Style solution: If you’re anything like me then all this global economic gloom has you seeking a more exciting stimulus package than you’ll find at the G20. As retail therapy is known for lifting the spirits, the Diesel sale at the Zurich showroom at Walchestrasse 25, might just tickle my fancy as well as my wallet. They’re selling off sample items from all the collections, including kidswear; don’t you just love a bargain?
Thursday, 10 am – 8 pm
Friday, 10 am – 7 pm

Fledgling or famous: Supporting the development of home-grown talent, the M4Music festival, based at Schiffbau and its Moods Club, sees 35 artistes play over the next three days. Acts range from The Foo Fighters, Maximo Park and Franz Ferdinand to local stars like Telaphones, Phenomden and Ali Baba Soundsystem. The legendary Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF is to be named the “coolest person in pop”, while the best songs from 790 entrants to the Swiss Demotape Clinic will be chosen by an expert panel.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Schiffbau 

There’s more to comics: Marvel, DC and the genre of manga may be well-known names but they're also just the tip of the illustrative iceberg. The Fumetto International Comic Festival in Lucerne (just a hop, skip and a jump outside your ZH comfort zone) proves that comics can be sad, satirical and sexy. On display until the 5th April is the work of New Yorker Mark Newgarden, Canadian Shary Boyle and the  Zurich duo FLAG – Bastien Aubry and Dimitry Broquard, among many others. The festival also includes animations and seminar sessions.
Starts Saturday, at various venues in Lucerne

Shake that thang: Oh, yes! Dance fever is what Saturday nights are all about! So this week, I’ve got two tips from two very different continents, each with a feisty flair which might get you grooving to a new beat. Known as “the Rolling Stones of Salsa”  - although they actually play a form called Timba, the Cuban band Los Van Van play at the Volkshaus. And, though we are only a quarter of the way through the year, Blumenhalle, at Heinrichstrasse 237, sees an event billed as the Best Bollywood Bhangra Party of 2009 - with experts on hand to show some serious moves. CHF 15 on the door (donated to charity).
Saturday 9 pm, Volkshaus
Saturday 9 pm, Blumenhalle

Maria Full of Grace: Is the 2004 debut from director Joshua Marstan which focuses on the 17-year-old eponymous character played by Catalina Sandino Moreno. Maria Full of Grace follows her journey from her poverty-stricken home in Bogotá, Colombia to New York. Moreno’s stark portrayal of a teenager driven to search for a better life is compelling, winning the Dramatic Audience Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Catch it at Xenix.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7.15 pm, Xenix

Goals, goals, goals: Or so we hope! We’re at the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers again (doesn’t time fly?), so if you’re feeling particularly patriotic, then head to Hafenkneipe to share the beers, tears and raw emotion, as Switzerland play Moldova at home in Geneva. This is the second match between the two sides so it’s all to play for. Hopp Schweiz!

Wednesday 8.30 pm, Hafenkneipe

Mauch, Martelli and the race for Mayor: Since the beginning of 2009, you may have seen the posters of either of these women smiling over at you. Corine Mauch (left) and Kathrin Martelli are the two candidates for the mayor of Zurich, a position which became vacant after the surprise resignation of the city’s long-serving mayor, Elmar Ledergerber, at the end of last year. The first round of elections was held in February and Mauch and Martelli are now the two remaining candidates, so one thing is crystal clear: Zurich’s mayor will be a woman. Their political agendas have been deemed too similar as both aim to improve the quality of social housing in the city and to make more childcare places available. Martelli represents a coalition of centre-right parties and Mauch the centre-left Social Democrat party and they face a runoff vote this Sunday. The race to the post seems to have been dominated (at least in the media) by the theme of sexuality, as Mauch is openly gay. As the role is mainly to act as the city council’s ambassador, rather than active policy making, the percentage of locals actually turining out to vote is expected to be very low.

The 100-dollar house: In these cash-strapped times, it seems that it may be possible to grab a house for even less than a slap-up dinner – in Detroit anyway. According to the New York Times, the former home of the US auto industry is now one of the poorest cities in the nation. But it’s not all bad, international artistic communities are now buying up the crumbling real-estate to create new cultural communities and free homes for artists. I'm looking forward to a 60s revival. Peace man!

The blind cow: Blindekuh at Mühlebachstrasse 148, claims to have been the world's first completely dark restaurant. It was set up nearly a decade ago and is run by the blind and partially-sighted organisation, the Blind-Liecht Foundation, to give sighted people a blind person's experience of fine dining. Although it can be a little scary at first, many diners report enhanced senses of smell, taste and hearing.

Tues – Fri, 11.30 am – 2 pm
Mon – Sun, 6 – 11 pm

If you've anything to say, discuss or declare, then this is the place to do it:

If you're looking for something (a flat, a ticket, love), have something to give away (a flat, a ticket, ex) or have anything else to say, then this is the place to do it: