Adam Savage: My obsession with objects and the stories they tell

Translator: marc rausell Reviewer: Lluis Vilardell

About four years ago, the New Yorker published an article

Farà uns quatre anys, el New Yorker publicà un article

about a cache of dodo bones that was found

sobre una partida d'ossos de dodo trobada

in a pit on the island of Mauritius.

en una fossa a l'illa Maurici.

Now, the island of Mauritius is a small island

Doncs bé, l'illa Maurici és una illa petita

off the east coast of Madagascar

situada a la costa est de Madagascar

in the Indian Ocean, and it is the place

a l'oceà Índic, i és el lloc

where the dodo bird was discovered

on el dodo va ser descobert,

and extinguished, all within about 150 years.

i també extingit, tot en uns 150 anys.

Everyone was very excited about this archaeological find,

Tothom es va engrescar amb aquesta descoberta arqueològica,

because it meant that they might finally be able

perquè suposava que finalment seria possible

to assemble a single dodo skeleton.

reunir l'esquelet complet d'un dodo.

See, while museums all over the world

Veureu, mentre museus de tot arreu del món

have dodo skeletons in their collection, nobody --

tenen esquelets de dodo en les seues col·leccions, cap ni un --

not even the actual Natural History Museum

ni tan sols el Museu d'Història Natural

on the island of Mauritius -- has a skeleton that's made

de l'illa de Maurici -- té un esquelet compost

from the bones of a single dodo.

pels ossos d'un mateix dodo.

Well, this isn't exactly true.

Bé, açò no és exactament veritat.

The fact is, is that the British Museum

De fet, el Museu Britànic sí tenia

had a complete specimen of a dodo in their collection

un espècimen de dodo en la seua col·lecció

up until the 18th century --

just fins allà el segle divuit --

it was actually mummified, skin and all --

de fet el tenien momificat, conservant la pell i tot --

but in a fit of space-saving zeal,

però en un cop de cel i per estalviar espai,

they actually cut off the head and they cut off the feet

li tallaren el cap i les potes,

and they burned the rest in a bonfire.

i cremaren la resta del cos en una foguera.

If you go look at their website today,

Si mireu a la seua pàgina web avui

they'll actually list these specimens, saying,

veureu que tenen llistat aquests espècimens, dient

the rest was lost in a fire.

que la resta es perdé en un incendi.

Not quite the whole truth. Anyway.

No és exactament la vertadera història. Deixem-ho estar.

The frontispiece of this article was this photo,

A la portada de l'article estava aquesta foto,

and I'm one of the people that thinks that Tina Brown

i jo sóc un d'aquells que creuen que Tina Brown

was great for bringing photos to the New Yorker,

estigué molt encertada duent les fotos al New Yorker,

because this photo completely rocked my world.

perquè just aquesta foto em va trasbalsar completament.

I became obsessed with the object --

De seguit em vaig obsessionar amb aquell objecte --

not just the beautiful photograph itself,

no sols per la bellesa de la fotografia en sí,

and the color, the shallow depth of field, the detail that's visible,

i el color, la poca profunditat de camp, els detalls tan visibles,

the wire you can see on the beak there

el filferro que podeu veure al bec

that the conservator used to put this skeleton together --

que el conservador utilitzà per montar l'esquelet,

there's an entire story here.

hi ha tota una història aquí darrere.

And I thought to myself,

I em vaig dir,

wouldn't it be great

no seria genial

if I had my own dodo skeleton?

poder tenir el meu propi esquelet de dodo??

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

I want to point out here at this point that

Doncs bé -- vull remarcar en aquest moment

I've spent my life obsessed

que de fet he passat la vida obsés

by objects and the stories that they tell,

pels objectes i les històries que ens poden contar,

and this was the very latest one.

i aquest era l'últim que havia caigut a les meues mans.

So I began looking around for --

Així immediatament em vaig posar a cercar,

to see if anyone sold a kit,

per veure si algú venia un kit,

some kind of model that I could get,

algun tipus de maqueta que pogués comprar,

and I found lots of reference material, lots of lovely pictures.

i vaig trobar molts materials de referència, munts de fotos ben boniques --

No dice: no dodo skeleton for me. But the damage had been done.

inútil: cap esquelet de dodo per a mi. Però el mal estava fet.

I had saved a few hundred photos of dodo skeletons

Tenia desades centenars de fotos d'esquelets de dodo

into my "Creative Projects" folder --

a la meua carpeta de "Projectes Creatius"..

it's a repository for my brain, everything that I could possibly be interested in.

és una mena de dipòsit per al meu cervell, on deso tot el que podria interessar-me.

Any time I have an internet connection,

Sempre que estic connectat a l'internet,

there's a sluice of stuff moving into there,

hi ha un moviment continu de coses cap allà,

everything from beautiful rings to cockpit photos.

des de bonics anells fins fotos de cabines d'avió.

The key that the Marquis du Lafayette sent to George Washington

La clau que el marqués de Lafayette envià a George Washington

to celebrate the storming of the Bastille.

per celebrar la presa de la Bastilla.

Russian nuclear launch key:

Una clau de llançament nuclear russa.

The one on the top is the picture of the one I found on eBay;

La que veieu a dalt és l'imatge que vaig trobar al eBay;

the one on the bottom is the one I made for myself,

la de baix la vaig fer jo mateix,

because I couldn't afford the one on eBay.

perquè no podia pagar la de l'eBay.

Storm trooper costumes. Maps of Middle Earth --

Uniformes de guàrdia d'assalt. Mapes de la Terra Mitjana --

that's one I hand-drew myself. There's the dodo skeleton folder.

aquest és un dibuixat per mi mateix. I ahi tenim la carpeta de l'esquelet de dodo.

This folder has 17,000 photos --

Aquesta carpeta conté 17.000 fotos --

over 20 gigabytes of information --

uns 20 gigabytes d'informació --

and it's growing constantly.

i està contínuament creixent.

And one day, a couple of weeks later, it might have been

I resulta que, unes dues setmanes després,

maybe a year later, I was in the art store with my kids,

o potser un any després, estava en la tenda de pintures amb els meus fills,

and I was buying some clay tools -- we were going to have a craft day.

comprant algunes ferramentes de modelat -- anàvem a tenir un dia de manualitats.

I bought some Super Sculpeys, some armature wire, some various materials.

Vaig comprar alguns Super Sculpeys, filferros i altres materials.

And I looked down at this Sculpey, and I thought,

Mirant aquell Sculpey, vaig pensar que,

maybe,

potser,

yeah, maybe I could make my own dodo skull.

sí! potser podria fer el meu propi crani de dodo.

I should point out at this time -- I'm not a sculptor;

Haig de confessar-ho -- no sóc cap escultor, jo;

I'm a hard-edged model maker.

Sóc un dissenyador de models durs.

You give me a drawing, you give me a prop to replicate,

Doneu-me un dibuix, doneu-me una cosa per replicar,

you give me a crane, scaffolding, parts from "Star Wars" --

doneu-me un crani, bastides, parts de "Star Wars" --

especially parts from "Star Wars" --

especialment parts de "Star Wars" --

I can do this stuff all day long.

Puc fer tot açò sense problemes.

It's exactly how I made my living for 15 years.

M'he guanyat la vida així durant 15 anys.

But you give me something like this --

Però si em doneu quelcom com açò --

my friend Mike Murnane sculpted this;

el meu amic Mike Murnane ho escolpí;

it's a maquette for "Star Wars, Episode Two" --

és una maqueta d'Star Wars, Episodi II --

this is not my thing --

no és cosa meua, açò --

this is something other people do -- dragons, soft things.

és altra gent la qui fa estes coses - dracs, coses toves.

However, I felt like I had looked at enough photos of dodo skulls

De totes maneres, sentia que havia vist bastants cranis de dodo

to actually be able to

com per a ser capaç

understand the topology and perhaps replicate it --

d'entendre'n la topologia i, potser reproduir-lo --

I mean, it couldn't be that difficult.

vull dir, no podia ser tan difícil.

So, I started looking at the best photos I could find.

Així que, vaig començar mirant les millors fotos que vaig trobar.

I grabbed all the reference,

Vaig anotar totes les referències,

and I found this lovely piece of reference.

i vaig trobar aquesta fantàstica peça de referència.

This is someone selling this on eBay;

Algú volia vendre açò a l'eBay;

it was clearly a woman’s hand, hopefully a woman's hand.

i es tracta clarament d'una mà de dona, afortunadament una mà de dona.

Assuming it was roughly the size of my wife's hand,

Suposant que era més o menys com la mà de la meva dona,

I made some measurements of her thumb, and I scaled them out to the size of the skull.

vaig mesurar el polze, i vaig poder trobar l'escala de la mida d'aquell crani.

I blew it up to the actual size, and I began using that,

Vaig aconseguir doncs trobar el tamany real, i a partir d'això,

along with all the other reference that I had, comparing it to it

i junt a totes les altres referències que tenia, comparant-ho tot

as size reference for figuring out exactly how big the beak should be,

conseguí calcular com de gran exactament havia de ser el bec,

exactly how long, etc.

la seua llargària, etc. etc.

And over a few hours, I eventually achieved

Finalment després d'unes hores, vaig obtenir

what was actually a pretty reasonable dodo skull. And I didn't mean to continue, I --

el que era molt aproximadament un crani de dodo. I no tenia intenció de continuar --

it's kind of like, you know, you can only clean a super messy room

és allò de, ja sabeu, només pots netejar una habitació totalment caòtica

by picking up one thing at a time; you can't think about the totality.

fent les coses una per una; no pots pensar en la totalitat.

I wasn't thinking about a dodo skeleton;

No estava pensant doncs en un esquelet per al dodo;

I just noticed that as I finished this skull,

Me'n vaig adonar quan vaig acabar aquest crani,

the armature wire that I had been used to holding it up

tot el filferro que havia estat usant per subjectar-lo

was sticking out of the back just where a spine would be.

sortia per darrere, tot just on devia estar la columna.

And one of the other things I'd been interested in and obsessed with over the years

I una altra de les coses que m'han interessat i obsessionat durant anys

is spines and skeletons, having collected a couple of hundred.

són les columnes vertebrals i els esquelets, dels que en tinc una parell de centenars.

I actually understood the mechanics

Realment entenia prou bé la mecànica

of vertebrae enough to kind of start to imitate them.

de les vèrtebres, com per a començar a imitar-les.

And so button by button,

Així, peça a peça,

vertebrae by vertebrae, I built my way down.

vèrtebra a vèrtebra, vaig elaborar-ne el conjunt.

And actually, by the end of the day, I had a reasonable skull,

I realment, al final del dia, tenia ja un crani prou fidedigne,

a moderately good vertebrae and half of a pelvis.

unes vèrtebres mitjanament bones i mitja pelvis.

And again, I kept on going, looking for more reference,

De nou, vaig seguir, cercant més referències,

every bit of reference I could find -- drawings, beautiful photos.

qualsevol pista que pogués trobar - dibuixos, fotos..

This guy -- I love this guy! He put a dodo leg bones on a scanner

Aquest tipus - m'encanta aquest xic!, escanejà els ossos de la cama d'un dodo,

with a ruler.

amb una regla!

This is the kind of accuracy that I wanted,

És el tipus d'exactitud que necessitava,

and I

per poder - i fins al ben últim -

replicated every last bone and put it in.

reproduir cadascun dels ossos i juntar-los.

And after about six weeks,

I en unes -- jo diria que sis setmanes,

I finished, painted, mounted

tenia acabat, pintat, i muntat

my own dodo skeleton.

el meu propi esquelet de dodo.

You can see that I even made a museum label for it

Podeu veure que inclòs vaig preparar una etiqueta de museu

that includes a brief history of the dodo.

on s'inclou una breu història del dodo.

And TAP Plastics made me -- although I didn't photograph it --

I Plàstics TAP em muntà -- tot i que no la vaig fotografiar --

a museum vitrine.

una vitrina de museu.

I don't have the room for this in my house,

Realment no tinc espai a casa per a això,

but I had to finish what I had started.

però havia d'acabar allò que havia començat.

And this actually represented kind of a sea change to me.

I això de fet representà un canvi radical per a mi.

Again, like I said, my life has been about

Com ja he dit abans, he passat la vida fascinat

being fascinated by objects and the stories that they tell,

per molts objectes i les històries que ens conten,

and also making them for myself, obtaining them,

i també fer-los per a mi, aconseguir-los,

appreciating them and diving into them.

estimar-los, i cabpussar-me en ells.

And in this folder, "Creative Projects,"

També en aquesta carpeta de projectes,

there are tons of projects that I'm currently working on,

tinc força altres coses en les que estic treballant ara mateix,

projects that I've already worked on, things that I might want to work on some day,

projectes en que ja he treballat, o altres que potser començaré algun dia,

and things that I may just want to find and buy and have

i d'altres coses que sols vull trobar i comprar i tenir i --

and look at and touch.

veure i tocar.

But now there was potentially this new category of things

Però ara hi havia aquesta nova categoria potencial de coses

that I could sculpt

que podria esculpir

that was different, that I -- you know,

i que era diferent, i que jo -- sabeu,

I have my own R2D2, but that's --

tinc el meu propi R2D2, però és --

honestly, relative to sculpting, to me, that's easy.

sincerament, senzill de realitzar, per a mi.

And so I went back and looked through my "Creative Projects" folder,

Vaig tornar a mirar a la meua carpeta de Projectes Creatius,

and I happened across the Maltese Falcon.

i vaig entropessar amb el Falcó Maltès.

Now, this is funny for me:

Bé, és molt curiós per a mi:

to fall in love with an object from a Hammett novel,

enamorar-me d'un objecte d'una novel·la de Hammett,

because if it's true that the world is divided into two types of people,

perquè si bè és cert que el món es divideix en dos tipus de persones,

Chandler people and Hammett people, I am absolutely a Chandler person.

les persones Chandler i les persones Hammett, jo en sóc una totalment Chandler.

But in this case,

Però en aquest cas, no es tracta --

it's not about the author, it's not about the book or the movie or the story,

de l'autor, el llibre, la pel·lícula o la història,

it's about the object in and of itself.

sinò sobre l'objecte en sí.

And in this case, this object is --

I en aquest cas, l'objecte és --

plays on a host of levels.

juga e una pila de -- molts nivells.

First of all, there's the object in the world.

Primer que res, hi ha l'objecte en el món.

This is the "Kniphausen Hawk."

Aquest és el "Falcó Kniphausen".

It is a ceremonial pouring vessel

És un vas cerimonial fet

made around 1700 for a Swedish Count,

allà pel 1700 per a un comte suec,

and it is very likely the object from which

i és molt probable que fos l'objecte real del qual

Hammett drew his inspiration for the Maltese Falcon.

Hammett tragué l'inspiració pel Falcó Maltès.

Then there is the fictional bird, the one that Hammett created for the book.

Després tenim aquest ocell fictici, que Hammet creà pel llibre.

Built out of words, it is the engine

Fet a partir de paraules, és l'artífex

that drives the plot of his book and also the movie,

que conduix l'argument del seu llibre i també de la pel·lícula,

in which another object is created:

en la qual, es crea un altre objecte:

a prop that has to represent the thing that Hammett created out of words,

la figura que ha de representar allò que Hammett creà de les paraules,

inspired by the Kniphausen Hawk, and this represents the falcon in the movie.

inspirada en el Falcó Kniphauser, i que representa el falcó a la pel·lícula.

And then there is this fourth level, which is

I després tenim el quart nivell, que és

a whole new object in the world:

un objecte completament nou al món:

the prop made for the movie, the representative of the thing,

la peça feta per a la pel·lícula, el que representa la cosa,

becomes, in its own right,

esdevé, per dret propi,

a whole other thing,

en quelcom completament diferent,

a whole new object of desire.

un nou objecte de desig.

And so now it was time to do some research.

Havia arribat l'hora d'investigar un poc.

I actually had done some research

De fet, ja ho havia investigat

a few years before -- it's why the folder was there.

uns anys abans -- per això tenia la carpeta.

I'd bought a replica, a really crappy replica,

Havia comprat una rèplica, bastant dolenta per cert,

of the Maltese Falcon on eBay,

del Falcó Maltès a eBay,

and had downloaded enough pictures to actually

i havia descarregat les suficients fotos i dibuixos

have some reasonable reference.

com per a tenir prous referències.

But I discovered,

Però vaig descobrir,

in researching further,

investigant-hi més,

really wanting precise reference, that

i necessitat de referències més exactes, que l'ocell tenia --

one of the original lead birds

un dels ocells originals de plom

had been sold at Christie's in 1994,

havia estat venut a Christie's l'any 1994,

and so I contacted an antiquarian bookseller

i vaig contactar amb un llibreter d'antic

who had the original Christie's catalogue,

que tenia el catàleg original de Christie's,

and in it I found this magnificent picture,

i hi vaig trobar aquesta magnífica fotografia,

which included a size reference.

incloent una escala de referència.

I was able to scan the picture, blow it up to exactly full size.

Vaig escanejar-la, i passar-la a mida real.

I found other reference. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

Vaig trobar encara una altra referència. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

a New Jersey editor, actually found this

un editor de Nova Jersey, va topar amb aquest

resin Maltese Falcon

Falcó Maltès fet de resina

at a flea market in 1991,

en uns encants en 1991,

although it took him five years

tot i que li va prendre 5 anys

to authenticate this bird to

per autenticar aquest ocell per ---

the auctioneers' specifications,

complir les especificacions dels subhastadors,

because there was a lot of controversy about it.

ja que hi havia una gran controvèrsia al seu darrere.

It was made out of resin, which wasn't a common material for movie props

Estava fet de resina, material poc habitual per als típics atrezzos dels films

about the time the movie was made.

per les pel·lícules d'aquells temps.

It's funny to me that it took a while to authenticate it,

És sorprenent que costés tant de temps autenticar-lo,

because I can see it compared to this thing,

perquè puc veure que comparant-lo amb aquest,

and I can tell you -- it's real, it's the real thing,

puc afirmar -- que és real, és 'autèntic,

it's made from the exact same mold that this one is.

està fet a partir del mateix motlle que aquest.

In this one, because the auction was actually so controversial,

En aquest, ja que hi havia hagut tanta controvèrsia a la subhasta,

Profiles in History, the auction house that sold this --

la casa Profiles in History, que el va vendre --

I think in 1995 for about 100,000 dollars --

crec que en 1995 per uns 100.000 dollars --

they actually included -- you can see here on the bottom --

s'inclou -- ho podeu veure aquí a baix,

not just a front elevation, but also

no sols un alçat frontal, sinó també

a side, rear

un de lateral, posterior,

and other side elevation.

i des d'altres angles.

So now, I had all the topology I needed

Així que per fi tenia la topologia que em calia

to replicate the Maltese Falcon.

per replicar el Falcó Maltès.

What do they do, how do you start something like that? I really don't know.

Com s'ho fan, com començar una cosa així? Realment, no ho sé.

So what I did was, again, like I did with the dodo skull,

I el que vaig fer va ser, de nou, com ho vaig fer amb el crani del dodo,

I blew all my reference up to full size,

portar-me totes les referències a mida real,

and then I began cutting out the negatives and using

i després començant a fer els negatius i utilitzant

those templates as shape references.

les plantilles com a referències per donar-li forma.

So I took Sculpey, and I built a big block of it,

Vaig prendre de nou el Sculpey, i en vaig fer un gran bloc,

and I passed it through until, you know, I got the right profiles.

i vaig anar fent fins, bé, tenir els perfils correctes.

And then slowly, feather by feather, detail by detail,

I després lentament, ploma a ploma, i detall a detall,

I worked out and achieved --

vaig acabar aconseguint --

working in front of the television and Super Sculpey --

treballant davant del televisor -- i amb el Super Sculpey --

here's me sitting next to my wife --

ací estic jo junt a la meua dona --

it's the only picture I took of the entire process.

és l'única foto que vaig fer durant tot el procés.

As I moved through, I achieved

A mesura que treballava, vaig aconseguir

a very reasonable facsimile of the Maltese Falcon.

un molt bon facsímil del Falcó Maltés.

But again, I am not a sculptor,

Però de nou us dic, jo no sóc cap escultor,

and so I don't know a lot of the tricks, like,

i no conec tots aquells petits trucs, ja sabeu,

I don't know how my friend Mike gets beautiful, shiny surfaces with his Sculpey;

no sé com meu amic Mike obté unes superfícies tan boniques i brillants amb el seu Sculpey;

I certainly wasn't able to get it.

certament jo no podia fer-ho.

So, I went down to my shop,

Així que vaig baixar al taller,

and I molded it and I cast it in resin,

vaig modelar la peça i la vaig farcir amb resina,

because in the resin, then, I could absolutely get the glass smooth finished.

perquè aleshores podria obtindre sense problema un acabat suau com el vidre.

Now there's a lot of ways to fill and get yourself a nice smooth finish.

Ara bé, hi ha moltes maneres d'emplenar-lo i obtindre aquest acabat.

My preference is about 70 coats of this --

I la meua preferida és posar com unes 70 capes d'això,

matte black auto primer.

emprimació negre mat per a cotxes.

I spray it on for about three or four days, it drips to hell,

Ho ruixo contínuament durant tres o quatre dies, degotant sense parar,

but it allows me a really, really nice gentle sanding surface

però em permet obtindre una superfície veritablement polida

and I can get it glass-smooth.

amb la suavitat del vidre.

Oh, finishing up with triple-zero steel wool.

Ah, i rematant-ho amb llana d'acer triple zero.

Now, the great thing about getting it to this point was that

Ara, el millor d'arribar fins aquí era que

because in the movie, when they finally bring out the bird at the end,

perquè en la pel·lícula, quan per fi mostren l'ocell al final,

and they place it on the table, they actually spin it.

i el posen sobre la taula, el fan girar.

So I was able to actually

De manera que vaig poder

screen-shot and freeze-frame to make sure.

captar imatges i congelar-les per assegurar-me'n.

And I'm following all the light kicks on this thing and making sure that as I'm holding the light

I vaig fixant-me en tots els reflexos, i assegurant que quan tinc la llum

in the same position, I'm getting the same type of reflection on it --

en la mateixa posició, estic obtenint el mateix tipus de reflexió sobre l'ocell --

that's the level of detail I'm going into this thing.

aquest és el nivell de detall que cerco en tot plegat.

I ended up with this: my Maltese Falcon.

Havia obtingut això: el meu Falcó Maltès.

And it's beautiful. And I can state with authority

I és preciós. I puc afirmar sense dubtes

at this point in time, when I'd finished it,

a hores d'ara, una vegada l'he acabat,

of all of the replicas out there -- and there is a few --

que de totes aquelles rèpliques que hem vist -- i n'hi ha unes quantes --

this is by far the most accurate

aquesta és de bon tros la més precisa

representation of the original Maltese Falcon

representació del Falcó Maltès original

than anyone has sculpted. Now the original one, I should tell you,

que mai ningú ha escolpit. Ara, l'original, he de dir-vos,

is sculpted by a guy named Fred Sexton.

fou escolpit per un noi anomenat Fred Sexton.

This is where it gets weird.

I és ací on la cosa es posa rara..

Fred Sexton was a friend of this guy, George Hodel.

Fred Sexton era amic d'aquest xic, George Hodel.

Terrifying guy -- agreed by many to be the killer

Un noi sinistre -- molts pensen que va ser l'assassí

of the Black Dahlia.

de la Dàlia Negra.

Now, James Ellroy believes

Doncs bé, James Ellroy creu

that Fred Sexton, the sculptor of the Maltese Falcon,

que Fred Sexton, l'escultor del Falcó Maltès,

killed James Elroy's mother.

fou qui matà la mare de l'Ellroy.

I'll go you one stranger than that: In 1974,

I encara hi ha més.. En 1974,

during the production of a weird comedy sequel to "The Maltese Falcon,"

durant el rodatge d'una seqüela còmica del "Falcó Maltès",

called "The Black Bird," starring George Segal,

titulada "L'Ocell Negre", i protagonitzada per George Segal,

the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

el Museu d'Art del comptat de Los Angeles

had a plaster original of the Maltese Falcon --

tenia un original en escaiola del Falcó Maltès --

one of the original six plasters, I think, made for the movie --

una de les sis escaioles originals, tinc entès, fetes per a la pel·lícula --

stolen out of the museum. A lot of people thought

va ser furtada del Museu. Molts cregueren que es tractava

it was a publicity stunt for the movie.

d'una estratagema publicitària per a la pel·lícula.

John's Grill, which actually

John's Grill, que per cert

is seen briefly in "The Maltese Falcon,"

apareix breument en "el Falcó Maltès",

is still a viable San Francisco eatery,

és encara avui una cafeteria de San Francisco,

counted amongst its regular customers Elisha Cook,

que contava entre els seus clients regulars amb l'Elisha Cook,

who played Wilmer Cook in the movie,

que interpretava al film el paper de Wilmer Cook,

and he gave them

i els va regalar

one of his original plasters of the Maltese Falcon.

una d'aquestes escaioles originals del Falcó Maltès.

And they had it in their cabinet for about 15 years,

El tingueren en una vitrina durant més de 15 anys,

until it got stolen

fins que fou robat

in January of 2007.

el gener de 2007.

It would seem that the object of desire

És gairebé com si aquest objecte de desig

only comes into its own by disappearing repeatedly.

tan sols es realitzés desapareixent repetidament.

So here I had this Falcon,

Així que tenia el meu Falcó,

and it was lovely. It looked really great,

i era captivador. Realment preciós,

the light worked on it really well,

la.. la llum li feia uns reflexes molt bonics,

it was better than anything that I could achieve

era millor que qualsevulla cosa que pogués aconseguir

or obtain out in the world.

o be obtenir en tot el món.

But there was a problem. And the problem was that:

Hi havia un problema, però. I era el següent:

I wanted the entirety of the object,

Volia la completesa del meu objecte,

I wanted the weight behind the object.

volia que pesara, també.

This thing was made of resin and it was too light.

Com que estava fet de resina era massa lleuger.

There's this group online that I frequent.

Però tinc aquest grup d'amics a internet.

It's a group of prop crazies just like me

És un grup de fanàtics del modelatge com jo

called the Replica Props Forum, and it's people who trade,

anomenat Replica Props Forum, i es tracta de gent que comercien,

make and travel in information about movie props.

fabriquen i envien informació sobre objectes de pel·lícules.

And it turned out that one of the guys there,

I em vaig fixar que un d'aquest nois,

a friend of mine that I never actually met,

un amic al que mai he vist, però bon amic

but befriended through some prop deals, was the manager of a local foundry.

pels nostres mercadejos, era el cap d'una petita foneria local.

He took my master Falcon pattern,

Prengué l'original del meu Falcó,

he actually did lost wax casting

i amb un motlle a la cera perduda

in bronze for me,

el va fondre en bronze per a mi,

and this is the bronze I got back.

i esta es la peça que em va fer.

And this is, after some acid etching, the one that I ended up with.

I és aquesta, la definitiva, després d'un tractament final amb àcid.

And this thing, it's deeply, deeply satisfying to me.

I esta coseta -- em satisfà profundament.

Here, I'm going to put it out there,

Ara, vaig a, la deixaré aquí mateix.

later on tonight, and

i més tart avui, vosaltres podreu...

I want you to pick it up and handle it.

vull que l'agafeu i l'examineu.

You want to know

Sigueu conscients de

how obsessed I am. This project's only for me,

quant interés he posat. Aquest projecte és per mi únicament,

and yet I went so far as to buy on eBay

i he arribat al punt de comprar a l'eBay

a 1941 Chinese San Francisco-based newspaper,

un periòdic xinès de San Francisco del 1941,

in order so that the bird could properly be wrapped ...

sols per poder ombolicar la figura apropiadament...

like it is in the movie.

tal com ho fan a la pel·lícula.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Yeah, I know!

Sí, ja ho sé!

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Rialles) (Aplaudiments)

There you can see, it's weighing in at 27 and a half pounds.

I podeu veure, que de fet ara pesa unes 27 lliures i mitja (12'5 Kg).

That's half the weight of my dog, Huxley.

La meitat que el meu gos, Huxley.

But there's a problem.

Però hi ha un problema.

Now, here's the most recent progression of Falcons.

Ara, veieu aquí la progressió més recent dels Falcons.

On the far left is a piece of crap -- a replica I bought on eBay.

A l'esquerra del tot està la peça que vaig comprar a l'eBay.

There's my somewhat ruined Sculpey Falcon,

Aquí tenim el meu falcó de Sculpey desfet,

because I had to get it back out of the mold. There's my first casting,

perquè el vaig haver d'extraure del motlle. Aquí la meua primera talla,

there's my master and there's my bronze.

el meu patró, i per fi el de bronze.

There's a thing that happens when you mold and cast things,

Passa sempre una cosa amb el modelats i buidats de figures,

which is that every time you throw it into silicone and cast it in resin,

i és que sempre que ho aboques en silicona i afegixes resina a sobre,

you lose a little bit of volume, you lose a little bit of size.

perds una mica de volum, es redueix una mica la mida.

And when I held my bronze one up against my Sculpey one,

I quan vaig comparar la peça de bronze amb la de Sculpey,

it was shorter by three-quarters of an inch.

era quasi uns tres quarts de polzada (uns 2cm) més curta.

Yeah, no, really, this was like aah --

Buff, síi, realment va ser com, aghhh!!

why didn't I remember this?

perquè no ho he pensat abans!?

Why didn't I start and make it bigger?

Perquè no l'he començat una mica més gran?

So what do I do? I figure I have two options.

Així doncs què faig? Sols tinc dues opcions..

One, I can fire a freaking laser at it,

Una, puc llençar-li un làser bestial,

which I have already done,

cosa que ja he fet,

to do a 3D scan -- there's a 3D scan of this Falcon.

per escannejar-lo en 3D.. veiem ací l'escanejat 3D del Falcó.

I had figured out the exact amount of shrinkage I achieved

Havent calculat doncs quant es reduïa exactament

going from a wax master to a bronze master

passant del patró de cera al de bronze,

and blown this up big enough to make

i fent-lo prou gran per tal d'obtindre

a 3D lithography master of this,

un patró litogràfic en 3D,

which I will polish, then I will send to the mold maker

que hauré de polir i després enviar al modelador

and then I will have it done in bronze. Or:

per tindre finalment el meu en bronze. O bé..

There are several people who own originals,

hi ha diverses persones que posseeixen originals,

and I have been attempting to contact them and reach them,

i he tractat de contactar amb elles,

hoping that they will let me spend a few minutes

esperant que em permetran estar uns minuts

in the presence of one of the real birds, maybe to take a picture,

en presència d'un dels ocells reals, potser per treure'n algunes fotos,

or even to pull out the hand-held laser scanner

o millor per ficar-los a l'escaner portàtil de làser

that I happen to own that fits inside a cereal box,

que dona la casualitat que tinc i que cap a un paquet de cereals,

and could maybe, without even touching their bird, I swear,

i potser podria, sense mai tocar el seu ocell, ho prometo,

get a perfect 3D scan. And I'm even willing to sign pages

obtindre un escanejat 3D perfecte. Estic disposat a firmar el que sigui

saying that I'll never let anyone else have it, except for me in my office, I promise.

assegurant que mai el deixaré a ningú, tan sols per a mi, en la meua oficina. Ho prometo.

I'll give them one if they want it.

Els en donaré un, si ho desitgen.

And then, maybe, then I'll achieve the end of this exercise.

Aleshores, potser, podré arribar a la fi d'aquest exercici.

But really, if we're all going to be honest with ourselves,

Però realment, si volem ser honests amb nosaltres mateixos,

I have to admit that achieving the end of the exercise

haig d'admetre que arribar al final d'aquest exercici

was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it.

mai n'ha sigut l'objectiu, no és veritat?

Thank you.

Moltes gràcies.