Reggaeton fever shakes up Cuba`s culture

(REGGAETON, CUBAN, MUSIC, OFFICIAL, LATIN, CULTURAL, CUBA`S)

By Esteban Israel
HAVANA (Reuters) - To record his next hit El Micha, one of the rising stars of Cuba`s reggaeton music blending reggae, Latin and electronic rhythms, just has to knock on his neighbor`s door.
A microphone plugged into an old computer in an apartment in Havana`s working-class suburb of Reparto Electrico serves as the studio where some of Cuba`s most successful reggaeton songs are recorded.
"Reggaeton is unstoppable because it is recorded at home. It is totally independent," says Michael "El Micha" Sierra, 27, a former basketball player whose bottom row of gold teeth flash when he gives one of his frequent broad smiles.
With little official support or air time on state-controlled radio, the songs Cuban reggaeton artists record in makeshift studios lined with egg cartons for sound insulation are mostly transmitted though homemade CDs and on computer flash memory sticks.
That is how the tropical fever of reggaeton is sweeping communist-ruled Cuba, captivating its youth and enraging a cultural establishment alarmed by the vulgarity of some of its lyrics, which include phrases like "Coge mi tubo" ("Grab my pipe") and "Metela" ("Stick it in").
"Cubans know about music and if they picked reggaeton they have to be respected. The people are the ones who decide," said Sierra.
Reggaeton, a cocktail of reggae, Latin and electronic rhythms, first emerged in Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s and has
spread rapidly though Latin America. In Cuba, it is played on crowded buses, shakes neighborhood windows with its throbbing bass and packs discos night after night.
Its vibrations even seem to be shaking Cuba`s cultural establishment, decades after the island shook the entertainment music world with its native-born mambo and cha cha cha.
Like hip hop, its relative, reggaeton chronicles real life in the streets. But its popularity stems from a catchy, sensual rhythm that is perfectly suited for dance-crazy Cubans.
OFFICIAL ALARM OVER "NEOLIBERAL" MUSIC
"Teachers and family cannot be naive regarding this matter," warned state-controlled TV as it showed 6-year-olds doing covers of Puerto Rican reggaeton megastar Daddy Yankee.
That was the latest sign of official alarm over what the authorities see as a vulgarization of Cuban culture.
The official daily Juventud Rebelde called reggaeton a reflection of "neoliberal thinking" and Culture Minister Abel Prieto said it should be "pushed away."
"In the cultural world there is concern about the excessive popularity of reggaeton," Julian Gonzalez, president of the National Council for Visual Arts, told Reuters.  Continued...
Original article

Health games become serious business

By John Gaudiosi
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters Life!) - Videogames were once blamed for rising obesity rates but are now being championed by the medical industry and for use by government departments for their health benefits.
Games like Electronic Arts` "EA Sports Active" and Nintendo`s "Wii Fit" have got players of all ages moving -- and game developers and investors looking for hot new titles to cash in on this booming segment of the market.
Big John Games` upcoming "Butt Kicker" Nintendo DSi game will provide an action-based environment in which players fight against cigarettes and "Karate Bears" for Wii teaches players real karate routines using the Wii`s motion-sensor controllers.
With interest in health games rising, the fifth annual Games for Health Conference in Boston expanded to 390 people this year from 100, including developers, investors and medical experts, while numbers at many other conferences are down up to 40 percent.
"Healthcare is 18 percent of the GDP of the United States and so games for health is probably the largest sector of activity in the serious games field long-term," said Ben Sawyer, co-founder of The Games for Health Project.
"If you add up the 18 month sales of "Wii Fit" and the sales of "EA Sports Active," Konami`s "Dance Dance Revolution" and other healthy games, the worldwide retail numbers are over $2 billion."
Dr. Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop which fosters innovation in children`s learning, has just released a report looking at how digital games can play a beneficial and educational role in health care.
"The White House should launch a national initiative to promote research and development of proven games," said Levine.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whose mission is to improve the health and healthcare of all Americans, has also called for a public engagement campaign supported by the president, Congress and the federal agencies to teach parents, teachers and health providers about the healthy side of gaming.
"States` governors should direct their school technology officers to look at innovations like "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Wii Fit" as a way to extend the reach of physical education and comprehensive health education," said Dr. Debra Lieberman, director of Health Games Research for the foundation.
The Games for Health Conference also showcased how videogames are being used to help doctors and patients alike.
Serious games developer Virtual Heroes is working on a new first-person shooter sequel for Hope Lab`s popular "Re-Mission" game, which has been distributed to cancer patients in 81 countries since 2006.
"We`re taking their existing concept and trying to raise the fun bar and creating more lifelike and enjoyable environments within the human body," explained Jerry Heneghan, CEO of Virtual Heroes.
"Players will take control of Roxy, the protagonist, and have new weapons to battle cancer with thanks to input from cancer patients."
Virtual Heroes is also updating its HumanSim technology with a new human physiology engine, technology has been used by Duke Medical Center`s nursing school to train nurses virtually.  Continued...
Original article

White collar boxers learn to roll with the punches

By Dorene InternicolaNEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - When Muhammad Ali advised: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," he probably wasn't talking to hedge fund managers.
Nevertheless, bankers, Wall Streeters, attorneys and teachers, all kinds of professionals, male and female, are putting on boxing gloves for fitness, escape, release and fun.
"There's as much chance of meeting a CEO in a boxing gym as on the golf course," said Peter DePasquale, whose book, "The Boxer's Workout", lays out for everyone the methods boxers use to get in shape.
"Boxers call it working the floor, shadow boxing, hitting the heavy bag, jumping rope," DePasquale explained.
"The routine is an outstanding workout, simultaneously cardio, strength, multiple arms and legs together, and hitting something for stress relief," he said in an interview.
The word has spread.
At a Crunch fitness center in the trendy West Village of New York, personal trainer Rob Piela was grinning from ear to ear about the huge boxing ring that suddenly appeared in the exercise room.
"There's nothing better than putting on those gloves," Piela, a former Golden Gloves semifinalist, said. "But of course it's not the same as walking into an old stinky boxing gym."
For that experience Piela visits Gleason's Gym, across the river in Brooklyn. The oldest boxing gym in the country, it literally reeks of atmosphere.
"Everyone tells me it smells, but I don't smell it. There's no air conditioner. I don't have great ventilation. I don't paint the walls, I don't paint the floors," said owner Bruce Silverglade.
Gleasons, founded in 1937, has hosted most of the boxing greats. It's also where Robert De Niro trained for the film "Raging Bull" and Hilary Swank for "Million Dollar Baby".
And where, Silverglade says, over 330 women now train alongside professionals and serious amateurs.
"Boxing gyms are surviving because of the business people," he said.
"Women have much better attitudes than the men," he added. "Women say 'teach me.' Guys are macho and think they already know how to fight."
Piela says it's become common to see women enter Gleason's toting Louis Vuitton bags and wearing stiletto heels. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Firefighters most trusted group in Europe and U.S.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Firefighters are the most trusted professionals in Europe and the United States, and politicians the least, with bank employees considerably less trusted than a year ago, according to a survey out on Friday.
After a year in which much of the world slid into recession led by a crisis in the financial sector, just 37 percent of respondents to a survey by market research institute GfK said they trusted bankers, compared with 45 percent a year ago.
Firefighters were trusted by 92 percent of respondents, and politicians by 18 percent.
Some of the biggest variations between the countries included in the survey -- 16 European countries and the United States -- were found in levels of trust in the church, the police and judges.
The clergy is trusted by 88 percent of Romanians but just 26 percent of Greeks, for example, while just 37 percent of the Russians surveyed said they trusted the police, compared with 88 percent in Germany.
Bulgarian judges won 31 percent approval, while in Poland 86 percent said they trusted judges.
Overall, teachers came in third, followed by postal workers, doctors and the armed forces in joint third place.
Politicians were least trusted in Greece, with just 6 percent of the vote, and even in the top-rated country for politicians, Sweden, they won only 38 percent approval.
Advertising professionals were second-least trusted after politicians, and top managers third-least.
Journalists were the sixth-least trusted of the 20 professions covered by the survey, with a 41 percent rating.
GfK surveyed 17,295 people in February and March 2009 for its annual poll.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: Reuters