A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Index
What's hot
Getting up for the rugbyIt's added hours to our previously sluggish weekends
TriathalonsThey get you off the sofa and out of the house. A marriage saver
Arnotts kitchen departmentGood stock, good staff and always a bargain on the go. A pleasure to browse in
US tourists are backEven if they're getting huge discounts, we welcome them
Flat shoesFashionable again. Thank you, God
Vasily GrossmanAll the rage, and he's only been dead for 50 years. His great novel of Russian life in the Soviet era, Life and Fate, is top of the UK bestseller lists and is serialised on Radio 4, starting tomorrow at 3pm
Portobello WharfLook up from Harolds Cross Bridge in Dublin and see Oisin Byrne's magical trompe-l'oeil transformation of a floor to ceiling window space
WHAT’S NOT
The pay day dipAre the months actually getting longer? As the tsunami of direct debits recedes, the gap between overdraft and the arrival of paychecks stretches into infinity. Discuss
TealDuck away from it. A colour best left to our feathered friends
Good to hear Irish hotels are booked solidBut, after three years of recession, we're finding them grubby. Call housekeeping
Having to sell your jewelleryIf it helps, Adams is having a valuation day on Monday, tel: 01-6760261
Food on slatesPut it back on proper plates please and leave slates on roofs
The Liffey SwimBrave contestants are having to swim in the centre of the river to avoid rats climbing on their backs
Pleated chiffon skirtsThe make you look fat
Madonna-bashingCriticised for her muscles, her filler, her dress sense . . . Keep your hands off the Material Girl
The presidential electionLet us know when it's over, we're not listening any more
Ceramics on celluloid
When potter Anthony O’Brien, based in Louisburgh, Co Mayo, travelled to Nigeria last January to watch the traditional women potters of Tatiko at work, he was impressed by their dexterity, speed and finesse. “They are making useful, everyday objects which are also works of great beauty,” he says. Tatiko supports a thriving community of more than 60 women potters who sell everything they make every week. O’Brien has made a documentary with filmmaker Jarlath Rice showing the process of making the pots, from digging the clay from the river to the hand assembly and then firing in the intense heat of huge brushwood bonfires. The pots are decorated with fine lines using seed pods or corn husks and their shiny bands of red clay around the rim, neck and shoulders are signature Tatiko motifs. Tatiko, the Journey of an African Pot will be shown in the Wyatt Hotel as part of Westport Arts Festival at 8pm on September 29th. Admission €8, see anthonyobrienart.com.
Deirdre McQuillan
Knowing just what to say
When someone in our family or circle of friends gets a cancer diagnosis, it can reduce us to glum silence.
We don’t know what to say, in case we say the wrong thing; we want to be helpful and supportive, but don’t know where to begin. The best person to consult in these situations is someone who has walked that particular walk – preferably someone positive, honest, tough when necessary, and possessed of a mischievous sense of humour. Cathy McCarthy shows all these qualities in her newly-published book, Not The Year You Had Planned (Ashfield Press, €12.99). A compendium of things she discovered on her own journey to recovery from breast cancer, it has everything from tried-and-tested recipes for nutritious pick-me-ups, to no-nonsense tips on clothes, make-up and prostheses; plus some hugely sane advice on matters psychological and spiritual. And all the profits are going to cancer centres in Sligo and Tallaght, into the bargain.
Arminta Wallace
Galway girl is Pretty Polly
An Irish girl from Galway has just beaten 700 competitors to become a "brand ambassador" for the hosiery giant Pretty Polly, after winning their "Legs 11" competition. Ciara O'Doherty, who is 22 and the creator of the fashion blog Wild Child Stories, writes for the magazine Galway Now in between bouts of blogging and modelling. The 11 finalists, as voted for by the public, were invited to London and judged by a panel including the designer Henry Holland. With more than 500,000 votes cast, O'Doherty was named the winner. She also wins a modelling contract at Leni's Model Management and €1,000 to spend in River Island.
Deirdre MCQuillan
Colour hit
Want to add a splash of individual colour to your phone, MP3 player or favourite bag? Carphone Warehouse is asking people to bring along their favourite small item to its stores where illustrator Chris Judge (whose work is pictured right) will give them a personal touch. Judge will be in Limerick on Thursday and Cork next Saturday, and the company is also running a series of competitions and in-store events to help squeeze a little more summer out of the season. See its Facebook page for more information.
Laurence Mackin
FARMERS, if you have something to get off your chests, then enter the Truth Booth. The inflatable studio is heading for the Ploughing Championships in Athy next week, having already spent time at Lisdoonvarna and at the Galway Arts Festival. The idea is simple – you sit inside and talk to the camera about the truth and what it means to you. The Arts Council-funded contraption has already logged 1,800 truths, with love and politics topping the list of truths people want to talk about. See insearchofthetruth.net.
Stylish golf gear
The words fashion and golf may not be not natural partners, but with the Solheim Cup Challenge at Killeen Castle next weekend, one Irish golfwear company is trying to up the style ante on the links. According to Ros Marrinan and Kathy Dillon, both keen golfers, conventional clothing for female enthusiasts of the sport is limited in scope, and everyone looks the same. For this reason, they founded Bluegreen, to design and make more flattering clothing for the course. The wrap skirts featured here in tartan or plain fabrics (such as non-crushable linen) are plain at the back with front pleating and can be worn with leggings. Skirts are priced at €85-95, knitwear €55-65 and everything, made in Ireland with Irish fabrics, can be bought online. See bluegreen.ie.
Deirdre McQuillan
Hankies ready for 'Downton Abbey'
Hankies at the ready tomorrow night for the return to TV screens of
Downton Abbey, and not just for the war scenes. The tear-jerker moment in episode one is all Vera's doing. Maria Doyle Kennedy is magnificently mean as the the estranged wife of valet Bates (Brendan Coyle) who fetches up to Downton just when he thinks he can buy her off with his inheritance. His plan is to head off out of service with housemaid Anna Smith (Joanne Froggatt), but the gobby Vera isn't having any of it. Will she succeed in taking Bates, the unlikely sex symbol of series one, away from our screens?
Bernice Harrison
Find enlightenment . . . and have a laugh
If Forrest Gump was giving the low down on Enlightenment Night he'd probably use that hoary box of chocolates line – it's fair to say you never know what you're going to get at this monthly event curated by comedian Maeve Higgins. In the past year Higgins's assorted gang of "brainiacs and amusers" have given presentations on unicorn whales, that bloke who faked his own death in a canoe, Julius Caesar's last hours and, er, cheese. What is guaranteed is that you'll laugh, and learn a few little-known facts along the way. "It's not a stand-up comedy show, but there is intense fun and some learning," says Higgins, who was inspired to set up the night by her friend Josie Long's Lost Treasures of the Dark Night in London. The entrance fee is €8 and tomorrow night all profits go to Unicef's East Africa Appeal. It is at The Workman's Club, Dublin 1, see theworkmansclub.com.
Roisin Ingle
Sassy Miss
Miss Selfridge is taking this season as a chance to step out from the shadow of its bigger and, until now, cooler, sister Topshop with a collection that oozes 1940s glamour. Chic knitted separates riff off cool, quirky prints and chic, classy skirt lengths in the high-street shop's latest lookbook for autumn/winter 2011. The turban is most definitely still in, while the midi isn't going anywhere, and clashing colours and patterns are bringing otherwise staid, vintage-inspired lengths and cuts right up to date. Layer your knits for an unexpected way to keep warm, and check out its shoe selection – studded boots will be everywhere in three months, just watch this space . . .
Rosemary MacCabe
Feel good fragrances
Three unusual and sophisticated fragrances called Simran, made in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, are the initiative of the remarkable Felicity Heathcote, a clinical psychologist married to an Irish diplomat. Simran means "gift of god" and the fragrances – Desert Mist, Desert Dusk and Oud (for men) – are made from jasmine, musk, rose and various florals, and come in exquisite coloured enamel bottles with glass stoppers. All profits from these limited first editions go to the Hoopoe Bird Foundation, an Irish charity founded by Heathcote, which funds human rights and humanitarian projects, primarily for women and children, in Palestine.
Heathcote, formerly a psychologist to the Irish Olympic team in Barcelona and Sydney, spent several years in Palestine conducting workshops in stress reduction for the UN in Gaza and the West Bank.
She is also the author of The Resting Place of the Moon, a fable based on true stories and set in Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. It is published by The Otherworld Press in Dublin. The fragrances are on sale in Helen McAlinden's shop at 20 South William Street, Dublin and cost €55 each.
Deirdre McQuillan
Word on the street: epic fail
What it means:Life is full of ups and downs, and we have to take the rough with the smooth. Sometimes things just don't go our way, and we have to accept minor defeats with grace and dignity. But every now and then, things go so spectacularly wrong that words can't begin to describe the jaw-dropping scale of the screw-up and we need a suitably cinematic term to do them justice. We've found one: epic fail.
Where it comes from:Epic fail originated in the world of gaming, where one mistake on the player's part could result in the capture of your citadel, the defeat of your space fleet, or the destruction of the universe. Soon, it was being applied to real-world situations, from the collapse of a bank to the collapse of a human pyramid at a rock concert. Wherever anyone snatched abject defeat from the jaws of victory, or simply fell into a manhole while texting, someone would be there to exclaim, "Epic fail."
How to say it: "He put all his money and property in his wife's name to stop Nama getting it - and then she ran off with her masseuse to the Cayman Islands. Epic fail."
Kevin Courtney
