The year was 1959, and in an often overlooked corner of Hackney, one of the world's most recognisable Hollywood beauties was bringing just a touch of Californian colour to a peculiarly English affair: a budgie show. Jayne Mansfield, living in London while making the film Too Hot To Handle, was invited to the All Saints church in Haggerston in September 1959 to help judge the East London Budgerigar and Foreign Birds Society show. Michael......

Our weekly roundup of film reviews returns, courtesy of James Bryan… This week, royal bodice-ripper The Other Boleyn Girl, zombies ahoy in Diary of the Dead, multiple viewpoint assassination thriller Vantage Point and The Rock doing one for the kids in The Game Plan. Don’t expect to learn much history in The Other Boleyn Girl, a film James Christopher in the Times describes as a “ravishing piece of trash” in his 2-star review. The......

As a parochial and unglamorous antidote to the Hollywood Oscars that took place last weekend, London Underground was crowned Public Transport Operator of the Year at what LUL are desperately trying to sex up as the "transport Oscars" but are actually more prosaically known as the London Transport Awards. The MD of LUL explained they had scooped the gong for: delivering a record volume of service, carrying more passengers than ever before, while at......

Swanning About Not one, but two Swan Lakes swim into town this week. Take your pick from The Russian State Ballet of Siberia's version at the New Wimbledon Theatre, or the Moscow City Ballet at The Hackney Empire. Expect world-class dance interpretations this classic love story to Tchaikovsky's sublime score at both. Topsy-turvy Theatreland Liverpool comes to Hampstead (in 3 Sisters on Hope Street), Hollywood hits Stratford (Marylin and Ella), and an Asian Tempest......

Our weekly roundup of film reviews returns, courtesy of James Bryan… This week, the Coens’ masterful noir No Country For Old Men, the dire AVPR (don’t ask), a spoof musical biopic Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Gwyneth Paltrow in The Good Night. No Country for Old Men arrives in the UK soaked in rapturous Stateside reviews. It’s the latest from critical darlings the Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, Fargo etc.)......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Our weekly roundup of film reviews continues, courtesy of James Bryan… This week Brad Pitt’s latest (with a title so long it shouldn’t be allowed) The Assassination of Jesse James etc, the alternate realities of The Nines, Vince Vaughn slumming it in Fred Claus, the video game adaptation Hitman, Kenneth Branagh directs The Magic Flute and a re-release for the classic All About Eve. If you get annoyed with trailers that give the plot......

Oh, that Jude Law! Grown women swoon and keel over at the mere mention of his name. Men grind their teeth and glower with untrammeled jealousy when glimpsing his visage on a magazine cover or film poster. Such is his star quality. Those brooding yet boyish eyes. That elegantly receding hairline. He really is quite something. While he's a big Hollywood movie star these days, Our Jude does love to hang out in his......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

Okay, first of all, the bad news: both the opening and closing previews at the Barbican's London Korea Film Festival are already sold out. Boo! If you were hoping to check out Park Chan-wook's latest I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay, or the Cannes-pleasing Breath (pictured left) by Kim Ki-Duk, then you're out of luck. The sell-out is testament to the reputation for excellence that Korean cinema has gathered in the last decade, and......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

Think Battersea and think Dogs Home. Or Power Station. Well, the Kennel Club and Sky Movies are about to change that by making Battersea Park home of the world's first Dog Walk of Fame. We're not quite sure why. The Kennel Club secretary says that the move "promotes the importance of dogs within our lives" but we think it's more about promoting the annual Discover Dogs show coming up in November and the sponsor/tie-in......

Since we announced to the world that all round top London icon and friendly bear, Paddington, is headed for Hollywood, there's been a resurgence of interest in our marmalade munching mate. What with all those late night botox parties, coke fuelled awards scraps and high class hookers just around the corner you'd have thought that what old Paddington slaps between two pieces of bread would be the least of anyone's worries. But now revered......

Film maker extraordinaire Quentin Tarantino has arrived in the UK to promote the DVD release of his latest film, Death Proof. Nothing newsworthy in that per se. But the whens, whos and wherefores of this publicity event are nothing short of astonishing. Londonist has learnt that the movie icon snucked (or was dragged) along to Wimbledon Dog Stadium on Monday evening where he watched the likes of Shayne Ward, Charlie Simpson (from Busted) and a......

Londonist was awfully tickled to learn of the launch of London’s very own ‘Starmap’. From this day forward, for the price of £5.95, eager tourists and starry-eyed Londoners will be able to follow in the footsteps of their fave ‘A’ list celebrities. Not only can they stalk them at home, but they can hang out, paparazzi style at the right bars and restaurants to star spot, and even re-enact bestest bits from London movies on......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Poor, old Christian Slater? Yes. Literally. It seems that the devilishly handsome Hollywood star's previous stints larging it up in London during his "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" run bled him dry and knackered him out. Slater's returning to the West End to star in a new adaptation of cult 1994 movie "Swimming with Sharks" in October this year but won't, unfortunately, be bringing back his exuberant rock 'n' roll ways to tickle......

Our first foray into the Camden Fringe was oddly reminiscent of our last Edinburgh experience. A rainy, busy street at 3pm in the afternoon, leading into a tiny, dark and terribly hot mini-theatre, beer in hand. If only there had been a street full of aspiring thesps flyering outside we could have sworn we'd been up there. But no. This is Camden and praise be, our first show was really very good. Room 110......

It used to be that the wealthy, with their high powered jobs that meant they couldn’t make it home in time to walk the dog, paid someone to do it for them. They got all the perks of having a dog without having to actually put on wellies, throw sticks and bag turds. The world’s gone topsy turvy though and, apparently, the wealthy animal lover about town now wants to pay someone else for......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Josh Rouse has gathered a small but devoted following over the course of six albums (plus an EP with kindred spirit Kurt Wagner of Lambchop), and the cabaret tables that surround the small stage at Madame Jo Jo’s are packed. He’s in town tonight for a low-key acoustic set to launch new album ‘Country Mouse, City House’. The attentive crowd quietens reverentially as Rouse opens with a handful of songs from the new album.......

Will the real Buster Crabbe please stand up? And put one of those flippers on each foot up? We were intrigued to discover that the South London Swimming Club will this Sunday morning be hosting a race for the "Buster Crabbe Memorial Cup". That name instantly transported us back to our school holiday mornings, transfixed in front of the televised black and white 1930s adventures of space hero Flash Gordon, embodied by one Clarence......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

Over the next few weeks we’ll be trying out new formats for Monday Miscellanea. Let us know what you think… This Week In London’s History Monday – 16th April 1889: Hollywood great Charlie Chaplin is born in Walworth, South London. Tuesday – 17th April 1984: WPC Yvonne Fletcher is shot dead at a protest outside the Libyan embassy on St. James’s Square. Also, on this day in 1999, “London nailbomber” David Copeland kicks-off his......

This week - The pilot light's gone out... on the sun (Sunshine) and Will Ferrell goes iceskating (Blades of Glory). Don't you hate it when the sun is going out and you have to go and reignite it? First up, Sunshine Bradshaw gives it 4/5, calling it a "beautiful-looking new space adventure". All of the reviews today are impressed with the way this film looks, It's a film with some stunning sequences and gobsmacking......

This Day In London’s History 1916: Prolific actor Eric Christmas is born in London. OK, so it’s slim pickings this week in terms of interesting London-related events that have taken place on this date. But we did discover that the wonderfully-named Eric Cuthbert Christmas was born on 19th March 1916 in London, and in the absence of anything more interesting occurring on this date in London we thought we would find out a little......

We're guessing most of you are hungover from St. Patrick's Day. We are too. But still, we're going to muddle on through our green haze and give you (drum roll please...) this Week In -ists. We start with SFist which broke the -ist record for comments with nearly 500 comments on a post about our Mayor's girlfriend. She responded back on charges that she's not a "girl's girl" and, whoo boy-- the floodgates? They......