On the agenda: Let's all hop on a train through Mexico, picnic at the National and folk-rock out at Scala

Film

So, Jewish-Americans are scalping Nazis on screen one, a Chicago librarian is time-travelling on screen two... Let's head to screen three, then, because, while we don't know much about the troubles of Honduran teens making their way through Mexico to the Promised Land, we do know we trust Gael Garcia Bernal, executive producer of Sin Nombre (pictured top right). And the film that won best director for Cary Fukunaga at Sundance (and best new director at the Edinburgh International Film Festival) promises to be just as full of action as Inglourious Basterds and far more heartfelt than The Time Traveler's Wife. Out on Friday Robert Epstein

Theatre

Sitting in a darkened auditorium on a summer's day feels wrong. But there are some brilliant plays on at London's National Theatre just now. And, from this weekend, you can combine the two with a very posh picnic on the centre's (up until now private) deck overlooking the Thames and a matinée of Time and the Conways or England People Very Nice. £40pp, 020 7452 3000, www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/thedeck Lisa Markwell

Music

For those who like their music big, there's still just time to snap up a ticket for U2's 360o tour as it ploughs through Britain this week. But we like our rock a little more intimate, which is why we'll be heading to London's Scala tomorrow to catch the extraordinary voice of folk-country rocker Brandi Carlile. Her star has risen so sharply since the release of her 2007 album The Story that her follow-up, Give Up the Ghost, out later this year, is being produced by the legendary Rick Rubin and includes a collaboration with Elton John. www.scala-london.co.uk RE

Food & Drink

So British Airways is getting rid of food in economy class for short-haul flights. We're not that fussed. The trolley always seems to be in the way when we want to stretch our legs, and an over-chilled processed-cheese bap at 30,000ft leaves us cold.

Far better if you're heading off on holiday this week to buy a new duck and mango salad or tuna, ginger and wasabi sandwich from Eat, whose smart fast- food outlets have sprung up in Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow, Edinburgh and City airports. www.eat.co.uk LM

Books

Tam o'-shanters off and bottoms up to the Wigtown Book Festival, which is doing its bit for 2009's Homecoming Scotland celebrations next month. Running from 25 September to 4 October in venues all over the west-coast book town, the festival has added a Whisky and Words mini-festival to encourage the return of the Scottish diaspora. "Most of the programme," says festival director Adrian Turpin, "will be held at the Bladnoch Distillery." Iain Banks, Roddy Doyle and Louis de Bernières are among those appearing, and hopefully partaking of "practical whisky information" as well as "more literary angles". www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk Katy Guest

Fashion

Family reunions in the Yamamoto household must be a stylish, if sombre, affair. The concept designer and black enthusiast Yohji has introduced his daughter's independent collection, Limi Feu, into his London store for autumn. Limi Yamamoto has been showing as part of the Paris catwalk schedule for the past two years, and has garnered warm reviews along with a strong fanbase for her girlish take on her father's renowned conceptual minimalism. It just goes to show, even the cool crowd are Daddy's girls at heart. www.limifeu.com Harriet Walker