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Boise State To Forfeit Match Vs. San Jose State Amid Unconfirmed Claims Of Transgender Volleyball Player; CNN Underscored Reviews Black Friday Deals; Buffet Of New Movies For The Holiday Weekend. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: For example, the Swimming Federation, World Aquatics and track and field, World Athletics, both have said if -- if an athlete has gone through male puberty, they cannot compete in the women's category in women's sports.

So that's there. Then you've got the NCAA, as you have alluded to saying that you go with whatever the federation wants. And this is USA Volleyball, which does allow participation for trans women, so here we are.

The difference, and I think a lot of people are looking at this and saying, we've -- we've heard some of these stories over the years. And of course, these are personal stories. These are human beings. These are our, you know, our daughters, the girls next door playing sports. We want that. We love that. That's Title IX. The difference here is how politicized this got.

This entire story has been set against the backdrop, basically, of this presidential election and the culture wars and the Trump campaign and its anti-transgender policies and its commercials. Because in April was when this athlete, who we are not going to name, but that's when a conservative website, Omar, outed this athlete, and that was in April.

She had already played two years for San Jose State before then and one year prior to that at another school. So there had been apparently no issues at all until this became politicized, which, of course is definitely part, sadly part of this story.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I think, you know, for this, a federal judge and appeals court have said this athlete can compete, the Mountain West Conference commissioner has said the student meets the eligibility standard. I mean, the player doesn't seem to lead the conference in any statistical category either. But that still hasn't stopped these teams from forfeiting their matches.

Four other teams have forfeited matches against San Jose State this season. I guess my point is, where do you see this going? Because from a competitive standpoint, you can't just have teams forfeiting matches into perpetuity. I mean, at what point does the NCAA step in? BRENNAN: Well, and you're -- you're an athlete, of course, played for our alma mater at Northwestern. And you, you know, we all understand. I -- I played, you know, club sports in what -- in high school, of course. And -- and you love your sports. And yes, six of the 12 conference matches that San Jose State has won have been by forfeit, six out of 12.

And of course, you feel for the Boise State players who are in many ways political pawns themselves, because, of course, the governor of Idaho, among other western states have said that they agree with the forfeits. So where does it go? Well, I think we're in for quite a few months and years because what we saw during the last Trump campaign, in the last Trump presidency was something where the intersection of politics and sports, which we know is -- is always, it's omnipresent, it then becomes like a 12-lane superhighway where you have so many issues that then-Donald Trump, president back then wanted to enter in terms of SOBs for the players who were when he called them SOBs for the kneeling players, et cetera. So we're going to see more of this, sadly. What we don't want to see is these athletes become political pawns.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. To your point, this is -- this is something that -- this is not something that's going away anytime soon. But also individual personal situations where the "New York Times" has reported some of the players have stopped talking to each other off the court because one of the players is part of a lawsuit against her own teammate here. Christine Brennan, I got to leave it there, but I really appreciate you being here.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Some parts of the country could see a paralyzing amount of snow today, as much as 5 feet in some areas. A closer look at the forecast and the arctic temperatures for a large swath of the country, ahead.

[09:33:39]

Plus, we want to double check those eggs before making breakfast this morning. The details on a Costco recall.

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JIMENEZ: All right. Check your eggs this morning because thousands of them sold at Costco are under recall because of salmonella concerns. We're talking about Kirkland's signature organic pasture-raised 24 count eggs. They probably look a little something like what you're seeing on the screen right there. But nearly 11,000 cartons were sent last week to stores in Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The supplier recently or issued the recall, I should say, after realizing the eggs were distributed by mistake and not meant for retail sale.

HILL: Live pictures to show you right now of Saranac Lake, New York. You see them there behind me, a little bit of white stuff. They're waking up to some of that. A lot of places waking up to below freezing temperatures. Snow in the forecast, if not already on the ground, great weather. If you have the day off, you can relax at home, maybe finish the leftovers, do your online shopping. Perhaps not the best weather if you have to travel after your holiday. CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, is tracking the forecast for us. So we are looking at not just the cold, not just the snow rather, but a lot of cold weather, too.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's true. And you mentioned the travel, but it's not just going to be an issue today. It's likely going to be an issue through the entire weekend. So that's the other thing to note because a lot of this snow isn't going to go away anytime soon.

This right here, this is Blue Mountain Lake, New York, again, similar picture there. You can see a lot of the white kind of just dusting the ground and the trees right there. When you look at the numbers of what fell down in the last 24 hours, it's pretty impressive, actually. Vermont, New York and Maine all picking up at least a foot of snow in just the last 24 hours. We could be measuring it in feet, multiple feet over the next 72 hours thanks to some lake effect snow.

[09:40:00]

You can see some of those lake effect bands already starting to take shape. But the biggest concern is going to be across portions of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario as we head into the weekend. You've got a lot of the winter weather alerts, but the focus is on those lake effect warnings that are starting today and will continue through the weekend.

Look at some of these totals. You're looking at these areas where we could be talking 3, 4 and even as much as 5 feet of snow coming down in some very narrow lake effect paths in the coming days. And a lot of that is because the lakes themselves are warm. But we've got a lot of cold air starting to surge in. It's in place right now across the north and it's going to continue to spread.

You take that temperature, mix it in with the wind, that windchill is pretty bitter. Fargo, for example, temperature of zero, the windchill minus 17 right now, minus 9 is what it feels like in Sioux Falls, minus 4 in Minneapolis. But that cold air is going to continue to spread not only east but also south.

You have some areas along the Gulf coast that are actually dealing with freeze watches and warnings, not just for this morning, but some of them even go into Saturday and Sunday morning as that cold air begins to dip. Yes, you're talking as far south as Florida looking at those cold temperatures. And it's going to be prolonged, Erica. You take a city like Atlanta, for example. Every single one of the next seven days is expected to below average.

HILL: Wow, that is rough. So a lot coming our way and it's going to stick around. Allison, appreciate it. Thank you. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Still ahead, we're going to break down the most anticipated holiday movies, including the ones that don't require leaving the couch. But first, Erica, yes, that same Erica you were just listening to. She had a chance to check out the best beauty deals this holiday season. Take a look.

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HILL: All right. For Black Friday, we thought it would be the perfect time to highlight some of the year's best products as recommended by our team of experts at CNN Underscored. The Underscore team works independently from the CNN Newsroom. They test and review thousands of products to make their recommendations. And it's a great first stop for you. Before you shop, you want to make sure you're not just falling for that excitement surrounding a Black Friday deal or some online hype.

Mike Bruno is the vice president of CNN Commerce and also one of the founders of CNN Underscored. And we should note, when you make a purchase from an Underscored link, CNN may earn a commission. So we've got a little bit of a glow up happening here. These are our glow getters for the beauty lovers in your life. Starting off with a hairdryer, that gets a lot of attention.

MIKE BRUNO, CNN UNDERSCORED HOST: It does.

HILL: Partially for the price tag. You guys at Underscore said this is worth it.

BRUNO: We say it's worth it. This is the Dyson supersonic hairdryer. This is our pick for the best high end hair dryer. If you have budget for it, we really believe Dyson products. The performance, the features, the durability, the build quality of Dyson products, and this one's no exception. We threw every kind of hair style at this. We threw every kind of hair type at this. You can see it comes with some attachments to help facilitate different hair types. And we found that it dried hair aptly, but also that it dried hair on average about half as long as it took with some of the rivals.

HILL: That's huge.

BRUNO: Yes.

HILL: For someone with a lot of hair, cutting that type time in half, that's a big win.

BRUNO: It's very powerful. And you're able to do it with lower heat as a result too, which means a little bit healthier for your hair.

HILL: Yes.

BRUNO: So we definitely recommend this thing. There's a newer model out, but we're still very. And we're still testing that, but we're still very comfortable with the original.

HILL: So if there's a newer model, maybe I can get a better deal on this one.

BRUNO: Correct. This one's about -- we're seeing prices as low as about $330 this week.

HILL: OK. So there you go. There's also for much less money.

BRUNO: Yes, much less money.

HILL: Slightly different tool, but also for your hair. You say this is hands down the best brush?

BRUNO: Well, we've tested. Our beauty editor has tested a lot of brushes and this is a very, very popular one. And we did it. I mean, she loves it. It's a pinless brush and it alternates the different bristles there. It goes through wet or dry detangles. It's just a really solid brush for $13. Great stocking stuff for this year.

HILL: $13, I love $13.

BRUNO: Yes.

HILL: That's -- that's in my budget.

BRUNO: Yes.

HILL: You also have a more high end toothbrush.

BRUNO: Yes.

HILL: This one, though, you also say is worth the splurge. Our dentists will be happy.

BRUNO: Yes. This is the Oral-B IO Series 9. This is like the Rolls Royce of electric toothbrushes. This is our pick for best smart electric toothbrush. Yes. There are enough for there to be a best in the category. This one will actually connect to an app and it will map as you clean your mouth. So it can say, you know, you have to go in this spot or maybe you have to go in that spot. A 3D mapping either in real time or it'll kind of go back afterwards and say, maybe you need to work a little bit more on this tooth. Maybe a little bit more.

For people with special needs or people who want that guidance, it's really, really cool. It has seven modes, which was the most modes of any we tested, so sensitive or whitening. Yes, it's a really fancy, specialized toothbrush. But for what it does, this was the best one.

HILL: And this is how much?

BRUNO: This one's about $220. It's come down a little bit. Not cheap, but not too much more than some of the other high end toothbrushes.

HILL: OK. This next thing, this is going to change our lives for $20?

[09:44:59]

BRUNO: Well, we'll see. This is the TruSkin vitamin C serum. This is very popular on social, so we decided to give it a try. And our testers did see, it's -- it's aimed at targeting dark spots and wrinkles. And our testers did use it for many weeks and said -- most of them said that they thought that they saw brighter, smoother skin after using it for a while.

Now I want to caveat skin types are all very different. We can't guarantee that everyone's going to have the same result. But some of these serums go for about 100 bucks. You could get this one right now 2 ounces for about $20. So it's worth giving a try if you're thinking about a serum.

HILL: Yes. It could also be a good stocking stuffer.

BRUNO: Another good stocking stuffer.

HILL: Mike always bring the good stuff, thank you. So we've got our glow getters ready to go for all the -- the beauty folks in your life. If you'd like more information or the full reviews on any of these products, just log on to underscored.com, you'll find that there, as well as real time coverage of all the Black Friday deals that are happening and hundreds of other great products recommended and reviewed by our friends at Underscored.

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[09:50:25]

SIMEA: Where are we going?

MOANA: Before Maui stole Te Fiti's heart, our ancestors wanted to connect our island to all the people of the entire ocean. It's my job as a wayfinder to finish what they started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: There is a Preview of "Moana 2", which, of course, is out this week, just one of the many new movies out for the holiday weekend. Maybe the "Glicked" double feature that was maybe more your style for some laughs. Maybe "Dear Santa," there are a lot of options.

JIMENEZ: Always a lot to choose from, which is why we've got Variety's chief film critic, Peter Debruge with us right now. Good to see you. All right, look, there's always a lot of options, but I'm curious for you. I mean, what are the holiday movies you're looking out for? What should we be looking out for? Just where's your head out right now?

PETER DEBRUGE, CHIEF FILM CRITIC, VARIETY: Well, this is the kind of -- this is the time of year when both you get huge blockbusters. They, of course, have started dropping here right around Thanksgiving. If you haven't seen either or both halves of "Glicked," I don't know why anyone's doing those back to back. These are long, you know, really robust movies. Like, spread them out, like, make sure -- pace yourselves.

But both very much worth seeing. "Moana 2" is really setting box office records for the Thanksgiving weekend, which, of course, here at Variety, we're, you know, always keeping our eyes on and very grateful for. We really believe in theatrical movie experience and really delighted to see people showing up.

When -- when the movie's there in theaters, the people will come. And of course, those movies have kind of dropped here around Thanksgiving.

HILL: So it's great. So we have those -- those on the list. You mentioned, though, this is also a lot of family movies coming out, but also you will see some more movies coming out as well because we're moving into awards season, so anything there on your radar that you think we should also have on our list?

DEBRUGE: Exactly. I mean, that's where we critics, who tend to maybe be a little bit more refined in our taste, you know, are -- are happy to see the films, you know, at Variety I travel the festival circuit all year long. I get to go to Cannes, I get to go Toronto and see these movies early.

And then December is finally when I get to share them with -- with ll my friends. You know, like, so movies like "Nickel Boys," you know, really a special adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer winning novel, "Nightbitch" with Amy Adams is the best performance that I've ever seen from her. And the kind of performance that's exciting because she's not playing someone with a, you know, a terminal illness or, you know, like you get to see Angelina Jolie do Maria Callas this month.

But like, Amy Adams is just playing kind of the -- the dirty truth of motherhood in a way that, you know, she's kind of imagining she's transforming into this almost like werewolf, like character. It's really a creative movie and a terrific performance. You know, this is, again, a time of year when those -- those movies that are going to be competing for Oscar are going to be showing up in movie theaters.

So just this past weekend, "The Seed of the Sacred Fig," which is an Iranian film, which for me is at the very tippy top of my best of the year list, you know, it's a film kind of made under impossible circumstances by a director who's been jailed for making kind of dissident statements against -- against the government. He goes out and makes a movie on the slide, brings it to Cannes, and now you can see it.

JIMENEZ: So essentially what you're saying is, for those who maybe are confused Oscars night about what these movies are, this is when you should be starting to pay attention. Now I want to ask about one of the things I do think it's kind of unique is, yes, we're talking about a lot of new movies that are coming out, but also next weekend, "Interstellar" is rereleasing in -- in select IMAX theaters across the country. Obviously super popular from Christopher Nolan, but came out 10 years ago and I was looking through tickets, it is sold out.

And I wonder, just for you, as a critic who also works in this, studies this industry as well, I mean, is this something we're going to start to see more where people look at a film that's pop -- popular, and say, you know what, why don't we just put this back out in theaters again and see what happens? DEBRUGE: Well, I think, you know, movies by Christopher Nolan are really a special thing. He really paints on the biggest possible scale. And so when there's a chance, a lot of these films get watched and rewatched at home. But no matter how good your system is, it's nowhere near, you know, the -- the potential at which he wants you to see the movie.

[09:55:15]

So when there is a chance, you know, here in Los Angeles, we've got a lot of repertory theaters, so they'll bring out a movie for one night or something. It's really cool that all over the country a film like this, which, you know, I kind of slept on it when it came out, it wasn't my favorite Christopher Nolan movie. I'm -- I'm willing to give it another look and this is the right way to do it.

HILL: Now is your chance. Today is perfect.

DEBRUGE: "The Umbrellas and Cherbourg." Yeah.

HILL: Oh, one of my favorites. If that's coming back to theaters, I am absolutely, I would love to see it on the big screen because of course, I -- I never have that --

DEBRUGE: 4K restoration. I hope it comes to you.

HILL: You are speaking my language. Peter Debruge, really appreciate it. Great to see you this morning. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: And thanks for joining us. This is CNN News Central with John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, we are not them though, but CNN Newsroom is up next.

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