Small Bites: Weekly Reading List (Issue No. 4)

Via W Magazine.

In this issue: Horoscopes. The "Old Days." Paris Hilton.

1. Have a Cocktail With Your May Horoscope
​Being a Leo and discovering that my astrologically-compatible cocktail is a Negroni (something I've never tried) and not something overwhelming like my fire sign (vodka on ice, Jager, etc.) was surprising but two things:
1.)If you enjoy astrology for its inherent entertainment value, then you'll like this article.
2.) I want to make myself an Aperol Spritz now.

2. Stress, The Older Generation, And Whether They Had It Better
"The good old days." "I was born in the wrong era." "Life was so much simpler back then." Was it, though? I think it's human nature to pine for the moments outside the tiny window of present day. I was very guilty of it myself in high school because my day-to-day then was one of the worst experiences of my entire life so it was easy to wish I could transport myself. And yet, no generation seems to be without that longing. In the 80s, the 70s seemed more fun to some. In the 70s, the 50s seemed "simpler," and today we'll watch John Hughes films in 2017 and wonder if we "missed out" on being a teenager in the 80s. Like Midnight in Paris theorizes, there is no golden age. Or is there?

3. Paris Hilton Invented Everything You’re Doing in 2017, and She Knows It​Oh, the early Aughts. In the early Aughts, I was about 10, 11, 12ish and these are by far my most vivid pop culture memories: a tabloid cover with a picture of Lindsay Lohan passed out in a car; a Miley Cyrus feature headlined "Raising a Child Star – The Right Way!"; and my mom running downstairs to tell me and my best friend that Mary Kate Olsen was checking into rehab due to anorexia and a cocaine addiction. At 13, I got my first cell phone, a pink Motorola RAZR, which was cool but not the T-Mobile Sidekick I'd dreamed of thanks to pictures of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan clutching their own custom-bedazzled versions. At that age I didn't spend much time poring over tabloids yet I was insanely aware of everything the It Girls were up to as if through some kind of pop culture osmosis. Thanks to twitter accounts like @pcd2009 and @drugproblem the best of those days are being relived. And even some of the most notorious looks are coming back in fashion. I love this retrospective with Paris Hilton, who was about the age I am now when she was at her that's hottest, a strange reconciliation.

4. The Best Pajamas Are Other Peoples' Pajamas
"Other people’s pajamas are soft in a way yours will never be. They have been washed in laundry detergent you’ll never be able to find at the store. They have absorbed all the better parts of their owner’s natural scent. Their stains and holes seem artistically placed. They are dug from the bottoms of dresser drawers, making them slightly cool to the touch, as if they were brought in from a balcony overlooking the ocean in early November."