That's one of the relaxing conversation pieces to be found at a ‘Skeptics in the pub’ meetup. Tonight’s guest speaker is Dr Matthew Smith from Liverpool Hope University, who will talk about fate, the meaning of life and mid-life crises. We caught up with co-organiser Sid Rodriques to find out what skepticism is, and whether we should be skeptical of it. How would you define a 'skeptic'? A skeptic is someone who asks for......

Perhaps your New Year’s resolutions have all made their way to the rubbish bin by now. You’re sneaking ciggies again, you’re spending more nights at the pub than not, and you’ve worked out exactly two times, despite the shiny new gym membership. Don’t worry, you’re in good company. The history of literature is filled with stories of writers and their vices. It may just be a sign of genius. Still, you can up your......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. If you haven't seen the blog, or spotted them in the Guardian, Post Secret's conceit is simple - send a postcard airing a single piece of your dirty laundry. Now there's a book and an accompanying exhibition at Foyles till December the 10th. The new Smoke - a London Peculiar is out too. Here's......

Result! The extensive archives of Stanley Kubrick will be housed at the University of the Arts as of next summer. The Observer reported over the weekend that the University will be building a new centre to house the vast collection (in Elephant & Castle no less), which has never been displayed in this country. The collection includes boxes and boxes of Kubrick gold, including scripts, research (that bloody Napoleon film he never made), fan......

There's lots and lots and LOTS on TV for a square-eyed troll to watch this week. Tonight, for example, we go from the serious (The Battle For Islam, Mon, 9pm BBC2) to the 'not so serious but still thought provoking' (Tottenham Ayatollah Revisited, Mon 8pm C4), to the frivolous (Greatest TV Comedy Moments, Mon 9pm Five), to the frivolous-and-plain-insulting (Bring Your Husband To Heel, Mon 7pm BBC2). Oh yes, and we've heard very good......

Good news for all the capital's literary heads. Roehapmton Univiersity is launching an MA in Creative Writing, and to celebrate they have organised a "series of evenings in which acclaimed writers will read from their recent work and discuss their craft". These 'acclaimed writers' include such luminaries as Matt Thorne, Londonist favourite Jon Ronson (pictured), and the fantastic (and very funny) Leone Ross. We're not sure about the whole 'new puritan' thing that Matt......

Londonist has just received its first Christmas present of the year: Jon Ronson's Blog. Ronson is a firm Londonist favourite. Yes his books and his TV programmes are all very good and interesting. But we love him simply because he's just such a weird bloke. We love his Guardian column in which he slags off his neighbours and reports what happens when he types his own name into Google. And we love his journalism,......