Strength trainer Jimmy Beilowitz from Somatic Nutrition Supplements

* K-1 FIGHT CANCELLED DUE TO LEG INJURY

* April 24 Demonstration www.genocideevents.com

* Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding film debut

* Karo Parisyan wins WEC world title with unanimous win over Shonie Carter www.wec.tv/

* Artyum Simonyan wins the IBF eliminator fight unanimously against Narongrit Pirang http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=023796

* House of Champions annual in-house tournament on June 26 www.houseofchampions.com

* Grand Opening of Kim Khauv’s Noodle House in Garden Grove, Ca

For those of you that may not have know ……. I had injured my leg during a training session and ended up not fighting at the K-1 show April 30th. I was so psyched out and ready for the fight up until the day of the injury. I went to Las Vegas to watch it anyway and had a great time. Scott Coker always puts on a great show and I am looking forward to fighting on it on August 14, 2004. I have been taking care of the injury from the moment it happened with the help of my trainer Rick O’ Kane and Aram Farhadyan. It is healing quite nicely but I wont be fighting on two shows I was planning to do (May 21 www.wec.tv and Dennis Warners show on June 19 in Upland, Ca).
April 24 has always been acknowledged by the Armenian race as the memorial day of 1.5 million Armenians being massacred by the hands of the Turks; therefore I feel it is my duty to take part in protests along with other things to bring recognition to this “silent” genocide. There have been a numerous books and movies on this subject but yet it has not been recognized like the Jewish Holocaust is. April 24 is also the day of my birth, which also seems to surprise many people who didn’t know. I view my birth date as a blessing more than a “curse”. I understand how many Armenians were killed on this very day in 1915, but I look at the day of my birth as a new beginning and all the more reason why I aim to succeed in becoming a popular Armenian fighter. A funny thing is, my brother Raffi is also born on the same day.

This year I went to the memorial statue in Montebello, Ca with Hyekatchdo, an Armenian Martial Arts Gym in Van Nuys, Ca www.hyekatchdo.com . I was very displeased with the turnout but no doubt ran into many people I knew from school and other organizations. I haven’t been to Montebello to pay my respects in about 5-6 years when I was apart of the AYF youth organization. Back then the property was so full of people that it was hard to move, but for some reason this years attendance was cut to half; when I asked around as to the reason of this I was answered that there were so many meetings going on that everyone cant be in one place at the same time. After Montebello we all proceeded to the Turkish Consulate where I was very pleased with the number of protestors demanding justice; this in fact made me proud. The good thing that happened that day was that Canada recognized the date of April 24 as the memorial day of the Armenian Genocide.

I had a great time when I went to the grand opening of one of my sponsor’s restaurant in Garden Grove. If you live around the area you might want to stop by and try some Vietnamese food that tastes great and prices just right. The Noodle House has 2 kinds of noodles to try, egg and rice. Its located at 10141 Westminster Ave. Suite J Garden Grove, Ca 92843; phone # 714-537-3386.

On a different note, a dear friend of mine, Tony Travis has produced a film called Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding. Tony was actually the first person to introduce my dad into enrolling me into martial arts. Tony has had many parts in films and Broadway and has stepped up to his own film. I watched the debut screening of it this week and couldn’t stop laughing. The film is basically a comedy of an Italian Wedding. More info can be found at www.emergingpictures.com .
Here is a review as well from VARIETY.COM www.variety.com
Posted: Wed., May 5, 2004, 7:23pm PT

Tony & Tina’s Wedding Poster

Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding

A Greenwich Street production in association with Drewmark Prods. Produced by Roger Paradiso, Michael Tadros, Tony Travis, Mark Lipsky. Co-producers, Justin Morrit, Glen Trotliner, Pat McCorkle. Directed, written by Roger Paradiso, based on a play by Artificial Intelligence.

With: Joey McIntyre, Mila Kunis, Priscilla Lopez, John Fiore, Krista Allen, Kim Director, Richard Portnow, Daisy Eagan, Dean Edwards, Guillermo Diaz, Matthew Saldivar, Adrian Grenier, Richard Robichaux, John Bernthal, Mary Testa, Letty Serra, Clement Fowler, Donnie Keshawarz, Tony Travis.

By RONNIE SCHEIB

A rousing, hilarious Bacchanal of family togetherness, Roger Paradiso’s brilliantly cinematic adaptation of the second-longest running play in Off-Broadway history might be the best of the recent rash of wedding pictures. “Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding” never lets up, dynamically orchestrating seeming chaos with beautifully timed detours. By presenting over-the-top ethnic stereotypes subjectively, from the bride’s and groom’s point of view, Paradiso never has to blunt the satiric slapstick punch of a picture that, a la Christopher Guest, presents people of all persuasions as equals in idiocy. If auds could be persuaded to RSVP to one more nuptial, “TNT” could take off theatrically, particularly with crossover, non-chick-flick auds.
Tony (Joey McIntyre) and Tina (Mila Kunis) have seriously considered eloping to escape their respective families. Tina’s widowed mother (Priscilla Lopez) and Tony’s divorced father (John Fiore), who once dated in high school, now hate each other’s guts, (squaring off in escalating confrontations throughout the proceedings).

Picture opens with “Lady of the Lake”-type subjective camerawork that alternates between bride’s and groom’s-eye view. In a pristine suburban house, mint green garbed bridesmaids’ hover while mama paces, growing steadily more commanding and hysterical. Meanwhile, in semidarkness, sodden buddies passed out all over the family’s strip joint resist the groom’s attempts to wake them as macho dad makes lame jokes with meatballs.

The camera remains uncomfortably subjective through the bride’s ride to church through affluent Long Island streets — and the groom’s through the less-picturesque areas of Queens. Paradiso mocks the suspense surrounding the traditional first appearance of the bridal couple by allowing the audience no glimpse of either bride or groom until their respective vehicles pass in front of the viewfinder of the wedding videographer (Guillermo Diaz).Later, further helping to open up the proceedings, the videographer, a gay Hispanic who works in 16mm film and has his own cameraman, flits into the picture at intervals to call attention to some particularly explosive or juicy detail.

There are early rumblings of thundering motifs to come: the loud sobbing of Tina’s mother, which virtually drowns out the vows; the tumultuous entrance of Tina’s old flame, Michael (Adrian Grenier) forcibly restrained during the “if anyone can show just cause” part of the ceremony; the rollicking Baptist intonations that occasionally bubble up and take over the black priest’s (Dean Edwards) otherwise Roman Church-like delivery.

Things really begin to roll downhill at the liberally liquored reception, where “Wedding’s” huge ensemble cast all contribute to the magnificently choreographed mayhem, captured in long sweeping takes through the room. Lenser Giselle Chamma picks up simultaneous action in several parts of the frame in the best Altman tradition: When bridesmaids aren’t passing out in the rigatoni or making cow eyes at the band’s lead singer, or when the father of the groom isn’t crashing through the scenery with his latest stripper or the ex-b.f. splashing down on the wedding cake, they all take time out to deliver boozy, sentimental addresses to the camera for the videographer.

Meanwhile, Tony and Tina’s conflicted loyalties over their increasingly combative dad and mom begin to divide the less-than-happy couple, as they contemplate the ultimate familial nightmare — that they will become their parents. The gags may not be unique or brilliant, but their layering is so well timed that the laughs never cease. The whirlwind of comic detail encompasses everyone in the huge cast, from the one-hit bandleader whose integrity won’t allow him to cover the play list, to the owner/emcee of the stucco Coliseum whose stale patter seems older than the Roman original.

Camera (color, Super 16mm), Giselle Chamma; editor, Jennifer Davidoff Cook; music producer, Joey Carbone, executive music producer, Tony Travis; production designer, Patricia Woodbridge; costume designer, Richard Owings; choreographer, Lisa Shriver; supervising sound editor(Dolby Digital), Robert Hein; associate producers, Michael Tadross Jr., Terry Ladin. Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival, May 3, 2004. Running time: 108 MIN.

Shahan Yacoubian