good morning. breaking news. bp resumes pumping heavy mud into that blown out oil well, and officials now say it could be two more days before they know if it's working. as frustration mounts, president obama heads to the gulf today for another look at what's become the worst oil spill in u.s. history. critical condition. '80s child star gary coleman clinging to life in a utah hospital amid reports he suffered head injuries during a fall. this morning, the latest on his fight to survive. and crowded enough for you? millions more than last year expected to hit the roads for the long memorial day weekend. but never fear, we'll help you get where you need to go "today," friday, may 28th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

and good morning. welcome to "today" on a friday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> i'm meredith vieira. we're now about a day and a half into the top kill procedure of dumping heavy mud into that blown out well, hoping to stop the flow of oil. >> this morning, bp said the operation could last another 48 hours. government officials now admit it is the worst oil spill in u.s. history. possibly close to four times bigger than the exxon valdez. >> president obama heads to the gulf today to monitor the situation that has turned into a political mine field for him. even his daughter is asking him about it saying did you plug the hole yet, daddy? we found out last night that bp temporarily stopped the top kill operation as of wednesday night. did they share that information with the federal government? we're going to ask the man in charge of the government's response and we'll talk to bp's ceo as well. also ahead on a friday morning, a new twist in the case of the former "survivor"

producer under suspicion in his wife's murder in cancun. will he regain custody of his children? plus, remember the famous pink dress worn by marilyn monroe in that movie "gentlemen prefer blondes"? we have that dress live in our studio. don't know if you call it live. but it's in our studio. that dress is going on the auction block. we'll tell you more about that and more famous dresses from hollywood. but we begin with the latest on the oil leak in the gulf and the efforts to plug the hole. nbc's chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is on the scene for us. anne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. bp keeps moving the finish line for the top kill procedure. last night it resumed pumping mud into that leaking well, and now says it could be tomorrow before engineers know if it worked. in its first attempt to plug the leak, bp says it pumped heavy drilling mud into the spewing well for less than 12 hours

wednesday. then stopped to assess the progress. >> what we do know is we have not yet stopped the flow so the operation hasn't yet achieved its objective. >> reporter: a federal task force says bp drastically underestimated the amount of oil flowing into the gulf. instead of 5,000 barrels a day, the experts say it is at least twice that -- 12,000, and maybe as much as 19,000 barrels each day, making the overall spill size somewhere between 18 million and 39 million gallons. >> if you look at the number of days that this oil spill has been going on, the total would be more than exxon valdez so that makes this the worst oil spill in american history. >> reporter: underneath the gulf's soiled surface, scientists from the university of florida found a new plume of oil, 22 miles long and six miles wide stretching northeast from the well head. researchers fear such plumes are caused by the dispersant,

forcing the oil underwater. now it is not just the water or the wildlife on the marshes that are being impacted, but the very people trying to clean up this mess are being affected as well. seven fishermen were hospitalized for nausea and other symptoms after becoming ill cleaning up oil. five have been treated and released. to protect its coast, louisiana finally got approval to build some new barrier islands. >> this is our first best line of defense not only against oil, but also against hurricane tidal surges and some of the saltwater that can come in and also harm our fresh water marshes. >> reporter: now the army corp of engineers says louisiana can build one of those barrier islands, and if that works, it can then build five. it's just one of several requests local leaders have for the president when he comes to visit today. matt? >> anne thompson, thank you very much. tony hayward is the ceo of bp.

mr. hayward, good morning to you. let me start with the simplest question i can ask -- how's it going down there? >> well, the top kill, as you know, has been under way now for about 36 hours, i think it is. it's proceeding pretty well according to plan. in the first phase, we pumped heavyweight mud to try and overcome the pressure of the well. that met with partial success. what we did is to prove that the technology, which has never been used at this water depth was working. phase two yesterday was to pump bridging material into the blow-out preventer to try and create a bridge to the flow. that appears to have met with at least some partial success. and then later today, we will begin pumping mud again. >> so now i know you're monitoring this very closely. i just want to know by what means? are you solely monitoring this by these live camera feeds that we've been watching as well? do you have pressure gauges? do you have flow gauges on the

oil? what's your best piece of information? >> the best piece of information is a complex array of pressure gauges across the blow outpreventer giving us the indication of pressure across the blowout preventer and across the subsea system that we have built to undertake this operation. >> so in my several interviews with you over the last couple of weeks, mr. hayward, it is sometimes hard to gauge your emotions. are you encouraged this morning or are you discouraged this morning? >> i'm no change, matt, from when we started this. we said it was 60% to 70% p probability of success. some of the risks have been reduced. the operational risk has been reduced. but we don't know whether we will be able to overcome the well. and we're continuing to work in a very disciplined engineering way through our work program, and it will probably be another 48 hours, frankly, before we

know whether we've met with success. >> i want to ask you about a report that was issued on thursday by the u.s. geological survey. they now estimate that, contrary to your early estimates, it's not 5,000 barrels of oil leaking into the gulf from this well every day. they estimate it is between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day. let me expand on those numbers. that's between 500,000 and almost 800,000 gallons of oil leaking per day. over the five-week course of this disaster, that would be between 17 million and 27 million gallons of oil. i would imagine your company is pretty good at knowing exactly how much oil you drill and how much you sell to consumers. how could you be so far off on the estimates of what's leaking from that well? >> well, there's lots of estimates of the flow rate out there, matt. the fact is that, whatever the flow rate , our response has been designed to, as best we

could, encompass any flow rate. the reality is that, as time has gone on, we have got more data and the critical piece of data was of course producing the oil and gas to the surface and being able to measure it. >> but you know that the critics are saying that you and others at bp have attempted to downplay this situation, both in your estimates of how much oil was leaking and on your discussions of how much impact it would have on the environment. how do you respond to that? >> well, we have never in any sense downplayed this. we've thrown everything at this from the very beginning. we have launched the largest response effort in collaboration and working for the federal government that this country has ever seen to any natural disaster. >> again, i think maybe the headline out of this interview, mr. hayward, is that you're saying to me it could be another 48 hours before you can be confident that this top kill has worked, or that it hasn't worked. >> i think we need to recognize

that we have a plan of work which will probably take through a further 48 hours before we have a definitive view. what i would say of course is that once we are pumping mud, there is no oil and gas coming to the surface. >> tony hayward, the ceo of bp, thanks as always for your time. >> thank you. now with more, here's meredith. >> president obama has faced some withering criticism for his administration's handling of this disaster. today he is making his second trip to the gulf coast to personally see what is going on. nbc's chief white house correspondent chuck todd is there with more. chuck, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. the president does arrive here in grand isle, louisiana later this morning. it's part two of a two-prong public relations offensive. part one was yesterday answering critics at a presidential news conference. >> everybody in the gulf understands, this is what i wake up to in the morning and this is what i go to bed at night thinking about. >> reporter: more than a month

after the initial oil rig explosion, president obama rejected any suggestion his administration hasn't done enough to fight the growing disaster in the gulf. >> the american people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort. >> reporter: but the president did acknowledge shortcomings. >> are we doing everything perfectly out there? and the answer is absolutely not. we can always do better. >> reporter: at times, sounding frustrated, mr. obama still pinned the blame for the crisis squarely on bp. >> as far as i'm concerned, bp is responsible for this horrific disaster. we will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they've done, and the painful losses that they've caused. >> reporter: he admitted that the government needs to rely on the oil giant's technology to plug the leak, but promised that his administration would take a greater role in the clean-up efforts. president obama refused to acknowledge comparisons to president bush's handling of hurricane katrina. >> i'm confident that people are going to look back and say that

this administration was on top of what was an unprecedented crisis. >> reporter: after an hour of sometimes bureaucratic-sounding answers, the president ended on a personal note. >> i'm shaven and malia knox on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and says, did you plug the hole yet, daddy? >> reporter: by the way, the first firing as a result of sort of the government's oversight of this bill took place yesterday. liz birnbaum was the person charged with heading up this minerals management service agency. they're the folks in charge of regulating oil drilling, offshore oil drilling. i'm told that interior secretary told the president that he had lost confidence in her. the president said, well you do what you've got to do. the president, by the way, did say he still does have confidence in his interior secretary. >> chuck todd, thank you very much. retired coast guard admiral thad allen is leading the federal government's response to this disaster in the gulf. good morning to you, admiral. >> good morning. >> the president will be meeting with you later today.

he's going to want your assessment as to how things are going down there. what will you say to him? >> meredith, i would divide this battle, and i think in every sense it is a battle, into three parts. one, a sub-sae effort to control the source. the second is the battle on the surface to keep the oil collected and deal with it as far offshore as possible, then the onshore battle. as you've noted, the subsae bea battle is being fought with our oversight. an armada of skimmers are working on the top. the final mile coming in on the oil is the thing we need to focus on o now and reduce the time it takes to get to remote areas and get that oil off the beaches. >> tony hayward, the ceo of bp, said something very sobering to matt lauer. he said we don't know if we'll be able to overcome the well. they've only met with partial success so far. this doesn't sound too promising. >> well, meredith, if you remember, they started a 60% to 70% chance this would work. we've been watching this very, very closely. as long as the mud's going down

the well bore, there's no oil coming up. they're trying to get to a point they can stop pumping and there is zero pressure coming up so they can put a cement well in the plug. i'm staying in close contact with mr. hayward. >> again, he said we don't know if we'll be able to overcome the well. some people think bp, and by extension the government, is stalling on this because things aren't going nearly as well as you all had hoped. >> meredith, there's been extraordinary oversight over this top kill attempt starting with secretary chu from the department of energy. we've got people from the national labs involved. senior engineers are on scene monitoring what's going on. we all understand the technical difficulties working of this problem set 5,000 feet below the surface. there are alternatives if this doesn't work and bp is prepared to move forward with them and we're talking with them. >> when did you know they'd actually halted this top kill process on wednesday? when were you notified about that? >> they have to stop every once in a while to take pressure readings and bring more mud to the scene because they're working from one pipeline coming

from a surface ship down. the pauses are a natural part of the process and were anticipated. >> so why wasn't that -- just out of curiosity, people are so frustrated and confused about this process, why wasn't that something you or bp could have shared with the public so we couldn't assume there's a problem here, they had to stop the process? >> i don't think there was any intent to hide the information from the public. if we could have been more explicit, that's our issue. but this is part of the process going forward, stop and adjust the readings. >> tony hayward said to matt as well that they are not downplaying the problem, that they still think this 5,000 barrels of oil spilling into the gulf a day is a good ballpark figure. government has said it is at least twice that. so i ask you, is bp downplaying the problem? >> i don't think so. i think they know the gravity of the situation. this is a plthreat not only to e company but their industry. regarding flow rate estimates, the u.s. geological survey headed a panel that i

established as a national incident commander because we need an independent estimate on the flow and now we have that. not sure it is as being a ras as it needs to be but far better than before. >> bp is still saying, 5,000 sounds good to us. >> i'm not sure that's what i heard mr. hayward said. frankly, we know what the flow rate is. >> you say it is at least double the 5,000 gallons a day -- 5,000 barrels. >> we have two ranges developed by that work group. one was a range of 12,000 to 19,000, then another was a range of 12,000 to 25,000. we need to get better clarity and fidelity on the numbers. the official government position on it needs to be refined as we move forward. >> admiral thad allen, you're under a lot of pressure there. we appreciate your time and best of luck to you. let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories from ann standing by at the news desk. good morning, everybody. also in the news this morning, we begin with the pair of deadly

terror attacks overseas this morning. a gunmen armed with grenades attacked two mosques in pakistan and the gunmen battled police for several hours. officials there say at least 20 people died. in eastern india this morning, a bomb caused a passenger train to derail. the train then crashed into an oncoming freight train. maoist rebels are suspected in the attack. the pentagon is saying the number of u.s. service members killed while fighting the afghanistan war has reached 5,000 today when an american soldier was killed by a roadside bomb. house and senate armed services committee voted last night to ban the don't ask don't tell policy. the most colorful way yet to cross the english channel. jonathan trap lifted off from england and became the first

person to float across to france using only a cluster of helium balloons. does that not remind you of the movie "up"? >> sure does. >> it is now

good morning. here we have a partly sunny sky in the wake of the overnight storms. temperatures in the 60s and going to hit the upper 70s by later on. an additional shower this morning, but a greater chance of afternoon and evening showers and thundershowers. not as intense as last evening. maybe a lingering shower saturday morning. high near 80 and a small chance of a shower or thundershower in the afternoon as well as on sunday and memorial day. >> that's your latest weather. >> al, thank you. if you are hitting the road or taking off by weair this

weekend, expect a lot of company. we'll start with nbc's tom costello just outside of washington, d.c. good morning to you, tom. >> reporter: hi, good morning. a lot of folks take this particular occasion to decide to stay closer to home. behind me you've got the lincoln monument, the washington monument, the capitol building back there through the haze. there's also a lot of barbecue time, beach time, mountain time for those who are hitting the road, 87% are going by car. it's only a short ride down i-70 outside of denver to the chief hosa campground. but that's far enough for this family. >> our decisions are based on 6-month-old puppy and a 4-year-old rather than the price of gas. >> reporter: the family have put down stakes and aaa says they're not alone. 32 million americans are leaving home this weekend. that's up 5.5% from last year when the country was deep in the great recession. >> there's no doubt that while

challenges remain, conditions are improving and american travelers are showing a desire to make up for missed vacations. >> reporter: on the merrill shore, the water is still a bit cold, but it's starting to feel like summer. >> nice. nice. after the little breeze goes by, you're good to go. >> reporter: with memorial day kicking off the summer travel season, experts say the key to saving money this year may be to avoid flying on sunday. >> most of those cheaper days will be tuesday and webs, and the airfare can be hundreds of dollars cheaper. >> reporter: bestfares.com has tracked summer deals. travel to europe this summer will cost you. round trip to paris can run $1,400 a ticket, plus a $300 fuel surcharge. the international bargain is australia. if you leave august 1st, a family of four could fly to sydney for just over $2,400. bestfares.com says mexico is offering great travel deals leaving midweek to an

all-inclusive four-star hotel in cancun for seven nights, just $440 per person. vegas is also on sale. a three-night stay in a new five-star hotel including airfare, just $225 per person. but the deal of the summer may be in rental cars. if you rent a car from hertz in florida, drive it all you want but drop it off out of state and north of georgia, your one-week rental could cost you as little as $114. so plan now if you're already looking at travel for this summer because as far as the travel industry is concerned, the summer travel season starts in about a minute. back to you. >> all right, tom, thanks for that warning. so what can you expect when you get behind the wheel to drive to your destination this weekend? nbc's mike taibbi is on the new jersey turnpike. mike, what are you seeing? >> reporter: hi, matt. seeing traffic beginning to build a little bit. you look in the cars next to us on the turnpike heading south,

there are lots of families in them. as tom said, it will start soon and soon in very big numbers. couple reasons for that. part of it is the fact that this was a brutal winter. people have this pent-up desire to get out of dodge. think of philadelphia and the philadelphia area, for example, they're estimating some 380,000 people will hit the roads today, that's up around 10% from last year. that's a huge jump. there are similar numbers across the country. the good news is that gas prices are lower, about $2.78 on average below the dreaded $3 a gallon figure that maybe some places out in the west and in new york city were above that this morning. but most places around $2.70. while it is higher than last year, it is about 13 cents less than it was at the beginning of the month. i'm going to get in the right lane over here. but the bad news is people are still worried about cost and the economy. they expect to spend an average per family of about $200 less for this three-day weekend than they did last year. still some worries but people are out on the roads. >> you're not making any friends with that 18-wheeler right next

to you. mike, he wants you out of the way. good driving. thanks for the report. have a nice weekend. still ahead, tv star gary coleman hospitalized in critical condition out in utah. we'll have the latest on that situation. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

coming up, why some of your favorite drinks could be very hazardous to your waistline. plus a new twist in the case of the "survivor" case under arrest in mexico.

>> goo morning. it's 7:26 on this friday. this is the time of year that most of us slip into our summertime frame of mind. plan extra time if you are hitting the road this weekend. aaa expects 800,000 people to travel at least 50 miles, 6% more than last year. they credit the improving economy for the increase. we will come back and

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mostly cloudy in the 60s and remaining mostly cloudy. we will probably get afternoon and evening showers and thundershowers that may linger into saturday morning. high near 80 and a small chance of a storm tomorrow as well as sunday and memorial day. how is the traffic now, ashley? >> 50 is doing great headed towards the bay bridge. we are starting to see volume around the capitol beltway. headed towards 29 as you travel along 66 eastbound, it's slow as you leave vienna. back to you. >> thanks very much. your day is starting earlier and ours is too. wake up with us every weekday

♪ 7:30 now on this get-away friday morning, may 28th, 2010. making it the kick off to the first weekend of the summer season, even though the official start of summer is still a few weeks away. our friends on the plaza will get a jump-start on the fun with a concert from one republic live on our summer concert stage. inside studio 1a, i'm meredith vieira, alongside matt lauer. coming up in this half-hour, step away from the straw. our favorite killjoy is back, this time with his "drink this not that" comparisons. did you know one of those fancy coffee drinks can have as many calories as three sundaes? we'll run the numbers for you. >> some of the drinks, the problem is they're huge, 32 ounces. which is not advised. a special friday with everything you need to know for

your memorial day weekend fun, whether you want to see a great new movie, try a little shopping or whip up a potluck barbecue. serious news to cover as well, including the murder after devoted mom who was on vacation with her family in mexico. the suspect, her husband, is a former producer for the hit show "survivor." he is now back in california trying to get custody of their two children. we'll talk to the victim's sisters about the case in just a few minutes. but first, former '80s child star gary coleman is hospitalized in critical condition in utah this morning. nbc's lee cowan has the latest on this situation. lee, good morning to you. gao. >> reporter: good morning, matt. the circumstances surrounding coleman's hospitalization remain a bit unclear this morning. "us weekly" is reporting he suffered a head injury as the result of a fall at his home in utah. we do know that he's been in the hospital now for two days. he was admitted on wednesday. just the latest in a string of health emergencies for a star who's had a pretty rough road both medically and professional. >> now i know a hospital's no bed of roses, but there's no reason to be scared.

>> reporter: small in stature, perhaps. but in the late '70s and early '80s, the chubby-cheeked gary coleman was as big as they come. >> what you talking about, willis? >> reporter: that signature catch phrase became one of the most recognizable on tv. so much so, it went all the way to the white house. >> action. >> what you talking about, mrs. reagan? >> reporter: not bad for a kid whose growth was stunted by kidney disease. he's been in and out of hospitals all his life. >> this is the third time that gary's been in hospital this year. he was actually admitted in january for seizures. and the same in february. >> reporter: as his health deteriorated, so did his criminal record. in 1998, he pled no contest to assaulting a bus driver. >> so, i hit her. >> reporter: there were other financial and legal problems, too. and mugshot, after mugshot. even accusations of domestic violence that he defended on "insider." >> there is no abuse that goes

on in my house. >> reporter: the cameras, it seemed, were always there. >> no jail time. not leaving my house. not paying any heavy fines. now i'm just going to go to lunc lunch. >> as we've watched him grow up, we've also watched his problems mount up as well. they've gotten progressively worse. it's sad, because he's never really been able to emlaulate tt success he had as a child. >> reporter: even after his marriage to 22-year-old shannon price in 2007, he admitted he wished the fame would never have come. >> i am not cut out for this business. i never was. >> reporter: on "today" just two years ago, he told al he wished people saw him for something more. >> so many people remember you from "different strokes." have you come to terms with that? is it okay to be recognized for that? >> no, no. because i know i can always do something better. there's other things out there in the world that i know i can do better and feel better about and really shine in. >> reporter: shine, he did.

at one time. this morning though, there are bigger concerns on his family's mind. matt, we're told his wife, despite the troubles in their young marriage, is at his side and that some announcement about just how serious all this is may come later today. >> lee cowan out in los angeles this morning, thank you very much. let's get a

good morning. we have quite a bit of cloudiness in the wake of the overnight storms and may see sunshine in and out today. a passing shower and a greater chance of a passing evening thundershower. highs into the upper 70s and showers and thundershowers tonight into tomorrow morning and a lingering shower and partly sunny in the afternoon and high around 80 and small chance of a shower tomorrow. heating up on sunday and >> that's your latest weather. >> al, thank you very much. a reality tv producer under suspicion in the murder of his wife in mexico is back home in california this morning asking to regain custody of the couple's children. we'll talk to the victim's sisters in just a moment, but first, nbc's miguel almaguer brings us up to date on the case.

>> reporter: who killed your wife? bruce beresford-redman has been dodging questions about his wife's murder, while trying to avoid tmz's cameras. living back at the couple's los angeles home with his two young children, he remains a murder suspect in mexico. >> i think he was happy to be with his daughter. i can't necessarily say he looked happy. >> i'm sorry, i don't have anything to say right now. >> reporter: although bruce isn't talking, he's made it clear in court documents he wants sole custody of the couple's children who, for now, are being cared for by his parents. "it is my desire to immediately resume my full custodial and parental responsibility. i am capable and fit to do so." in court documents, bruce says he doesn't want his children to attend a public memorial for their mother, monica, this sunday, a service he says could expose the kids to a swarm of media, a tribute monica's sisters feel strongly the children should be at. as a custody battle plays out

here in los angeles, we now know before his trip to mexico, beresford-redman took out travelers insurance for his whole family, two policies that would have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in the event of an accidental death, the beneficiaries reportedly are his children. >> in mexico they were looking for an additional amount of proof. >> reporter: back in cancun, mexican prosecutors, who still don't know how beresford-redman left the country, showed off his passport to the press with forensic results finally back from their crime lab, they say charges in monica's murder could be filed any day. but if charged, mexican officials would now have to fight to bring him back there. he says the process of extradition could go on for years. in the u.s. they'll have the legal means to appeal. a legal battle playing out in two countries. one to find a killer, the other

to determine who will be awarded custody of two small children. for "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. >> carla and gianni are monica's sisters, along with their attorney. good morning. gianni, your sister's husband, bruce, came back to the united states last weekend even though mexican authorities told him not to leave the country. he did not have his passport. they still have it but somehow he managed to get back into the states. what was your reaction when you heard he was back home? >> i was shocked and i was very disappointed that he really didn't cooperate with the authorities in mexico in order to find and bring the truth to the light about the murder of my sister. and he came back here even though he wasn't supposed to. >> he came back to the family home, carla, where his children are now living with his parents. he wants to regainful custody of

the kids. his parents now have temporary custody. carla, i know that you also want to gain custody of the children. why do you feel that they would be better off with you and other members of your sister's family? >> we are the ones that took care of them all the time mostly all the time. and we are like her. we think like her. we are -- we just like one and we could give all of the love they need. 100% of the time. >> well, how are they doing? i know that i have seen them. >> well, they are sad, i think. they are very happy when they are with us, but we feel they're sad. >> we are very concerned because -- >> go ahead, please. >> well, i was just saying that we are concerned because they lost their mother and they lost

also their baby-sitter. they feel really pressure and left. so they had a lot of loss and they have restricted time with us. so we are concerned with their well being, definitely. >> jeane, your sister told you about those life insurance policies bruce took out before their trip to mexico. what did she say about them? >> meredith, if i may, we have heard reports that there was additional life insurance policies, but that's not our understanding, and in fact we only know of one trip life insurance policy that was taken out on monica. >> so -- >> i am aware of that because my sister have mentioned that bruce convinced her to do a life insurance before they left and it was something that they'd never done before and she even mentioned that her life at the time looked like a movie because she had taken this life insurance and also, in addition, with all the other things that

were happening surrounding her life, she mentioned, oh, my god, my life look like a movie. >> so this is something that had never happened before and she was obviously concerned about it. bruce beresford-redman we have to point out is a suspect, not charneled with a crime. what's your next move as you wait for possible charges to be filed? >> well, we've certainly assisted in any way we can. we've provided information to the mexican authorities. we're providing information to the fbi and to the los angeles district attorney's office. and we're hopeful that this case will have some closure two months after their sister was brutally murdered. >> carla, we do know there is aia memorial service for your sister on sunday. how do you want her to be remembered? >> well, the happy person that she was and loving and generous and everything good, shiny and

everything good that she was. we want something happy. it's going to be a celebration for her life and with music. it's more like a party, like, you know, she would like to have. >> to remember what a lovely lady she was. carla and jeane, allison, thank you so much. we are back right after this. r all the moments that make every day special. fancy feast appetizers.

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create your own business site with intuit websites. just choose a style, then customize, publish and get found. sweet. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. back now at 7:45. this morning on "eat this not that," it is always about what you eat but it is also about what you drink, from coffee to juice to your favorite shake, you may be consuming an entire meal's worth of calories or sugar without taking a single bite. the author of the "eat this not that" series is out with his latest book, called "drink this

not that." david, the hits keep coming. we're not talking about alcohol drinks here. that's a whole other issue. you can gain a lot of weight based on some of these drinks you only have two, three times a day. >> we want to show how you can shrink up to a few pounds a week by watching what you drink. studies show it is the easiest, fastest way to lose weight and keep it off for good. >> sip yourself slimmer is the way you put it. we should say right off the bat, these are big drinks. what? 32 ounces? this one is the dunkin' donuts large vanilla bean coolata. >> there is nothing cool about starting your morning with the equivalent of three strawberry sundaes. >> 860 calories, 11 grams of fat, 172 grams of sugars. >> exactly. stay at dunkin' donuts but go

with the large coffee coolada without milk. if you're bent on the 32 ounces. you'll cut out 40 grams of sugar and 400 calories. you want the coffee in the morning, it revs your metabolism, but stay away from the syrupsyrups. >> if do you that every day of the week, that adds up enormously. this vitamin water, focus, kiwi strawberry, 20 ounces. >> you think how can water be bad for you? but there is bad-for-you water. in this case the problem is you're getting 125 calories and it is all sugar calories. >> it's the equivalent -- >> the equivalent of a chocolate bar and a half. what you want to do is have the vitamin water but have the zero-calorie alternative. no sugar alternative. and it's great because that difference adds up to 13 pounds a year if you do that once a day. >> let's move on. tropicana grape juice beverage. sounds healthy but it has a lot of sugar.

>> that's the code word -- beverage or cocktail. it means it is loaded with sugar. 72 grams of it. the sugar equivalent of six bowls of fruit loops. you want to get the tropicana but stick with the 100% grapefruit juice. just doing this, it is low calorie, it is loaded with antioxidants. >> no fat. zero grams of fat. >> you got it. shaving 40 grams of sugar. >> cold stone creamery, this is the pb and c shake. >> peanut butter and chocolate. they should use this for the top kill procedure. this is a small at 1,300 calories. if you go for the large, you're over 2,000 calories. >> you've blown the day right there. >> right there. it is the equivalent, matt, of a dozen reese's peanut butter cups. stick with the same size. go ahead and get this sinless o-fudge sundae. >> there is only 11 now reese's peanut butter cups there. the book is "drink this not

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two times with comfort inn or any choice hotel, you can feed a family of four. book now at choicehotels.com to start earning your $50 restaurant gift card. still to come, a cool auction of hollywood memorabilia. if you buy marilyn monroe's dress, meredith will throw in if you buy marilyn monroe's dress, meredith will throw in the hat. ™ tecy. they let up to five times more oxygen through the lens than traditional soft contact lenses...

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out of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam buster. we've been working for years to take this dam out. the reservoir behind it is only 4 feet deep-- the water gets real warm, kills a lot of the life in the river. when you take out a dam, that's a real victory. i mean, a concrete victory so to speak! when i get an idea to do something, i like to take the first step. if that feels good, i take another step. to do good, you actually have to do something. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com. good morning. 7:56 is the time and 65 degrees

outside. clouds as we look at a lovely picture of the white house. i'm joe krebs. police are looking for the person who attacked and killed a man. the 25-year-old was assaulted in the 100 where are 0 block of georgia avenue and taken to the hospital where he later died. it will be tough to get around this weekend with metro riders. there will be no service on the orange line, sunday, or monday. metro will be running free shuttles between the stations, but you should add an fra 40 minutes to your trip. the service disruption is related to the dulles construction project. we'll come back for

mostly cloudy in the 60s now and later today, the-day for cast showing partly sunny to mostly sunny skies. might get a passing shower saturday morning and sun back saturday afternoon and high near

80. on sunday and memorial day. ashley, how is the traffic? >> certainly the calm before the storm. we are in great shape at sandy point headed towards the chesapeake bay bridge. nothing too serious. capitol beltway is a little congested towards silver spring. no big problems on 95. back to you. >> thanks very much. we are starting earli

♪ 8:00 now on a friday morning, the 28th day of may, 2010. we have an enthusiastic pre-memorial day weekend crowd gathered out here on the plaza. they're getting pumped up for a live concert from one republic. that takes place in about a half-an-hour. the boys and the band know how to put on a great show so we are looking forward to that. by the way, next week, a huge week of music. thursday we've got the "american idol" winner and runner-up in concert right here on the plaza, and then friday, pandemonium as justin bieber takes to the concert stage on friday morning. >> bieber fever! >> if you're in the area, want to hear great music, this is the place to be next week. out on the plaza, i'm matt

lauer, along with meredith vieira and al roker. coming up, everything you need to know for memorial day weekend. >> if you're looking for a family flick or date night movie, we'll check out what's in a theater near you. plus big mechanicial dmorial da and easy backyard barbecue recipes. and the dress marilyn monroe wore in "gentlemen prefer blondes," the bottle from "i dream of jeanie." and the witch's hat. iconic entertainment items are hitting the auction block. >> and a programming note. hair. next week it is all about the hair. >> oh, yes. it is a series on hair. >> see, it says it right there. >> you guys wouldn't be interested in that. >> we will not be watching. >> yes, we will! >> absolutely. we'll talk about -- that's really hair. >> so many people, you define yourself by your hair.

>> ann is standing by at the news desk with a check of the morning's top stories. in the news, it could be 48 hours before we know whether that top kill procedure is working to stop the oil leak in the gulf according to a statement made by bp's ceo tony hayward on this broadcast this morning. bp resumed pumping heavy mud into the blown out well last night after taking an 18-hour break to assess the progress. meantime, scientists have found a new plume of oil under water 22 miles long and six miles wide. president obama visits louisiana again today to be briefed on the damage and containment of what is now being considered the worst oil spill in u.s. history. this morning, two coordinated attacks in lahore, pakistan. gunmen armed with grenades stormed two mosques after minority muslim sect during friday prayers killing at least 30 people. a sad milestone this morning. the u.s. military says the death of a soldier today by roadside bomb means 1,000 american troops have now lost their lives in the

war in afghanistan. overseas markets are higher again this morning after the dow gained 280 points on thursday. cnbc's melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange again for us this morning. what can we expect today? >> it wasn't just the dow. nasdaq was up by 3.7%. banner day for the markets yesterday. closing in on a very volatile month of may. only five sessions where the markets have moved less than 1%. still we expect a fairly quiet day ahead of the three-day weekend. meantime, all eyes are on apple as ipad makes its debut in nine countries, including japan and spain. apparently more people are lined up for the ipad in france, paris specifically, than for the louvre. the mona lisa has some competition. if you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, expect a lot of company. aaa says 32 million americans are traveling this weekend, up 5.4% from last year. the vast majority are traveling by car. that's 87%. this is what the highways look like in ft. worth, texas this

morning. drivers are getting a head start in orlando as well. meantime, the airlines will also be seeing extra flights. nbc's kevin tibbles is at one of the nation's busiest airports in chicago, that's o'hare. kevin, how's it looking there this morning? >> reporter: good morning from o'hare this morning, ann. they are expecting some 200,000 people to go through here today, as it's the first busy day of the summer travel signs. y air travel is not up as much as car travel this season. it is only up about 2%. the main reason is cost. the economy is still dragging and a lot of people are still taking to the automobile but they are seeing an uptick. i want to talk to my friend j.j. over here. we like to see him standing outside. the sky cab, these are the guys that come through when you want to find out what's really going on. people are still trying to save a buck though when it comes to flying. >> oh, yeah, everybody is out doing that. economy has pressured them to that point.

>> they're bringing smaller bags and not checking bags? >> right. more people now have smaller bags. then again, they're trying to carry their bags on a lot of times and they get stopped by the tsa. >> super. give them a tip if you see them today. >> kevin tibbles, have a good weeken

good morning. we have cloudiness that lingers in the wake of overnight storms. 60s in the suburbs and rural areas. a chance of a sprinkle and a chance of a shower overnight. tomorrow morning a lingering shower and by tomorrow afternoon, sun back and highs near 80 and a small chance of a storm tomorrow as well as sunday and memorial day. heating

>> and that's your latest weather. meredith? >> al, thank you very much. up next, from the gadgets you'll need for your memorial day party, to the best way to find the best bargains at those big sales, everything you need to know going into your memorial day weekend right after this. an. still, it was late. well... you're not gonna have to worry about that anymore. yeah, why's that? ♪ todd's a lucky man. ♪ the best part of wakin' up... ♪ that's what i told him when we talked last week. ♪ ...is folgers in your cup ♪ daisy, do-do a dollop our family-owned company makes daisy... with 100% natural farm-fresh cream. no artificial ingredients. no preservatives. and no added hormones. ♪ better with a dollop here ♪ fresher with a dollop there ♪ ♪ wholesome in every way

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>> announcer: "today's" friday whip" is brought to you by mcdonald's. i'm lovin' it. back now at 8:11. this morning on "today's friday whip," it is all about memorial day. this weekend kicks off the unofficial start to summer. we've assembled four experts to help you celebrate in style. >> we're starting with the big box office releases if your weekend plans include catching a movie. "newsweek" magazine's ramin has the scoop. it is a huge weekend for guys. we get to have guy's night out while the girls go to see "sex and the city." right? this has only been open for a hours. >> the first showing made $3 million, 20% better than the first movie which made a lot of money. >> it made $400 million, the first version of "sex and the city." what are you expectsing here? >> i think it will probably meet

that. this isn't as good as the first one but it doesn't matter because fans of the show will still love it. >> "prince of persia" opens. a kid's movie. >> not very good. reviews were horrible. really don't understand it. i saw it and it makes no sense but it is a summer action movie. >> it is great counterprogramming. from hollywood to baliwood. >> "kites," great, romantic, epic action movie. go see it if it is playing in your theaters. >> quick thumbs up or thumbs down, "shrek 4"? >> see it but not in 3-d. >> "ironman"? >> it is great. >> "robin hood." >> didn't like it so much. >> wow. bit of a killjoy in the end. thanks very much. have a great weekend. now here's meredith. thank you very much. if you want to shop this weekend, you're in luck. there will be big sales out

there. robin moreno found some good savings for us. what products generally go on sale? >> linens are really huge. also grirls alls and outdoor tu turs. sales are everywhere, now is the big time to buy all your linens. for house guests, macy's, only $15. compared to about $30, $45. really big savings. think ahead. if you have a kid that's going to college, buy the comforter now because discounts are up to 50% off. >> i'm thinking that right now. >> beach towels, again on sale everywhere. if you forget your beach towel on the way to the beach, walgreens is having three towels for $10. >> that's perfect. ecofriendly items here, in particular this bag. >> it is very ecochic, that's at sweet ny for only $32. >> fixing up our backyards to look great but the grill is very important. >> it is time to get our grill on. it is the great time of year to buy this grill. this is from walmart, a

uni-flame. $225. a best buy from "consumer reports." >> talk to me about this furniture. >> again it is probably one of the best years because people are trying to get rid of it. hayneeding.com is a new site. they're offering up to 50% off. this hammock is $200, $100 for the hammock and $100 for the stand. >> finally, if you are hitting the road -- and a lot of people are -- you don't know where you're going, a gps system is a must. >> this is $99 from cabela which is a great deal. these units have to be competitive with iphone apps. sears and k-mart, we're seeing these deals at every retailer. >> do these sales start today? >> yep. start today through tuesday. >> thank you so much. now here's al. if you plan to get together with friends this holiday weekend, amy goodman has some of the must-have gadgets you need for your party and all summer long. first, let's take care of the

sunscreen. >> i love sun but you have to protect yourself. these are uv sun sense wrist bands. put them on when you put on your sunscreen. it changes color when you're in the sun when to re-apply, and it changes color again when you need to get out of the sun. $6.99 for seven. >> getting rid of the bugs, kill two birds with one stone. a lantern and some bug zap irs. >> this is from they are rmacel. it creates a protective barrier of mosquito repellant. 15 feet by 15 feet. bug-free zone. terrific value at $29.99. this is pottery barn's brand-new speaker beach cooler keeps all of your refreshments cool on the inside but there is a pocket for your ipod. you can force everybody to listen to your play list when you're chilling out on the sand. >> while you are at the beach, you want a little vine, a wine

cooler. >> this is a wine chiller. you put it into the freezer, pop the device on top of the bottle as the wine passes through it, it cools it perfectly. >> fantastic! a little video camera? at the beach, you always worry about dropping it in the water. >> this is the newest thing from kodak, their play sport video camera. you can put it into water, up to ten feet. you can capture all those great underwater summer memories. williams-sono williams-sonoma, this is great for chopping, sal saz. >> and you get some exercise. >> exactly. >> ann? so what can we whip up quick for holiday barbecues? we've got the right recipes from "real simple" magazine. >> everyone's throwing burgers and chicken on the grill. a classic this never goes wrong -- devilled eggs.

these are my grandmother's devilled eggs, but they're not. can you put great toppings on them. you hard boil some eggs, mix the yolks with mayonnaise and mustard. you can do it to taste. >> you have little tops you add on, including the paprika which we are used to. but also baken? >> crumbled bacon. this is a little bacon and egg sandwich. chopped up asparagasparagus. >> some dill and also cilantro. talk about the coleslaw. you're using red cabbage. >> this is super easy. it is not a creamy coleslaw. red cabbage, grated carrots, fresh cilantro. french orange juice, french lime juice and little brown sugar and some olive oil. look how beautiful that is. >> so colorful. i want to quickly get to this. that is a dessert you can make in your refrigeratorefrigerator?

>> vanilla ice cream, peanut butter cups and pretzels. >> baby, let's go. thank you so much. coming up next, from one of marilyn's most famous costumes to the wicked witch's hat in "the wizard of oz," very cool pop culture icons on the auction block right after this. [ female announcer ] turn the fun of dreamworks "shrek forever after"... make it stop, shrek! [ female announcer ] ...into endless delight with these cool glasses. only from mcdonald's. i got a date with a hot apple pie! [ female announcer ] they're only $1.99 each. so collect all four. ah, it's contagious! [ woman ] cheers. ♪ never speak of this to anyone. - sure, cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

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from the wicked witch's hat in "the wizard of oz," to "i dream of jeanie's bottle," some of the greatest items will be hitting the auction block. we'll get to these items. where do moat of them come from? >> private collectors. people bought these years ago when they weren't really valuable. now with how much these things are worth, they're coming out of the woodwork. >> meredith was just telling me "diamonds are a girl's best friend." and this is the dress that marilyn monroe wore in the movie, "gentlemen prefer blondes" whether she sang that song. >> probably the most famous dance sequence in her career. again, madonna did it in her version of it. they made a few of these. it is one of the most posh icons in film industry. >> you say they made a few of these. how do you know this dress is

one of those dresses that it's authentic? >> so this dress came out of fox in 1960s. fox liquidated a lot and sold all of these things. my client bought it directly from fox in i think '68 or so. when you open the costume up, you can see the construction inside, you can see the studio workmanship. little things like the fox dry cleaning tag which you can't fake. people didn't even know what they were. the labels. >> what type of price is this going to fetch? >> we have it at $150,000 to $250,000. it could bring -- the marilyn monroe dress she sang "happy birthday" sold for $2 million. >> i love tike the dress, but i the hat. this hat was in much of the movie. >> one of the most beloved movies ever. >> the hat in the melting sequence went for $200,000 in 2008. >> because of the economy, we have this one lists at $100,000 to $150,000. i sold the melting scene hat.

this is by far the best hat. >> i would love a little present. >> i don't know how jeanie got in this bottle. it is so little. this is one of several they made for the first season? >> when it was black and white. it is a jim bean bottle off the shelf. when producers were figuring out what they were going to do with the show, a producer said i have this jim bean bottle on my shelf. it looks good. they bought a bunch of them. >> how much will this fetch? >> $15,000 or $20,000, but i would think more. >> this is a harrison ford script from "raiders of the loss arc." along with his handwriting. >> it is his personal script. there are comments in there where he is talking to himself about "do not play this like han solo." he talks more about his character changing and how some of the dialogue is. amazing. >> what is it likely to go for? >> $50,000 to $70,000.

this is priceless. >> moving on, mary poppins fans will recognize this as the magic carpet bag. it is kind of bottomless almost. >> it is called bottomless. this is the hero. there is a stunt one that doesn't have a bottom so the props would come through it. what's amazing -- >> there is some wear and tear on this. >> what was great about this, when the movie came out, the studio did a promotion, filled it up with cash and raffled it off. my client won it. they kept the cash of course and stuck this in their closet. 50 years later they called up, is it bag worth anything? >> will the damage compromise it? >> no, because it is part of the charm of it. a lot of these things, they look kind of junky. they're supposed to. if they looked too new, you'd wonder about them. >> boxing gloves from "rocky 3." signed by sylvester stallone. >> $3,000 to $5,000. pop culture. a great piece of our culture.

>>. >> 8 tim time 26 is the time and 65 degrees. a mile start to the morning. toll will have the holiday forecast coming up. in the news 4 today, get ready to pay more to ride metro. june 27th, fares increase by 18 percent per. the boarding charge goes up from 1.65 to 1.95. bus fares increase from 1.25 to 1.50 and reserved spaces in the parking garages will go up $10 to 65.

>> good morning. we are in the 60s and sunshine breaking out here and there. temperatures should climb into the upper 70s. a small chance of a morning shower, but greater chance of afternoon and evening showers and thundershowers that may linger into saturday. sun back and hotter sunday and memorial day. how is the traffic? >> if you are headed out of town, 50 is in great shape out towards the eastern shore. headed for the bridge, no big accidents. 95 headed in the northbound direction. you pick up eighths bit on the approach to 395, but on the whole, things are in great shape. >> your days are starting earlier and so are ours. wake up with us every weekday at

♪ 8:30 now on this friday morning, may 28th, 2010. listening to one republic, one of the hottest bands around and the crowd is getting ready to rock during a live concert just ahead. here's an interesting fact -- lead singer/songwriter has written for some of the biggest pop divas around, beyonce, kelly clarkson and jennifer lopez. so he knows what he is doing. >> we're looking forward to that. also looking forward to the long memorial day weekend. coming up, we'll tell you what

you need to know if you're planning on traveling this weekend from the roads to the skies. >> this is the kind of holiday where you want to bring out your camera. one of the things a lot of people are discovering in this digital age is the pictures kind of stay in the camera and you forget to download them or figure out what to do with them. we have some advice this morning to help you out, how you can preserve your memories. everyone likes to eat at a restaurant from time to time. if you're not careful, that's where you can really pack on the pounds. coming up, key words on the menu that you should look for to help you avoid those meals. first let's get a look at the weather from you, al, for the weekend.

good morning. we have a cloud cover over the metro area, but the sun is breaking out and the 60s around the region. 69 in washington and highs into the 70s. there is a likelihood of afternoon showers and thundershowers that may linger into early saturday. sun back saturday with highs around 80. a small chance of a shower tomorrow and memorial day. hotter both sunday and monday. >> that's your latest weather. president obama is touring the gulf coast today to get the firsthand look at the devastating effects of this bp gulf oil spill is causing. but despite those challenges, the spirit and culture of new orleans is strong and alive. the president of the new orleans convention and visitor's bureau is with us, of course, famed

chef, proud owner of six restaurants in the big easy is also with us. good morning to both of you gentlemen. stephen, five years almost since hurricane katrina. now of course this. new orleans is just really faced major challenges. how are you guys doing? >> well, we're tired of being the beta test for these disasters, i can tell you that, al. but there's two incredibly compelling stories coming out of new orleans right now. one is this incredible man-made natural disaster and some of the most pristine wetlands in the world. other powerful story is what's happened to new orleans tourism. this city has exploded again. this last five months, al, we've been the second-fastest growing tourism market in the country. our trumpet players are winning grammys. irvin mayfield and terrance blancher. more chefs in new orleans are winning more awards than ever. since the beginning of january, we've been sold out every weekend and it's been

spectacular here. >> if i can jump in really quickly, because we don't have a lot of time, i want to get john in here. a lot of people see this and hearing about the wetlands and fisheries being closed. what are you doing about your famed seafood? >> i tell you, it's been -- we've been very blessed. the state and federal authorities have issued some precautionary closings. we have about 40% to 60% of our state fisheries still open. we're still getting some great seafood. want to pound the message home that what you see on the market is safe to eat, it's never been more scrutinized. we need to have you down here. in your next of the woods, eat that great gulf coast seafood. i promise you what have you in the market is wonderful and safe. >> john and stephen, thank you so much. have a great memorial day weekend down there in the big easy. now let's check in with the big willard down in ft. meyers, florida. uncle willie. >> i love these birthdays.

every once in a while i mess up a name and i hate that. that really bothers me. we rehearse them and we rehearse them. i want to redo just the name of one. mami tranani. sorry i kicked your name. you can kick me, if you like. for today's birthdays, happy birthday, take a look if you will as the jam jar spins about. olive lauer. like matt lauer. olive. sylvania, ohio. she uses ponds cold cream. has for years. my mother uses that. that's why she's beautiful and has her skin as good as it is. joe is a nice guy. we love him. manjikian, from encino, california. 100 years old. was a mechanic over the years. we wish him well. he won the gold medal in the bench press at 98. how about that? that's better than i can do.

and josephine petrucci, johns n johnston, rhode island. lives independently. worked on an assembly line for general electric, god bless them, in her 70s. we wish her a happy birthday. look at martha scott. richmond, virginia. 100 years old. keeps busy traveling with her family. nicknamed "bingo champion" because she is just that. happy birthday in richmond, virginia. and birthday number five, angelina buscarino. 100 years old today. known for being feisty. actually kicked a robber out of her house when she was 80 years old. she says, "i can do it again if i have to but don't send the robbers." wanda fawcett, rittman, ohio.

100 years old. loves her life and her oil paintings. the folks from richfield high expecting a concert from one republic up on that stage. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>> announcer: "what do you care about today" is brought to you by the pepsi refresh project. giving away millions of dollars to fund refreshing ideas. this morning, we are wrapping up our series "what do you care about today." all this week we're introducing you to groups making a positive impact in their communities. >> that's right. and we've got the people here that pepsi refresh is going to award $50,000 to. each of these organizations. here with us now, andy lipkus

from tree people, wendy with the jazz foundation of america, jim from aspire, and from the clara white mission and groove with me. welcome and congratulations. >> we want to hear what you'll do with the $50,000 because it is a lot of money, especially for small groups. andy, your group, tree people. >> remember the fires that burnt the forests above los angeles last year? the largest fire in that forest history. eight times the size of manhattan. we're going to use this to launch the restoration effort. immediately it enables us to launch this massive effort to bring a river of humanity back to reforest, plant those trees, and start restoring the air and the water. >> that's so fantastic. wendy, how will this money help the jazz foundation of america? >> the jazz foundation takes care of all the great elder jazz and blues musicians that made all the rock stars famous with the songs that they rarely got paid for. we saved them from eviction and

homelessness by paying their rent when they're too old or too ill to work. all the katrina musicians who suffered and i think now aside from the elderly, i think we're going to be having a lot of things to deal with with the oil spills. there will be a lot of katrina who have already gone through this again, the new orleans musicians. >> the money couldn't come at a better time. >> couldn't come at a better time. >> jim, i'm a big fan of aspire. you work with kids with a developmental disabilities. what difference will this grant money make for you guys? >> it's huge for us. thank you for choosing us, by the way. aspire helps kids and adults with disabilities and what we're going to do with this grant is we're going to provide on-the-job training for 25 adults with disabilities. some of the adults that we train are going to work at our aspire coffee works venture that we're so excited about, and the coffee is available online and we're just again so excited to have

been chosen. thank you, pepsi. >> ann, you founded back on my feet, helping the homeless do an unusual running program. what's $50,000 mean? >> yeah. so can costs $800 to support a member in our program for six to nine months which not only includes running shoes and clothes but a $1,250 grant with housing, employment. >> the clara white mission, you help formerly homeless people with job training. >> we're going to provide 25 additional training and culinary arts for our students, and kick off a simple meal campaign to provide 70,000 meals to the homeless in jacksonville. we're really excited and thank you so much. >> we're thrilled you're getting the money. finally, abby, groove with me in east harlem. you're giving free dance lessons to a lot of young ladies. how many ladies can you serve with this?

>> free dance classes for 45 more girls. we'll be able to keep our team leadership training and mentoring program which increases their attention as teenagers by 65%. >> that's great. you know what? this has been great for us, getting to know about your work, then also being able to help in some small way. >> congratulations to all of you. >> nice to meet you all. >> now here is your chance at home to help your favorite non-profit. head to todayshow.com, tell us about a group doing great work in your community.winner will receive a $100,000 grant from the pepsi refresh project. you have until friday, june 11th to enter. good luck to all of you. next, a live concert from a fan favorite -- one republic. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>> announcer: the "toyota concert series" on "today," brought to you by toyota. toyota. moving forward.

ladies and gentlemen, this song went to number one in 16 countries when it was released. singing their smash hit, "apologize," one republic. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm holding on your rope ♪ got me ten feet off the ground ♪ ♪ and i'm hearing what you say but i just can't make a sound ♪

♪ you tell me that you need me ♪ then you go and cut me down ♪ but wait you tell me that you're sorry ♪ ♪ didn't think i'd turn around and say ♪ ♪ that it's too late to apologize ♪ ♪ it's too late ♪ i said it's too late to apologize ♪ ♪ it's too late ♪ too late oh ♪ i'd take another chance take a fall take a shot for you ♪ ♪ and i need you like a heart needs a beat ♪ ♪ but it's nothing new yeah

yeah ♪ ♪ i loved you with a fire red ♪ now it's turning blue ♪ and you say sorry like the angel heaven let me think was you ♪ ♪ but i'm afraid it's too late to apologize ♪ ♪ it's too late ♪ i said it's too late to apologize ♪ ♪ it's too late ♪ whoa oh ♪ ♪ it's too late to apologize ♪ yeah too late ♪ i said it's too late to

apologize ♪ ♪ yeah it's too late ♪ too late to apologize ♪ too late ♪ i said it's too late to apologize ♪ ♪ i'm holding on your rope ♪ got me ten feet off the ground ♪ >> thank you. >> one republic. they're back with more music on a friday morning. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

this colorado-based band had a hit song "apologize" even before they had an album. late last year these five guys came up with their sophomore album, "waking up," and the single "all the right moves" has been on the charts ever since. here's one republic.

♪ i need another story ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> terrific. one republic, thank you so much. we'll be back with more music a little bit later. but first, your local news and weather. great job, guys! 8 tim time 55 is the time

and 66 degrees. a lot of people heading out for the holiday weekend. in the news for today, police are looking for the person who attacked and killed a man in silver spring. he was assaulted in the 10000 block of george avenue. he was taken to the hospital and later died. >> it will be tough for metro riders with no service between the east falls church and westphals church stations. they will be riding shuttle buses between the stations, but you should add 40 minutes to your trip. the service disruption is related to the rail project. i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee.

sure. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream! (announcer) some use hydrogenated oil. reddi wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi wip. mostly cloudy around the metro area. we may climb into the 70s and a

likely hood of showers and thundershowers that may linger into saturday morning. how is the traffic? >> northbound annandale remains blocked due it a pothole, but you can see 50 headed for the bay bridge, lanes are open and at speed. >> your day is starting earlier and is so are ours. wake up with us at

♪ >> thank you! we're back now with more of "today" on a friday morning. it's the 28th day of may, 2010. one republic putting on a great show here on the plaza for our crowd on this memorial day weekend. nice to have you guys here. ryan is the grammy nominated lead singer and songwriter for the group. ryan, nice to have you guys here. welcome back. >> it is good to be back. we were here like a month ago.

>> you're like our house band. you write so many great songs and you write them for many different people from jennifer lopez to kelly clarkson and beyonce. when you sit down to write a song, how do you say, this is a good song for her or this is a good song for our band. >> one republic it's taken us five or six years to get there. we've created such a singular sound for our band, there is never really confusion between the band and other artists. sometimes there is confusion between an artist and another artist but never with the band. it is such a specific sound for us. >> i've been a huge fan for the longest time but probably the greatest fan you have here is probably your dad. i know you flew out today, surprised him with this trip. gary. you told me the sweetest story of how you got started. he bribed you with candy corn to get you on the piano as a kid. >> yes. it's actually a very small circuitous world. he actually went to college with kathie lee. i was at a wedding last weekend, she was sitting right next to me. like bizarre. anything basically to get plme

play music and not play football. >> tomorrow night you guys open up for bon jovi. you'll be one of the first bands to play the new meadowlands. >> we're so ecstatic. the bon jovi thing, we've done big crowds. >> 70,000-something people. >> that's basically crazy. we are excited though. it will be the biggest crowd we ever played for. >> twice in a month, we're happy to have you back. >> we'll see you in about 30 days. >> absolutely. one republic, ladies and gentlemen. >> july 4th. >> there's more music coming up. also ahead, we're talking memorial day. we'll give people all the information they need to know if they're traveling for this weekend. memorial day you'll be taking lots of pictures. a lot of people probably don't know once you download the pictures, there are some great options to help preserve the memories. we'll cut through some of the easy ways to find out where you can store those memories, get you on a scrapbooking system. then if you're eating out this weekend or the memorial day week, we'll tell you what foods

to avoid at the restaurants. a lot to get to. let's go inside, ann is standing by at the news desk with all the headlines of the morning. good morning, everybody. in the news, today president obama gets another close-up look at the devastation caused by the massive oil spill in the gulf of mexico. the largest spill in u.s. history according to government officials. bp's ceo said this morning that it could take up to two more days before engineers know whether the top kill method was successful at stopping the leak. meantime, scientists have discovered another underwater plume of oil 22 miles long and six miles wide. millions of americans will be hitting the road, the rails and airways this memorial day weekend as the unofficial start of summer gets into high gear. nbc's tom costello is just outside of washington, d.c. with more on this. hey, tom, good morning. >> reporter: ann, look at this view behind me. we have got the lincoln monument, the washington monument, the capitol building. this is one of those holidays a lot of people stay close to home. maybe they check out the local monuments, the local

attractions. a lot of barbecuing, beaches, mountains. but for those who are going on the road, 87% are going by car. it's only a short ride down i-70 outside of denver to the chief hosa campground. but that's far enough for the keck family. >> our decisions are more based on a 6-month-old puppy and a 4-year-old rather than price of gas. >> reporter: jeremy, julie, holden and rexy have put down stakes. aaa says they are not alone. 32 million americans are leaving home this weekend. that's up 5.5% from last year when the country was deep in the great recession. >> there's no doubt that while challenges remain, conditions are improving and american travelers are showing a desire to make up for missed vacations. >> reporter: on the maryland shore, the water is still a bit cold, but it's starting to feel like summer. >> nice. nice. after the little breeze goes by, you're good to go. >> reporter: with memorial day

kicking off the summer travel season, experts say the key to saving money this year may be to avoid flying on sunday. >> most of those cheaper days will be tuesday and wednesday and the airfare can be hundreds of dollars cheaper. >> reporter: bestfares.com has been tracking summer travel deals. travel to europe this summer is going to cost you. round trip to paris can run $1,400 a ticket. plus a $300 fuel surcharge. the international bargain is australia. if you leave august 1st, a family of four could fly to sydney for just over $2,400. bestfares.com says mexico is offering great travel deals, leaving midweek to an all-inclusive four-star hotel in cancun for seven nights, just $440 per person. vegas is also on sale. a three-night stay in a new, five-star hotel, including airfare -- just $225 per person. but the deal of the summer may be in rental cars. if you rent a car from hertz in flo

florida, drive it all the want but drop it off out of state and north of georgia, your one-week rental could cost you as little as $114. listen to this -- gas prices are right now about 50 cents higher than they were a year ago, but we're still below the $3 a gallon mark so that isn't proving to be much of an impediment for drivers hitting the roads. all the more excuse to take the rental car from florida and drive it to another state. >> thanks for making us feel better about gas prices, tom costello. two steps by congress to end the don't ask don't tell policy on gays serving in the military. the house voted to repeal the measure. the senate also approved a repeal. u.s. soldiers are placing more than 250,000 american flags on tombstones at arlington national cemetery in honor of memorial day. the tradition known as flags in began in 1948. an american hero has passed away. retired navy lieutenant john finn, the oldest living recipient of the medal of honor

died at his california home on thursday. he was awarded for his bravery during the attack on pearl harbor when he stayed at his machine gun despite 21 shrapnel wounds. john finn was 100 years old. it is now seven minutes past the hour. time for the weath good morning. cloudy over the metro area and a few areas will get sunshine. right now in the 60s and 68 in washington. they are getting sun in the

shenandoah valley where it's 70. we ought to make it into the upper 70s and a likelihood of showers and thundershowers late this afternoon and overnight tonight. probably not as intense as last evening. maybe a lippingering shower and a chance of an afternoon storm and warming up after >> now to former '80s child star gary coleman. hospitalized in critical condition this morning in utah. nbc's lee cowan has the latest live. good morning, lee. >> reporter: morning, al. the circumstances surrounding coleman's hospitalization are a bit unclear this morning. "us weekly" is reporting he suffered a head injury as the result of a fall at his home in utah. we do know he's been in the hospital now for two days, he was admitted on wednesday. just another in a long string of medical problems for a star that's had a very bumpy road, not only medically but professional, too. >> now i know a hospital's no bed of roses, but it's no reason to be scared. >> reporter: small in stature,

perhaps. but in the late '70s and early '80s, the chubby-cheeked gary coleman was as big as they come. >> what you talking about, willis? >> reporter: that signature catch phrase became one of the most recognizable on tv. so much so, it went all the way to the white house. >> action. >> what you talkin' about, mrs. reagan? >> reporter: not bad for a kid whose growth was stunted by kidney disease. he's been in and out of hospitals all his life. >> this is the third time gary's been in hospital this year. he was actually admitted in january for seizures and the same in february. >> reporter: as his health deteriorated, so did his criminal record. in 1998, he pled no contest to assaulting a bus driver. >> so, i hit her. >> reporter: there were other financial and legal problems, too. and mugshot, after mugshot. even accusations of domestic violence that he defended on "the insider." >> there is no abuse that goes on in my house. >> reporter: the cameras, it

seemed, were always there. >> no jail time. not leaving my house. not paying any heavy fines. and now i'm just going to go to lunch. >> reporte >> as we've watched him grow up, we've also watched his problems mount up as well and they've gotten progressively worse. it's sad because he's never really been able to eclate that success that he had when he was a child. >> reporter: even after his marriage to 22-year-old shannon price in 2007, he admitted he wished the fame had never come. >> i am not cut out for this business. i never was. >> reporter: on "today" just two years ago, he told al that he wished people saw him for something more. >> so many people remember you from "different strokes. "have you come to terms with that? is it okay to be recognized for that? >> no, no. because i know i can always do something better. there's other things out there in the world that i know i can do better and feel better about and really shine in. >> reporter: shine, he did. at one time.

this morning though, there are bigger concerns on his family's mind. al, we're told his wife, despite the troubles in their young marriage, is at his side and we expect some sort of statement later on today about just how serious all of this is. al, back to you. >> lee, we hope he has a full recovery. okay. thanks so much. now let's go over to natalie. al, thank you. this morning on "today's tech," preserving memories online. now that summer's almost here, people will be taking lots of photoses on their digital cameras. here to show us great new ways to organize and share your memories digitally, yahoo! web life editor heather cabbott. good morning. the consumer electronics association says 77% of americans now own a digital camera. most of us have mobile phones that have the cameras built in now, too. we have the technology, but half of us aren't really using all that the technology's giving us. >> that's right.

camer cameras, pictures and videos live in the cameras and no one ever sees them again. sometimes we upload them to photo sharing sites but the majority of people don't do that. the first thing is just remember to do it. when you take those great vacation photos this summer and videos, take the time to either transfer them on to your computer or upload them to a photo sharing site. just remember to do that and label them. the other thing you can do, if you have a mobile phone with a camera and especially if you have have an iphone, you can upload directly from your phone. >> you don't need a usb cable? >> you should do that to back it up, but in the moment if you want to just put it up there on your social networking page, you can do it directly from your phone and that makes it really easy. >> there is an app for it. >> there is an app for the iphone. the other thing that's important for the fun stuff, make sure you ask permission if you're posting photos of friends and family. yahoo! did a survey a few months ago. 2 out of 3 people told us it is not okay to post a photo of

someone else's children, family and friends without asking. just give them the courtesy, especially if you're showing kids in the photo before you put it out there. >> once you have permission, once you've uploaded your pictures, where can you go next to set up not just a good site but even sort after scrapbooking -- create fun stuff. you got your photos. this is a terrific keepsake. this is a company that makes these photo albums called how fast time flies. it allows you to drag and drop your photos into these beautiful templates. it is really pretty. the nice thing about this is that you use a digital photo to make something you can actually put on the coffee table. this is started by a bay area mom. there are more than 600 templates. it's each page is $5.50. the other thing you can do is just frame them. you don't have to necessarily get an album but the albums are really cool. >> great. now -- that's how much? >> album -- each page is $5.50. albums start at $30.

>> it is really inexpensive, too. another trend is people who like to post pictures of food and recipes. >> it's a huge trend now. there are more than 6 million photos tagged food on flickr. people are showing how they made it and using this technology to pass down traditions. this is video someone made of grandma dory's yamma-jamma. this is another photo stream of a family, a young man's mother's secret recipe he put up there. people are telling a story of the food that they ate and preserving this recipe online. >> just quickly, editing software, people say, posting those videos is great but how do you make it nice without having to spend a lot of money with that software? >> go to anamoto.com. it is a site with a professional level of editing tools anybody can use. i made a video myself which

we'll see in a second of my kids in about ten minutes. all i did was take video clips off of my computer, quickly put them together. they add music, text, all of the music is already licensed so you can just take it off, you don't need permission to use it. it is a terrific way to make a quick music video an post it on your page, your blog, send it to your family and friends. another way to make a very modern keepsake. >> there are a lot more tips on our website, toyshow.com. coming up, dad camp. a new show that's helping young fathers to get ready for the huge responsibility. but up next, as we hit the holiday weekend, how to be smart when you're ordering at your favorite restaurant after these messages. of delicious starbucks via. she got to the office just in time to save best friend forever from the office coffee. best friend forever bravely shared starbucks via with don't talk to me until my second cup before he even had his first. he shared it with i hate mondays who had three cups because it was, after all, monday. premium starbucks via ready brew.

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this morning on "take it off today," a restaurant slim down. if your weekend plans include visiting your favorite place to out, joy bauer has need to know info to help you pick out healthiest meals on the menu. we're going to an italian restaurant. >> the first word to avoid is parmesan, alfredo, skcampi. fried or fritto. we'll give you the full flavor of the cuisine that you can enjoy. >> obviously alfredo avoid

because it has a lot of cream. scampi has a lot of butter. >> when issing is bread, it's typically breaded and fried. parmesan integrates breading, parmesan cheese and it is fried. >> carbonera has cream and cheese. >> start with prosciutto as an appetizer, a nice crusty piece of bread, chopped tomatoes, basil and a little bit of olive oil. instead of a caesar salad, get a house salad and control the dressing. every take spoon of dressing is about 100 calories. for the entree, ask for a half order or lunch portion of pasta. i always go for whole grain at home -- though more and more restaurants are carrying it. >> marinara sauce is the lightest and healthiest when it comes to the sauce. i'm adding shrimp to up the fill factor and increase the pro teeb. >> dessert?

>> you can have a biscotti which is about 100 to 150 calories. always ask for a skim milk cappuccino. any restaurant that makes a cappuccino will give you a skim milk. >> let's go to mexico. >> the five words to avoid on that menu -- we're going to do conqueso which means with cheese. not only are they frying it, usually in lard! deep fried or crispy again. extra calories and extra oil. loaded means typically with nachos -- >> unless you're our director joe michaels. >> the sour cream, guacamole, ch chimichanga is loaded. when you start, everybody loves those nachos. stick with the handful and salsa is a freebie. continually send your waiter back for refills of salsa. chicken fajitas. try to stay with two corn

tortillas and you can eat the entire entree portion. watch the toppings though. a glass of red wine. perfect! >> finally, a steakhouse. >> the five things to avoid are going to be au gratin, holidays, scalloped, creamed and smothered. start with the skinniest appetizer, a shrimp cocktail. when it comes to the cut of meat, think sirloin or filet mignon. a flank steak can be pretty lean, also. any vegetables on the side, just not creamed spinach. a baked potato with either a l dollop of sour cream or some butter and fresh berries with whipped cream. >> have a great weekend. next, a couple of unsuspecting ladies from our crowd get an many bush makeover. plus one more song from one republic. plus one more song from one republic. but first, these messages. on my car insurance. ing ty you know, with progressive, you get the option to name your price.

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9:26 is e and 66 sdgs. tome will have the forecast after the news. plan extra time if you are hitting the road, people are planned to travel at least 50 miles, 6% more than last year. they credit the improving economy. they rearview mirror traveling early in the day day or let at night. we will have the weather and traffic when we come back. stay with

>> we have a great shot of the lightning sent by brian jones. what a wild night we had. as we look at the four-day, let's take a look at that. highs today likely into the upper 70s and an afternoon shower or evening thundershower. a morning shower and afternoon highs near 80. how is the traffic? >> not too bad. we will start with a lock at the bay bridge. a lost pavement versus a lot of cars. it's a good trip to get to the bay bridge over to springfield. southbound 95, leaving springfield not bad.

♪ i've got a fever and only bieber can fix it. justin bieber's fans take on the plaza when he takes to our summer concert stage next friday. and "american idol" winner and runner-up will also rock our plaza next thursday. if you've got weekend "today" fever, lester holt and amy robach here. next best thing to cow bell. >> it is the unofficial start of summer. we'll tell you what to expect before you get behind the wheel. plus, amanda knox, the american student sentenced to 26 years for the murder of her roommate is heading back to

court. this time italian prosecutors are asking for life in prison. we'll talk with her parents. it's been five years since alabama team natalee holloway disappeared on a class trip to aruba. her mom will join us exclusively in our studio. are you ready to rumble? al can say that better than me. >> let's get ready to rumble! >> it's the rematch of the year as we celebrate fleet week with our annual tug-of-war on plaza. will "weekend today" win? we cheat every time and we always do. find out when we see you this weekend on "today." >> we're creative. >> that's a better term. >> thanks so much. speaking of fleet week, we've got a family today who has two kids graduating from annapolis today. but they're not the first. their mom was one of the first women to go through the naval academy. we'll hear their story. we'll also check out a new reality show called "dad camp" taking young fathers-to-be who didn't plan on being dads and

getting them ready for the huge challenge and responsibility ahead of them. plus we have one good morning. at this hour we have quite a bit of cloudiness, but the sun broke out elsewhere. where it has, it climbs into the 70s. closer to washington around the bay, mostly cloudy and in the 60s. we ought to climb into the 70s with sun breaking out. there is also a rickly hood of afternoon and evening thundershowers and thundershowers that will continue into early saturday

morning and sun back saturday afternoon. heating up for sunday and memorial day. >> that's your latest weather. >> al, thank you. next, getting young dads to be ready for fatherhood. right after this.

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vh1 has become the home of shows that take an unblinking look at the challenges of

unplanned parenthood. their newest is called "dad camp" preparing six unprepared men as they try to move from boyfriend to dads. >> get ready because this is going to be hardest thing you've ever done in your life. >> that is so true. jeff, good morning. >> great to be here. thank you. >> this is sort of a boot camp for these fathers-to-be, most of them still living with their girlfriends at the time. but what is the goal of the show? >> the goal of the show is basically to get these guys to step up and be ready for fatherhood. these guys have been drinking, hanging out, spending money on video games, partying all the time and have no conception as to what it takes to be a good father. they think they've got it covered. but they just have no clue as to

how to be a father. and to be a good father. >> you're a clinical psychologist so what is it you hope your expertise brings to them? what kind of challenges do you put these young men through to make sure they're ready to step up to the role in. >> one of the major challenges we had right at the beginning is the fact that these guys didn't eel realize that they came from catastrophic upbringings. they all had issues with their fathers. in one case, one of the fellows had an issue with his mother. not being around when he was growing up. we had to get them to break through the denial that something had gone on in their lives and that in fact they were traumatized and it spoke a lot about the fact that they were unprepared to break that cycle and be better fathers themselves. we put them through a lot of exercises. i had them wear the state of the art pregnancy suits to know what it felt like to be pregnant. the stomach actually moves. you have back aches. i had them do chores with the suits on. had them stay up all night with

these simulated babies who were colicky, crying all night. so they can understand what it really takes to be there for a child. >> of course, the girlfriends, i mean they play a huge part in this as well. they have an important decision to make by the end of the show. >> by the end of the show, each one of these girls decides whether or not they want these guys to be in their lives to help them raise these kids. because these guys are there in the first place because the women said, these guys are just -- they are worthless. they are not there for us at all. so i would rather raise this child without this destructive force. so this is the last gasp, the last straw. take them through this boot camp, take them through dad camp and see whether they can step up or whether they're just going to have to step off. >> the message is so important there. a lot of people would say -- don't you want the father always to be involved in that child's life? but i guess the question really comes down to, whether they're going to be more harmful in that

relationship in the end. i know you're not going to give away any endings here, but i know you keep in touch and you've been following through. >> we have been following through and we do have a reunion show that's coming up in our ninth episode. >> does it seem to be working? >> i think these guys really have stepped up. they're doing the best that they can. the question becomes, have they done enough to convince these girls that they can be good fathers because they've done so many things wrong in the past. >> all right, you're going to leave us with that tease. jeff gardere, thank you. "dad camp" premiers monday night at 10:30 on vh1. next, a family making history at the u.s. naval next, a family making history at the u.s. naval academy today right after this. freestyle promise® program... t a unique program that gives me... the support i need, free. free access to a certified diabetes educator... so i can ask about diet and the insulin i use. i got a free meter. and test strip discounts. so i can spend more on what i really want. i count on the freestyle promise® program.

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the new toyota avalon... comfort is back. ♪ bring me a dream comfort is back. we asked real people to film themselves taking the activia 14-day challenge. hi. i'm emily ilic. i'm going to start the activia 14-day challenge today. problems that i have are, you know, irregularity... i do have some doubts if it works. i think it's really good. um... i like the flavors. i think from being a skeptic in the beginning i do think that activia actually works. help regulate your digestive system. take the activia challenge. it works or it's free. ♪ activia "today's american story with bob dotson" took four years to complete. he's been following a family of students at the u.s. naval academy, a family that is making history.

the mom is one of the first women to graduate and her oldest children, twins, will graduate later today in the same place, exact same moment, 30 years later. and there's still one more. >> reporter: nobody wants to read the small print in dreams. how tough they can be. at the end of the freshman year at the u.s. naval academy, midshipmen must find a way to climb this 20-foot pillar, greased with goo. sharon was one of the first women to try back in 1977. she slithered to the top of the monument. >> i was pretty far up. then all of a sudden i felt a hand on my ankle and as i came down, i heard him say, no girls. >> every woman up there. >> every woman tried to get up there.

they would pull us off. >> reporter: even though congress had opened the military academies to women. why such resistance? the new law let them attend the naval academy but barred them from serving on ships and planes during combat. the last barrier keeping women off submarines didn't fall until this spring. back in '76, some complained, if women weren't allowed to fight, they shouldn't be here. >> women cannot serve as combat officers. so i think it is a waste of a lot of money. >> reporter: on induction day, sharon's platoon leader told her -- >> i don't want women in my school and it will be my mission for the next year to make sure you are gone before i graduate. is that clear? >> reporter: he failed. not only did sharon become a naval officer, all of her children, allison, brett, and matthew, earned a place at the academy. so did her husband, tim. the family is the first in

american history to send everyone here. what did you tell allison before she headed off? >> that things are much better but it is still very difficult. >> get up, get up, get up! >> reporter: not to worry. in this beefcake world, allison is no patty melt. she's barely five feet tall. >> yeah! you go, girl! >> reporter: but plays rugby. back in '76, her mom was a cheerleader at the academy. the faculty insisted that navy women replace coeds from other colleges who traditionally made up the squad. >> these gals had long hair, and jewelry and nails and makeup and you could date them. >> reporter: their replacements were booed. >> they even threw cans of soda at us. >> reporter: and now ali is a commander of her company. >> one of my proudest moments.

what we did is worth it. >> reporter: her tiny daughter now leads men who tower over her. >> i found the tallest guy and snuck up on him. when you turned around, he saw his face, like "no one's here." >> reporter: the class of 2010 started with a record number of women. now nearly 20% of the naval academy. >> free hair cuts that way. especially for you, mister. >> reporter: they lead a freshman class that includes the last of sharon's kids. >> i'm waiting on you, mr. disher. >> reporter: matthew waited a month before telling his family he would attend. his way of deflecting pressure. >> those are some big glasses, man. >> reporter: all the disher kids survived the tightrope of expectation. >> there is a lot to deal with

growing up. >> reporter: allison and brett are graduating. he to the marines, she to the navy. >> it is a very dangerous world out there and what they've done is a really noble thing. >> reporter: nobody reaches the top in this world because they are born tall or fast. >> brett's up on top! >> reporter: many hands can push us down, or pull us up. >> there are boys that were just like, ali, give me your hand, get up here! >> and he pulled her up. for me, i mean that story just speaks volumes. >> reporter: the best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or tasted. they are felt. for "today," bob dotson, nbc news with "an american story" at the u.s. naval academy. >> later this morning, vice president biden will commission more than 1,000 new naval

officers, including allison and brett disher at the naval academy commencement. coming up next, one more song from the band one republic. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

hoda and kathie lee throwing a burger party. >> plus "ambush makeover." everybody have a safe memorial weekend. but first, one more song from the rock band, one republic. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> thank you.

9:56 is the time. in the news for today, police are looking for the person who attacked and killed a man in

silver spring on georgia avenue. 25-year-old hamilton was assaulted and taken to the hospital where he later died. it's going to be tough for metro riders to get around. there will be no service between east and westphals church stations on the orange line. this will be the situation tomorrow, suspected, and monday. they will run shuttle buses, but >> tom joins us in the studios. an important weekend. >> around 70 degrees and sun breaking out around the region. we may see in and out, but a likely hood of evening and thundershowers. not as intense as last evening. that may be likely by late this afternoon and tonight. sun back tomorrow afternoon with a high near 80 and say small chance of an afternoon storm as well as on suspected and again

on memorial day. heating up both days. how is the traffic? >> so far not bad. here we are in springfield over on the right side. moving well and hov headinging north and over to the bay bridge. things are moving well on the toll plaza. >> get all your news weather and traffic before the sun comes up.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb, from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> hey, everybody. it's dry day,he friday before the big weekend. and we're very excited about that. >> love long weekends, all the way through monday. what do you got going on? >> we're going to nantucket, seeing a friend that we haven't seen for a long time from italy, brenda. >> this brings up the question of houseguests, often you are a houseguest or invite people in. there are supposed to be some dos and don'ts, this is according to peggy post. number one, she says if you are a houseguest bring your own

toiletries to the house. >> it depends on if you're going to a home where people provide it, but you might not know. people like their own special shampoo or something. but if somebody likes their own stuff, bring your own stuff. otherwise, soap i think -- >> i don't bring soap, i bring the rest. >> where are you going? that's a bit weird. you if you have to bring your own soap, you may rethin where you're going. >> sometimes people bring uninvited guests with them. >> we've never had anybody bring an uninvited guest. we used to having pillow that said guests of guests are not allowed to bring guests. people think they won't mind one another. they do minute. you should ask. >> and what about the long shower? sometimes you let that hot water run and they say that's a big

no-no. >> there's a limit to your capacity. >> do you life vk guests? >> we had 20 people at you're house in florida last new year's eve. it was fun, but everybody had to know, get in and get out, because it's -- we don't want you -- but at the same time it's going to run out. >> do you enjoy having houseguests? >> i love it, but i can never get you to come. >> i come sometimes. >> i'm funny about that. i always feel like it's nice for someone to offer, but i don't -- >> you like your privacy can makes me wonder, what the heck are you doing? >> what are you talking about? >> why wouldn't you want to come? we have a nice guest room. >> i think some people go, and some people just keep going. >> there are professional visitors as well. >> what do you say to them? >> let's call them what they are, moochers, and you know who you are. frank and i have known our moochers, and they don't come

anymore. the people that come are people we truly love and can't wait to spend time with. >> and you should clean -- >> we have a friend with clean sheets waiting for you, but makes you make your own bed when you get there. >> she's nuts. do you understand her? >> she prices me every day with this weird stuff. >> she's one of our producers, and we won't say her name, but her initials are joe ann la markka. >> you may wonder why we're sitting here with windex. there was a study recently done that basically says, when you clean your house in anticipation of guests or even just your own home, and the citrus smul of windex -- >> go on. >> it makes you happier. >> and more generous, apparently. maybe it's just the citrus smell. maybe you could eat an orange

or -- be careful. >> don't yell at me, jerry. i'm getting old. >> there. >> jim just said it's obvious she doesn't use it very often. >> cody said that? >> cod,says she doesn't use it very often. >> cody is in the house. >> he's going to do a week le segment. right now he's making out with bobbie thomas. >> he goes to film school, halfway through college, thank you lord. >> what a cute couple. >> he's going to go through some of the -- >> oh, she's a lot older than you are. >> i want it clear i wasn't making out with her. >> he's being very nice. >> cody has a great eye for movies. he sees things that others don't see when watching a film, so i am curious. there are a lot of movies out

and a lot of things people are deciding whether to see, and cody is a film student. >> >> we've kept it a secret, hoda, never mentioned it, but i guess it's out of the bed. why don't you give out his address and phone number. >> they live in connecticut somewhere. >> let's do it. >> when you go to a restaurant with your children, there again we're doing some dos and don'ts. they were saying there's in ya hoo shine.com, don't block traffic with their strollers. >> you notice people with kids, and usually many of them can't see anything but all this stuff. i don't think they're trying to be thoughtless for the most part, but they're overwhelmed. and there's some huge strollers now, they need some license plates, some of these things.

>> they say -- this is the website, not us -- no breastfeeding at the table. >> code? >> well, if you're just going to flop it out there -- you know, if you're going to do it some coverage or something. >> he doesn't want it to flop it out there. >> his mother has flopped it out there, so he knows what he's talking about. >> yeah. flop it out there. >> he's upset about my cleavage today. we were flying to denver when cass -- >> i'm thinking about what cody just said. >> he's moot son after a while. the copilot came out to say, and i'm nursing cass, and she said one of the most extraordinary things that everybody has ever said to me in my entire life, she goes, oh, is that your baby? i said, no, there was a kid in

14a that was screaming his brains out and i thought i would just -- what am i, a wet nurse? you remember that? cody was only about 4 years old. >> yeah. >> no. >> he doesn't even like to be reminded that one time -- >> this is why i only come so once every blue moon or whatever. >> we're going to have to pull bobbie away from you. >> to get or bobbie buzz. i didn't mean you're much older. you're gorgeous, we love our bobbie. >> speaking of the weekend, and you talked about being invited somewhere, it's important to have a gift. i think it's chic to bring a gift. >> what did you bring us? >> just for us. it's called don't break the bottle. it's a bottle puzzle that you bring with your wine. it's fun but from us trauting. you have to figure out the puzzle to get the wine out. it's double duty as a gift and a

game, so definitely a conversation piece. i love these wine cellar sorbets, a way to get wine into your food this weekend? >> as if we need another way. >> bobbie, we do not need that. >> it's amazing. while you're tasting this. different wine sorbets. for cody to come show off -- also for the children -- >> i don't think cody can do that. >> oh, no. cody never has any alcohol. >> yes, mom. but in case he does -- >> it's wine. >> you don't like it? >> i really don't. >> in case i do. in case, these are safety tags that say i'm lost, please call mommy, but on a serious level, these are great for children that have allergies or conditions. you can put the phone number, the medical condition. >> that's a great idea.

>> yeah, because parents lose their children sometimes inadvertently. >> cody doesn't call mommy, those days are over. >> especially after a night of heavy not-drinking. >> this is going to be quite the adventure. >> okay. >>. >> love you. we got our bobbie on. now time for our sara. we are actually talking about worst houseguest stories. nettie wrote in one guest took a left turn rather than a right turn and the husband woke up saying why is he sleeping at our feet? and susan says a drunk brother's friend goes to use the bathroom, opening the fridge instead. >> that's horrifying. >> you've got to hit the target. that's bad. >> that's just disgusting. coming up next, ice cube is keeping it cool with a new project. >> he's wondering what the heck

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ice cube has been entertaining people for years. >> on "are we there yet?" playing a bachelor wooing a beautiful woman trying to connect with their kids. it's morphed into a brand-new sitcom. >> wow, busiest guy in show business. >> yeah, yeah. thank you. >> were you surprised it worked on tv as well? >> you never go to a movie thinking we're going to do this years later as a television ear jis, but it's the perfect movie. we're dealing with a blended family, single mother, trying to make a new relationship work, and all of america, the whole world is probably dealing with that situation. to me it was the right premise for a sitcom. >> well, you don't actually play

in it every week, right? you have a continuing role? >> yeah, ima recurring role. i'm executive producer, so i'm there every time, so i jump in every time they miss me. >> which is all the time, baby. >> you have four children? >> yeah. >> it seems like raising children is more difficult now than ever. how do you make sure your kids stay on the straight and narrow? >> i'm fair but firm. i'm always there to correct. i think -- you think kids will grow out of things, but if you're there to correct, they turn out to be pretty good kids. >> are they looking to follow tear dad? >> you know, some of them. a couple of them i got to -- >> what are their age? >> 23, 19, 16 and 9. one of my sons, doughboy, he's producing music. my other southern is at usc, rapping too, and my daughter is

flute, piano. so it's pretty cool to see them coming into the music thing. >> you're in my neck of the woods now, connecticut, where you're shooting this series. connecticut is very smart, in that they're making it very lucrative. they give tax benefits if you shoot in connecticut. >> big tax benefits. they've been real wonderful to us. this show is like the way it's structured, we do ten and see how they do, and tbs will buy 90 episodes. so, you know, homefully we'll be in stamford for a long time. >> but it's all call. >> if i need some muscle -- >> come borrow a cup of sugar from me. >> no problem. did you officially change your name? i love the way you got your name. >> my brother gave me my name. he's older than me. around the time i was going through puberty. his girl friends would call, i would be there to pick up the phone, trying to get my little rap in.

he started sailing i was too cool for school, to cool for the room, started calling me ice cube. >> what's he doing? >> he's just at the house, wait to go ask me for money. do you have other movies coming up? >> yeah, one called "the lottery ticket" starring bowwow. it's a fun movie. kind of about when you win the lottery, everybody hates you until you win. >> then they want to be your friend. >> yeah. so it's that kind of situation where a guy comes into a lot of money. >> kind of like your life? >> a little bit. >> we wish you great luck. >> you're such a lovely guy, and good neighbor as well. >> thank you, appreciate it. up next, how to treat yourself like the queen you were meant to be. and our ambush makeover. [ splash, drip ] [ whoosh, bell dings ] [ female announcer ] new dove go fresh

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i did it to let the judges know that my dog is the right choice. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... just like buttercup. (announcer) general mills is the only leading cereal company to put healthy whole grain in every box. the choice has never been easier. for whole grain guaranteed, just look for the white check.

we all know the expression queen for a day, but instead of pampering yourself for a mere 24 hours, why not spoil yourself for a lifetime? >> what a great concept. candy and cindy have been friends for 30 years. they've written "queen for your own life" world's longest title. >> great to see you. >> great to see you again. we worked together on "the drew carey show." >> you two are best of friends, but it didn't begin that way. you didn't start off being pals. >> no, i didn't like her at all, but sometimes that's what happening. >> and good news i didn't figure that out. i always assume everybody likes some e. >> oh, you're one of those. >> the reason we're friends and the whole reason the book happened was because we had a fight, we were in a comedy group together, we had a fight, and we were just going to do the knock-down- drag-out, and she got honest and admitted she was

feeling left out, that i wasn't spending enough time with her. even though she was embarrassed, her honesty made me go, oh, i like her too. and we have never taken each other for granted since then. >> do you live close by or a long-distance friendship? >> long distance. >> that's probably why it's lasted so long. we have a good year left, the way i see it. >> we get together every morning via i chat or skype. >> that's how we wrote the book. >> this is for women 40, 50? 30? >> we've been saying 40 to death, but we found out that not so surprisingly that women, you know, girls from ages 10, even men on, really want to admire themselves, want the courage to admit i'm perfect and beautiful just the way i am, and isn't that cool? if you don't get it, well, too bad. >> one of the biggest problems that children have, especially

young children, young adults, is that the whole self-esteem thing, so they emulate all the wrong role models, it seems to me -- we were just talking the other day that very, very heavy young children are the first to have sexual experiences, because they don't feel good about themselves. you go into all of that in the book? >> we talk about when you're young, 5, 6, you have this inner voice that says run, skip, play, jump, and something happens along the way that turns the voice into you're so dumb, you're so ugly. >> we call that battling the mongrel hoard. suddenly they're so you hadly you're so stupid and fats and you go wait a minute, that's not true, and then you go, that's right, you're just really stupid. and i'm like, oh. and it's in the book, but we set a kitchen timer, and this is what -- i set a kitchen timer for ten minutes and said if you

can take me down, do it, and the voices were so evil and sharp and they ran out of steam, and it's like the cat doesn't like you and the dog doesn't like you. that's not good enough. if you don't have anything good to say, be quiet. >> i like hold on to the things you love and cast away the things you don't. just figure out the things you want to get rid of. >> banish something from the first half of your life, and for us it was low self-esteem and the feeling that maybe nobody would like us if we said no. >> what about people that don't make you feel good about yourself? i had to say to one person, if you can't be a blessing, i don't need one more burden, but a lot of friends are that way, right? >> we have a whole chapter on that. we have the seven best gistsds to gifts to give yourself.

men have cronies, men watching their back, but women have cron crones, the definition for that is dead flesh. but every woman we need someone who's watching them live they can trust and say, how am i doing? and they'll no the answer is honest. >> i have hoda for that. >> yes, you do. the book is called "queen of your own life." how to get what you want and then cody will be with us. movie reviews for the summer. ♪ this is onstar. i've received a signal you've been in a crash. i'll contact emergency services.

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we're back on this friday. it's time for the results of our plaza ambush makeovers. >> scouring the plaza, as always, today contributor and stylist to the stars louis licari. and author herself jill. >> you're on the plaza, beautiful day. >> and we found two gorgeous girls, and our goal was only to make them as gorgeous as both of you. >> oh, louis. >> i'm sorry, what did you say? >> we found two hot girls and made them even hotter. >> ms. marietta. her birthday is today. she's from buffalo, new york. married to her husband greg six years. she has kids, and her daughter

wanted us to take care of her for a change. let's take a listen. >> all right. we have a birthday girl today, 4 43 years old, and you want this for your mom? >> because she does so much for us, and she needs a day for herself on her birthday. >> and you like her hair straight? >> i love it straight. >> and you want this new look? >> i'm looking forward to tinchts and your hubby at home told me he would be happy? >> yes, he likes it straight, he will be happy. >> the gang is all here, keepee blindfolds on. here's miss marietta before. let's see the new you. >> oh, my gosh. >> hold on right here. take off your blindfolds.

>> wow. >> you look so great. >> you haven't seen yourself yet. turn around. >> happy birthday. >> oh, my gosh. >> happy birthday, mama. you look awesome. >> fabulous. it looks fabulous. >> tell us about the hair. >> first thing. she -- >> she wants to keep looking. >> she colored her hair at the home and at the salon. i lightened her up. her skin color looks beautiful. >> makeup is so pretty. >> so pretty. >> julia, what are we thinking? >> it looks really good. i love it. >> jill, tell us about the dress. >> look at this body. a great birthday dress. i love turquoise. this is calvin klein. >> love the bangles. >> sequin at henry benson.com.

>> darling. >> perfect. marietta, big round of applause. >> thank you, honey. our second lady is molly from pennsylvania. for the past six years she spent her days becoming a pharmacist. she's never properly learned to put on makeup, and she's ready to update her look. she's here with her friend tracy. let's listen to her story. >> molly is busting with excitement. she can't stop smiling. why adopt this makeover? >> i'm just excited to have the opportunity to have the makeover, and i'm kind of glad that i didn't look the best this morning. >> that you rolled out of bet. and you just graduated and got your degree in pharmacy? >> right. i graduated on saturday from duquesne university in pittsburgh with a doctor of pharmacy degree. this was a present to myself. >> and you're single, so we are going to make you look hot and

business-like. are you ready to go? >> i am ready. >> her friend tracy is over there with the blindfold on. and now let's bring the new molly out. >> oh, my gosh. whoa. >> terrific. >> oh, wow. tracy take off those blinders. >> wow! >> yeah. all right. molly, are you ready? turn around. >> i have to put my glasses on. i can't see anything. wow. >> hello. hello. >> where have you been hiding all this time? >> of course, jennifer lawrence did both haircuts. just a soft, simple haircut. remember the advantage of highlights is you do it once every three months, and they resculpted her face with a bit of makeup. >> and that outfit. >> we had so many fun playing dressup, but she needed a great

black dress. this is, and the necklace is from sequins. >> i think i should have been first in line this morning. >> bring everyone back. >> good luck in your new career, sweetheart. are you pushy or a pushover? we have the tricks for getting what you want. >> pushy? >> i don't know. >> stick around. cody gifford is in the house, reviewing movies. he looks very official. we'll be back after these messages. en to you. and that helps us recommend a home loan option that's perfect for your needs. we'll close your loan at your own house if you want. you don't have to come to us. we'll come to you. my cell phone's always on. if you need me, i'm here for you. every client. every time. - no exceptions. - no excuses. that's what we're all about. - and that's why i love... - i love... i love being a home loan expert. ♪

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now we all know those women who go after the raise or big promotion, but behind their backs, people often say they're pushy, bossy -- >> or something else. and then there are women who don't go after what they want, and they're considered pushovers, so how do you strike the right balance? we went sara out to find out what people thought. >> reporter: how do you define the fine line? >> there is a fine line. >> getting your point across. >> you have to be assertive. >> i always end everything with "please." >> i'm actually a quite bossy person. >> if you're asking someone to meet your needs, you make eye contact and express the need. >> i personally don't see a big problem with getting what you want. it's all in asking nicely.

>> if it's done in a respectful, tasteful way, i think anyone will admire you. >> you go, girl. that's what we're talking about. >> robin smith is a psychologist, author and motivational speaker. jennifer cole is editor in chief of magazine. >> so many men talk about how great they are and moving up the ladder, but i know some women -- we wait to be noticed, we don't hold our hand up. >> if we get a compliment, we play it down. so someone might say that was a fantastic piece of work you do, and many women immediately go, it was nothing, it really doesn't matter. in fact it's about accepting compliments when you get them and knowing it's okay to acknowledge what you've done in a nice way. >> the truth of the matter is women struggle. it's almost like it's in our genes, dna, which it's not.

it is a myth that it's not in our genes, but it is in our training. so everybody we've seen is to dummy ourselves down. that's how somehow boys will like you. it's how girl will sometimes even like you. sometimes your parents will affirm you for not being so pushy or direct, but it actually turns us into liars. i mean, if someone gives you a compliment, but it's the truth, if someone gives you a compliment and you're good at something, and you deny it, you're either out of touch with yourselves, or you're so scared to be who you are and that's how we fail. >> what's wrong with being modest and -- >> i think there's something lacking in our world. >> i think too many people are beating their chests talking about -- >> what were the messages you were given as a little girl? who's the guy going to go after? the woman who stands up and

running the corporation? or is it the one who's supporting her husband running it? >> we are the wrong people to talk to. we were so blessed with great parents -- >> which is rare in that way particularly around gender issues. >> but i think it's changing. you have role models who have madonna with her toy boys, or demi moore with a piece of arm candy -- >> but i wouldn't want my daughter to emulate madonna. i would want her to have a different goal in life. >> but she's doing what she wants. i'm sure what we want for our children is they get to do what they want to do. >> when a lot of women make it to the top of the corporate ladder, they become more like men. why is that the right model? >> for me, it makes sense. when you think about what we've seen as successful, it's a man who's successful, so women think i'll get his armor, put the male armor on. what we don't know is that male

armor is crush to go spirt of a woman and actually has crushed men's spirits as well. hasn't allowed them to be free and authentic. >> and there's nothing wrong with saying police anyway, and it's tone obvious. >> and being realistic by what you want. what i can see coming into the workplace is obvious that people are very unrealistic about what they said, and they want it now. >> very entitled group of people that are being raised up in this world today. >> thank you, ladies. we're going to fire up the grill, show you how to throw a burger party. >> and big debut -- i'm not going to say this -- cody is here. >> gorgeous son. >> even if he is, can i help it? just because he's mine. i mean, he does look like me [ male announcer ] nature valley

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time to head into "today's

kitchen" to get saucy. >> jeffrey is the co-author of the book "burger parties." hey, how are you doing? >> you're an expert in all things burgers? >> yeah, yeah, sure i am. >> what are we going to make? >> we have the fruit of the vine burger, part of our cookbook. it's a theme cookbook. we've taken different winning burgers and created themes around them. burgers that have won in the build a bert burger contest. we like a little teaser, appetizer. this is a gazpacho shooter no alcohol. thises a good breakfast shooter, because there is no alcohol in it. we'll put a bit of the quick pickled cucumbers on there. go ahead. >> are they the same? >> they're the same. so there is tomato, a bit of lime juice, olive oil. >> that's so refreshing.

>> isn't that good? >> i hope the recipe is on the website. i'm going to make it this weekend. >> two types of meat? >> pork and beef, and some feta cheese, and some grapes. >> can you add any types of keys? >> absolutely. any kind of cheese you want. this one has grape leaves. the theme of this is wine country, and so there's grapes, grape leaves, wine, this is some zinfandel. >> something tells me i'm going to like this burger. >> and the grape leaves, and some pink peppercorns. a bit of salt. you can see i'm using a spoon here. >> not your hands? >> the warmth of your hands actually warms the fat in the burger and makes for sort of a dense, dry burger, so done overhandle the meat. >> that makes sense. >> that's a good metaphor for

life, though. >> i know where you're going. yeah. >> it's a good thing to remember, keep in mind. >> that's true. in food and other things as well. >> life in general. >> so use the spoon. then when you shape the burgers, again don't overhandle it. >> you're manhandling it. >> that's okay. you have to use it at this point. >> come on down here. >> we have a couple cooking here. we'll throw one more on. we've got a relish. >> let's start mixing it. >> i'm going to go back here -- what am i mixing? >> grapes, chipotle peppers, and the red wine. >> just take it off. >> how does that come off? >> don't ask me. i hear some noise behind me, but i don't know what it is. >> red wine, olive oil.

>> pulse it a few times. and we'll go back here. >> put in the couscous. >> cucumber, red onion, corn, and then you've got these beautiful tomatoes, some herbs and garlic, and i'll throw the dressing in here. >> it honey mustard? >> no, mostly lemon juice and olive oil. >> this is fantastic. >> toss it around. we're going to have to try this, jeffrey. >> all the recipes are on our website. >> you're not going to bite into the whole thing? >> not eating bread these days. a shining new star is in the house. thank you, jeffrey. >> oh, my

it's finally time for our

summer movie preview with cody and a look at the films hitting the big screens this weekend. >> it looks like a battle between "sex and the city 2," and "prince of persia." but don't fret, cody, movy son. >> look at us all together. >> you've been looking at a bunch of movies. >> i have been. "sex and the city." >> we saw that. i liked it, it's a chick flick, but what did you think? >> i think you're spot-on, hoda. that's pretty much what it is. the girl -- i say the girls like i watch the show. >> that's what they call themselves. >> the girls, carrie and -- >> the others. >> they're in abu dhabi in the middle east and drama unfolds which carrie runs into her new boyfriend. >> no, it's her old boyfriend. >> throw those notes away and just talk to us. what did you think of the movie?

>> i thought it was excessive in every sphere, from the shoes to the place where they're saying is excessive. >> i felt that the lighting was not very flattering to the ladies. >> it wasn't, but they made up with that with ample cleavage. i feel like that's all i'm talking about today. so much for that film theory i've been studying. >> should women bring their husbands or boyfriends to this movie, do you think? >> whether they should or not, i think it's going to happen either way. i think it's going to open huge. i saw the first one with cass, and i don't think it's as engaging maybe, and i think it's, um -- i think it will do well. >> let's talk about "prince of persia" which we have not seen. >> you haven't seen it. >> did you like it? >> the best way to describe it would be it's like a hybrid between aladen and "300." >> which we liked. >> this is all live action?

>> all live action. >> how is jake, you know, does he pass muster as a swashbuckling kind of guy? >> he doesn't bring the hyper masculine persona, like a vin diesel or something like that, but definitely a great actor. he pulls it off. >> is this for kids? it looks like there's a lot of heavy action? >> it's pg-13, so i think -- but again it's disney. so the kids can -- i think older kids can handle it. if parents can see it with the kids, obviously. >> do you think it will be a hit? >> it has a lot of competition, just because there's a lot of cosmos-swilling maniacs around. >> he knows i don't lycos -- like