Compiled by Nicoline Greer
ON LOCATION Tonight, on Michael Collins's birthday, Neil Jordan's film of his life will be screened in the highly appropriate venue of Dublin Castle. It's part of the Stella Artois Film Tour, which screens films in significant locations. They will attempt to completely freak you out by screening Interview with The Vampire at The Church at Cluain Mhuire in Galway over the Hallowe'en weekend. Actors will also be used at both events to bring the films to life and interact with the audience. Tickets for Michael Collins and Interview with The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles are available from www.stellascreen.ie. Full tour details and updates on the programme are also featured on the site.
QUICK ON THE DRAW The savage wit and social dissection of Winston Smith's montage art have graced the sleeves of albums - the Dead Kennedys, for instance - and the covers of the New Yorker; and, looking at the work assembled in his latest collection, All Riot on the Western Front, it's little wonder. Smith's art, intricate and ironic, is a merciless portrait of the underbelly of American society; its icons, its obsessions, its insecurities. Each montage is painstakingly cut and pasted, a hybrid of vintage images and modern predicaments, with titles as wry as they are convoluted: "Many are Cold but Few are Frozen", for one. Smith's fans are legion on both sides of the Atlantic, but since the book is published by Last Gasp in San Francisco, Irish devotees who want their fix should catch one of his book signings here in coming weeks. He'll appear at two venues in Dublin and Kilkenny to sign copies of the book - as well as any of his prints you might be particularly fond of. Wide eyes essential. Winston Smith will sign at Red Ink Books in Fownes Street, Temple Bar, Dublin on October 19th from 4.30 to 7 p.m. and, as part of a music event, at Cleere's Theatre, Kilkenny from 8.30 p.m. on October 23rd. All Riot on the Western Front retails at €25. Belinda McKeon
ALL THAT GLITTERS The most savvy fashionistas are the ones who look a million dollars but whose only outlay is creative energy. The shop StockXchange has long been a regular haunt for well-heeled women with an eye for designer labels at a third of their original price. The designer coats, suits, dresses, hats, bags, jeans and evening wear - only consigned on the basis that they are in perfect condition - include labels such as Louis Vuitton, Louise Kennedy, Lyn Mar and Lainey Keogh, as well as bargain high-end brands such as Karen Millen, Whistles, Max Mara and Marina Rinaldi. Almost one-third of the clothes are brand new and nothing is more than two years old. Owner Jacqueline O'Keeffe says that this season's stock is "fiercely feminine", from the pretty bohemian to the chic of 1950s Katherine Hepburn. StockXchange has moved to 21 Upper Georges Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, 01-2020720
CLEVER CLOTHES Say no thanks to mosquito bites, sunburn and being wet, cold and miserable next time you travel. Craghoppers make "technical" clothes for the serious traveller. The Nosquito clothing range is made of insect-repellent fabrics with an odourless, non-toxic chemical impregnated into the fabric which they say lasts for a minimum of 35 washes. The SolarDry fabrics have a UPF of 25 or more and are fast- drying and breathable - designed for trekking and hill walking. If you really want to defy nature, the AquaDry clothes are designed for the worst wet weather. Their clothes also have security pockets, security clips, double layers of fabric on the knees and the seat of trousers to increase durability. Craghoppers clothes available from: All Seasons, Newbridge (045-486626); Charles Camping, Blessington (045-865351) and Cox Protection Clothing, Ballina (096-70896). For more stockists, call 00-44-870-2206601. www.craghoppers.com
GET CRAFTY Is your fridge covered with your progeny's paintings of splodgy butterflies? Are you planning to make your own Christmas cards? Are you a quirky quilter who can't find enough variety of pre-cut squares? Help is at hand. Cara Craft Supplies is a new Irish treasury of bits and bobs for arts and crafts with a well-laid-out and easily navigated website showing the very reasonably priced stock. This ranges from packs of foam and felt shapes (from €1.80), beads (€1.50) and "woggle" eyes (€1.80) to more grown-up items such as handmade paper (from 42 cent per A5 sheet), coloured envelopes (€1.80 for 10) and stick-on snowmen, babies, flowers and ghosties (from €1.20). Order at www.craftsupplies.ie (shipping within Ireland costs just €2.50 for orders up to €60) or visit their stand at the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS from November 4th to 7th. Joyce Hickey
STONE ME Stone is not the most versatile of materials, but the Antica Stone Gallery has found plenty of uses for it. Their products include extravagant flooring and wall tiles, a scullery sink carved from a single block of imperial stone, a shower room and handbasin made of silkstone and a hand-finished half-egg bath which is the definition of luxury - filling it might take some time. There is also a new collection of hand-finished plates and bowls. The trick is to use only one piece at a time - you could definitely go overboard with this stuff. But with the price (the bath is €22,000), you're probably not in too much danger of that. Antica, The Stone Gallery, Earlscourt Industrial Estate, Beaumont Avenue, Churchtown, Dublin 14. (01-2960136) www.antica.ie, info@antica.ie
YE OLDE FOODIE While most chefs look to far-off cultures for inspiration, food from a distant time could be just as fascinating. Ivan Day of Historic Foods in England shows you don't need worldly spices to liven up a dinner table. On his courses, you learn, for example, how to lash a suckling pig and game birds to a spit. He also teaches how to make 16th-century hippocras (a spiced wine drunk at the end of the meal), Victorian moulded ices and bombes, and a 17th-century syllabub. You find out why the fuller figure was more fashionable back then, when you sit down to eat the fruits of your labour. Bookings are being taken for next year in "roasting and broiling", "sugarwork and confectionery" and "dairies and ices". See www.historicfood.com (00-44-193-1716266).