The Inspire Dubai Awards is one of the most exciting projects Time Out has ever been a part of.

Our annual restaurant awards set the benchmark for dining quality every year and it is a pleasure to work on them.

But the Inspire Dubai Awards are an honour to work on.

These are awards that recognise the bravery, dedication and commitment of individuals in the emirate.

These are the awards for the unsung heroes of Dubai.

If you know an inspiring person who is going above and beyond the call of duty to help other people and inspire Dubai we want to know about it.

Find out more information about the awards by clicking here.

The Euro 2008 tournament has entered the quarter final stage and its starting to get really exciting.

We’ve already said goodbye to former champions France and Greece, seen some amazing matches (Turkey’s late victory over Croatia being the most memorable) and enjoyed the atmosphere in Dubai’s most interesting venues.

The Euro Fan park at the Madinat Arena, the luxury of the Grand Hyatt’s swimming pool and the Hawthorn Hotel in Deira have been particularly busy so far.

I’m doing spectacularly badly on Time Out’s predictor so far (click here to join in and stand a chance of winning a holiday in England) but have fared much better on this game.

Utterly pointless, but in between games it is a decent way of getting a football fix.

My top score so far is 57.

Wait a few seconds for it to load and then click on the game screen below to play.

The smell of popcorn wafting through malls, queues reaching across cinema foyers and endless celebrity interviews on television can only mean one thing: blockbuster season has struck Dubai.

Following on from recent appearances by Indiana Jones and the Kung Fu Panda comes the Incredible Hulk.

The mean, green fighting machine is back for another pop at box office success. Read Time Out’s review here and watch the trailer below.

Facing up to the Hulk can’t be easy. But big screen opposition this week has previous experience of facing down superheroes. I Could Never Be Your Woman star, Michelle Pfeiffer, played Catwoman in the 1989 movie Batman.

She will only face the Hulk in cinema foyers, however, and for lovers of romantic comedy there will only be one winner.

Read Time Out’s review here, and watch the trailer below.

The final trailer is for M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening.

This whole project was shrouded in secrecy but you can see Time Out’s review here and watch the trailer below.

The distant echo -
of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
the ones that they love and who love them forever
The glazed, dirty steps - repeat my own and reflect my thoughts
Cold and uninviting, partially naked
Except for toffee wrappers and this morning’s papers
Mr. Jones got run down
Headlines of death and sorrow - they tell of tomorrow
Madmen on the rampage
And I’m down in the tube station at midnight…

Anyone old enough to remember the first time The Jam’s Down in the tube station at Midnight crackled its way through a mono radio will just have had shivers run down their spine, an electric shock course through their cortex, and a wave of nostalgia that only the news that Paul Weller, ex Jam front man, will be playing at Dubai Desert Rhythm will shake them from.

Yes, it’s fact - the Modfather will be headlining this year’s festival, continuing his sold out UK tour based on his 9th newest solo-album 22 Dreams. The album, released in June (featuring Noel Gallagher, Gem Archer, ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and more), continues Weller’s return to form after his lost, sickly years with The Style Council.

According to the organisers Jam material will be on the play list. You heard it here first…

Dubai Desert Rhythm Festival runs this year from October 31st and November 1st 2008.

Tickets are now on pre-sale on www.desertrhythmfestival.com.

A table at The Ivy, according to AA Gill, is still one of the most sought-after pieces of furniture in London - a considerable achievement for a restaurant that opened in 1917, in a city where restaurants open and close as frequently as Gordon Ramsey utters obscenities.

In fact Dubai was a mere spec of humanity when the establishment first opened its doors, an obscure footnote in National Geographic - which itself had been in existence for a mere 29 years.

A boring historical meander, but for one thing. The Ivy is coming to Dubai.

Delivering the institution is Tatweer, who want to add a bit of glam to its Dubailand project. The Ivy, where celebrities usually clamor inelegantly to secure an evening spot, should do just that. It will certainly bring out those in Dubai who want to be seen in all the right places…

Tatweer will also bring in sister restaurant, Le Caprice, which is located behind the Ritz in the St James’s area of London. Like The Ivy, it should do well in the emirate as a place to be seen.

No news yet on Caprice Holdings’ J. Sheekey’s, a wonderful, old style fish restaurant which is less a place to be a star, and more a place to eat.

For those of you who want a taste of the future, herewith The Ivy’s Roasts and Grills menu. Prices are in sterling - despite its celebrity, it’s still remarkably good value - and down to earth.

Roasts and Grills

11.50 The Ivy hamburger with dill pickle and club sauce
*
13.75 Pork sausages and mash with onion gravy
*
16.50 Grilled chicken breast with smoked aubergine and chickpea relish
*
16.75 Slow-roasted Blythburgh pork belly with black pudding hash
*
19.75 Grilled calf’s liver and dried-cured bacon
*
24.75 New season Cornish lamb with minted vegetables & madeira sauce
*
24.75 Veal T-Bone chop with anchovy butter
*
26.75 Bannockburn rib steak served on the bone with allumettes and bèarnaise sauce
*
38.50 Roast poulet des Landes with Madeira jus and dauphin potato for two persons

One restaurant I hope they never bring to Dubai is ‘Rules’, London’s oldest and most welcoming restaurant, which first opened in 1798. Not because it’s not fabulous, it is, but because infused with the food is its history, and local produce from its own farm, which unlike celebrity, could not survive new world translation.