Monitor picks: Southern recipes, local news online, and movie music

A new Southern cookbook, a website that unites local newspapers, and the thrilling soundtrack to J. J. Abrams' 'Super 8', and more recommendations.

Sweet southern recipes

Martha Hall Foose, a charming storyteller and cookbook author, released another Southern-flavored volume this spring titled A Southerly Course. (Her first cookbook "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea" earned her a James Beard Award.) With recipes such as "Yazoo Soufflé" and "Charming Cherry Pie" alongside delicious photos and gentle, humorous essays y'all will be smitten enough to slow down and stir things up in the kitchen, and that's all right.

Local Newsstand

Like the Monitor's weekly Global Newsstand column? Wish you could find more local perspectives? Newspapermap.com links to more than 10,000 papers and magazines across the globe. The map pinpoints each outlet in its city of origin and color-codes everything by language. With a few clicks, the website delivers computer-translated stories from newsrooms near Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactor, along the Indian-Pakistani border, or in cities throughout Africa.

Modern Maestro

The new movie Super 8 from director J.J. Abrams is a nostalgic homage to the early films of Steven Spielberg. A key element of any Spielberg movie is the music – and "Super 8" has its own memorable soundtrack composed by Michael Giacchino. His music makes for thrilling action scenes and truly emotional moments, enhancing the film's underlying themes of love, loss, and forgiveness. Giacchino's noteworthy scores can also be heard in such movies as "Star Trek" and "Up" (for which he won an Academy Award), and the TV show "Lost."

Martial Arts Musical

Composer Tan Dun created the award-winning scores for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Banquet," and "Hero." He will be on tour this summer and his CD, "Martial Arts Trilogy," features the lyrical, haunting compositions performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, and Itzhak Perlman. Available from Sony Classical.

Smart TV

Crackle, a free app for iPhone and Android, turns your smart phone into a TV. The Sony-sponsored app streams TV shows and movies from "Seinfeld" to "The Da Vinci Code" with high-quality pictures. You do have to put up with the occasional advertisement, but for this much free content, who cares?

Vintage Classics

August at PBS is full of vintage music performances. "Barbra Streisand – One Night Only at the Village Vanguard" features the iconic singer in the equally iconic New York City Greenwich Village club. Recorded in September 2009, the singer performed with only a guitar, bass, piano, and drums. "Michael Feinstein: the Sinatra legacy," is a performance of the legendary crooner's songs. Check local listings.