Arvestaked

At the Los Angeles Film Festival: http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/tixSYS/2010/filmguide/ There is a documentary playing that is produced in part by someone named Silva Basmajian called "Life With Murder" from Canada. They are showing veteran French filmmaker Robert Guedigian's newest film "The Army of Crime." There is a movie by a Bulgarian filmmaker called "Eastern Plays" that has an actor named Ovanes Torosian in a prominent role. There is a short film co-directed by someone named Robert Machoian called "Charlie and the Rabbit." It's in Shorts Program No. 5. Machoian and the other co-director also have a documentary web series called "American Nobodies" that seems interesting.

http://www.danceswithfilms.com/10_list_f_sz.html At a Dances With Films film festival happening at I guess the Sunset 5, a film from Armenia called "Yerek Yereko" was selected and is playing tomorrow. I don't know anything about it but it's probably a good idea to support if you can. http://www.facebook.com/pages/YEREK-YEREKO-the-movie-EREK-EREKO/124999497511008

Serge won first prize in his category and Vatche won third prize in his category. Egoyan was president of the jury for both so I hope they deserve their awards. I can't wait for the opportunity to see both films. Congratulations to them!

Check out the furniture by this young Armenian designer. Really beautiful stuff. I wish I could afford to buy it (or even owned a house that would do them justice, for that matter). http://www.amateurdedesign.com/boutique/table-n7-khachatryan-casamania.html http://matandme.net/norayr-khachatryan-begins-with-form/

There are two Armenians at the Cannes Film Festival this year both showing short films. Serge AVEDIKIAN: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/11024494/year/2010.html Vatche BOULGHOURJIAN: http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/10999125/year/2010.html

We all know about Zildjian and Sabian... the Zildjian family -- of which the founder of the Sabian company is also a part -- has been making Turkish cymbals for a few hundred years. There are other cymbal makers out there of course, most of which I've avoided because they weren't Armenian (though I have a wuhan and I'd love a Paiste flat ride). And I especially avoided Istanbul Cymbals as they're actually made in Turkey. However, I just looked further into Istanbul Cymbals. Check out their about section: http://www.istanbulcymbals.com/ I think they're also Armenians! They have a Turkified last name but the first names... Agop? Garbis? Sarkis? Excellent news! Though I wish they weren't in Turkey.

Someone just sent me this link in an e-mail: http://www.seattlepi.com/food/416341_coffeeweb08.html?source=rss It's an article about a website that focuses on small-time coffee roasters of high quality. And as an added plus, one of the owners is named is Elise Papazian. If you enjoy nice coffees you should consider supporting the site by buying coffee from them now and then (or exclusively). The website is: http://www.gocoffeego.com/ Roasters I recognize: Klatch, Barefoot, Ritual

Thought you guys would want to know, that someone named Vardan Ovsepian will be playing at Spazio this coming Sunday, March 7. He's playing piano in his own trio. $10 cover. Music starts at 8. Spazio is an Armenian-owned jazz club in Sherman Oaks.

Sorry you feel that way, but I don't.

That's more about the nature of portraiture, really. He did take photos that were not portraits of celebrities but he's not famous for them. I'm not a huge fan of photography as an art form to begin with. Very few people have impressed me with photography. But I think he did portraits as good as they can be done. Since we're on the subject, Elger Esser is a photographer I'm very impressed by. I saw his work at a gallery in Santa Monica and was truly amazed.

There is an excellent exhibit of Yousuf Karsh's photography at the Los Angeles Central Public Library in downtown. You should definately go and see it if you can. They have approx. 40 really nice large prints displayed. http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/humphrey-bogart-by-yousuf-karsh.jpg

I've always found this list to be interesting. Armenia is number 31. http://www.heritage.org/Index/Ranking.aspx

Truly excellent, sir.

I know that some of you see value in cinema as an artform and I know that some of you live in Los Angeles. This concerns you. You may or may not know that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is discontinuing their film program. This would be a terrible loss as it is a great place to see old films and foreign films in a nice theater on a big screen, not to mention the Q&A sessions they have. If you agree with me or are simply willing to do a favor to those of us who feel this way, you can sign a petition here that may help to save the program. http://lh3.ggpht.com/oohdahling/RskFSrcjsPI/AAAAAAAABOk/6Xj3Qq3Lmv0/s800/5.jpg

MOCA in L.A. is having an exhibit of works from their permanent collection. The most notable section is a large room devoted to eight Rothko painting. It's an incredible room to be in. Check it out if you have time. http://www.moca.org/images/museum/421_440161001240599770.jpg

The Great Deceivers (the King Crimson Tribute Band) is playing tonight at around 9:45 at a venue called Versai. 351 N. Fairfax in L.A. Show your support for Shahen and the other KC tributers! $10 cover.

A concert in LA wasn't mentioned. Is that still on?

This is a band from Australia I discovered a while ago. They're called Cookin' on 3 Burners. The drummer is Armenian: Ivan "Choi" Khatchoyan. He's very good and solid and the music is great. Very funky. I found Choi by looking into Heavyweight Dub Champion, an American dub band he played with some. http://www.myspace.com/cookinon3burners Just tonight I was driving and listening to KCRW when the DJ mentioned a band called Krikor and the Dead Hillbillies. Despite the sound of the name they're from France. I can't be 100% sure that Krikor is Armenian because I can't find any reference to his last name. He's just Krikor. But what are the chances he's not Armenian, right? He's a DJ/producer that has some wild electronic music. http://www.myspace.com/krikorparis

Some people I know are in a band called Sonomaris. If you like music like Tool, you'd probably enjoy their stuff. They're at The Scene in Glendale tomorrow, Sunday the 19th at 9pm. http://www.myspace.com/sonomaris The songs Pyro and Trillium are a good place to start.

People and their imaginary friends...

The cotton farmers haven't really been supplying the insulation industry with cotton. The most popular form of insulation is probably still fiberglass. (There is insulation made of recycled paper as well.) The cotton thing is a new development. So it would make no impact on the cotton industry, unless companies start moving to cotton insulation independently which would increase the demand for cotton. And people would still be buying jeans. So your point is invalid. It's funny that you should mention dirty underwear. I was watching "Dirty Jobs" one day and there is a company somewhere that delivers special towels to use as baby diapers. They then pick up the dirty towels, clean them thoroughly, and deliver them again.

http://www.cottonfrombluetogreen.org/ This organization turns donated denim into house insulation. Pretty cool.

Melineh Kurdian will be at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood tomorrow, Friday July 3 at 9:00pm.

I don't think so. This guy, I believe, is Mark Arax's cousin. And I think he has also written for the LA Times like Mark Arax.

It's a good thing no one pays attention to me. The show was on Saturday. Oh well.