Top image: Still, Boogie Nights 1997 © New Line Cinema

We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 26th FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2016

Mr. Torpedo Area
Paul Thomas Anderson knows how to do sexy. He also knows how to nail a killer 70s vibe. Both of these attributes are ‘full fontal’ in Boogie Nights, his stylish 1997 epic.

Boogie Nights tells this story through the life of Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a kid from the San Fernando Valley, who is a dishwasher in a Hollywood nightclub when he’s discovered by Tiparillo-smoking porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). “I got a feeling,” Jack says, “that behind those jeans is something wonderful just waiting to get out.” His epiphany was correct, and within a few months Eddie has been renamed “Dirk Diggler” and the hottest new name in porn.

Examining the business of ‘catering to lust’ Anderson gathers together all the key ingredients;fame, envy, greed, talent, sex, money. Not plainly a tale of sex and lust, the narrative also has a basis in family, Eddie’s own childhood was broken. He finds solace in his new porn family who take him under their wing and give him the support and confidence he ultimately craved.

And then there’s that final scene, the one mark Wahlberg has to thank for years of female attention.

Boogie Nights is showing at BFI on Friday 26th February at 20:00
Book tickets here

Sap it and slap it
London outfit SAP cater to the filthy side within us all. Via their unique brand of garage grunge (think Bass Drum of Death fronted by Bleach-era Cobain) they rev it with the best.

With a sharp injection of sugar rush energy, these three lads are a must see on the London gig circuit. Plug it in and spit it out, SAP ride the scuzz pedal with hard-wired aplomb. Catch them live this weekend and if you don’t leave dripping in sweat, you ain’t doing it right.

SAP play on Friday 26th Feb at Surya, N1 9JL

Broad strokes
Alongside his close friends and contemporaries Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach altered the way we view art. As a generation they shifted the focus and engaged a new wave aesthetic.

Best known for his depictions of London’s streets and for portraits of a regular cast of friends, family and lovers who have sat for him for decades, the Berlin-born artist opted for paint so thick and heavy that there was sometimes a risk of it sliding off the canvas after the work has been completed.

Tate Britain’s current exhibition features Auerback’s paintings and drawings from the 1950s to the present day, offering a retrospective viewing of the iconic artist’s oeuvre.

Frank Auerbach runs at the Tate Britain until March 13th

Spaceman
Being able to authentically start anecdotes with, “When I was on the moon”, is 100 per cent rad and a complete conversation stealer. And Mr Buzz Aldrin is one man with this crushing ability, and this weekend the astronaut (and Toy Story namesake, of course) is in London to talk to the ever-grinning Brian Cox about his deep space adventures.

As the second human to ever step foot on the moon, Aldrin is sure to have some epic tales. And he might even tell us the one about how he punched a moon-landing conspiracy nut.

Buzz Aldrin in Conversation with Brian Cox takes place at the Science Museum Imax on Sunday 28th February. Tickets available here.

Rusty nail, on the rocks
At Bermondsey’s renowned LASSCO architectural salvage warehouse you’ll find a menu of enticing cocktails and food to go with your vintage furniture needs, all thanks to Ropewalk, a new project from Disappearing Dining Club.

Weave your way through the Maltby Market crowds you’ll find the Barge Bar, which was actually salvaged by the good folks at LASSCO. Then there’s two private dining rooms: the Textiles Room, stuffed with reclaimed draperies and cushions; and the more opulent Eisenhower Room, all chandeliers, wooden panels (from the old US Naval HQ in Grovesnor Square, no less) and strong liquor.

By the end of the night you’ll be salvaging more than furniture, ie. sore heads, clear thinking and perhaps your dignity.

Ropewalk is located at 41 Maltby Street, London, SE1 3PA