A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

Every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won't already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we'll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings... If one of our friends asks us to pick a pub to meet in a bit of town we're not familiiar with one of......

Our friends at the South East London Folklore Society (SELFS) will be hailing and celebrating Yule tonight with a good old fashioned game of pin the tail on the Yule Cat. There will also be beer, chips, storytelling, songs and games. If you're a fan of urban legends, One Eye Grey, Jack the Ripper walks, gory London histories, oddities, nooks and crannies, the occult, paganism, Morris dancing, dragons, witchcraft and the like, you need......

Many thanks to our friends at Torontoist who have sent us this link to a fantastic panorama plaything of the 02 centre. Created by Torontoist's panoramaist Tony Makepeace, this wonderful thing was part of his trip to see Led Zeppelin play in our fair city and it's quite a joy to zoom in, swoop about and fly around the venue. Check it out here. It's a pleasure and a very nice Christmas gift from......

Every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won't already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we'll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings... For the friends and family members who seem to always be busy with art exhibitions, arthouse films, dance, theatre and music of a more......

People keep mentioning The Wave Pictures to us. First we caught them supporting Architecture in Helsinki back in September, and tomorrow they play the final of 4 Tuesday night sessions at the George Tavern, Whitechapel. It's an amazing venue but not to everyone's tastes. Candlelight, cheap beer and a relaxed atmosphere, slightly reminiscent of an old village pub but with a mixed and lively bohemian crowd. The paint is peeling and you can't help......

This week’s events are top-heavy with poetry readings. Have our novelist friends squirreled themselves away to write tomes in their Christmas cards, we wonder? Monday: Head to the RADA Foyer Bar for a reading from the Poetry School’s third anthology, I am twenty people! All inferences to the contrary, there will actually be six, not twenty, new poets reading from their work. Free, 7.00pm. Tuesday: We were reminded last week that poetry isn’t just......

So this week, we spent all our money on cold remedies and extra balmy tissues for our beleaguered noses. The plan is to be back and fighting fit by Monday so here are some of the things we could all get up to this week for very little wonga. Monday: Call the BBC Ticket Line on 0870 901 1227 and get free tickets for the recording of Clare in the Community - the radio......

London is getting more dangerous by the day ladies and gentlemen. It's not enough that a quick trip down Oxford Street is going to leave you gasping like a floundering flounder on the deck of a homeward bound fishing trawler, now you can't even grab the number of your local brass from that phone booth down the road in safety. Well, not if you live in Camden, so breath easy SE London for the......

We haven't mentioned the Roundhouse lately and didn't expect to for the Christmas season, but we're pleasantly surprised to announce a new show in the completely circular space in Camden that opens tonight and runs for the festive period. LOFT is a comedy, circus, dance, music, video and live DJ mash-up by The 7 Fingers who were all formerly members of Cirque du Soleil. It's a story of 7 flatmates breaking up the monotony......

From the outside, you wouldn't guess anything was going on behind the peeling, Georgian facade at all but inside, what was once called "the handsomest room in town" was graced by equally handsome Hugh Grant and the luscious Helen Mirren as part of a fundraiser to raise awareness of the ever worsening plight of Wilton's Music Hall. Earlier this year, Wiltons hit the headlines when it was listed in the World Monuments Fund top......

Five years ago, Sharon and Terri Arnold solicited firefighter Andy Bathie’s help in starting a family. Under the assurance that he would bear no financial or emotional responsibility for the children’s upbringing, he twice obliged. The women had a boy and a girl, but broke up soon after. And Bathie, who thought he had been doing his friends a favour, now finds himself financially liable for the children. Charity, apparently, sometimes comes with a......

About 18 months ago a band called Cazals had one spiky indie hit that we loved playing dancing to in the indie discos. It was called Poor Innocent Boy and then we never heard anything about them again. Friends with Doherty (boo) and Bloc Party (woo), we forgot about them entirely until an email appeared telling us they were supporting the mighty Daft Punk in Japan this week. Rather than just wallowing in indie obscurity......

Ahoy hoy, book grocery shoppers! The metaphorical book grocer aisles are stocked high with choice meats and sweet confections this December, so whatever your tastes, fill up your shopping cart and gorge yourself on this week’s selection of literary events – they’ll give you much less of a stomach-ache than mince pies. Monday: Revisit Sylvia Plath by attending the aptly named Sylvia Plath Revisited, at the ICA (7pm in the Nash Room £10 nonmembers/£9......

Londonist loves Horse Meat Disco at South Central in Vauxhall. But it's on a Sunday night. So what do you do if you need a bit of disco on a Saturday, well Disco Bloodbath has arrived and it's Hackney based antics are making us pretty excited. Dan Beaumont, Damon Martin and Ben Pistor are the boys behind it When and why did you set your night up? Damon:Our night began in April of this......

A special two-for-one offer on gig reviews this time. Londonist saw the slightly odd combination of Gorgoroth (old-school Norwegian black metal) at Scala on Wednesday, and former System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian the next night at the Astoria. Musically they were worlds apart, despite a shared taste for heavy riffs.Gorgoroth are not a band for the faint-hearted. Once arrested in Poland for a "blasphemous" stage show that included naked women on crucifixes and......

Tell your friends that you’re attending a talk on Sylvia Plath – In London. As winter approaches. – and they’re apt to shoot you a funny look and start silently monitoring your behaviour for signs of mental distress. Such is Plath’s difficult legacy. Although her status as a major American poet seems at this point assured, it is the tragic circumstances of her death and the tabloid-worthy details of her failed marriage to former......

Londonist imagines that saying "mind the gap, "stand clear of the closing doors" and endless variations on "The next station is...." for a living can get a little wearisome. Professional voice-over artist Emma Clarke does just that. Hence, she decided to spice up her days by making a few spoof announcements and posting them onto her website, including one that went: "We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost......

Four weeks till Christmas! Argh. Funds are all focused on present buying and getting through the party season but we still want to go out and about because the heating isn't working properly at home. We can't afford to go and see Gandalf drop his trousers in King Lear but, thankfully, there's lots of cheap and interesting stuff about as usual. Monday: Start the week with an event truly in the spirit of London......

One year since Alexander Litvinenko's murder, yet our Russian friends haven't been dissuaded from moving here. Good for them! Superbug victims to get their own ward in hospital. A green London is affordable - especially if we follow Greenwich's lead. Bus careers off road. Perhaps the driver was in training for the London Grand Prix? Tube cleaners score pay rise Image courtesy of dartar via the Londonist flickr group.......

Whilst we all like bubbles at Christmas (well, any excuse actually) we're more than happy with supermarket own brands or even a cheeky Cava or Prosecco. Which is a good job because those with a taste and pocket for grand crus may not be getting their Magnums of Bolly this year. Our friends at Berry Brothers & Rudd are forecasting champagne rationing in the near future. It seems the new, super wealthy across the......

Hello Jeff! But don't bother opening your mouth to reply, because I haven't got the time to listen; I'm too busy celebrating! No no, don't worry, you haven't missed St. Satan's Day. I'm celebrating because it's been a year since I started doing stand-up! You'll have to forgive me, as this may be quite a self-indulgent post. But I can scarcely believe I've managed to persevere for this long! You see, I'm a notoriously......

Having visited the new-look station at lunch time, we can confirm: that's one bastard of a roof. Such is the scale and magnificence of St Pancras International, the cleaners will be sweeping up a fine collection of dropped mandibles this evening. We've compiled a few images of the opening, for those of you who couldn't get there. This place really has to be seen to be believed. But first a video. Qype visits St......

Whilst the Sex Pistols and The Verve were hawking their wares for the proper reviewers, Londonist was hightailing it down to the Empire for an early start. Since The Broken Family Band cashed in the cool Cambridge climes for our dirty old town, we can now legitimately claim them as our favourite London band (no doubt to howls of protest from the other Londonist writers and possibly the guys themselves). TBFB (for all you......

If the daily freesheets just aren’t filling that void in your commute, perhaps something a bit more creative will suit you better. Notes From The Underground, a new free paper, will be launched 17 December at 30 commuter hot spots. The tabloid-size literary magazine will be hand distributed, and showcase short stories, non-fiction and illustrations. If you accidentally dodge the NFTU guy while evading London Lite/Paper distributors, you can pick the litmag up at libraries,......

As reported last week, Monday should see you going crazy to hear that one good song (are there others) by Peter Bjorn and John at the forum. More importantly make sure you get there in time to see support act Those Dancing Days. We caught them at Water Rats on Saturday and are pleased to report they combine cuteness and moodiness with alarming grace. The much loved Beirut play an instore at Rough Trade......

Good one for Hallowe’en this – although this actual story unfolded a month or so ago. An Asda shopper in Roehampton apparently had a bit of a fright when she opened a bag of ready-washed rocket salad to find a live frog looking up at her. And she was equally miffed by the paltry offer of a £10.00 Asda voucher offered by way of compensation. Now there are several aspects to this story. Firstly, this......

Peckham continues to earn its arty-farty reputation. Few weekends go by when there is not something amazing, avant-garde or just plain good old-fashioned fun going on. Next weekend sees a moving-out party with a difference: artist Mike Cupcake and a few of his friends are turning his (soon to be former) residence into a sort of installation thingy for a couple of days. There’ll be live music, video bits, lots of art, photography…something for everyone,......

Londonist spent all of its money this week getting drunk at its 3rd birthday party. Hopefully, you were one of the many people who decided to join us. As a thank you, London On The Cheap is back (hurrah!) showing you what fun and fabulous free stuff you can entertain yourselves with next week: Sunday: We had an extra hour today so you get an extra day of news from us. Out to Lunch......

I have to be honest, I never listen to London pirate radio... it's not that I don't approve; it's just not how I access my music. I guess I’m more of a Pandora.com and Last.FM type of guy. I do approve of pirate radio though, people getting together playing music for themselves and their friends has to be good right? So... londonpirates.co.uk is a site worth a look, I love the gallery section with......