Meet our new Beauty and Entertainment blogger, Ali!

Ali was raised by a stepmother who smelled of Chanel No. 5 and Louis Vuitton, and raised, well, by her television set—she learned math from The Price is Right, science from 3-2-1 Contact, a love of books from Reading Rainbow and about relationships from The Young and the Restless. She has, all due to her upbringing, been a lover of all things beautiful and a lover of all things pop culture since before she was able to talk. When she is not working as the senior associate editor of canadianfamily.ca or writing about her life in the Toronto nosebleeds on her blog, Cheaper Than Therapy, she spends time on red carpets at Fashion Week, interviewing celebrities at the Toronto International Film Festival or painting her daughters’ nails while watching Harry Potter with her son. She can’t wait to share her love of beauty and entrainment with you in this space.

You can expect products she loves, dresses she covets, movies reviews, interviews and some possible snark. Here’s her very first post for our brand new Enjoy channel! 

Did you know there was something called the “Mark Hamill curse?” I didn’t. And as a self-proclaimed pop culture junkie/expert, I’m slightly annoyed that not only had I never heard of this, but that I hadn’t coined the term myself. Because, you see, it’s genius. Poor, poor Mark Hamill. He had a hit trilogy. He was a household name and his face was plastered on lunchboxes, action figures and plush toys for many, many years. I mean, who doesn’t know who Luke Skywalker is? But, then, do you know what Luke Skywalker did after the Star Wars trilogy? Exactly. No one knows. He disappeared into a non-career and will pretty much only ever be remembered for this iconic role.

Robert Pattinson is terrified that this is going to happen to him. He is worried that once the door is closed on the wildly successful Twilight saga, he might only be remember for his portrayal as the vampire Edward Cullen. In an interview with The Guardian, he says: “It’s like being compared to people who’ve been in massive movies who just sort of disappear afterwards, even though they probably had incredibly fulfilling and successful lives. Like Luke Skywalker.”

Personally, though, I also fear for Robert Pattinson‘s career. And not because of the Mark Hamill curse, but because of a little something I’d like to call the “Kristen Stewart curse.” This is what happens when a good-looking male lead starts dating his co-star during the filming of a movie. He begins to lose his appeal and then just sorts of disappears afterwards. When the Twilight series began, Robert Pattinson was a bit of a mystery. Known mostly for his role as Cedric Diggory in the fourth installment of the Harry Potter series, he was not who die-hard Twilight fans assumed would be Edward Cullen. And then, he worked. He had just the right combination of elusiveness and sex appeal. He rose to fame quickly and his fans went to see anything and everything else Pattinson was in. Until his are-they-or-aren’t-they relationship with Kristen Stewart starting hitting the gossip sites—and once fans realized that the couple was, in fact, a couple, Pattinson began to slowly lose his elusiveness and sex appeal. The mystery was gone. He was off the market, and not as interesting anymore.

Perhaps the best thing for Pattinson’s career would be a highly publicized break-up. It seems to work in this business.

And now just make sure you remember where you heard of this curse first.

—Ali, senior associate editor of CF.ca