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class="content__text" Another day in the life, another record smashed, with Rhasidat Adeleke this time trimming her own Irish record over 400 metres down to a brilliant 50.33 seconds. It’s the fastest women’s indoor time in American collegiate history, Adeleke nailing the win at the Big 12 Conference Championships in Lubbock, Texas and improving her previous mark of 50.45 set at altitude in Albuquerque earlier this month. The Dublin sprinter, in her third year at the University of Texas in Austin, is still only adjusting to the longer distance and is now the 14th fastest on the all-time indoor list and the second fastest in the world this year behind the world record of 49.26 by Femke Bol at the Dutch Championships last week. Photograph: Simon Hofmann/Getty Images Click the link in our bio to read Ian O'Riordan's report. #athletics

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" There’s a definite hint of the 1970s in Roche Bobois’s spring-summer collection, which was showcased earlier this month on a grey February day in Paris. Earth colours featured strongly – brown, russet, mustard, ochre – and, when married with the French brand’s signature curvy shapes, plump upholstery and scaled-up dimensions, the effect is pure luxury, a world away from the austerity of that decade. If one piece encapsulates the look, it’s Maurizio Manzoni’s vast A-propos low-slung modular sofa, shown in a cavernous room setting, upholstered in wool bouclé – two white versions, one mustard – with backrests that can be moved to make lounging on the deep seats even more comfortable and sociable. The discreetly bevelled dark wood platform base gives the substantial piece of furniture an airy elegance, writes Bernice Harrison. Click the link in our bio to read the full piece.

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" Return of the travel agent: A decade ago it looked like the game was up for travel agents after more than 150 years in the sun. But while big players like Budget, JWT and Thomas Cook have gone to the great Club Tropicana in the sky, the chaos of the pandemic and the travel sector’s capacity for reinvention has seen it – improbably – bounce back. It would be overstating it to suggest it’s all plain sailing for Ireland’s travel agents now, but a bumper start to 2023 suggests the rollercoaster ride that has lasted more than 150 years has a few twists in it yet. That rollercoaster started slowly, back in 1841, when Thomas Cook offered his first holiday package. Looking at it now, the 11-mile train journey from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough doesn’t sound like much craic, not really worth the shilling he charged, but every journey starts with a single step... or a slow moving steam train. Fast forward to the present day and it may be that the pandemic – which could have been the death of the travel agents – will turn out to be the making of them instead. Tap the link in our bio to read the full piece by Conor Pope.

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" “I love writing, it’s one of my joys,” says Damon Albarn, shrugging as he notes how his initial forays into home recordings on 4-tracks as a teenager gave way to tinkering on Garageband for Gorillaz. “Garageband is so easy for me to write little fragments and arrangement ideas on, and you can just take it anywhere. So I write all the time, really,” he says. “It’s a condition, really: I don’t know what it’s called. It’s kind of the opposite of writer’s block. It’s like exercising: I do yoga, I write, I eat, I breathe. They’re my things. So there’s always a lot of stuff. “And Gorillaz – because it’s mostly me making the music at any point – it’s very easy to develop it a bit, and hey presto, you’ve got something. But on this occasion, I tried a different approach. I try a different approach each time, because it’s kind of boring just to spend time with yourself, always. And I do like my own company, except for obviously when I’m faced with a fly zap,” he grins. “Then, I need a friend.” Cracker Island was largely influenced by the time that he and Jamie Hewlett spent in Los Angeles in 2021. “At that point, we were working with Netflix – we’re not any more,” he says, referring to the previously-planned Gorillaz feature that was in development with the streaming giants in 2021. He does not elaborate on the reasons their partnership has ended. “There’s a very strange hierarchical meeting mechanism in Los Angeles, and it’s like a clock: if you make it past the first hour, you’re in. I think we just made it past the first hour, and then the clock stopped.” He shrugs. Tap the link in our bio for the full interview.

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" If you dream of putting down roots of a permanent kind among the snowy peaks, you might need to keep saving. Property prices in top ski resorts are rising at the fastest rate in eight years, according to a new report. Agent Knight Frank tracked the average price of a four-bedroom chalet across 23 alpine markets and reported a 5.8 per cent increase in the year to June 2022, up from 4.6 per cent a year earlier. The report cites a move to hybrid working, a rekindled love of the great outdoors and a heightened interest in wellbeing, as the reasons for the growing demand. However, this winter’s poor snow in a number of locations, plus the impact of rising interest rates, may see a slow-down in prices over the coming months. For the full article, click the link in our bio

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" Jacqui Safra, who co-owns the Parknasilla hotel and Rossdohan Island, in Co Kerry, is bringing arguably “the most influential book in human history” to auction in May, at an estimate of between $30 million and $50 million, or about €28.5 million and €46.5 million. The billionaire Swiss-Lebanese investor, who owns the Sneem attractions with the businessman Tony Daly, has strong connections with Ireland. He also owns Garnish Island in Kerry (not the Bantry Bay Garnish Island), which he purchased in the 1990s. Now the collector is selling the Codex Sassoon, “a foundational cornerstone to civilisations and communities around the globe and arguably the most influential book in human history”, according to Sotheby’s in New York. For the full story, click the link in our bio

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" Brianna Parkins: Recently I discovered that my partner thought I was angry at him for the first six months of our relationship. My closest friends admitted the same. The cause? My text messages apparently. If someone asked me a question, like “Meet in town at eight?” or “I’ll be home a bit later from work tonight, so can you preheat the oven for dinner?” I will reply with “Okay” and “Yeah”. Normal, standard answers revealing exactly my position. I was ok to meet at 8. Yeah, I’ll preheat the oven. What was the problem? Allegedly, these are the texts people might send when they are actually not ok to meet at 8 and they don’t want to preheat the oven. My loved ones explained that these are basic phrases in the beginner-level passive-aggressive phrase book, the kind you learn on Duo Lingo on day one. The simple “okay” can actually mean “I’m begrudgingly agreeing to meet at 8 even though I know you’re just planning our catchup as an out for your earlier Tinder date”. Tap the link in our bio for the full piece.

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" Author, broadcaster and podcaster Stefanie Preissner first emerged into the public eye for her astute, darkly funny observations about life as a twenty-something in Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, produced by RTÉ in 2016 and picked up by Netflix in 2018. Since then, she has written two books and a weekly newspaper column, and has a popular podcast series, which she has just restarted. During the 2020 general election campaign, she offered daily explainers to her 50,000 Instagram followers, covering everything from what “coalition” means, to what the differences are between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and subsequently did the same for Covid. Now she is approaching first-time motherhood with the same mix of curiosity, pragmatism, sharp self-deprecation and appalled wonder. “For something that is natural and has been happening since the dawn of humanity, it baffles me that it is so hard, and so lonely.” Tap the link in our bio for more.

February 26, 2023

class="content__text" A US actor pleaded guilty on Friday to the harassment of a Cork doctor almost 20 years after they dated for three weeks when she was a student on a J1 visa. A bail hearing was told that for nearly two decades, Steven Spenneberg (55) constantly sent unwanted gifts and messages declaring his love to the woman he had last seen in 2004. However, they were unanswered, and the attempts at contact “escalated” to a threatening voicemail message and his arrival in Ireland when he turned up at her family home in Co Cork on New Year’s Eve. To read the case in full click on link in bio

February 25, 2023

class="content__text" In The Irish Times this weekend: Matt Williams shares his thoughts ahead of Italy v Ireland, while Denis Walsh profiles hurling star DJ Carey’s complicated relationship with fame and Conor Pope takes a look at the return of package holidays and much more. Subscribe now through the link in the bio to read The Irish Times exactly as it appears in print on ePaper.

February 25, 2023

class="content__text" Page One Photo: Members of the Ukrainian community in Ireland gather at the GPO yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine. Photograph: Alan Betson #IrishTimesPage1

February 25, 2023

class="content__text" Being a projectionist doesn’t suit everyone. I’m 52 and work 11-hour shifts. On the weekends I sometimes don’t see anybody all day – just the tops of people’s heads in the theatres below. It can be a lonely life for some, but it suits my introverted personality. Without any human distractions I can stay in the projectionist’s booth, watch my favourite scenes unfold and even read a book at night if it’s quiet. My job is to get the picture on screen, on time, in focus and with subtitles, if there are any – the latter are very important when you show so much world cinema. Day to day, most of what I do is digital, wrangling data into each screen or the central servers, and at times it requires a lot of patience and concentration. It’s a joy to see people engaged with a great film when I watch for the audience’s reaction. When the credits start in a film, I look down and can see how quick people are to leave, and you can gauge if they’re stunned with a good ending or out the door fast. Video: @bryanjobrien Click the link in the bio for the full story

February 25, 2023