Since the weather will hopefully get warmer next week, I decided to write about a popular pair of shoes for hot weather and travelling, the espadrilles. This year espadrilles are not only made of cotton canvas but leather.
Printed espadrilles are a major trend this summer. Soludos is a good and affordable brand of espadrilles, and I would recommend anybody interested in this trend to buy them. Their prints are beautiful too. Jeffrey Campbell shoes are a popular brand in North America with a cult following. It is my favourite brand of shoes and that is why I include them here. Of course, the price for the Jeffrey Campbell espadrilles is higher, but it is worth expending the extra amount (prices for this brand range from $90 USD to $400). I own around 10 pairs of Jeffrey Campbell shoes and I do not regret spending my money on them. I get lots of compliments when I wear them, and their design / style is very unique.
Finally I am including some selections of espadrilles with different textures and patterns (haircalf, peforated / laser-cut textures).
Did I mention above that I am a big fan of Jeffrey Campbell shoes? Here are some Jeffrey Campbell boots that drive me crazy.
Now it is time to write about Game of Thrones. As always I could not take my eyes off from the TV when watching the episode. Here are some highlights that I would like to discuss. In my posts I am using warging and skinchanging interchangeably, even though they are slightly different in the books.
- Theon / Reek: He felt so bad when hearing the news about Robb. The actor portraying him did an excellent job in showing the emotion in his eyes when shaving Ramsay.
- Bran’s visions: The sequence of visions was spectacular, and I think it is possible to speculate a little bit about it. The vision includes the three-eyed raven in the crypts of Winterfell, Ned Stark, the wight girl from the first season, the wight horse being ridden by the White Walker, snow on the Iron Throne, the shadow of a dragon over King’s Landing, and of course, Bloodraven’s voiceover. Basically, the three-eyed raven (Bloodraven) is showing Bran that the real threat is the White Walkers and not the game of thrones. I think it is possible to make a correlation between the crypts of Winterfell and Ned Stark. It has been speculated for a while by many readers of A Song of Ice and Fire that evidence of Jon Snow’s identity and true parentage is hidden there. I totally agree with this. In the books, Jon Snow sometimes dreams about visiting the crypts of Winterfell. It is a nightmare for him because he feels rejected due to his “bastard” condition, and he always wakes up without completing the dream’s trajectory. The dragon flying over King’s Landing and the snow on the Iron Throne might be an indication of Daenerys Targaryen arriving in Westeros during winter. However, it might be an indication of who will sit on the Iron Throne at the end. A similar vision was in the second season in the House of the Undying. It has been speculated also that the dragon’s shadow is foreshadowing of Bran warging a dragon. Is it possible for a greenseer to warg a dragon? I will discuss about this in the future. Here is a discussion thread regarding Bran’s vision from Westeros.org with book spoilers: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/107458-interpretation-of-brans-vision-book-spoilers/
- Oberyn Martell: I loved how the actor portraying him put Cersei in her place. First, Cersei is going “whacko” (just look at her interaction with Brienne). It seems to me she did not like Ellaria’s presence since she is a bastard. However, her kids are bastards, and I would expect her to be reasonable with bastards in general but that is not the case. Oberyn’s comment of how bastards are not looked down in Dorne but the murdering of children is was great. I also loved how he called Cersei lady instead of queen.
- Sansa Stark: The actress portraying her did a great job. During the dwarf show, she was able to hold her composure and emotions while her dead brother was being mocked. This was not the case for Loras though. The whole wedding scene really showed Sansa’s inner strength.
- Cersei: Who killed Joffrey? It is a major question, and it will eventually be revealed as it was on the books. A lot of people were offended by the dwarf show. In a re-watch, I notice that not only the Tyrells, Tyrion and Sansa were offended, but also Varys and Oberyn. However, the killer wanted to frame both Tyrion and Sansa, something that was achieved successfully due to Cersei’s paranoia. Why did Cersei accuse Tyrion immediately after Joffrey’s death? A witch once told a younger Cersei a prophecy. Basically the witch told Cersei nice things such as the fact of her becoming a queen and the number of kids she will have. The witch also told her bad things too such as the number of bastards her husband will have, that all her kids will die before her and that she will meet her end at the hands of the little “valonquar” (Valyrian for brother or sibling). Basically this prophecy is self-fulfilling since Cersei never does anything to stop it (just remember when Ned Stark offered her to flee to safety and she did not do it). I would like to know if she would ever look back and realize that she did a mistake in not following Ned’s advice. The interesting thing is that she thinks this “valonquar” is Tyrion, and she is wrong about it. There is strong foreshadowing in the books for the valonquar to be another character. I will deal with this as the TV series progresses. However, Joffrey’s death has accelerated Cersei’s descend into madness (the Mad King reborn).