Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 8:00AM
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By Dr. Billy Goldberg and Mark Leyner
While Leyner was lying around nursing his injured knee and Goldberg was trying to console his hungry newborn at 4 a.m., we both switched on our DVD players. Leyner opted for “The Matrix Reloaded,” and Goldberg chose the oldie but goodie, “Foul Play,” with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. The next day, we realized a very strange coincidence: we both chose films with albino villains.
This whole business of the “evil albino” in movies is quite interesting. You’d think a symptom of albinism is extreme wickedness. Consider the self-flogging monk Silas in “The Da Vinci Code,” the sadistic cowboy Bosie in “Cold Mountain,” the torturer in “The Princess Bride” (also, we might add, a hunchback) and, of course, our two late night examples. According to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, there were a total of 68 movies from 1960 to 2006 featuring an “evil albino.”
For some, this raises the chicken-or-egg question: What comes first, the stigmatization in our culture of some physical characteristic or condition as an “abnormality,” “deformity” or disfigurement” or its demonized depiction in Hollywood?
Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 8:23PM
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By Jane Weaver, health editor
Baseball hero Roger Clemens swore under oath during a grueling Congressional hearing Wednesday that he didn’t use steroids during his phenomenal baseball career. “I’ve been accused of something I’m not guilty of,” he defiantly told committee members. His words may have denied the claims by his former personal trainer, but his body was saying something else. At least that’s what one body language expert thinks.
During the 4½-hour hearing, Clemens was agitated, he didn’t make direct eye contact with the committee members and he even stumbled over the name of Brian McNamee, his chief accuser.
“The body doesn’t lie, the voice doesn’t lie,” Lillian Glass told NBC’s Peter Alexander Wednesday during the hearings. “When you look at Roger Clemens, you see a lot of lip licking… It’s very consistent. He’s very nervous….You see a lot of wrinkling of the forehead. He looks down. He’s disconnected. That makes you question what’s really going on with him.”
Glass was all praise for McNamee, who sat at the same table.
“McNamee was forward. He was ready. He was receptive … not defensive. He looked right at the people who were questioning him. He wasn’t nervous.”
Thu, Feb 7, 2008 at 8:00AM
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By Melissa Dahl, health writer
It’s a gross-out skill little brothers seem to be born with – a knack for turning their eyelids inside out, effectively freaking out all the ladies in their lives.
A fun, freaky trick, sure. But what if you couldn’t help flipping your lids? Some eyelids among us have minds of their own, flipping and flopping inside out whenever they please.
Those with a condition called floppy eyelid syndrome have lids that lack a normal amount of elastin, making the thin skin super stretchy. Grossing out their peers is totally out of their control – their eyelids can turn inside out spontaneously. In some cases, the upper lid can stretch all the way to the eyebrow, and both the upper and lower lids can be pulled forward as much as two centimeters. (Doesn’t seem like very much? Try seeing how far yours will go.)
Thu, Feb 7, 2008 at 7:45AM
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By Linda Dahlstrom, health editor
Andy Warhol. David Guest. Donald Trump. The "Cat Woman" Jocelyn Wildenstein.
With a bar that high for quirky-looking characters, New Yorkers aren't easily shocked. Many people escape to New York to express their individuality.
So it's no surprise that the city's latest darling is Paul Karason, aka the Blue Man.
"You rock!," said one visor-wearing middle-aged maven who saw him on the street, a moment captured by video for the “Today” show.
Karason's skin turned permanently and decidedly blue about a decade ago after he tried treating a skin condition on his face with a silver preparation. He's also been drinking colloidal silver, which is liquid in a silver suspension, for about 14 years, he says. Over time, it's collected in his skin and turned him blueberry.
Thu, Feb 7, 2008 at 7:30AM
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By Dr. Billy Goldberg and Mark Leyner
Do you remember the 80’s Missing Persons song, “Walking in L.A.,” where they sing “nobody walks in L.A.?” Well, Leyner walks in L.A. and was hit by a car this week. After he realized that it wasn’t being driven by someone with a “dubious disease” who was trying to strike him down after our last blog entry, I tried to get him to discuss a topic for this blog.
A discussion of the health benefits of walking might be particularly appropriate at this time. I am not a gym person and have always argued that walking is what has kept me fit. Yeah, on a rare occasion you can trip and fall or get hit by a distracted driver, but a simple stroll is much less risky than so many other activities. Well, Leyner had other thoughts…