We told you about the "Wouldn't It Be Nice..." exhibition at Embankment Galleries several weeks back but dropped in there again yesterday to check out what artist in residence, Chosil Kil, was up to. The PR was abuzz with the fantastic image of the artist literally dismantling Somerset House’s ‘Skin & Bones’ exhibition, to construct her own work, Cocoon no. 4, from the bits. The less exciting reality is that Kil is using debris......

For contemporary craft fans who like hand-made jewellery, original textiles and surprising innovations in all things related to craft, get down to Origin: The London Craft Fair at Somerset House ASAP. Organised by the Craft Council this is a two-week festival with a changeover between week one and two which is an indication of how much there is to see and experience. (There'll be no activity on Monday 13 when teh changeover happens so......

Step from the rush of London's business district and into Wouldn't it Be Nice at Somerset House's Embankment Galleries, and you'd be forgiven for thinking you've accidentally wandered into some eccentric multimillionaire's bachelor pad. Complete with remote-controlled cars, oversized couches, and slick furniture from the likes of Martino Gamper, the exhibition exudes a kind of aspirational cool with a touch of Alice in Wonderland about it. Cars dominate the first floor, including the contribution......

They gave us a chance to win a home cinema system, and now they're showing films for us. You've got to love Film4 and Somerset House. The Film4 Summer Screen starts up on 31st July, and runs until 9th August. As in previous years, it's the perfect opportunity to curl up on a nice blanket, a bottle of wine and watch a film outdoors on a (hopefully) lovely summer evening. You'll want to arrive......

The last time Londonist caught up with Lupe Fiasco, in 2006, the Chicago rapper was sporting the quotidian hip hop uniform of suede Tims and baggy jeans. Last night was a different look altogether. Clearly setting out to match his surroundings, Lupe bounded onstage kitted in a tuxedo and fresh white shirt, his band similarly well attired. As he remarked later in the evening, Esquire have just anointed him one of their best-dressed men......

Yes, you read that right. Film4 are offering you the chance to win a Phillips Home Cinema. This is quite simply AWESOME. You must read on... Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House returns for ten nights from 31st July to August 9th 2008. The magnificent Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House will once again be transformed into a full-scale open-air cinema with state of the art giant screen, 35mm projection and surround-sound. The......

What a busy week! What with the Bank holiday, Cans Festival, Pangea Day, May ’68 celebrations and more, free cultural activities abound across London. So get out of bed, you lazy hungover git, and go sample what’s on in our summery city. Monday: In case you missed it over the weekend, catch the last day of the Cans Festival, a graffiti art exhibition headlined by none other than London’s lovable guerilla stencil artist Banksy.......

The bus stop killer is banged up for life. Yay! Some of the capital’s best music venues are to get the protection of the law. A Surrey town council backs the Heathrow expansion plans. This is really sad: a depressed mother-of-three commits suicide in an A & E cubicle. Whoops! Somerset House seem to have misplaced two paintings worth £82,000. Psst! Wanna job? If you can build stuff, there are reputedly 182,000 jobs available......

Even on its quietest weeks, London is something of a happy haven for bibliophiles such as ourselves, though we may be doing nothing more than perusing one of the city’s many lovely bookshops. This week, however, we’re in a veritable book geek heaven, as the London literary scene goes all glittery, playing host to some major names and fantastic events, leaving us tongue-tied and weak at the knees. Do we gush? Very well then,......

The book grocer’s coffers are chockfull of goodies this week, so let’s jump right in and get shopping... Monday: Crikey. Take a look at author and critic George Steiner’s publishing credits and you have to wonder whether the man has actually slept in the past fifty years. Yet the premise of the prolific writer’s most recent work, My Unwritten Books, is that there are actually some subjects that Steiner has purposely left unexplored. Join......

For many of us ice-skating is a terrifying experience, bringing back memories of clinging to the edge of the rink, cold feet and humiliating wipeouts. We all know it's never as serene an experience as the Christmas cards make out, but there’s a veritable plethora of skating experiences to be had across London this snowy (hopefully) season. There are rinks with a touch of class at Somerset House (21 Nov - 17 Jan) or......

Fresh this Week: If news of the impending Doctor Who hiatus is giving you palpitations, fear not – the Book Grocer brings you not one but three new books based on the popular series: Paul Magrs – Sick Building The Doctor and Martha travel to Tiermann’s World, a planet where sabre-toothed tigers still roam. They arrive to warn everyone that an extremely hungry alien creature is on its way and if they don’t take action......

It's summer! Shouldn't you be outside enjoying the sunshine? That is, assuming we actually get any. If you don't fancy making the most of the weather, here are a few choices for a night in. On TV, Londonist likes: Tuesday, 21 August Secret Life of the Motorway (BBC4, 21:00-22:00) What screams "summer holidays" more than being stuck on the motorway on your way to or from somewhere fabulous? You'll be sure to love this......

If all your mates are off on holiday and work is unbearably dull and hot then here's some home entertainment to get you through the mid-August slump. On TV, Londonist likes: Monday, 13 August Panorama (BBC1, 20:30) If you're avoiding Dawkins on Channel 4 (and we've no idea why you would but it's not about London so we're not going to make a fuss about it but it's on at 20.00 and we could......

With grey skies, low temperatures and ever-present rain comprising the key features of our lovely non-summer, it may seem unwise to choose to see a film anywhere lacking the protection of a roof and four walls. You certainly could choose to stay inside the confines your local multiplex, but then you'd miss out on the return of Film4's fabulous Summer Screen tradition at Somerset House. For ten nights from 2 August until 11 August,......

Huge hangover? Spent all of your money? Yep, us too. So we can't go and watch Barbara Streisand (though we don't think we'll ever be that rich) and we can't go and see Elling. But, here's a few things you can do this week to make things a little easier on your pocket. Monday: Been a while since you've seen a good film? Then the Canary Wharf Summer Series at Canada Square park should......

“This is a slower song – hope you don’t mind” Palladium’s Peter Pepper says before launching into “White Woman”. The audience certainly didn’t, as it gave a welcome respite from the scintillating pace they’d been playing at for the last twenty minutes. Opening up with their new single “Happy Hour”, they quickly set out their manifesto: fast, friendly and frantic pop. Racing through 7 songs in 30 minutes, they worked the crowd well and had......

Monday night sees Tom “Squarepusher” Jenkinson bring his experimental drum'n'bass with a heavy jazz fusion influence to Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre. Evan Parker supports, and this is sold out unfortunately, though be sure to check back for last minute availability or other sources. Lily Allen places her summer session at Somerset house, with support from Mark Ronson. Tickets are long gone, though Scarlet Mist may be useful for some. The Dykeenies bring......

From next week London will be hosting India Now, a three-month season of events exploring London’s relationship with India and India's culture. It all kicks off with a hefty PR stunt on the morning of 17 July, when a replica of the Taj Mahal will sail down the Thames. Yes, really. It will start from Millbank and head down-stream - pausing for photo opps beside Parliament, the London Eye and Tate Modern. Somewhat like......

As a wise man once said, "Bloody hell, it's Soft Cell!" Well, actually, it's not Soft Cell. It's just Marc Almond solo. And the man wasn't all that wise. It was Alan Partridge. Either way, though, Monday gives you a chance to see Marc Almond of Soft Cell at Shepherd's Bush Empire. It's his 50th birthday party, so buy him something nice. For those whose prefer sax to synth, septuagenarian free jazz legend Ornette Coleman......

This is the latest version of the Doon Street Tower, a skyscraper proposed by Coin Street Community Builders to sit on the South Bank near the OXO Tower. Designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, the scheme had previously proven controversial thanks to its loftiness, which would have made it visible from a number of viewpoints including St James’s Park and the courtyard of Somerset House. Complaints came from the usual suspects including English Heritage, the......

Fresh Next Week: This years T.S. Eliot Memorial Lecture is titled Lachrymae rerum: writing about loss. Dannie Abse reads both from Running Late, his latest collection of poetry, and from The Presence, a journal he has been keeping since his wife’s death in the summer of 2005. Alan Jenkins, Deputy Editor of the TLS, reads from his collection A Shorter Life, which includes poems about his mother’s illness and death that have been described......

This year's not terribly inspiring Somerset House Summer Sessions have been announced and are as follows: Thursday 12 July - Mogwai [in surround sound] Friday 13 July – Kasabian Saturday 14th July - Bert Jansch with Beth Orton and Bernard Butler Sunday 15th July – Guillemots Monday 16th July – Lily Allen Tuesday 17th July – Mika Wednesday 18th July – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Thursday 19th July – The Roots Friday 20th July......

This Day In London’s History 1962: The first ‘Panda crossing’ is opened on York Road, opposite Waterloo Station. Since the 1930s, pedestrian crossings in Britain were marked by poles bearing orange glass domes known as ’Belisha beacons’ (named after Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport at the time). Traffic approaching these crossings was required to stop and give way to any pedestrians who were waiting to cross the road. At around the same time,......

Fresh this Week: Two hundred years ago, in 1807, the British turned their backs on the Atlantic slave trade, though for 150 years they had grown fat on its proceeds. Why did they change their minds about it? And what significance should we attach to this, two centuries later? James Walvin, until recently Professor of History at the University of York and winner of the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for Black and White......

The Londonist Literary List appears (almost) every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Wednesday London Liming is a night of readings and performances by UK and international writers, plus DJ sets. From 8pm, £6/£5, GE Club, The Great Eastern Hotel, EC2M 7QN. Thursday Jancis Robinson will be doing a wine-tasting and signing copies of the new edition of her Oxford Companion to Wine tonight, but probably......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. A quick note to say The Godot Company is performing Marguerite Duras' La Musica at Bookshop Theatre, 51 The Cut, SE1 8LF, (opposite the Young Vic), Monday - Saturday (not Thursday) at 7.30 pm, till December the 9th, £7/£5 - well worth a look. Wednesday We kick off this week with the Rough Guide......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Wednesday The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghoutir has fourteen books under his belt and has been described by Edward Said as “one of the finest existential accounts of Palestinian displacement we now have”. Tonight Barghouti will give a talk on the nature of exile, read his poetry (in English) and a short extract from I......

The weekend's Crawl falls into two areas: Art Fairs or Theatre. You can do one or the other... or put on some comfortable shoes and your most inscrutable "yes, I am urbane and sophisticated" face and pack in as much of both as you can. The Frieze Art Fair is in town again, and the annual eagerly anticipated art fair has contributions from over 150 of the finest contemporary art galleries in the world.......

It's officially autumn in London when Culture Crawl retreats indoors and the weekend stretches ahead full of things to see and do in enclosed spaces. That's no bad thing: the crawl is very cool this week... Saturday 23 September Design Mart continues at the Design Museum. Seven specially-selected product and furniture designers who have graduated within the last five years are featured as new and exciting names to know in this annual survey of......