iraisrael

I saw "East LA Interchange" at the New Urbanism Film Festival where it won the Best Feature Film Award. "East LA Interchange" explores how the freeways - a symbol of Los Angeles ingrained in America's consciousness - impacted the melding of Boyle Heights' distinct tribes. The freeway systems changed the face of the U.S. and no community was impacted more than Boyle Heights with five major freeways dissecting the neighborhood, including the behemoth "East L.A. Interchange." Filmmaker Betsy Kalin interviews current and former Boyle Heights residents including,will.i.am, Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries, and Josefina López of Casa 0101 while actor Danny Trejo narrates.

"East LA Interchange" tells the story of how this one neighborhood found its political voice in its fight against the freeways. It documents the evolution of Boyle Heights as city planners and highway officials made unilateral decisions - that affected the city greatly - with no input from its residents. Over time, this created an atmosphere of political activism where the residents came together to have a say in what was being done to their city in the name of "progress." The film provides a compelling look at what the future of America can be if the people in communities such as Boyle Heights can learn how to work together to secure our nation's pledge of providing justice for all.

This week a stunningly beautiful, brilliant and poignant new documentary about James Randi comes out and it is as riveting as any narrative film I have ever seen. "An Honest Liar: Truth and Deception in the Life of James 'The Amazing' Randi" paints a luscious portrait of James Randi and a fascinating history of the crusades that he has waged in the name of honesty - as well as two provocative discrepancies in his personal life.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

And sometimes revealing untruths is even stranger than anything you can wrap your mind around.

James Randi is a vigilante. He is exceptionally bright, gifted, articulate, audacious and relentless in a quest for truth that often consists of denouncing psychics/magicians who fall below his moral barometer. He feels that taking advantage of the limitations of consciousness as entertainment is perfectly acceptable; however, taking advantage of the limitations of consciousness to scam people for financial gain or trying to pass it off as "science" is utterly abhorrent.

James Randi devised elaborate hoaxes over many years to prove that renowned scientists could be easily fooled by magicians into thinking that such gimmicks as psychokinesis (supposedly moving or influencing objects with one's mind) were real and not optical illusions.

For four decades Randi took particular umbrage with master showman Uri Geller and publicly implored him in his book "The Truth About Uri Geller" and on multiple television appearances to stop referring to himself as a psychic. His main disgust was at the money wasted by lauded institutions such as Stanford University investigating illusionists such as Gellar. In the end, it is Uri Geller who sells fake diamonds on QVC while James Randi's Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge remains intact.