3-15-2026 MY FAVES: mcbling spring

 what i'm reading...

i finished reading spare - prince harry's memoir. i have... opinions? i was not impressed with the book. it seemed rush, like it was a hasty justification on harry's end, an urge to explain himself for all he's done. perhaps he felt too victimized? had this book been written a couple years later, with more revision, less of the "red behind my eyes" that he so often mentions in the book, the obvious bitterness toward the royal family could've turned into a more heartfelt and even objective story of growth and closure. don't get me wrong, i love meghan and harry. the hate meghan got was incredibly unjust and the royal silence was deafening for the 'progressive' age. i think them stepping away from the royal life was the smartest and healthiest decision. they chose the option of lesser tragedy, the chose self-care. good for them! 

and maybe harry just wanted to finally have the chance to write about himself, as he was always a story published by the merciless press. maybe this was a feisty - 'damn here you go' moment...

needed to refresh myself with late 90s french existentialist fiction in the elementary particles. i just started it, but it's described as american psycho meets science. interesting...

what i'm watching...

sib keeps holding me hostage with gospodin savršeni (croatian bachelor). while i often cringe at scenes of girls fighting for no reason and the one bachelor being semi-creepy, croatian's reddit dedicated to the show is an absolute gem of memes, reactions, and commentary no critic could top. 

side note: croatians have completely dominated reddit with a specific thread to criticize celebrities to the point where the celebrities are actually freaking out. croatian public is brutal.

beside gs - i also started watching sg - spy groove, an mtv cartoon that ran in 2000 and 2001 for just one season. a spy show about agent #1 and agent #2, including tongue-in-cheek witty humor you could easily miss and pop culture references reminiscent of the time (kate moss literally skiing, joan rivers, a blow-up of ricky martin, etc). the dialogue is so smart, fast paced and fun. the graphics are attractive, colorful, yet very simple. it was the mtv generations before us feared, it's the mtv we now crave for. you can watch these 20-minute episodes all on youtube.

i also recommend mtv's downtown also on youtube, a bit slower-paced, and not as dazzling, about urban new york 20-somethings vibing.

a sweet treat for the weekend - we watched mulan for the hundredth time. fitting for women's history month. she will always be the best disney princess. has anyone else caught the many drag show jokes throughout the film?!

what i'm listening to...

a recent headline in bold caught my attention: "britney spears arrested for dui in california"?! it felt like a tabloid from 2006 and not the big '26. if you read last week's inspo, 2000s magazine editorials were my biggest inspiration. sib and i also spent evenings trying to look up our ancient fave websites: dailydressupgames, dollzmania and roiworld - the big three in tween fashion exploration of the 2010s. 

so, nostalgia is in this spring. 

let me be clear, though. we can't technically use y2k when describing the 2000s paris hilton-in-the-club aesthetic, it is misrepresented in social media. we're talking about mcbling. the consumer aesthetic research institute (cari) defines it as a shift from said y2k aesthetic (which was defined by minimalism and tech futurism). 

mcbling itself is a reference to mcdonalds and bling jewelry - both crucial components of the consumerist lifestyle that this aesthetic shows.

from cari, here are buzzwords tied to this aesthetic:

aspirational luxury in all forms, tattoo motifs, oversized designer glasses, celebutantes, designer ripped jeans, pink hummers, bedazzled electronics, fashion phones, mcmansions, nihilistic & hedonistic overtones, overly-flourishy vector art, grunge effects applied to 'gothic' fonts, reality tv shows, paris hilton, tuscan-inspired-everything in home furnishings, luxury trips around the world, excessive overbuilding of homes (global housing bubble), designer dogs, dubai, bling, spinning rims, trucker hats, von dutch, ed hardy, spray tans, tracksuits, juicy couture, american flag inspired clothing post-9/11.

this era continues to linger through references niche and obvious, in music, film, fashion and art even today. god knows i often reference it through my bratz outfits and stories of my youth. being jealous of girls with 1st gen ipods, discovering shakira's hips don't lie, tamagotchi's and the first season of american idol, spicy minty lip gloss... even this blog - created for the sole purpose of nostalgia, is only mimicking the empire what myspace once was. 

this era was highly trashy and problematic too, often misogynistic, racist, and simply trashy. but god, the music was so good. 

one of the associates of the cari institute, evan collins, often creates playlists inspired by the various aesthetics. sure as shit he's got a mcbling one. 

here's some top 10 mcbling songs i've been blasting these few warm days:

4 in the morning - gwen stefani

like a virgin/hollywood - madonna, ft xtina, britney spears & missy elliott

candy - foxy brown, kelis

i like the way - bodyrockers

que tal - bratz

addiction - kanye west

ultimate - lindsay lohan

crash and burn girl - robyn

reach out - hilary duff

sneakernight - vanessa hudgens