The Insider – London (un)covered Jan 10 – 16

Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota, will speak at the LSE on Tuesday evening. Photo: Dodo.org/Flckr

The Insider is The First Pint’s expert on all things cool and London. Picking out the best of the week’s events and activities; one-off or regular, unique or mainstream. So we have a day-by-day selection of the best events to keep you occupied all week long. Enjoy.

Nursing a hangover from a few too many glasses of wine at Le Beaujolais last night, so the week ahead might reflect a need for a little less excess.

Monday 10 January

The London Short Film Festival runs until January 16 and there’s lots to see but tonight The Radar Social sounds like an interesting diversion. A night of new music with independently made videos to go along with them. Kicks off at 8pm at The Island Pub in Kensal Rise

Tuesday 11 January

A number of universities are back this week, so back to a steady diet of lectures and talks. Tonight at the LSE, Enrique Peñalosa, a former mayor of Bogota in Colombia, will present his thoughts on the need for socially inclusive urban design. (7.30-9pm)

Wednesday 12 January

Amer has garnered some impressive reviews and recently turned up on Quentin Tarantino’s films of the year list. It screens at 9pm tonight at the ICA, and runs throughout the month.

Thursday 13 January

Walked past the British Library many times in the last few weeks and each time thought to myself I must make the time to see the Evolving English exhibition. Today is the day.

Friday 14 January

I’m going to settle in at the Birkbeck Cinema on Gordon Square for the next few days.  Tonight a free screening at 6pm of Walter Ruttman’s 1927 documentary Berlin – Symphony einer Großstadt. Register online to secure a seat.

Saturday 15 January

My remit for this listing was simply ‘write down what you are going to do’, so I have a blank page and the freedom to mention whatever I please. This one might make my editor think twice about the wisdom of that choice. It’s a 9am start, back at the Birkbeck Cinema, for what must be a rare screening of Nachrichten aus der ideologischen Antike – Marx/Eisenstein/Das Kapital – a ten hour film of montage and interviews from German Alexander Kluge, is his attempt to realise Sergei Eisenstein‘s failed plan to make a film version of Das Kapital. The organisers promise breaks, suggest you bring food and drink to share, and ask for a £1 donation to cover the costs of keeping the building open until the end.

If you want to book a seat email samdolbear@googlemail.com

Sunday 16 January

Normally I sit at home on Sunday nights in January to watch the NFL playoffs, but from time to time I look for a bar showing the games in the hope of finding some interested fans to share the experience with. The Sports Cafe on Haymarket has many flaws, but it also has many screens and perhaps there will be some Chicago Bears fans in as they host the early game which kicks off at 6pm.