G.I. Joe

This past Wednesday, 15 August 2007, I had the opportunity to drive on the mighty highways of South Korea. Driving in this country is not for the weak. You literally have stay on your toes and pay attention or you will not make it.

For those of you who have been to NYC, driving in South Korea is like driving on the FDR on steroids. The lanes are small, everyone is constantly switching lanes, and all while maintaining a high rate of speed. I have gotten use to always checking my blind spot before switching lanes. hahaha.

So on Monday, 20 August 2007, my unit is going to the field until Thursday. We are going to be playing soldier and basically doing simulations as if we were deploying for war. I am looking forward to it because this will be the last time that I have to do this before I separate from the army. I will post pictures when I return.

This is all for now. Happy birthday to my man John Gabriel Robinson in Albany, NY who turns 28 today. Also good luck to my sister Jasmine who departs for Miami, FL on Thursday to start college at Barry University.

Peace and Blessings

El Cantante

This week I had the chance to view "El Cantante" by Leon Ichaso. "El Cantante" is based on the life of Hector "El Cantante" Lavoe, who was one of the originators of salsa music in NYC. Hector is portrayed by Marc Anthony and his wife is portrayed by Jennifer Lopez. Go figure. Hahahaha.

So my thoughts. Well, I was somewhat disappointed with the film. The director focused too much on the negative aspects of Hector's life. The drugs, womanizing, his temper. The film felt like a montage of drug/party scenes thrown togeter. "El Cantante" was like one long music video.

The character development was also done poorly in this film. I felt like the audience never got to understand who Hector really was outside of his Playboy lifestyle. The director really portrayed him as a one dimensional character.

Using his wife Puchi to tell the story third-person was also a flaw of the film. The film overplays her influence in Hector's life.

This film could have been something really beautiful but instead it only reinforced the negative stereotypes of Latinos. Hopefully another director in the future will take the opportunity to attempt to tell Hector's story becuase he is to salsa music what James Brown was to black music.

Greetings F/The ROK

Greetings F/The Land of The Morning Calm So this is my first time using a blog. I kind of have an idea of how these works after reading Natasha's blog from Bolivia and Gabe/Mimi's blog from Barcelona.I know that it is rather somewhat late to start a blog since I have been in the Republic of Korea since 21 November 2006. But I figured better late than never and especially now since I only have 6 months left in the Army.The focus of this blog will be broad. For the most part I will babble about my mis-adventures through Korea, preparations for my return to cilvilian life, observations about Korean culture, and maybe some commentary on current events.For those of you who do not know . . . here is my contact information.


CPL Avila, Leonardo, Felipe
D DET, 176TH FIN BN
Unit # 15104
BOX #43
APO, AP 96224-5104
mobile=010-8697-7646 (south korea)
e-mail=avilalf@alumni.utexas.net
msn messengeer=avilalf
yahoo messenger=avilalf13
aim=funktactic
skype=avilalf
skype in(you can call my computer by dialing this #) 214- 256-4592

Check out the following url for a video on the Camp Casey Boxing Team that I am in on the Camp Casey Boxing Team.

http://afnkorea.net/Casey/popup.asp?ID=455054&type=W&file=2085834.wmv

This is all for now. Peace and Blessings.