SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2011
lifestyle
A woman enjoys her spa treatment “Boulbaba”, one of the most famous beauty centres in Tunis, on May 13, 2011.
A woman gets a facial massage at “Boulbaba”, one of the most famous beauty centres in Tunis, on May 13, 2011. —AFP
under curfew in Tunis
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flash blow wave but no time for a wash, a quick eyebrow shaping, rushed facials or a hurried massage: anxious women dart in and out of Tunis’ beauty salons before the nightly curfew descends. Used to staying open until 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm to doll up clients for parties or late-night weddings, the salons now empty out early as everyone rushes to get home before an overnight curfew covers the capital in silence. Salon owners say business is down, supplies are short and people are holding off weddingsa steady source of income in calmer times. The week-old curfew was imposed after several days of fresh unrest between pro-democracy protesters and government forces in and around the capital, triggering a new round of stress for many. “As soon as I hear noises on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, I close the curtains of the salon,” moaned Imed, owner of a down-
town beauty salon whose tension showed in the dark shadows under his eyes. Habib Bourguiba Avenue was the epicentre of both the unrest in December and January that toppled long-time president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and kicked off pro-democracy revolts around the Arab world, and last week’s troubles. Typical of many working women rushing in after their jobs, a Tunisian journalist asked for “just a quick styling” because she’s “really busy”, before dashing back into the street lined with rotting garbage thanks to a new strike by municipal workers. Elegantly dressed 50-something Souha said she comes to Imed’s to “clear my head” of the country’s troubles. “Despite the stress and the curfew, I steal a few happy moments to make myself pretty-and because I do not want my husband to look elsewhere,” she said. A young, veiled employee sitting under photographs of
short-haired women on the walls of the sparse salon obsessively consulted Facebook, explaining she was “following the situation” in the country. ‘Many weddings postponed’- Another worker repeatedly phoned her husband to remind him to fetch her before the curfew-declared May 7 from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am for an indeterminate period-”for fear of being detained”. Owner Imed groaned that the new unrest has left him short on beauty supplies. “Once again I do not have all the products that I need.” In another salon, aesthetician Zeyneba Aich said her clients are still coming in for facials, manicures and pedicures but want it “faster ”. “They’re all telling me “quick, quick, I want to get home before the curfew’,” she said. In a salon on the outskirts of Tunis, hairdresser Latifa said her clients had also upped the pressure, all demanding “only quick blow waves”.
“The women are afraid of being detained, of being robbed,” if they are caught out after the curfew, she said, adding she too was scared. Other beauticians complain they’ve lost clients, like salon owner Maryam who said her business has halved since the cur few was imposed. “The staff live far away and I cannot keep them late,” she said. “The young women do not come for make-up anymore because they no longer have evening parties. “Many weddings have been postponed,” she added. “We could be busy on two or three weddings a day because we could stay open late, but now every bride wants to be ready by 2:00 pm at the latest.” In Tunisia, weddings are often held between 9:00 pm and midnight. The upshot has seen some women returning to traditional, less costly beauty rituals at home, like using olive oil as a hair treatment or fig sap mixed with rose water as a face mask. — AFP
James Durbin stunned by ‘American Idol’ exit
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merican Idol” rocker James Durbin admitted on Friday that he was blindsided by his ouster from the TV singing contest because he had always previously won the support of the audience. The 22 year-old metal singer told journalists he had been expecting to reach the final three of the competition and was proud of his performances on this week’s show. “I’m not going to lie. I definitely was (blindsided),” Durbin said. “It was rough. It was a rough night. I wasn’t expecting it. Because of that it caught me off guard.” “Wednesday, I had two of my best performances of my entire life....I was really proud of myself and really excited to see what was next and go home for that Top Three. But not every thing works out the way you expect it,” he said. Durbin, who has Tourette and Asperger’s syndrome, was in tears on Thursday’s live show when told he was out of the contest. He had made a name for himself on America’s most-watched TV show with a series of hard rock performances, often against the advice of in-house mentor, record executive Jimmy Iovine. His shock departure left 17-year-old country singer Scotty McCreery, pop/country singer Lauren Alaina, 16, and Haley Reinhart, 20, to compete for a place in the May 24 finale. “Winning would have been just great...The first instinct when you are up there and (host) Ryan Seacrest says you are going home is...I wanted to win so badly and it feels like I’ve failed,” Durbin said. But Durbin, who auditioned for the show to give his girlfriend and two year-old son a better financial footing, said he no longer felt so despondent. “Thinking about it, I haven’t failed at all. This is just the beginning....We couldn’t afford diapers. I don’t think I’m going to have to worry about affording diapers now,” he said. —Reuters
Actor Johnny Depp poses during a press conference for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides at the 64th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France yesterday. —AP
Depp ready to keep sailing as ‘Pirates’ Captain Jack J
ohnny Depp said yesterday there was still plenty of life in Captain Jack Sparrow and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise for future sequels after its fourth instalment premiered at Cannes. Depp said as long as the screenplays keep coming and his kids keep laughing at his rock-and-roll swashbuckler, he has no plans to lay down his sword. “With Captain Jack I feel like there’s much more to be had, much more fun to be had,” the 47-year-old US actor said. “As long as the stories, the scripts are great and you have directors like Rob Marshall we’ll be in good shape,” referring to the man at the helm of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”. “If you’re surrounded by such a creative force, I think
the possibilities are endless,” he said. “As long as the people want to see it, I’m there.” Depp said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who has a cameo role as Sparrow’s father in the film, and the amorous French skunk of Loony Tunes cartoons Pepe Le Pew continued to provide the inspiration for Jack. “I started out secretly testing characters on (my kids) to see how their reactions would be,” he said. “With my daughter we’d be playing Barbies and I’d try out these voices on her and she just say ‘stop’,” he joked. “They came to see the movie and I can tell by their reaction if I did alright. I haven’t been fired by my kids.” He said that although the four “Pirates” movies had been a global box office juggernaut with $2.6 billion (1.8 billion
euros) in ticket sales, studio executives had found Depp’s take on the swashbuckler strange at the start. “In terms of what I was bringing to the table character-wise, let’s say there wasn’t a group of Disney upper echelon people who had any enthusiasm for it-they almost subtitled me,” he said. Asked whether he was nervous about critical reaction, Depp gave a rakish smile. “I’ve always feared the critics,” he deadpanned. “They really scare me.” He said the cast, which includes for the first time Spanish Oscar winner Penelope Cruz, had worked hard not to lose the spark of the early films. “We went out of our way to deliver something fresh. We sculpted it for the people with them in mind,” he said. “So if they don’t like it its their own fault,” he joked. —AFP