half hour after that with a local news update. >> happy birthday mike. have a great day. see you at 11:00. good morning. major storm -- the midwest bracing for its first significant snow of the season. good morning, major storm -- the midwest bracing for its first significant snow of the season. some areas of wisconsin and illinois set to get nearly a foot. further south, rare january tornadoes caused significant damage and injuries in north carolina. disturbing -- the government launches an investigation into a video that appears to show u.s. marines urinating on the corpses of taliban fighters. we're live at the pentagon with details. and mr. and mrs. smith go to washington -- brad pitt and angelina jolie meet with president obama in the oval office. we'll tell you what they talked about with the commander-in-chief today, about with the commander-in-chief today, thursday, january 12th, 2012.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to "today" on this thursday morning, i'm ann curry. >> and i'm matt lauer. i think you can see it's raining hard in the northeast here, but the midwest this morning is bracing for really, the first major snowstorm of the season. and here we are, two weeks into the year. >> this one has a little bit of everything. snow, high winds, matt, and also some bitter co temperatures. it's going to have a big impact on some major cities in the region, chicago, milwaukee and green bay. we'll get al's forecast coming up straight ahead. and tom brokaw is here, he's going to weigh in on the gop presidential race. is the criticism of mitt romney's business practices by his opponents, actually hurting the republican party's chances of winning back the white house. tom's going to talk about that and some other things. and also coming up this morning, casey anthony's

pretrial psychological evaluations have been made public for the first time. in them she reveals that her daughter may have been the result of a rape. also ahead, how a 12-year-old girl used a webcam to catch a brazen thief in the act. and a little later on here in our studio, queen latifah and dolly parton will join us to talk and perform. >> they've already rocked our studio once and they're going to do it again. and we'll talk about giving you a rare look inside the most talked-about hospital suite in the country right now. the room where beyonce and jay-z welcomed their baby girl into the world. we begin with the major snowstorm in the midwest. we've got al roker with details. >> this is a pretty potent storm and it covers a wide area. we've got winter storm watches, warnings and from marquette, michigan, as far east as caribou, maine. here's what we've got.

it's a complex system of three low pressure systems, two pushing up along the east coast, another one coming out of the great lakes. snow behind that one out west. we have snow ahead of the one moving up along the east coast. that's bringing a mix of snow, freezing rain and rain to the northeast and new england. snowfall amounts over the next 24 hours, about 6 to 9 inches of snow general but up to 9 to 12 inches in central new england. the green and white mountains and the adirondacks. and out west, chicago, 4 to 8 inches of snow. 3 to 6 in milwaukee, 4 inches in green bay. south bend will see 6 to 9 inches of snow. about 1 to 3 inches of snow in indianapolis over the next 48 hours and really cold air starts to make its way into the great lakes and the northeast. we'll have details on that coming up. matt? into the investigation launched into a troubling video that appears to show u.s. marines urinating on dead

taliban terrorists. nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon this morning. good morning to you. and i think the first thing i have to ask is has anyone at the pentagon authenticated the video or the images yet? >> reporter: the marine corps is pretty confident that these are, in fact, u.s. marines in this video. and they, like just about everybody else who has seen this video, call it disgusting. the video shows four americans dressed in full marine corps combat gear, in southern afghanistan, circled around the bodies of three dead militants and it's clear that they're urinating on the body. at one point you hear some chuckling. and one of the marines says something about -- golden showers. the reaction from the u.s. military and international force there in afghanistan was pretty swift. they strongly condemned the act. calling it disrespectful, and inexplicable. one marine leader in afghanistan told us this senseless stunt will totally undermine all the progress they've made in southern afghanistan. now, the marines are convinced these four marines are from the

third battalion, second marines out of camp lejeune. if they are identified and prosecuted, they could be charged with desecration of remains and taking what is called trophy photos. criminal acts. and if convicted, they could spend time in jail. and this just in from afghanistan, the presidential palace called this act insane and demanded that those involved be punished severely. matt? >> we'll be waiting and watching to see what the fallout from this is. jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thanks as always. it's five minutes after the hour, here's ann. >> now to presidential politics and the harsh attacks being faced by gop front-runner, mitt romney. are they serving to hurt the republican party as a whole? we'll talk about that with tom brokaw in just a moment. but first, nbc's peter alexander is in greer, south carolina, with the latest on the campaign trail. hey, peter, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. we flew her to south carolina

with governor romney from new hampshire yesterday. on the plane he told us that the big win on tuesday night felt like christmas morning. but in many ways, that was a home game, he's from just next door in boston. this is like going on the road. and he is well aware that the bruising fight here will make it much less pleasant. >> how do you feel? >> great. >> reporter: it mate be warm in south carolina, but the political climate is about to get much hotter for front-runner, mitt romney. >> the next president of the united states, governor mitt romney. >> reporter: following back-to-back victories in iowa and new hampshire, romney now appears increasingly confident. trying to present himself as the inevitable republican nominee. focusing exclusively on president obama. >> i know we're going through tough times, and we're going through tough times in part because of the failure of one man, and that's why he's got to go. >> reporter: here in socially conservative south carolina, where the primary is notorious for nasty politics, romney's opponents are sharpening their attacks. >> massachusetts moderate, mitt romney, he can't be trusted.

>> reporter: newt gingrich's latest tv ad targets romney on abortion. >> what happened after massachusetts moderate mitt romney changed his position from pro abortion to pro life? he governed pro abortion. >> reporter: and there's been no let-up in the barrage of criticism over romney's record as the former head of bain capital. >> greed, for lack of a better word, is good. >> reporter: this gordon gekko impersonator greeted romney in south carolina. >> greed, for lack of a better word, is good. >> reporter: both gingrich and rick perry kept piling on. >> crony capitalism, where people pay each other off at the expense of the rest of the country is not free enterprise, and raising questions about that is not wrong. >> i happen to think that companies like bain capital, could have come in and helped these companies if they truly were venture capitalists. but they're not. they're vulture capitalists. >> reporter: and there's even a gingrich web ad that hounds romney for a road trip years ago when he put the family pet on

the roof of his car. >> this is a completely air-tight kennel. mounted on the top of our car. he climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself. he was in a kennel at home a great deal of the time as well. we love the dog. >> reporter: and among the more serious ads, a super pac supporting newt gingrich posted in its entirety, a 28-minute bruising movie about governor romney's time at bain. we'll show you a screen shot from that film. it includes this shot that shows governor romney on the tarmac, his feet kicked up. getting polished in front of a corporate jet. i spoke with senior adviser with the romney campaign. who said they were prepared for these attacks, but they expected them not from the republicans, but from the democrats. >> all right, point taken. peter alexander, thank you so much this morning. we've got nbc special correspondent, tom brokaw, here to share his perspective on the presidential race. he's also the author of a new book called "the time of our lives."

a conversation about america. tom, good morning to you. >> good morning, ann. >> could gingrich in portraying essentially romney as part of the 1%, create a backlash that could hurt the republican chances of getting in the white house? >> newt's also a member of that club. we've looked at his financials, he got $1.8 million from the federal housing agencies, ran up $500,000 in bills at tiffany's. i think he's going to have a hard time portraying himself as just a man of main street. now having said all of that, this has had a kind of two-tiered effect. first of all, it's prompted a lot of people to come to mitt romney's defense. notably, jim demint, a senator from south carolina, widely perceived to be the most powerful republican in that state, has not endorsed, but he said in the last 24 hours, george romney is going to win this primary in south carolina. and he criticized both rick perry and newt gingrich for

lashing out at what he said was the exercise of a free enterprise system. he defended mitt romney. so it's worked against them as well as for them. democrats are pretty happy. they think they're doing the work that governor perry and newt gingrich are doing the work of the democrats come the fall campaign. >> gingrich got some push-back at an event recently where a voter asked him, maybe you should be criticizing romney on another tack, not this one. and while gingrich's comments may have been misinterpreted about in terms of whether or not he thought that was a mistake, he did, his campaign did release this statement. saying we will continue to examine what decisions he, being romney, made at bain. why he made those decisions, what was motivating him to make those decisions and the american people can decide whether or not they want an investment banker in chief as their commander-in-chief. so how ugly could this get in south carolina? it looks like gingrich is doubling down. >> it's the republican party equivalent of a g-out. they're going hard after george romney. >> mitt romney. >> they're going hard after

mitt romney. his father was george romney, that's my generation. they're going hard after governor romney, in part because they see that he has got a big head of steam at this point. he's very likely going to be the candidate if it continues as well as it has in the opening two phases of this campaign. but the real danger for the republicans is it will deeply divide the party at a time when they want it to be united. because most republicans, as we've seen demonstrated in iowa and new hampshire, want somebody who they think is electable. who can run a strong race against president obama. >> well the real question then becomes, is will it work? will this tactic work in terms of taking down romney? because romney is saying look, it didn't work in iowa, it didn't work in new hampshire. why do you think it's going to work here on? >> we saw the way it could go in south carolina. and a lot of things could happen, there's two debates between now and then. and that's always the test, about who makes the biggest mistake or the strongest

impression. my guess is, it won't work. i've been talking to a lot of people in south carolina. i'm going down there next week. and the issue for them is the economy. they've got very high unemployment, almost 10% of the state. and they're looking for somebody who can solve the economy. and many of them have set aside their so-called social conservative issues. it's a very conservative state. it's a very religious state. but most people we're talking to are saying this time we've got to get somebody who can fix this economy. and romney, continues to run very strongly in all of the south carolina polls. so at this stage of the game, and a week away is a lifetime in primary politics. at this stage of the game, george romney seems to be holding his own and the momentum continues for him. especially because senator demint spoke up for him. >> that's right, for mitt romney. thank you so much. tom brokaw, it's always great to have you here. great perspective, we'll see you back also tomorrow because we're going to have our big 60th anniversary celebration. have we mentioned that? >> has anybody been talking about that? i hadn't heard about that. is that true?

we ought to say something about that on television. could we talk about it a little more here on the "today" show? >> all right. point well taken mr. brokaw. let's get a check of the morning's other top stories from natalie morales at the news desk. good morning, everyone, the assassination of an iranian nuclear scientist is ratcheting up tensions between washington and tehran. secretary of state hillary clinton categorically denied iran's claim that the u.s. had a hand in the killing of the scientist. the targeted car bombing is similar to earlier killings of scientists working on the iranian nuclear program. and while iran has been quick to blame the u.s. and israel for the attack, recent comments from an israeli military chief have raised international suspicions. national guard troops armed with shovels are a welcome sight in cordova, alaska, where rain has now compacted the 17 feet of snow that has been piling up there since november.

meanwhile, in north carolina, a tornado reportedly touched down there on wednesday. powerful winds destroyed homes and damaged dozens of buildings. no more surprises when it comes to the extra fees you pay when you fly. the transportation department will now require that airlines advertise prices, including those hefty taxes and fees, that can add more than 20% to the original fare. airlines are fighting the new rules, though. saying that other industries are not required to include taxes in their advertised prices. is the foreclosure crisis finally coming to an end? for more on that and what we can expect today on wall street, we'll turn it over to cnbc's mandy drury who's at the new york stock exchange this morning. good morning. >> well, there's lots of news coming out today on the economy and foreclosures have been in focus. foreclosures dropped sharply in 201. while that rate is still likely to rise this year, realty track says the worst of the housing crisis is over. recently, the news has been getting better and better and that has helped to push u.s. stocks to their five-month highs where they're sitting right now.

there is one thing, however, that could put a complete spinner in the works and that's higher energy costs. if you thought that 2011 was the priciest year ever for gasoline, costing the average household around $4,100, experts say that 2012 could break even more records. back over to you. >> all right. we'll be watching, mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. thank you. the oval office got a lot more glamorous last night. brad pitt and angelina jolie stopped by the white house to chat with president obama about jolie's humanitarian work, fighting genocide and violence against women. pitt was seen using a cane, which has needed since a recent skiing injury. the two are in the nation's capital, promoting jolie's directorial debut and they attended a washington screening of "in the land of blood and honey" this week. it's a movie about the bosnian war getting rave reviews. she wrote it, directed it. >> sometimes when i watch them, i think, don't you wish you were them? think about it. beautiful, talented, get to hang

out with -- >> that's too much pressure. >> you don't? >> i like being a slacker. >> everybody is going to buy that. >> mr. roker here with his second check of the weather. >> you bet. let's look at what else is going on around the country. and we've got some cold air making its way through the plains, the dakotas will see temperatures in the teens today. a beautiful day in the pacific northwest. although a little on the cool side, plenty of sunshine, though. windy conditions down through the gulf, sunny and mild, miami, 80 degrees today. but that rain here in the northeast, probably going it cause problems. air travel, boston, d.c., philadelphia, new york and chicago. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's going on in your n >> good morning. the time 7:16. it's cold with plenty of 30s and even a couple of 20s in the north bay. look at where we're headed by noon, the mid-60s, we're going to round out the day with plenty of 70s on the map. as we head through the end of

the weekend, things start to change, more clouds roll in and then another great rain chance tuesday into wednesday. and that's your latest weather. matt? joran van der sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway, will be sentenced tomorrow, but in a different case. he's pleaded guilty to murdering a young woman in peru. nbc's lilia luciano is in peru with the details on this. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. joran van der sloot has been behind bars here in lima for 19 months. this morning, he awaits sentence after pleading guilty to murder. a guilty plea, and then an apology. seeming calm and confident, joran van der sloot told the judge he was responsible for the murder of 21-year-old stephany flores. i regret what i did, he said in

broken spanish. adding he felt very bad about it. outside, a cluster of protesters shouted "killer" and demanded justice. a hotel worker found flores dead in joran van der sloot's room 19 months ago. police say she was murdered five years to the day that natalee holloway went missing in aruba. van der sloot has always denied any wrongdoing in the holloway case. and authorities in aruba never found enough evidence to charge him. but in peru, there was no lack of evidence, legal experts say. in the state's confession to peruvian police, van der sloot describes beating and strangling flores to death. >> the most overwhelming piece of evidence was his own testimony. that it was not a random act like he had initially said and that it was basically premeditated. >> reporter: the evidence also included surveillance video. seen walking into his room. hours later, he walks out by himself. prosecutors say leaving

stephany's lifeless body inside. prosecutors seek a 30-year sentence for the 24-year-old dutch citizen. going by your experience, how long do you think he'll serve? >> if he were to be sentenced to 30 years, he'll probably end up serving seven to nine years, given the overcrowded conditions in peru. >> reporter: appealing for a lighter sentence, van der sloot's lawyer told the judge his client was suffering from post traumatic stress when he killed stephany. stemming from the constant questioning on the holloway case. natalee's parents says they hope this will move their quest for justice forward. >> the holloways continue to cooperate with all the law enforcement agencies and remain hopeful that someday, someone will be held accountable for justice here in alabama. >> reporter: today in alabama judge is scheduled to decide whether to declare natalee holloway dead. here in peru, van der sloot will be sentenced for the murder of stephany flores tomorrow morning. matt? >> lilia, thank you very much.

it's now 19 after the hour. here's ann. >> there's outrage in mississippi over former governor haley barbour's decision to pardon hundreds of inmates. some of these inmates are convicted murderers. mark potter is in jackson with details on this story. mark, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, ann, former governor haley barbour is trying to soften the anger over those pardons he granted. meanwhile, a local judge has put some of those pardons on hold until they can be reviewed. on his last days in office, haley barbour, the powerful and highly regarded mississippi governor ended up angering and confusing so many of his constituents. without explanation, he granted pardons or early releases to a long list of more than 200 convicts. including 21 murderers and many others serving time for violent crimes. >> pardon means this individual

can go drive a school bus, he can go get a law degree, move in next to you. >> reporter: among those granted pardons were five prison trustees, who worked at the governor's mansion in jackson. four were convicted murderers. among them, david gatlin, sentenced to life plus 30 years, for shooting to death his estranged wife, tammy, as she held her 6-week-old son and for shooting her friend, who survived. >> i cried, first. >> reporter: tiffany is tammy's sister and said the whole family is furious with barbour, for releasing gatlin. causing them to live in fear. >> he's a cold, calculated murderer. and why wouldn't he come back and finish what he started? you know. being a trustee at the governor's mansion does not change a murderer. >> reporter: also among those pardoned, earnest favre, the brother of retired nfl quarterback, brett favre, he was convicted of a drunk driving incident in which his friend was killed. in a written statement sunday

night, barbour's office said, approximately 90% of those who received clemency were no longer in custody and a majority of them had been out for years. but shortly after, a mississippi judge issued an order blocking a release of any more prisoners and ordered the five trustees pardoned after working at the governor's mansion to appear at a hearing later this month. >> it's a slap in the face to me as a prosecutor. for serving 20 years, that we have to go back and try to round up all of these convicts that have been turned loose. and try to fix the mess that he's created. >> reporter: and here at the state capitol, some of the lawmakers have been talking about proposed legislation, even a constitutional amendment to limit the governor's power to release convicted criminals. ann? >> mark potter, thank you so much this morning. coming up inside the mind of casey anthony as her pretrial psychological evaluations are made public for the first time. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

just ahead, a look inside beyonce'sal news and weather. your final wish has been granted. wait, wait, wait-- where's the peanut one? [ yellow ] wheeee! oh, hey red. [ male announcer ] m&m's® can't resist m.

>> good morning to you. taking a live look outside overlooking city by the bay this morning. it's a cool start to the day but it should warm up. we'll check with christina in a bit. it's 7:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. parents camped out in the cold in front of a school in santa clara hoping to get kids into kindergarten. registration opens this morning for classes at the school. there are four classes with roughly 120 seats but it's on a first come first serve basis so demand for the spots is high. parents want to make sure that their kids get in. it's very similar to a situation that happened last year where

there was another camp-out prompted over over-enrollment. >> good morning. it's cold out there but take a look at where we are headed later on today. 69 degrees in redwood city. 73 in gilroy and we're going to continue to get spoiled with this fair sunny weather all the way throughout the rest of the week. by this weekend clouds increase, making for milder mornings and cooler afternoons, then next week we get the big time pattern change reflected here on your seven-day outlook. showers roll in tuesday. sierra snowfall likely tuesday into wednesday starting the snow levels out at 7,000 feet. let's talk to mike about the drive. >> let's talk to folks traveling over the water. using the san mateo bridge, a look at the westbound direction, that's traveling away from the camera on the live show. we lost it. look at the maps. it's the same area. as you go over from hayward to foster city, reports of a disabled vehicle. a flat tire but they moved the car to the center and no slowing

shows up. we do have slowing both directions for 101 north of 92, that's early for that amount of slowing to kick up. we're looking down to the south bay, a nice smooth flow. we're going to stick with the maps and show you northbound 101 slowing and 280 and 85. remembering folks going to cadwaller elementary, there is a fire that had greenleaf lane closed. crews are watching. you might have to go extra to get to your school. back to you. >> that is good news as well. thank you. for the latest traffic and news updates check out nbc bay area on facebook.

7:30 on a thursday morning, the 12th of january, 2012. a little bit wet. actually, a lot wet here in the northeast. we've got a big rain storm coming up. people in the west are getting snow and up north as well. and these are the people who are braving the elements outside our window on the world, inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer, along with ann curry. >> i feel bad for them. >> we've got to go out and give them a big hug, get ourselves wet. >> we'll get al out there. just ahead, we'll meet a 12-year-old crime fighter. >> a girl in california set up her webcam, hoping to catch her sister messing with her stuff

and she ended up catching a real thief in the act. we'll share her story this morning. and i'm not sure i can go on -- the makers of twinkies filed for bankruptcy. >> no! what are we going to do about it? >> does that mean it's the end of the line for the snack cake beloved by generations of americans? what's next, yoohoo? we'll sink our teeth in a that, coming up. and two huge stars in the house, not huge in size, but huge stars. dolly parton and queen latifah -- >> they're little people. >> "joyful noise" stars of a new movie. they'll be joining us in studio and talking about their movie. i saw it last night and laughed constantly. and also coming up a little bit later, we're going to be celebrating our 60th anniversary of "today" and we'll be checking out the remarkable ways and places you watch us. for example, from a subway, in beijing, from a horse.

that's something, not even we knew, matt. >> we're going to find out more about that. but we begin with newly-released court records giving insight into caseny anthony's state of mind before her murder trial. nbc's janet shamblian is in orlando with more. >> reporter: these are depositions from medical professionals that have just been released in them, casey anthony says she believes her daughter, caylee, was conceived during a date rape. and she said she also believes that her father could have been responsible for caylee's deathth and both the medical professional said when they talked to her she seemed upbeat and showed no signs of mental illness. seven months after the not guilty verdict, stunning new details about what casey anthony told mental health experts before the trial. a judge in orlando has unsealed the depositions of psychiatrist

jeffrey danzinger and psychologist, william weis, two medical professional who is evaluated anthony. according to weis, casey talked about her father, george, saying it is the perception of casey, that her father had something to do with the death of her daughter. dr.-anziger said she told her, i think he held her under water and casey also recounted her younger years. weitz said her father had sexually abused her back to the age of childhood. >> have you ever sexually molested your daughter casey anthony? >> no, sir. >> reporter: george anthony denied those allegations during the trial and the defense never presented evidence. on wednesday, george anthony said he has repeatedly said, he never molested any member of his

family, including casey anthony and had nothing to do with the death of caylee anthony. the depositions are just the latest version of what casey said happened to her daughter in 2008. >> there's no doubt that casey anthony, by her own account, is an admitted liar so it becomes virtually impossible to know which of the accusations she's made or which of the explanations she gave had any truth at all. >> reporter: casey also told danziger and weitz about her personal life, saying caylee may have been conceived during a date rape. she said she attended a party and blacked out. she believes that's when she was impregnated. as for her mental state, dr. danziger said i do not find any evidence of an active mental illness. and that anthony was surprisingly cheerful for someone accused of murdering her child.

weitz said anthony seemed detached from a lot of her feelings and emotions and used lies as a protective measure. >> she lies about so much, so i think nobody actually will know what to believe and what not to believe. >> reporter: both of these medical professionals were originally listed as defense witnesses. but it's important to note that neither of them ended up testifying at the trial. also this morning, there is information that casey anthony may be splitting with her attorney, jose baez. he told nbc news that he had no comment. back to you. >> janet shamlian in orlando, thank you. >> we have our legal correspondent and psychiatrist. as a trained mental health professional and trained lawyer, what jumps out at you? >> i was surprised we heard a new theory from casey anthony about what happened to little caylee. now she's saying in these evaluations she thought her father may have done something to this little girl and covered it up. interesting that that version of events didn't end up being talked about at the trial. the other thing about it is,

these are two psychiatric ev evaluations done i assume for the purpose trying to detect if she had a mental illness that possibly could have been a defense. here you have two mental professionals saying she doesn't have a a mental illness or defect that could be significant in any way. >> psychiatrists are not mind-readers, if somebody is lying to the psychiatrist, they have no way of knowing what's a lie and what's not. and mental illness has very specific definitions. in a diagnostic manual, if you really don't meet all the criteria for that, you can't say the person has a mental illness. but it doesn't mean that they're not a liar or they don't have character problems that could lead to kinds of things that could be criminal behavior. >> savannah, let me go back to you for a second. so casey anthony was found not guilty. she is innocent in the eyes of the law. why were these documents unsealed? >> because florida has some of the most expansive open government, open records laws in this country. there's almost a presumption that court records will be opened. they were sealed during the trial for the purpose of protecting her right to a fair

trial. and the judge in the case made a simple conclusion that the trial is over, we don't have to worry about the fair trial rights any more, now they can be unsealed. >> as a mental health professional, does it trouble you when conversations, evaluations like this are made public? >> it troubles me deeply. the cornerstone of any decent treatment and people wanting to come into treatment is confidentiality. and the only time it should be broken is something called a ruling that you have a duty to warn if patient tells you somebody's in danger. >> there's an ethical or legal responsibility on the part of a psychiatrist or psychologist, if someone says a crime has been committed, to tell an authority? >> retrospectively? no. the law is really if someone tells you, i'm going to kill so-and-so, or i'm going to molest so-and-so, then you have a duty ethically to warn. otherwise, if it's in the past, no, you don't. and really, not without confidentiality, without patients feeling they're going

to have that, they can't be in a safe treatment. and they're not going to come into treatment. >> just in the 30 seconds i have left, savannah. any surprise at all or any headline coming out of this possibility that jose baez and casey anthony have gone their separate ways? >> not altogether surprising. what strikes me is i don't think casey anthony has too many people that she's connected to in her life. she doesn't have much of a support system. she has no relationship with her family. jose baez was probably one of the closest people to her. but apparently she's got some disappointment. he may be done with her, and gayle's got some theories on that. >> there's clearly the minimum, deep conflict about men in her life. and you know, they're either over-idealized, or if that doesn't work out, they become really devalued. you have to wonder about that being behind it. >> ladies, thank you both. let's get a check of the weather now from al. we've got a change temperaturewise, too. we're looking at some cold air

making its way into the plains. single digits. teens and 20s into the central plains, intohe mid mississippi river valley. teens and 20s in northern new england. we've got plenty of sunshine and warmer temperatures through the southwest. >> good morning to you. it's a spare the air day, and we do have laze out there. hazy sunshine will be the case but we're looking good later on. it's cold out there right now. and we're in the moderate range when it comes to air quality but the santa clara valley. temperatures are going from near record lows to near record highs again. >> that's your latest weather. matt? coming up, a 12-year-old girl who used a webcam to catch a thief in action. we'll share her story after this. after this.

t intin everything. when you've had one too many days feeling sad or anxious, aches and pains, fatigue. when it becomes hard to ignore that you need help. that's the day you do something. depression hurts. cymbalta can help with many symptoms of depression. r dolloou yctwa rouht a ou ydepression worsens, you have unusual changes in behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta.

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choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. choosey moms, choose jif. back now at 7:43, with a tech-savvy 12-year-old who used her web camera to catch an alleged thief red-handed. nbc's miguel almaguer joins us with details. miguel, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the pritchards put their house up for sale in august and police say it was their webcam that caught more than a curious house hunter. >> i had it under a bunch of pillows like right over here and i had it kind of, you could see like pretty much my whole room.

>> reporter: 12-year-old hali pritchard suspected a thief all along. >> i thought i would catch my sister. >> reporter: but she got more than she bargained for when she set up her laptop and focused her webcam on the entrance to her bedroom. instead of catching her sister, police say she caught this guy, busted rifling through her drawers and stuffing his pockets. >> i said, oh, my god, there's a guy going through my stuff. >> reporter: place say he made his way into her home during an open house. and when hallie came home a few hours later, she caught him on her laptop. >> i saw my chair was moved and i saw him come through the hallway and went through ply drawers. >> she came down the stairs screaming, somebody ripped us off. really? we looked at the video and it was shocking. >> reporter: the pritchards didn't recognize the man, but police did. douglas john callendrella is a 46-year-old former real estate

agent convicted of stealing before from open houses. two years ago he was arrested for assessing lock boxes to rifle through bay area homes. investigators say when put more than 50 stolen items on ebay, a victim notified police. >> it's shocking the stuff he's taken. especially in this community that's really tight-knit. it's really too bad. >> reporter: the pritchards say he swiped a diamond necklace, a diamond bracelet and some loose change. but they hope to get it all back. thanks to their tween's technology. >> it didn't happen that much like a 12-year-old catch as guy stealing. >> reporter: caught on camera, now callendrella is sitting behind bars. because he was on probation for burglary, police say their suspect is in jail without bail. he'll be back in court later on today. as for the pritchards, ann, they've decided not to sell their house. back to you. >> miguel almaguer, thanks so

much for your reporting this morning. coming up next, the maker of a classic snack files for bankruptcy. could it be the end of twinkies? say it's not so. say it's not so. and we'll be taking you inside beyonce and jay-z's much talked about maternity suite, after this. following that fidelity green line? yeah, but it keeps leading me back to my old office. i think it might be broken. or maybe it's trying to tell you something. yeah, but what could it be -- oh! i left my 401(k) at my old job. and i left a jacket on the back of my door. but i think the line's talking about my 401(k). leave a 401(k) behind? roll it over with the company that's helping more people reach retirement than anyone else. call or come in for a free portfolio review today. ♪ maybe it's the things you do or the things you really want to do. ♪ whatever it is, kfc's new weekend bucket

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and fits our budget perfectly. so there's a brand-new room right where the old one used to be. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. new glidden duo paint plus primer only at the home depot and starting at only $24.97 a gallon. we're back now at 7:49. and how about this -- could we soon see the end of the twinkies? some of america's classic snacks appear to be on thin ice. nbc's john yang is in chicago to explain. john, say it isn't so. >> reporter: well, matt, you know, generations of american school kids have taken twinkies to school in their lunch boxes or in brown paper bags. and now the maker of twinkies and ho hoe hos and wonder bread file ford bankruptcy protection. for baby boomers these spongy cakes are the king of snacks. >> i used to be a pastry chef

for 14 years and i do have it say i have a guilty pleasure for the ho-hos and the twinkies. >> i think of being a kid again. >> reporter: the future of his guilty pleasures may be crumbling. hostess brand has filed for bankruptcy protection to try to take a bite out of rising costs for labor and ingredients. while they reorganize, they say they'll keep store shelves stocked with the 82-year-old product and its cousins, hostess cupcakes, ho-hos and wonder bread. >> the twinky as an icon is too big to fail. we saw so many commercials that it becomes real. >> reporter: the ads were a staple of kids tv for generations. >> yahoo, it's twinkie the kid! >> reporter: despite the push for healthy food, the twinkies ingredient list hasn't changed much.

>> sodium and calcium cesaina temp and red number 40, there you go. >> reporter: recently twinkies sales have sagged buxts overall, big snacks have held steady. even in these health-conscious times. >> if i had a ding-dong or twinkie right now, i'd have to visit the gym, i feel guilty. >> reporter: chefs deep-fry them for dessert and once on "today," ann made twinkie sushi with a group of kids. the appeal? the indescribable, irresistible, melt in your mouth taste. >> i think they're looking for the sweet and fatty sensation. which is what you get from ice cream and other favorite treats. >> it's delicious, you know and the moment you're eating it it's like the best thing in the world. >> reporter: the twinkie lovers take heart. analysts say no matter what happens to the parent company, twinkies are likely to live on. matt? >> john yang in chicago, thanks

very much. that's good news. >> you can buy them and pass them on to your grandchildren. >> you can stash them away. >> people will make lots of purchases in the upcoming weeks. >> how about the snowballs? let's talk about this the story that's come out about beyonce and jay-z's hospital room. there some pictures that have come out that show inside lennox hospital, lennox hill hospital. and it doesn't look like a hospital room at all, actually. >> this is the executive suite that lennox hill reportedly built for -- anyone it could be anyone to come in who could use this. >> hospitals are in business to make money. >> and a lot of them are doing that. >> this is how they compete with other hospitals. >> meanwhile the health department has cleared, opened and closed the case that there's no more complaints. >> no wrongdoing on the part of the hospital, according to new york state health officials. >> and it's got a kitchen. coming up, dolly parton and

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>> good morning. a beautiful live look outside golden gate bridge. the sun is up, hoping to warm things up. we'll check the forecast in a bit. 7:56 now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. the man arrested for the murder of a 14-year-old police santon girl is expected in court. steven carlson is charged with the murder of tina fails. her body was found in april 1984 but the case remained unsolved for 27 years. carlson was charged when dna evidence linked him to the death. a judge decided that he could be tried as an adult for murder even though he was only 16 at the time of that crime. as promised let's check the forecast with christina loren. >> good morning. it's cold out there. you can see your breath this morning. we're headed from record lows to

near record high this is afternoon. in fact, by noon, 63 degreesen san jose, 63 in sunnyvale, 63 degrees in santa rosa. later on, up to 73 in fairfield and gilroy. 68 in san jose. making this the warmest day of the week, then we get that rain chance. looking really promising for showers tuesday into wednesday. that shower chance lasts through thursday of next week as well. let's check your drive now. >> we do have an accident clearing to the shoulder, southbound 680, it's not cleared, we'll see additional slowing off of that walnut creek interchange. 680 at 24 we see that and the slowing through over at this time. slow traffic heading to the caldecott tunnel. a nice drive to the bay bridge toll plaza. typical slowing down the east shore freeway. san mateo, both directions north of 92, slow from the airport into san mateo. continuing down into menlo park. there is the northbound direction for the south bay. >> not so bad. thank you very much.

for the latest check out nbc bay area on facebook. [ male announcer ] get ready for some deli-style delic-ious-ity:

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but i actually just ordered three pairs of this kind. ooooohhhh. oh. when it's on your mind, it's on ebay. happy birthday to the "today show," it's hard to believe that you're 60 years old. you're so new, fresh, sexy and fun. thinking of the history of the "today show," it's like the history of america itself. youth full, glorious, institution. but for me it will be summarized, symbolized and embodied by the beauty and the curve tur of meredith vieira. how i miss her. happy birthday. >> that was great. we miss her, too. thank you so much. for that wonderful rendition. the good news is that she's going to be back here tomorrow, along with katie couric, been ra norville, jane pauley, barbara

walters -- >> just say everybody. >> anyway, we're going to be celebrating. >> woo, what are you doing out here? it's a major windstorm, rainstorm out here. anyway, we're now welcoming the 12th day of january and we're wet. and just ahead, we'll be talking about the most important member of the today show, who is you. >> who is me? >> that's right. >> no, who is you. >> oh, sorry, them. >> i thought it was you, matt. >> no, we talk about the viewers. look at it, it's crazy out here. we asked our viewers to tell us where and how they watch "the today show." our website was flooded and we're flooded. and wait until you see some of the responses. all right. okay. >> i'll just say, let's go inside. >> before we do, we want to say, dolly parton, queen latifah. new movie, "joyful noise" singing, interview, inside, natalie. >> give us the news, natalie.

come on back inside, folks. >> come inside. >> come inside, i'll save you. meanwhile, in the news this morning, some serious news to begin with, the marine corps is investigating a new video that appears to show four marines urinating on the corpses of taliban fighters. the video is graphic, so we'll only show you this still photo with the faces blurred out. marines are allegedly from a sniper team based in camp lejeune and the video is believed to have been shot in afghanistan. meanwhile u.s. officials have condemned the incident and say they are working to authenticate the video and identify the solds. a mane at camp pendleton, california, testified wednesday that his commanding officer ordered violent retaliation before his squad killed 24 iraqi men, women and children in 2005. sergeant sannic dell la cruz was granded immunity in exchange for his testimony about a staff sergeant.

a mississippi judge has temporarily blocked the release of 21 inmates who among 200 pardoned or given medical releases by republican governor, haley barbour, just before his term ended on tuesday. the judge acted on a request by the state's democratic attorney general, who said barbour may have violated the state constitution by failing to give sufficient public notice. president obama is back in washington this morning, after political fundraising events last night in chicago that were expected to raise $2 million. his campaign announced this morning that the president raised more than $68 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 alone compared to republican front-runner, mitt romney's $24 million raised in that same time period. meantime, romney is hitting the campaign trail today, in the next primary state, south carolina. after back-to-back victories in iowa and new hampshire. but his gop rivals are attacking him for his former career as a venture capitalist. now taking a look what is trending today, a quick round of

what has you talking online. four-time winter x games champion, sarah burke is a top search on yahoo and google. the canadian freestyle skier is in a medically-induced coma, she underwent surgery on wednesday for unspecified injuries suffered in a training incident in utah. last night's people's choice awards is topping google trends and katie perry was the biggest winner and also the night's biggest no-show. and take a look at this flight of president obama reciting the lyrics to lady gaga's "born this way" gaining traction on youtube. ♪ i was born that way ♪ i make no mistake ♪ i was born this way >> well the clips were all apparently plucked from an official white house website. that is pretty cool how they do that. 8:04 right now, let's go back outside to al with a check of

the weather. and serious at the same time. >> it is. you got to watch that you got a nice little bear there, huggable henry? >> yes. >> our security guy. >> and you took it from him. >> i did it. now he's wet. >> that's right and you're wet but it's your birthday, what's your name, young lady? >> izzy. >> that's my mom's nickname. happy birthday. let's check your weather, show you our pick city of the day, just happens to be minneapolis, cloudy, windy, cold. highs only in the low teens today. there' l those two storm system wrapping up. rain and snow in new england and the northeast. snow back through chicago. parts of michigan, wisconsin, anywhere from five to eight inches of snow. sunny but chicky back in seattle, 43 and sunshine. we all need to get to miami, it's sunny and 80 degrees. our stage manager, leslie, is about to do a mary poppins,

naso. nas temperatures are climbing. we're going to see the upper 60s, even a few 70s later on today. 68? santa clara. 67 in los gatos. forget about miami, we'll get beautiful weather right here today all of the way through sunday and then things start to change. showers move in tuesday into wednesday. we have a really good rain chance and the whole pattern changes as we head into the midsection of next week. i hope you have a fantastic thursday. that's your latest weather. matt? >> very good. you're about three minutes behind us, al, thanks very much. up next, two stars for the price of one. we'll catch up with dolly parton and queen latifah. dolly, by the way, loved that president obama video. and we're back right after this. speak frankly about something no one wants to talk about. it's time to get real about what happens in the bathroom. stop all the cutesy stuff. and start talking about what you really want from your toilet paper.

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or a fresh fit turkey melt, merely 7 grams of fat each. subway. eat fresh. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. livi ng w ith the pain livi of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... ...could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you... ...with humira.

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music's biggest stars, dolly parton? you get "joyful noise" the name of their new movie. when they play gospel choir singers who don't like each other very much. let's take a look. >> it must really gripe you to find somebody you can't charm. >> well i am who i am. >> maybe you were five procedures ago. >> oh! you want to know what [ muted ] me off? >> not particularly. >> it's your holy than thou, racest self. who gives a [ muted ]. god didn't make plastic surgeons so they could starve. you could use a complete facelift. >> queen latifah, dolly parton. good morning! you want to do that scene over and over again. we got to do that one more time.

>> we didn't even watch it. >> we wish somebody'd throw us a biscuit today. we'd eat it. >> in fact, you got dolly if a headlock right after that. you were the first person in all of time to do that. >> i hope i have that record. you know, i hope it's official. >> this is the story of two women who are in the same choir, who don't like each other very much. in fact, that's kind of an understatement. and one of them gets appointed to head the choir director, and the other one feels like you should have that opportunity. but holy cow, this movie is about more than that. how would you describe it? >> it's about a small town that's suffering from the economy. it's about people running out of money and we've had the choir that we've been competing for years and now we can't afford to do it. and so my character has run the choir, supported the choir with my husband, who is played by chris christopkristofferson

when he passes away suddenly, i think it should be my part. and she takes over because we're both after the same thing, to build up our community. but we don't like each other. because i think it's my job. you tell them. >> that's where the problem is it's not that we hate each other. it's just that we wind up become competitive, because i get the job that she probably should have gotten. and i'm kind of a control freak in this movie, my character. she's a little too wound up. >> right. >> and her character is much more, you know, loose, relaxed and, you know, easy flowing. and so it definitely creates some tension. >> but so as you touch about it, it's about that story and it's also about the economy, it's about the military. it's about mother-daughter relationships. >> about our children. >> you have a speech in this movie to your daughter that every mother watching this will identify, i mean, with a young, growing up, going to be a woman daughter. >> i was scared watching it. i thought, oh my god, i put fear in myself. >> there's great acting. >> i thought about my mom and the conversations we had when i was 17 and when i went through that. and how we overcame that. and it is about those relationships.

because, you know, dolly's character has a young grandson who's going through a couple tough times and he has a crush on my daughter. and so it's that letting go, and she's growing up in front of my eyes. but you know, your daughters are always your babies. you just can't see them as young women, you know, so it's all that kind of stuff happening. but it's a very positive movie and the music is really like so uplifting and this is literally that movie that you'll walk out feeling so good. >> i can say that. i waked out -- >> you saw it. you know. >> i cried a couple times and i walked out feeling great. not only do you two throw down, you mentioned these two young people who play your daughter and your nephew. and they are jeremy jordan and kiki farmer and they threw down. there's kind of a "glee" nature to this movie, would you agree? >> totally agree.

anything to do with music is very uplifting. especially gospel music. so i think people are responding to music these days, because we want our souls to resonate. we need to feel like we need to be lifted up. and this movie does that, i think. >> and people respond so much to you, dolly, because you're so honest. i mean -- >> she's so earthy. >> what is that about? >> what an artificial thing to be so earthy. >> but why is that? like even in the movie you're talking about procedures and you're making the jokes about it. you know, you put that in the movie and you felt comfortable. >> well i've been at it so long. people have watched me grow up and they watched me grow old and they watched me do everything in between. i've been out there for the people. i love the public. i don't think i have to hide anything from them. >> she said, i had high heels in my high chair. that's what she said in a commercial break. and i'll have them in my wheelchair. i was dying laughing. >> that's who i am. i'm not a natural beauty like the two of you. >> oh, come on. don't start with that. >> it's a movie with the two of you at each other's throats.

but actually in truth, you guys really obviously get along so well. >> we love each other. >> what took so long to get you two together for a movie? >> i don't know. i'm sorry it took so long. >> this script is great. >> angela, that's great one of the great girls in the show. she's singing in the choir with us later. and michelle lynch, who did all the great choreography, we had a lot of wonderful people on this show. >> we need to take a couple of months to get off tour so we could make this movie. look, the wheels don't go backwards. that bus is moving -- it's probably outside right now. >> it probably is. >> look for the bus. >> before you get on the bus, i know you'll be performing for us later this morning. we're so excited about that. we're thrilled. congratulations. >> thank you. >> the movie is called "a joyful noise." i loved it. >> yea. >> thank you. coming up next, from your so sofa to the ends of the earth,

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back now at 8:18, with more of our special series, "today and 60." of course, any celebration of our 60th anniversary has to include our real important people. >> we wanted to know how, where and why you watch "today" and the response was overwhelming. take a look. >> in five, four -- >> it starts like this every morning. under bright lights, we talk to the cameras. and somehow, "today" gets beamed to the world. >> if i thought about it, i would probably panic. the second we get on the air. >> hi! >> who's watching "the today show"? 60 years after this flickering image hit the air waves for the first time -- you would be surprised. 25-year-old michael yan is a regular viewer, watching

podcasts of the show on his ipad while he commute on the subway in beijing, china. >> i just love watching "the today show." >> do you ever miss an episode? >> no. >> michael discovered "today" when the program broadcast from the 2008 olympics. and he's been hooked ever since. >> it opens a window for me to america. >> when the sun comes up on laura lambert's ranch in wiggins, colorado, it dawns on her that she's got more than one way -- >> they think they're doing their job. >> to watch "today." this cow girl compete on the rodeo circuit and can't always be home. so she's got a satellite connection on her fancy horse trailer. and, better yet -- >> i can check whatever i need to, the news or the weather. on horseback on my smartphone. >> technology brings "today" to this doctor and her cancer patients at willis knight medical center in shreveport,

louisiana. >> if i can catch the 7:00 a.m. opening and that first news segment, i'm good for the day. but there's always the iphone app. >> dr. fagan catches bits and pieces of "today" while going on rounds. >> i get home, it helps me relate better to the patients. and they want to make sure you're in touch with the world, not just their illness. ♪ >> 20-year-old college student heather mallard gets up and works out with "today" at one of the highest-tech fitness centers in the nation. >> the technology is unbelievable. >> at the university of south florida's new recreation center in tampa, each techno gym machine is connected to the web. heather has been a fan. show since she was little, but has never watched like this. >> it's crazy how far it's come from watching on a big bulky screen to watching it on my own treadmill at the gym. pretty cool. >> thanks to global satellites,

"the today show" has viewers in every corner of the world. >> my name is victoria and i work in turkmenistan. >> victoria is 7,000 miles from home in this land just north of iran. >> i also absolutely get homesick. >> but she sees "the today show" live every night on armed forces television. >> it gives me a slice of home in a remote location where there's not much of any western influence. >> of course, some viewers have a connection with the show that goes beyond technology. >> i was born the same day that "the today show" was born. >> sandy westbrook turns 60, the same day "today" turns 60. >> i've always thought that was special. >> the pennsylvania woman has witnessed many of the biggest events of the past six decades, watching our program. >> the coverage is extensive. and they always treat the hot topics of the day.

>> meg of west allen hurst, new jersey, says "the today show" is like family. because, well, she gave birth to her daughter kate while watching one of my "where in the world" segments. >> i was doing my labor breathing and to look up at matt, smiling and happy in paris, it was very comforting, i guess. ♪ >> and from the city of light, american samantha godden watches "the today show" live at ches francis. >> it's my piece of america every morning. >> with a streaming web connection called slingbox, samantha is ready for our next 60 years. >>. [ speaking foreign language ] >> happy anniversary "today show." and love from paris. >> that's interesting, right? >> wow. to think that you're responsible for somebody's baby. >> ah! >> no, no! >> that's not what she said? >> oh, i'm sorry, i

misunderstood. >> see, that's how things get passed around. >> we'll wrap up with a return of your favorite anchors from your last sick decades. but right now, willard scott. >> we're in the heart of it now. happy days are here again. take a look at our birthday buddies from good old smuckers, how sweet it is. james lehey of darlington, wisconsin, is 102 years old today. his secret to longevity? work on the farm. believe it or not, nothing like that. until i was about 14, i worked on a farm all the time. on the hay wagon. verna burr, of henning, minnesota, 102 years old today. enjoys gardening and reading her bible. i do every night. i thought this -- jesse james, of port saint lucie, florida. i won't try to make a joke about that. he's 101 years old today.

loves gardening, bowling and robbing trains. no, he doesn't. i just threw that in. wood carver. and we have nettie lobsenz, a nice lady from new york, new york. 103, loves opera, her secret to longevity? matzo ball soup. she makes the best in the country and it's delicious. matzo ball soup, hands down. henry litzel. of kings park, new york. is 100 years old today. and a proud retired firefighter. how about that? what a hero, huh? and he loves to be involved at church activities. can't beat that. and finally, bessie griswold of dudley, north carolina. a lot of griswolds up in connecticut. 100 years old, loves reading the bible. her secret to longevity? moderation. and even in moderation, moderation.

that's it. >> all right, willard, thank you so much. coming up, the things you can save money on in 2012. >> but first, we're going to take a look at your local news. and if you're living in the new york area, your soggy weather forecast. good morning to you. 8:26. i'm laura-garcia-cannon. may soon have a way to do that. the california public utilities commission will meet today to consider a proposal that would allow customers to opt out of the smart meter program. resident wos take the option would have to pay a fee of $270 up front, and then $14 a month. some residents have complained that the meters pose a health risk. pg&e insists the meters are safe. time to check the morning commute with mike. we're tracking an accident that happened in the last of the

last report and cleared just in the beginning of this one. we canceled the sig alert. look how slow it is from the 280 interchange. that will have a ripple effect from the south bay and likely more traffic through 101. through menlow park, just a slowdown in both directions. that's pretty good for this area and slow north of there through san mateo expect and the airport very slow approaching the bridge. things are slow there, laura, back to you. >> thank you very much. for the latest traffic and news update, check out facebook. i'll have another update in about a half hour. have a great thursday morning.

it's 8:30 now on a thursday morning, the 12th day of january, 2012. it's a disaster outside. it's pouring, but thank you very much to these few people who stuck around since the wee hours of the morning. now they're just drenched. although it did stop raining for a bit. >> but they're soaked, the bottom line.

>> on the couch i'm matt lauer, along with ann curry, al roker and natalie morales. coming up, what you can get for less in 2012. >> there are a lot of popular things from furniture to gadgets and even wine that will be on sale, we're told. possibly even all year long. so we're going to find out where some of the biggest bargains might be. >> and mark bitman is on sale. >> i'll buy him! how much? >> he wants us to consider eating better by going semi vegan. one night a week. he's going to share some tasty recipes to get us started. >> better for your heart. and queen latifah and dolly parton will be back to perform one of their songs from their new movie, "joyful noise." >> that will be a lot of fun. first let's say hi to josh lucas, the star of the new nbc series, "the firm." and josh is the reason we're inside, he refused to go outside. >> not true, not true.

>> trust matt to throw you under the bus. >> i do not have the wet look by choice. >> so, john grisham was here, the man who wrote the book "the firm." and he called you the movie star in every since of the word. >> i guess because i have to fill tom cruise's shoes, that's probably a nice compliment. >> you've been in a lot of great movies. in this role, you're running, you run, we are looking at the trailer, you're constantly running. do they have to make special suits so you can do all that running, without ripping your pants. >> there's a question of how many hours a day i can run. they decided i could do 12 and i was like, no. i worked it down to about eight hours a day. i no longer have to work, i just go to work. >> jumping, you jump. oh, man! you talk about filling tom cruise's shoes, does that worry you when you got the part? >> what terrified me, it was a great challenge, obviously, the point is to try to make it your

own. but also homage the fact that i think he did a great job. >> congratulations, we know you just got engaged. and supposedly your engagement had something to do with a mountain lion? >> i was doing a movie in big sur, california, we had taken this place up on the side of a cliff in a little trailer. and unbeknownst to us there was a mountain lion who lived up there and me feiancee knew abou that and i dismissed her and one night ended up walking up alone. it was about six feet above me and growled. and i proceeded to do what they say you need to do, i guess when you see a bear. you just go crazy. >> so you -- you proposed? >> it was an interesting moment in my life. i got into the trailer after making it in. and realized in that moment that she was the right woman for me for all sorts of reasons.

like, he said, you were terrified into marriage? >> well, she's a beautiful girl, congratulations, that's nice. >> and by the way, we want to tell people, you can catch a new episode of "the firm" tonight at 10:00 p.m. on nbc. josh, thanks. appreciate it. >> great to have you here. anyway, let's check the weather from mr. roker. tell us more. >> we've got winter weather advisories stretching from marquette, michigan down to northern georgia, as far east as caribou, maine, with snow there. sleet making its way into the mid new england area. sunshine in the pacific northwest. tomorrow we're looking at rain and snow in the northeast, frigid conditions, more snow around the great lakes. cold in the pacific northwest, with air stagnation alerts. sunshine, but cool around the >> good morning to you. time now 8:34. taking a live look, and

completely clear overhead. not only have we been lacking the rain, we've been lacking clouds and warm afternoon. 39 degrees right now in san jose. by noon today up to 63 degrees. you'll be at 64 at noon in gill roadway, and take a look at where we're headed in the heat of the day. 68 degrees in fremont and 67 in los gatos and we have rain in the forecast tuesday into wednesday. don't forget, you want to keep track of your weather, you go to weather channel or weather.com online. up next, from tv to wine, the top things that are going to be on sale in 2012, but

coming up at 8:37, and this morning on today's consumer. saving money. everyone loves a good bargain. while some things will cost you more in 2012, there are a whole list of items that will be less

expensive, at least that's what elizabeth mayhugh says, she's from "women's day" magazine with details on how we can get a deal. we like this information, welcome and good morning. why are some things like for example, even get started with technology, going to be less expensive this year? >> part of it has to do with consumer confidence last year, which was at an all-time low. so there are a lot of models on the market that are coming down in price. and also some things have to do with all the innovations that older models are coming down in price. >> i see. >> starting off, this is a tv, yes, but it's a 3-d hdtv. 3-d did not do as well over christmas as people had hoped. part of it isn't that the tv is more expensive, it's that all of the paraphenalia, the glasses, the 3-d blu-ray, there's already according to dealnews.com. a 33% decrease in price. and it's expected that that could even go lower. >> some of the prices decreases are for all year? or is there a window? >> they can be all year.

certain things, which we'll talk about has windows and to do with a product release. right now it's the consumer electronics show, so a lot of this is dictated by newer models being released there. which will push down prices. let's start out with tablets. tablets across the board, kindle introduced kindle fire, the record price of $199, a great price, forcing all other manufacturers to come if at better prices. and with something like the ipad, there's speculation that ipad 3 will come out. not that it will be at a lower price, but it will affect the secondary market of already-refurbished ipad 2s. >> this is a gps? >> yes, our phones are getting smarter. they're replacing a lot of the things we used to spend money on. the gps is a good example. a stand-alone unit. the other thing is that the integrated systems that go into your cars are often better and less expensive. say it was $170, is now at $60.

>> that's a good deal. >> and if you're comparing. now this is the best deal i would say. >> robert parker, an esteemed connoisseur says this is the year of the buyer. a lot of that is because people were not spending money on the $30 and up last year bottles. so those prices are coming down and you're seeing literally across the board from merchants, sales, big-time. also european, because of the euro, the prices have come down. and that "wine spectator" said look for rhone wines from france. and tuscan wines from italy. the one exception? bordeauxes. >> of course. >> particularly because they're incredible vintage and there haven't been as good vintages lately. and south american wine have gotten better. >> and the e readers, a nook is a good example where their baseline price went from $139, to $99. it's just, catching on and because of it, more and more are

coming out. so prices are falling. sports tickets. >> they're going to get better? >> stub hub has seen like a 20% decrease in prices over the past couple of years. >> why is that? >> a lot of people are staying home because they have awesome tvs and they put in these media rooms and viewing rooms so they're seeing the games in hd and they're seeing stuff better. and in certain places, like in baseball or basketball, there's so many games and because people aren't spending the money on the tickets, they're coming down. >> cameras, how much can we save today? >> again, this has to do with the smartphones. so many smartphones are taking such great pictures. so there's less of a need for a yet another device. and also this is so much tied to the consumer electronics show, which is happening right now. the older models are going to come down in price. this is something you can buy right now where you'll see prices, when you ask about timing. the other thing to buy right now -- furniture. there's two times when new furniture models come out, february and later again in the fall. right now take these pieces from

mitchell gold, the premiere designer, premiere showroom. those prices are 30% to 60% off right now for the month of january. and in some cases, there's an even 20 % discount off of that. off of custom orders. >> you said the prices through february, right? >> this is through january. i think it goes through january 29th is the main sale. then all the new floor models come out in february. this is like two things where if you're going to buy, buy right now. >> who is going to say you've saved us money. we thank you and appreciate it. coming up, semi vegan meals to get you on top of healthier eating from none other than mark bitman. but first, this is "today" on nbc. it smells great, mark!

and this morning on how to cook everything today, a diet of less meat and more plants.

if you want to be better, healthier, why not add a few vegan meals to your rotation? mark bitman is here with recipes, for the semi vegan. that appeared in "the new york times" magazine. and he's the author of the "how to cook everything" cookbook. hey mark, good to see you. we've known each other for a long time. you know this is going to be a bit of an uphill climb for me, because i'm a carnivore. talk to me about what you mean by semi vegan. >> we all know that eating less meat is good for us. >> right. >> we all know we eat too much. there's a study i wrote about in the paper yesterday, that we are as a nation, eating 12% less meat than we were five years ago. >> people aren't doing it and cutting it out cold turkey, no pun intended. >> no. >> they're gradually doing it, right? >> yeah. and that's the idea. no one is talking about it out entirely. i'm talking about shifting the balance in your diet. >> just to be clear, true vegans, no animal products at

all, correct? >> no meat, no dairy, no nothing. but we're not talking about that. i'm just -- trying to encourage people to integrate more meatless main courses. >> maybe one day a week? >> one day a week, whatever. settle what are we making, risotto? >> yes, but with barley. and so it's a little different. we start with sauteed onions, some dried mushrooms of any time you like, you could use fresh mushrooms, too. a little bit of saffron for color, but just a pinch, it's expensive stuff. >> why do you like barley? >> it gets that same kind of creaminess that rice does. and it's a whole grain. so you're getting a higher degree of fiber than you would with white rice. >> easy or hard to cook? >> very easy. this is a 20-minute process or so. you cook the barley, just as you would risotto. you cook the barley until it's kind of glossy. and then -- >> what kind of stock are we going to add to that? >> vegetable stock, because we're being vegan. but actually water. you've got so much flavor in

here from onion and mushroom and saffron, that even water would work. a little bit of white wine. and then you add the stock, a little bit at a time and stir after every, every addition. >> as you said, 20 minutes, start to finish, you're done. >> it's a little bit of work, but pretty easy. let me make this -- >> you don't have to garnish for me, you know that. >> well, okay. i don't have to garnish for you? well i do want to finish it with some other -- >> it's delicious. i will tell you that. >> it's even better now. >> now we move on. next you're going to make a bean burger? nothing says good morning like a bean burger. >> this is what i had for breakfast. >> i thought that was you. what else do we need to know about this? >> that it's a lunch dish, actually. you know, a bean burger is not a hamburger. but the idea that you can make a burger with no meat whatsoever and you know, they look great, you can garnish them like that. >> i was surprised at how few ingredients there are.

it's basically just beans -- >> we can do it, actually. we've got some onion. some cooked white beans, you could use black, red, whatever you like. >> what's this? >> this is oats. and you need it basically for binding to hold it together. >> this is, that's pretty incredible. >> that's the burger, not you, right? >> very funny. >> okay. and a little chili powder. >> could you add some other herbs and spices? >> it could go any direction you want to. and a little water if, if it's too stiff, a little water, if it's not stiff enough. a little more oats. >> you're going to form it into a patty and put it into a pan and fry it? >> right. that's what i'm going to do. and you fry it just like you would a burger. >> i want to taste that real quickly. >> i don't want to take a whole bun one. >> it's going to be hot. >> it is. it's also good, i have to say. real quickly the last one is the

sweet potato soup? >> this is sweet potatoes and apples, curry powder, coconut milk. this is real crowd pleaser, because it's quite sweet, but naturally so. >> this is a side dish or a main course? >> a main course with our barley risotto, for example. and some peanuts and cilantro. you're done. >> the message here, don't give up meat completely, if you don't want to, try a little at a time. you're burning your bean burgers. up next, "joyful noise" from dolly parton and queen latifah. no, seriously, on fire now!

the today concert series on "today," brought to you by toyota. >> uh-huh. that's absolutely right. we talk to the stars of the new movie, "joyful noise," earlier this morning. as promised, dolly parton and queen latifah are back to perform a company by five-time grammy winner, murray warren, the music director from "joyful noise." he's standing behind me. let's say good morning to dolly parton and queen latifah. welcome again. who knew that hip hop and country had an intersection in the two of you? >> uh-oh. >> we never thought about that. we thought it would be, queen

latifah, she's the queen, hip hop, rap, and the movie. she's the queen of her own 'hood, but i'm the queen of dollywood! >> you know you've had such, i was reading through the notes, you two have admired each other -- you have a lot of wow, that's dolly parton moment. >> absolutely. she's, she's, she's always exhibited such confidence and gorgeousness and fabulousness. but humility and humor. so she was someone i always looked up to, growing up and i thought -- if i could just nail, you know, figure it all out, i'll be all right. and own it like that. own it like she does and have such a good time with it, i'll be fine. >> we'll have some good time listening to the two of you this morning. ladies and gentlemen, take a listen to this.

♪ not enough, not enough, not enough love ♪ ♪ not enough, not enough love ♪ there's no room for hating ♪ a heart full of kindness ♪ how long will it take it for that to ring true ♪ ♪ our chances are saving, stop all this blindness ♪ ♪ a new world is waiting for us to breathe new ♪ ♪ so there's not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ about it, let's put it in movement ♪ ♪ our life would be better with just enough love ♪ ♪ so we have decided that sometimes kind of movement ♪ ♪ better when we could have more ♪ ♪ there's not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ not enough love ♪ not enough love ♪ not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ not enough love

♪ not enough trust ♪ and it's going to keep us apart ♪ ♪ there's not enough care ♪ there's not enough sharing ♪ too much meanness ♪ too much double-daring ♪ too much hating ♪ and not enough praying ♪ i'm just saying ♪ it's not enough ♪ it's not enough i often wonder what god must be thinking ♪ ♪ looking down on us, he'd have to be sad ♪ ♪ we better wise up now ♪ before we start sinking ♪ he gave us free choice ♪ but we're messing up bad ♪ there's not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ there's not enough love ♪ there's not enough love ♪ there's not enough love in our hearts ♪ ♪ there's not enough love ♪ there's not enough trust

♪ so we can pass it on ♪ there's not enough caring ♪ why can't we try harder ♪ why can't we do better ♪ like a good start ♪ not enough praying ♪ i'm just saying ♪ i wish there was more love ♪ i'm praying there's not enough ♪ not enough ♪ ♪ not enough ♪ not enough love ♪ not enough ♪ not enough love ♪ not enough ♪ too much crying ♪ too much lying ♪ too much hating ♪ and not enough trying ♪ not enough staying ♪ and too much good-bying ♪ i'm just saying ♪ it's not enough ♪ not enough ♪ not enough not enough love ♪ ♪ not enough ♪ not enough love

♪ not enough love ♪ not enough love ♪ in your heart ♪ not enough love ♪ not enough in your heart ♪ here in our hearts ♪ not enough love ♪ down in our hearts ♪ i'm saying it's not enough ♪ i'm saying it's not enough ♪ i'm saying it's not enough ♪ it's not enough [ applause ] the m >> good morning to you. it's 8:56. i'm laura garcia-cannon. the retail giant is slated to hire 300 people at the new location in fremont. the job fair will be held at the target store in the new park

mall in newark today through saturday. now let's get a look at the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. take a look at where we're headed. the upper 60s and even a few 70s. 68 degree in santa cruz and 69 in redwood city. we do get a very good chance for rain as we head into tuesday and wednesday of next week. showers looking promising for the greater bay area. hope you have a fantastic day.

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we're back, everybody, i just want to wish "the today show," a happy 60th anniversary, hope you guys have great one and i love you and i'll be back. >> all right. we're 43 years older than he is. that's amazing. back now with more of "today" on a thursday morning, 12th day of january, 2012, thanks a lot to justin bieber for wishing us well during this 60th anniversary week. we have a big celebration tomorrow. toasting six decades of "today," i love saying this, with all the former hosts of the program. coming back, they will be live in the studio. and we'll be talking about some of the highlights of those six decades, i'm matt lauer, along with ann curry, savannah guthrie

and al roker. >> and we're looking forward to tomorrow. coming up in this half hour, we'll be head to peru to talk about a serious story, where joran van der sloot is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow, and after pleading guilty on wednesday to murdering a young peruvian woman there. the dutchman is also suspected in the disappearance of natalee holloway, as we all may remember back in aruba in 2005. so how much prison time he may be facing, we'll get the latest on that story, coming up. and later on in today's real estate, we'll take you on a tour of some of the great open houses all across our country, from vermont, to virginia, mississippi, barbara corcoran picked out gorgeous homes that are priced just right. and what's in a name? apparently quite a bit if you're a celebrity. the hot baby name this week is blue ivy. that is jay-z and beyonce's baby girl. what about suri or shiloh or harper? hollywood couples like to give unique names to their bundles of

joy. how do you feel about them? we'll take a look at an online poll. people feel strongly about these names. >> you have to wonder how the child feels about it later in life. i like blue ivy. let's check the so top stories of the morning from natalie at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. the marine corps is investigating an inflammatory new video that appears to show four marines urinating on the corpses of taliban fighters. the video is graphic, so we will only show you this still frame with the faces blurred out. and now u.s. military officials have identified the four, saying they are part of a sniper team based in camp lejeune, north carolina and the video is believed to have been shot in afghanistan. officials in the u.s. and afghanistan have condemned the incident. the republican presidential candidates are working overtime in south carolina, hitting the campaign trail nine days ahead of the next primary. meantime, front-runner mitt romney and ron paul are getting an early start on the january 31st primary in florida. both candidates are pushing for

some 424,000 republican absentee voters to cast early ballots for them. joran van der sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway, will be sentenced tomorrow in a different case, he has confessed to murdering a young woman in peru. nbc's lilia luciano is in lima, peru with details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, natalie. joran van der sloot has been behind bars here in lima for 19 months. this morning, he awaits sentence after pleading guilty to murder. a guilty plea, and then an apology. seeming calm and confident, joran van der sloot told the judge he was responsible for the murder of 21-year-old stephany flores. >> reporter: i regret what i did, van der sloot said in broken spanish, adding he felt very bad about it. outside, a cluster of protesters shouted "killer" and demanded justice.

the hotel worker found flores dead in van der sloot's room 19 months ago. police say she was murdered exactly five years to the day that natalee holloway went missing in aruba. van der sloot has always denied any wrongdoing in the holloway case. and authorities in aruba never found enough evidence to charge him. but in peru, there was no lack of evidence, legal experts say. and the state's confession to peruvian police, van der sloot describes beating and strangling flores to death. >> the most overwhelming piece of evidence was his own testimony. that was not a random act like he initially said and it was basically premeditated. >> reporter: the evidence also included surveillance video, seen together walking into his room. hours later, he walks out by himself. prosecutors say leaving stephanie's lifeless body inside. prosecutors seek a 30-year sentence for the citizen. going by your experience, how long do you think he'll serve? >> if he were to be sentenced to

30 years, he'll probably end up serving seven to nine years, given the overcrowded conditions. >> reporter: joran van der sloot's lawyer told the judge he was suffering from post traumatic stress stemming from the constant questioning from the natalee holloway case. holloway's parents hope this will move their quest for justice forward. >> the holloways continue to cooperate with all the law enforcement agencies and remain hopeful that someday, someone will be held accountable and brought to justice. here in alabama. >> reporter: today, an alabama judge is scheduled to decide whether to declare natalee holloway dead. here in peru, van der sloot will be sentenced tomorrow morning for the murder of stephany flores. natalie? >> lilia luciano in peru, thank you. no more surprises when it comes to the extra fees you pay when you fly. according to transportation department will now require that

airlines advertise prices, including those hefty taxes and fees, that can add more than 20% to the original fare. airlines are fighting the new rules, though, saying that other industries are not required to include taxes in their advertised prices. new york state health officials have dismissed complaints that some new parents were mistreated at lennox hill hospital during the high-profile birth of beyonce and jay-z's daughter. the hospital is still investigating. meanwhile, we're now getting our first look inside the luxury maternity suite where beyonce gave birth. the hospital denies reports that the power couple paid $1 million to take over the entire floor and have the suite renovated. and if you're bored with your cooking routine, take a look at what composer steven j. anderson did to his kitchen. he wired appliances, bowls and utensils to electronic gadgets to prove that synthesizer music sounds better when it's homemade. take a listen. ♪

♪ those are the sweet sounds of static electricity, great idea for anyone who has been learning to play the cheese grater. it's now seven minutes past the hour. back over to you. very creative. >> i wish i had that kind of time on my hands. >> a lot of free time. >> good for him, though. let's get a check of the weather from mr. roker. >> that guy has to wire up williams-sonoma. as we check out your weather for today, we've got a mess going on. we've got winter storm warnings, watches, advisories, winter weather advisories all the way from marquette, down to northern georgia, as far east as caribou. triple-barrel low pressure bringing snow and rain here in the northeast. snow back to the great lakes as well. as you can see, we've got a lot of the activity starting off as snow in new england, changing to rain as you come further south. snowfall amounts anywhere from three to 12 inches of snow from

the adirondacks, green and white mountains and out west, chicago, four to eight inches of snow, up to six in milwaukee, four in green bay, six to nine inches in >> good morning to you. time now 9:08. take a look at this beautiful sunrise over the city by the bay. old glory there blowing in the breeze. you have light winds out there, but still staying on the cool side. just wait until you hit noon. we'll jump into the 40s into the 60s in some cities. 62 in livermore. 63 in santa rosa. 73 in fairfield, as we head through the weekend things start to change. rain moves in by midweek. ♪ now, today's real estate. what you can get for under $400,000. from a southern charmer to a northwest mountain escape, great homes that might inspire you to do a little house-hunting.

our today real estate contributor, barbara corcoran is here with more. the community in hernando, mississippi say they're the community where community always comes first. a four-bedroom, four-bath home. >> you're right about that, what's great about hernando, they have lots of reasons to bring people together. they have the christmas, the fourth of july parades, movie and sunset concerts in the historic square. they love each other and they make sure they spend a lot of time together. this is a massive brick house with over 3,500 square feet. what it is crying out for in the front, is a big old tree. it needs a tree to ground that house. so the living room has wood fors and a fancy wrought-iron bannister. the kitchen has granite counters, black wood cabinets and a tile backsplash. the dining room has w wainscotting. the great room has high ceiling, gleaming wood floors and french

doors to the back deck. the back yard is landscaped with a covered patio and drapes that block the sun, which you needs in that part of the country, mississippi. >> the second-largest banking hub after new york city was charlotte, north carolina. >> i was surprised to find that out. what this area also claims to have is more scotch-irish ancestors than anywhere else in america. this house looks gorgeous. i love the flowering trees. the kitchen has wood floors and an island and a breakfast area, a nice bay window there, makes the kitchen. and the open arch entry and columns frame the formal dining room. the family room has glossy wood floors and transoms over the extra-tall windows, you'll see that in just a minute. and the windows look high, but when you look at the lefthand side, it needs crown moulding. the carpeted master bedroom has

big windows and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. and the private back yard is like an oasis, you can almost hear the birds singing, there's a wood deck and a fancy cabana. not a bad spot to hang out. richmond, virginia, a nice four-bedroom, four-bath home for $379,000. >> richmond is the state capital, that is everyone knows and it's also the capital of the confederacy during the civil war. it's loaded with historic homes all over the place. this home is on a private cul-de-sac with a long driveway, within walking distance of the pristine james river. the kitchen feels cozy with the cherry cabinets, granite countertops with an island breakfast bar with a wine cooler tucked in. the simple dining room is desperate for another window. they could stick another one in for only $400 and it would increase the value by $4,000. the living room windows are on all sides, very different and also has a beam vaulted ceiling.

the master bedroom has a perfect niche for the bed against a bank of sunny windows and out back, there's a screen porch with a big wood deck. and the white cement between those bricks is so white i think somebody sat there and scrubbed it for 15 weeks to make it look so white. i've never seen bricks more clean than that. >> if you like mountain views, the next place is in bend, 0o r oregon, a home in the eastern foothills, this one is $389, 900. bend is east of oregon's cascade mountains and that's what gives the area its breathtaking beauty. this used to be a mill town. this is a town home, which shares a common wall with its neighbor. but with its snazzy federal style architecture, it looks really just like a louse on the outside. it has three full master suites, so when your kids want to come back home, there's plenty of room. the kitchen is gigantic, i think we looked at that, we're on the dining room, it's elegant with an arched window, wide

baseboards and wood floors. the living room has a brick fireplace and oversized windows and there's a bonus room at the top of the stairs set up as an office, you can use as anything. and out back, a shaded patio with pretty landscaping. >> and a three-bedroom in manchester center, vermont. >> it sits at the base of mount equinox, 4,000 feet high. a classic vermont cape comes with three huge acres ever land. the kitchen feels peaceful, inside, with white wood cabinets and turquoise walls, clean, simple, really works. the dining room has a picture window that takes full advantage of the spectacular mountain views. the living room has a raise ceiling with barn beams and a tiny old-fashioned propane stove on the back wall? i never saw anything like that in my life. >> i think it's a wood burner. >> it's a pellet stove. >> the sunny yellow guest room is like being in a bird's nest with treetop views, who wouldn't be comfortable in that room.

the ponderosa-style fencing out back corrals the willow tree, birches, apples and lilacs. only $399,000. >> very nice. barbara corcoran, good to see you. still ahead on the heels of beyonce and jay-z's baby joy, we'll look at hot celebrity baby names. and then later on, say it ain't so -- twinkies and ho hos no more? this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in. why se ttle for a one-note cereal?

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today's moms is brought to you by vicks cough and cold medicine, nature fusion. flavored are real honey. this morning on today's moms, celebrity baby names, love them or hate them, they're always a hot topic. >> we love to debate these names. which hollywood couple got it right. we have a contributor to "baby.com." >> all right, the one that's now swirling through the twitterverse in the world, blue ivy carter. only a few days old and already a big name. >> a big name this year, a name that everyone is talking about. we're all sort of wondering where they got it from. but the clues are all there. jay-z, three of his albums have been named "blueprint." his recent song, which he talked about blue i'vy. he makes a reference to the blue sky that could be a reference of dreaming big.

and ivy is the roman numeral four they both have a tattoo with that and they're both born on the fourth day of their birthday month. >> now baby center polled nearly 3,000 moms with their favorite celebrity names. let's go through the top five. as we see them. number one being -- >> number one is harper seven. number two is aiden, three is lee many james and willow sage and araabella lee. >> and a lot of celebrities love this name. and this is actually -- it is actually the fastest growing name of the year, harper. harper seven is again, there's a trend with that name. like ivy in that they use numbers. and so, it's sort of a trend that we're seeing this year. harper is the fastest-growing name. it's climbed 34 spots since the

last year. it's a name that all people are really using. >> and pink and corey hart have willow sage. >> they have willow sage. and arabella rose and that's ivanka trump and jerry kushner. we're seeing a trend with colors. and parents these days told us that they really choose their names based on how they sound and their uniqueness. and all of these names sort of fit in with that. >> i wonder if celebrities feel they have to come up with some really unusual name. i mean it's almost like the name is an accessory to them. which is kind of weird. do you think that there's some pressure to have a really special name for a child? >> i think that people are going with names that have sent mental value to them. and also again, i think celebrities aren't that different with the trends that we're seeing. in what all people use to name their children, which is again, how it sounds and uniqueness. it's important to everybody. >> people also feel very passionately about the celebrity

names they don't like. >> that's right. >> let's get to those. first up is bear blu is one of them. moroccan scott, and agnes clark. bear blu, alisha silverstone's little one. >> that's in line what was the least-favorite name last year. which was betty blu, jamie oliver's baby. so we see, people are telling us that they like names that sound strong. so maybe parents didn't think that that sounded strong. and then moroccan, we go back to that's mariah carey and nick cannon's baby. we go back to the sent mental value. mariah's room in her house is called the moroccan room, inspired by moroccan design. scott is nick cannon's middle name. it had sent mental value to them. >> i like agnes. >> and we should point out there are a lot of celebrities whose

children have more conventional names. >> traditional names. >> but they wouldn't be in this poll. >> because everyone likes them. >> and agnes is on the rise, actually. it is not one of our favorites this year. it rose 57%. >> there you go. >> now let's talk about some baby bumps. a lot of hollywood baby bumps out there. bruce willis, emma hemming, reportedly due any minute there. >> and bruce has three daughters with very unique names, scout, tallulah and rumer and jennifer garner and ben affleck, are expecting and their daughters are violet. so we're looking for them to inspire or predict popular names moving forward. we do know that 50% of our parents surveyed do look at celebrities for names. >> all right. >> those are the ones we're watching. >> one way we're talking about celebrities do. thanks. after the break, coming up,

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>> this is "today in the bay." >> good morning. it's 9:26. i'm marlo tellez. the man caught in a sting operation will be in court. har harry pricher. police say it is former realtor douglas john callandrella. in the video he's seen rummaging through her drawers. police have charged him with first degree burglary. he will be in court this morning. a report out this morning said foreclosure filings dropped in 2011 in most bay area

counties. more than 20% were in alameda, contra costa, santa clara and san mateo counties. the drop is due to an increasing number of short sales and more loan modifications. >> this morning the cal trans manager fired during the bay bridge inspection scandal is demanding his job back. brian lebich supervised safety testing on the bay bridge. he was fired in a sacramento bee report. he denied any wrongdoing. e'll have a look at the weather and the traffic after the break. welcome back.

the time now 9:28. beautiful look here. you can see old glory blowing in the breeze. no clouds to be found in the skies. temperatures are climbing as a result. by noon we'll be in the mid-60s in the mid city rounding out the day in mid-70s in gill roadway

and fairfield, out to 70 degrees in santa rosa. we broke a low temperature record and a high temperature record the same day. let's check the traffic with mike. >> we have a sig alert that's been reissued north 880, around 227. there's a toyota and a honda dealership and one of those is less separated from the roadway because the chain link fence has been taken out. no one injured, but they'll have to block a lane and do some work there and that's keeping it slow, and still slow past the coliseum as well through downtown, marlo, but things are starting to move better at the toll plaza. back to you. >> thanks, mike. we'll be back with you with another update and we'll see you at 9:56.

"today show" is turning 60. i wonder how that feels? >> that's a long time. that's almost as old as me. >> happy 60th anniversary. i'm older than you. >> 6 o0 years of great broadcasting and may there be 60 years more. >> aw, so sweet, our thanks to judge judy, bill cosby, elton john. tomorrow, have you heard -- we're celebrating 60 years of "today" with a special reunion of all the people that you've woken up with all these years. plus, much, much more. and in fact after the show we're heading over to the empire state building. we've got a pretty shot of that right now.

>> great. >> we're going to go light it up in our colors. and it will look much better because the clouds are going to move out. and the rainbow will break out. >> the skies will part. >> and the sun will shine. >> it's going to look great tonight. >> if you're in the new york area, look up at the empire state building, you'll see our red, orange, yellow iconic colors. >> the new year a good time to try out new beauty products. bobbie thomas is out with her best buys from your hair to nails to lips. the best products of 2012. >> what's that. >> she's exfoliating. >> or she's got a dremel drill. and we've probably had a cupcake or ding-dong. icons of the american treat, hostess snacks, the company has filed for bankruptcy. does that mean the twinkie could go the way of the dodo? say it ain't so.

and we're saving you time in the kitchen with three suppers all in one skillet, all the i ingredients to make that fast and easy. >> let's show you what's happening for today. rain in the northeast with snow through new england. also around the western great lakes, sunshine, but cool in the pacific northwest. windy from the southeast into the gulf coast. for tomorrow, we're looking for snow, lake snow showers, the eastern great lakes could pick up a few more inches of snow. frigid conditions in the plains. plenty of sunshine working through the southwest. but cool from texas on into the gulf coast. that's what's goin good thursday morning to you. 9:32 now, taking a live look over the city of san jose. you can see the haze. it's the unhealthiest of air quality in the lower levels. as we head into the afternoon we'll see a very comfortable day. 67 in los gatos. up to 70 degrees in santa rosa

and the other good news i have to bring to the table we finally get a really good rain chance tuesday into wednesday. we'll see widespread showers wednesday over the greater bay area. and that's your latest weather. where is elizabeth burke? that's the burning question these days, thanks to the usa network's hit show, "white collar." and she plays the wife of an fbi agent. in last season, things weren't looking so good for her. tiffany, good morning. there was spots of blood on the carpet. >> it was tomato sauce. >> okay. >> it made it look like it a little bit. >> but so we're left wondering, what's happened, i know you're not going to tell us. >> i can't tell you. it's a big episode that comes up next week on january 17th. on usa. and i can definitely promise you that it's an action-packed, very fulfilling episode. >> the show is really getting into the social network aspect. there's a website called where

is elizabeth burke. do you look at it? >> i do i think it's funny. there's great little tidbits every day. >> viewers are giving i way clues. >> are the clues hard? >> the clues are pretty hard. >> we just did a segment on celebrity baby names, you were ahead of the trend. you have a beautiful little girl, you have harper. you've been away from her for two days. >> i have. >> first time. >> first time. hard on a mom, it's the first time. so i'm looking forward to going home tonight. >> she's adorable, very cute. >> she's a cutie. >> well, tiffany, you seem to be doing well. your character? we'll find out. you leave us hanging. >> tiffany, thanks so much. "white collar" returns next tuesday on usa. coming up next, bobbie thomas has the best new beauty products of 2012 and the year is just getting started. right after this. [ female announcer ] therese uses dove. molly, ordinary soap.

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[ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do. aflac! pays cash so we don't have to fret. [ together ] ♪ something families should get ♪ ♪ like a safety net ♪ even helps pay deductibles, so cover your back, get... ♪ a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aflac! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ beatboxing ] this morning on bobbie's style buzz, the best beauty buys for the new year. today's style editor, bobbie thomas is here with some of her top picks for your face, lips, nails and hair. good morning to you. 2012, why not get new stuff, right? >> there's holots of new stuff d i'm excited. >> let's start with skin and what you call skinnovations. >> there are lots of new

products popping up on the market. dr. dennis gross came up with a new sunshine in a bottle. an active vitamin d serum. the first topical d serum that will help to penetrate, minimize pores and give us the elasticity and the little glow. >> it gives a little color? >> no, not color, a little bit of an oil emulsion, it's great so far. >> what do we have here? >> this is kind of cool from romy, digital foundation, everything is trying to go high-tech. if you try this out, this is going to pat, it doesn't just vibrate. you can try this on your face. what it does is the foundation is inside. there's no foundation in there right now. >> it's not working, bobbie. >> the patting motion 5,000 times per minute. so it's trying to mimic the professional way of like when they use a stippling process. it really does give a smoother application. i do like it a little better than airbrushing, it's kind of

cool. and it starts for around $39.95. >> it feels like i'm shaving right now. >> another sort of skin treatment, hyaluronic acid retains water. after you put the serum on in the starter kid for their eye systems, you use these patches to enable the microcurrents and you wear it for 40 minutes, they claim that the microcurrents will help the acid penetrate deeper into your skin. >> really? >> i have to say that, in the salon professional services do use microcurrents and have great results. this is something at home, you can try it. >> how much is it? >> it starts at $129 for the whole kit. treatment-based. >> let's get to lipsticks. >> you call this almost lipsticks. >> for over 40 years, black honey was clinique's best

selling color. they sell one lipstick of the black honey every two minutes. >> really? >> really popular. >> if you look at this, it looks like it's black. but cool part of this is that it's sheer. and can you layer this as much as you want. they just launched, because of the popularity of this formulation, and the color, seven new honey colors. you can try that. >> what's this? >> cover girl, pat mcgraph is one of my favorite beauty wizards behind the catwalk. so she created this flip stick. they're meant to be layered and she's included the tangerine color that's going to be so big this year. those are fun to get different lip colors. >> and affordable at the drug store. >> at-home manicure kit. they better be easy. >> they are, and the big buzz has been gel manicures the past year. because i have them on my hands, they last this is just like nail polish the way it's applied. and they'll last for up to two, i've worn it for months, a months without chipping, it helps your nails stay strong and

in order to remove it you soak cotton swabs with acetone and they'll kind of slide off. now you don't have to go to the salon to pay about $50 or more for an application you can buy one starter kit for about $60, it comes with the color and the mini lights which helps cure it and bakes it on. it's only a few minutes and you don't haveny nicks or scratches because it's hard. it's red carpet manicure, they were the first to offer this. and now even drug stores like cvs will be carrying lines like sensational. >> does it come with the -- >> you can't just try to take it off the normal way. >> it comes with everything, primers, base coats and top coats, it's really easy, i did it last night. >> and you apply this -- good. here we've got hair. what do we have here? >> i really like some of the new products out. ojon has delivered a

straightening system that's a safe alternative, that are controversy-free. this is something you can do at home. and for one 90-minute treatment, up to 30 shampoos this will keep your hair straight. i had an issue with hair loss because i was stripping it so much, so i was looking for solutions to make my hair thicker and aveda has come out with a good system for men and women dealing with hair loss. there are lot of new companies looking into this category. nioxin is another good brand. obviously on other website you can find other articles i've written about that. this is is a first for mass market, a lot of high-end corrections don't use alcohol. and l'oreal's everstyle, it's a complete styling collection for your hair, which is great. >> and this is amazing. >> goody is coming ott in march with this new brunch. it claims to help reduce water

by 30%. there's microfibers in between the bristles, so when you brush your hair, you'll brush the water out of your hair and dry time is faster and less damage. >> why is it 2012 and we're just getting something like this? >> goody has a great idea. >> i love it. bobbie thomas, great ideas, it's all on the website. coming up, is it the end of the line for the twinkie? we hope not. we'll find out after this. [ woman ] for months, i had this deep pain all over my body. it just wouldn't go away. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia -- thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and for some people, it can work in as early as the first week of treatment. so now i can plan my days and accomplish more. lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

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does your makeup do that? why se ttle does your makeup do that? for a why se one-note cereal? ♪ more, more, more... get more with honey bunches of oats 4 nutritious grains come together for more taste, more healthy satisfaction. get more with honey bunches of oats. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. needs long term relief. eucerin calming creme. it soothes dry, itchy skin with a triple-acting formula. no wonder calm, comfortable skin starts with eucerin.

♪ sunlight says get up and go ♪ mountain-grown aroma coming through ♪ ♪ a new challenge waits for you ♪ ♪ ♪ jumpin' into something new ♪ you really see all you can do ♪ ♪ ♪ the best part of wakin' up ♪ is folgers in your cup some of america's classic snacks and baked goods could be on thin ice. hostess brands has filed for bankruptcy. we say good-bye to twinkies and wonder bread? nbc's john yang takes a look. >> for baby boomers, these spongy, golden, cream-filled cakes are the king of snacks. >> i used to be a pastry chef for 14 years, and i do have it say i have a guilty pleasure for

the ho hos and the twinkies. >> i think of being a kid again. >> the future of these guilty pleasures may be crumbling. hostess brands has filed for bankruptcy protection, to try take a bite out of rising costs for labor and ingreed yeths. while they reorganize, they say they'll keep store shelves stocked with the product. >> the twinkie as an icon is too big to fail. we all want to hold on to those memories, we saw so many commercials that that nostalgia becomes real. >> you get a big delight in every bite of hostess twinkies. >> those ads were a staple of kids' tv for generations. >> yahoo! >> it's twinkie the kid. >> despite the push for healthier foods, the twinkies' long list of ingredients hasn't changed much. steve eplinger is the author of "foods deconstructed."

>> recently, twinkies sales have sagged, but overall, big snacks have held steady even in these health-conscious times. >> if i had a dong-dong on or twinkie right now, i'd have to visit the gym. i feel guilty. >> chefs deep-fry them for dessert. and once on "today," ann made twinkie sushi with a group of kids. >> twinkie sushi, you call it? >> yes. >> the appeal, that indescribable, irresistible, melt in your mouth taste. >> they're looking for the sweet and fatty sensation, which is what you get from ice cream and other favorite treats. >> it's delicious and the moment you're eating it, it's like the best thing in the world. >> reporter: for "today," john yang, nbc news in chicago. >> they'll still be as good, 60 years from "today." yum. coming up, supper in the skillet. but first this is "today" on nbc.

today's kitchen is brought to you by folgers, the best part of waking up is folgers in your cup. well this morning on today's kitchen, what's for dinner? i'm like al, hello, that's your line. >> it's supper surprise! >> al was gone all week, i'm a little rusty. >> it takes hours to prepare, but they're easy to put together any night of the week. >> that's right. >> natalie? >> yes. >> chris kimball has three recipes in the illustrated cookbook. chris, good morning. >> what happened to my segment? >> you make fun of me, every time. >> we're going it make it easy for people at home right now. everybody has got one of their recipes. >> go to your pan. >> go to your room. >> lasagna. >> in one pan? >> it's usually two or three hours, three or four pans and it tastes twice-cooked. this is the best recipe i've

ever done on a show. 20 minutes from start to finish. >> he's a modest guy. >> the book that came out, this is it. >> mix a little onion and garlic, get the pink out and we have regular lasagna noodles, ten, broken up. >> not the no boil? >> just the plain old. >> and a can of tomatoes with a little extra water on top. >> uh-oh, savannah, don't burn the house down. >> it's burning. >> you don't know, this is hazard happening back here. >> well, it's this is a cooking lesson, that's why i'm here. and that's tomato paste. >> tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and we'll actually cover this and let this cook for about 20 minutes. >> and then this is what you have here. the reveal. voila. >> a little parmesan goes on, okay? >> rather than mozzarella. and a little ricotta, which we have about a cup of that. we do it in nice blobs, okay? >> delicious. >> and we're going to put the

top on and let it sit for five minutes, okay? >> okay. >> like that. >> and we'll let it sit without the heat. >> and move it over to al. and put a little basil on top and there you go. >> the second greatest recipe you've ever done is this shrimp and price. absolutely. >> we start with large shrimp, a pound and a half and saute them, with the tails on. >> with the tails on, a little pepper, heads off, tails on. >> is that a book? a movie. >> a little paprika and salt and oil. 30 seconds a side. take it out of the pan, don't overcook. >> and next some diced onion. >> a little chorizo, a little onion, garlic. a cup and a half of rice goes in. medium-grain. a little clam juice. and two cups of water. so this is like a quick paella. and 14 ounces -- >> diced tomato? >> yes.

and you can do it on top of the stove. it works great in the oven for 20 minutes at 350. >> and add some frozen peas, the shrimp goes back in, you're done. >> the third greatest recipe? >> the best for last. chicken and potatoes. >> a pound of red potatoes, microwaved them in a little olive oil for about four or five minutes. >> why do you nuke them? >> because we're going to saute them in the pan to brown them. and they'll be precooked. four chicken fillets, a little salt and flour. dredge them. >> dredge away and put it in a little oil in the hot pan, got it. >> okay. then what. >> the potatoes, you take the chicken out. a switch of the pan. put the potatoes in and get them nice and brown. take those out. >> you have some brats? >> and then -- >> chicken stock, lemon juice. sage. we put this up. >> and three of the greatest recipes chris kimball has ever

one woman, one powerful savings tool, one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. >> this is "today in the bay." good morning. it's th9:56.

i'm marlo tellez. >> the registration just opened at 9:00 for kindergarten classes at don qallah john school. there are four kindergarten classes with 121 seats and a first come first served demand for spots and parents want to make sure their kids aren't shut out. >> i want my daughter and our children to go to our neighborhood school. i want to be able to walk. i grew up in a school like that, and that's what i want. and i have a great, great, wonderful community. and if i'm going to live here i'm sending my kid to the school that's in my neighborhood. i don't want to go anywhere else. >> there are a lot of children in that neighborhood which has led to overcrowding at that school. let's check that forecast with meteorologist christina loren. another clear, dry day, clear at the coast and temperatures near record levels as we round out the day. 68 degrees in fremont and 66 in oakland and 63 in san francisco.

if you're leaving right now, grab a jacket and it's still cold out there. things start to change. more clouds roll in monday. showers develop up in the north bay tuesday and then the whole bay area has a good chance of rain. i'm forecasting showers right here in san jose and snow levels at 7,000 feet. let's talk about your drive. >> we have the sig alert northbound 880 and the earlier accident, has fencing repair which leaves one connector closed until about 10:15 or 10:30. we'll continue to track that throughout the morning cut-ins. we have an accident, an overturned dump truck over on its side, about montague. chp's report and that's quick from what the original report was. 880 coming fast in the coliseum. smooth drive past the coliseum, just a little slowing through downtown and once you get to the toll plaza, no problems. >> thank you, mike. for the latest traffic and news

updates find us on facebook and search nbc news bay area. sign up so you can wish mike a happy birthday. happy birthday, mike! [ high-pitched voice ] thanks. [ normal voice ] you're welcome. get a free quote at progressive.com.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> from nbc news, this is "today" with kathy lee gifford and hoda kotb. >> it's first day, thursday, january 12th, first day voting for our cutest pet contest which we're going to get to in just a minute. >> kathy lee and i spent a record number of hours together yesterday from 7:30 a.m. in the makeup room until 9:30 at night. >> and we're still talking. >> that lasted longer than some

marriages do. >> we had fun. what was really fun was capped off at the very end of the night when usually you're losing steam and stuff. we had a nice little dinner, didn't we? >> we did. the other day we were sitting in the dressing room minding our own business, makeup room. when matt walks in and goes i need you two on wednesday night. why? what? i need you to go to dinner with me. we go, why? like matt can't get somebody to go to dinner with him? he says because i'm having a dinner with somebody and i was told to bring some fisticuffs. we ended up having dinner with tom hanks at a great little restaurant on the east side. that was jim belio who really wasn't invited but he showed up. what are you going to say when your executive producer shows up. >> there was a lot of hilarity. tom hanks is so down to earth and unaffected by all of his success. >> we've been interviewing him

for years and years. the one thing that has always been there with him is this beautiful sense of humility. i've forgotten how many oscars he's won or awards eaves he's received. you don't see that. he had me at hello. didn't know we were coming. he looked at me and goes you brought a 19-year-old intern. that's right. anyway, we had a ball. >> very nice time. and tom hanks actually helped you mend fences with your own son. >> how about that? >> that does not happen every day. >> what does this man not do for others. cody has just started an internship in los angeles that he's excited about. i've been trying to reach him all week long. how's it going? final semester in film school looking towards his future. i'm a mother i want to know. crickets crickets nothing. around 5:00 yesterday i'm at his apartment getting ready and i go, i texted him. i did. having dinner with tom hanks tonight.

boom. >> so if you're having trouble etch rouxing out to your children, just lie to them. he thought it was a lie at first. i told him so. but, no, years ago, i think i've told this story about when ron howard and tom hanks were doing "the da vinci code" in paris, we were blessed to be on the set one night. cody was under the tarp with ron howard with 32 playback machines, watching the escape from the louvre from that movie. tom was hanging around waiting to film scenes an stuff. cody knew that night that's what he wanted to do. i've always been indebted to ron howard. and you know, it's late, it's 1:30 in the morning like tom wants to talk to a teenage kid, he was 14, i think -- >> but he changed cody's life. >> he was so sweet to cody. you never forget the people that were kind like that. >> here's the weird thing with a lot of young kids and their parents or people in general

lately, nobody talks anymore, because they're texting and they're facebooking. they figure they know what's going on. i already saw the picture, i don't need to hear it, blah, blah, blah. i was thinking about the movie "he's just not that into you." there's a scene where the drew barrymore character is walking through the aisle of a grocery store. she's upset because this guy hasn't called or texted her back. >> she's used every means possible. >> this nutshells the problem everyone is having with communication. take a look. >> it's not just texting. it's e-mail, voicemail, snail mail. that's regular mail. none of it's working. i had this guy leave me a voicemail at work. i called him at home and then he e-mailed me to my blackberry. i texted to his cell and then he e-mailed me to my home account and the whole thing got out of control. and i missed the days where you had one phone number and one answering machine. and that one answering machine housed one ka set tape and that

one ka set tape either had a message from the guy or it didn't. now you just have to go around checking all these different portals to get rejected by seven different technologies. it's exhausting. >> that's why i don't do it. stay away. >> yep, yep, yep. the irony of it is we're communicating more through portals, as she calls them. and actually not connecting at all with one another. >> yes. >> when i got that text from cody are you getting -- i picked up the phone. i said i've got him now. >> he's yours. >> how about when you text someone, you're in a texting thing and you finally are so sick of texting, you call them and they don't answer. you know they're there. >> she talked about snail mail. snail mail is still important. next thursday, a week from today, hoda woman has to finally go to jury duty. >> or else they're dragging her off to guantanamo bay.

>> you go to rikers, not guantanamo. >> only rikers. >> only rikers. >> we'll see. there's a big announcement to be made. that's who is going to be my co-host. my sister blew it and she knows it. next week sitting in hoda's chair will be none other than my mother. i can hear people going, what? my mother happens to be the funniest woman on the planet. she just doesn't know it. a week from today, tune in to see joni. joni epstien. and regis philbin will be here with us for practically the entire show. >> the people's choice awares were last night. one of our favorites won one. i don't think he was present to win. >> i don't think he was going to win. >> jimmy fallon won favorite late night tv host. >> we're happy for him. >> no one is kinder or nicer. >> we love the guy, even though he gets most of his laughs at our commence. >> "hot in cleveland" one of

your favorites. >> i put him over the top. >> how about your sexy lover, hugh jackman. >> love him. >> katy perry won five awards last night. she wasn't there to accept them. >> she was the biggest winner of whole night. she was nominated for seven but got the five. >> good for her. >> this surprised a few people. only because there's been so much publicity that the name brand has been tarnished by kim's wedding. no. the fans spoke and said she's still our favorite reality star. >> kim kardashian. we were telling you down to the cutest pet contest. we narrowed it down to ten. >> it's too late. >> here are the top ten. are we ready? in the dog category, bentley. >> i totally agree. >> he has the ipod speakers. i'm kind of into him. >> he's precious. >> lilly from oklahoma. cute. and the cat category -- >> wow. there's smokey from hickory,

north carolina. >> here's another dog. >> oh, haley. >> haley from wake forest, north carolina. >> darling. >> another dog buster from brooklyn. oh, my gosh. >> he looks like the dead end kid. remember? >> and daisy, another -- >> she's very sweet. summerville, north carolina. >> woodland, texas, isabella joins our group. >> come on. >> who can forget pongo from indiana. >> and lucy lou. >> blue eyes. >> from washington. >> and finally from albany, oregon, cortez. >> wow. >> they're all great. it's up to you guys now to decide so that you can't take it out on us. go to klgandhoda.com. you have until friday. you can only vote once. >> there's a viral video that much kas fire. this one has caught fire. this is president obama.

someone has taken clips from his speeches and put to a song. the song is "born this way." it's hot. let's take a long. ♪ who you are ♪ so hold your hat up and we'll go far ♪ ♪ listen to me when i say ♪ i was born this way ♪ make no mistakes ♪ i'm on the right track baby ♪ i was born this way ♪ love yourself ♪ i'm on the right track baby >> imagine the amount of work that went into that. not sure it's legal. >> took a long time. >> somebody did a heck of a job on that. >> i'm going to play a little country from my ihoda play list. >> all of you have a little hillbilly bone if you. >> oh, yeah. >> here we go. ♪ >> this is when you got your cowboy boots on in a honky-tonk

bar in the south somewhere and you are kicking it up. >> when's the last time you did that. >> i do it in my apartment all the time. ♪ i got a friend in new york city ♪ ♪ he never heard of conway twitty ♪ ♪ don't know nothing but grits and greens ♪ ♪ never been south of queens >> cute lyric snoft he flew down here on a business trip ♪ ♪ i took him honky tonkin and that was it ♪ ♪ he stuck to it like a pig to mud ♪ ♪ like a cow to cud ♪ we all got a hill billy bone down deep inside ♪ ♪ no matter where you're from you just can't hide ♪ ♪ when the band starts playing and the fiddle saws ♪ ♪ you can't help but hollering ♪ yee-haw >> good choice, hoda. >> actually -- thank you, blake. that leads us to "ok" magazine, is it okay or not to change a

pop hit's lyrics. >> if you're the lyricist and you own it. >> that's what i men the. >> and can change as many times as you like. no one else has the right to change an artist's words. >> that's true. it's called copyright. >> here's what i said. >> sure, it's okay. most people get the words wrong anyway. >> i always thought the song "our lips are sealed" by the go-gos was honest i see you. >> it's not. it's our lips are sealed. >> so what. we can't go. we have to talk about "sister act" which we saw yesterday. our brilliant carla lee carmillo. she's amazing in this. the show holds up like crazy. even if you're catholic, please don't be afraid that a show makes fun of catholicism. it doesn't. it embraces it. >> it was great.

>> awesome. >> the songs get stuck in your head. >> same composer, alan menken who did lion king and so many other greats. >> so much fun. coming up, josh lucas. >> remember, "sweet home alabama" he's back. >> and amanda cosgrove. josh just got engaged but not to miranda. don't get confused. we'll talk to them separately. come on around, we'll fill up your tank for you. pay their baggage fees. you're so kind! thank you. even pick up their parking. i'm just saving it forward. this parking's on me. tell 'em the messenger sent you. so i'll be out there sharing my savings with the people i meet. hmm. been looking for this since albuquerque. saving it forward. now, that's progressive. 12 hour hold challenge. apply fixodent once, and it holds all day. ♪

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lucas got his big break in "sweet home alabama" now josh stars in his favorite tv series playing a lawyer in "the firm." >> the show picks off where the movie left off. mitch and his family try to start over in washington. unfortunately mitch can't seem to escape his past. >> i'm not sure what but i think they're trying to kill me. >> mitch, what are you talking about? >> i don't know who they were. >> hold on. >> someone tried to kill him. we agreed he wouldn't get hurt. >> find out where he is. now! >> mitch, buddy, where are you? >> he doesn't know! >> where are you? >> he's here with us now. that's where he is.

>> how are you? >> very happy to be here. i have a great story for you, hoda. about two years ago i missed jury duty so many times -- >> what happened? >> i went to the courthouse because i was going to do a movie "a lincoln lawyer." i said can i do my jury duty now? they said, absolutely not, we'll do it when we tell you. if you don't do it we'll arrest you. about literally a week after i finished "the lincoln lawyer" i showed up to do jury duty and i got chosen. i go down, be prepared to be chosen to are this reason. immediately the defendant recognized me. i went to the judge and said obviously this is a good reason to be let off of this so i can go home. he said, no, there's so many people doing jury duty in new york city that are recognizable to some extent or another that we can't dismiss people for that reason. i was on a jury and it was the most fascinating experience of my whole life. i did this tv show because of that. >> you're kidding. >> wow. >> tom said to us last night

that he would love -- no, he didn't. he's never been called and he was -- as an actor he would find that experience fascinating. >> it's remarkable. it is truly the ultimate in human drama. it really is. it's life or death. it's more interesting than any television or film i've seen. >> other than "the firm." >> the point of the show is to try and live up to this john grisham thriller elements but throw in moments of a legal case where you see that level of drama. >> were you a fan of the movie and the book back in the day? >> very much so. >> you were telling us you have 100-hour weeks now. >> that's how it is. you are doing tv. you know how it is. >> one hour a day, that's pretty much it. is your character similar to the movie version? >> he is. the family has been through a lot. they've probably within through probably one of the worst things a human being can deal with, which is the thought that at any

given moment anything can happen to you. they've decided on their own, against the fbi's wishes to come out of witness protection and go on. >> try to have a life. >> lead a normal life. >> is it the kind of show where if you missed the first one and catch the second one you sort of missed what's happening? >> no. it's written a show -- it's nbc, they need each episode to be individual. >> interesting. >> i think that's the interesting challenge. each episode has through lines that if you do watch it, you're rewarred, if you don't, you can watch it on its own. >> you just got engaged and with 100-hour weeks i don't see it in the near future. >> we -- >> tomorrow is not looking good. >> we postponed our wedding date because of the show, because we were at a certain point, when do we have time -- >> she's beautiful. >> gorgeous. >> that was her downstairs i just met. she's beautiful. she will remain nameless.

>> she's like do not say my name. >> we're not going to say it. i know it and i'm not saying it. >> good to see you. all the best with the show. >> enjoy jury duty. it's an amazing experience. >> don't leave me with my mother for more than one day. >> thank you, josh. check the new episode of "the firm" tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central on nbc. up next, why michelle obama is hanging with ir carly's miranda cosgrove. that after these messages. to walk like one. when you walk 10,000 steps a day, it's the same as walking a professional golf course. humana. proud supporter of health and well-being. guys...

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if you have kids at pretty much any age we don't have to explain who icarly or miranda cosgrove is. >> she's an adorable, personable and talented young lady who stars in her own web show along with her two best friends. >> in a special upcoming episode of the show, first lady michelle obama makes a special appearance. >> are we in trouble. >> no, not at all. >> she watched "icarly" online last week. >> seriously? >> my daughters are big fans and i am, too. >> what are you doing here? your excellency. >> you don't call her your excellency. >> no, no, i kind 6 like it. >> she's a good sport. hi, miranda. great to see you. >> nice to see you, too. >> how did that come about? >> she catches "icarly" with her daughters and my dad on "icarly" is in the military and she came up with the idea to be on the show. >> that's a great idea. everybody catches "icarly."

every kid. we leave reed alexander. give him our love. >> i will. >> what was it like with the first lady on the set? how did you feel and how was it? >> it's crazy, there's secret service everywhere. they came about two ek woos before. there's so much preparation. >> there were dogs on the set. >> there were dogs. a lot of people, too. a lot of secret service. she came to the set and was so easy to talk to, she loved dancing, we got to dance in the episode. >> really? >> why didn't girls come. >> they should have. >> were they in school. >> she said she helped her with her dance moves. >> how did the dancing come about. >> we do random dancing on "icarly." that's what we did. >> it wasn't choreographed? >> no. just fun, random. >> how would you rate her as an actress? >> really good. that's really funny in real life. she has good comic timing. >> you've been doing the show for several years. >> it's huge. >> amazing how it keeps building. >> i started 9 show when i was

13, you i'm 18. i have such a great time doing the episodes. it's really fun. >> you don't feel trapped by it like an awful lot of young stars do that can't wait to get out of their contract to go on and pose for "playboy"? you're not feeling that urge right now? >> no. >> a lot of young actresses struggle with going through maturity in front of everybody. what are your bigot challenges going through that? >> i feel lucky, i'm from l.a., my parents travel with me and i'm supportive. i feel anytime i have to make a big decision i can go to them and they're there for me. that helps a lot. really, it's just i have a great time getting to act. i've had a good experience with it. >> sure. imagine that, a well-adjusted teen mega star who actually likes her parents. >> okay, this is unusual. >> this never happens. >> we'll have you back again. >> what's next for you, hon? are you going to do a film. >> there's a new icarly album

coming out this month. i love going on tour. >> i just got a car. i'm excited. >> this is huge news. >> what kind did you get? >> i got a white car. >> we'll be right back. ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch of philadelphia cream cheese to our kraft natural cheese to make it creamier so whatever you make isn't just good, it's amazing. ♪ ...is amazing with the love that i found ♪ ♪ would they switch? a t erdiicence? it feels a bit tight. [ female announcer ] soap leaves behind soap residue that can cause a tight draggy feeling. with 1/4 moisturizing cream, dove cleansers rinse cleaner than soap.

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smart meters may have a way to do just that. the public commission will meet today to consider a proposal to allow customers to opt out of the smart meter program. residents who take the option would have to pay a fee of $270 up front and $14 a month. some residents have complained the meters pose a health risk. pg&e insist these meters are safe. we'll check the forecast and the roads after the break. honey...? [ mom ] yes. honey, i can't find my internet cord. oh, i'll borrow hailey's. you're downloading movies. fast! from here?

where is her cord?! we switched to at&t high speed internet and got wireless access. no more cords. wireless, okay, honestly, can i just get a cord, please? dad, the cord's invisible. [ female announcer ] call at&t today to get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month for 12 months with a 1-year price guarantee. it's the fastest internet for the price. oooh. videos online? here? how much is that? nothing. at&t high speed internet at home includes access here. our invisible cord is really long, dad. oooh. [ female announcer ] get access to the entire national at&t wi-fi hot spot network for no extra charge. so call today to get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month for 12 months with a 1-year price guarantee. aren't you glad we switched to at&t? yes...but i want my own invisible cord. you already have one. oh. ♪ good morning to you. 10:28 now.

almost time to shed that jacket in sun city. you're at 54 in oakland. 55 in hayward, on our way to the upper 60s and sun city by noon. 73 in fairfield, 69 degrees in liv livermore and 73 in gill roadway. this warming trend is short lived. by sunday, temps tumble and our pattern changes significantly next week with rain on the way. looks like the best chance is over the bay on wednesday. >> south bay friends, check this out, much better over the last few seconds, we just got word from chp the sig alert has been cancelled and all lanes are open. the earlier big rig accident took out fencing and they had to close a number of lanes and they've just reopened and that's why it is so slow north of 101. expect that to clear over the next 15 to 20 minutes. we have a little bit of slowing, and pretty standard and southbound 101 past 380 and down to san mateo, very slow and

things are starting to recover. >> thank you, mike. coming up on bay area news at 11:00, it is a sign of economic times. a major retailer looking to hire 300 people in the east bay, but the turnout so far has been more than twice that. 0.'ll have that coming :011 0. :0 we'll see you in 30 minutes. back on this thirst day thursday, learning how to eat smart today. if you want to be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings with a single bound -- >> or if you want to just increase your energy and help fight cancer, we're glad you're here. >> hey. >> you look great for the new year. >> thanks. >> often we do these segments on superfoods it's avocado, salmon, et cetera. this is different today. why? >> superfoods, it's not a set term. we traditionally think of them as foods that are packed with

nutrition that have health benefits. but these are more off the beaten path but popping up in regular grocery stores. >> what are we starting with? >> hickama. >> pick that up. up to five pounds. it is a root vegetable and it's loaded with what helps promote the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut. promotes good digestion. >> in other words -- >> one cup of that, got some cayenne pepper on it, but one cup is about half your day's worth of vitamin c. it boosts the immune system. >> has a flavor. >> it takes on whatever you season with it, seasoning, eye yen pepper. >> two guibites. >> now we have kefir. it's similar to yogurt but it's

fermented with a grain. >> fermented? >> fermented with what we call can kefir grain, a combination of dwrooes yeast and bacteria. >> ew. >> no. the combination is really powerful. it may even help prevent colon cancer and also help boost your immune system. of course it has calcium and prote protein. >> does it taste like yogurt? >> it's similar. try this one right here. pick one. blueberry flavor. there's lots to try. >> it's tart. it's good. >> you can make salad dressings with it, smoothie. if you tried flaxseeds in 2011. >> who didn't. >> 2012, try the chi seeds, yes, the same as the chia pet you may have had. they are filled with omega 3, protein, and they have the same amount of fiber as one cup of oatmeal. >> comes from the chia pet?

don't do it. what does it taste like? >> it has a mild taste. so you can add it to anything -- salads, oatmeal. they on soabsorb water so they' great for soups as well. >> crunchy. >> a little crunch. loads of calcium there. we're adding crunch for texture. this is one of my favorite ways to boost the nutritional power of your salads or sandwich. these are broccoli sprouts. one ounce is like eating three pounds of mature broccoli. there's 50 amount the times of the anti-cancer properties in there. do you like the texture? they add the texture without adding some waxy -- >> i thought they would be like something else. >> next we have black garlic. >> ew. >> basically garlic that has been fermented.

the theme of the day, fe fermentation. we know garlic helps lower cholesterol and it becomes a little more sweet so you can add it to baked goods or spread it on a sandwich, add it to a salad dressing. >> here's the problem -- it looks awful. >> put it on a sandwich. >> that really -- sorry, kerr ri. >> you're going to love this next one, i promise. okay. if you've conquered getting salad greens into your diet, become a nutritional overachiever here and get your steamed vegetables in. we have some kelp and nouri here. sea vegetables are amazing because they're loaded with vitamins and minerals -- a, c, e, potassium, iron, very low in calories. you can add them to soup, powder, meatballs. of course they taste a little salty. go figure. >> is this what they wrap sushi in? >> it is. >> which i love. >> and other the stuff with it. >> you can have plain.

sprinkle it on a salad. >> a little attitude. we're trying everything. i think you need to just settle down. all right? >> i'm so excited. >> why am i eating everything? >> barley. >> they love this stuff. >> oh, my god. >> if you're eating oatmeal, throw in the barley. if you're eating brown rice, throw in the barley. it's packed with niacin, good for your skin and hair. >> with peanut butter on it, it would be awesome. >> we got to go. >> nutritional yeast has 100% of your b vitamins and one tablespoon has nine grams of protein. vegans love it because it's a great alternative. you can put it on popcorn. >> is it on this? >> on there. >> end on a high note. >> this is awesome! thank you. so are you. we love you. you're a sweetheart. >> up next, getting back on track. why now is the perfect time to do it.

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all right. we are two weeks into the new year, and if you're just about ready to give up on your new year's resolution, you are not alone. self magazine says 75% of resolution makers slip up within the first two months. >> but it's not too late to make a few little tweaks to your goal to help you set up for real success. >> here with help is "self" magazine's editor in chief. she knows everything about everything. >> i'm sure that's true. but we know it takes three months to have healthy behavior become a habit. there are a lot of obstacles that pop up in three months. >> it's called life. >> yeah. we have ways to help you get back on track because everybody -- >> a lot of people don't make their resolutions public. they think i'm going to lose weight, i'm not going to tell everybody -- >> setting yourself up for disaster. >> not a good idea. >> we don't like to stumble in front of your friends, but that support and that accountability

helps you meet your goal, your positive living goal. that's what i like to call it. not resolution. >> i said what i was going to give up for next few weeks and i ate a little chicken that frank had breaded. she goes, that is bread. you know what, she wasn't too nice about it but she reminded me. >> that's right. >> i think some people get discouraged because they give up certain foods and they don't see results. there's point you go, why am i doing this? nothing is happening? >> we have to measure incremental change, right? you don't lose ten pounds all at once. you have to reward yourself for two pounds, the way your clothes are fitting a little better, toning up. >> don't get on the scale every day.exactly. >> your body, your clothes tell you. >> the other thing we know is if you set these positive goals, you're ten times more likely to make them. rather than a rigid goal, give up chocolate, i can't do that. like a great one, i want to save money, that doesn't work either.

specific little goals. >> i did this for two weeks and now i'm five days away from the end of it. short goals like that are manageable. i don't say i'm going to give ut up forever because that's unmanageable. >> plan for success. on a rainy day, you can sleep in. but you say tomorrow, i want to go for a walk with my friends. can you get the kids to school? plan it. >> when some slip on a resolution, one bad day -- >> they give up completely. >> i hate the word resolution. i like positive goals because a goal is reachable. resolution can be too negative. >> new diet or whatever. >> so if you slip up, that doesn't mean the year is blown or the month is blown. start over. >> forgive yourself. >> i say mulligan monday. you can start any time. your body doesn't know the difference between jan 1 and feb 1. don't think it's game over if you mess up. this is a process.

remember, three months to get to that final -- >> what is it, three months you just get in a groove? >> that's right. whatever is working for you, stay with it. sometimes you get incremental success and you give up the food log or unfreeze the credit card or go to the bar and start drinking and smoking. >> put the credit cards in the freezer. >> i believe in that. >> my two weeks are up, going to order egg plant parmesan and then go on it for two weeks. >> celebrate and go back on it. not an all-or-nothing proposition. you can talk about your tips or challenges. >> when? all day? on facebook? >> yeah. >> you still ride your bike to work? >> i do. not on rainy days, no. >> she rides her bike to work. >> i never really liked her. >> the other thing, don't rely on outside people. it's helpful but -- >> you're responsible for your own life. >> i wear a little magnet bracelet to remind me to be on

track. they all remind me. you can also put little notes on your mirror. >> we do it. yeah. >> we should. you should. >> i forgot everything. i didn't care. see, to lucy. a sip of wine. thank you. >> god bless. >> happy new year. >> coming up next, guys, cool travel ideas if you're looking for a winter getaway. what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon.

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time for today's "travel and getaways" that will take you away from the cold. >> whether you like to ski or snow tube or sled or live in a room built of ice, the digital project editor at travel and leisure magazine. >> a lot of nice cold-weather destinations you have for us. >> january is learn a snow sport

month so we have some unexpected sports in fun places around the country. >> british columbia. >> why not. >> the 2010 winter olympics were there. the great thing about going to a vacation or trip there is you can participate in some of the more unusual sports that are featured in the olympics. for example, you can do a bobsled on the official course. you actually start lower at a gate lower. >> i hope so. >> you still go about 80 miles per hour, so it's not for the fan fan faint of heart. you can shoot a rifle that's part of the biathlon, tour a ski jump, and you can see the incredible snow-capped mountains. you say at a hotel which is about $219 a night. a funky hotel. you'll be right in the center to tf pedestrian village. >> looks very modern. >> they have floating fireplacingfireplac fireplaces. it's great place to go and meet other skiers and share tips. >> do they have a lot of snow

right now? >> they have snow in whistler. >> there's a problem with that right now, isn't there. >> our next destination has great snow coming this weekend. >> go vermont. >> they're expecting snow? good for them. >> 6 to ten inches today and tomorrow. you can stay at the track family lodge, formerly the von trapps from "the sound of music." it's an austrian-style chalet. you can stay in the incredible landscape and wilderness, cross-country ski as well as do a sleigh ride. look at that. it can be romantic. you can go with your honey for valentine's day or you can bring the kids. led by beautiful horses. >> romance goes right out of the window. yeah. >> depends what you're thinking. >> mexico. >> has about 300 inches of snow for year. they're known for their more challenging alpine skiing but you can do tubing, bunting with your kids. >> snow tubing. what is -- >> it's actually illuminated.

you can go at night. you rent a tube. it's $8. you spend time with your kids doing fun stuff in the powdered snow. you can do the downhill skiing that you see as well. a great place to stay is the columbine inn, $99 a night in january, couldn't be more affordable. >> especially if you have, like, 20 kids, all in one room. >> and avid skiers that will have tips. utah park city. you can get there in the next coming months for $213 roundtrip. a great affordable escape. you can do some freestyle skiing in their halfpipe. i'm sure they know fun tricks. you can go snow cat skiing. if you're an expert, you can go into the ungroomed areas. >> we have 30 seconds left, but in quebec, you can live in a place that's made of ice. >> you can stay in an igloo. 23 degrees. >> how many degrees? >> 23 degrees. bring your polar fleece. sleep in an igloo and drag about it to your friends for years

after that. >> wow. >> my idea of a great life is eating like keri glassman's segment and staying in one of those. >> something for everybody. >> thanks. >> perfect. >> getting on our nerves. >> love you, sweetheart. take care. >> coming up next, from the cold to the kitchen, we're cooking something hot.

time to take you into "today's kitchen" with our chef arianne duarte. >> if you don't like slaving over hot stove like hoda, "prevention" magazine's chef is here. you can pop it in a pot in the morning and have dinner ready by the time you're ready. i remember when they first came out in the 1800s. and everybody thought it was

magic. >> it almost is magic. we're going to talk briefly about three that we've tested at "prevention" and we feel performed the best. >> and you can make desserts. >> dessert, too. we're going to taste it. this one is called the trok crockpot. >> of course. origin nap. >> this is very cost-effective. it's simple. there's not much to it but it's budget friendly, which is great. then we have one for space savers, a little smaller. this is great. it has self-timers on it. so this is wonderful if you would have a small kitchen with not much counter space. >> they need to do a commercial -- ♪ it's delightful, it's delicious it's delongi ♪ >> this is the big daddy, the mac daddy, and this is great for large quantities. this has all sorts of timers and things. when the timer does go off, it settles itself to warm.

so you don't have to worry about that. >> not waiting for that thing to go off. >> i'm going to show you how to do short ribs, but we're also going to talk safety tips. really important. you want to make sure your counter is clear of clutter. >> which ours is. >> you don't want to use any extension cords or anything like that. >> why not? >> because you don't want to -- any of those extra wires -- >> it could go wrong. right. >> keep the countertop clean. >> nothing that could touch and get caught up in. >> exactly. let's make some short ribs. >> these are -- >> asian beef. that's what's wonderful about these. everything is just mix and go. we have some honey in here. we have some tamari. >> what is that? >> a little thicker soy sauce. >> see ya tamari! >> a little bit of scallion. >> save some for me. >> save some for garnish. they cook down. >> we'll eat them all day. >> garlic.

this is so much flavor. and then just basically right over these ribs. >> put the top on it. >> the top. >> sayonara, baby. >> a little bit of water, cover them, seven, eight hours. >> what comes out, this? >> this is what comes out. >> no sauce on that. >> it's in there. >> on the bottom. >> you can always add more. always add more. >> we have about 30 seconds. >> so these are our -- >> look how cute these are. >> cuban pork sliders. >> you made those in there? >> yep. a pork roast. and lastly, brownies. >> what? >> brownies. just mix everything. >> really? >> spray it with a little bit of cooking spray, put the batter in, two to three hours, and they ear done. >> got to go. weer is celebrating 60 years old tomorrow! [ male announcer ] for some reason

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