Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/51611
Monday, January 2, 2012 – Daily News FEATURES Double daughters daunting, dangerous Dear Annie: My hus- band has twin 28-year-old daughters. They are hard- working and smart, and any parent would be proud of their achievements. I began dating my hus- band five years after his divorce, and we married three years later. However, when I was supposed to meet his daughters, they told him they would chase me away if I visited. The relationship went downhill from there. They threw my posses- sions into the backyard while we were not home, threatened to kill me, vandalized our house, tried to run me over, ambushed me with a bucket of water when I stepped out the door, were cruel to my dog and more. We moved 2,000 miles away. Now that our parents are getting old, we are thinking of moving back to our hometown to be near our families. But I don't know how to handle his daughters. They text, phone and email their dad, but never acknowledge my existence. We send birthday and Christmas pre- sents from both of us. Their mother and I get along well, but she only chastises them by saying they are "exhibiting inappropriate behav- ior.'' They still live with her, and I think she is intimidated. My husband owns a farm nearby and we have been trying to sell it, but the daughters use that property and chase all prospective buyers away. We have offered to sell it to Annie's Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar them at a good price, but why should they buy it when they can use it for free? We can't afford two house pay- ments. My husband has no lever- age with them. He won't do anything that could get them into legal trouble that may affect the rest of their lives. I don't know what to do. — Anguished in Oregon Dear Oregon: These spoiled brats have been out of control for years because they have two ineffectual, spineless parents, and there never have been any consequences for their behav- ior. Your husband can sell the farm by having a broker handle prospec- tive buyers by appointment only. But make it clear to your husband that if they vandalize your home, threaten you or hurt your pets, you will call the police. And he should convey that message to his errant daughters. Dear Annie: My sister ''Rose'' and I are as different as night and day. She also is 17 years older than I am. I am now in my late 40s, and although Rose and I get along, there is one thing that causes me grief. Every time we speak, she feels the need to remind me of what a spoiled brat I was when I was a teenager. She's right. But I'm not that way any longer. She makes it clear that she still is not OK with this, so I've apologized for my teenaged self. Repeatedly. It hurts to know that she can't let it go. I truly love my sister. My ques- tion is, should I confront Rose? If not, how do I deal with the contin- ued belittling? — Little Sister in California Dear Sister: It might help to talk to Rose. Remind her that you are no longer a spoiled brat, and ask why she is having such a hard time for- giving your teenaged self. Perhaps there is a reason she keeps bringing it up. If she cannot recognize her obsessive behavior or stop it, the best you can do is say, ''Yes, Rose,'' and then change the subject. Dear Annie: Here's my two cents about dogs' names. While vis- iting my daughter, her 4-year-old neighbor asked me, ''What is your name?'' When I replied, ''Lucy,'' he said, ''My friend has a dog named Lucy.'' Unless you make up an original name for your pet, someone will have the same name. I discovered that Lucy is among the top names for dogs. I still laugh about it. Light- en up, people. — Lucy in Shreve- port, La. Annie's Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please e-mail your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. 'Mission'stays on top with $31.3 M LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Cruise's new mis- sion remains impossible to beat at the box office. Studio estimates Sun- day placed ''Mission: Impossible — Ghost Pro- tocol'' in the No. 1 spot for the second-straight weekend with $31.3 mil- lion. With a $134.1 mil- lion domestic total, it's the first $100 million hit with Cruise in the lead role since 2006's ''Mis- sion: Impossible III.'' The Paramount release led a solid New Year's weekend as Hollywood managed fair business to end a sluggish year on a more promising note for 2012. Domestic revenues closed out at $10.22 bil- lion for 2011, down 3.4 percent from 2010's, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That was a slight improvement over Holly- wood.com's projections a week earlier, when Holly- wood was limping through the normally busy holiday season with a lineup of underachieving movies. ''This week was a pleasant surprise,'' Hollywood started the year in a deep rut, with domestic revenues trailing 2010's by 20 percent or more as a weak first quar- ter fell far short of the pre- vious year's spectacular results for the sci-fi sensa- tion ''Avatar.'' Studios nearly dug themselves out from that deficit over the summer, but business lagged through the fall and holi- days as audiences had a ho-hum response to most movies. Some studio executives had predicted record rev- enues for 2011. The movies themselves may simply have held less appeal to fans than expected, though audi- ences also could be skip- ping trips to theaters to watch movies on big- screen home setups or to play with the countless entertainment gadgets now on the market. View- ers can watch films at home or on portable devices for a fraction of the cost of going to the- aters. said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. ''Last week, we were really pretty gloom and doom, but this final push at the end of the year was stronger than expected. It's a good way to head into 2012, with at least a little bit of momentum at the box office.'' Still, movie admissions were down sharply for the second year in a row. Fac- toring in higher ticket prices, domestic atten- dance slipped to 1.28 bil- lion in 2011, off 4.2 per- cent from 2010 admis- sions and the smallest audiences Hollywood has had since 1995, according to Hollywood.com. The industry is looking ahead to an impressive lineup to turn things around this year. Big titles include the superhero tales ''The Dark Knight Rises,'' ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and ''The Avengers''; the latest in the animated franchises ''Ice Age'' and ''Mada- gascar,'' along with ''Brave,'' the new adven- ture from animation mas- ter Pixar; Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones' ''Men in Black 3''; Daniel Craig's new James Bond thriller ''Skyfall''; Johnny Depp's vampire story ''Dark Shadows''; Ridley Scott's ''Prometheus,'' a cousin to his sci-fi classic ''Alien''; and Peter Jack- son's ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,'' the NEW YORK (AP) — For flat-panel TVs, the choice for years has been between plasma and LCD. In the coming year, there'll be another choice, at least for those prepared to spend big. LG Electronics Inc. says it's planning to sell a 55-inch set based on organic light- emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The Korean company is set to show it off at the Inter- national Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which starts Jan. 10. Samsung Electronics Co., LG's Korean rival, will also reveal a nearly market-ready OLED TV at the show, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Samsung has yet to make an announce- ment. Its website says CES announce- ments will come Jan. 9. first in a two-part prequel to his ''Lord of the Rings'' films. The rest of this week- end's top-three remained unchanged. Robert Downey Jr.'s ''Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,'' from Warner Bros., finished second again with $22.1 million, raising its domestic total to $132.1 million. The 20th Century Fox family sequel ''Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip- wrecked'' was still at No. 3 with $18.3 million to lift its haul to $94.6 million. In its first full week- end, Steven Spielberg's World War I epic ''War Horse'' came in fourth with $16.9 million, push- ing its domestic total to $43 million. At No. 5 was David Fincher's thriller ''The Girl with the Dragon Tat- too'' with $16.3 million. The Sony release, which stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, now stands at $57.1 million domesti- cally. Cameron Crowe's fam- ily tale ''We Bought a Zoo,'' featuring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, finished at No. 6 with $14.3 million. Released by 20th Century Fox, the movie raised its total to $41.8 million. Rounding out the top films was Spielberg and producer Jackson's ani- mated action story ''The Adventures of Tintin'' at No. 7 with $12 million. The Paramount release lifted its domestic sum to $47.8 million. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sun- day at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest interna- tional numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released LG to sell TV using new ultra-thin tech Tim Alessi, director of home electron- ics development at LG's USA arm, said its set will likely go on sale in the fourth quar- ter. The company isn't revealing the price. Paul Gagnon, an analyst at Display- Search, estimates that OLED sets will start out above $5,000. The screen technology is in use in high- end smartphones and provides deeply sat- urated colors and high contrast. However, it's been very difficult to make larger screens with consistent results. In late 2007, Sony Corp. started selling an 11- inch OLED TV for about $2,500, but it never followed it up with a bigger model. Since then, LG and Samsung have shown prototype OLED TVs at the annual CES show, but haven't revealed any mar- keting plans. Monday. 1. ''Mission: Impossi- ble — Ghost Protocol,'' $31.3 million. 2. ''Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,'' $22.1 million. 3. ''Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip- wrecked,'' $18.3 million. 4. ''War Horse,'' $16.9 million. 5. ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,'' $16.3 million. 6. ''We Bought a Zoo,'' $14.3 million. 7. ''The Adventures of Tintin,'' $12 million. 8. ''New Year's Eve,'' $6.7 million. 9. ''The Darkest Hour,'' $4.3 million. 10. ''The Descen- dants,'' $3.7 million. ——— Online: http://www.holly- wood.com 3 treatment options can be used for warts DEAR DOC- TOR K: I recent- ly developed a wart on my hand. What can I do to get rid of it? DEAR READ- ER: Warts are caused by a virus. When the virus infects skin cells, they grow faster than nor- mal. It's not clear why, but some people are more prone to warts than others. Dr. K by Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. should reduce the chances of it spreading to another part of your body. Getting rid of warts can be a challenge, but there are several treatment options you can try: — Salicylic Skin warts aren't highly contagious. But the virus that causes warts can spread from person to person by direct contact, and warts on one part of the body can spread to other areas. That's why it's important to wash your hands after touching a wart — yours or some- one else's, like your kids' warts. Warts are generally harmless and often dis- appear on their own over time. It's not clear why some warts go away and other warts don't. One theory about those that go away is that the immune system responds to the viral infection that causes the warts. Anoth- er is that the virus just "poops out" and stops causing cells to grow faster than normal. Some doctors think stress may bring out warts. The theory is that the virus that causes warts lives inside a per- son's skin cells quietly, not making trouble. When a person is under stress, the immune sys- tem does not do as good a job of keeping the virus in check. As a result, the wart starts to develop. I have had patients with recurrent warts who swear that warts are more likely to appear when they are under stress. I think it's a plausible, but unproven, theory. If you're not too both- ered by their appear- ance, it's fine to just keep an eye on warts. They may just go away. On the other hand, promptly treating a wart acid. This is the main ingredient in aspirin, and it should usually be your first choice. Sali- cylic acid costs little and has minimal side effects. It comes in various over- the-counter prepara- tions, including liquids, gels and patches. To treat a wart, soak it for 10 to 15 minutes. File away the dead warty skin with an emery board or pumice stone and apply the sali- cylic acid. Do this once or twice a day for 12 weeks. — Freezing (cryotherapy). A clini- cian swabs or sprays liq- uid nitrogen onto the wart and a small sur- rounding area. The extreme cold burns the skin, causing pain, red- ness and usually a blis- ter. Getting rid of the wart this way usually takes three or four treat- ments, one every two to three weeks. — Duct tape. Believe it or not, silver (not clear) duct tape may work, although studies have come to different conclusions about this. Place the duct tape over your wart for six days. Remove the tape, soak and file the wart, and leave it uncovered overnight. Reapply the duct tape in the morning and leave the tape in place for another six days. Follow this regi- men for two months or until the wart disap- pears. Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. Go to his website to send questions and get additional information: www.AskDoctorK.com. 3B