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Your Contact Lenses Could Make You Blind

FitSugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:00:00 PDT

Many of you rely on your contact lenses in order to help you see, but your lenses could end up taking away your vision. What an ugly irony. The problem starts with a simple single cell microorganism - acanthamoeba.

Acanthamoeba is one of the most common types of protozoan that live in soil and fresh water. They can be found in city tap water, so if you rinse your lens case in water from the sink, this amoeba can be transferred to your contact lenses and then to your eye. These protozoan can live and multiply in both your contact case and your eyes, and can go back and forth between the two because commercial contact lens solution can't kill them. Once they're in your eyes, they can cause a painful infection known as amoebic keratitis, which can lead to blindness. The prevalence of this infection has increased because so many people wear contact lenses now.

The lenses that you wear for a year or two were found to contain the most pathogenic (disease-causing) strains of acanthamoeba. The ones that you keep for a month or two weeks contained fewer, and the daily lenses contained no acanthamoeba. Talk to your eye doctor about the kinds of contact lenses you wear to see which would be the healthiest for your eyes. Scientists are on the move trying to develop a contact lens solution that can kill this nasty amoeba, but for now, it's recommended that you don't rinse your lens case in tap water.

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Chihuahua's Bark Is Loud at the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:30:31 PDT

You know, the reviews for Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua were not as bad as I thought they might be, so that coupled with the fact that it's a family film meant that the movie about little talking dogs took the No. 1 spot at the box office over the weekend. The top dogs brought in a seriously impressive $29 million. That's about the same amount that Eagle Eye earned last weekend. This weekend, the Shia LaBeouf action-thriller came in second place.

Meanwhile, some smaller movies (a.k.a. "specialty films") also did well. Both Bill Maher's documentary Religulous and Anne Hathaway's Rachel Getting Married had terrific opening weekends. This was especially striking as "three of the new wide releases didn’t even crack the top 10 chart," including Flash of Genius, Blindness, and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

Finally, both Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Appaloosa enjoyed solid debuts, coming in third and fifth respectively. Lots of options this weekend! Which one did you see? (And come on, you can admit it if it was the chihuahua movie - this is a safe place.)

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Blindness: To See, a Brutal Gift

BuzzSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:30:08 PDT

I saw Blindness by myself, with nothing to occupy me on the way home but a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Bad idea. This movie requires a funny friend or mindless magazine afterward to decompress. I don't shy away from depressing films, but Blindness is one of the bleakest things I've ever seen on screen. At times bleaker even than Babel or Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. But cheery isn't really an option when portraying a dystopia plagued by a mysterious epidemic "immune to bureaucracy."

Based on the novel by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago and directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardner), this apocalyptic allegory is imperfect but powerful. Reminiscent of Children of Men and old zombie flicks, Blindness begins with a man going blind while driving. His eye doctor (Mark Ruffalo) is puzzled by the affliction, in which eyesight is obscured by white rather than cloaked in dark. But soon the doctor is also rendered blind by the contagion, so

To prevent an epidemic, the blind are quarantined - first by the handful then by the hundreds - in an abandoned sanitarium. Apart from the viewers, the only person who can see what filth results when a bunch of newly blind people are essentially abandoned by their government is the doctor's wife (Julianne Moore), who retains her sight but keeps it a secret. As food rations become scarce and the conditions more squalid, the ward devolves into a sinister, Lord of the Flies-like atmosphere ruled by an opportunistic villain (Gael Garcia Bernal).

Painted in a washed-out palette, the horror is heightened by the fact that as viewers, we're prevented from getting our bearings. Some of the techniques are predictable but effective - interludes of white between scenes, an overall jumbled tone - while others are downright arresting. We never learn the characters' names, and the nameless setting - shot in Sao Paolo, Tokyo, and Toronto - is beautiful and disorienting.

But Meirelles also draws attention to our sightedness by making us witness some sickeningly ugly truths - actions that you can imagine unfolding in such a dystopia but that are very difficult to watch nonetheless. (The people next to me walked out during a particularly disturbing scene.) The horrors are not without a message - to me, how hunger and suffering can drive people to immoral ends - but I certainly didn't leave the theater feeling good. Though I haven't read Saramago's novel, I'd imagine that message of Blindness is better made through literary allegory than a hyperrealistic film. But depending on your movie tolerance, Blindness is worth seeing for both its beauty and its brutality.

Photos courtesy of Miramax

Teaser Trailer for Blindness With Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

BuzzSugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:31:17 PDT

Don't be fooled by the chipper, easy-breezy morning routine at the beginning of this teaser trailer for Blindness - it gets scary. Really scary. Based on the novel by Portuguese Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago, Blindness is an apocalyptic thriller in which an entire town - save one doctor's wife - succumbs to a blindness epidemic.

The cast is fantastic: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Sandra Oh, among others. Just watching this teaser trailer gave me chills, so I'm a little afraid of the final full-length movie. Then again, I have until October 3 to build up some courage. Have you read this book? You can check out the teaser trailer if you

Link Time! 6/5

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:01:50 PDT

According to Cinematical, Mark Ruffalo is replacing Daniel Craig in the movie Blindness (which I told you about back when Craig was first cast and I was giddy over the news).
Stereogum recounts the bizarre saga of the dude who thinks Arcade Fire stole his basketball when the band played at UC Berkeley. Arcade Fire denies the charges.
According to PopCandy, BJ Novack (Ryan on "The Office") was a prankster in high school, recording fake audio tours for the Boston Museum of the Fine Arts.
The Movie Blog thinks casting a magician to play a magician is a good idea, referring specifically to Criss "Mindfreak" Angel who has been cast in Mandrake the Magician, based on a Depression-era comic strip. Well, he's certainly comical.
I Guess I'm Floating finds Wilco's explanation for selling its songs to a VW campaign.
CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) has a source who heard something about a remake of Meatballs.
TV With MeeVee reviews the "Heroes" 360 Experience.
Earvolution says the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr. is writing a play.

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Dreamy-Eyed Daniel Craig Considers Blindness

BuzzSugar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:06:45 PDT

I always love an excuse to write about Daniel Craig - it means looking for photos of him, after all - but this news is particularly cool. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the James Bond actor is in talks to star in Blindness, a movie based on the Jose Saramago novel of the same name.

Julianne Moore is also being considered, which is interesting, since the premise reminds me a bit of Children of Men. According to the HR, "the story chronicles an epidemic of blindness that sweeps through an unnamed contemporary city." The only person left with the sense of sight is a doctor's wife and, thankfully, the filmgoers. The film will be directed by Fernando Meirelles, whose resume includes such captivating movies as The Constant Gardener and City of God. I haven't read Blindness, but now I really want to. If you have, tell me what you think.

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10 Cool Facts About Olfaction

BellaSugar — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:30:00 PDT

We all have a sense of smell, and we all use it constantly, whether we realize it or not. Scents and smell are two of the most important yet often overlooked elements of everyday experience. Want to learn a few truly amazing facts about the things your nose knows? Then just keep reading.

Don't Be Shady! How to Choose the Right Sunglasses For Eye Health

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:19:22 PDT

Sunglasses aren't just for complementing your bikini while you lounge on the beach. They're a must for protecting your eyes from UV damage. Sunglasses also shield the eyelids and the skin around your eyes, helping to prevent wrinkles and skin cancer. But before you run out and drop a small fortune on a pair, here are some things to consider.

UV protection is most important: UV rays can damage the eyes causing cataracts, benign growths on the eye's surface, and snow blindness, a temporary and painful sunburn of the eye. As mentioned above, it can also lead to skin cancer around the eye, so make sure your pair guarantees 100 percent UV protection.
Polarized lenses have nothing to do with UV protection: Polarized lenses act as a filter to absorb light waves, which helps to reduce glare that bounces off smooth surfaces like pavement or water. While they're great for offering clearer vision in extreme sun, being labeled "polarized" has nothing to do with how well they protect the eyes.

Keep reading to find out what else to think about when buying sunglasses.

What We're Sweet On: The Gloss That Looks Good on Everyone

Jaime Richards — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:32:00 PDT

Some lip glosses are so waxy, your lips feel as if they're suffocating, while others are so shiny, they practically blind the person standing next to you. Such is not the case with Intelligent Nutrients' Lip Delivery Antioxidant Gloss in Pink Hibiscus ($24). Free of synthetic waxes and oils (and fragrance and colorants), the subtly tinted gloss lends just a hint of sheen to the lips. And the touch-of-pink hue is the perfect shade to reach for when you want a more minimalistic makeup look - or when you want low-key lips to complement an intensely heavy smoky eye.

Certified organic, Lip Delivery is loaded with antioxidant-rich cranberries, purple corn, and blueberries. Beeswax, carnauba wax, and cocoa butter ingredients moisturize, while shea butter lends a bit of natural protection from the sun's UV rays. A built-in brush makes application all the more smooth, but perhaps the biggest treat is its sweet and tart flavor, a blend of caramel, vanilla, raspberry, agave, and coconut. You'll keep going back to this smooth operator again and again.

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!