Toronto: An honest liar

Updated at 14:40:

• Contest details can be found at this post: Win tickets to see "An honest liar" in Toronto

I'm hoping to set up a ticket give away for this documentary.  Details to follow.

From Hot Docs:

AN HONEST LIAR
August 8- 21

James “The Amazing” Randi is an 85-year-old magician and escape artist who has been enchanted with illusions from a young age. Dedicating his life to learning the tricks of the trade, Randi became a sensation who toured the world, always honest about being a “liar, cheat and charlatan.” When people start using the same tricks but calling themselves “psychics”—like spoon-bender Uri Geller or “faith-healing” like televangelist Peter Popoff—Randi is angry and afraid for the people who are duped.  

James "The Amazing" Randi will participate in a Q&A on August 8, at 6:30 p.m., moderated by NOW Magazine's senior film writer Norm Wilner. 

Read more and buy tickets.

The Amazing Randi Day at Browser's Den

From The Browser's Den of Magic:

What a wonderful surprise we had last Saturday at Browser's Den.

At about noon none other than The Amazing Randi entered the shop!!! He walked in with his entourage including the president of the Randi Foundation.

Randi was wearing black cape and stylish fedora and sporting a walking cane with a silver skull at it's top.

There were about ten magicians at the shop whose mouths dropped open very wide...I think that I could have pulled out a 50 foot mouth coil from their mouths they were so wide.

I pointed out to Randi that we had a framed poster of him hanging on the wall above the table that magicians hang around and chat.

Randi sat down in the chair directly below his poster. 

Read more.

Toronto: James Randi at An Honest Liar

From Event Brite:

CFI Canada is pleased to present James Randi, who will be in Toronto this week to promote the Hot Docs Canadian premiere of An Honest Liar, a documentary of Randi’s life.

http://vimeo.com/91847894 

CFI is hosting an exclusive, once in a life time, special event where CFI members will meet James "The Amazing" Randi, an 85-year-old magician and escape artist who’s been enchanted with illusions from a young age. Dedicating his life to learning the tricks of the trade, Randi became a sensation who toured the world, always honest about being a “liar, cheat and charlatan.”

Please join CFI at beautiful and trendy Screen Lounge at 20 College Street (Second Floor) this Friday, May 2, 2014. Time is short, and space is limited, so purchase your tickets now.
Filmmakers of An Honest Liar will also be joining us for the conversation. 

Read more and buy tickets.

[via James Alan] 

Screenings for "An Honest Liar: The Amazing Randi Story"

You may recall an earlier post about the Kickstarter campaign to get this James Randi documentary off the ground.  And a post about with the work-in-progress trailer.  And the post quoting from the Hot Docs Forum report.  So it's fitting that I post about the completed film's upcoming screenings in New York and Toronto.

From "An Honest Liar":

Upcoming Screenings  

Tribeca Screenings (New York City, USA)  

FRI 4/18
SUN 4/20
WED 4/23
FRI 4/25


Hot Docs Screenings (Toronto, Canada)  

Wed Apr 30 at Hart House Theatre
Thu May 1 at TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Sat May 3 at TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

James Randi speaks about Penn and Teller

Randi's comments on Penn's tribute to him .....

From the James Randi Educational Foundation:

I can’t tell you how proud I am of The Guys. If I had anything to do with their worldview or their stunning success, I will only say that without their personal integrity, and their adherence to the best principles of both show business and fair treatment of their audiences, they could not have received this very prestigious honor. They are among the leading voices for rationality in the world today, and I know they will continue speaking truth through the Bullshit — hey, that’s a good name for a show! They have never disappointed me, they have never let me down in any way — something I cannot say about all those persons to whom I have reached out — and I am confident not only of their continued success, but of their ability to delight me in all ways. My personal love and congratulations.

Read more.

John Cox writes about Houdini Never Died

Over at Wild About Harry, John Cox writes about Houdini Never Died:

Here is the entire 1979 documentary Houdini Never Died. This was produced by John Watson and Pen Densham who later wrote and directed TNTs Houdini. It intercuts Houdini's story with footage of contemporary magicians including Doug Henning. It also has nice footage of James Randi performing a suspended straitjacket escape over Niagara Falls and the 50th Anniversary Official Houdini seance held at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame. Definitely a product of its time, but that's what makes this great.

Read more.

Kickstart An Honest Liar

Updated February 1st to let you know that the project has passed its funding goal!

Almost one year ago, we posted about the production of the documentary An Honest Liar: The Amazing Randi Story.  Earlier this month, iTricks posted that there is now a Kickstarter project to raise funds to finish the film.

Watch Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom's message:




For more information and donate, visit the Kickstarter project for An Honest Liar: The Amazing Randi Story.

James Randi with a Mayan calendar

A 2013 Mayan calendar.

View on imgur.com

Las Vegas: The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012

From The Amazing Meeting:

The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM) is an annual celebration of science, skepticism and critical thinking. People from all over the world come TAM each year to share learning, laughs and the skeptical perspective with their fellow skeptics and a host of distinguished guest speakers and panelists. Make sure follow @jref on Twitter for the latest #TAM2012 news and announcements.

Read more.

This year offers a special presentation by Penn and Teller as well as appearances by magicians Max Maven, James Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Hot Docs Forum report: An Honest Liar

From Real Screen (about An Honest Liar):

Guy Lavie from Yes Doc, meanwhile, said, “I think it’s a wonderful project – do you think you’re going to have confrontations with those who he has confronted?” Measom replied that Randi “has ruined lives and made people question things they held most dearly.”

Also enthusiastic was DR TV’s Hoffmann Meyer, who said, “I love it – I’m very keen and I have a feature doc strand for films like this,” while PBS’s Vossen said, “We worked with Justin on Being Elmo [which Weinstein produced] – it’s a great team and we’re very keen on them.”

And in Canada, Catherine Olsen, exec producer of documentaries for Canada’s CBC Newsworld, was also interested. “I think it could be a perfect fit for ‘Passionate Eye,’” she said.

Read more.

James Randi: The Unsinkable Rubber Duckies

From Wired:

It sometimes seems like there is a huge swath of the general public that will just believe anything — they are immune to skepticism and compelled to accept the most obvious scams. These delusions can be relatively harmless — believe in spoon-bending and perpetual motion if you must. But some fakers are very, very dangerous. At the worst end of the spectrum, in my estimation, are faith healers. They can cause real harm to the victims they parade before the rest of us — and even more to those, as I will show, whom they give false hope and ignore.


Johnny Carson and I shared several illuminating moments on The Tonight Show, the most satisfying one by far being a 1986 episode in which we revealed the blatant cheating and deception of TV evangelist Peter Popoff — the shrieking, frenetic, Bible-flaunting preacher who is still invoking invisible healing from divine sources on TV.

Read more.

[h/t: iTricks]

James Randi: Magic Castle award

On Sunday, James Randi won the Magic Castle's Lifetime Achievement Award!  Congratulations Amazing Randi!

[h/t: iTricks]

In related news, previously posted Amazing Randi documentary "An Honest Liar" recently won a MIPdoc international pitch nod.

James Randi: An Honest Liar - A Documentary in Production

From An Honest Liar:

An Honest Liar profiles the life of famed magician turned professional skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi as he embarks on a series of public crusades to expose America’s beloved psychics, mentalists, preachers, and faith healers with religious fervor. Along the way, the film will show how easily our perceptions can be fooled – by magicians, con artists, and even documentaries.

Watch the work-in-progress trailer:



An Honest Liar - Work-in-Progress trailer from Justin Weinstein on Vimeo.

[h/t: iTricks]

James Randi remembers Ron Leonard

The following is correspondence from James Randi in response to the earlier post Remembering Ron Leonard.  These thoughts have been added as a comment to the original post.  James, thank you very much for making the time to put some thoughts about Mr. Leonard together to share.

(And thank you to The Magic Demon for making this happen!)

I recall that one of the very first magicians I ever saw - live - was Ron Leonard, at a large theater somewhere in Toronto. I sat in the very front row, the music played, and Ron stepped out fanning and manipulating cards. Then he paused for applause, riffled through the deck until he was told to stop, and extracted that card, its face toward him. He pointed at a man on the aisle and asked him to name a card - "any card." The gentleman did, and Ron flipped the card around - it was correct! Only backstage in his dressing-room, did he reveal the secret. It had been a total fluke! His usual line, he told me, was to simply reply to the card named, with "Absolutely correct, sir!" - without revealing the face of the card. He was only right about once every 52 guesses, but I'd been lucky to witness such a moment...

Handsome, well-dressed, well-spoken and elegant, Ron Leonard was one of my early heroes, though he was only five years my senior. In fact, when I was on my own in Toronto as a teen, I responded to an ad offering a room for rent, only to find that it was being rented out by Ron's mother, a spare room that she had available! It was a couple of months before that lady noticed my interest in the conjuring profession, and proudly announced the identity of her son...! I was appropriately floored by the coincidence.

Ron, along with Johnny Giordmaine, Ross Bertram, Dai Vernon, Raymond Lowe, Howard Lyons, Bruce Posgate, Tom Ransom, Sid Lorraine, and our spiritual father, Harry Smith, saw me through the tortures of a top-change, multiplying billiard balls, and various rope-ties until I was able to head off to the USA as a pro. I'll never forget these chaps, all of whom made it possible for me to enjoy a long and happy career as a performer...

James (The Amazing) Randi.

[via The Magic Demon]

James Randi in conversation with Max Maven

From the James Randi Foundation YouTube channel:

On September 14, 2010 in Hollywood, California, James Randi had an on-stage conversation with Max Maven at the World Famous Magic Castle, in front of a standing-room-only audience. This is a recording of that event.

Watch James Randi at the Magic Castle: In Conversation with Max Maven.



[h/t: iTricks]

James Randi: Vancouver date

The CAM website has posted the venue and ticket information for the Vancouver stop of the James Randi Canadian tour.

James Randi and behind the scenes

From the previously mentioned appearance of James Randi on ABC Primetime Nightline.










[h/t: MagicNewsWire.com for the video links] 

James Randi on ABC's Primetime Nightline, Weds. 10pm / 9pm Central

Edited August 21 to embed video found at The Magic Newswire.









From Randi.org:

Wednesday night at 10:00pm (9:00pm Central), ABC's Primetime Nightline will air a one-hour special on psychic abilities.

James Randi, along with JREF President D.J. Grothe, JREF's Million Dollar Challenge Director Banachek, and advisor Jamy Ian Swiss, worked with Nightline producers on two of the segments and participated in three days of taping, including the JREF's first-ever open Million Dollar Challenge event where hundreds of New York City psychics were invited to take our tests.

Read more.

James Randi Canadian tour

Edited August 26th to add link for Vancouver date.

From Randi.org:

The JREF is excited to announce that our own James "The Amazing" Randi will be embarking on a whirlwind lecture tour across Canada this September.  The tour will be graciously hosted by the Center for Inquiry Canada and will see Randi traveling from coast to coast with plenty of stops on the way.

According to the site, he will be touring following cities:

• Vancouver, BC (9/22)
• Kelowna, BC (9/23)
• Calgary, AB (9/24)
• Edmonton, AB (9/25)
• Saskatoon, SK (9/26)
• Toronto, ON (9/27)
• Ottawa, ON (9/28)
• Montreal, QC (9/29)
• Halifax, NS (9/30)

Check back with his website for announcements about times and venues.

Calgary: The Amazing James Randi

From the CAM website:

James Randi has an international reputation as a magician and escape artist, but today he is best known as the world’s most tireless investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
...

Join Randi for a lecture at the University of Calgary as well as a special Meet and Greet event. Meet and Greet event takes place at Club Sapien: 1140 10th Ave SW at 11:30am.

[Edited Sept 22 as per comment below to reflect 4pm meet and greet time.]

The lecture will be on Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM (MT)

Visit the CAM website for event details or to purchase tickets.

A Tribute to James Randi was recently published over at iTricks.com.