There's something of a Valentine's theme to the Arts of choice taking place in the capital this week. But Londonist knows for every young Juliet embracing the idea of timeless romantic love, there's a Bridget hugging her near-empty vodka bottle, crooning to Chaka Khan. So, in the name of balance, here's a varied, half 'rom', half 'com' round-up for you all. Shows for Swingin' Lovers: Photographer Gregg Stone, has been taking snaps of kissing......

As we ease out of the austerity, self-denial and penny-pinching of January, so too the arts world comes even further out of its shell. This week sees a whole host of exciting openings. Take your pick; payday's passed and February's just round the corner! Be the first Gilbert and Sullivan's hilarious opera about love, corrupt local government, marriage, executions and heroics, The Mikado comes to the Gielgud Theatre from Wednesday. Alistair McGowan stars as......

From the files at mustardweb.org......

It looks like summer might actually have arrived in London this week, but if you're determined to stay inside, here are a few things to help you bide the time. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 30 July The Tower (BBC1, 22:35-11:25) After the disputes last week about whether or not the Pepys Estate was being represented fairly in this 8 part documentary, this is your chance to form your own opinion. In episode 6,......

Still a week away from the unveiling of the new BFI Southbank complex the press have been given a glimpse of what to expect of the NFT's replacement: In addition to the existing three cinemas, the venue will include the Mediatheque, offering free access to over 300 film and TV titles from the BFI archive. The "digital jukebox" contains clips from the last 100 years, including feature length films such as Brief Encounter and......

You may have tripped over and fallen into it once, you may have been wandering by and thought "ooh, I bet that place would be good for an outdoor film screening in the summer." And you wouldn't be the only one... The Scoop is the sunken amphitheatre situated next to City Hall and looks a lot like a set of curved stairs leading down to a level, empty space. It is the More London......

It's Friday and the weekend stretches out ahead of us with glorious gaps to fill with fun (and frequently free) things to see and do. Put on your comfortable shoes, prepare a packed lunch, bring sun glasses and an umbrella (just in case) and brace yourself for another Londonist Culture Crawl... Saturday: Springwatch Live at Coin Street, 12.00pm to 6.00pm, free entry. Lots to see and do with the Springwatch team: Thames 21 are......

We love The Scoop. It's the great little amphitheatre on the South Bank where we can nestle under Ken's Testicle like enlightened crab lice and watch FREE stuff. The full list of events isn't up yet, but there's a decent mix of classic and crowd pleasing films showing through most of June at 9.15pm: Brief Encounter Chinatown Moulin Rouge Some Like It Hot Blowup Walk the Line The Wicker Man Alien Nine Queens Dr......

Browsing through the ever-excellent Things Magazine this morning we came across a link to Cinema Treasures, a site "devoted to movie theater preservation and awareness, uniting movie theater owners and enthusiasts in a common cause - to save the last remaining movie palaces across the country." As it's primarily a US site we turned right to the page marked UK and found the London cinemas that are listed there. There's quite a few... and......