NEW YORK, July 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- This week's Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition will report on a broad range of informative business and lifestyle stories written by the Journal's award winning reporters. The week's Weekend Edition will be available via home delivery and on newsstands on July 8-9.
The Journal's Pursuits section puts the focus on leisure-time decisions: what to see, what to buy, what to read, what to eat, what to watch, where to go and how to get there. Entertainment. Style. Food. Travel. Sports. And from the Journal's opinion staff, Books and Leisure & Arts. Concise and to the point, Pursuits is all about engaging readers with great ideas that relate to a wide variety of passions pertaining to their lifestyle. Loaded with lists, picks and reliable advice, Pursuits promises to place an intelligent, inspiring focus on the best of the best.
Highlights of this week's Pursuits include the following stories:
Cover Stories:
-- How tourism is taking off in the former Soviet Bloc, but not in Russia, where high prices, red tape and lack of infrastructure are strangling tourism. -- Sampling two new entries in Las Vegas's high-end dining sweepstakes, from French chefs Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon.
Our Picks
-- Actress/comedian Amy Sedaris on her favorite comedic performances from movies, TV and standup shows, all available on DVD. -- On viral video sites like YouTube.com, alongside amateur videos of goofy stunts, you'll now find a surprising number of hard-to-find art-film shorts, including some considered cinematic gems, from a 1934 surrealist film by Orson Welles and William Vance to a 1979 student film by Pixar's John Lasseter to 1969 art videos by Nam June Paik. A look at the art films showing up on viral video sites and at what laws govern the posting of these films. -- Small music labels specializing in rare reissues are reissuing some little-known funk music gems this summer, some of which have been selling for hundreds of dollars as collectors' items. We look at collections coming out this summer, ranging from a compilation of soul and funk music recorded in Toronto in the 1960s and '70s to a collection of recordings of the Kashmere Stage Band, an unlikely high-school band from Houston that produced eight legendary funk albums between 1968 and 1978.
Entertainment & Culture
-- Joe considers what makes a movie actor's voice unmistakable, both in the golden age (Lionel Barrymore, Cary Grant, Orson Welles) and today (Joey Lauren Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Morgan Freeman).
Style
-- In recent years, Japanese denim has been a key distinguishing point between low-end and premium denim-its rich blue color and softer hand have made it popular among makers of $200 jeans from 7 For All Mankind to Earnest Sewn. Now, however, Chinese manufacturers of denim are starting to copy Japanese denim more closely and are churning out fabrics that are soft and often close in color to Japanese versions. This is starting to pop up a lot in mid-price jeans-in the $50 to $100 range. -- Ray Smith shops for men's accessories with Jack Spade designer Andy Spade.
Cooking & Dining
-- Chefs Bob and David Kinkead of Sibling Rivalry in Boston offer dueling cheeseburger recipes, one with chilies, jack cheese and chipotle-lime mayonnaise and one with pancetta and Boursin cheese.
Sports
-- The Bandon Dunes golf resort, on the southern Oregon coast, is rugged, remote and rainy-as well as expensive. So why is it revered by duffers across the country as the ultimate golf-trip destination? Guest columnist Richard Turner looks at this cultural ritual and reviews the course. -- Faced with the undeniable reality that the U.S. is fading from the world tennis map-especially on the women's side-the sport's leaders at all levels are making wholesale changes to revive the sport domestically.
Leisure & Arts
-- The noted Monet scholar delves into the cycle of Monet waterlily paintings housed in the newly renovated Orangerie in Paris. -- Eric explores one of the most popular and common cocktails, the gin and tonic. -- Jay Greenberg, 14, is the first prodigy composer who will have grown up in the media age. He was featured on "60 Minutes" and has been signed by Sony and ICM, and his first recording is coming out in a couple of months.
Books
-- "The Long Tail," a provocative but frustrating book by Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson about the re-ordering of popular culture, posits that technology is not just accelerating the delivery of traditional pop culture but influencing what is being consumed. He calls this phenomenon "the long tail." -- The novelist chooses the five best novellas, including Edith Wharton's "Madame de Trevmes," Henry James's "The Author of Beltraffio" and Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Mr. WH." -- Seth Mnookin's 433-page "Feeding the Monster" makes us wonder what all the fuss is about-the fuss, as in the publisher's "embargo" on writing about the book until All-Star Game festivities begin. Embargo or no embargo, any fool could figure out what "Feeding the Monster" was about: how the Sox finally won the Series and What That Said About the American Character.
Editor's Note: WSJ Weekend Edition reporters are available to discuss these topics.
About The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (www.dowjones.com), is the world's leading business publication. Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1 million, reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors across the country. Holding 31 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, the Journal seeks to help its readers succeed by providing essential and relevant information, presented accurately and fairly, from an authoritative and trusted source. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has more than 600 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,900 business and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with total circulation of 2.7 million, include The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2006, the Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the seventh consecutive year.
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