Helder Guimarães: A magical search for a coincidence

Translator: Laura Palma Montañez Reviewer: Irene Lamiel

I'd like to start my performance by saying 90 percent of everything is crap.

Voldria començar la meva actuació dient que el 90 per cent de tot són ximpleries.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

It's called Sturgeon's law, and what that means

S'anomena la llei de Sturgeon, i això significa

is that the majority of anything is always bad.

que la majoria de les coses sempre són dolentes.

I have a giraffe here.

Aquí tinc una girafa.

I'm going to throw the giraffe behind my back

Llançaré la girafa cap enrere

and whoever catches it is going to help me on this next thing.

i la persona que l'agafi m'ajudarà en el pas següent.

Sir, you caught the giraffe.

Senyor, vostè ha agafat la girafa.

I have a playing card in my hand.

Tinc una carta a la mà.

Freely name any card in the deck.

Anomeni sense embuts una carta de la baralla.

Audience member: 10 of hearts.

Persona del públic: El 10 de cors.

Helder Guimarães: 10 of hearts.

Helder Guimarães: El 10 de cors.

You could have named any card in the deck,

Podia escollir qualsevol carta de la baralla,

but you said the 10 of hearts.

però vostè ha dit el 10 de cors.

Ninety percent of everything is crap,

El 90 per cent de tot són ximpleries,

so there's this to prove that Sturgeon was correct.

de manera que això serveix per demostrar que Sturgeon tenia raó.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Sir, this is not your show.

Senyor, aquest no és el seu espectacle.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Keep the giraffe for a moment, okay?

Guardi la girafa un moment, d'acord?

Jesus.

Mare de Déu.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Crazy people.

Quins penques.

Well, the truth is,

Doncs bé, la veritat és,

why is the majority of everything bad?

per què la majoria de les coses són dolentes?

And my answer is: I think we stop thinking too soon.

La meva resposta és: Crec que parem de pensar massa aviat.

I'll give you a clear little example,

Us donaré un petit exemple, però molt clar,

something that people used to do around the turn of the century --

una cosa que la gent feia al segle passat --

not this century, the other one.

no aquest segle, l'anterior.

The idea was to take a piece of paper

Consistia en agafar un tros de paper

and fold it inside out using only your weaker hand,

y doblegar-lo cap endins utilitzant només la mà més dèbil,

in my case, the left hand.

en el meu cas, la mà esquerra.

Something that would look like this.

Quedaria d'aquesta manera.

By the way you reacted, I can see your lack of interest.

Per com heu reaccionat puc veure la vostra manca d'interès.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

But that's okay, I understand why.

Però no passa res, ho entenc.

We stop thinking too soon.

Parem de pensar massa aviat.

But if we give it a little bit more thought,

Però si hi pensem una mica més,

like a paper clip.

per exemple, un clip.

A paper clip makes this a little bit more interesting.

Un clip converteix això en quelcom una mica més interessant.

Not only that, if instead of using my hand with the fingers,

No només això, si enlloc d'utilitzar la mà amb el dits,

I use my hand closed into a fist,

utilitzo la mà tancada en un puny,

that makes this even a little bit more interesting.

encara és una mica més interessant.

Not only that, but I will impose myself a time limit of one second,

No s'acaba aquí, m'imposaré un temps límit d'un segon

something that would look like this.

i quedarà d'aquesta manera.

Now -- no, no, no.

Aleshores -- no, no, no.

Sturgeon may be correct.

Sturgeon podria tenir raó.

But he doesn't have to be correct forever.

Però no sempre hauria de tenir-la.

Things can always change.

Les coses sempre poden canviar.

Sir, what was the card?

Senyor, quina era la carta?

The 10 of hearts?

El 10 de cors?

There's this to prove that things can always change --

Això ens demostra que les coses sempre poden canviar --

the 10 of hearts.

el 10 de cors.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

Secrets are important.

Els secrets són importants.

And secrets are valuable.

Els secrets són valuosos.

And this is the best secret I've ever experienced.

Aquest és el millor secret que mai he viscut.

It starts with a deck of cards onto the table,

Comença amb una baralla de cartes sobre la taula,

an old man and a claim,

un senyor gran i una afirmació.

"I will not touch the deck till the end."

"No tocaré la baralla fins el final."

It doesn't matter who the man was,

Tant se val qui era el senyor,

all that matters was that sentence ringing in my head:

Tot el que compta es aquella frase ressonant al meu cap:

"I will not touch the deck till the end."

"No tocaré la baralla fins el final."

Now, during all this time,

Durant tot aquell temps,

he was holding a small notebook

ell portava una llibreta petita

that sometimes he would open and flip through the pages

que a vegades obria, en fullejava les pàgines.

i mirava alguna cosa.

and look at something.

But I was not really paying attention to the book

Però jo no parava gaire atenció a la llibreta

because I was paying attention the deck and the claim he had made before,

perquè estava capficat amb la baralla i l'afirmació que havia fet abans:

"No tocaré la baralla fins el final."

"I will not touch the deck till the end."

Now sir, you have the giraffe.

Senyor, vostè té la girafa.

Vinga, llanci-la en qualsevol direcció

Go ahead, throw it in any direction

so that you can find someone else at random.

de manera que trobi algú de casualitat.

Perfecte. Senyor, vostè farà de mi en aquesta història.

Perfect. Sir, you're going to play my role in this story.

El senyor gran es va dirigir a mi i em va dir:

The old man turned to me and he said,

"Pots agafar una carta vermella o una negra."

"You could pick a red card or a black card."

My answer was ...

La meva resposta va ser...

Persona del públic2: La carta negra.

Audience member 2: The black card.

HG: Indeed!

HG: Exacte!

Era la carta negra.

It was a black card.

Va dir: "Podria ser un trèvol o una pica",

He said, "It could be a club or a spade,"

and my answer was ...

i la meva resposta va ser...

Audience member 2: Spade.

Persona del públic 2: Una pica.

HG: Exacte! Era una pica.

HG: Indeed! It was a spade.

He said, "It could be a high spade or a low spade."

Ell va dir: "Podria ser una pica alta o una baixa."

And my answer was ...

La meva resposta va ser...

Audience member 2: A high spade.

Persona del públic 2: Una pica alta.

HG: Indeed! It was a high spade.

HG: Exacte! Va ser una pica alta.

Since it's a high spade, it could be a nine, a 10,

Com que és una pica alta, podria ser un 9, un 10,

a jack, king, queen or the ace of spades.

una J, un rei, una reina o un as de piques.

And my answer was ...

La meva resposta va ser...

Audience member 2: The king.

Persona del públic 2: El rei.

HG: EL rei de piques, exacte!

HG: The king of spades, indeed.

Now sir, let's be fair.

Ara, senyor, siguem justos.

You selected black, you selected spade,

Vostè ha escollit el negre, una pica,

you selected the high spade, and you selected -- sorry?

ha escollit una pica alta, quina exactament, perdoni?

Persona del públic 2: El rei. HG: El rei de piques.

Audience member 2: King. HG: King of spades.

Did you feel I influenced you in any decision?

Li ha semblat que jo hagi influenciat les seves decisions?

Audience member 2: No, I just felt your energy.

Persona 2: No, només he sentit la seva energia.

HG: But it was a free choice, correct?

HG: Ha estat una decisió lliure, oi?

Because if not, we could start all over again.

Si no és el cas comencem un altre cop

Ha estat del tot just? Públic 2: Totalment.

But it was really fair? Audience member 2: Absolutely.

HG: El senyor gran es va dirigir a mi i em va fer una pregunta més:

HG: Now, the old man turned to me and he asked me one more question,

a number between one and 52.

un número entre l'1 i el 52.

El primer número que vaig pensar va ser el...

And the first number I thought of was ...

Audience member 2: 17.

Persona del públic 2: El 17.

HG: Indeed! It was the 17.

HG: Exacte! Va ser el 17.

The old man only said one more thing:

El senyor gran només va dir una cosa més:

"This is the end."

"Aquest és el final."

And I knew exactly what that meant.

Sabia exactament què significava.

I knew that he was going to touch the deck.

Sabia que tocaria la baralla.

Everything that you're about to see is exactly as it looked.

Tot el que veureu a continuació és exactament com va passar.

Va treure la baralla fora de la capsa.

He took the deck out of the box.

Nothing in the box.

Res dins la capsa.

Va comptar: "Un, dos, tres, quatre, cinc, sis, set, vuit, nou, deu."

He counted, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10."

The tension was building.

La tensió anava augmentant.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

"11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17."

"... 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17."

I al 17, enlloc d'un rei de piques,

And on the 17, instead of the king of spades,

something appeared in the middle of the deck,

quelcom va aparèixer al mig de la baralla.

that later, I would realize was actually a secret.

Més tard vaig descobrir que es tractava d'un secret.

The old man stood up, he left.

El senyor gran es va posar de peu i marxà.

I never saw him again.

No el vaig veure mai més.

But he left his notebook

Però es va deixar aquesta llibreta

that was there from the beginning.

que havia estat aquí des del começament.

Quan la vaig agafar,

And when I picked it up,

that was the best secret I've ever experienced.

aquell era el millor secret que mai havia viscut.

Els secrets que guardem ens defineixen,

We are defined by the secrets we keep

com també els que compartim.

and by the secrets we share.

And this was his way of sharing a secret with me.

Aquesta va ser la seva manera de compartir un secret amb mi.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

Crazy shit! Now --

Quina bogeria! Ara bé,

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Crec que coses extraordinàries passen tota l'estona.

I believe that amazing things happen all the time.

De veritat ho penso.

I really do.

I la raó per la qual no les veiem més sovint,

And the reason why we don't see them as often,

és perquè no ens predisposem

it's because we don't place ourselves in a position

to search for those amazing things.

a cercar aquestes coses extraordinàries.

Però què passaria si decidíssim buscar aquestes coses extraordinàries,

But what if we decided to search for those amazing things,

for those small coincidences in life that are truly amazing?

aquestes petites coincidències de la vida que són meravelloses de veritat?

So you have the giraffe,

Vostè té la girafa,

endavant, llanci-la en qualsevol direcció perquè trobi algú més de casualitat.

go ahead, throw it in any direction so you find one last person at random.

Sir, I'm going to ask you,

Senyor, ara li preguntaré,

do you have, with you, a United States $1 bill?

té un bitllet d'un dòlar dels Estats Units?

Audience member 3: I think so.

Persona del públic 3: Crec que sí.

HG: Yes? You see, a coincidence!

HG: Si? Ho veieu, una coincidència!

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Let's make sure you have it.

Assegurem-nos-en que el té.

El té?

Do you have it?

Persona del públic 3: Sí.

Audience member 3: Yes. HG: Yes! Perfect.

HG: Sí! Perfecte.

Ara vull que faci exactament el mateix que jo estic a punt de fer.

Now, I want you to do exactly the same thing I am about to do.

I have a dollar bill here to explain.

Tinc un bitllet d'un dólar per explicar-ho.

I want you to take the dollar bill,

Vull que agafi el dòlar

i que doblegui la part del Washington cap endins, així.

and fold the Washington part inside, like this.

Li ha de quedar com una mena de quadrat gran, d'acord?

So you get this kind of big square, okay?

Now, I want you to take the bill and fold it like this, lengthwise,

Ara vull que agafi el bitllet i al doblegui així, de forma allargada,

so it becomes like a rectangle,

perquè es converteixi en un rectangle.

and then again -- really fold it, really crease it --

Una altra vegada -- doblegui'l bé, premi'l --

and when you have it,

i quan el tingui, si us plau,

please fold the bill again into a little square like this

doblegui el bitllet una vegada més en un quadrat petit com aquest

and let me know when you have it.

i avisi'm quan ho hagi fet.

El té? Perfecte.

Do you have it? Perfect.

Now, I'm going to approach,

Ara m'aproparé i, abans de començar,

and before we start,

I want to make sure that we do this in very, very serious conditions.

em vull assegurar que fem això en condicions molt serioses.

Primer de tot, veiem si tenim un retolador i un clip.

First of all, I want to ensure that we have a marker and we have a paper clip.

First of all, take the marker and go ahead and sign the bill.

Primer, agafi el retolador i signi el bitllet.

And this is the reason why:

Aquesta n'és la raó:

later, I'm going to be doing a bunch of stuff on stage

Després faré moltes coses dalt de l'escenari

and I don't want you to think,

i no vull que pensin

oh, while I was distracted by Helder,

"Oh, el Helder em va distraure"

someone came onstage and swapped the bill.

"Algú va pujar a l'escenari i va canviar el bitllet"

So I want to make sure it's exactly the same bill.

Vull deixar clar que és el mateix bitllet.

Però això no és tot.

Now not only that, I want you to take the paper clip

Vull que agafi el clip i el col·loqui al voltant del bitllet.

and put it around the bill.

So even if nobody comes onstage and switches the bill,

Per tant, si fins i tot algú puja a l'escenari i canvia el bitllet

I don't have enough time to go open the bill and close it

jo no tindré temps suficient d'obrir i tancar el bitllet

i mirar el que no he de mirar.

and see what I don't want to see.

És just?

Is that fair?

Now you can give me the marker back.

Ja pot tornar-me el retolador.

D'aquesta manera, molt clarament,

And just like that, very clearly,

vull que sigui visible el lloc on deixem el bitllet

I want to make sure that we place this in full view

from the beginning of this experience

des del començament d'aquest esdeveniment

and to make sure that everyone is going to see it,

i assegurar-me que tothom ho veurà.

we're going to actually have a camera man onstage.

De fet, posarem a un càmera a l'escenari.

Yes, perfect, so that you can see.

Així, perfecte, que tothom ho pugui veure.

Aquesta és la seva firma? Sí? Perfecte.

That's your signature? Yes? Perfect.

Now, we're going to use also the deck and a glass for this.

També farem servir la baralla i una copa.

Nosaltres ens disposarem a buscar una coincidència extraordinària.

And we're going to put ourselves in a position

to search for an amazing coincidence.

Do you mind, can you help me with this?

Em permet? Pot ajudar-me amb això?

Go ahead and take some cards and shuffle.

Endavant, agafi unes cartes i barregi.

Si us plau, pot agafar unes cartes i barrejar?

And do you mind, can you take some cards and shuffle?

Pot agafar unes cartes i barrejar.

You can take some cards and shuffle.

Agafi unes cartes i barregi.

You can shuffle cards in a variety of ways.

Poden barrejar cartes de moltes maneres diferents.

You can shuffle cards like this.

Poden barrejar cartes així, de forma més desordenada,

You can shuffle cards in a more messed up way,

una cosa així.

something like this.

You can shuffle cards in the American way.

Poden barrejar cartes a la manera Americana.

As a Portuguese, I don't feel entitled to teach you guys how to do it.

Com a portuguès, crec que no tinc dret a dir-vos com fer-ho.

Però allò important ve després de barrejar les cartes,

But the important part is after shuffling the cards,

always remember to cut and complete the cards.

recordeu sempre que cal tallar i ajuntar les cartes.

Do you mind doing that for me, sir?

Podria fer-ho per mi?

Please cut and complete.

Talli i ajunti.

And when you have it, place the cards up in the air.

Quan ho tingui, enlairi les cartes.

Vostè també, talli i ajunti i enlairi les cartes.

And you too, cut and complete and up in the air.

Cap amunt, cap amunt.

Up in the air.

Una baralla de cartes barrejada i tallada per 1, 2, 3, 4 i 5 persones.

A deck of cards cut and shuffled by one, two, three, four and five people.

Ara, amb molta cura, reuniré totes les cartes de la baralla.

Now, very clearly, I'm going to gather the deck together.

And just like that.

Així de senzill.

Buscaré una coincidència davant de tothom.

I'm going to search for a coincidence in front of everyone.

I'm going to try.

Ho intentaré.

I have some cards that maybe,

Tinc unes quantes cartes que, potser,

maybe they don't mean anything.

potser no valen res.

But maybe that's because we are not paying close attention.

Però potser no hi parem atenció suficient.

Because maybe, maybe they mean a lot.

Perquè potser, potser valen molt.

Before we start, sir, you gave me a dollar bill.

Abans de començar, senyor, vostè em va donar un dòlar.

Is that your signature?

És la seva firma?

Audience member 3: Yes it is.

Persona del públic 3: Sí que ho és.

HG: I want you to see very clearly

HG: Vull que vegi amb molta claredat

que em disposo a obrir el seu bitllet

that I'm going to open your bill

per revelar un petit secret que hem creat.

and reveal a small secret that we created.

And the secret of this dollar bill is the serial number.

El secret d'aquest dòlar és el número de sèrie.

Senyora, que pot agafar el dòlar?

Madam, can you take the dollar bill?

En el número de sèrie hi ha una lletra.

In the serial number, there is a letter.

What is the first number after the letter?

Quin és el primer número després de la lletra?

Audience member 4: Seven.

Persona del públic 4: El set.

HG: Seven.

HG: El set.

Seven.

El set.

But, that's maybe just one coincidence.

Però potser només es tracta d'una coincidència.

What is the second number? Audience member 4: Nine.

Quin és el segon número? Persona del públic 4: El nou.

Després del set tenim el nou.

So after the seven, we have a nine.

I després del nou?

And after the nine?

Audience member 4: Two.

Persona del públic 4: El dos.

HG: The two. And after the two?

HG: El dos. Després del dos?

Audience member 4: Three.

Persona del públic 4: El tres.

HG: Three, and after?

HG: El tres, i després?

Audience member 4: Three. HG: Three.

Persona del públic 4: El tres. HG: El tres.

Audience member 4: Seven. HG: Seven.

Persona del públic 4: El set. HG: El set.

Audience member 4: Four. HG: Four.

Persona del públic 4: El quatre. HG: El quatre.

Audience member 4: Two. HG: Two, and?

Persona del públic 4: El dos. HG: El dos, i?

Audience member 4: Q.

Persona del públic 4: La Q.

HG: Q like in queen?

HG: La Q? Vol dir la reina?

(Aplaudiments)

(Applause)

La reina de piques!

The queen of clubs!

All the cards in order, just for you.

Totes les cartes per ordre, només per vostès.

Aquest ha estat el meu espectacle.

And that's my show.

Thank you very much and have a nice night.

Moltes gràcies i que passin una bona nit.

(Aplaudiments)

(Applause)