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.

Quiz question: Which of the top 25 best-selling recording artists of all time is performing in the UAE this weekend?

Not Elvis Presley, The Beatles or Michael Jackson.

The answer is, music fans, A.R. Rahman.I admit that I am ashamed to say I have never heard of him. But, considering his last UAE performance is rumoured to be the country’s biggest ever gig (with more than 40,000 in attendance) it is obvious this is going to be hugely popular.

The Indian film composer, once dubbed the “Mozart from Madras”, has sold more than 100million records and will be performing at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday night.

My friends at www.masala.com gave me the tip off. See their full story and preview here.

As a composer of film scores for some of Bollywood’s, and now Hollywood,s, biggest hits Rahman has amassed a worldwide following.

This is a great chance to see a world class artist. If, like me, you have admired Bollywood style from afar but never seen its hit numbers performed live this could be well worth a visit. If you are already a Bollywood fan then Rahman’s tunes will need no introduction whatsoever.

Check out the video below to hear A.R. Rahman’s reinvention of one of India’s most popular national songs:

It’s big. It’s bigger than big.

It’s the Time Out Dubai Restaurant Awards 2008.

You can see our list of winners here.

Have we included your favourite restaurants? Are you angry that we have missed your favourite out? Are we geniuses - okay we know the answer to that one.

This is your chance to comment on the nominations and the winners.