"Unforgettable" - Brad Vs The Internet
9:53
Shades of John Henry and the steam drill, as Brad battles Google, etc. (assisted by librarian Frank Collia), to answer 20 questions in the least amount of time.
Excerpt from "Unforgettable", my work-in-progress documentary on my brother Brad Williams and his amazing memory.
For more information, visit www.unfor gettabledoc.com
Tags: brad+williams unforgettable documentary memory hyperthymesia google internet contest frank+collia
Added: 1 year ago
From: PublicAccessOfEvil
Views: 3,647
[scene opens with a female radio host ("Samantha Strong, Radio host, Classic Hits 94.7") speaking directly to the camera]
SAMANTHA STRONG: We've been working together since before everybody had computers here, and we could just run down the hall and ask Brad anything, and he would know. And if you had a question about an old TV show, not only would he know the answer, but he would know when that TV show aired around here, and on what channel, and what the other TV shows were on that same evening on the same channel and everything else that was against it. So, y'know, he's a lotta fun. He's faster than Googling something.
["Brad vs. the Internet" appears on screen, then cut to a male librarian speaking directly to the camera]
FRANK COLLIA: My name is Frank Collia. I'm a librarian here at the Brandon Library in the Hillsborough County Tampa public library system.
[cut to Brad's brother speaking directly to the camera]
GREG WILLIAMS: We pulled together a list of twenty questions.
[cut to Frank speaking directly to the camera]
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] But it's really a test to see how long it takes Google versus how long it takes Brad to get the same information.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Right, but it doesn't have to be Google.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Yeah.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] It can be IMDB, it can be Wikipedia, anything you trust.
[cut to Frank sitting at his desk in the library]
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] So, are you ready?
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Alright!
FRANK COLLIA: Let's go!
[he pats the computer screen]
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] You need some water? Some Gatorade, anything?
FRANK COLLIA: No, I think I'm good.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Okay. Well ...
FRANK COLLIA: I think we're all greased up ...
[they laugh, then cut to Frank reading from the list of questions on a piece of paper]
FRANK COLLIA: Question one, on what three dates did thoroughbred Seattle Slew win his Triple Crown races?
[cut to Frank typing on the computer, then to a closeup of the horse's Wikipedia entry on the screen]
FRANK COLLIA: Ooh, look at this. They don't have the exact dates.
[cut to another horse-racing website]
FRANK COLLIA: Terrible, terrible! Not starting very well here ...
[cut to a closeup of Frank staring at the computer]
FRANK COLLIA: Ah, here it is. May 7th is the Kentucky ... Preakness is May 21st, and Belmont was June 11th.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Correct!
[cut to Frank reading from the list of questions]
FRANK COLLIA: On what date was singer Tiny Tim married on the Tonight Show?
[cut to the Google search page on the screen]
FRANK COLLIA: Who's gonna know this date?
[cut to a closeup of Frank staring at the computer]
FRANK COLLIA: Waiting for it to load ...
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Oh. Really?
FRANK COLLIA: So, yeah.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] We sometimes we have to wait for Brad to load.
[he laughs, then cut to Frank reading the next question]
FRANK COLLIA: What celebrity marriage is on Sunday, October 6th, 1991?
[he puts his hands to his temples]
FRANK COLLIA: Uh, was it the Michael Jackson-Lisa Marie marriage?
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Nope.
FRANK COLLIA: Just ... aw!
[he starts typing]
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Good guess!
FRANK COLLIA: Okay, okay, okay, okay ...
[cut to a closeup of Frank staring at the computer]
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] The next question deals with the same wedding, in case that helps.
[cut to Frank typing]
FRANK COLLIA: When does Spiro Agnew resign the vice presidency?
[cut to Frank looking at the Wikipedia entry for Agnew]
FRANK COLLIA: October 10th, 1973.
GREG WILLIAMS: Correct.
FRANK COLLIA: I know other librarians wouldn't like me using Wikipedia.
[cut to the Google search results for "academy awards 1985" then the IMDB page for the awards results]
FRANK COLLIA: Oh, come on!
[cut to Frank reading from the list of questions]
FRANK COLLIA: What was the date of the first artificial heart implantation?
[cut to a closeup of the list]
FRANK COLLIA: Oh, when did "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first air? Aww ...
[cut to Frank reading from the list of questions]
FRANK COLLIA: Number seventeen, in what city was Super Bowl Twenty Five played?
[cut to Frank looking at the Wikipedia home page]
FRANK COLLIA: It was here in Tampa, wasn't it?
GREG WILLIAMS: Right.
FRANK COLLIA: Okay ... Okay, and who sang the Star Spangled Banner before the game? Whitney Houston!
GREG WILLIAMS: Correct!
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Unassisted!
[cut to Frank reading from the list of questions]
FRANK COLLIA: Number twenty, what major news event occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd, 1996?
[cut to Frank staring at his computer]
FRANK COLLIA: Was that when the Unabomber was arrested?
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] That's right.
FRANK COLLIA: Okay.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] That's one of them, anyway.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Time!
FRANK COLLIA: There was also a lunar eclipse that day
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Oh, there was?
[the camera pans up to the clock on the wall, as "Frank's elapsed time: 23 minutes, 46 seconds" appears on screen]
FRANK COLLIA: Oh, wow. Sorry I didn't do better for you guys.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Well ...
FRANK COLLIA: Although we'll see.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] We'll see!
[cut to Brad and Greg entering the room]
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Brad has been in our soundproof booth ...
[everyone laughs]
GREG WILLIAMS: Called our house!
[cut to Frank reading from the list of questions, while Brad sits in a chair across from him]
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] So, uh, whenever you are ready.
FRANK COLLIA: Okay. Question one, what three dates did thoroughbred Seattle Slew win his Triple Crown races?
BRAD WILLIAMS: If I remember, it's 1977, so ... uh, that would, that would've made, the Kentucky Derby would've been the first one. May 7th of 1977.
[a screenshot from Frank's computer appears in the righthand corner, showing the three dates ("May 7, 1977 ... May 21, 1977 ... Jun 11, 1977")]
BRAD WILLIAMS: And the next one would be the Preakness, is two weeks later, would be May 21st. The Belmont would've been the first Saturday in ... June!
[he laughs]
BRAD WILLIAMS: June 4th of ... uh, of 1977.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Well, the first two are correct.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Or ... or maybe it's June 11th, I dunno.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Okay, June 11th!
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: When were the Live Aid concerts held?
[a screenshot of the Live Aid Wikipedia entry appears in the righthand corner]
BRAD WILLIAMS: The Live Aid concerts were on July 13th, 1985. Also a Saturday!
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: On what date did astronaut Alan Shepard become the first golfer on the Moon?
[a screenshot of the PastureGold dot com website (featuring an article on Shepard) appears in the lefthand corner]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Well, it was February of 1971 ... the golfing thing was on a Saturday!
[he laughs, then a screenshot of the YouTube video "Golf on the Moon" appears in the lefthand corner]
BRAD WILLIAMS: So I'm thinking it would have been February 6th or something like that.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Correct.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: On which Apollo mission did this occur?
BRAD WILLIAMS: That was Apollo 14.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list, as a screenshot from the Tiny Tim Wikipedia page is shown ("Tiny Tim and 17 year old Vicki Budinger went 'tip-toeing through the tulips' in front of the whole country on December 17, 1969.")]
FRANK COLLIA: On what date was singer Tiny Tim married on the Tonight Show?
BRAD WILLIAMS: December 17th, 1969.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: Who were the other guests on the show that night?
[a screenshot of the IMDB entry for the "17 December 1969" episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" appears on the lower portion of the screen]
BRAD WILLIAMS: The one I remember was Florence Henderson. I'm not sure who else was on, but I remember her being one of the guests.
[cut to a screenshot from the episode, with the caption "MR TINY and his blushing bride, Miss Vicky, enjoy a glass of milk and honey after their top rated television wedding. Phyllis Diller (seated alongside Miss Vicki) was one of the guests"]
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Phyllis Diller ...
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] We'll let you slide on that one!
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Yeah, yeah.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: What celebrity marriage took place on Sunday, October 6th, 1991?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Sunday, October 6th, 1991 would be Liz Taylor's last marriage to Mister Fortensky.
FRANK COLLIA: Correct.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] First name?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Larry!
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list, as a screenshot of the E! Network website (featuring Taylor and Fortensky as number five on the list of "The 20 Most Expensive Celebrity Weddings") is shown]
FRANK COLLIA: Where was the wedding held?
BRAD WILLIAMS: It was in California, I believe, somewhere ... but I, I couldn't be more specific than that. And maybe I'm not right on that, so--
[he laughs]
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Well, you're right on that!
FRANK COLLIA: California's correct, it was a specific location.
[the camera zooms in on the part of the screenshot which reads "The wacky event was held at Michael Jackson's 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch."]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Oh ... Oh, no, it was probably the Neverland Ranch.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Correct!
FRANK COLLIA: It was definitely ...
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: When did Spiro Agnew resign the vice presidency?
[a screenshot of the Wikipedia entry for Agnew appears in the righthand corner]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Wednesday, October 10th, 1973.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: On what date in 1985 were the Academy Awards held?
BRAD WILLIAMS: 1985 would've been March 24th, Monday night.
[a screenshot of the IMDB entry for the 1985 Academy Awards appears on the lower portion of the screen]
FRANK COLLIA: No.
BRAD WILLIAMS: March ... No, oh no! No, I'm sorry, I'm thinking the next year! I'm sorry.
[Frank laughs]
BRAD WILLIAMS: I-I'm thinking of the wrong year, it would be March 25th.
FRANK COLLIA: I was given March 25th.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Yeah.
FRANK COLLIA: Confusing.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Yeah.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list, as the camera zooms in on the part of the screenshot which reads "Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Killing Fields, The (1984). Haing S. Ngor."]
FRANK COLLIA: Who received the award for best supporting actor that year?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Best supporting actor is Doctor Haing Ngor, for The Killing Fields.
FRANK COLLIA: Correct ... and best supporting actress?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Best supporting actress was ... if I can remember her name.
[he laughs, as the camera slowly scrolls down the screenshot until it gets to the part which reads "Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Passage to India, A (1984). Peggy Ashcroft."]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Her name doesn't come up in conversation all that often. I want, what I'd like to say is Judy ... like Judy Dench, but it's not. It's, uh, the woman who was in Passage to India. Uh, it's Peggy Ashcroft.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: When was Prince Williams of Wales born?
[a screenshot of People Magazine's website (featuring an article entitled "Kate Middleton Parties Without Prince William") appears on screen]
BRAD WILLIAMS: It was June 21st, 1982.
FRANK COLLIA: And that was a--
BRAD WILLIAMS: Which would be a Monday.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: What was the date of the first artificial heart implantation?
BRAD WILLIAMS: I wanna say November of 1982.
[a screenshot of the Wikipedia entry on artificial hearts appears on screen, as the camera zooms in on the part "at the University of Utah on December 2, 1982."]
BRAD WILLIAMS: I know it was '82, and it was either November or December, and I'm kinda fuzzy on that.
FRANK COLLIA: Final answer?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Final answer!
[he laughs]
FRANK COLLIA: We have Thursday, December 2nd.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Okay.
FRANK COLLIA: In 1982 ... Okay, what was the patient's name?
BRAD WILLIAMS: The patient was Barney Clark.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: When did "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first air?
[a screenshot from the IMDB entry for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is shown]
BRAD WILLIAMS: First aired Thursday, December 9th, 1965 ... 6:30 at night, instead of The Munsters!
[cut to a closeup of Brad]
BRAD WILLIAMS: I actually wrote to IMDB to correct this, because they had it listed that it was being shown instead of Gilligan's Island that night.
[cut back to the IMDB entry for "A Charlie Brown Christmas", as the camera zooms in on the line "The original US broadcast of this special was in the time slot usually held by 'Gilligan's Island' (1964)."]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Gilligan's Island came on after The Munsters in 1965. So I--
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] You're using valuable time in your battle against Google here, you realize.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Yeah.
[he laughs]
GREG WILLIAMS: Oh no, it only counts when you ask the question!
FRANK COLLIA: I think he's far ahead right now ...
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Yeah.
[they all laugh]
FRANK COLLIA: He's got some time to kill. Wanna go get a sandwich or something?
BRAD WILLIAMS: No, thank you.
[he laughs]
FRANK COLLIA: Okay, number seventeen ... In what city was Super Bowl 25 played?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Would've been the Super Bowl of 1991, and it would've been played at New Orleans at the SuperDome.
FRANK COLLIA: Incorrect.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Ohhh ...
FRANK COLLIA: '91 is correct, you have the year right.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Do you have the date?
BRAD WILLIAMS: '91? Well--
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] What day--
BRAD WILLIAMS: Oh, oh! Once again, I'm mixing things up here! I was thinking of the 1981 Super Bowl ...
[a screenshot of the Wikipedia entry for Super Bowl 25 appears in the righthand corner]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Okay, I know the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants were in that Super Bowl.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] That's correct.
BRAD WILLIAMS: But I ... unless this was played in Tampa, I don't know where it was played.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] And if it were played in Tampa?
[he laughs, as the camera zooms in on the section of the Wikipedia article which reads "Stadium: Tampa Stadium"]
BRAD WILLIAMS: If it were played in Tampa, it would've been played at the ... Tampa Stadium, I guess.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: Who sang the Star Spangled Banner before the game?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Well, this ... this would've been the famous Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled Banner, because it was within the first couple of weeks after the Gulf War started.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: On what date was New Coke introduced?
[a screenshot of the Wikipedia entry for New Coke appears on screen]
BRAD WILLIAMS: This was in 1985, and ... honestly, I'm between April and June, and I wanna, I'm gonna go for April, but I don't know that I wanna--
[he pauses]
BRAD WILLIAMS: And I wanna say Wednesday, but I'm not gonna pin it down to a specific Wednesday.
FRANK COLLIA: It's Tuesday, in April. In 1985.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Well, I was in Nebraska. We didn't get everything right away.
[he laughs]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Took a day to get things to Nebraska ... No.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] It was April 23rd.
[cut to Frank reading another question from the list]
FRANK COLLIA: Final question ...
BRAD WILLIAMS: Okay.
FRANK COLLIA: What major news event occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd, 1996?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Well, I was working in La Crosse ... Hmmm. I, I think I'll hafta ask for the first hint here.
FRANK COLLIA: It was an arrest.
BRAD WILLIAMS: Well, the OJ case was done by then. It wasn't Zsa Zsa Gabor for speeding.
FRANK COLLIA: It was a man.
BRAD WILLIAMS: It was a man ... April of '96 doesn't seem to ring any bells for me, and I'm not sure why.
GREG WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Would you like to know where?
FRANK COLLIA: Lincoln, Montana.
[a screenshot of the BBC News' "On This Day" (featuring an article on "Unabomber suspected arrested" appears on screen]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Lincoln, Montana ... That would probably, if it was someplace like Montana, it would be Kazinsky the Unabomber. That's what I'm thinking, but uh--
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] That's correct, first name?
BRAD WILLIAMS: Theodore Kazinsky.
ERIC WILLIAMS: [from off camera] Correct!
["Frank's elapsed time: 23 minutes, 46 seconds" appears on screen, then is replaced by "Brad's elapsed time: 11 minutes, 58 seconds"]
BRAD WILLIAMS: Where's my prize?
[he laughs]
BRAD WILLIAMS: I want my prize!
[cut to Frank speaking directly to the camera]
FRANK COLLIA: Just off the few that he missed, but just the fact that he knew all the ones that he did ... even the ones he missed, he was really close!
[he laughs]
FRANK COLLIA: What I think all websites are striving for is that ... that processing, the cross-referencing and the processing speed all combined. Y'know, connecting different facts altogether, it's very impressive.
[he looks at Brad]
FRANK COLLIA: Use your powers for good!
["Unforgettable, a documentary in progress" appears on screen, then cut to Frank looking at his computer]
FRANK COLLIA: I could just see this being a popular movie for librarians across the country, looking at me and just shaking their heads!
[everyone laughs]
FRANK COLLIA: Terrible, terrible!
["unforgettabledoc dot com" appears on screen]
---
From unforgettabledoc.com:
Give Brad almost any day within his lifetime and he can recall the minutiae.
Where he ate breakfast. Whether it rained or snowed. What was on TV that night.
Mention the date May 15, 1972, and Brad will tell you it was the day Governor George Wallace was shot by an attempted assassin.
He also acted as Linus that day in the high-school production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown."
Oh, and he played tennis in gym class that day.
And, if you're really curious, he'll tell you it was a Monday.
Featured on 60 Minutes and dubbed "the Human Google" by Good Morning America, Brad is only the second person ever studied by neurologists for the newly-identified syndrome called "hyperthymesia," an extremely detailed form of autobiographical memory for events both global and personal, monumental and trivial.
In UNFORGETTABLE, screenwriter/filmmaker Eric Williams follows his brother Brad's travels as his rare mental gifts vault him from small-town anonymity to sudden mid-life notoriety. (Or should that be "nerd-oriety"?)
A radio newsman used to covering stories, Brad now finds himself becoming the story, trailed by newspaper reporters and video crews, in demand by college professors and "Morning Zoos."
His quirky talent which Brad always felt had "no practical value" – which couldn't even bring him victory on "Jeopardy!" – suddenly opens him to opportunities he could never have imagined.
From network TV appearances and memorable personal encounters with such notables as memory expert and author Harry Lorayne, and television legend Dick Cavett, to a head-to-head trivia match against "Jeopardy!" uber-champion, Ken Jennings.
From addressing the colorful crowd of brainiacs at a MENSA convention, to a man-versus-machine contest to determine which is faster: Brad's brain or the internet.
UNFORGETTABLE is both an intimate and funny portrait of a unique individual and a broader exploration into the mysteries of the mind.
Why do we remember? Why DON'T we remember? And what lessons might Brad's ability teach us that could improve how all of our memories work?
Is there something special about Brad's brain that allows him to store such vast amounts of information? Or do all of our brains act like gigantic grey floppy discs, recording the events of our lives with incredible specificity – but it requires a Brad-like retrieval system to access it?
The last frontier of human knowledge may not be in the vast reaches of outer space. The greatest uncharted territory may be that miraculous realm each of us carries inside our own head.
Join Brad Williams on his UNFORGETTABLE journey. It's a trip you'll always remember.
BRAD WILLIAMS – HIMSELF
BRAD WILLIAMS is only the second person ever studied for the syndrome dubbed "hyperthymesia" (meaning "superior memory") by neurology researchers at the University of California – Irvine.
He has appeared on CNN, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly and the NBC Nightly News. He's been profiled in articles by the Associated Press, the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Newsweek and the Wisconsin State Journal among many others.
A Wisconsin native, Williams graduated from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse and is entering his third decade as a radio newsman, having worked primarily in the La Crosse area. Currently the morning news anchor on WKTY Radio and Classic Hits 94.7, Williams also creates two daily features: a commentary segment titled "What's Buried on Brad's Desk" and the historical retrospective, "Yesterday in La Crosse." His journalistic work has received awards from AP, UPI, the Northwest Broadcast News Association and the Milwaukee Press Club.
Williams is a frequent presence as an actor and a director in regional theatrical productions, is a writer and performer in the "Heart of La Crosse" comedy troupe and a member of the "Comedy Alley" improvisational group.
Williams won the Wisconsin state spelling bee in 1969 at the age of 12, advancing to the national contest in Washington D.C., and has served as pronouncer for the Wisconsin bee since 1978.
He was a contestant on the quiz show JEOPARDY! in 1990. He came close to winning but didn't know enough about snakes.
---
From huffingtonpost.com:
What if you could remember, in detail, nearly every day of your life?
My brother Brad can.
Mention the date May 15, 1972, and Brad will tell you it was the day Governor George Wallace was shot by an attempted assassin. It was also the second night of the high-school production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown", in which Brad played Linus. Oh, Brad also played tennis in gym class that day.
And, if you're curious, he'll let you know it was a Monday.
Ask Brad when the sitcom "I Dream Of Jeannie" premiered and he'll immediately inform you September 18, 1965 -- faster than you could consult the IMDB. (By the way, that was a Saturday.)
Brad's remarkable mind has always been a given in our family. Brad taught himself to read at the age of two. He represented Wisconsin in the National Spelling Bee at the age of twelve (and the height of four-foot-five). And over time, we realized that he could remember when things happened with remarkable clarity, to the point where double-checking against Brad became pointless. He simply was always right.
We never thought to explore further.
On March 27, 2006 (that was a Monday), a link on The Huffington Post led me to an ABC News article headlined: "Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists- Patient Remembers Every Day and Almost Every Detail of Her Life"
The story told of a woman code-named "AJ" whom neurology researchers at the University of California-Irvine had been studying for six years. She exhibited precisely the same sort of memory as Brad for dates and events, both monumental and trivial, global and personal. Although savants and calendar-calculators had been documented, nowhere in the scientific literature was there an example of someone with such a wealth and specificity of autobiographical memory. The researchers had even coined a name for this previously undiagnosed phenomenon: hyperthymesia.
To their knowledge, AJ's abilities were unique.
I immediately contacted Dr. James McGaugh at Irvine to tell him there was at least one more.
On June 5, 2006 (that was a Monday), Brad and I journeyed to Irvine, where Dr. McGaugh and his colleague, Dr. Larry Cahill, quizzed Brad. They mentioned historical events -- everything from the eruption of Mount St. Helens to the death of John Wayne -- and Brad told them when they occurred. The doctors would cite historical dates and, aside from a couple obscure plane crashes, Brad identified what made each date famous. Thanks to information that I had surreptitiously provided to the doctors along with our other brother Greg, they were able to ask Brad about events from his personal life. Nothing stumped him.
At the end of a 40-minute grilling, Dr. McGaugh, who had been stifling a smile throughout, told us that Brad did indeed show all the qualities they had studied in AJ. As I'm fond of saying, at that moment Brad became the Buzz Aldrin of hyperthymesia.
As a screenwriter who had toyed with the notion of making a documentary, I knew immediately that the ideal subject matter was sitting right in front of me. We'd all like to think that we're one-in-a-billion, but how often are you told that someone you've known your entire life actually IS one-in-a-billion?
I've chronicled Brad's travels on the hyperthymesia highway in my work-in-progress documentary titled Unforgettable. So far, these adventures have led from family reunions and Scrabble tournaments to a tavern in Seattle where Brad went head-to-head with "Jeopardy!" uber-champion Ken Jennings in Buzztime satellite trivia. I've documented the invasion of our mother's living room by an NBC News crew and the examination of the inside of Brad's skull by the UC-Irvine's MRI machine. Brad has been profiled by his local newspaper, the LaCrosse Tribune, received mention in Newsweek and is the subject of a lengthy article in yesterday's New Jersey Star-Ledger.
It's extremely likely that other folks with "hyper-memory" are out there, still undiscovered. The doctors at Irvine have promising leads on at least a couple more. One reason we'd never thought Brad's ability could be all THAT unusual is that we had seen actress Marilu Henner on talk shows demonstrating her own similarly uncanny recall for dates and events. More recently, Anthony Hopkins was quoted as saying he can "work out what dates fell on what days through the ages," but admitting, "I don't use the talent because I don't need it."
And that has been Brad's frustration. Sure, it's a curiosity, a parlor-trick to be demonstrated to tour groups passing through the radio station where he works, a reason not to be invited a second time to Trivial Pursuit parties back in the '80s. But is there any practical use for an astoundingly rich memory like his in an age when Google and Wikipedia are as handy as the nearest iPhone?
Thanks to "Rain Man", everyone's first suggestion upon learning of Brad's skill is that he should learn to count cards in blackjack. He did make the ultimate geek-Hajj, becoming a contestant on "Jeopardy!", but a category about snakes and a returning champion who was just untouchable enough by the time of Final Jeopardy meant that Brad walked away with merely a trip to Boston and a consolation package of Paul Mitchell hair-care products and Klondike bars. The upcoming Dennis-Miller-hosted quiz show, "Amne$ia", in which contestants are questioned about the events of their own lives, would seem tailor-made for Brad, unless he's considered such a ringer that the producers issue a restraining order banning him from even applying to become a contestant.
To be sure, Brad doesn't remember everything. Like most of us, his memories are sketchy before the age of four or five - as if we have a "baby brain" that falls out like baby teeth. He can't remember something he never learned in the first place, and he's unlikely to remember facts on topics that don't interest him. During the "Stump Brad" segment on his radio station, questions about sports aren't allowed, although Brad could probably tell you when and where every Super Bowl was played, and which teams competed, and who won. He'll do better on questions about who received an Oscar in 1968 or who was crowned Miss America in 1974 than who won a Grammy last year.
Brad can't really describe how his brain does what it does, any more than you or I could describe how we know what color something is or how something tastes. While AJ was perturbed enough by her condition to seek help from the Irvine researchers, Brad doesn't seem bothered by this constant recollection. It's simply how his memory has always functioned and it surprises him that the rest of our minds don't work the same way.
As a layman suddenly immersed in this subject matter, my hunch is that most of us have just as much information stored in our heads as Brad. When Brad dredges up some obscure event from our mutual history, he can usually provide enough details that the story eventually "rings a bell", so somewhere in my grey matter, I've got those same nuggets squirrelled away. It's just that mortals like you and me can't typically retrieve them with ease. The exception seems to be when those minute details are linked with a dramatic, emotional event like a birth or a wedding or a death. We can all remember precise details about where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001. Well, for Brad, it's more like every day is 9/11.
The broader importance of studying brains like Brad's will be if, in trying to discover what makes him so special, scientists find ways to combat the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and other memory-robbing afflictions. The last frontier of human knowledge may not be in the vast reaches of outer space. The greatest uncharted territory could be that mysterious realm which each of us carries inside our own head.
Perhaps Brad's memory can help provide answers to some of science's most perplexing questions. If so, this voyage of discovery we're on would truly be...
Um...what was the name of my documentary again?
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