Dispensing with the (attempts at) witty chitchat this week and diving right in... Monday: Still time to get tickets for the Last Tuesday Society’s Hendrick’s Cocktail Party tonight. And should you wonder what tenuous connection we’re trying to make between gin and literature (we won’t play the Snoop Dogg Gin and Juice card just yet), hang on there! It’s not so tenuous. On tap at tonight’s party, along with an abundance of Hendrick’s, is......

Ah, the transformative powers of education. Last week, we saw the kiddies philosophizing. This week, we learn of prison inmates dramatizing. And this isn’t just any kind of dramatizing, nor is this just any prison: This is Shakespeare as performed by the inmates of the California State Correctional System, in collaboration with the London Shakespeare Workout Prison Project. Forgive us our naiveté if upon spotting this photo we weren’t immediately reminded of a scene......

Despite our hard-partying populace, London has produced only a few drinks named after it. Beer drinkers have London Pride of course, but those that fancy a cocktail – who are usually lovers of choice, after all – are limited to the London (gin and maraschino liqueur), the London Fog (gin and Pernod) and the Mayfair (an upscale version of the gin and orange juice so beloved of Snoop Dogg). That’s a pretty paltry selection,......

Lily Allen’s bouncy song "Smile" has obviously had no effect on the meanest people on the planet: US Immigration Officials. The pop star, aged 22, was detained at Los Angeles International Airport for five hours while questioned about the caution she received in June for an alleged assault she committed in London. The bad news is that her work visa was revoked. The good news is that she was not strip searched, nor did......

FrightFest is dead, long live The Zone Horror FrightFest 2006 - yeah it's a bit of a mouthful, but it's also business as usual and to paraphrase Jack Black the business is shocking your socks off: Over four days (Friday 25 Aug – Monday 28th Aug inclusive) the UK’s top event for horror fans exclusively previews over twenty new films from across the world. From unknown first-timers to the popcorn big-hitters, this year’s Zone......

Gargantuan plane the Airbus A380 is coming to London tomorrow. The double-decker airliner - Airbus' flagship project - will be flying over central London tomorrow between 12.30pm and 1pm, before landing at Heathrow. No doubt the police will be keeping American rappers well away from the plane, after the Snoop Dogg and DMX incidents. Here is what you should look out for, and yes, she's a big beast!......

What is it with American rappers and Heathrow airport? The other week, we reported that Snoop Dogg and his entourage spent a night at 999 Letsby Avenue (geddit?) after being refused access into the VIP area of the departure lounge (while Ronan Keating, no less, looked on). This time, it's the turn of Earl DMX Simmons. Apparently, the rapper refused to fasten his seatbelt on descent into Heathrow, and started verbally abusing the aircraft......

The Olympic land inquiry is already causing a few waves, apparently the Games could cause the loss of 3000 London jobs. Ken in the news: he's pledged to put the Congestion Charge up if he gets re-elected and he's not as big fan of the GLA's new Tory chairman. He's called the Lib Dems a “disgrace to their party” for not voting Green. Magic 104.5 has 'leapfrogged' Heart 106.2 and Capital FM in the......

The Met freed 19 Malaysian women, suspected victims of sex trafficking, in dawn raids on five premises yesterday. Thirteen of the women were found in a six-bedroom house near Hyde Park. An eleven-year-old girl has given birth to a baby boy at Hillingdon Hospital, in Uxbridge. A man, who traveled with the girl from Africa has been arrested. You'll soon be able to use your Oyster cards at mainline starions (finally). Now all we......

This afternoon, Londonist has very much enjoyed pouring over the lurid details of the fun and games that took place at Heathrow Airport yesterday. Calvin Broadus, Snoop Dogg to we and you, has now been released "on police bail" and is free to travel on to South Africa, where he'll be performing in Johannesburg on Thursday as part of the country's Freedom Day celebrations (presumably the organisers are not after a family-friendly show, given......

The Harringey barister accused of filming up women's skirts has claimed in court that he didn't get any sexual gratification from his 'hobby'. You see it was "collecting and cataloguing the images" that he enjoyed....not the wanking. Snoop Dogg has been arrested at Heathrow airport after an argument caused by the refusal to let his '30-strong entourage' into the British Airways first-class lounge (Terminal 1). And talking of Heathrow, it's been announced that the......

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... Austinist read a book about Olympian Bode Miller and liked it. They also took a few pictures of the......

Rolling round again for 2005, tonight sees the 10th annual MOBO awards taking place at the Royal Albert Hall. Famously dogged with controversy last year for the revoking of homophobic reggae artists nominations, the 2005 awards should run a bit more smoothly with the only controversy so far surrounding whether Joss Stone really fits into the ethos of the event. Former Fame Academy student and oft top 20 charter, Lemar, is the front runner......