Wednesday 10 March (6:30pm)

@ AA, 34-36 Bedford Square, WC1 (020.7887.4000) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Writing a biography takes devotion, not to mention the ability to convince people not to embellish truths. Compound this with writing one about a film personality, let alone Jean-Luc Godard, and the task of biography writing becomes more difficult. Colin MacCabe is one of the few fortunate academics to practise just what he preaches. Not just a knowledgeable film scholar, he's also produced a few himself. What's astonishing is his range -- from the snazzy little bfi Classics (Performance) to the more serious Godard tome or post-structural essays in The Eloquence of the Vulgar, the former Head of Research for the bfi has written on the history of English literature through Joyce and most recently this biography on Godard. Lecturing from the London Consortium to the Universities of Pittsburgh and Exeter, he's going to speak on the difficulties of biography writing and the man -- Godard -- himself. Do not expect anything prosaic from this Renaissance man.

Wednesday 10 March (7pm)

@ Museum of London, London Wall, EC2 (0870.444.3852) Tube: Barbican/St. Paul's

De Rijke Marsh Morgan are mainly known for their almost-Stirling-Prize-winning One Centaur Street -- an unlikely pairing of ingeniously designed housing with a Waterloo site two metres from the Eurostar viaduct. They're one of several London-based practices on whom greatness may soon come calling, to leap from restaurants and private houses to building gleaming towers and replanning Italian cities. So it's all the more interesting that Alex de Rijke is keen to talk about an area largely untroubled thus far by "proper" architects: the design of schools. Kingsdale (actually a reworking of an existing school) centres around a vast enclosed space featuring a cinema pod, aerial walkways and installations by art/architecture collective Atelier van Lieshout -- all not what you'd expect to find in your regular educational establishment. It's no surprise that the practice has just joined big hitters Will Alsop and Wilkinson Eyre to work on "Schools for the Future: Exemplar Designs" -- a DfES project to produce 11 "what-if" designs, as an example of what can be achieved with imagination and flair. Long overdue, but it's back to school for these architects.

Wednesday 10 March (Wed 10/03 till Sat 13/03 at 7:30pm; Sun 14/03 at 5pm)

@ Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters Mews, North Rd., N7 (020.7609.1800) Tube: King's Cross

It's always well worth the wait, but take note dear Flasheur, Godot has not shown up... yet. Perhaps the most renowned of Samuel Beckett's plays and originally written in French, En attendant Godot is still the classic piece of tragic-comedy. Today, 51 years after its first performance, it is still a piece of theatre that says plenty -- if not everything -- about our human condition. One should not neglect the small things in life (peeing, zipping up one's fly...), so we're reminded in this play; and oh, for those of you heading to see Mel Gibson's latest remake, Valdimier says, "One of the thieves was saved. It's a reasonable percentage." Not bad for an Irish man transposed to post-war Paris, a consummate moderniser of the English language but also of theatre and writing. The plot: 2 men hang out, they wait, run into two other men and wait for Godot. With no cafes in sight, it's just a tad existential, and well worth a Nobel Prize. With this new production company -- the Godot Company -- sorta bearing his name, one wonders what the arch perfectionist Beckett (1906-89), would think. (Runs till Sun 14/03.)

NB: For more mainstream Beckett fans, Lee Evans and Michael Gambon are starring in Endgame at the Albery Theatre.

Wednesday 10 March (7:30pm)

@ The Lifthouse, 85 Charterhouse St., EC1 (020.7251.8787) Tube: Farringdon/Barbican

Once again, the monthly appointment of Sprawl, the "London-based underground playground for current sounds" offers an invitation to discover some of the spectres of contemporary electronic music. This month, Barcelona-based and co-runner of the spa.RK label Vincent Fibla will be presenting pieces from his latest release Lent (slow in Catalan). Simple and beautiful tunes which float between slow-motion structures and more accelerated yet equilibrated bass rhythms. Filba's compositions tend to recall slightly earlier Autechre and Warp-like electronica or new figures such as Glasgow-based Christ, yet still manage to be innovative. The German duo Incite is the minimal interaction between Gradiant Communication (Andre Aspelmeier) and Axiomatic Integration (Kera Nagel) whose "investigations into repetitive patterns and minimal beats" will be making their first UK appearance. American Adam Johnson from the label Merck will be blending crystalline melodies with some minimal techno to close the Sprawl evening while Iris Garrelfs and si-cut.db warm the place up!

Wednesday 10 March (Wed 10/03 till Sat 13/03 at 8pm)

@ The Place, 17 Duke's Rd., WC1 (020.7387.0031) Tube: Euston Station/King's Cross

Lullaby's title is ironic, even sick, which rather befits this quirky drama of sex, violence and incontinence on a hospital ward that's introduced by a slapstick dwarf. Politically correct it isn't, but Vardimon's dance theatre has a compelling dark-magic realism; magnifying neuroses and transforming familiar social ritual into surreal nightmare. Which is what this genre of contemporary dance does best. Just as its forerunners, DV8, lifted the lid off cruise culture in the uptight, AIDS-panicked '80s with graphic honesty, so Vardimon's updated offering subverts the soap-fuelled sick-bed fantasies we hold so dear, and exposes the sado-masochistic subtexts of the medical encounter. Doctors try it on with patients, patients take it out on nurses, and biological warfare reigns as patients take the rap for their diseases. Lullaby is danced with the bruising physicality and forensic precision of Vardimon's choreography, while her own live-wire performance steals the show. Stylish animation and video gadgetry add to its grotesque cartoon aesthetic. Not for the squeamish. (Runs till Sat 13/03.)

NB: For those interested in hospitals, pain and death check out the screening of the incredible documentary on Bob Flanagan, Sick, at the ICA on Thu 11/03 (followed by a panel discussion on Reclaiming the Body from Pain).

Thursday 11 March (private view Thu 11/03 6 - 10pm; Sat to Sun 12 - 6pm)

@ temporarycontemporary, Seager Distillery, Brookmill Rd., SE8 (07971.292.817) Tube: Deptford Bridge DLR

With Bethnal Green's Vyner Street fast becoming the new Cork Street, it's a brave move to set up a gallery space in deepest Deptford. Particularly as the only noteworthy Deptford gallery, Hales, has itself just surrendered to the pull eastward. But put aside any snobby ill feelings about South London and prepare to welcome to the area temporarycontemporary, a vast, 4,500-square-metre artist-run space in an old distillery. A wide-ranging, low-concept group show is usually the best strategy to inaugurate a gallery, and temporarycontemporary's first exhibition, Mesmer, is just that. Curated by artist Anthony Gross, who is gaining an impressive reputation for his digital animations, the show's title refers to the 18th-century French physician/hypnotist from whose name the term "mesmerise" derives. The transfer of the "gaze" from artist to viewer is the general theme, and, if this smacks of voguish Lacanian theory, remember that the long list of promising young artists involved is the exhibition's real draw. A piss-up in a (former) brewery is always an attractive proposal and, with live music from some of the artists and the now-compulsory "mystery rock band" to boot, the opening night is sure to be a blast.

NB: Mesmer features the work of Jonathan Allen, Diann Bauer, Ian Dawson, Howard Dyke, Peter Fillingham, Anthony Gross, Laurie Hill, Francis Lamb, Cedar Lewisohn, David Lock, Paul O'Neill, Luke Oxley, Seb Patane, Giles Round, Lindsay Seers, Mark Titchner and Jen Wu. Private view is on Thu 11/03 from 6 - 10pm and the exhibition runs till 11/04.

Thursday 11 March (6:30 - 8pm)

@ Borders, 121 Charing Cross Rd., WC2 (020.7836.9485) Tube: Tottenham Court Rd.

Suggesting that American foreign policy is as fundamentalist as the baddies it seeks to destroy is rather a radical premise for a book by a British philosopher. To go on to argue that Al Qaeda is an essentially Western and modern organisation is simply asking for trouble. Yet John Gray is not a finger-pointing sensationalist, and his book about terrorism isn't trying to whip up a frenzy of paranoia and controversy, which makes a change. Al Qaeda And What It Means To Be Modern is an exploration of modern thought, and a fresh look at the great horrors of human history, along with their causes. Gray detects a common denominator between Stalin's Communist experiment, the liberal dream of a free market, Radical Islam's religious war against the West, and America's "nation building" in the East. The wellspring of all these is the Utopian belief in abstract "rights" and "wrongs" that, in his words, "forbids any peaceful evolution". Gray is meticulous in his argument as a philosophical supersleuth, exposing falsehoods and political soundbites right, left and centre. Whether you agree with him or not, his theory makes for good reading, a visionary look at the way we think, and a very enlightening talk on Thursday.

Thursday 11 March (7pm)

@ Whitechapel, 80-82 Whitechapel High St., E1 (020.7522.7888) Tube: Aldgate East

Poetry must be the last form of pure art. No dealers, no constant stream of drummers, no record labels, no star turns, no cinema-goers to depend on; in fact, no nothing, just the purity of words, some blogs and a couple of fellow poets to sling words with. Tough life, it's probably the final frontier... Quite amazing then to hear about prodigious talents who publish young, translate difficult poetry from difficult languages, are awarded OBEs, and oh write volumes of poetry. From translations to lit-crit, octogenarian Michael Hamburger's poetry and work as an early translator of Celan and Hoderlin into this language has been described as cosmopolitan European stamped with that brand of Englishness, Brechtian socio-political satire combined with a Suffolk naturalist. Part of the Into Words series curated by Frances Williams, the Berlin-born Englishman -- a member of that post-war European exodus -- will be putting his words in the world against a backdrop of Gerhard Richter's stirring imagery.

NB: Gerhard Richter's Atlas ends this week (Sun 14/03). For details regarding Into Words, check the Whitechapel website.

Thursday 11 March (Thu 11/03, Fri 12/03 & Sat 13/03 at 7:30pm)

@ Hackney Empire, 291 Mare St., E8 (020.8985.2424) Tube: Bethnal Green

Opera and side-splitting bedroom scenes are not natural combinations. That was until Mozart gave the pairing a go when penning The Marriage of Figaro, and unwittingly notched up the world's most popular opera. It's this "two parts romance, three parts farce" spirit that infuses English Touring Opera's 25th anniversary programme, which comprises the Mozart classic and Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both plotlines are awash with the usual flotsam of nocturnal assignations, accidental seduction and towering embarrassment. Both also benefit from Joanne Parker's ambitious designs -- all 18th-century Spanish colonial sumptuousness for Mozart's work, and spooky woodland populated by 17th-century puritan and cavalier-types in Britten's. Above all, respect goes to the newly restored Hackney Empire, saved by a vigorous Gryff Rhys-Jones (among others), and now casting off its bingo heritage with conviction. (Runs for three nights from Thu 11/03 till Sat 13/03.)

NB: Flashers can book stall/dress circle tickets for just £35 per pair. Telephone the Hackney Empire on 020.8985.2424 and quote "£35 offer".

Friday 12 March (7pm - 2am)

@ Fluid, 40 Charterhouse St., EC1 (020.7253.3444) Tube: Farringdon

Re-edits, remixes... what's the purpose, what's the difference? Well, without getting too existential or analytical about this, the purpose is amazing music. If one thinks a song contains some potential, which -- if slightly modified -- would improve the whole experience, they create a whole new version. The current underground kings and future masters of this activity are the mysterious Yam Who? Over the last year, a breathtaking array of re-edits have been released by white label to rapturous acclaim. Generally staying within genres such as nu-soul and broken, Yam Who? have perfected a heart-stoppingly crisp, flowing and funky technique; consequently dancefloors, airwaves and soundsystems have benefited. The duo have been DJ-ing in a regular, but rather low-key manner throughout 2003 and now into the new year. This Friday they hit Clerkenwell and, amidst the trustafarian chic and new media trendies, will bless Fluid with their presence. For those Flashers with more than a little energy left at the end of this session, a club by the name of Fabric is only about 30 seconds away.

Saturday 13 March (Sat 13/03 till Sun 04/04 from 12 - 9pm)

@ Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, SW7 (020.7590.4273) Tube: Sloane Square

Where does documentation stop and altered representation begin? How can we assess the credibility of a document and when do we suspend or openly give up our disbelief? This much is certain is an impressive investigation into the intricacies of these problems that sardonically replicates some of the focal points of this debate in the project's structure. The exhibition is accompanied by substantial talks, a catalogue and an impressive selection of films thematising this struggle. Media control and narrative construction interplay and defy each other in an arena where credibility is more at stake than truth and the "real" is unpacked and hidden at the same time. Running along the length of an art show that features some of the most compelling up-and-coming international artists, the films just push the contradictions a step further. Mike Leigh's Sense of History battles with Nicolas Barker's Unmade Beds over which is the true account and which the objective narrative, while Jeffrey Vallance's unmissable documentation of the funeral of his pet chicken acquired when already frozen casts a layer of ambiguity and preposterous irreverence over the restaging of The Battle of Orgreave by Mike Figgis and Jeremy Deller or Peter Watkins' La Commune. If we can forecast any "take home point" for those who'll profit from this dense programme of must-sees, it will deal with our inability to establish how much is certain any more.

NB: The film programme and exhibition run till 04/04.

Talk: On Mon 15/03 catch Jeffrey Vallance's talk. For all other talks see the microsite.

Sunday 14 March (3:30 - 10:30pm)

@ The Spitz, 109 Commercial St., E1 (020.7392.9032) Tube: Aldgate East/Liverpool St.

The sun's reappearing, and distant memories of pints on Sunday afternoons return with the ability to leave the flat into the cold. Come out of hibernation, motivate those mates and walk briskly to The Spitz for the Metro's "Number One Sunday Club", and BBC London Radio's fave free day-of-rest event -- Raison d'Etre. Delusions of grandeur and superstar egos are not welcome, and don't waste your time spewing "isms" over your drinks; Yvan (aka Healer Selacta) and Crystal, the minds behind the festival, make it clear that this is for music lovers. Previous acts which caught KF's attention have been a hilarious Japanese storyteller armed with Wacko Jacko's back catalogue and crayon drawings and exhausting tap-dancing MCs, but the real beauty (and you can find smile-making beauty here) is the musical talent that you may not get to hear anywhere else. This time find International Soul Orchestra "Kesha", East End Soul wonder Cameron Dundee, newly discovered talent Max Greenwood (think Waits and Elton) plus others, poets and surprises. Be warned the atmos is addictive and compulsive attendance of all Raison d'etre events may lead you every Wed to the Rhythm Factory for their Open Mic sessions, and the monthly Cargo Night.

Monday 15 March

@ Jazz Cafe, 5 Parkway, NW1 (020.7916.6060) Tube: Camden Town

The story goes that Californian hip-hop Cinderellas Ugly Duckling came about in 1995, after they met working at sure-fire future-CJD-nightmare Meat Shake, serving up fast food where, deliciously enough, even the chocolate malts contained animal parts. Poetic inspiration for anyone, the outsider artists fled burger hell, appropriating another fairytale name along the way, and turned themselves into the quirky underground hip-hoppers that they are today. Definitely not following in the footsteps of their machismo-fuelled gangster rap L.A. neighbours, Ugly Duckling are all about smart, humorous lyrics, inventive jazz and funk-inflected vibes, and take their playful lead from old school underground legends like Jurassic Five, De La Soul and Jungle Brothers. Their debut EP was the first to be released on UK label Wall of Sound's hip hop imprint, Bad Magic, and two acclaimed albums have followed: Journey to Anywhere and, more recently, Taste The Secret, both released on Emperor Norton Records (home to Ladytron and Ralph Myerz, among others). Their Jazz Cafe date is part of a comprehensive UK tour this Spring, and features support from Speech Defect and fellow West Coast feathered friend, Pigeon John.

Monday 15 March

@ ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly Circus

The most famous Jens in town has been the one demonstrating his "safe hands" up in Highbury until now. The ICA is about to improve its international scoring average with Jens Hoffmann, their new Director of Exhibitions. Working on models of curating that range from political realities to the engaged viewer, this adjunct curator for the Fluent Collaborative (AT, Texas) and the Museum Kunst Palast (Duesseldorf) will be in discussion with Expat-Art Centre (EA C) curator Mathieu Copeland. The show is about the transitory nature of artworks and spaces, and the site-specific works are designed for the moment between shows -- but are not all shows in between shows?! Jens no doubt will be making a statement of intent for his ICA's curatorial direction with punchy questions -- we hope -- from tough Swiss painter Olivier Mosset. All three will be discussing the topic of Exploded Paint, Exploded Curating.

NB: Expat-Art Centre includes context-specific artworks by Brian Eno, Pierre Huyghe, Ben Kinmont, Claude Leveque, Didier Marcel, Olivier Mosset, Shimabuku, Dan Walsh and Ian Wilson (ends 21/03).

Tuesday 16 March (7pm)

@ ICA, The Mall, SW1 (020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross/Piccadilly Circus

If you haven't been outraged by Joe Eszterhas (bn. Hungary 1944) then you've missed some part of the '80s. With "successes" like Flashdance and Basic Instinct, and the dodgier Showgirls and Sliver, Eszterhas is first and foremost a prize-winning writer. Given Hollywood's general distaste for them, he is the "star" scribe, notorious for receiving the biggest screenwriting paycheque -- at the time -- for Basic Instinct ($3million). The former Rolling Stone journalist has always defended the "art" in his work -- hence Showgirls is for female empowerment, ah... the fun he must have had with director Paul Verhoeven. His oeuvre epitomises the period, with its big shoulder pad attitude, Stone and Douglas' sexual "empowerment", smoke and booze etc. In town to show off his new Hollywood "tell all" with chapter titles like "Michael Eisner pimps the teamsters", expect to have your blood pressure raised but also to be very, very entertained!

Giveaway: We have three copies of Hollywood Animal (Hutchinson) to give away. They'll go to three randomly picked Flashers who can name the film that Eszterhas and Don Simpson collaborated on.

Wednesday 17 March (7:30pm)

@ Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, SE1 (020.7960.4203 or 4242) Tube: Embankment/Rail Waterloo

Bringing up a remarkably attractive rear end to the Ether Festival is the multi-talented David Axelrod conducting his own orchestra. Axelrod is an extremely infrequent visitor to these shores so this constitutes a rare opportunity to check out his latest. The silver-haired composer first came to prominence in the '60s, when his innovative and expansive compositions struck the musical underground as something radically different. Rather sparse sounding, often cinematic noises, occasionally discordant and a little broken, but always entrancing and original. At this event, swooning bursts of orchestra will be commonplace, with fascinating compositions reverberating all around the RFH, the air being littered with lugubrious horns, captivating beats and flashing of strings. Over the years, Axelrod has worked with an amazing array of musicians. From the seminal partnership with Lou Rawls, to other collaborations with artists as varied as The Electric Prunes, Letta Mbulu and Cannonball Adderely, Axelrod is still worshipped by music makers/lovers the world over. From James Lavelle (and the Mo'Wax massif) to DJ Shadow, Axelrod's samples are all over the place. A mere three weeks after Brian Wilson, the RFH is playing host to yet another legend.

Tuesday 23 March (8:30pm)

@ National Film Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020.7928.3232) Tube: Embankment/Waterloo

A few years ago Andrew Jarecki planned to make a film about a very popular clown who had entertained the children of Eddie Murphy and Susan Sarandon. The clown was ecstatic, thinking this would further his career. However, Jarecki put two and two together, realising that "Silly Billy", real name David Freidman, was the son of Arnold Friedman and elder brother of Jesse, convicted in the late '80s for the mass molestation of young boys. Instilled with a family trait to chronicle everything, David began filming his family from when the trauma began to the pair's imprisonment. Handing the tapes over to Jarecki, the filmmaker inserted news reports and recent interviews to create one of the most harrowing documentaries, in which we not only witness the birth and death of a family, but are left to cross judgement. With the current "every man is a star" mentality, perhaps we have become unshockable, but this may be the film to stir and beg questions as to what really is entertainment. Many believe the case was law-enforcement overkill and a result of community hysteria, giving the film kudos for raising questions that perhaps we haven't or were afraid to ask.

NB: A Q&A session with Andrew Jarecki will be hosted by film critic Leslie Felperini following the screening.

Thursday 25 March (7pm)

@ London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1 (020.7269.9030) Tube: Holborn

David Lehman called them "the last avant-garde", but others see them, whether in celebration or outrage, as the first postmodernists. Emerging in the '50s they were overshadowed by the feud between the Beats and the academics, but eschewing both vatic declamation and reticent formalism in favour of urbane wit, surrealistic inventiveness, and more than a small dose of camp, the New York School (jokily so-named by their pal and publisher the art dealer John Bernard Myers, who thought it would help capitalise on their connections to the Abstract Expressionist and Neo-Dada painters of the day) turned out to have more staying power. Carcanet celebrates their new anthology of the best of four of the six original members of the New York School -- John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler (but where are Kenward Elmslie and the divine Barbara Guest?) -- promising readings and comment by the book's editor, Mark Ford, and a rare sighting of veteran English avant-gardist Lee Harwood. Curiously, the line-up also includes the poets' Polish translator, Piotr Somner, and Sarah Maguire, director of the new Poetry Translation Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) -- implying perhaps that the New York School still needs to be translated from American into English?

Ends Thursday 1 April

@ Various cinemas across London

Do you remember that feeling you had when you watched In the Bedroom? That sick, inevitable, impending doom feeling that make your guts feel too big because your heart is too heavy? That is pretty much the feeling that House of Sand and Fog gives you (and interestingly enough, the writers of the two stories are father and son respectively). The personal battles and tragedies of the protagonists are sound enough to make for a decent film, but it is not this that renders House of Sand and Fog a film so worth seeing. The greatness of this piece is its presentation of American society, with regards to the pretty white girl (Jennifer Connelly) and the Iranian immigrant family (headed by Ben Kingsley). Forget for a moment about US imperialism, and consider a society in which the government treat their own with disdain and ignorance, where fear of the unknown rules the day through mainstream media, leaving people (don't get us wrong, not all people, just some people) with a mountain of prejudice and despair. Of course, you could just enjoy the beauty of Connelly and the talent of Kingsley.

Ends Saturday 8 May (Tue to Fri 10am - 6pm; Sat 11am - 5pm)

@ Stephen Friedman, 25-28 Old Burlington St., W1 (020.7494.1434) Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Did you miss Hirschhorn's Bataille Monument at Documenta 11? Were you disappointed by his Utopia Lounge at Tate's Common Wealth? Here is an occasion to finally experience the politically incorrect practice of the Swiss artist. Unfinished Wall is akin to a prison that has been invaded, freed and occupied to illustrate and pay homage to Michel Foucault. The rooms are filled with an immersive sequence of broken walls built with real bricks, cardboard, mannequins, tape and insulation foam. A narrow, raised passage forms the path where visitors, overheated by harsh surveillance lamps, wander around cell-like booths containing trainers, animal bones, barbed wire and passages from Markus Steinweg's book For the Love of Foucault photocopied and pasted onto the walls or inserted between the bricks like the prayers in interstices of the Weeping Wall. Big papier-mache masks with empty eyes scrutinise visitors subjected to a break open excess of disorder. Don't miss the photocollage on the right wall of the entrance; this intense visual essay is the key to understanding the show as an investigation into the use of walls, partitions and barricades as element of socio-political separation or containment. Through a maze of disturbing correspondences and strident contradictions Hirschhorn brilliantly manages to show us the Foucault we're fans of.

NB: Runs till 08/04.