the presidential campaign's hitting hard at each other today with stops in florida and new hampshire. president obama is in new hampshire right now. this is the president's third campaign stop in this key swing state this year and he went after the romney campaign on two issues in particular, taxes and medicare. >> governor romney and congressman ryan have a very different plan. what they want to do is they want seniors to get a voucher to buy their own insurance which could force seniors to pay an extra $6400 a year for their health care. again, this is not my estimate. remember those guys who analyze these things for a living? that's their assessment. that doesn't strengthen medicare. that undoes the very guarantee of medicare. that's the core of the plan written by congressman ryan and endorsed by governor romney. >> cnn's athena jones is at the

white house right now. so, athena, this is the president digging in his heels really on -- i guess he's on the defensive since there has been so much said from the romney camp already on what he has done to take away from medicare. >> reporter: good afternoon, fredericka. that's exactly right. he's playing a little bit of offense and a little bit of defense out on the campaign trail today and he is trying to respond to the charge that you just mentioned coming from the romney campaign, we've seen it on the stump just this morning with paul ryan in florida and also in ads. this idea that the president will make deep cuts to the medicare program. $716 billion in order to fund his own health care law. that's the charge coming from the romney campaign and the president isn't directly taking it on head-on, but he's talking about medicare and saying that my plan will actually -- this is what the romney plan will do is they will change it into a voucher system, change medicare into a program that won't be recognized as what it is now.

he also went in to take off on what he's done to strengthen medicare like extend the life of the personal by a decade. he's given seniors prescription drug discounts and free access to preventive drug screenings and it's indirectly, fredericka. >> what about on the tax issue? >> reporter: well, that's the other issue that we've been seeing a lot these days from the obama campaign and also dating back all of the way to the last campaign, this idea that republicans, in this case romney, the romney campaign have plans that will benefit the rich at the expense of the middle class and let's listen to what he had to say about that in new hampshire. >> the governor romney's tax plan would actually raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000. as governor romney and his runningmate when they're here in new hampshire on monday, they'll be coming here on monday, ask him if that's fair. ask him how it will grow the

economy. ask him how it will strengthen the middle class. they have been trying to sell this trickledown snake oil before. and so, of course, that's just another way of repeating the thi thing, whether he calls it trickle down economics that didn't work. we expect to hear more of that in the coming stops. i should mention president obama won new hampshire in 2008, but the current polls show it's pretty tight and this town he went to, wyndham, this first stop was in a county that he won barely, but in this town he actually lost to mccain and it shows he's trying to maybe make moves along the margins as well, fredericka. athena jones at the white house, thanks so much. now to paul ryan and the campaign stop a few hours ago. he entered the largest retirement community called the villages with his retired mom there getting a big hug and as

cnn's paul steinhauser reports got right to the number of people his mom's age and that would be medicare. >> reporter: hey, fred. we not only had paul ryan today. we had his mother as well. i guess you could say there were two ryans on the stage behind me at this retirement community known as the villages. paul ryan who one week ago today was named as mitt romney's running mate and he was here to talk about medicare and those nearing retirement age and he used her as an example to see how he and mitt romney will protect medicare and he used her as an example to talk about how president obama is weakening the important popular government program. take a listen. >> you've heard the president has been talking about medicare a bit lately. we want this debate, we need this debate and we are going to win this debate.

my mom has been on medicare for over ten years and i'll tell you exactly how many years over ten years she's been on it. she plays tennis every week. she exercises every day. she planned her retirement around this promise that the government made her because she paid her payroll taxes into this program which she had promise with. that's a promise we have to keep. >> the village sets largest retirement community in the united states and it's also very pro-rep penn. i spoke to a lot of people in the crowd and they told me a lot of things and a, medicare is extremely important to their vote and they're behind the ryan-romney ticket. florida, so crucial to president obama than running for the white house four years ago narrowly won this state. it indicates a very close race with the slight advantage over mitt romney. seniors make up a quarter of the voting and why medicare is such a big issue and he was showing

off his mother. fred? >> paul steinhauser, thanks so much, at the villages. ryan released his tax return for the last two years impeach it show , and he paid close to $64,000 in taxes, and we've got 20% and the higher percentage than his running mate mitt romney paid in 2011 and romney paid 14.5% in income in taxes that year and what about 2010? ryan paid a higher percentage, and to romney's 14.5%. now to the wildfires burning out of control in the western u.s., there's something new that crews can use in this fight. en finfrared cameras, and they can pinpoint exactly where the fires are even in heavy smoke. it's the same technology the military uses to plan

battlefield strategies. california firefighters have already used the technology to direct aerial chemical drops, helping to put out a recent fire. indiana police say weather is mostly to blame for a deadly crash that caused 16 cars to pile up this morning. one person is dead and two others are in the hospital with serious injuries. police say fog plus smoke from a nearby building fire caused the chain reaction. another crash involving six cars happened around the same time of this accident, but it was unrelated according to our affiliate wls. and in syria, there could be a major development. the rebels say the country's vice president has defected. we'll get the latest. ♪

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and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. all right. here's what's going on. across the world today the philippines' interior secretary is among three people missing after a small plane crashed into the ocean off the philippine coast. jesse robredo's family got the news while waiting for him to arrive at the airport. the pilot sent out a distress call just before the crash.

robredo's aide survived. all troops in the country are carrying loaded weapons around the clock after a series of attacks by people wearing afghan security uniforms. 39 nato troops have died in such attacks and north korean leader kim jong-un has a warning as the u.s. and south korea get ready for joint training exercises and any violation of north korean sovereignty will result in what he calls a sacred war. those military exercises start on monday. all right, let's get to another big story that we're watching. in syria, rebels are saying the syrian vice president has defected and they're trying to get him out of the country and into nearby jordan, but syrian state tv is contradicting those claims. jonathan mannman is at cnn international. so lots of conflicts here as to whether the vice president has defected, does he want to leave the country? what's going on. >> where in the world is farouq

al sharaa and we have no shortage of answers and we just don't know which is true. if he looks familiar and we've been showing you his face, he has been the face of the syrian regime sce before bashar al assad was in office. when bashar al assad was studying to be an eye doctor. he's been there 40 years. he's 74 years old. would a guy like that pick up and leave and claim i have no idea what i was going on. he was a loyalist before bashar was there. he has not been seen in days and the man who was for so long the public face for the regime, and the man they sent to talk to visiting americans hasn't been seen. so people are wondering and now there are these reports from the opposition saying the reason you can't see him is the reason he isn't around is he's out of there. >> what would be the rp between he and any country, say like a jordan or turkey and places that might take him in. >> you wonder because the key thing for him is that he was

viewed as potentially the man who might succeed bashar al assad because he hasn't been tied to the worst of the massacres and he's defending the worst of the carnage and if indeed there was a change in syria he could lead it. and bashar, and the community in syria and they have other allies very close to them and the army is mostly sunni and some of the key figures in the air force are sunni. the pilots are sunni and farouq al sharaa is a sunni so he could rally the majority of the country around a transition. a good man to have on your side if you can forgive what he's been doing for the last 40 years. >> wow! that's incredible. thanks so much. keep us posted on that. jonathan mannm, appreciate it. >> the newest nation of south sudan, i'll tell you why as many as four children die there every day. [ annie ] this is the story of a girl named annie

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available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. >> a major crisis is going on right now in south sudan. more than 10,000 sudanese refugees have arrived in batil and other camps in south sudan and we are told as many as four children die there every day. i spoke by phone with sarah

yamerson who is at the camp and she's an emergency coordinator and nurse for doctors without borders. >> the conditions are very disastrous. we are seeing every day the consequences of the difficult living conditions inside the camp. weave to see a lot of patients with diarrhea, linked with the patients in the camp, and we are seeing increased cases of diseases like malaria and also one of our main diagsis is malnutrition and this is one of the most difficult situations at the moment is by the camp where we have more than 1,400 children already severely malnourished with doctors without borders' nutritional program and what's your understanding as to how long so many people have traveled from sudan to south

sudan to help explain the malnutrition and malaria and all these ailments? >> the people that are talking to our patients are explaining where they came from there was a lack of food. so probably already before they started to flee there was a hunger and then what people talked to us about is that they were fleeing for days and sometimes a week before they arrived and even along the way there was no food and no water. so even before they arrived in this refugee camp where we are now, they were very affected by the malnutrition. and inside the camp at the moment where the recipes have been now for even more than a few weeks already, the situation is also very difficult with access to the proper food and especially for the children who

need specific food and specific type of nutrients to grow. >> what is the biggest obstacle besides the weather? i think at the moment we are facing a huge emergency. the people are dying in the camp every day. they are getting more and more sick. there is a need of the emergency response to cover the need of this population. sara hjalmarson and all of the best to your continued efforts and a colossal undertaking. >> thank you very much. >> if you'd like to help the people of south sudan. for more information go to cnn.com/impact. >> first in this country, the aerial spraying and now the waiting game, and we can help stop the outbreak of west nile virus in the dallas area and right now it's too early to tell. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader

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>> we're now just a month away from the malibu triathlon. it's where cnn viewers will compete alongside our very own

sanjay gupta after seven long months of training. we'll get to see how things are coming along for a truck driver who is one of those lucky seven. >> how are you? >> doing great. your home away from home. >> the command center. >> can i get to take a ride in this? >> yes, you do. >> awesome. >> i have to ask, how have you been doing with the training? >> we've been doing pretty good because in spite of my schedule, recently iad a chance to set up something with baltimore and i was getting to swim just when i was home and i can swim at both ends now. >> they were 800 miles, is that right? >> yes. and getting in time to exercise must be challenging. it's challenging and it's kind of a thing where i can't wait to find time and i've actually got to make time and not stop the truck and stop the fuel when i

go to bed because by the time my day gets going i don't even know where i'm going to end up or where i'll stop and what the situation will be. this is an opportunity. >> you know, when we're in hawaii, swimming, you guys talked about this briefly and we said you don't feel comfortable or safe by the time the triathlon comes around we don't want you to swim. what are you thinking? we're about six weeks out. what do you think? >> at the time i was thinking, wow! to have gone through all of this and to get to malibu and not be able to swim would he been the biggest letdown and it started to make me start concentrating and start asking people questions. >> do you think you'll be ready to do the swim? >> think i'll be ready to do the swim, without a doubt. >> a lot of people don't know this about you, but you were displaced after katrina. >> yes, sir. >> and you made your life there after that. >> i did, yes, sir. >> there is a church in the

lower ninth ward that has asked you to come back and be the pastor. >> yes, sir, they have. >> i heard that today. that's really -- i'm sure it's very flattering. it's quite an honor. >> and i feel really honored. it's been quite an experien. >> it's still being rebuilt and it's in the process of being remodeled. >> we actually did the service inside and i have it in my truck and i got an extension cord and ran into the breaker box and the lights came up and the ceiling lights and the wall sockets. you're the messiah now. >> let there be light! >> it's always great to see you and i feel good about my job when i get to talk to you. i feel like we're actually making an impact. i appreciate that. >> i feel great to be associated with you and the team, sir. >> the feeling's mutual there. if you'd like to follow glen and the other athletes go to

cnn.com/fittetnation. mosquitos are spreading the west nile virus across the country. what are the chances of you getting it and do you know the warning signs? we'll talk with an expert. i was teaching a martial arts class and having a heart attack. my brother doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and now i don't have that fear. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb.

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this program and we will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's health care or your mom's health care. >> turning to what president obama's campaign is up to today, the president will make two stops in new hampshire this afternoon and he's hitting hard at the romney-ryan medicare plan. >> governor romney and congressman ryan have a very different plan. what they want to do is they want seniors to get a voucher to buy their own insurance which could force seniors to pay an extra $6400 a year for their health care. again, this is not my estimate. remember those guys who analyze these things for a living? that's their assessment. that doesn't strengthen medicare. that undoes the very guarantee of medicare. that's the core of the plan written by congressman ryan and endorsed by governor romney.

>> this is the president's third campaign stop in the swing state of new hampshire since the beginning of this year. a white house reporter in education says schools are headed for tough times. it says budget cuts will force teacher and staff layoffs. that, in turn, will lead to larger classroom sizes and in some cases shorter and fewer school days. the report finds 300,000 education jobs have been lost since the end of the recession in 2009. students are seeing lower graduation rates and falling achievement levels. all right. nasty weather has postponed aerial spraying for mosquitos that spread west nile virus in texas. affiliate afaa, does not go off because ever unfavorable flying conditions. ten in dallas alone. there's a large area to spray and bad weather grounded the

planes last night as well. nationwide, only five states have not reported west nile cases. take a look at the map. earlier i talked with dr. jesse jacob, an expert in infectious diseases. first question, how do people get it? >> mosquitos bite infected birds and then bite humans and that's how the disease is transmitted. >> why is it spreading? why are we seeing such a huge number of cases. >> it's a complicated question, and it has to do with an interplay of different factors. we've been experiencing drought and now it's summertime, this is where mosquitos breed and the mosquitos are breeding in stagnant pools of water and there have been changes over the last several years of how much west nile we've been seeing in terms of disease. >> i have lots of mosquito bites just like everyone who spends time outdoors, but how will i know if i've been exposed to the a mosquito that's been exposed

by the west nile virus. most people won't know they've been infected. only 20% of the people will develop sechl toms and those symptoms can range from fever to swollen glands and fatigue and only a small proportion develop disease that affects the nervous system. >> there's no way for a layman to identify. they see a mosquito and they slap it and you can't know whether this is one that's affected, can you? ? if you're having symptoms that last for longer than a few days or if you're concerned you should see your physician. >> flulike symptoms are something you might get a few days later, for example? >> it can happen as much as 14 days and it it could be up to 14 days that you can develop symptoms. how do you know that you have the other extreme exposure and there may be some brain swelling? how would you know if it's associated with headaches and how do you know if it's time to go to a doctor? it would be things like headaches that are more severe

as usual and lasting for a longer period of time. confusion, and tingliness. >> eradication, is that an option or too widespread at this point? >> there have been options at the local level to control mosquitos since they're transmitting between birds and humans and so efforts at killing the mosquitos will transition. >> cooler weather is ultimately going to be the best remedy. >> absolutely. >> dr. jesse jacob, thanks so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. even though the centers for disease and prevention, experts suggest against it. young children and the elderly should avoid exposure to the spray. teenage moms and their babies facing huge challenges in colombia. meet a cnn hero trying to help. , less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way.

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all right. the curiosity rover has only been on mars a few days now and it's already getting a new upgrade. the process should take four days. meanwhile, we are getting a new look at the surface of the red planet. this 360-degree color image was created from smaller pictures taken by the mast camera on the rover. helping teen moms create a better life for themselves and for their babies, that's what this week's cnn hero was doing in colombia. it's a nation where one in five teenage girls is either pregnant or already a mother. meet catalina escobar. [ speaking spanish ] >> teen pregnancy in cartagena

is a very big issue. when you go to the slums it is unbelievable what you see. many of my girls live here. it is so wrong. you see these girls, they're babies holding babies. about ten years ago i was volunteering at this maternity hospital and i was holding this baby and he passed away with me. this teen mother failed to raise the money to cover treatment. four days later my own son passed away in an accident. i realized i didn't want any mother to feel the same grief that i went through. my name is cata lynna escobar and i'm helping teen moms get a healthy and productive life for them and for their babies. when we first started at the maternity hospital, we would have the mortality rate. my girls end up being pregnant

because they don't have sexual educatioand many of my girls are sexually abused. when my girls come, they drop their babies in the day care center. we have different work shops so they can develop their skills. [ speaking spanish ] >> we are changing the lives of these girls. if you give them the right tools they're capable of moving forward. >> remember, cnn heroes are all chosen from people you tell us about and time is running out for this year. you've got only a few more weeks to nominate someone, so go to cnnheroes.com today. all right. she's only 8 years old and she's already an author. this ttle girl will tell us about her book on coping with hearing loss. are you okay, babe?

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learn more at chase.com/ink a museum is stunned to find out that it hads had an original picasso tucked away in storage for 50 years now. a curator misidentified it as some stained glass piece. she says it was told it was inspired by a picasso oil painting. it turns out it is one of picasso's finest works of art called seated woman with red hat. it's a big break for the museum, but they also say that the picasso was simply too valuable to be put on display there. listen why. >> the value of the piece makes it prohibitive for us to ensure it and we would have all sorts of considerations about staffing and all sorts of electronic additions to what we do with our facility that just makes it impossible to keep it and we are so sad about that.

>> so now the art work is headed to new york to be sold privately. experts say it will probably go for millions. >> this week on the human factor dr. sanjay gupta introduces us to the youngest person ever featured on human factor. she's 8 and her name is samantha brownl brownlee. >> samantha brownlee is 8 years old and she's already a published author. >> i wear a hearing aid. >> her book which she wrote at the ripe age of 8 is how she copes with hearing loss. >> some people have problems that they have in life and they don't like to share it. i like it share it. >> samantha and her brother sean were both born with damage in the inner ear, permanent damage in both oh but at an age when taunting from their peers could shatter their self-image, samantha and sean areundaunted. >> we never saw it as a disability. it's just a factor.

i mean, i wear glasses. i don't have a sight disability. i just need help with my vision. >> reporter: without the word disability weighing her down, samaha found it in her to write and illustrate this book. >> it helps me hear better because it makes the sound loud. >> it's saa samantha's fun book. >> it took on a life of its own. >> including sales of samantha's book on amazon.com. >> did you know pele in this country have hearing loss. >> and this psa for the hearing health foundation and though she has many years ahead of her, samantha has advice for children and adults about how to overcome. >> no matter what happened i just try, try, try. you can help someone out with it. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> again, if you're looking for that samantha brownlee book, it is available on amazon.com. all right. that infamous tomato meter on

rottentomatoes.com, ever wonder how they came up or how they come up with no, sir numbers, fresh or rotten? the critic gray drake is here in atlanta and she'll take us behind the scenes coming up. ♪ the one and only, cheerios if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health.

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perhaps you don't feel like heading out. gray draik will take us behind the scenes to see how it all works and first let's get started on the dvds. you have "hunger games" and the raid redemption. let's talk about "hunger games" because they're very anxious about owning it. people were lining up like crazy and this is one of the most popular dvds out. normally they come out on tuesday and this one wa friday because it's that special. >> and everyone's going to love it. on rotten tomatoes it's an 85% certified fresh which means tons of critics leak it and the top critics also really liked it.

everyone likes this film. >> i haven't seen it. >> you have to. >> something about kids killing kids, i don't know, maybe i misunderstood it, but it seems harsh. >> i can't do it. >> raid redemption, can i do that? >> i don't know. it's also another really intense movie and this is the one that people don't know anything about. it was very limited in its release. and needs to be watching this film, and 15 floors of an apartment building and the s.w.a.t. team is called in to get a bad guy, right? >> watching the film. already you're captivated by it. it turns out that -- >> no. can't see that one. that did it for me right there, that moment. >> listen, the whole building is filled with bad guys who are trying to kill the s.w.a.t. team members. the fighting in this and the martial art are unparalleled. i thought the apartment building i went to college in i thought that was bad. no. my dorm was nothing compared to

this place. the movie is spectacular. >> oh, my. i appreciate you bringing that to me. i kind of like happy, feel-good stuff. >> that's not this. >> that's why i enjoy your reviews because i'm living i have vie cariously through your reviews. >> i'll see everything that's not happening for you. >> happy, though, is your work environment, rottentomatoes.com. how do you do what you do? how do you rate something as fresh, rotten, et cetera? so kind of take us behind the scenes and this is a great privilege for us. >> i am so excited to be here because it's a very intricate and delicate process at rotten tomatoes that i'm getting familiar with. we aggregate reviews. they're sources that we have verified, okay? it's not just anybody and we take them -- they, oftentimes, will rate their own movies and their reviews, rather, so they'll say whether they think it's good, fresh, or bad,

rotten, and then the score on the site is their percentage of positive reviews that a film has gotten. so like i said, great redemption, 84% fresh. so you lifted the curtain and you pulled back the a look. >> my first day as senior editor of rotten tomatoes and i have no idea what it means so the editor-in-chief, my boss, is going to tell me what is going on here. come on. please tell these nice people what the tomato meter is. >> it is simply a measure of positive reviews out of the entire pool of reviews for any particular film. if a movie is above 60% we call it fresh. if it is less than 60%, we call it rotten. for movies that are reviewed, at 75% higher, with a minimum number of 40 reviews, five from top critics, we call it certified fresh. >> sounds legitimate enough, beardo. so where is my desk? what do i do? >> before we sit you at your desk there is one thing you have

to do. >> rotten tomato, hollywood! ha ha ha! i hold your future in my tomato hands. ha ha ha. >> they did not make you do that. very cute. >> no one makes me do anything. >> you volunteered. >> very good. best job ever. >> that is so fun. i know you're a great attribute to rotten tomatoes.com. >> thank you. >> i know you have a blast. >> i have a present for you. >> what? >> i brought you a rotten tomato stress fall so if you ever get stressed out you can squeeze it and remind yourself how fresh you are. >> fresh freddy. all right. thanks so much. >> great. always good to see you. even better in person. >> this has been great. thank you for having me. >> lots of fun. i hope you come back. >> you won't be able to get rid of me. >> i'll be thinking about you all the time because i have the little stress meter now. love it. check. thanks so much. all right. remember, you can get all of gray's movie reviews at rotten tomatoes.com. how could you forget?

always have this every saturday to kind of remind you just in case. all right. i also caught up with grammy award winning artist macy gray, distinctive voice, distinctive look. would you not agree? all right. she just keeps proving that there is more to her than just the label musician as if that were like, you know, something small. anyway, you'll hear what's next for her in our one-on-one. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts.

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you probably recognize her one of a kind sound or this smash hit. ♪ i try to say good-bye and i choke try to walk away and i stumble though i try to hide it ♪ >> now grammy award winning singer macy gray is touring the u.s. she is quite busy you know, in a movie coming out later on this year alongside nicole kidman and matthew mcconaughey and has a new album where she covers bands like radio head. ♪ >> i spoke with macy about her new album and what's next for her. you really seem to drive your own ship as it pertains to music. you have a distinctive style and when you say, you know, i want to depart and try something new and different, i want to compile

an incredible arrangement of music from metallica to radiohead, eurythmics you do that. this really does show case the latest album. >> yes, i've always wanted to do a cover album and so i was actually listening to all these where she would take like rock 'n roll songs and turn them into these incredible songs and so it's my own challenge. we did all of my favorite rock covers and then i turned them into a real solo album. >> how did you pick these selections? were these songs that make you feel a certain way, a message about them? or it is the artist behind these selections of music? >> i definitely wanted to pick a style of music far away from what i do. i didn't want to do solo r & b. you know, that metallica, radiohead, way far away from me.

and i'm also a big fan of those artists and their music and ultimately though it was the lyrics like songs that i felt i could sing and i could mean it. it would sound honest coming from me. so really that was the main thing. something i could put my heart into lyrically. very comfortable onstage and in music. it's kind of the only time i really feel completely at home and comfortable in myself. >> this seems like a big year. you have yet another album production coming out. tell me about that. >> yeah. we're doing a remake album so we did the covers and now we have this idea to actually make an album. actually it washall's idea the guy who produced the cover. we were going back and forth. one of my favorite albums in the world is talking book by stevie wonder and it just happens to be the 40th anniversary of that album, made in 1972. it was perfect. we actually just finished it

last night. >> that is a bold move to touch anything stevie wonder. >> i know. >> intimidating? >> yes. >> nerve-racking? >> completely. i feel completely inferior every time i listen to his records. >> have you heard from him or reached out to him to let him know that you're doing this? >> i called a couple times. he's not the easiest guy to get in touch with. hopefully he'll hear and call me back. >> then you have a movie coming out. >> yes. >> nicole kidman. big names. matthew mcconaughey. you are not new to movies. we've seen you in "for colored girls" and "training day." >> right. >> what is different about this one, "paper boy?" >> it is the new lee daniels movie which is really exciting. he is an awesome person and director and the story is incredible. it's a story that no one has ever told before and it takes place in the south and the '70s and is very different. you know? it is very dark and interesting. a lot of sex and love and mystery and murder in it. it's pretty awesome. >> what do you like about your

character? how do identify with your character? >> well, she is very -- i play a housekeeper and one thing i learned in this role is that the people that work in your home are very observant because they see everything. they hear all the arguments, you know. they know what your underwear looks like. you know what i mean? she is someone who knows everything without telling everybody. >> it seems as though you're able to be very loyal to, you know, who you are. you're being -- you are being very loyal to the macy gray that first came, burst onto the scene as a very unique voice and image. >>hank you. >> you've been able to hold on to that and it is very hard in the industry of hollywood whether it's music, or movies. >> right. >> is there a secret behind how you're able to do that, how you're able to hold on to macy gray? >> oh, i really don't know any other way. that is the first time i've ever even thought about it. so, you know, i just -- i love what i do and i really don't know how to be anyone else. you know what