Once again participation live on TV and with an experiment specially created for the occasion. Delighted to have contributed on this very popular and supportive program, this time devoted to raise awareness and funds for mental illness. I did prefer not to play with the idea of mind untapped powers, but with the idea of those incredible mental coincidences at least once in life anyone has experimented instead. Through my habilities, I tried to reproduce a multiple coincicence: a presenter thinks of and draws a card at random; another presenter shoots the billiard balls and thinks of the card below the ball number randomly thought by her; and the audience together with me think of and mentally project a card. Incredibly... everything matched up! I guess it was one of my 'lucky' days. I was hosted by two nice and well known presenters of the channel. You can watch the video at the Video section.
The Neuroscience and Social Department of Barcelona Autonoma University, that is Chair Social Brain, created a workshop at the Festival named enigmatically 'The Third Reality' in which guests were able to experiment physically and mentally how alteration of perception can lead us to odd, exceptional and unknown worlds. It was very exciting to collaborate in such workshop.
It is clear to me that there is many people with good thoughts in the world, and many of them came together at this event:
The contributors to the Foundation, gave their work and enthusiasm untiringly;
Piaget, manufacturer of jewels and watches of the highest standard, which are pure art and magic, showing their commitment and generosity;
and talented footballers, artists and celebrities, brought together by Sergio Ramos, also providing excitement and generosity for all.
All of this, both in the morning at Madrid's RACE Golf Club, and in the evening at the charity Ball.
Certainly it was a day full of good thoughts and emotion. Unforgettable.
I performed experiments never seen before, and designed specially for the occasion:
firstly, we talked about my collection of curious news stories, which I have had since 1987. Additionally, I had prepared an experiment on psychological influence with them, but there were still many more things to see, and little time.
secondly, a demonstration of supermemory, answering questions on the award winners of the entire history of the Goya Awards;
thirdly, a demonstration in situ that we are all connected in ways that are often unexpected and unrepeatable;
and finally, identification of the country that a stamp comes from with eyes blindfolded... and just by tasting/sucking it.
On that day we obtained one of the biggest audiences of the month.
I was treated very well by all of the Buenafuente Show's team, and I had the privilege of being able to enjoy first hand the humour and creative talent of Andreu Buenafuente, a genius and great personality.
You can see some moments of my part in the show in the Gallery section.
Last month I had the opportunity to give a lecture on how to optimize the memory at a sunny house in Vilafranca del Penedès which had belonged to a bishop, Torras i Bages, and which some years ago was converted into a library bearing his name.
It was a joy to read or converse at this location, with its own peculiar character and charm.
I was treated wonderfully, and the lecture was so well received that they asked me to come again. It will be a pleasure to return there.
If there is a TV programme that I love because of its format and contents, it is without doubt, El Club, presented by the young and brilliant veteran Albert Om and with excellent contributors. It is a highly entertaining, warm, informative and comprehensive magazine show. So, when they called me to take part in it, I agreed immediately.
We had a great time and they told me that their audience rose even higher, both on the day on thought perception -you can see an extract of this in the Gallery-, and on the day when they asked me to prepare something related to the coming Christmas Lottery draw.
For this, several members of the audience selected some numbers, they added them up and wrote each digit of the sum on a card, in total five cards. Om chose one of the several sealed envelopes that I offered him, each of which contained a different lottery number. Psychological influence or foreseeing choice, what is sure is that the lottery number in the envelope chosen by Om... coincided with the audience's sum total, in other words, with the cards that the participants were showing! The envelopes were opened, and with them the words Merry Christmas could be formed, which I dedicated to the team, the audience and the viewers.
There was not enough time for more, which was a pity... because I had no time for the 'grand finale': I had thought about also interacting in some special way with the viewers at home: I would have asked them to take that day's newspaper, open it at the lottery page, and ... there it was - the same prizewinning number was the one chosen moments ago by Om and the audience!
A short time ago I also had the pleasure of giving a lecture on memory optimization at this dynamic and magnificent university, in its Blanquerna Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sports.
Can you imagine that you call a radio station and that somenone there can read and influence your thoughts, predict what you are thinking, or simply that you have some fun with games relating to our marvellous mind?
That's what happened last year over several months on the superb evening programme on Catalunya Ràdio 'Where are you heading?'.
A team led by that unique and dynamic communicator LLucià Ferrer and with contributors with endless talents. If they are already well known, soon they will be even more famous.
This was a complex and demanding challenge for many reasons, but also a rewarding one.
One of the best interventions was when I correctly predicted the team that would win the football league, and by how many points, in 2006-07 - one of the closest contests of recent years, as well as the top goal scorer, and the number of goals he scored.
You can listen to my interventions in the Gallery.
