MovieChat Forums > Alice in den Städten (1974) Discussion > This spooked me..

This spooked me..

posted 8 years ago by mitcheroo
3 replies | jump to latest

Around 3 a.m., I couldn't sleep. Turned on the TV. Saw this on the channel schedule and started watching it on TCM. Watched it all the way through. Very engaging, almost mesmerizing. I rated it an "8". (Had some trouble with the subtitles though, letters blending with the background.)

As the end titles rolled, I was startled by the name of the construction coordinator, "Honorat Stangl".

Stangl! Just twelve hours before, going through my late mother's things, I found this old artsy-smartsy ceramic ashtray. I looked underneath it and read the maker's stamp: "Stangl Pottery - Trenton, NJ".

Up to that point I had never before in my life read or heard the name Stangl. Now I've run across it twice in the space of half a day. Weird. (I'll be looking for the hat trick.)

Even weirder, I just noticed the movie's release date - May 17, 1974. May 17 is my birthday.

Go figure.

[–] mdonln 8 years ago

Very interesting! You could easily have missed both those items; especially Stangl as it required that you noticed it on the ashtray first. If you hadn't, there wouldn't have been a tie-in when you saw that person's name associated with this movie. I think your reaction has to do with the fact we feel an odd connection to things that seem to have a link; something in common, with us.

Personally, I think there's a common link among all things. To be aware, we have to notice and make note of things in order to notice them again when they recur. I see these odd 'connections' every where because I'm always looking for them.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] DaliParton 8 years ago

You just experienced the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, more technically known as "frequency illusion."

https://psmag.com/there-s-a-name-for-that-the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon-e5bf3ea87cd2

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

Interesting. Sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.