Features*

Burying treasure

Planting bulbs now will yield spring’s first breaths of color

Nothing is prettier than a field of daffodils blowing in the breeze, or a bed of bright red tulips, or the sweet smell of purple or pink hyacinths. Spring-blooming bulbs are one of the easiest ways to add color to the landscape with very little effort.
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Ask the expert

I promised myself last year that we’d do what we could to our home to make it more comfortable this year. It stayed cold indoors all last winter and we hated it.
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CLICK & CLACK’S CAR TALK

DEAR TOM AND RAY: My husband actually said this: “If you ask Click and Clack, and they say I did something wrong, I’ll stop doing it.” So here we go: When my husband backs my new Toyota minivan out of our driveway (he’s backing it down a hill), he doesn’t use the brakes.
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In the garden

Q I have about 10 giant red tip [photinias] on one side of my house that need to be trimmed. I want to do a major trimming from 10 feet down to about 8 feet. Is it too late in the year to cut them back?
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Personal space

Jon Etienne Mourot Where I live: Kyle Boswell and I live in a French country-style house in Leawood. We gutted the house when we bought it and we’re just now finishing up the final details.
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Tools & toys

Torto Ceiling Fan What’s to love: The Fanimation fan has just three blades and a different kind of airflow pattern.
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ON CHRISTIANITY

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: I wish I could be friendly and outgoing like other people are, but I’ve always been a very shy person, and whenever I get in a group I just clam up and don’t say anything. Can God change my personality? — D.E.
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OTUS THE HEAD CAT Ban on fall turkey hunt overturned by petition

Dear Otus, I was the one who, after the court ruled in favor of the Game and Fish Commission’s arbitrary, capricious, myopic and officious ban, organized the petition drive to restore our God-given right to hunt turkeys in the fall.
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Keep it clean

How can I get rid of the stickiness on my kitchen cabinets, especially around the knobs and handles? Kitchen cabinets, and other surfaces, collect grease, dirt, food particles and moisture more than other parts of the house, especially around handles, knobs and pulls.
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HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY

Happy birthday. You will be an agent for change.This month your own example of improved fi tness and fresh style will attract interest and followers. You’ll share your insights in December and really make people think.
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HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR HELOISE: A while ago, you had a column about many pets losing their homes in the foreclosure crisis, and how adopting one of these homeless pets could end up adding a very special member to your family.
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Almanacs appeal to wider audience than just farmers

Here are three words you might expect to cause instant seizure with an Internet search engine: Old. Farmer’s. Almanac.
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Check your knowledge

1. Who plays the role of Mitch Albom in the 1999 movie Tuesdays With Morrie, a film adapted from the book of the same name written by Albom? 2.What was Charles Lindbergh’s nickname after his record flight across the Atlantic in 1927?
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Planting bulbs now will yield a colorful spread in spring

Nothing is prettier than a field of daffodils blowing in the breeze or a bed of bright red tulips, writes Janet Carson in Saturday's Homestyle section.
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Disney’s lavish A Christmas Carol observes novel’s darker tone

The new Disney A Christmas Carol advances motion-capture animation closer to photo-realism. Dazzling, ornate visuals take us to the snowy London of 1837, swooping over its digital rooftops and down its digital chimneys.
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PREVIEWS

The Box PG-13 Cameron Diaz plays a teacher faced with a terrible choice: a box with a button that, if pushed, will bring her a million dollars but will also simultaneously take the life of someone she doesn’t know.
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ON FILM NLR hosts Warriors’ ‘World Premiere’

If you missed the brothers Brent and Craig Renaud’s latest documentary Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing at the recent Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, you’ll have another chance Thursday at its theatrical “World Premiere” at the Lakewood 8 Theater in North Little Rock.
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REVIEW: The Men Who Stare at Goats

The Men Who Stare at Goats 79 Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey Director: Grant Heslov Rating: R for language, some drug content and brief nudity Running time: 93 minutes “Wacky” isn’t George Clooney’s strong suit as an actor. But it’s always at least amusing to watch the suave, silky leading man let his freak flag fly.
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REVIEW: Coco Before Chanel

Nobody wants to be Amelie forever. Not even Audrey Tautou, whose film career got vertical lift by portraying a wide-eyed gamine with a unique sense of justice in the 2001 French charmer.
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Box office

The last time one of Michael Jackson’s tours played the United States was 1988. So perhaps it’s no surprise that This Is It, a documentary made from rehearsal footage for Jackson’s planned London concert series, did more than twice as much business internationally in its first five days as it did domestically.
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ON CHRISTIANITY

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: Please pray for me. The doctor says I need open-heart surgery, and I’m scared I won’t make it. I’ve never been a religious person, but is it too late to turn to God? If I died right now, I know I wouldn’t go to heaven. — D.F.
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Film clips

ASTRO BOY, PG A young robot with incredible powers, created by a brilliant scientist, learns the joys and emotions of being human and gains the strength to embrace his destiny. Animated. With voices of Freddie Highmore, Charlize Theron, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane; directed by David Bowers.
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Home movies

Recent DVD releases
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HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY

Happy birthday. You have the remarkable and rare talent called “common sense.“ You’ll use it to grow rich and powerful. It’s a comfort to be needed and wanted through December.You’ll also appreciate the freedom you have in January. At work, you show versatility and range. A VIP takes notice and promotes you.
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HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR HELOISE: I recently bought a house, and the linen closet in the hallway has a musty smell and damp feeling. I placed baking soda in it to absorb odor and dampness, but it’s not working. Help!
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