Frontlines

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Cloudy night in Howth

Cloudy Bay fans will be heading for Howth, Co Dublin, on Friday, November 4th, to celebrate the release of the 2011 vintage of the iconic Sauvignon Blanc. The New Zealand wine will be the highlight of a dinner at King Sitric restaurant, where Aidan MacManus will create a special menu featuring fish and game, with matching the wines. These will include Pelorus Non Vintage, Cloudy Bay Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Late Harvest Riesling. The four-course dinner, including wines, costs €85 per person. Book on 01-8325235, or see kingsitric.ie.

Hiking in the moonlight

Fancy taking a 26-kilometre hike – in darkness? Here’s your chance. Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team is looking for teams of three to six people to undertake such a challenge on Saturday, November 12th, starting at Crone Wood in Glencree, following the Wicklow Way to Paddock Hill and finishing at the team’s new rescue base. Proceeds will go towards finishing the base and maintaining the life-saving equipment. The challenge will be well marshalled to ensure safety. It is not a race – everyone who takes part will get a T-shirt. It will be tough, however, involving mountainous terrain, darkness, weather changes, hills and valleys. Don’t be put off by Dave Fanning’s and Robert Power’s scary gear (right), it’s open to all. Register at wicklowmountainrescue.ie/moonlightchallenge, or by calling 087-6347286. Final registration will take place from 4pm on the day at the parking area near Laragh. Participants will be transferred by coach to Crone Wood to start.

Ciaran Murray

Get a foot in the fashion door with Oasis

High-street brand Oasis has teamed up with TV3’s morning show Ireland AM for a competition with a difference. The contest, which will run over four weeks from Friday, October 28th, will see 12 finalists compete in a variety of tasks – so far, so reality TV – for the chance to win one of four jobs as a stylist with Oasis. Yes, you read that right: four real-life, full-time jobs. Candidates will be challenged in a series of fashion styling tasks and judged by Ian Galvin, chairman of Oasis Fashions Ireland; Irish Independent fashion editor Bairbre Power, and stylist Lisa Fitzpatrick. The competition, aside from promising to provide television fodder for those stark morning slots, will offer hopefuls the chance to work in a field that can be difficult to break into.

Rosemary McCabe

Index

WHAT’S HOT

The new 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'Initial print run: six million copies

Twixmas hotel dealsLots of special rates between the December 27th and 30th. Grab one

American diner-style filter coffeeThe 99 cent cup at Momma's Place in Temple Bar, Dublin, is a fine example

Dunnes Stores interdental brushesAn absolute snip at €2.49 for six, each one with its own cover. In stark contrast to exorbitant prices of other brands

'The Fades'Strangely addictive supernatural series on BBC Three, the yoof channel. Written by Jack Thorne, who wrote Skins, and beautifully done. Wednesdays at 10pm, repeated on Sundays

Wexford Opera FestivalJust good to know it's still there

MascaraWe're seeing it a lot more often. Most notably on young male shop assistants. Is there something we should be told?

Wearing our sunglasses in winterMakes us feel all Barcelona. Do make sure it's sunny, though

SloesTime to get picking if you want the gin for Christmas

The cycle way from Leeson Street bridge to Charlemont BridgeSuch a smooth ride

WHAT’S NOT

Dublin Contemporary's €15 admission chargeMuch too dear – we're not planning on taking the art home

Unsettling scientific researchThe latest scary news is that getting children ready for school in the morning can be as physically draining as going on a long run – without the muscle toning

Maxi skirtsWe're still not convinced they work, unless you are going to the opera. Or maybe appearing in the opera

Caught on the hop by winterSummer clothes still in wardrobes, garden a disaster, DIY not done. Happens every year

Polished wooden floorsSo lovely in May, but in October revealed as a noisy and chilly mistake

Wearing your coat all dayWe're not turning the central heating on until 5pm

Christmas invitations in OctoberWhy, oh why?

And so to market

There is a spooky party planned for Naas Farmers’ Market next Saturday, October 29th (11am to 1pm). Ferocious food tasting, spooky puppet making, and prizes for fancy dress should bring out the crowds. Naas Farmers’ Market takes place every Saturday at Trax Brasserie, Naas, Co Kildare

Buoyed by invention

Catherdaniel fisherman Noel Donnelly has had a bright idea. He’s recycling cast aluminium and plastic buoys that get washed up on to the shore into indoor and outdoor lights. The resulting pendants are rather cool and affordable. The Crab Trap, a Florida restaurant chain, has already invested in his designs, and his lights featured on the Salty Dog stage at this year’s Electric Picnic. Prices start from €100-€180. Donnelly is also an electrician, so for bulk orders he will also fit the lights. Buy online at buoyohbuoy.com.

Alanna Gallagher

Handbags at dusk

Next Thursday, October 27th, the Lost Society on South William Street in Dublin 2 will host a celebrity handbag auction in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation. In partnership with Boots, Heavenly Handbags aims to raise funds for children's hospice homecare. Celebrities including Miss Ireland, Holly Carpenter (pictured below with a young fan), model Rosanna Davison and rugby star Shane Horgan (yes, really) are among the names who have donated handbags for the auction. Irish fashion maven Sonya Lennon will MC on the night, during which attendees will get the chance to bid on celebrity-owned handbags as well as designer numbers by Philip Treacy, Orla Kiely and Karen Millen. You'll also be able to have a makeover at the Boots beauty zone. Tickets for the event, which starts at 6pm, cost €20 and are available from Boots shops in Grafton Street, in the St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dundrum Town Centre, Swords Pavilions and Donnybrook.

Rosemary McCabe

Great bear adventure

Obsessions come in many guises – and photographing bears in their natural habitats is one of the more curious ones. Over the course of eight years, Dublin-based Dave Campbell spent any spare time he could carve out of his busy career as a commercial photographer visiting one of the most remote and astonishingly beautiful places on the planet, Knight Inlet in British Columbia, to document the lives and often playful times of the grizzly bears that live there. The temperate rainforest is one of their few safe havens on Earth. The result of this considerable labour of love is Voice of the Great Spirit, a beautiful and inspirational book that captures the wild beauty of the place and the bears that live freely there.

Designed by art director Margaret Healion – his wife and fellow bear obsessive – the writing is spare, all the focus is on bears, capturing their personalities and, as Campbell and Healion say, "their animal spirit". The pair (pictured above) self-published the very stylish-looking book – a brave act in these times – but a natural conclusion to such a labour of love. It will be available in Brown Thomas and Avoca and online from voicesofthegreatspirit.com, from November 10th. Get your order in now.

Voice of the Great Spirit, Dave Campbell and Margaret Healion, Pine Forest Press (€30)

Bernice Harrison

WORD ON THE STREET: A Jennifer Lopez

What it means: It's just a subway ride from the Bronx to Wall Street, but pop star Jennifer Lopez has taken a far more circuitous route to New York's financial district.

In her home neighbourhood she may be just Jenny from the block, but in the snakepit of the New York Stock Exchange, her assets have inspired a new buzzword. In financial speak, a Jennifer Lopez means a rounding bottom in a stock price, indicating that the stock is gradually curving its way back up. For investors, it's a highly desirable pattern, because it shows that a stock price is rallying rather than hitting the floor. On a financial graph, it really does look like the diva's derriere, of which the lady herself once said: "You could serve tea on my butt."

Where it comes from:If you thought the world of investment was dull, think again. Those financial types like their curves, especially when they go up – a rare event in these days of markets bottoming out.

The financial world is filled with sexy buzzwords and phrases, such as Leading Lipstick Indicator, Lady Godiva Accounting Principles, Angelina Jolie Stock Index and, our old favourite, Asset Stripper. Meanwhile, the real J-Lo is more often seen in a Fiat 500 than in the Nasdaq 100, in a high-profile ad campaign for the iconic little Italian car.

How to say it:Poor Mike – he was praying for a Jennifer Lopez, but his stock graph looks more like a Victoria Beckham.