Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Fires Sweep Oklahoma; Violence Continues in Syria; Droughts Hit Midwest; NASA Prepares Mission to Mars; Olympics Continue; Movie Critic Assesses Box Office Arrivals

Aired August 04, 2012 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Hello again. I'm Rob Marciano.

It's a dire situation in Oklahoma right now. Wind-whipped fires across more than a dozen counties fueled by extreme drought conditions. Mix that with temperatures today into the 110-plus zone. More than 60 buildings burned so far. Right now the fire threatens at least 100 more homes and people in at least four counties being told to run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stayed as long as I could and I had to get out of there. When I left the fire was right at my back door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even know what to think right now. I'm -- I'm just numb to the whole deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Take a look at this picture. People driving away from home as smoke and flames engulf nearly everything. Listen to evacuees tell what they managed to escape with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything else can be replaced, but my babies can't be replaced. They just can't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my mom's mom's, and these were real important to her, my sister's wedding dress in the back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: I have Oklahoma's governor on the phone right now, Mary Fallin, who just finished touring some of the hardest-hit areas. What's the toughest challenge that you're incurring right now?

GOV. MARY FALLIN, (R) OKLAHOMA: Well, the toughest challenge, rob, right now is that it's still very, very hot outside. Your state was up to 115 in some areas of the state. We, of course, are in the middle of a big drought in our state. We need rain and cool temperatures desperately, but we have all of the resources out working very, very hard. We're coordinating fire command centers, but I don't have a total estimate on the number of acres left, but from what I can best guess we're probably about 60,000 acres that are burned in Oklahoma. And I just finished touring Luther, Oklahoma, which has a population of 1,250, and the whole town has actually been evacuated because the power poles burned and they don't have electricity at all, and of course, it's extremely hot so no air-conditioning. And there was no electricity, and you can't even run water if a fire should come up to your home. And it's still hot to anticipate some of the embers that will re-ignite today and there are a lot of communities that are really struggling.

MARCIANO: Of course, you've had your heat and drought. You've had big fires in the past, as well. There are some reports that say that arson was the cause of this fire. Can you confirm that?

FALLIN: I don't know yet, but there is a story going around that someone saw a man in a white pickup truck throw a lighted newspaper out the window. And so we're trying to track down that story with the sheriff's department there in the local area. I sure hope no one would ever do something like this intentionally, because we had 56 structures that were destroyed just in Luther alone and a lot of people lost their homes that came really close to the schools there in Luther. I mean, right up on the school grounds and they were very fortunate. They didn't lose those schools.

But the good news is we've had no loss of life, no firefighters have had a loss of life. May god bless our firefighters. They've been working so hard under very tough circumstances.

MARCIANO: Oh, yes. This heat is unbelievable and to have to fight a fire is unreal to think about. You mentioned the town Luther, a small town, but significant. Over 1,000 people lived there that has since been evacuated. And the cool front will maybe knock down temperatures a bit. What are the fire commanders telling you? Is that town in danger if the winds shift?

FALLIN: The town is still in danger. There are a lot of burning embers even where the fire is going through, and if the winds shift it could push that fire back into the community itself. So they're not out of risk. And there's another town that's close by if the fire keeps going in that direction, we'll come up on that town. So we're monitoring the situation. We have a lot of people on the ground.

I have doubled our helicopters, our air support today. So the challenge is that we had five major fires yesterday and numerous other fires throughout the state. We talked to some of the other states about giving us some help, but golly, other states have their own fire problems, too. We're coordinating the services and getting the backhoes in, and the fire departments are helping other communities and they're certainly using our air support any way they can.

MARCIANO: Governor Mary Fallin out of Oklahoma joining us live on the phone. Good luck, governor. We know you have tough times ahead. We appreciate you on the phone, governor.

FALLIN: Thank you.

MARCIANO: As the governor mentioned Oklahoma is, yes, the latest victim of the hot, dry stuff, and the other states also included in this. Take a look at the company that Oklahoma has. Look closely. The latest drought monitor map and nearly half of all of the counties in the U.S., lower 48, have been designated disaster zones. Crop losses could top $20 billion, and you know what that means. You will feel that loss at some point where it hurts, in your wallet.

But consider this. A new study warns that the worst of the price increases and food shortages from the drought may be a year away. In 20 minutes past the hour I'll talk to the professor who conducted that survey.

All right, let's talk about the tropics. If we with could get one of these things in Oklahoma, which isn't easy to do, it would certainly help out. We'd like to do it with as little winds as possible. Ernesto has winds of 50 miles an hour. It should pass that island no problem, tonight. But Jamaica is in the path and tropical storm warnings are up for Jamaica moving to the west-northwest of 18 miles an hour.

Here's the forecast track is steady increase potentially getting to hurricane strength by tomorrow or Monday and driving it toward the Yucatan or maybe into the Gulf of Mexico. So all interests along the gulf and in neck co will have to watch this and also tropical storm Florence is out there in the Atlantic. No threat anywhere at this time.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Nairobi, Kenya, today. She is meeting with Kenyan leaders, including the president and prime minister. Clinton is urging the country is hold free and fair elections. A vote scheduled for march will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007. Hundreds were killed in the violence that followed that vote.

Doctors in Uganda are monitoring 30 people suspected of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus. At least 16 people have died since the initial outbreak. Our David Mackenzie visited the hospital where doctors are trying to contain one of the world's most dangerous diseases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MACKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak. We've been given exclusive access, and the first thing we found is our safety protection isn't enough.

The reason this isn't acceptable outer safety equipment is because of this cotton-like material and, obviously, fluids which are the key risk in contracting Ebola can get sort of soaked into the material. Let's keep going. What we've got is pre-packaged kits.

The virus is so deadly, you need extreme protection.

If you're inside a kind of restricted area, no matter what you do, you to wear something like this.

HENRY GREY, MSF EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: Plastic overalls, aprons, hoods and a face mask and not a single inch of skin could be exposed. Touching fluid, a patient or even an object can put you at risk.

MACKENZIE: We're inside Kagari hospital where the first case was confirmed in late July. The rest of the patients fled and health workers were some of the first to die.

GREY: Early on in the epidemic they're often in contact with patients and unwittingly, if they don't know it's Ebola they may catch it themselves and transmit that to the community. If you can't do that, you can rip it.

MACKENZIE: Within 24 hours of the first case, Doctors without Borders was on the ground. There is no cure for Ebola and up to 90 percent of the people who catch it will die. So managing the fear factor is key.

Olympia de la Rosa is in charge of the response. She said it's important to stay calm when entering the high-risk zone. This is the innermost exclusion zone, 13 suspected cases of Ebola, two confirmed, the sickest, too dangerous to get close enough to film. There is no treatment. All of the doctors can do is give care. All of the patients can do is hope.

Doctors wear protection for themselves and to contain the outbreak.

OLYMPIA DE LA ROSA, DOCTOR: The main objective when one of these outbreaks is to contain the spread because we cannot treat it and we cannot keep seeing patients. We have to avoid it. So we have to contain the spread of the disease.

MACKENZIE: We are allowed only a few minutes inside and have to leave. It's the front line of the fight against the Ebola outbreak, so no risk is worth taking. The goal, to stop the spread in Uganda and even beyond.

Bill Mackenzie, CNN, Kagari, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: We'll hear more from Olympia de la Rosa, the doctor in the story. She's still on the ground in Uganda. We'll get the day's developments and more on what they're doing to contain the outbreak.

We are just hours away to see how hard the toughest Olympic record ever. Michael Phelps' medal wins and today he'll swim his last Olympic race which could give him his 22nd Olympic medal. Of course, this is just one of the gripping headlines today from London. So CNN's Pedro Pinto is live for us at the games. Pedro, which race, there are so many of them that the swimmers have. Which one is Phelps competing in and what time can we expect that?

PEDRO PINTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in less than 90 minutes we'll say good-bye to Michael Phelps, the curtain closes on his amazing Olympic career, Rob. We're talking about a man who has won more Olympic medals than anyone else in this event. He's going for 22nd overall. He's won 21 so far. If we put all of his medals together from Athens and also Beijing and London. And he's going to compete in the four x 100 medley and that will start in less than an hour and a half. The USA are the favorites and we could see Michael Phelps saying good- bye to the Olympics by winning his 18th gold medal of his career. It would be a fantastic way to have that cherry on top of the cake which has been an unforgettable run for him in the Olympics rob.

MARCIANO: He's done quite well after having a bit of a stumble, he's certainly come back strong.

Let's switch gears. It's weird watching these tennis matches. They're taking place at Wimbledon which is a grand slam and the last showdown for the women's, Serena and Maria. That felt like a grand slam event. How did that turn out?

PINTO: It really did feel like a grand slam final. I was at Wimbledon just a couple of weeks ago to watch the women's final and Serena won that. And, wow, did she teach Maria Sharapova a lesson today at the old England club. She didn't waste any time and winning this gold medal which allowed her to win the golden slam, that's winning all four grand slam events and then an Olympic gold as well, 6-0, 6-1. The match lasted just 63 minutes. Maria Sharapova had no answers for the shots Serena was pounding in her direction in this final. And the American with a historic achievement in London. We'll see now whether Roger Federer can win the elusive singles gold medal on Sunday. He takes on one of the local favorites and Andy Murray at Wimbledon on Sunday, Rob.

MARCIANO: Speaking of history, Pedro, we have the first double amputee competing, blade runner. Give us the color on that story.

PINTO: This is an unbelievable story, Rob. This is a man who hails from South Africa. He was born without fibulas. He had both of his legs amputated when he was 11 months old and that didn't allow him to compete as an able-bodied athlete. That didn't mean that he gave up on his Olympic dream and obviously he won four para-Olympic gold medals and his dream was always to become an Olympian, and that came true earlier on Saturday when he qualified for the men's semifinals in the 400 meters and he made history by becoming the first-ever double amputee to compete in the able-bodied games.

An unbelievable story, the 25-year-old will now try to qualify for the final. And how magical would it be if he could walk away with a medal from these London games.

MARCIANO: We look forward to that today. Super Saturday, they call it. Pedro Pinto live from London. Thank you.

Talk about an Olympic feat sort of, kind of, in a way. Think about outer space, the countdown to one of NASA's most difficult, and I think coolest missions and pretty costly ever, a harrowing trip to Mars. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: In Syria, fighting is intensifying in Aleppo, the country's commercial hub. Our sister network was able to enter an area under heavy fire and captured this video. Today rebels stormed the state-run TV and radio station and took partial control of that building, but eventually had to retreat under heavy shelling.

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime is feeling the impact of economic sanctions and is now asking Russia for financial aid. Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman joins me live from northern Syria where he's met with a commander of the rebel army earlier. Ben, what is that soldier telling you?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this commander of the free Syrian army is telling me that they are reinforcing their fighters in and around Aleppo trying to bring in as much ammunition and weaponry as possible in anticipation of the arrival in Aleppo of two large columns, one headed from Latakia on the Mediterranean coast and the other coming in the direction of Damascus. Clearly, the Syrian army far outguns the rebels and the concern is that we are really on the verge of a major government counteroffensive to win back control of Aleppo's biggest city and its commercial hub. Of course, the concern among officials in Damascus is if Aleppo falls, that's really the end of the game.

MARCIANO: So they're up against a big army, Ben. I would imagine the rebel army having short supplies. Are they getting any help in terms of arms and ammunition, and if so, from who?

WEDEMAN: Well, we know that most of their arms and ammunition have been captured from the Syrian army itself. They have received limited supplies of weaponry from some of the gulf state, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and certainly to be compared with the amount of weaponry that the Libyan rebels receive during their uprising and it really is a drop in the bucket. One of the commanders I spoke with today say he quickly acknowledged that they're outmanned and they're outgunned. He did, however, say they have god on their side.

MARCIANO: Ben, you heard different numbers as far as the death toll is concerned. What can you tell us about both military and civilian?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, as far as today's concerned according to Syrian opposition groups, the number of dead exceeds 60. There are also reports, or claims coming from the regime in Damascus that they found the side of what they claim to be a massacre more than 20 people dead. In this case the claim is that there are soldiers and civilians who were not supporting the rebels.

Obviously, these numbers are very difficult to nail down, but this is actually compared to the death toll of the last week or so which daily exceed 100, this is somewhat down. But this really does not detract from the fact that many feared that there would be lots of bloodshed in Aleppo if they do try to retake the city in the coming days.

MARCIANO: Ben Wedeman live for us in northern Syria. Thank you, Ben, and stay safe.

Let's get to the race to the White House. Mitt Romney is attending a fundraiser today in Evansville, Indiana. He picked up a celebrity endorsement and another fundraiser last night, actor Clint Eastwood. Eastwood said he hoped Romney would fix the country's tax system. Speaking of president or presidentials, Mr. President, it's his birthday. Today is President Obama 51 birthday. He's spending the day at Camp David. There's a more official celebration in Chicago expected next weekend. The president returns to the campaign trail this week with two stops in Connecticut.

What makes a healthy neighborhood? We have tips on what to look for coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: A new survey shows the drought is beginning to drag down Midwest economies and it's expected to have a ripple effect across the entire country. Ernie Goss is a professor of economics at Creighton University. He conducted that survey. Some surprising stuff, professor, coming out of there. What should consumers be most concerned about?

ERNIE GOSS, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY: Good afternoon, Rob. The consumers are going to see higher food prices. Now, on the pork, on the stock side, beef, pork and poultry, the price will be somewhat lower in the short run because a lot of livestock producers are bringing their animals to the food processing plants because of the high cost of feed. But we're already seeing some of the prices for higher, for example crop prices. So all in all, what consumers will say, the USDA says four percent, no, about six percent to seven percent. This will be a lot higher prices for consumers in the U.S. and consumers across the globe.

MARCIANO: When I first heard of these reports from 2 percent to 3 percent increase in the grocery Bill seemed too dramatic and you start talking more than 5 percent and especially the people that live month to month and check to check. That's a big increase and you feel confident that it's going to get that bad?

GOSS: Oh, absolutely. You know, Rob, this is -- of course, we survey the bread basket of the nation, for that matter, the bread basket of the globe. So we have the easy money policy of the Federal Reserve which is contributing to higher food prices. And what we tried in the two surveys for the month of July is the spilling over of other industries because obviously when consumers have less money they have less money to spend on other factors. And we haven't seen all of that yet. We'll see it in the months ahead and, in fact, the -- coming in the latter part of 2012 and into 2013.

MARCIANO: What do you expect to see, Professor Goss? Is this going to unemployment which isn't terribly strong, or will it affect jobs?

GOSS: Absolutely, Rob. In the month of July our employment gauge was level, but the overall indices for the month of July, again, two surveys, rural and non-rural, down below growth neutral. So what we're expecting from our two surveys going forward is we are going see a slower growth economy. I expect it to approach zero, meaning no job growth and we could see job losses. In fact we will see job losses for industries that are tightly linked to agriculture. For example, ethanol is tightly linked. They're fueled by corn. We've already seen corn prices more than double what we had this time last year.

MARCIANO: I don't have a lot of time, but one more question, professor. If we do get rain and snow this coming winter, is this still going to be a crisis that lasts more than 12 or 18 months?

GOSS: Rob, it looks like it's too late for this year's crop, but also the livestock producers, and we talk about crop insurance. Livestock producers don't get crop insurance. And of course Congress left, and they left the beef producers and livestock producers, they hung them out to dry by taking no action, no pun intended there. So this will be a tough situation going forward for a lot of rural America, at least the midsection of the country.

MARCIANO: OK. Professor Ernie Goss, with a bit of a gloomy forecast, but we'll all get together and pray for some rain and hope for some improvement. Thank you, Professor Goss.

GOSS: We will, Rob. Thanks.

MARCIANO: Did you know that where you live can actually affect your health? Living in a neighborhood that helps get you moving and promotes a better lifestyle is good for your heart. Here's Elizabeth Cohen in this week's "Health for Her."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: It may seem obvious, but now there's scientific proof. A recent study finds that people are more likely to have strong, healthy hearts if they live in a neighborhood that promotes a healthy lifestyle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel totally safe running up and down these streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a healthy grocery store in the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have a basketball court.

COHEN: It helps if residents feel safe and have pleasant places to walk. Having sidewalks and easy access to parks and trails also gets people moving. Neighborhood grocery stores with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy restaurants that are within walking distance can make it easier to stick to a healthy diet. Heart-healthy people are more likely to have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels and be at a healthy weight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't smoke and exercise on a regular basis, about 150 minutes in a week of moderate exercise, and they have fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet.

COHEN: If you're planning a move in the near future, factor in the potential health benefits of the neighborhood.

With this week's "Health for Her," I'm Elizabeth Cohen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Every Saturday that the time we will bring you new information about medical breakthroughs or ways to improve your health and quality of life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Back to the fighting in Aleppo. I want to bring in Deniz Bayramoglu, one of our affiliate reporters for CNN Turk who has witnessed some of the clashes first hand. He was just in Aleppo and joins us now from a neighboring town just across the border in turkey. What can you tell us about that journey? We haven't been able to get to many firsthand reports. It's a very dangerous place, I would imagine.

DENIZ BAYRAMOGLU, REPORTER, CNN TURK: Aleppo is indeed a very dangerous place. And it was controlled by the Syrian army forces and which has also called al Salam border gate in the Syrian part and who is also controlled by the free Syrian armed forces. And they've taken us from the border gate and taken us to the Assad city, which is three miles to the Turkish border and also controlled by the free Syrian.

Army forces and they have taken us to the civilian card by the city and took us to Aleppo because there are lots of military also on the main road still, but right on the way to Aleppo we have six or seven small villages and towns which were also controlled by the free Syrian army forces, but when they closed up to two or three miles to Aleppo, we have seen a very, very big military post which is controlled by the Assad forces. We have bypassed that in the outskirts of the Aleppo city.

The outskirts were interesting because Aleppo was going normally in that part of the city. There were marketplaces and people were going shopping, but you could see the effects that were in that city. The garbage -- everywhere there was a heavy smell in the air and people were trying to carry on, but the main clashes are taking place in the neighborhood which is also controlled by the free Syrian army forces. And they also claim they are controlling 45 percent to 50 percent of the Aleppo city.

Just across the neighborhood there is a Hamdania (ph) neighborhood controlled by Assad forces and until now both sides are trying to hold their positions there. Assad forces are trying to prevent the forces to come forward by using snipers, and they are trying to deploy new troops, including 50 tanks and. And forces are trying to destroy those tanks before they enter the -- there was a big square between Hamdania (ph) and it's really heavy bombings in the city two or three times a day. They're using helicopters, fighter jets and even mortar attacks.

MARCIANO: Deniz reporting for us live from Turkey just over the border from Syria talking about his trip to and from Aleppo. Thank you, Deniz. We appreciate it. Stay safe.

Well, it's the size of an SUV, weighs nearly a ton, and will soon be barreling toward mars at 13,000 miles an hour -- a preview of the unprecedented rover mission. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: "Seven Minutes of Terror," it sounds like a Hollywood movie. Well, almost. That's a petrifying ride from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars. And NASA's rover Curiosity is about to take that unprecedented trip in the search for the building blocks of life.

CNN's John Zarrella is life from the jet propulsion lab in Pasadena, California, who was just as excited as I am about this mission that's really pretty dangerous. They're calling it the seven minutes of terror and they have this amazing video on NASA's Web site, it's very well produced, and it kind of gave me some chills, John. Explain what's going to happen.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rob, what they're going to do is hit the atmosphere at 13,000 miles an hour and over the course of seven minutes a whole series of events have to unfold. They have to maneuver through the atmosphere, deploy a parachute and fire rockets to center them up with the planet. Then they've got to come down on literally on what they call a sky crane down to the surface of the planet. All of that takes place in seven minutes. Any one thing goes wrong and the entire mission is lost.

But I want to show people back out here live, this is how far NASA has come, rob, since 1997. Take a look at this. This is the sojourner rover, landed on mars, July 4, 1997. All right, this is where they are now.

MARCIANO: Come on.

ZARRELLA: This is Curiosity, 2,000 pounds --

MARCIANO: That little one is a toy compared to curiosity.

ZARRELLA: Yes. And there's more complexity in, like, literally the wheel of Curiosity than there is in all of Sojourner.

And I want to bring in Jordan Evans here to talk about some of the capabilities of Curiosity when they get on the ground. Jordan is one of the head engineers here on this mission. This is one of the key instruments, right?

EVANS: Absolutely. This is the drill, the scoop, contact instruments, magnifying glass, anything that a geologist would have on the field is on the seven-foot arm.

ZARRELLA: You'll be able to hammer rocks into small pieces and put them up into the chemistry lab.

EVANS: See them like a geologist would and portion them into two different instruments.

ZARRELLA: Everyone will want to see the first images coming back from Mars right after the landing. What are we going to get? Where will we get them from? EVANS: From the avoidance camera, there will be lens caps on, but they're clear lens caps.

ZARRELLA: Those will be the first? And up here, this is the laser?

EVANS: We can have the rocks from 20 feet away and we have stereo mass cams from the Martian environment.

ZARRELLA: And one of the things, Rob, that will keep curiosity going as long as it will up to two years, you have nuclear power, right?

EVANS: We do. We have a nuclear generator in the air and it gives us the energy we need.

ZARRELLA: Thermo electric generator.

EVANS: Yes.

ZARRELLA: Tell me about your ability to go over. With this thing you can literally climb over rocks.

EVANS: We can. 20-degree slopes and the rover has no problem. It's capable.

ZARRELLA: Jordan, thank you very much. Rob, this vehicle is just so far advanced to anything they've ever landed on mars in the past and literally has the capability to detect the building blocks of life. And that's one of the keys. That's what they're looking for, water, carbon. If they can find some of that, may be evidence that at one time in the past and perhaps even today that life might still exist in some microbial forms somewhere on Mars. That would be a tremendous find.

MARCIANO: Exciting stuff. You had me at laser beams and vaporizing rocks. For that alone I'm all jazzed up. John Zarrella live in Pasadena and he'll be there live for the event itself which is something that you will see live Sunday night into Monday morning. Thanks, John.

From outer space to the streets of London. The Olympics aren't just about the games.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Well, Fredericka Whitfield is usually sitting right here right now, but she's at the Olympics with her dad who himself is an Olympian. While they're in London, Fredericka and her dad aren't just watching the games. They're also soaking up some of the local culture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Taking in all of these Olympic events is rather exhausting. We've been to the very exciting men's gymnastics and we've taken in the party scene of beach volleyball and so my brother Lonnie, my dad, 1948 gold medalist Mal Whitfield right here. We decided we need a little break and we kick up our heels a little bit. What do you say? It's tea time and it's 4:00.

Hey there, Kate! How are you? Good to see you. Kate Maxwell, Jetsetter.com. Finally we see each other in person and we had to come to London to have tea.

KATE MAXWELL, JETSETTER.COM: Hello, I'm Kate. Happy to meet you. Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Whitfield, pleasure to meet you. Let me tell you about the history of tea and you think about it being a quint essential English thing that wasn't introduced to the country until the 17th century when Charles II married a Portuguese woman. It's a Portuguese thing and they made it popular and it became a social custom in the mid-1800s.

And there's an interesting story behind this. This was when gas- lighting was invented and the English had dinner a bit later in the evening when they could eat when it was dark so they were a bit hungry because they had just had breakfast and they had the English meal and the duchess of Bedford apparently became rather faint in the afternoon so she began this custom of having tea and snacks.

WHITFIELD: A little pick me up.

MAXWELL: The sandwich was named after the fourth earl of sandwich. The legend is that he was playing cards and he wanted a snack and he asked his butler, his man servant to put a piece of meat between bread, so the sandwich was adopted. So the story behind that, so I'm hoping we'll have some sandwiches.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

MAXWELL: And we actually have a tea menu. My favorite tea is a very smoky tea. Earl gray, obviously, is the classic British tea. Dodging, you might be familiar with.

WHITFIELD: My favorite is jasmine pearl so I want to try something different and I'll go by your recommendation of what you're having.

MAXWELL: They have an organic.

WHITFIELD: Two.

MAXWELL: It is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Decisions, decisions, it's tea time here in the east coast in about an hour.

Arnold Schwarzenegger made a big splash with his 1990 sci-fi flick "Total Recall," and now Colin Farrell stars in the 2012 version. How does he think he compares?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN FARRELL, ACTOR: It's an entertaining trip for two hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Critics rate the new "Recall" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Whether it's action or romance you're in the mood for this weekend, there is something for you at the movie, at least. Colin Farrell's remake of the sci-fi thriller "Total Recall" is out this weekend, plus three classic Marilyn Monroe movies will be out on Blu- ray. Here to talk about it all is Grae Drake, our movie critic from Fandango from Movies.com. Grae, let's talk "Total Recall." it's been 20 years since Arnie made it. Give us a refresher course on the plot summary.

GRAE DRAKE, CRITIC, MOVIES.COM: All right. Well, in this new version Colin Farrell plays a man who works as a regular factory workers assembling policeman robots or is he a regular guy is the real question because when he goes to the recall center to have kind of a brain/memory vacation as they do in the future he realizes that his life is not what he thought it was at all. Chaos ensues.

MARCIANO: Nice. I think we've got a short clip. So let's roll that and give the viewers a bit of a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you a citizen of the colony?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long is your stay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your business?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three days. Yes. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's him!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: A little "Minority Report" which I think Colin was actually in as well. What do you think of the movie, and how does it compare to the 1990 version?

DRAKE: Well, the 1990 version is a classic popcorn and soda flick. And this new version you've got to bring along some ginkgo biloba just so you can remember what happened once it's over. It's so forgettable in comparison. I was really disappointed.

MARCIANO: So what would you give it for a grade? DRAKE: I try to be fair, and I try to forget that the original movie existed, and if this movie is just standing on its own, OK, Arnold Schwarzenegger never existed, god forbid, I'd give this version a "b" because it had great action. Colin Farrell always makes the most of his material and the production was great. It had a "Blade Runner" look to it and I felt like I got thrown into a can of Christmas lights and someone shook it up. It looked cool.

MARCIANO: OK. I was trying to picture that, but I get what you're saying. If you've seen the first one you would g)give it a c or a d.

DRAKE: Or even worse bought the first one had me quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger for years, afterwards, decades even. You have prostitutes with guns, conjoined twins, an abundance of broken glass. The original is unforgettable and the new one is exactly the opposite of that. I barely remembered what to tell you about it and I just saw it seven days ago.

MARCIANO: When people quote Arnie just because of the accent if nothing else. He's that cool.

DRAKE: Touche.

(LAUGHTER)

MARCIANO: I want to move in to these three Marilyn Monroe movies that you're jazzed out about. They're out in Blu-ray, "River of No Return," "How to Marry a Millionaire," and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Why are you so excited about these?

DRAKE: Marilyn Monroe, two words, easy explanation. She's such a memorable figure who had such a memorable figure that seeing her in Blu-ray with the resolution and the magnificent picture that comes with the DVDs is the next best thing of bringing her back to life aside from watching Michelle Williams play her in "My Week with Marilyn," which she got nominated for an Oscar. This is filled with fun extras and there are more than three DVDs being released commemorating Marilyn Monroe.

You have "gentlemen prefer blonds" you have them smooshing their hands in wet cement in Graman's Chinese theater. Tons of commentaries on moves like "seven year itch." I say give Marilyn Monroe your money this week.

MARCIANO: All right, go out and get them. Grae Drake, thanks for the insight and have a great west of your weekend.

DRAKE: Thank you, you, too.

MARCIANO: Remember, you can always get Grae's movie grades at Fandango and Movies.com.

The London games are definitely intense. We'll show you where the athletes go to get a little break from the Olympic grind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARCIANO: Well, being away from home can be hard for some athletes who are competing in this week's Olympic Games. But, thankfully, there's a place in London that's bringing their country to them. Erin McLaughlin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's food, fashion, history, and art. The Dutch have set up a party house in a centuries-old palace. The Germans, well, they literally cruised on it. For some country, it's a chance to let Olympic athletes and fans mingle amidst the comforts of home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At any given moment you could have the legend Olympians in the space, you could have an athlete in the space or their families. This is meant as a refuge for Olympians and their family members.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came here to have a good time and get my mind off my races that I have coming up.

MCLAUGHLIN: For countries like Russia, the national hospitality house is open to the public, a chance to attract tourists.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We have chose traditional Russian shows, and it includes dances, and also have the kids' zone and also have coffee here with traditional Russian food.

MCLAUGHLIN (on camera): A place to celebrate the Olympics and to boost national pride. A little bit of home away from home.

Erin McLaughlin, reporting from London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)