Every year, from the 22nd to the 30th of November, the annual Children Film Festival in London presents films from all over the world shown in most of the cinema’s in the city, and the Barbican Center as the main festival venue.
The festival’s jam-packed schedule also features film-related workshops, talks and free events. A festival with a twist, if you will, for you see, the jury this time is made of ruthless  children from 7 to 11 years of age, especially trained by a film critic to watch evaluate and review the films.
The London Children’s Film Festival also offers quality learning experiences in its extensive education program before and during the festival.

The Design Museum pays homage to the artist Alan Aldridge with “The Man With The Kaleidoscope Eye”, the first British retrospective running from October 10th through January 25th 2009.
Featuring the works of the celebrated illustrator and graphic designer of the swinging London, the exhibition is a complete display of all his production including sketches, notes, letters, films and other archival material of the most famous graphic entertainer of the 60s and 70s.
He illustrated lyric books for the Beatles, album covers for the Rolling Stones, the Who and Elton John, was Art Director for Penguin, illustrated children’s books such as The Butterfly Ball and designed adverts for brands such as The House of Blues and The Hard Rock Café.

Every year the East London Design Show provides Londoners with an amazing collection of goods, accessories, jewelry and, well, anything else, just in time for Christmas, and also gives clients and visitors a great way to entertain themselves.
This year’s ELDS will have a particularly international flavor to it, other than the usual great British designers, wonderful designers from Mexico, Italy, Holland and Russia will showcase, and sell, some of their greatest work!
So drop by the Shoreditch Town Hall from the 4th to the 7th of December, and look for some original and unique Christmas gift, or just take a look around, believe me, it’s worth it.

Only a few days still to see the solo exhibition of one of London’s most exciting young contemporary artist: Sarah Maple. Her works are on show at Salon Gallery until November 17th 2008, in the heart of London’s famously stylish and bohemian Notting Hill district.
Sarah Maple is only 23 and she’s considered a truly emerging talented young artist within the international contemporary artistic panorama.
But she’s got a problem. She is a practising Muslim. And now Salon Gallery is constantly under surveillance by the police after having been attacked by strangers. The result? Broken doors and windows.
According to the police the damage was a reaction against Maple’s exhibition showing paintings with many humoristic incursions into “hot” political, religious and cultural topics.

Prelude is a public initiative from the Inspired Art Fair and Spitalfields Estate, it brings together painting, photography, sculpture and drawing, setting up a magnificent display of nearly every type of artistic medium. Other than a magnificent artistic display,  Prelude is also a place where incredibly prestigious artwork is for sale, with prices ranging from 500 to 1000 pounds, you can buy an original and astonishing piece of art .So visit Old Spitalfields market from the 2nd to the 7th of December for an original and intense artistic experience.

If you’re interested in art and antiques, like yours truly, you won’t want to miss the Olympia Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair. Centered around London Olympia’s Grand Hall, the fair hosts hundreds of the most highly regarded dealers in the world, who have an amazingly exquisite range of pieces of art and antiques. Another thing that distinguishes this fair as one of the greatest in this sector, is that clients can buy without fear of getting ripped off, because every object is analyzed and vetted by experts before it is put on sale in the fair, in addition, carefully selected art advisors will assist with the buying process, so you can be assured of the quality of the products. The fair will be held from the 10th to the 16th of November, so head down to Olympia, believe me, even if you’re not interested in buying expensive art, it’s a collection of pieces that are worth more than glance.

From the 5th February to the 7th of June this year the National Gallery will be holding an exhibition regarding one of the greatest artists of all time: co-founder of cubism Pablo Picasso. This exhibition will explore Pablo Picasso’s attempt to challenge the works of the Old Masters through his own paintings; the exhibition features about 60 major works of this artist, Picasso is widely  recognised as being the most important artist of the 20th century.
As many of you might already know, Picasso experimented with a variety of different styles throughout his career, this particular exhibition depicts Picasso’s efforts to challenge the likes of Rembrandt, Cézanne and Manet, three great artists who had a huge impact on Picasso’s work.
This Exhibition is arranged according to different themes, such as self portraits, the female nude, still life, and the seated female figure.
The display will also show some of Picasso’s later work, where he parodied great works of the past, such as Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’Herbe.

Babylon, one of the oldest cities of time is reborn in the British Museum with an exhibition that aims to unveil the cities magnificent golden age and it’s enduring influence.
From the 13th of November to the 15th of March, in fact, the British Museum will recreate, thanks to it’s collection of major archaeological finds, and loans from many other museums, life how it was in Babylon back in the 6th century BC.
It will also uncover secrets of time itself that are tied to this legendary metropolis, such as the Tower of Babel, the Hanging Gardens, King Nebuchadnezzar’s madness and how Babylon earned it’s title as the original City of Sin. The Exhibition features all sorts of archaeological finds, from vivid relieves to modern artworks, many of which have never been seen London before.
So take a dive in this mythical city,  read from ancient texts written in cuneiform script on clay tablets, documenting the life and history of Babylon, feast your eyes on the newly excavated Stela of Nabonidus and learn from manuscripts, oil paintings and prints showing Babylon in art from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The brutal and sarcastic British comedian Jimmy Carr takes his new act to the Brixton Academy in London this autumn, more precisely the 30th of November and 7th of December.
With tickets simply waiting to be sold out, this comedy gig promises to be as rude, offensive and full of the dark humour that Carr always brings on stage. Full of new unseen material, prepare yourself for one of the must-see shows of the year.
Other than being an extremely famous personality on stage, radio and television, Jimmy Carr has managed to expand his popularity on the digital front, he is, in fact considered a pioneer of digital comedy, having performed on the online community known as Second Life with an audience of over 150 online users, and having topped charts on iTunes and MySpace.