RIP Armen Mirzaian

Halloween 2010

Earlier today artist and animator Armen Mirzaian was laid to rest at Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills. He had been killed in a car accident only a week before. Armen was once a co-worker of mine on a project I did a few years ago. While I didn't know Armen very well outside of the office, his comical drawings and kindhearted humor always made my day.

The number of people that came to pay their respects today was astonishing and the church was overflowing. So much so that many mourners had to listen to the services from outside as there was no more places to sit within.

Outside there were other co-workers including everybody in this video (except of course, Armen) and I was reminded of the day I shot this clip: it was Halloween. April -- the young woman with the black hair in this video -- had thought it would be fun to prank Armen and dress up like him. So I set up a hidden camera to capture the moment of surprise when Armen saw her.

But unbeknownst to us, Armen and two other co-workers thought it would be fun to dress up like April and so the trio showed up at her cubicle impersonating her.

As you can see from this clip, both Armen and April were utterly pwned and it was awesome! (Armen is the one standing on the far left.)

When I spoke to the others that were in this video following the memorial service, I recalled to them this story. I believe Armen would have enjoyed this as a legacy moment to remember him by. It suits him. It's funny, ridiculous, side-splitting laughable and fun. At least, it's how I'll always remember him because it's tougher to realize that he's no longer with us.

My condolences to Armen's family and friends who knew him well.

Credits:

Weeds "Little Boxes" 

Weeds Music Video Contest Entry.

Music composed and performed by Armen Mirzaian. Lyrics by Malvina Reynolds.

With Talar Kharadjian, Rosie Djibinian, Yasi Gorgin, Armen Amirkhanian, Adelina Pirijanyan, Sevan Melkounian, Armen Kocharian.