next on msnbc sunday, it is a tropical storm story. a wave of storms heading toward the u.s. but are these storms to fear? it's the obamas and old faithful. but can the president convince his health care reform supporters to keep the faith? oh, boy. >> ooh. >> fear and scares on the diamond. baseball hits every player that had a hope to miss. it is an alien invasion on the silver screen. extraterrestrials come up big at the box office. very good morning to all of you. we will bring you all of that plus mixed signals on where the economy may be heading. first we're keeping a close eye on this developing story.

a tropical storm warning in effect for parts of florida right now. at this hour there are two tropical storms swirling about in the atlantic. there's ana and there's bill with bill expected to become a hurricane. just this morning a new tropical depression in the gulf of mexico taking aim at florida's panhandle. later on today. let's get the latest from meteorologist mike seidel at the weather channel in atlanta. final good sunday morning to you. what are these florida panhandle beaches going to see from this? >> let's get updated. the latest from the hurricane center, panhandle beaches, washout from this afternoon through tonight, heavy rain, gusty winds. the center of the circulation is right there. there's the 11:00 setup. pressure hasn't changed, winds are still 35 miles an hour but still forecast to become a tropical storm. it would be named claudette. but whether we have a tropical storm or we have a depression. we're going to get a lot of rain. look at rainfall. the center is about 75 miles off to the south of apalachicola.

it will make inroads this afternoon and tonight with very heavy downpours, gusty winds. there is some lightning with it but again the real threat from this system will be rainfall. really that's it. we may get a wind gust 35 or 40 miles an hour at it tracks onshore as a storm, that's the forecast. it weakens quickly as it gets inland. let's go out, we have to cover two more, ana and bill. ana is holding on for dear life, 40-mile-an-hour sustained winds. look at track. now as it heads toward the islands we'll get some wind and certainly gusty winds and rain towards puerto rico, u.s. and british virgin islands. if it survives over hispaniola, it will be torn into shreds and bill looks healthier. in fact winds have been up to 60 miles per hour. it is a frarly strong tropical

storm, moving west-northwest at 16 miles an hour. take a look at the track forecast to become a category 3 by the end of the period. we are still banking on the fact the steering with the jet stream coming in toward the eastern seaboard will turn this and it may completely miss the u.s. east coast. later this afternoon, jeff morrow on the beach around apalachicola to show what you it looks like as either the td or claudette makes landfall with again the major impact just heavy rainfall. >> good reason to watch the weather channel later on today. mike seidel, thank you. as those tropical storms churn in the region, mother nature's taking a toll on miami this weekend. the city was slammed with heavy rain saturday making pretty low going for drivers. add wind to the mick and residents there were dealing with low visibility. pretty dangerous driving conditions. the latest on ana and bill and the latest forecasts in your

area, go to weather.com. new this morning, after the president suggested the public option is not central to his health reform plan, we heard that echoed by his health secretary this morning. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op, not-for-profit co-op as a competitor, as opposed to a straight government-run program. i think what's important is choice in competition. i'm convinced that at the end of the day the plan will have both of those, but that is not the essential element. >> i'm joined live from scottsdale, arizona by nbc news political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. good morning, chuck. >> good morning. >> as you listen to everything going out from the president to kathleen sebelius, is the public option going away? >> i think it is. we've seen this hinted at for

weeks. we've been reporting it for weeks, that this is what's going on behind the scenes. when kent conrad, basically the author of this idea of this co-op idea, the chairman of the senate budget committee but also a part of the finance committee, democrat from north dakota, when he put this idea out there about two months ago, i talked with some folks inside sort of the health care war room of the white house and they all said, well, they saw how this could end up becoming a compromise. i think that, look, the president is not somebody who is going to draw lines in the sand and i'm going to get what i want and jam it through. he loves to be a negotiator, loves to be a compromiser. i think they saw this from the get-go. he still goes out there, defends the public option, believes in the way he's trying to do it but he will concede on something. you can't say it anymore clearer than kathleen sebelius just said it when she said that that's

something that would be obviously -- as long as it adds choice and competition. >> does a potential health care bill without the public option diminish victory or is any passage of whatever element to the health care bill a victory in itself? >> we'll see. i've always thought that the real challenge, as tough as this looks politically for the president right now to get health care -- some form of health care reform passed, i've always thought the greater challenge is going to be to implement whatever it is that's done. the fact is, if what he envisions for the public option doesn't happen through this co-op idea over the next couple of years, then i think there will be people, particularly in the democratic side of this column, on the left, who will say, see, we told you, why didn't you fight more. there will be some folks very upset about this. but if they figure out how to -- that the co-op does seem to add and create this idea of choice

in competition, then it could end up being a political winner. the thing is we won't know. it is going to take years for the government to implement this health care reform. not days, not months. when they pass it and he signs a bill, say on october 15th, a light switch doesn't go on and suddenly, hey, 46 million people suddenly have easy access to health care insurance, hey, suddenly all pre-existing conditions are out the window, you've got your health insurance. it is going to take at least two years for many parts of the plan to get implemented. that's going to be the next battle, how to do that. just like we saw the president -- he got his recovery stimulus package passed. right? but he's still having to spend months selling the idea that it's working. i think you're going to see a similar instance where democrats are probably always going to have to be out there pushing the idea that this is working and pleading for patience, it is going to take time, it is going to take months, years, for the system -- for this new reform to work itself through. i don't think the white house appreciates or frankly maybe the

public won't appreciate how difficult the next part of this battle is going to be. that is after it's passed. >> you're giving a pretty good succinct summary of what it might be like, which is exhausting to me. which warrants the president having a little bit of a vacation. what's he doing today? >> absolutely. well, today it is grand canyon day. you're out here in arizona, why not. right? of course he's got access to these really cool things called helicopters. might not be a better way to view the entire grand canyon. they'll also do some hiking. it's been a pretty -- it's been a short sort of working vacation for the first family but they got to see old faithful. they got a tour of yellowstone. they've been in technically three states -- four states now. yellowstone is in wyoming. soond although apparently the president yesterday didn't realize he was -- that yellowstone was in wyoming, made a ron frens to montana and yellowstone, but that's okay. a lot of us get confused. yellowstone is a pretty big national park. but he got to see old faithful,

went fly fishing. we hear he didn't catch any fish. press secretary robert gibbs appare apparently caught a fish that he's apparently sporting on his blackberry. chuck, you've been working really hard. are you going to get to the dodgers/diamondbacks game? >> i'd sure like to figure it out. maybe our friends who are watching who are our bosses there, maybe they can -- give me a little time off. >> he'll be a much happier guy, guaranteed. >> dodgers have to win this game. they need to win this game. they've lost two in this series. >> right. tommy lasorda's getting inducted into the brooklyn hall of fame today. i might pop on out there and give him a big old hug and say good for you. >> hope you get there. thank you very much for the work this weekend, chuck todd. to california now and today almost a dozen different

wildfires continue to burn across that state. thousands of firefighters out in force on the front lines trying to keep the flames from reaching residential areas. nbc's michael okwu is live in stanton in the hard-hit santa cruz county. michael, you're in a residential area there threatened by these fires for several days now. what's the threat like now to homes there? anything abated? >> well, i can tell you it doesn't feel like it's abated when you breathe this smoke in this this place. it feels like we're in the middle of a mushroom cloud. but the fact is the flames have been within about a mile, mile and a half or so of this specific community for the last 48 hours. it is not really getting any closer. there are about 2,100 firefighters on the ground. they are coordinating attacks on the ground and in the air and they're making some significant headway. so some of the residents refuse to leave their homes, even after officials told them there is a mandatory evacuation. we're told those 30% of people

who were told to leave and have stayed are basically battening down the hatches and firefighters are helping them clear some of the brush around their place. even those people are considered somewhat safe at this point. >> this mushroom cloud of smoke you got going on there, do you get any sense of what the weather's going to be like? >> it is the same scary prediction forecast which we had yesterday, which was she hot offshore winds that were coming mainly from the north, that they were going to heat up the area and could potentially start fanning the flames to some of these communities. but frankly that did not materialize yesterday and we're now being told that this fire is at about 50% contained. >> that's better than 40%. they're making headway, that's for sure. michael okwu, thank you very much. no, really. it is good. take what you can get. thank you, michael. get some clean air, there. it is tough to be breathing up a that smoke in. for the fir time in nearly

three years, michael vick is back on the football field this weekend participating in his first practice with the philadelphia eagles yesterday. the 29-year-old took part in limited drills with the offense. he spent 18 months in federal prison for running a dog fighting ring. vick did not speak to reporters after that practice session. still ahead, inside baseball, we'll look at three scary moments on the diamond. it is a continuing love story that could be about to begin a new chapter. the latest word on prince william and kate middleton ahead on msnbc sunday.

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a new "washington post" poll shows a republican is poised to take the virginia governor's mansion away from democrats. robert mcdonald is pulling seven points ahead among registered

voters. when it comes to likely voters, the margin widens with mcdobl in the lead 54%-39%. but democrats don't want a republican governor charge of a key swing state. some suggest the vote could be a referendum on president obama's administration. i'm joined live from washington by julie mason, white house correspondent for the "washington examiner." good morning. this election in virginia three months away. what's at stake for the democrats and for the obama administration? >> this is a huge deal for the democrats. they flipped virginia in 2008. it's been a red state forever. obama won. they don't want to lose it back to the republicans so they're watching this race very closely. obama has done a couple of events to try to head off a republican win in virginia. >> how much does the president's agenda affect state and local elections in general? >> it's big because in this race

whand we see in this "washington post" poll is people are lining up according to party affiliation. the moderates are up for grabs. one of the things we're seeing in other polls unrelated to this race is that obama is losing moderates because of his economic policies. they don't like what's happening with the deficit. they weren't happy with the stimulus and some other things. this is -- democrats fear -- this race could shape up to be a referendum on some of obama's policies. obama can't afford to lose moderates any more than he can afford to lose virginia. it is a very big race for the democratic party. >> short of what the president has done already on health care, three town halls this past week, this morning's op sed in the "new york times," what could the president be doing more to sell his health care plan? >> that's a good question. the problem for obama is the more he talks about it the less people like it. i think you talked a little bit about his vacation coming up. that's going to be good for obama to kind of get on the spotlight a little bit. tomorrow we'll hear from him. he's going to be talking to the

vfw convention. he'll be off health care and talking about iraq an afghanistan and some other issues. i think he's got to give this issue a little bit of a breather and let kind of the emotion come down a little bit. on the other side especially. when congress comes back, restart the campaign to get health care passed. i think what he needs to do now, stand down. get out of the spotlight, stop talking about it a little bit. give it some room to breathe. >> julie mason, thank you very much. always good to see you. for the latest reporting and exclusives from the nbc news political unit, logon to firstread.msnbc.com. three major league baseball players this morning are recovering from what could be described as their worst nightmares on the diamond. check these out. >> oh, boy. >> that's a scary moment. it is david wright of the new york mets lying there yesterday after taking a 94 miles per hour fast ball straight to the head.

wright remained motionless before the trainers tended to him. he left the game with a concussion. wright was not the only player hit in the head yesterday. ooh. hit in the head is ian tinsler. he didn't lay there. he got up. he was smoking mad though. and yet another player hit in the head. >> and a shot -- oh, hits corona, into the air, corona is down on the ground. oh, my goodness. it hit corona it appeared right in the head. >> that might have been the scariest of all three incidents. the los angeles dodgers pitcher there remained down for several minutes. he was carted off the field, taken to the hospital. hospitalized overnight with only a concussion. but that could have been a whole lot worse. i think we need to take a break. when we come back my

conversation with that adorable 11-year-old reporter who finally got his chance to interview president obama. stick around and meet damon weaver next on msnbc sunday. these days, wouldn't it be great if saving money happened as automatically as everything else? at bank of america, it practically does. use the bankamericard power rewards visa credit card

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for u.s. journalists, an interview with the president could be considered the pinnacle of his career. david weaver's already done it at 11 years old. after lobbying for an interview for months he got the chance to go one-on-one with the president at the white house. >> i heard that you would like to make an announcement about education. >> well, on september 8th when the young people across the country will have just started or are about to go back to school, i'm going to be making a big speech to young people all across the country about the importance of education, the importance of staying in school,

how we want to improve our education system and why it's so important for country. so i hope everybody tunes in. >> a student reporter damon weaver joins me right now, with kect news team, and brian timer mann is with him, the tv director. good morning. i've been looking forward to this. damon, i want to know what it was like to meet president obama. you got to give me some tips. >> well, an interview with president obama was very good and he gave good details and he was a very nice guy. >> yeah. how hard was it to get this interview? >> well, it took eight months to get the interview. but i said something about education because of the big speech he's going to make on september 8th. they just got damon weaver.

>> brian, i understand had you to help nail down this long-awaited interview, too. what did you have to do? >> we just put in a request. the white house, obama's administration really is pretty open. when i put in a request, i got a contact at the white house and i just stayed in contact with this contact and just kept pushing, kept calling. and had damon make lots of videos and had him involved with a lot of different things and eventually they called us and told us -- they called me on tuesday and asked if i could have dame therein on thursday to interview the president. we played it happen, of course. >> i bet you did. how excited he must have been. damon, when you heard, did you all of a sudden, think yes! or do you think, oh, wow, i really have to do this. did you get nervous? >> i was thinking, hooray! >> that kid was adorable. 11-year-old damon weaver. the big thing he really wanted

to get from the president was the president refused to confirm was his request for french fries and mangos every day at his school lunch. the president said you might want to think about getting something nutritiously balanced and all that. he was a kid and the president said the right thing. if the economy's health depends on consumers shopping until they drop, an economic recovery may be in trouble. that's next on msnbc sunday. ollen. when i really liked to be outside, i did not like suffering from nasal allergy symptoms like congestion. but nasonex relief may i say... bee-utiful! prescription nasonex is proven to help relieve indoor and outdoor nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing. ask your doctor about symptom relief with nasonex. and save up to $15 off your refills. go to nasonex.com for details, terms and conditions. you could buy 300 bottles of water.

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take a look at what to expect on wall street this week. big do it yourself chains are due to report lower profits than last quarter. we'll hear from home builders about where people are buying new homes and where housing starts are beginning to rebound. then on friday, we get july existing home sales. also this week we will hear from the retailers like target, saks fifth avenue and the gap.

they're all expected to post weaker earnings. however, there's tjx companies, parents are the off-priced marshall's and tj maxx stores are among the bright spots in the retail recession. is the worst of the recession overall over? we should get a better picture of how the economy's doing with the latest jobless claims numbers are released later this week. joining me live here in studio, reporter an anchor with forbes.com. good morning to you. can we say good? do you think the worst of the recession is over? >> i don't know if we can say good yet but at least the worst of the recession is over. it is not time to celebrate. we're still losing jobs quite significantly. unemployment is at 9.5%. i mean that is still pretty severe. that's not a time when you'll see a v-shaped recovery of any sort any time soon. the consumer is under pressure and as long as the consumer is not spending, demand is weak and companies won't spend any money

hiring any time soon. all other signs of the economy is rooe we are proving it will be a sluggish recovery but nonetheless a recovery. >> what about housing? we look at the housing starts. we shall get those on friday. last month's july sales -- rather june sales that were reported in july were up 3.6%. not a lot but unkremtally. are we on the road to recovery in the housing market? >> we are on the road recovery but it will be baby steps. when you see existing home sales and housing starts for next week we'll see small improvements in both but when you look at overall the housing sector, there are still being foreclosures, home prices still could fall 10% or more. >> a lot of the foreclosures are being picked up and is that what's generating numbers to pick up but it is not traditional homes? >> that's exactly right. right now people are looking to these foreclosures, forced

sales, and see now is the time to buy which is great. there has been pent-up demand. but still it is foreclosures, people who haven't been able to afford their mortgage payments, have lost their jobs. >> home prices you say down another 10% before they hit bottom. >> what do you expect overall for the economy this week? what about the stock market, all that? we expect anything -- stabilizing? drops? moving upward? >> i think there will be some stabilization. there might even be a little bit of a pull-back because stocks have run up pretty significantly in the last few weeks. there could be some profit taking involved. now that we see that a lot of companies have actually beat profit expectations recently. that's going to sustain that momentum, that's going to allow them to actually make revenues an bigger profits in the future. there's not a huge catalyst to really spur consumer spending right now. >> is there anything that retailers can do? as you know, we've talked about together when they put out these tremendous sales prices out

there, people get into the stores and they buy but do they still make the profit off of that. >> profit margins have been squeezed significantly. the thing is if you're a retailer, just take control of inventory. you don't want to be overspending and have the consumer eventually not buy your products. then you'll have to discount even more heavily in the future. right now it is about just trying to be able to gauge what the demand will be and having proper inventory in place. >> at the grocery store, the selections have shrunk. i see that all over the place. it is really a sign of the times. >> from grocery stores to barney's, saks, everything. today an american man held prisoner in myanmar is getting a taste of freedom. 53 yearly john yettaw touched down in bangkok, thailand. also on the plane was senator jim webb of virginia. he brokered the release. yettaw was sentenced last week

to seven years of hard labor for sneaking in the home of the detained pro democratic leader back in may. seems prince william and his long time girlfriend kate middleton might have a little bit of a secret. will the couple be tying the knot soon, joining nous, t ing aspell from london. >> according to the news of the world, britain's top selling sunday newspaper, prince william and kate middleton have reached an understanding that they'll marry within the next two years. their plan has the blessing of the royal family which really wants to see william well established as a hard working prince and heir to the throne first. he will represent the queen on official tours to south africa and australia in the next two years. the royals want to make sure he is a stand-alone royal in his own right before they break any news of any engagement. >> is that because they're thinking back to what happened

with prince charles an princess diana when she was the star? >> i think you're right. absolutely. princess diana totally overshadowed prince charles from the moment they announced their engagement. she dominated royal coverage right up until the day she died really and the royal family doesn't want to see that happen again. they see prince william as the future of the monarchy, the new face of the royal family in the modern age and they certainly don't want to distract anything to distract her from that image. they really want to groom this young couple to give the monarchy a fresher, more relevant feel and that's part of the reason they're urging them to be patient for now. >> i know they had some trouble in their relationship in the past. i was very happy when they got back together. do you sense that's the sentiment in england, people love these two as a couple? >> certainly. she is a great favorite already, she behaves like a royal. she's very discrete. they've been together eight

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a mch touted piece of the democrat's health care plan could be off the table. lawmakers want the public to have the omgs to buy into a government-run elt insurance plan but in his town hall meeting in colorado the president seemed to say the so-called public option is not a done deal. a sentiment repeated by the health secretary in a new interview this morning. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op, not-for-profit co-op as a competitor, as opposed to a straight government-run brprogr an what's important is choice in competition.

i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. but that is not the essential eleme element. >> i'm joined live from washington by nationally syndicated radio talk show host bill prest and bill blakeman. here we go. bill, if liberals get this, will they be angry with the white house if a health reform bill is passed without a public insurance option? if they get this thrown on, what are liberals going to say? >> i think they're going to say yes is the quick answer. a co-op is a cop-out. look, i don't get this. it is really disturbing to me. i point out 70 members of the house of representatives said they will vote against any health reform plan unless it has a public option. president has been campaigning on this in most of his town halls saying the public plan option is the only way you can get lower costs and get more voice and more competition. for him now to abandon that in

preference for this untested co-op i think is a big mistake. it's not going to get him any votes from republicans. it's going to lose him democratic voters. i think the white house has to stand up and say in this case they're speaking out of turn. >> are you saying a plan without a public health option is impassable? >> no. i would say this. my own believe is -- i've toukd to several members of congress, inclu including on my show, health reform without a public plan option is not worth doing. it's better to have no bill than a bill with no public plan option. because you just leave the insurance companies in charge. >> brad, what about republicans? would they concede that passage of any health care bill is a victory for a democratic president? >> it is going to be somewhat of a victory because i think what the president's telling the more liberal members of his party are, let's get our foot in the

door and i'm going to be here for eight years. we eventually will get to a public option. other secret which chuck todd ind ma intimated earlier, implementing the democrat's plan, any plan implemented by the democrats will take place in '13, 2013. why is that? to allow president obama to be re-elected without a record on health care other than the passage of the bill itself. you are talking about years of implementation anyway. >> is it really just because of a political thing or, brad, is it this is a ginormous shift, they're trying to turn this around? we know how slowly the wheels of democracy turn on capitol hill. come on. >> this is a -- this is absolutely 100% all about re-election. after working in white houses, as soon as you get your first day in the white house it is all about the re-elect, what can you do with the president's record of accomplishment to get him re-elected. it is all about spending eight years there, not four years.

>> i want to go on record -- i was trying to be very program tal. that's the kind of girl i am. ask everybody. >> i just want to agree with brad, this is all about 2012 and 2010. which is why again i think the white house is making a mistake. this is their time. as the president said, the planets are aligned. they'll never have more support. they've got the doctors' support, nurses' support, they've got the big pharmaceutical companies for it. they've got 3 out of 4 committees -- no, 4 out of 5 committees that are dealing are health care that have passed a plan with a public plan option. so to scuttle it because the senate finance committee doesn't like it i think is really short-sighted, unnecessary and shows a weakness on the part of the white house. >> what do you think, brad, in terms of who's really willing to do this? is middle america behind it? you've got town hall meetings aside. you look at those and see who comes out, people who are supporters or anti, they come

out and make their statements. but middle america. if middle america's not behind it, is that why the white house is willing to drop this facet, this public insurance option, public option? >> yeah. every poll shows that the american people are not for health care revamping. they're for health care reform but the white house hasn't been clear. as to exactly what they're selling. the senate doesn't even have a bill. now if we didn't have the worst economy since the great depression, these are president obama's words -- why are we not focusing on the economy and jobs? why are we focusing on health care for which the american people do not see as a crisis? >> alex, i'd like to speak to that, if i can. you cannot separate health care and the economy. the president's absolutely right on that. health care consumes 1 out of 6 american dollars today. 16% of our gdp. the cost of health care are bankrupting small business and big business and families. you can't fix the economy unless you fix health care. but brad is wrong. the senate does have a bill. the senate health committee has

passed a bill. three committees in the house have passed a bill. they all have a public plan. the republicans have zero plan. their alternative the status quo. the american people do not want the status quo. because that means the insurance companies -- >> brad? >> you guys got everything, bill. you've got the white house, you've got the house and the senate and you can't even get your act together. you don't need one single republican vote to pass any piece of legislation. >> so how about this, guys? is there middle ground to get this health bill -- health care bill passed in some form or another? will we see that happen this fall, bill, brad, both of you? that's the last question. >> i'll give i my answer quickly. the answer is, to pass this bill, a strong bill with a public plan option with all democratic votes if necessary, forget the republicans! >> you think that will happen? >> no, there is no way. you got the hatfield and mccoys.

you've got the blue dog democrats and you've got the most liberal wing of the party. they can't get their act together. this is going past the fall and probably into january. >> okay. more discussions. a lot of those that say if it goes into january, it's not going to go anywhere. more, that's for sure. "the new york times" says interest groups have spent $57 million on health care ads in the last six months. groups supporting the president have spent $24 million. another $24 million has been spent by groups that favor changing the health care system but that aren't backing a specific plan. opponents of the government's efforts have spent $9 million on tv ads. fly all the want for $600 a month. that's the latest marketing campaign from jetblue. deal is $599 gets you a pass that allows you to travel as much as you want between september 8 and october 8. is this a way for jetblue to get more people in their planes or

are they just "plane" crazy? does it make sense? $599, like an all you can eat except all you can fly for a month? >> sometimes i go to brunches to new york. i just fill up my plate once, i paid $50. jetblue may actually make money off of this if people don't fly as much as they thought. >> if there are seats to be had. is there a control on that? >> jetblue will not tell us how many they've sold and that's a very good question. the planes might be full. obviously if you go on a tuesday or wednesday or saturday you're more likely not to have a full plane. >> i travel a lot on those days. my weekends are monday through tuesday here. travel a lot sundays through tuesdays and i rarely see one seat open. >> that's a big question that i don't think we can answer at this point, whether there will be room for passes that are sold. >> if you buy one and you're feeling lucky, how does it work? >> basically you can travel as much as you want except that you can't go out of the same airport

more than once a day. you can't go from boston to new york, new york to boston, then boston to los angeles in the same day. but jetblue estimates you can take up to five flights per day if you plan it right and over months, that's 150 flights. >> all you're going to do is spend your time flying. >> 24/7 is the idea. >> exactly. any sort of restrictions? have to do advanced purchase? >> it is three days after purchase. you can change your flight if you book them ahead. for no fee if you give them three days advance. only penalty is if are you a no-show, that's a $100 fee. >> usually it is $100 to change your flight. >> exactly. >> who's buying this up? >> i think retired people, unemployed people who still have money. certainly people who have boyfriends or girlfriends in distant cities and they want to see them every week or every weekend. the average jetblue ticket costs

$127 with tax. you use it five times and you're golden. anything over that is gravy. business travelers know, i think a lot of people thought they couldn't visit their clients this year because of the expense of travel. and if you want to go around the country and see your clients or if you're on a book tour or media tour, there are all kinds of -- if you're picking up a every weekend. >> yeah. we'll see how this works out. thank you very much. >> good to see you. >> money may be in short supply for many of us, but there's one group who may be having serious money woes, and that is generation y, 18 to 24. ♪ bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming.

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watch out for an alien takeover. well, at the box office, that is. check it out. >> he's saying watch out for me. >> that's the sci-fi thriller "district 9" blowing away major hollywood blockbusters in its first weekend. in fact, early estimates friday showed the thriller was nearly doubled the revenue of the second and third-place competitors. it was made for just $39 million and is on track to make more than that just this weekend. joining us is seth goldman. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. how are you? >> i'm great. and i hope you are too. i want to get your take on "district 9." what do you think? >> excellent film. peter jackson, we know about this guy, the lord "the lord of rings" trilogy, king kong, and this is a fabulous movie. it takes place 30 years ago, aliens, refugees, they come to earth for the first time and they come here, they're looking for a place to stay.

they were given johannesburg, south africa, slumlike conditions there, and they're treated like, not good at all. i mean, the problem is you don't know what they're here for. are they here for impending attack or could it be getting their technology, which is what all the governments of the world would like? great movie. it's a great campaign online, on twitter. only for humans, no aliens allowed. i thought that was great. really caught my eye. >> very clever. is it a guy film, as opposed to "g.i. joe"? >> that will fall from first place to third place big time. the problem is i was a big fan in the '80s of g.i. joe and i was definitely going to see it no matter what, but i think word got out, leaked out after the first weekend that this was not a great film, unlike "district 9," which is fabulous. >> let's look at "time traveler's wife."

lackluster reviews but let's take a quick peek. >> to assert my own sense of free will. my free will loves you. >> loves me? >> yes. of course. >> okay. chick flick, got my ten bucks yesterday. >> chick flick, boom. >> you know, i wanted to see it. so good. and i want to say from my opinion it was kind of rang true. >> based on the book -- >> great book. >> indeed. raich ed mcadams and eric, he involuntarily travels through time and, you know, it was an okay film but the problem is i think it may have had a rebuilding period because i'm not sure if you know this but brad pitt and jennifer aniston were supposed to co-star in this film. >> i did not know that. wait a minute. brad pitt and jennifer aniston were going to do this film. >> they were supposed to, but i'm not sure you know, they broke up a few years ago. >> i heard about that. >> but brad pitt did stay on as

producer. >> this comes out later after the hoopla about the book. out for a while. >> exactly. they bought the rights, planned the production, and they had to rebuild here so, nothing against those two, great actors. >> they did a great job. the whole thing just didn't conge congeal. >> absolutely. >> come back and see us, seth goldman, nbc's mobile buzz. more news, headline updates, always breaking news as it happened. i'm alex witt. you're good. thanks. so is our bike insurance. all the coverage you need at a great price. hold on, cowboy. cool. i'm not done -- for less than a dollar a month, yoalso get 24/7 roadside assistance. ght on. yeah, vroom-vroom! sounds like you ran a 500. more like a 900 v-twin. excuse me. well, you're excused. the right insurance for your ride. w, that's progressive. call or click today. but i've still got room for the internet.

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