Seven things to do this week
TODAY Bargain hunters will be swarming around the Vaults' pre-Christmas sale, which features discount designer clothes that should make them shine at the office party. Deborah Veale, Marion Cuddy and Eilis Boyle are among the Irish names taking part in the sale, which features one-off handbags, vintage jewellery and hand-beaded T-shirts. The Vaults, under Connolly Station, Dublin, 01-6054700, www.thevaults.ie/ news.php. Admission free. 10.30am-4pm.
TOMORROW Amma, the woman known as the "hugging saint", is bringing her cuddly brand of spirituality to the National Basketball Arena, in Tallaght. Judging from Mata Amritanandamayi's first visit to Dublin, last year, there are likely to be long queues, so arrive early to be sure of a hug. From 10am to midnight today and tomorrow, with a break in the afternoon. See www.ammaireland.org.
MONDAY If you want more than just a blockbuster from your local cinema, check out the Mezz Experience, part of the 12-screen theatre at Dundrum Town Centre. For €15 you can relax in reclining leather chairs in the 75-seat private section of Cinema 1, the largest in the complex, sipping a free drink and munching free popcorn while you enjoy the film away from the riff-raff. It's also available for private parties. Call Movies @ Dundrum on 01-2916800 for more details.
TUESDAY More movies, but this time the buffs will be flocking to Derry, for the Seagate Foyle Film Festival, which runs until November 20th, with more than 300 films. Today's programme includes new Irish cinema, with Bezhad's Last Journey (8pm, Nerve Centre), and international cinema, with La Demoiselle D'Honneur (9pm, Strand Multiplex). See www.foylefilmfestival.org.
WEDNESDAY Sean Nós/Nua Nós is part of Limerick's fifth Sionna Festival, whose participants include Jean Butler, Seósamh Ó Neachtain and Iarla Ó Lionáird. There is an innovation-versus-tradition debate and a performance of new work when this strand of the festival concludes, tomorrow, at the University of Limerick's Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Tickets and information from 1890-616161.
THURSDAY Following on the heels of that lovely woman busker on Grafton Street who sings and plays guitar beside a sign that reads "A little bit of Polish culture", another hot Polish act comes to Dublin tonight. Monika Brodka is the winner of the Polish Idol competition, but we shouldn't hold that against her, as her influences include everyone from Jill Scott to Lauryn Hill. More information from Temple Bar Music Centre, on 01-6709202.
FRIDAY John Roch Simons's oeuvre is impossible to categorise. He has done everything from painting portraits of Edge and Shane MacGowan to taking acclaimed photographs of a young immigrant woman and her daughter on Baggot Street in Dublin. Art and the Experience, which runs until November 23rd at Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin, explores the work (below) of this unique Irish artist. Phone 01-6712261 for more details.
