that you as a
?proper? researcher will have cleverer methods of looking for stuff
than I do. A brute force attack *might* work but the more I stumble
around looking for it the less convinced I am that it will.
The page I seek was there about a week ago. I saw no reason to assume
that it would vanish and I do not believe that it has - what has
vanished is my competence! :)
The page cannot be too newly created and in particular cannot have
been created since I posted this question! It's already out there.
It?s on some sort of established site, not a new site, an individual?s
new little page etc. I promise you that I will know when I see it, and
will know that it is the same one I saw already.
I mentioned user reviews on amazon, imdb and eopinions. I do not think
that what I am looking for is there on those particular sites, but
prove me wrong and I will simper prettily and be pleased anyway!
The answer I want is where this particular page is. I can?t accept an
answer which merely speculates about what it *might* be that the
author was commenting on - I want to see what I _actually_ _read_ last
time. I will know immediately if it?s the right thing.
I think it?s most unlikely that more than one page meets my
specification, but if it does, I?d like to see them both (all?) and
will tip accordingly. If you find just one genuine page that meets my
spec but is not the one I want, I?ll pay up but will probably start
again with the same enquiry, but ruling out that page! So far I have
seen nothing that is close to it, so this may not be a big problem.
Finally - I blanch to type this but I might as well be honest - there
is a very small but real risk that the scene that the author referred
to is not in Wings of Desire but is in its 1993 sequel, also by
Wenders: Faraway, So Close! (In weiter Ferne, so nah!). That is, while
looking at WoD stuff I *could* have got sidetracked into comments on
FSC. I don?t think it?s likely - less than 5% - but it could, just,
have happened. If it did, the scene will still be in a bar and with
Marion, but the angel will be Cassiel not Damiel. If this turns out to
be the case and you still find the page I want, I will tip accordingly
? not double, but not far off. (The more I think about this the less
I think it?s what happened, but I thought I should mention the
possibility.)
That page IS out there somewhere! It just needs a clever person who?s
a good searcher to find it ? am I asking too much? |
Clarification of Question by
nevilley-ga
on
03 Sep 2004 03:31 PDT
<small fanfare>
I've found it!
Not knowing much about how GA works, I don't know if these comments
will survive once I have cancelled my question, but I thought I should
try.
The paragraph I was looking for is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093191/usercomments-94
- it's the comment entitled "Astonishing" by erik150x.
Some comments:
1. Having found it, I'm slightly disappointed/puzzled, as it is more
or less what I thought, but a bit more mysterious, so I can't really
use it as a specific instruction to go back and look for something
I've missed - I think it's perhaps a more general comment than that.
However, I am thrilled to bits to have found it, as it was bugging me
something rotten!
2. I said it *probably* wasn't on IMDB ... what a twit. I really
thought I had checked IMDB quite carefully. Perhaps my new rule 1
should be "do the obvious things really thoroughly". Doh!
3. I didn't do anything clever to find it. I just thought of a yet
_another_ different phrase along the same lines as the dozens I had
been trying, and used that, with no real hope of it working. A Google
search for ["did you see it" bar scene damiel] finds that one page.
How I managed to *not* find this before, I shall never know.
4. The feeling of relief on finding this page, which I had begun to
worry I might have dreamed up, is indescribable. Rule 2 should perhaps
be "next time, you bookmark it!" :)
5. I would like to express my huge gratitude to pafalafa-ga,
justaskscott-ga, voila-ga and any anonymous others who have had a go
at this problem. I hope you are not too disappointed that you won't
now become rich through my incompetence... I really am most grateful
for your efforts, and I hope you are not too irritated with me! :)
Regards
Nevilley
PS I know this is not a film crit board but, as others have mentioned,
this is a wonderful film and if reading any of this has made you
wonder if you'd like to see it, you probably should!
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