Monitor Picks

On-the-road runner

For the traveler who can't bear to miss a workout or simply wants to take in a new city from the vantage point of a running trail, check out athleticmindedtraveler.com. It's a compilation of the best places in more than 50 cities for the fitness-oriented to stay, eat, exercise, and shop. Full access to the site costs $2.95 per month or $19.95 for the year.

Golf movies typically have all the excitement of a seniors tournament at a retirement community. But Disney's stylish The Greatest Game Ever Played, based on 20-year-old Francis Ouimet's improbable win over legend Harry Vardon in the 1913 US Open, is like the closing round at Augusta. Now on DVD, the film stars Shia LaBeouf ("Holes"), who actually looks like he can swing the stick.

In 1948, a "rather loud and unserious Californian" first set her size-12 feet in Paris. She didn't know French. She couldn't cook. Her name was Julia Child. Afraid that France would be full of "icky-picky people," instead she was smitten with the country and the food. "How magnificent to have found my life's calling at last!" the late chef writes in My Life in France, a charming and exuberant memoir. Bon appétit!

If you liked "March of the Penguins" and "The Blue Planet," dive into Deep Blue, a sweeping documentary of life in the far reaches of the ocean. The new DVD takes a long, lush look beneath the waves, where some creatures have never been caught on film before. Who knew there were that many pulsating, neon jellyfish?

Told repeatedly over the years that female guitar greats seem hard to find, alterna-folk giant Patty Larkin answers with "La Guitara," a lovely compilation of 14 instrumental works by women that cross genres and time. One plucks a traditional Chinese melody; another busts out Delta blues. Ms. Larkin's own electronica-infused "Bound Brook" is entrancing. Some proceeds benefit a program (guitarsintheclassroom.com) for schoolchildren.