Fantastical Musings

If there's one rule in the Game of Thrones , it's don't mess with Cersei Lannister. Everyone who messes with Cersei ends up either dead or maimed, and this is the episode that proves the rule. Just when you thought that being burned alive by a dragon was the only thing you had to worry about on Game of Thrones, here comes Cersei Lannister -- and she has wild fire. Quite honestly, I didn't think any episode of Game of Thrones -- or any other show that has ever existed or will ever exist -- would be better than last week's episode of Game of Thrones , but this one came pretty close. So much happened! I believe this was the longest Game of Thrones episode ever, and they certainly used the extra time well. This episode was so, so satisfying, and so much happened! Like, seriously, I'm actually having trouble remembering all the wonderful things that happened because there were so many beautiful, wonderful things. (Forgive me if I forget to mention anything imp...

So, a little while ago, I started writing a blog post about matching ASOIAF characters with Disney characters. I got about half way through, but then I stopped  because  it felt a little forced to me (although I might still publish it because I'll compare  Game of Thrones  to anything). It just didn't seem like the Disney characters really exemplified the ASOIAF characters; it seems a bit cliched. I mean, I just feel like a lot of people write articles about which Harry Potter houses  Game of Thrones  characters would be in and what Arya would look like if she was Lilo from Lilo and Stitch (cute, that's what she would look like). Well, that's all well and good, but I just wasn't feeling it. I thought to myself, Disney characters don't really represent the personalities of  Game of Thrones  characters. You know what represents the personalities of  Game of Thrones  characters? Jelly beans. Let me explain. I like je...

Finally. Finally. Game of Thrones has delivered: Ramsay Bolton is DEAD. (Oops, spoilers. Sorry.) Anyway. This episode filled me with so much joy I can't even describe it. At one point during the episode I started to clap because I was so happy. However, this episode was an emotional roller coaster for me. First of all, HBO Now was down for about 40 minutes, which MURDERED me. While I was waiting for HBO to get their act together, I spent 10 minutes screaming at my roommate having a discussion with my roommate about how I don't know why I pay HBO $15 a month for a website that doesn't work and how people basically only subscribe to HBO Now for GOT, so they should get it right already. Then, the website started working again, and I instantly forgave HBO because it was the best episode ever and all television studios should just clean up and go home because they'll never produce anything even half as good. We start off in Meereen, where we get a fantastic drago...

There are a lot of swords in  Game of Thrones : Needle, Heartsbane, Longclaw, Ice, Oathkeeper, etc. The Iron Throne itself is said to be forged from the swords of the vanquished enemies of Aegon the Conquerer (which is a creative way to get a new chair, if nothing else). So, for this week's episode of  Game of Thrones , I created a sword manicure. This design may look complicated, but it's actually quite simple.  All you'll need to produce this manicure is nail polish (preferably silver and black) and a set of dotting tools . To start out, I painted two coats of black polish on four of my nails ( Black Out by Sally Hansen ) and two coats of silver on one of my nails ( Silver Dollar by Revlon ). You could also do the reverse of this (four silver nails and one black nail), which I did on my non dominant hand. Silver Dollar is a basic, metallic silver, and Black Out is a regular, creme black polish. I used these polishes because I had them on hand, but you can use a...

As great as Game of Thrones is and as much as I enjoyed this episode, I felt like it was a giant tease for next week's episode. All I can say is that the last two episodes of this season better be amazing and shocking, because they've been building up a lot of dramatic tension in the past three episodes and it needs to be released. Please, please, please, I just need to see Jon Snow kill Ramsay Bolton. PLEASE. With that being said, there were some great and interesting moments in this week's episode, so let's get to the review! Favorite Moments: Congratulations to Arya for Finally Being Relevant: Words cannot describe how overjoyed I am that Arya Stark is finally heading in the direction of a relevant plot once again. When she said "a girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I'm going home," I was like "yeah you are! finally!" Like, I'm so happy that she's going home that I barely cared that half the episode was wasted with shots of M...

Note: This blog was originally published on my makeup blog . If you want to see other manicures, please follow my makeup blog . In honor of the new episode of  Game of Thrones  that is airing tomorrow, I have decided to continue my series of  Game of Thrones  inspired manicures. This one was inspired by Jon Snow (aka, the guy with the best hair on television) and House Stark. For this manicure, I used t he same gradient technique that I used to create this Targaryen manicure a few weeks ago .  The gradient technique is a simple way to get cool, unique manicures without lots of tools or expertise.  If you aren't familiar with gradient techniques, or you didn't read my  Targaryen manicure blog , I'll walk you through the steps. 1)  Before you start, you'll need a  wedge shaped makeup application sponge .  You can buy bags of these sponges at drug stores or cosmetic stores. They're very cheap.  Using scissors, trim a sponge so...

In the Game of Thrones , there are no winners; there are only not losers. What makes you a not loser? Keeping your head attached to your neck or, alternatively, the Red God zombie-tizes you (in a good way; R'hllor for the win). This week Sandor Clegane joined the ranks of the not losers by -- drum roll -- surviving a serious Brienne beating. But, incredibly, that was only one of twelve million really exciting things that happened during this episode. I saw some people online describe this as a building episode or a "setting up" episode, but I found it to be just as exciting as every other episode. Let's get into it. Favorite Moments: The Bear and the Maiden Fair Lyanna Mormont, Child Warrior Extraordinaire: Before we go any further, could we all take a moment to acknowledge the real MVP this week: Lyanna Mormont, AKA the Bear Boss. I feel like I say this all the time, but I have a new favorite character, and her name is Lyanna Mormont. Her scene was so great. S...