If you are on the market for a feel-good boxing movie, then this one is probably not for you. Likewise, if you are one of those die-hard boxing fans who will be offended by the quality of the boxing scenes, for the sake of the other viewers you might want to wait till it comes out on DVD. However, one simple fact to remember: Clint Eastwood makes good movies. The unlikely pairing of Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood (appearing first in Unforgiven) materialises again, bringing with it many of the same issues of inner conflict and the moralizing nature of retrospect. One major difference: this is not a cowboy movie. And for an old guy who made his mark on cinema as the amoralistic "man with no name", Eastwood's recent films have been complex and emotionally demanding. Million Dollar Baby presents an involved portrait of human dysfunction set in the dynamic and unforgiving world of boxing, in which violence is a means of achieving the ultimate solution, and the struggle to reach it involves more than the fight. This combined with another fantastic performance by Hilary Swank -- who is quickly mastering the role of the diamond in the rough -- means that Million Dollar Baby is a good bet to bring home the bacon at the Oscars this year.

When New York's MoMA re-opened in November 2004 a number of art correspondents, including Rachel Campbell-Johnston of The Times, saw it as a rival to London's Tate Modern, fuelling the ongoing dialogue of creative competition between the UK and the US. D&AD's President's Lectures and Forums tries to settle the matter with Us and Them: US vs UK Design. Designer handbags will be drawn at 7:15pm at The Institute of Education as a panel of leading creative practitioners try to figure out who's king of the hill when it comes to design and creativity. The debate, chaired by Teal Triggs, will look at the good, the bad and the ugly produced by leading US and UK designers. The panel will also investigate the effect different working practices have on creative expression, either side of the pond (what is it with this pond metaphor?). Battling for the stars and stripes is J Abbott Miller, Pentagram New York and Elliot Earls, designer in residence for Cranbrook Academy. For the same-colours-different-flag-design UK, Paul Austin, MadeThought and Nick Bell, Creative Director of UNA Design, will be packing the verbal punches.

NB: to book tickets call 020.7480.1127 or fill out the oline booking form.

It's common knowledge that a sure-fire way to break out of your isolated hometown is to write insane full-on electronic wizard music and insult the place creatively in the name of each track. And this is executed text-book fashion by Venetian Snares' Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole (Sublight). Musically, this is icy synth drill-rip and a-rhythmical drum 'n' bass. Sensually, it is aural aggravation that, live, promises to leave punters stumbling out the door post-gig with ecstatically spinning heads. Whilst certainly not a run-of-the-mill "melody and groove" based concoction, Aaron Funk's tracks are awash with full-spectrum timbral stimulation and flowing hyper-speed percussion verging on the concrete. But this is squeaky clean pop to the likes of "Prophylactic Eyehead", where he manages to delve into the even more abstract reaches of a warped Autechresque assault. One has to wonder: if these tracks show this much energy in audio form, what on earth will he conjure up for the live show? This is the mousetrap to Mouse on Mars; in a word: GAAAAH.

For those few Flashers not in the know, Antenna offers a bi-monthly showcase of the best, and most visually stunning, music videos from across the globe, complete with witty banter and commentary from a panel of directors and industry insiders. On the panel this week is Swedish director Johan Renck (aka Stakka Bo), behind vids for Madonna, Beyonce, The Streets et al, who is now making the transition into features with his forthcoming film debut Downloading Nancy, starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard. Joining him will be Jet Search, co-founder of Shooting People, and Aussie director Clemens Habicht, who is flying in from Berlin for the event. As usual the line-up of videos to be shown remains a closely guarded secret, but Antenna have revealed that they will include the exclusive UK premiere showing of the new video for Devendra Banhart, directed by newcomer Lauri Faggioni and promos (and now features) master Michel Gondry. As Faggioni first collaborated with Gondry on his knitted wonder Walkie Talkie Man for Steriogram, it promises to be another visual feast.

NB: tickets for Antenna always sell out in advance, so act fast for a chance to join in the fun.

Study commuters more closely in the rat tunnels this week and you may notice just how many of the smug Private Eye readers are actually using the middle brow publications to cover up their dirty secret -- Heat, or its cheaper sister Now! If they ever do get round to opening up and tearing themselves away from insipid Darius and his limpet sack-of-crap Geri Halliwell, they can find much more amusement in the Celebrity Diaries section. This refinement of the much crasser trashy cousin Heat has no interest in Brian or Jade but instead tackles the incredulous lives of the literary and political breed of the rich and famous. Harold Pinter, Mary Archer, Tony Benn and Janet Street-Porter have all been fodder, and now the clever satirist Craig Brown is going to publicise a book of the above by getting some of his chums to present Imaginary Friends. Eleanor Bron, Ian Hislop, Richard Ingrams and John Sessions should prove pretty amusing, and if you buy the book you can get it signed by Brown himself. If you love the punchy satire of Private Eye, get a secret tingle from a fetish for parody of the high profile, or have just always wanted to get a better look at Hislop's adorable little head you will have much fun and besides, you can always stash a copy of Closer in ya bag for any lulls!

It's Biennale year again! That's right, the countdown to this summer's edition of the Venice Biennale has begun (and with it the usual dilemma of when to snap up those under-a-tenner Sleazy Jet air fares...). But those folks at South London's temporarycontemporary gallery are an impatient lot and have put together their own Biennale! Another ambitious project by in-house artist/curator Anthony Gross, 19 film and video artists have been selected by a team of internationally based curators from contemporary hotspots like Beijing, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Miami and Dublin, and of course London. Refreshingly, there's no attempt to shoehorn the art into any cheesy save-the-world theme, just lots of potential future stars to discover.

NB: private view is on Fri 21/01 from 6 - 10pm and the exhibition runs till 27/02. On Sat 26/02 there will be a panel discussion with Jananne Al-Ani, Tate curator Stuart Comer and Ben Cook.

Centrepoint had better have ridiculously strong foundations -- the mighty bass capacity of The End's soundsystem is due to be tested on the 21st by a marathon 4-hour set from one of drum 'n' bass's true global superstars, Brazilian hotshot DJ Marky. Familiar to UK music fans as the guy who's been lighting up Kiss FM and One World events and shows over the last couple of years with his unique brand of furious breaks, lightened by funky Latin and jazz influences, the charismatic youngster from Sao Paolo is consistently guaranteed to find a friendly and mixed crowd, then make them dance like marionettes and sweat like racehorses. His status and the lighter edge to some of the exclusives he drops open his sound up to a wider audience than the traditional Rockport and Burberry-wearing drum 'n' bass crowd, so expect a chilled-out and friendly vibe. Fittingly, he's also promised breaks and beats and some leftfield house (presumably showcasing the kind of homegrown sounds that Fussible et al have brought screaming out of South and Central America in the last couple of years). If you've become jaded by jungle and the constant imprecations to "rinse it out propa", head along.

NB: support will be provided by Radio One's Giles Peterson, Dynamite MC, Afronaught and Mark Force (Bugz In The Attic). On Sat 22/01 at AKA Bugged Out! presents Etienne de Crecy live (showcasing Superdiscount 2), Alex Gopher and Julien Delfaud among others.

Pete Astor enjoyed an '80s apprenticeship in bands like The Loft and The Weather Prophets. A bastion of early Creation Records, he was one of label boss Alan McGee's first signings. That Astor's ascent didn't mirror that of contemporaries like Felt or Primal Scream remains mysterious, It was certainly never a question of talent or commitment. A literate songwriter closer in spirit and sensibility to Nick Drake or Tom Verlaine than more Dionysian rock antecedents, Astor's music has always erred toward subtlety, with songs whose acute, often wry lyrics are mirrored by a distinctive, chiming guitar style. Latterly, he's been essaying these signature skills (along with more electronic-orientated chops) in revered underground combos The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound, though his latest release is a solo album for esteemed boutique imprint Static Caravan. That album, Hal's Eggs, is a splendid marriage of Astor's plangent sound and some ancient English folk songs, for which this free, afternoon gig at the discrete but commendable RoTa club is a typically under-the-radar showcase. Fellow Caravaners Tuung are also on the bill, supporting their excellent new album, This is Tunng. It promises to be an ace afternoon out.

Travelling companions Daedelus (Eastern Developments and Plug Research) and Ammoncontact (Ninja Tune) paint the capital red this grey January, as they drop in for a number of appearances across the week. After a DJ set at Bar Rumba, broadcast live across Gilles Peterson's World Wide show (Radio One), and a live in-store session at SmallFish records in Soho on Thursday (7pm), the Los Angeles DJs and producers du jour finish their flying visit with a pit-stop at Cargo's Destination Out on Saturday night. Ammoncontact, otherwise known as atmospheric hip-hop duo-cum-producers Carlos Nino and Fabian Ammon, leading lights on LA's flourishing underground hip-hop scene, also home to Madlib, Prefuse 73, and others; multi-instrument playing Daedelus, cornerstone of super hip label Plug Research, brings quirky, experimental electronica with a hip-hop vibe into the mix. Add an impressive CV of releases on Eastern Developments, Soul Jazz, and Ninja Tune, and you start to see why life tends to get a bit hectic for these cleva fellas.

NB: support comes from DJs Ross Allen (Casual), Benji B (1xtra), Nick Name (Care In The Community) and Ninja Tune visuals.

Every now and then, a group of artists produce an experimental project that not only transcends the boundaries of the medium they are working with, but also reaches a wider audience than only those who wait in the wings for an engaging performance to suit their own tastes. For such a project to occur once in a musician's career is a rarity, but to build a career on this principle is truly exceptional. The Kronos Quartet has behind it three decades of exploring and expanding the relationship between their music and its subjects, showcasing the work of new and innovative composers and collaborating with unlikely leaders of the contemporary music scene to create new and challenging work and to make it accessible to a broad and diverse audience. One of the most memorable works that has achieved international notoriety is the filmscore by composer Clint Mansell for Darren Aronofsky's controversial and disturbing film Requiem for a Dream. This particular performance will mark the world premiere of a new quartet by experimental composer Meredith Monk, as part of a UK tour, as well as works by Mansell, Michael Gordon, Alexandra DuBois, Willem Jeths and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.

NB: screenings of Decasia and Requiem for a Dream can be seen the same day at 2:50pm and 4:20pm respectively.

Most of us forget that the first action heroes were not Keystone Cops, but funny, existential, bumbling hobos. Today, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton have sealed the stereotype of that silent era comedian-hero, but we mustn't forget that Harold Lloyd (1894-71) -- that lad dangling from the clock on a clock tower in 1923's Safety Last -- was another important character of that era. With the hobo image colonised by Chaplin, it is Lloyd's unkept, straw hat-ed bumbler who, with perfect comic timing, always won the ladies. Described as the "King of Daredevil Comedy", Lloyd, despite classics like Safety Last and Speedy (1928), has fallen into the shadow of the more illustrious hobos. With live accompaniment by Neil Brand, Safety Last should help redress the balance since classics like Girl Shy and Grandma's Boy have all but disappeared.

NB: if you cannot make Safety Last catch The Kid Brother on Sun 30/01 at 4pm.

Tassos Steven's bold, unpredictable, multi-faceted and often groundbreaking ROAR season (this, the 7th edition) of new experimental theatre work has left the blocks on the T of the 2005. Having missed some great work already, we're left scrambling to catch up. Three unmissables next week: firstly, at the Theatre 503 (in The Latchmere pub) on Sun 23/01, where the unfailingly brilliant Greg McLaren plays an astrophysicist who constructs a time machine from chicken wire and cardboard before "frightening everyone by turning it on". On Mon 24/01 and Tue 25/01 at the Chelsea Theatre, Julia Barclay's Heart Oven Falling: Gotcha! takes as its basis a series of aphasic emails her father wrote to her while recovering from a stroke. Together with Zoe Bouras and Theron Schmidt (the other half of Chris Goode's ongoing project His Horses), Barclay creates analogous real-time events capturing the nature of these communications -- painful yet hilarious. Barclay shares a double bill on Monday with dance-theatre maker Rajni Shah, who shows the first glimpses of her upcoming new work Mr Quiver.

NB: info for ROAR 07 is split over the Theatre 503 and Chelsea websites, but can be delivered straight to you from roar_project@yahoo.co.uk.

Beauty and ugliness: Leonardo Da Vinci was obsessed by the fine line between them, Babybird devoted an entire album to the subject, and now soap peddlars are jumping on a "wrinkled is wonderful" bandwagon quicker than you can say deep cleansing microdermabrasion. Frankly, we're confused. Where will all this madness end, and how we will define beauty and ugliness be in the future? The V&A comes to the rescue with this critical debate chaired by Design Museum founder Stephen Bayley. The natty cultural commentator is joined by a panel of intellectuals and media types, including Sunday Times Style editor Tiffanie Darke and Elaine Scarry, Professor of Aesthetics at Harvard University. The session is part of the V&A's Beauty Week, featuring a series of aesthetically orientated lectures, performances and events. And if you don't fancy the more earnest fare, head for the Masked Ball on Fri 28/01, where you can fashion your own disguise before prancing incognito on the dance floor.

NB: Bayley continues his quest for truth by chairing Ugliness is Superior to Beauty: It lasts Longer on Wed 26/01 (7 - 8:05pm). The debate will explore whether this fascination with beauty is a harmless consensual pursuit or whether there are darker forces at work.

When is art not art? How can art be anti-art? How, in an age when art is regularly co-opted into governmental regeneration schemes and fat-cat corporations build whopping art collections to seduce clients and appear culturally savvy, can artists protect their integrity and prevent the corruption and commodification of their work? Is the solution to try and operate outside the capitalist art-world infrastructure or provoke debate from inside the institutional walls? Art historian and critic Marcus Verhagen leads this fascinating course on the history of anti-art, from the avant-garde to the 21st century, looking at examples from the Tate's own collection with the support of one of our favourite naughty boys, Jake Chapman.

NB: this course runs on Mondays (6:30 - 8pm) from 24/01 till 14/03.

Riflemaker's unorthodox exhibiting habits have already earned it a fast reputation about town. Since opening nine months ago, it has staged a series of risky and innovative shows that have brought much needed refreshment to the London art scene. This latest exhibition is a tour of colour. In an unprecedented format that spans centuries and techniques, works are stripped of their usual contexts and linked only by a perennial preoccupation with colour. This allows rare comparisons between the most unlikely of pairings: contrast graffiti artist Barry McGee's colours to the Venetian light of 16th-century painter Veronese; "A Hockney" to the computer art of John Maeda; see Bridget Riley alongside her lesser known contemporary Jeremy Moon; and the abstract hues of Ben Nicholson next to graphic art by Kim Hiorthoy. Nothing like this has ever been done before, which makes it a series of historic moments -- perhaps the most unexpected being the presence of Jack Cardiff. The 95-year-old cinematographer and directing legend will be talking about technicolour; The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus form part of the show.

NB: the exhibition runs till 28/02. Any "chromophobes" might like to have their fears allayed in the downstairs section of Riflemaker, which has been transformed into a laboratory; here the mechanics of colour are made clear by illuminescence machines, digital art, colour therapy and other cool stuff.

Ironically, given their "challenging" band name, Suicide are survivors. Cutting their teeth in mid '70s New York, their signature blend of Martin Rev's pulsing electronic keyboards and Alan Vega's smouldering, sub-Elvis posturing hasn't always found favour -- indeed, they famously endured hails of missiles when touring with the Clash at the height of punk. In recent years, their reputation has settled and their influence been recognised (without them there may not have been Soft Cell, Pet Shop Boys or any other keyboard-based electro-pop duo you care to mention). This gig coincides with the re-release of two under-heralded Suicide albums from the turn of the '90s -- A Way of Life and Why Be Blue. Always a provocative live proposition, the latter-day Suicide still restrict themselves to the minimum of instrumentation, though these days Rev's antediluvian organ battery has been replaced by sleek digital keyboards. Nothing, least of all age, can alter Vega's preening, yelping onstage presence -- he remains a leather-clad, bandana'd rock 'n' roll mutant apparently beamed in from some Blade Runner-like future. Enjoy.

A slap in the face to the purist and unpopulated visions of their modernist buildings, the mortal bodies of two of the younger prophets from the cult Swiss architectural scene -- Andrea Deplazes and Quintus Miller -- will be present to discuss the finer details (literally) of their latest work. Both practices (ampersanded pairs Bearth & Deplazes and Miller & Maranta) continue the ongoing Swiss tradition of serious, austere, ultra-minimalist exercises in material and tectonic refinement. B&D and M&M both conjoin restrained flair with craftsmanship and precision, mixing steel and glass (less), wood and concrete (more), spiking their mathematical modernism with a dash of Dutch inventiveness or folksy vernacular. The Strathclydian Steven Spier is author of the Thames & Hudson book Swiss Made (which is currently accompanied by a fragrant display of timber models in the RIBA's front gallery -- till 05/02), and will convene the discussion and showcase the work of other young Swiss practices. The seats will, despite the subject matter, be cushioned.

You are cordially invited to the recording of a live session with Tom Vek and Yeti for the BBC music and culture website, Collective. All sounds a bit Jools Holland? Relax it's a proper gig at 93 Feet East, which just happens to be filmed. Tom Vek has featured heavily in all the one-to-watch lists this year due to a combination of odd-rock, electronics and a distinctive baritone older than his 23 years. Likewise, John Hassall -- while remaining bassist in the Libertines -- takes to the guitar with his new band Yeti. Taking their cue from '60s R&B, classic pop like the Walker Brothers or Cavern Club-era Beatles, Yeti are reminiscent of modern troubadours The Coral or The Zutons.

NB: attendance is free. To attend, sign up here. You will receive an email that you must confirm receipt of in order to be allocated a place.

Having recently returned from shooting their video in Toronto ahead of the release of their first album A Certain Trigger (Warp), Maximo Park are in their stride and now is the time to see them. They are often described as intelligent by the music press and that probably stems from the kind of punk they play; not the sneering macho aggression of classic punk bands like the Sex Pistols but an altogether more suburban punk, the sound of semi-detached houses, motorway flyovers and corner shops. Their lyrics are emotional, personal and local but they encompass the universal truths of relationships, sex, work and ordinary lives. On stage they are far from ordinary; Paul Smith's use of a book on stage stems from his inability to remember his own lyrics but it has become a theatrical flourish, and Lukas Wooller's (keyboards) Ian Curtis stare and strained shoulders give him an intensity which contrasts with Archis Tiku's (guitar) distanced, hypnotic playing. There are distinct personalities to watch and varied musical influences; to narrow it down think XTC with the snappy jerking melodies of The Jam. Maximo Park are an interesting proposition and well worth an hour of your time, if you like some thought with your dancing.

There are many events in history that Henrik Plenge Jakobsen could have chosen to prove that human beings never change, but his choice of J' Accuse, an open letter by Emile Zola to the French President in defence of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, written as an attempt to expose racially motivated corruption within the French government, seems particularly pertinent in a time of uncontrollable suspicion and fear. Like a treasure hunt, this is a game of finding clues, making up answers that don't really exist but merely suggest at something you know and you don't feel comfortable about. Although the works are cold in their functional familiarity, they are subverted, implicating an aesthetically appealing presentation while revealing a darker underbelly. Playing on the seductive power of the initial appearance of his work, presented here as almost historical documentation, Plenge Jakobsen focuses on his role in a society able to contradict and play with hidden realities and meaning.

NB: runs till 27/02. Plenge Jakobsen is about to have a major solo show at the National Museum for Art, Copenhagen (22/01 till 10/04).

Here is the chance to find out more about the band that graces so many Shoreditch T-shirts. The Ramones were arguably the most important punk band from the other side of the pond; and like so many of their contemporaries, their story is not a dull one. The tangled internal wrangling of the band, that still survives today despite the passing of three of its members, has precipitated through to the film's release. End of the Century manages to avoid the Spinal Tap absurdities of the "behind-the-scenes rockumentary" by presenting an overview of the punk pioneers in all their raw, and at times, painful, glory. With some great interviews (Deborah Harry and Joe Strummer) and plenty of electrifying live footage, it just about fills over two hours of film without dragging.

Anyone naming themselves after part of a constellation 15 million light years from earth isn't going to churn out Gang of Four copies mumbling something about "if anyone else likes it, it's a bonus". Thank f*ck. Instead, M83's third album has galactic-sized intent as megalomaniac Athony Gonzalez ditches partner Nicolas Fromageau, plays every instrument himself and makes a BIG NOISE. There are essentially two types of tracks here: slow/epic/druggy and fast/epic/druggy. Gonzalez marshals walls of synths, hugely compressed guitars and bombastic FX to great effect on "Don't Save Us From The Flames" and "Teen Angst" -- both enjoyably overblown proggy electro-rockers. However, despite the production bells and whistles, this is often formulaic. It seems uncharitable to criticise anything so earnest, but for all its ambition Before The Dawn Heals Us seems rather narrow and earthbound...

To buy Before The Dawn Heals Us online click here.

It's difficult to find an artist like Martin Kippenberger (1953-97) today. If he were an actor he'd probably be like James Stewart, which is to say a combination of vulnerability and good humour, splashed with a heroic gentlemanliness. Kippenberger is all that and rambunctious; nothing could be cheekier and more ephemeral than his Hotel Room Drawings, or more heroic than the "bad" paintings of the '80s. But gentle? Well, maybe we're stretching the point, but at the last Venice Biennale he was represented by his "subway" installation. It is his ability to treat all media democratically, that is the form (painting, photogrpahy, sculpture...) is determined by the communication rather than the other way round. And in that way, he is still today a very relevant artist to many... Need we say more? Having lived in Tenerife, Seville and Madrid (with Albert Oehlen), it's a surprise, then, to find that this catalogue accompanies his first ever solo museum show in Spain. The exhibition is strongly supported by Benedickt Taschen's personal collection (he had a close relationship to the artist), as well as Oehlen's collection, which includes highly personal gifts.

To buy Kippenberger online click here or buy it through Walther Koenig Books at the Serpentine Gallery (020.7706.4907).

KultureFlash is a free, weekly newsletter covering contemporary culture in and around London. Each week we track down some of the more unusual and interesting events taking place in the Capital and deliver them straight to your inbox. Featuring art, gigs, films, talks, clubs and more -- we are committed to bringing you an eclectic mix of the most stimulating events in London.

If you want to tell us about an upcoming event please do so by sending an email to: events@kultureflash.net. Please note that KultureFlash is not a listings e-zine and we do not receive any payment from venues, artists, managers or promoters.

Please send all invites, press releases, CDs and books to:

KultureFlash Ltd.
52 Cranmer Court
London SW3 3HW.