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Pop Culture In 2014: What's Next?; Soldier Reunites With Family This Christmas; Top Ten Money Stories Of 2013

Aired December 25, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 2013 was quite a year for pop culture. Perhaps you're having a little trouble remembering everything that happened. Well, maybe this will jog your memory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to be in a real war?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooking 100 pounds a week, not 50, as in starting a new lab, a lab that you'll run, a cook all of your own. Why not? You deserve it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to do the thing that God put Ron Burgundy on this earth to do. Have salon-quality hair and read the news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. From Beyonce to "Breaking Bad," 2013 was never boring, but what can we expect in the New Year. Joining me is Erik Davis contributing editor at fandango.com. Good to see you, and Jawn Murray, editor-in-chief at alwaysalist.com. Good to see you as well.

All right, Gentlemen, thanks for being here on this lovely Christmas day. We just saw a few moments in 2030 -- '13 rather, but now we're going to look forward. Erik, let's begin with you. What's going to be the biggest most influential trend in entertainment you expect to see in 2014?

ERIK DAVIS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, FANDANGO.COM: I expect to see more crossover between movies and television. We're going to get TV shows becoming movies. We are going to get movies becoming TV shows, but look for them to connect the two. You know, Marvel Studios began doing this in the beginning of November when they came out with "Thor: The Dark World." They took a piece of that movie and they made it the central story line of their television series, "The Agents of Shields."

So look for more of that happening. I think they're going to do it in "Captain America 2" and I think studios are paying attention to that because they want to connect movies and television more because I think especially the ones with large fan bases because it makes fans really excited.

WHITFIELD: So making it a lot more accessible. So Jawn, what do you think the big trends of 2014 might be?

JAWN MURRAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ALWAYSALIST.COM: I think more diversity from Hollywood. You know, at the Box Office this year we saw more than 15 major films with people of color in them and they had great numbers at the Box Office and a lot of them are contenders going into the 2014 award show season. Also with the continued success of "Scandal" and the turnaround of the Oprah Winfrey Network, Hollywood is going to give us more diversity because they realize that this isn't necessarily a trend. This is the new normal and something they should have been doing a long time ago.

WHITFIELD: And something that's become really normal to a lot of folks and households is watching reality TV shows, but, Jawn, you say that reality TV shows are out? Which is hard to believe because they're so much cheaper to make for so many networks and that's why they have been here to stay, why do you think it's going to be changing, Jawn?

MURRAY: Fredricka, you know, they are cheaper to make, but they're becoming a liability. When you see folks like the "Giudices" and "Duck Dynasty" they're having all these public backlash and you see all the competition shows. The numbers are down across the board. I think people will start to do more scripted programming because Netflix and Amazon and other entities are winning with scripted programming.

WHITFIELD: So Erik, something tells me you think the new face, the person that's going to be hot in 2014 is not going to come from reality TV. Who do you expect to explode on the scene?

DAVIS: You know, everybody is looking for the next, Jennifer Lawrence, now after the year that she had. I like a girl named Shailene Woodley. She was a star of a great coming of age movie called "A Spectacular Now." Next year she has her own "Hunger Games" like franchise in "Divergent." She also has "A Fault In Our Stars," which is another movie based on a popular novel, a love story.

WHITFIELD: Jawn, how about you for you? Who do you see as the next big hot thing?

MURRAY: Well, I mean, he set the pace for it in 2013, but I think next year is going to be the year of Kevin Hart. He had a successful show, "Real Husbands of Hollywood." He broke Eddie Murphy's Box Office record with the stand-up comedy film. Today he has a movie in theaters. He has four films coming out next year including a sequel to "Think Like A Man 2." I wouldn't be surprised if this time next year they wouldn't be saying Kevin Hart will host the Oscars.

WHITFIELD: All right, so while we are celebrating the next potential highs for 2014, let's reflect quickly on the biggest low in 2013 for whom in your view, Erik?

DAVIS: I'm not a big fan of Miley Cyrus. I give her credit. She wants to be different. She wants to stand out, but you look at something like Beyonce did when she dropped her album at midnight and then went into Wal-Mart and bought Christmas gifts for everybody. I think that's the way you stand out and inspire your fan base.

WHITFIELD: Jawn, who had the biggest low in your view?

MURRAY: Fredricka, I have to say Miley Cyrus landed me on Barbara Walters ten most fascinating people. My clip from this network made her special, so I love her. But I say Paula Deen. She went from being one of the most beloved TV chefs and one of the most successful and her career after use the "n" word crumbled like those biscuits she likes to bake. I think that was one of the biggest scandals. It will be interesting to see if she begins the road to recovery next year.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jawn Murray, Erik Davis, thanks so much. Happy holidays to both of you.

DAVIS: Happy holidays.

MURRAY: Same to you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, they're separated by an ocean, but we're about to bring them a little closer together. A very special Christmas celebration with one military family next.

But first, an artist is proving what you leave behind could be a lot more than you think. Brooke Baldwin takes us below the surface in today's "Technovations."

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You may want to think twice the next time you spit out your gum or drop a cigarette butt in public. New York artist, Heather Dewey Hagborg might pick it up, extract the DNA and turn it into a 3D face that could look like you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of my work begins with a question. In this particular case the question was what can I learn about someone from a single hair.

BALDWIN: Once she finds a sample, she takes it to the lab to mine it for DNA and then analyze the results.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From a cigarette butt I can learn where someone's ancestors likely came from, their gender, eye color, hair color, complexion.

BALDWIN: That information is then fed into a computer program that generates a 3D model of a face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way I'm using code here is a lot like how a sketch artist would use a pencil.

BALDWIN: It takes about 3 hours to print. Then the excess powder is removed to reveal the disembodied face from a stranger's DNA, but there are limitations, the length of a person's nose or the shape of the face cannot be determine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The face has a general likeness. Right now I can't determine age so all of my masks are aged between 20 and 40.

BALDWIN: Dewey Hagborg started the project called "Stranger Visions" after creating her self portrait two years ago. Now she's hoping it will raise questions about genetic privacy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's meant to be an exploration at the intersection of art and technology and science and it's meant to be a provocation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right now to South Sudan where violent political and ethnic conflict is verging on a civil war. There's growing evidence of atrocities there and more forces are arriving in the region including 50 U.S. Marines. They're spending Christmas stationed in neighboring Uganda ready to help evacuate any Americans still in South Sudan.

Joining me right now is Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. So Barbara, what is the military plan for the U.S. and other international forces?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the U.S., Fredricka, if they get a request from the State Department and orders to go, they will move. There are two possibilities here if they get those orders, to either bring out any additional Americans from the embassy, or American citizens that either need, or want to get out of South Sudan or go to the embassy and help reinforce it, provide security in order to keep the embassy open.

But those Marines won't go, of course, unless the state diplomat department makes the decision they need them. You will see in coming weeks other nations in the region try to make the effort I think to send in some peacekeepers to work on behalf of the United Nations. The violence has begun to really accelerate. Some people calling it out of control ethnic cleansing.

Tens of thousands of South Sudanese looking for shelter with the United Nations compound and safety anywhere that they can so there's a real effort here to try and step up very rapidly get aid to these displaced people and get some diplomatic solution to the crisis -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Barbara, last weekend there was some service members who were injured when a helicopter tried to make its way in or at least four choppers made its way in to carry out the evacuations. What's the latest on that?

STARR: There's hopefully some very good news. As you say, four U.S. Navy SEALs injured when their aircraft, all three of their aircraft took fire. Three were moved to Landstuhl Hospital earlier this week in Germany, the very hospital that treats the war wounded from Afghanistan and back in the days of Iraq. The fourth Navy SEAL had been left behind in Nairobi, Kenya. He was very badly injured.

He needed to have more surgery before they could think about moving him. We're told today he's on a military air evac plane. He is on his way to Landstuhl and that, of course, good news because it will put him one step closer to home and his family.

WHITFIELD: All right, Barbara Starr, thanks so much from the Pentagon. Appreciate that update. Coming up from Blackberry's demise to Bitcoin's rise, there were some pretty big money stories from the past year. We count down the top ten.

Plus it's the season to be with family and friends, but for American soldiers overseas that can be very challenging. So this Christmas we're going to make it a little easier for one soldier in Afghanistan to connect with his family right here at home right after this.

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WHITFIELD: This Christmas there are 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan. One of them is Navy Lieutenant Yuriel Macias. He has been serving in Kabul since July and he hasn't been with his family since June, so we wanted to do something special at CNN and reunite him with his wife, Angela Macias, and their children, Natalie, Andreas, Ethan and Cecilia and there you are and here we are together now.

The family is coming from California along with Lieutenant Macias in Kabul Skyping for us. This is your first time and your first Christmas apart since you were married four years ago. A message to your family right now as you're getting a chance to see them for the first time in many months?

LT. URIEL MACIAS, U.S. NAVY: I haven't seen them in close to eight months, and right before I left my little boy was born, so it will be quite interesting to see them again when I redeploy.

WHITFIELD: And so, Angela, how about you, your message to your husband right now?

ANGELA MACIAS, HUSBAND DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN: We miss him dearly. It's been really a hectic year without him. The little one is now six months. As you can see, he's grown a lot since you left.

WHITFIELD: So, Angela, how was Christmas morning today? Maybe you can fill Yuriel in on what it was like in the house this morning.

ANGELA MACIAS: Honestly, a little quiet, just sharing our gifts in the morning with the children. Today his absence a little sad, quiet, and it was just me and the kids.

WHITFIELD: And Natalie, as the big sister there, what was it like for you in the household? How did you try to keep it festive? What were your thoughts about your dad this morning? NATALIE YNIGUEZ, STEPDAD DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN: It's different. It's just hard because she keeps saying papi.

WHITFIELD: And Uriel, what is it like to hear your kids and your wife? You're many miles apart, but in a small kind of way we brought you together. Maybe the distance doesn't seem so far right now, does it?

YURIEL MACIAS: It's almost like I'm almost there. I can actually kind of hear my dog barking in the background, too. So it's kind of nice. It's very nice actually to see them all together and thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: What kinds of traditions were carried out at the base this morning for the many other troops that are with you?

YURIEL MACIAS: They did a nice breakfast and nice dinner. The upper officers were the ones serving the dinner to the enlisted and it was very nice to see a nice Christmas dinner being served by the general officers and the colonels and captains and all of the other people that we report to on a daily basis.

WHITFIELD: And so, Lieutenant, how long before you get a chance to go home and have a person-to-person reunion with the family?

YURIEL MACIAS: Fredricka, I'm here for another month and I'm counting down the days. I will be home by the end of January, early February, if all goes well.

WHITFIELD: So Angela, any plans of having a second Christmas once dad comes home?

ANGELA MACIAS: Yes, definitely.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. Well, Merry Christmas to all of you. Lieutenant, thanks so much for your service. Angela, Natalie, Cecilia, Ethan, and Andreus, happy holidays to all of you.

ANGELA MACIAS: Thank you. Happy holidays.

YURIEL MACIAS: Thank you very much. Merry Christmas.

WHITFIELD: Merry Christmas.

Coming up at the top of the hour -- it was a Christmas mass that ended a banner year for Pope Francis. His message, his popularity, and his hope for the world straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Billions of dollars spent on web sites and smartphone apps this year as Silicon Valley companies grow bigger than ever. Lots of big money stories in 2013 from Bitcoins to Amazon's drone delivery. Richard Quest and Christine Romans count down the top ten moments in money and business for 2013.

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RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNNI'S "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" (voice-over): Number ten, Jeff Bezos. The Amazon chief executive is taking on print media. He paid $250 million for "The Washington Post." He's investing in cutting edge technology, too, pitching a plan to deliver your Amazon purchases, yes, by drone.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Number nine, Marissa Mayer. One cool year on the job, so now we can see what kind of leader she is at Yahoo!. Her goal, to make Yahoo! cool again, her strategy a shopping spree, $1.1 billion for the blogging web site Tumblr and she picked up former evening news anchor, Katie Couric and long time "New York Times" tech writer, David Pog.

QUEST: Number eight, Blackberry not dead yet, according to the company at least. They've taken drastic measures to keep itself alive. It put itself up for sale, laid off around 40 percent of the workforce before canceling plans to sell itself. Even that may not save the company.

ROMANS: Number seven, tech winners. A year and a half after Facebook's face plant IPO, the stock higher than where it started and Twitter launched on the New York Stock Exchange making some of its co- founders, very, very, very wealthy. Neither Facebook or Twitter can match Google when it comes to share price, they topped $1,000 per share.

QUEST: Number six, in Bitcoin we trust. Bitcoin, which is electronic cash, shows the world it's real. Some are calling it the safe haven investment for the 21st Century despite massive volatility. The little virtual currency that could surged. It was up $14 at the beginning of the year. It closes around $1,200 at the end of November.

Number five, U.S. Airways and American Airlines, the merger that's taken off, creating the world's largest airline. The carrier has given up some take-off and landing slots at Washington Reagan and New York LaGuardia. The Justice Department says that will bring in w cost carriers and help travelers. With ticket prices on the rise, consumers may still lose out.

ROMANS: Number four, the government shut down. Part of the government shutdown after Congressional Republicans tried to defund Obamacare. That shutdown lasted 16 days. Government offices, national parks closed, 800,000 workers sent home. Final cost around $24 billion.

Number three, healthcare.gov., what the president initially called glitches quickly turned into a political catastrophe. They call in outside experts for a tech surge to fix the sites. Signups have picked up but it's too soon to predict whether the site will ever be a success.

QUEST: Number two, JPMorgan, America's biggest bank will pay $13 billion to settle charges it misled investors about the quality of the mortgages it sold leading up to the financial crisis. It's the biggest settlement to date. Justice Department says it won't be the last.

ROMANS: Number one, stock market record. The Federal Reserve pumping so much money into the economy, stocks launch to new highs, home prices moving higher, but Main Street isn't feeling so good. Fast food workers across the country on strike protesting what they call poverty wages. They're calling for a $15 minimum wage. That's a debate that won't end with a new year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Christine and Richard. You can vote on the top ten overall stories of 2013, just go to CNN.com/yirv.

Merry Christmas. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Brooke Baldwin. Historic images from Vatican City as Pope Francis delivered his first Christmas message to thousands of faithful. He asked for an end to the violence of suffering and focused much of his attention to the refugees.

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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Help and protect all the victims of natural disasters, especially the beloved people of the Philippines gravely affected by the recent typhoon.

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WHITFIELD: Pope Francis also focused a large part of his message on peace asking Jesus to inspire peace in warring factions around the world.