Author: Boshkezenian Garik

Swede Stripped of His Medal After His Angry Reaction

By JER?Ã? LONGMAN
Published: August 16, 2008

BEIJING – The International Olympic Committee stripped the bronze
medal Saturday from a Swedish wrestler who had complained about the
judging in his Greco-Roman competition and had discarded his medal
during the awards ceremony in protest.

The wrestler, Ara Abrahamian, was disqualified for violating the
spirit of fair play of the Games and had his athlete’s credential
revoked, according to the I.O.C.

A contentious penalty that cost him a chance to compete for a gold
medal in the middleweight division Thursday left Abrahamian
furious. News reports said that he had to be restrained from wrestling
officials after the incident. He later won a bronze medal in a
consolation match, but did not participate in the full medal ceremony.

The Associated Press said that Abrahamian dropped the bronze on the
mat as he walked away from the medal podium, while Bloomberg News said
that he put the medal on the floor. Abrahamian had finished second at
the 2004 Athens Olympics after a similarly disputed call.

In a disciplinary hearing Friday, Abrahamian said he had been a victim
of `blatant errors in judging.’ The I.O.C. accused him of violating
two rules of the Olympic Charter than ban demonstrations in official
Olympic areas and prohibit the showing of disrespect for other Olympic
athletes.

`The awards ceremony is a highly symbolic ritual,’ the I.O.C. said in
a statement. `Any disruption by any athlete, in particular a medalist,
is in itself an insult to the other athletes and to the Olympic
movement.’

Abrahamian had made `serious unsubstantiated allegations’ against
Greco-Roman wrestling’s international governing body, and had never
offered an apology for his actions during the ceremony, the
I.O.C. said.

If he chooses, Abrahamian could appeal the disqualification to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport.

This was not the first time that athletes had been punished for
protests during the Summer Games.

At the 1992 Barcelona Games, a weight lifter named Ibragim Samadov,
who was competing for the Unified Team of the former Soviet republics,
refused to have his bronze medal placed around his neck because he was
unhappy with his own performance. The medal was later revoked.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were expelled from the 1968 Mexico City
Games after their glove-fisted salute during the awards ceremony for
the 200-meter race. The expulsions have since come under immense
criticism, and Smith and Carlos have drawn widespread praise for their
nonviolent protest of social and racial inequality.

Ardshininvestbank, Bank ACBA-Credit Agricole and HSBC Bank Armenia top
three leaders by net profit for 1st half of 2008 in Armenia

2008-08-15 14:16:00

ArmInfo. Ardshininvestbank, Bank ACBA-Credit Agricole and HSBC Bank
Armenia are top three leaders by net profit for the 1st half of 2008 in
the Armenian banking system – 2.5 bln drams ($8.2 mln), 2.1 bln drams
($6.9 mln) and 1.7 bln drams ($5.6 mln), respectively. Converse Bank
ranks the 4th by 1.3 bln drams net profit ($4.3 mln), and Unibank the
5th – 1.2 bln dram ($4 mln).

Ranking of Armenian Commerce Banks prepared by Agency of Rating
Marketing Information (ArmInfo) says Prometey Bank is the leader by ROA
– 2.8%. Bank ACBA-Credit Agricole goes the second by 2.5%, Mellat Bank
the third by 2.5%, Ardshininvestbank the fourth by 2.4% and Unibank the
fifth by 2.4%. Unibank is the leader by ROE – 15.2%, HSBC Bank Armenia
is in the 2nd position by 14.6% and Ardshininvestbank is in the 3rd
position by 13.9%, Converse Bank is in the 4th position by 11% and Bank
ACBA-Credit Agricole is in the 5th position by 9.6%.

Total retained profit of Armenia’s banking system for the 1st half of
2008 amounted to 12 bln drams ($39.7 mln). The growth as compared to
the same periods of 2007 and 2004 was 18.7% and almost trice. By the
balance sheets of 22 operative banks, 19 banks completed the first half
of 2008 with 13.3 bln drams summary profit. Three banks: BTA InvetBank,
ProCreditBank and Byblos Bank Armenia completed the first half of 2008
with 1.3 bln drams summary loss. ProCreditBank entered the banking
market of Armenia in early February 2008.

Total capital of the banking system of Armenia for the 1t half of 2008
was up 15%. The growth as against the same period of 2007 and 2004 was
42.2% and almost 4 times respectively. The indicator reached 198.9 bln
dram ($657.5 mln). The indicator grew mainly due to the growth of the
authorized capital by 43% to 131.7 bln drams ($435 mln), as well as due
to the increase of profits. Anelik Bank is the leader by the
replenishment of the authorized capital – over 7 times to 5.3 bln drams
($17.5 mln). The bank raised the indicator in the third quarter of 2007
without involving new shareholders and again in the second quarter of
2008 (10.42%) also without involving shareholders. Areximbank took the
second position by almost trice annual growth of authorized capital to
8.5 bln drams ($28.1 mln) and occurred in the top five of leaders.
Ameriabank (the former Armimpexbank) is in the third position with
21.7% annual growth of authorized capital to the 6th position with 6.4
bln drams ($21.2 mln). Ardshininvestbank is the leader by authorized
capital – 15.5 bln drams ($51.3 mln). The annual growth of the
indicator was 62.6%. In general, 9 banks replenished their authorized
capitals as compared to the first half of 2007, the remaining 12 banks
left it unchanged (exclusive of ProCreditBank). Only 6 banks ensured
the growth of authorized capital for the first half of 2008, Areximbank
and Ameriabank are leaders. The indicator of the remaining banks was
left unchanged.

There are 22 operating commerce banks in Armenia including ProCredit
bank that entered the banking market at the end of 2007 and launched
activity in early February 2008.

PATRIKEEV RECEIVED ARMENIAN FOURTH BRONZE MEDAL

Panorama.am
20:03 14/08/2008

Yuri Patrikeev who presents Armenia in the Olympics Games in Greco
Roman wrestling received fourth bronze medal. Competing in 120kg
rate silver medal has been won by Russian representative Hasan
Baroev. Mikhaina Lopes from Cuba has been awarded golden medal.

Remind that first three bronze medals are awarded to Gevorg Davtyan,
Tigran Martirosyan and Roman Amoyan.

TURKISH FOOTBALL FANS MAY ARRIVE IN ARMENIA WITHOUT ENTRY VISAS ON SEPTEMBER 1-6

Noyan Tapan

Au g 14, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 14 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the draft decision on allowing visits without an
entry visa for Turkish citizens on September 1-6. During the draft’s
presentation, the head of the RA police Alik Sargsian said that the
decision was made in connection with an Armenia-Turkey football match
scheduled for September 6.

In response to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian’s question about whether
it is not too early to start that process on September 1st, the police
head replied that 20,000-25,000 citizens of Turkey are expected to
arrive in Armenia during the indicated period, and some of them are
likely to spend 1-2 days in our country.

KNIGHTS OF VARTAN VISIT WESTERN DIOCESE

Noyan Tapan

Au g 15, 2008

NEW YORK, AUGUST 15, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. On August 7,
2008, His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the
U.S. Western Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church received the
Knights of Vartan. The meeting was marked by the enthusiastic and
warm atmosphere of discussions wherein possible venues of cooperation
between the Knights and the Diocese were considered and discussed.

Western Diocese also informs that Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Alyce
Dorians donated ,000 to cover certain expenses.

RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CONFLAGRATION

Stabroek News
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Guyana

There is a certain inevitability to the conflagration which has flared
up between the Russian Federation and the Caucasus state of Georgia,
once a republic of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR). A correspondent of the New York Times, James Traub, has
observed that "The border between Georgia and Russia…has been the
driest of tinder; the only question was where the fire would start".

The fire has started in South Ossetia which, along with two other
territories bordering Russia – Abkazia and Ajaria – Georgia has claimed
since it gained its independence after the USSR’s dissolution. Ajaria
has been more or less fully integrated into Georgia since then, but
with President Saakashvili’s ascent to office the pressure on Russia
has increased in the other two territories which have substantial
numbers of Russian descendants or citizens.

The conflict is part of the inheritance of the dissolution of the
USSR and in some respects resembles early disputes and arguments
between the Baltic states and Russia after the former gained their
independence, with a large residue of Russian speaking persons left
in their territories, and a consequent Russian insistence that they
be not discriminated against. That Russian pressure, whether in the
Baltics or in the two territories in Georgia, or in Chechnya and
Nagorno-Khasabak in the Caucasus as well, has certainly increased
since former President Putin took office in Russia, and pulled the
country out of an economic slump which had severely affected the
Russian leadership’s self-confidence.

Georgia has always had a special significance for Russia by whatever
name the latter has been called, and in whatever geopolitical
arrangement it has appeared since Czarist times. Georgia’s location
bordering the Black Sea and Russia, and serving as a buffer between
Russia and Turkey, has tended to give it a significance beyond
its relatively small size, and made it of continuing interest to
Russia. Russia of course has historically considered the Caucasus
an area of deep strategic significance for itself, and in a sense,
has retained not simply a strategic, but a sentimental interest
in the countries of the area which were once under its rule. It is
interesting that some years ago, then President Putin was inclined
to remark that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tragedy –
by which he surely meant, a tragedy not so much in ideological terms,
but in geopolitical terms relating to the perception and reality of
Russia, in whatever guise, as a Great Power.

This latter perception has induced Putin, and his successor President
Medvedev, to take a particular interest in Georgia under its current
leadership. President Saakashvili, since he took office at the
beginning of 2004, and further to his re-election in May of this year,
has insisted that Georgia is entitled to become a full-fledged partner
of "the West". Part of his intention is ideological – an affinity
for free market methods and liberalism, and a sentimental attachment
to the United States, where he had been trained at the Columbia Law
School in New York. But the other part of his affinity relates to
a firm desire to have a buffer from outside the region between his
country and the Soviet Union. He has been quick to insist that his
country should become a member of NATO, has encouraged the United
States in military training in his country, and has had Georgia
participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme.

In that regard he follows the behaviour of the current leadership
of the Ukraine, whose orientation, desire for NATO membership and
willingness to accept US or NATO missiles on his territory, has been
a source of great displeasure for Russia.

Russia under Putin has consistently held that NATO was an instrument
of the USSR-USA Cold War competition, and that since the dissolution
of the world socialist system, it should be replaced by a new
institutional system of cooperation that would include both the past
Soviet system members, including Russia and the countries of the
traditional "West". Putin and Medvedev do not recognize the vocabulary
of "East" and "West" as reflecting contemporary European and Eurasian
realities. Recall that Putin was, until the dissolution of the USSR,
a significant KGB official with long experience in Germany.

It has been little observed in Western circles, but is thought to
be psychologically important for Russia too, that both Georgia and
Ukraine should not be excessively penetrated by the United States,
given the history that those countries and Russia have had. Karl
Marx, in his study on Napoleon the Third, made the observation that
"the traditions of all the dead generations weigh like a nightmare
on the brains of the living". In that context, it is noteworthy that
the man who ruled the Soviet Union for a large part of its existence
was born in Georgia, and frequently referred to as "the Georgian" –
Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s key facilitator in taking care of his enemies
was also a Georgian – Laventri Beria. Khruschev was, of course a
native of Ukraine, the longstanding Foreign Minister of the USSR,
Mikoyan was from the Caucasus – Armenia; and the last Foreign Minister
of the USSR was the Georgian Edouard Shevardnadze who went on to lead
independent Georgia.

The sensitivities involved in these old relationships may have
little resonance in the West, and in the United States, in the
crafting of its policy towards the post-Cold War "East". President
Saakashvili has tended to downplay these "sentimental" aspects of
Russian contemporary policy, as the United States itself has sought to
establish a presence in the post-Soviet system in so-called Eastern
Europe. But from a Russian point of view, the US took advantage of
the economic weakness of Russia in the 1990’s, and President Yeltsin’s
erratic policy making, to establish strategic advantages over Russia,
not only in Eastern Europe, but also east of Russia towards, and
within, the Asian geographical space.

>From Russia’s point of view, President Saakashvili has sought to
take advantage of that situation and, as a small country has sought
to punch above its weight in the international relations of Europe,
seeking as his biggest prize a tight relationship with the United
States. The Medvedev-Putin leadership is, in that context, seizing
an opportunity to reverse the Georgian orientation, and to establish
a basis for balance between Russia and the major powers of the NATO
system. In that context too, Russia is inclined to treat its conflict
with Georgia as a European problem, and to pay scant regard to any
calls from the United Nations for the re-establishment of peace
between itself and its small near neighbour.

What any Russian victory in the present conflict will not do, however,
is to resolve the various geopolitical contentions in the Caucasus
that have affected the region for so long. It is unlikely that Russia
will ever be able to geopolitically, and therefore diplomatically,
close off the area as it once did. The interpenetration of economic
systems that follows globalization is too powerful for that. And,
as the Chinese have themselves found, there is a salience to the
objections to domination from minorities and small jurisdictions that
corresponds to the ex-socialist countries’ desire to enter the world
of global capitalism.

The Caucasus will continue to be a source of irritation for Russia, as
are many other areas in their relations with powerful states which once
dominated them. Whether President Saakashvili, as leader of a small,
geopolitically strategic state, has overplayed his hand in anticipation
of assistance from the United States is an issue being raised now in
the latter country itself. His appeal to the world that the Russian
movement into South Ossetia, and now Abzakhia, is similar to Hitler’s
takeover of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia, has not rung a
bell. The search for effective alliances by small countries in the
new multipolar world conditions of today, remains a major challenge.

ESTONIA TO HELP GEORGIA FIGHT BACK AGAINST CYBERATTACKS
By Matthew Harwood

Security Management
08/12/2008
Virginia

Two Estonian computer security experts will arrive in Georgia tonight
to help the besieged government battle back against an array of
cyberattacks, reports ComputerWorld.com.

Two of the four experts that staff Estonia’s Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT) were waiting Tuesday morning in Yerevan, the
capital of Armenia, seeking permission to drive into Georgia, said
Katrin Pargmae, communication manager for the Estonian Informatics
Center. The two officials are also bringing humanitarian aid, she said.

Estonia is also now hosting Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Web site, which has been under sustained attack over the last few days.

Other Georgian Web sites are currently being hosted on American
servers.

Paralleling what’s occurring militarily in the real world between
Russian and Georgian soldiers, battles have been waged in cyberspace
as well. Hackers known as the South Ossetia Hack Crew have directed
denial-of-service attacks against prominent Georgian Web sites as
the country’s Parliament and its president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Computer security experts see Russian fingerprints on such attacks.

"The Russian government is in the position to deny that they are
directly responsible for the attacks but they have allowed the attacks
to happen and they have allowed the attacks to come out of servers that
are under their jurisidiction and their control," Scott Borg, director
of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, told National Public Radio.

As ComputerWorld.com reports, the Russian government has long been
suspected of directing cyberattacks against neighboring countries
such as Estonia, Lithuania, and Georgia when political struggles
have erupted.

Baltimore Sun, United States

World Heritage list grows

Associated Press
August 10, 2008

QUEBEC CITY, Canada – Baha’i holy places in Israel, the Monarch
butterfly biosphere reserve of Mexico and the historic center of
Camaguey, a Spanish colonial town in Cuba first settled in 1528, are
among the new sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee met last month in Quebec City to
add the 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to the list, which
now numbers 878 sites in 145 countries. Detailed information about
each site is available at whc.unesco.org/en/news/453.

In Mexico, in addition to the butterfly reserve, the fortified town of
San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesus Nazareno de Atotonilco, cited
for their architecture, were added to the list.

In Europe, new UNESCO World Heritage sites are the ancient stone
walls, shelters and landscape of Stari Grad on the Adriatic island of
Hvar in Croatia; 17th-century fortifications along the borders of
France; innovatively designed Modernist housing in Berlin, dating from
1910-1933; the Italian towns of Mantua and Sabbioneta, cited for
architecture and their role in Renaissance culture; eight wooden
churches dating to the 16th through 18th centuries in Slovakia; the
Rhaetian Railway, which includes two historic railway lines in Italy
and Switzerland that cross the Alps; and the historic center of the
republic of San Marino, which dates to the 13th century, and San
Marino’s Mount Titano.

In Asia and the South Pacific, new sites added to the World Heritage
list are Cambodia’s Temple of Preah Vihear; the "tulou" of China’s
Fujian province, which are circular communal earthen houses; Melaka
and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca in
Malaysia; the Kuk swamps in New Guinea, which contain archaeological
evidence of thousands of years of farming, and three sites on islands
in Vanuatu associated with a 17th-century chief, Roi Mata.

In the Middle East, the World Heritage list now includes, in Iran, the
Armenian monasteries of St. Thaddeus and St. Stepanos and the Chapel
of Dzordzor; Al-Hijr, Saudi Arabia’s first World Heritage property, an
archaeological site preserving Nabataean civilization dating to the
1st century B.C., and the Socotra islands in Yemen, cited for their
biodiversity.

In Africa, Kenya’s Mijikenda Kaya Forests were recognized for the
remains of fortified villages dating back centuries that are now
considered sacred sites, and Le Morne, a mountain on the coast of
Mauritius, was included for its history as a shelter for runaway
slaves.

Natural properties added to the UNESCO list, in addition to the Mexico
butterfly reserve, are Canada’s Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a fossil-rich
area of Nova Scotia; China’s Mount Sanqingshan National Park, noted
for its scenic landscape and "fantastically shaped" granite peaks and
pillars; the coral reefs and lagoons of New Caledonia; Surtsey, an
Icelandic island formed by volcanic eruptions in the 1960s and which
is a pristine laboratory for plant and animal life; two nature
reserves in the steppe and lakes of northern Kazakhstan; and a
geologically significant mountainous area of Switzerland known as the
Glarus Overthrust.

CRIMINAL GROUP ENGAGED IN SMUGGLING HAS BEEN RENDERED HARMLESS, RA NSS REPORTS

Noyan Tapan

Au g 7, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The employees of the RA National
Security Service (NSS) revealed a criminal group engaged in smuggling
and blocked a constantly functioning route for smuggling goods,
NT was informed by the NSS press service.

The group was headed by director of Gvarzin LLC, resident of the
village of Ptghavan (Noyemerian region) Yura Harutyunian who was
engaged in the import of goods from Turkey into Armenia via Edik
Evinian organization. Goods were smuggled into Armenia with the use of
three methods: in one case, goods were taken to a Georgian area near
the border village of Deghdzavan in Tavush marz (Armenia), then loaded
into several small trucks and smuggled by bypasses into Armenia at
night. In some cases, small consignments of goods were transported to
Armenia through shallow places in the Debed River or in small boats. In
the third case, the group used to conceal the real number of imported
goods and register only some of the goods by forging the documents.

The invetigators revealed that in the past 6 months the group
imported 895 tons of goods into Armenia without customs control,
causing considerable damage to the Armenian economy.

The criminal group of Y. Harutyunian included employees of the RA
Police Noyemberian Unit and the NSS frontier troops who ensured "safe"
transportation of goods, as well as officials of the RA State Customs
Service who used to register goods by forged documents.

5 persons have already been arrested in the criminal case opened under
Article 215 part 1 of the RA Criminal Code by the RA NSS Investigation
Department. Operative investigation measures are being taken.

Critics’ Forum
Visual Arts
"It’s the Village Life:" The Atwater Casitas Artists’ Community
By Jean Murachanian

"All Armenians are trying to get back to the Village life. It’s
inside them trying to come out" says artist Sevag Vrej of his
experience working out of Casitas Studios, a newly renovated
industrial building with a high concentration of Armenian artists in
Atwater Village, or "the Village". Sevag was the first artist to
move into the structure about two and a half years ago. At that time
the space was cavernous and scattered with remnant furniture and
miscellaneous supplies from its previous occupant, a pharmaceutical
company. Today the building is about 90% built-out with office and
studio space occupied primarily by artists, although roughly 20% is
rented by satellite companies and non-artists. With its cement
floors, lack of official signage, and re-used pharmaceutical
furniture, the building maintains its industrial past alongside a hip
element brought to life by its current creative occupants.

Located in Atwater Village, California, Casitas Studios is
conveniently situated between the cities of Glendale and downtown Los
Angeles, the major recreational attractions of Griffith Park and
Dodger Stadium, and just minutes from the entertainment industry in
Silver Lake. Atwater Village is an old residential community begun
in 1912 for the successful working class. It became a blue collar
neighborhood of primarily Hispanics and Filipinos and was ignored
until recently by developers and prosperous urbanites because it had
been over taken by street gangs. In fact, it is home to some of the
oldest gangs in Los Angeles, a point which is quite evident from
their names – Rascals, ToonerVille Rifa, and Frogtown. Although
improvements are apparent everywhere, including the highly
anticipated Northeast satellite campus of Los Angeles City College in
the old Van de Kamps building, the gangs are still busy tagging the
neighborhood with signs of rivalries that occasionally end in
tragedy. Bordered on the west by the Los Angeles River, that
quintessentially urban body of water with its banks of cement, and on
the east by railroad tracks, the Village has a definite gritty urban
feel. But it is precisely this combination of ethnic community,
hoodlum menace, and metropolitan lifestyle, mixed with the excitement
of urban renovation that makes Casitas Studios an inspiring place to
work for its resident artists.

But beyond its interesting ambience, what is particularly unique
about Casitas Studios is that about two-thirds of the space is
occupied by Armenian artists. As many of our readers know, when you
place Armenians in close proximity to each other, the result is a lot
of interaction. And when those Armenians are artists, the result is
creative stimulation and networking multiplied. As a bonus, what
often emerges from their contact is the pleasant discovery of common
friends and even relatives. It is in essence a microcosm of an
Armenian village where everyone specializes in a particular skill, is
somehow connected, and shares a common culture. Although they may
hail from many different parts of the world – Armenia, Argentina,
Canada, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon – the resident "Armos" nevertheless feel
a deep ancestral link that makes working together seamless. Of
course there are also non-Armenians that are part of this community,
some of whom have been adopted as honorary Hyes, like graphic
designer Nathan "Nishan" Wong, who generously serves as the
building’s ad-hoc IT consultant.

Casitas Studios came into being when the building’s owner, Dr. Avo
Tavitian, decided to convert the space into offices for the creative
community, with the loose idea of targeting Armenian artists. The
ratio of Hyes grew through word of mouth as each new occupant told
their friends about the unique space. Sevag was the first to move
in. Sole proprietor of Pomegranate Pictures, Sevag is a film
director and editor. Soon he was sharing office space with Roger
Kupelian, owner of Fugitive Studios, whose growth has occurred at
such a rapid pace that he has moved three times within Casitas
Studios to a progressively larger suite. Roger creates backdrop
paintings for the film industry, his most prominent recent work being
for The Lord of the Rings cycle. Sako Shahinian, sole proprietor of
Sako Designs, who moved in about one and a half years ago, was
referred to Casitas Studios by a mutual friend of Sevag’s, Ara
Soudjian. A designer extraordinaire, Sako is well versed in the
design of diverse media, including graphics, animation, fashion,
film, and editorials. When Sevag heard about Sako and learned he was
Hye, a member of AYF (Armenian Youth Federation), and a graduate of
his alma mater, Pasadena Art Center (PAC), he knew he had found the
perfect office mate.

All three of these artists recently collaborated on a large project,
the completion of an unfinished film, Angels, Devils, and Men (ADM),
which Roger came upon while searching for investors for his biggest
endeavor, the development and production of East of Byzantium, a
motion picture about Vartan Mamagonian. ADM was a huge undertaking
because while all the scenes had been shot, the writer and director,
Lindsay Shonteff, died suddenly without leaving much of a script or
storyboard outlining his complete concept of the movie. So Roger,
Sevag, and Sako were left trying to create a story out of the various
filmed sequences. Using their sense of creativity, in an effort to
enhance the plot and its flow, they decided to supplement the picture
with animation. Roger and Sevag served as Associate Producers and
Sako as Creative Director. Sevag edited both the film and the
trailers and Sako designed the logo, website, and animation. They
also hired mutual friend and musician, Barrett Yeretsian, to compose
the music for the soundtrack, though he does not have an office in
Casitas Studios. ADM will soon be making the rounds of the
international film festivals and our artists are optimistic that it
will find a cult audience. So be on the lookout for it in the art
houses and on DVD.

Local readers may be familiar with Casitas Studios by way of an open
house held in March 2007, which also highlighted Vahe Berberian’s
Milagros, small colorful images painted on metal, a format inspired
by an old Spanish tradition. A hip event with food and music, the
opening was attended by an eclectic crowd of over two thousand,
including Serj Tankian, lead singer for System of a Down (SOAD), and
successfully showcased the enormous talent of each artist. The
occasion also allowed the occupants to get to know one another as
well as each other’s clients. Interestingly, Sako landed a large
project from the March happening when a friend he already knew hired
him after actually seeing his work that night.

The event may have even propelled Serj to hire some of the artists to
create visual imagery for his first solo album, Elect the Dead,
released in October 2007 to rave reviews. Roger and Sevag, already
friends of Serj, were each asked to make a music video, while Sako
was asked to design the album website, create graphics for a limited
edition CD, and add imagery to Sevag’s music video, which was also
filmed at Casitas Studio. Reacquainting himself with Sako’s work,
Serj remembered the haunting posters Sako had created for SOAD’s 2004
and 2005 Souls concerts.

Sometimes collaborative work arises when the artists least expect
it. For instance, when Roger was casting parts for the publicity
photos and film teasers needed to market East of Byzantium, he ended
up finding the perfect cast right under his nose at Casitas Studios.
After interviewing loads of commercial actors, Roger realized he
already had Vartan right there in resident artist Dro Arzooian,
complete with sturdy build and full beard. In the end, he cast most
of the major roles for marketing purposes from Casitas residents, or
affiliated family and friends.

Casitas Studios even houses a husband and wife team, Talene
Gureghian, owner of ALSO, a graphic design firm, and Andrew Hall,
photographer. Family connections extend across the hall as well,
since Talene and Sevag are cousins. Also a graduate of PAC, Talene
recently completed a major project, a catalogue for Lexus
automobiles, for which Andrew did the photography and Sako the
retouching.

Besides collaborating on various projects and referring business to
each other, the resident artists also benefit from sharing
recommendations for preferred vendors. For example, rather than
using trial and error to find a good animator or printer, designers
can simply walk down the hall and ask another artist for a good
referral. Needless to say, this streamlines their efforts and
enhances the quality of their work.

Like Atwater Village itself, the occupants at Casitas Studios are an
eclectic mix – The Fitness Forum (private gym), Anna Yepremyan
(florist), Imasu by Kellynishimoto (fashion designer), Ruzz
Photography (portrait photographer), AIM Marketing (advertising
talent agency), Kluger (architects), Dro Arzooian (fine artist),
Yithzhak Dalal (photography), The Atwater Playhouse (live theater and
method acting school), and most recently, Bodies that Work (yoga
studio). In addition, the second floor houses a team of lawyers,
Avo’s administrative staff, and until recently the Los Angeles office
of the Armenian Reporter. With such a variety of businesses, the
atmosphere can be quite lively, with fashion models clacking down the
halls on their way to a fashion shoot, actors milling around
anxiously awaiting their audition at the Atwater Playhouse, and gym
patrons sprinting through on their way to their next appointment.
All this leads to some antics from the occupants, including lots of
head popping at the first sound of high heels, rounds of basketball
in the hallways, and the circulation of animated note cards
illustrating quirky occurrences in the building. Their camaraderie
also extends beyond the walls of Casitas Studios, with lunch outings
in the urban neighborhood and bike rides along the L.A. River bike
path. They even share in major life events, sometimes by
contributing their own talents as seen in the upcoming wedding of
Andrew and Jennifer from AIM, for which Ruzz will provide the
photography, Kelly Nishimoto the bridal gown, and Anna Yepremyan the
flowers.

Casitas Studios is a dynamic place where members of a small primarily
ethnic community are working, playing, and in some cases even living
together for the common purpose of creative expression. As Roger
indicated, many of the Armenian tenants have an ingrained sense of
old-world thinking modified by a modern outlook, a combination which
makes their collaborative efforts . . . effortless. Perhaps it is
precisely this intersection of rural Armenian village and urban
Atwater Village that one finds so compelling in these resident
artists.

All Rights Reserved: Critics’ Forum, 2008. Exclusive to the Armenian
Reporter.

Jean Murachanian is a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at UCLA.

You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at To sign
up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
Critics’ Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.