Buying sandals online

May 8th, 2007 • reviewme

I, like many people, prefer wearing sandals to full fledged shoes any day. For me, sandals are much less restrictive and infinitely more comfortable than almost any pair of shoes I’ve ever owned. However, I’ve never shopped for them online as I like to try before I buy for things like fit, comfort, and such. That was until I found active-sandals.com. They’ve got a large selection of sandals for both men and women in a variety of colours and styles. If I find a sandal I like, I’ll probably purchase it from them given the nice discount I can get if I’m willing to wait for them in the mail.

The site is dead easy to navigate although I found the graphics to be a bit dated and on the verge of cheesy even though they’re very high quality. The women’s selection is a tad larger than the men’s even though some brands such as Crocs have meager offerings and the men’s Crocs section is completely bare. That’s not very good for the most common place sandal I’ve seen here in Boca Raton in the last few months. I can attest to their sheer comfort like so many other people have whom I’ve asked about their selection of Crocs over some other company. This lack of selection in such a popular brand will not get a lot of sales and instead will lose those customers to other sites. Active-sandals.com also sells sandals from companies I’ve never heard of such as Cobian and Sanuk but sell the common ones such as Reef and Rainbow that you’ll find in any local Pac Sun.

The site also sells jeans and shirts although I do not know why since their focus is on sandals and not designer jeans. While this does not detract from the main focus of the site it seems kind of tacked on, almost like an after thought. Apparently Joe’s Jeans are designer but I’ve never seen them in the designer shops here, this may be a west coast thing. Aside from Reef Apparel I’ve never heard of any of the “designer” clothing they sell and I live in a town that thrives on designer names.

Overall, the site is easy to navigate and is very easy on the eyes. The selection for the sexes is varied and can be a bit scant but if I’m going to buy some Rainbows I know where I’ll be buying them. I hope the selection in the future for men grows and the selection for women is more fleshed out to include more styles.

The preceding has been a sponsored post.

Mithraism on Cities of the Underwold: Rome

May 8th, 2007 • cult, history, tv

Tonight I watched the episode of CotW which was based in Rome. Overall, things were interesting and I found it pretty amazing to see most of the structures that were on the show were still relatively in tact. Trajan’s Basilica was amazing to see. But that’s not what caught my eye. What did was the first 15 or so minutes of the show where Eric Geller got to explore a Mithraeum behind the Circus Maximus.

A museum? No. Mausoleum? Nope! A Mithraeum. It was the Mithraic place of worship built in a cave or underground. Many of these have been found in Rome and the former states of the Empire yet we do know very little about what was actually conducted in a Mithraeum. Thanks to the Avestas and Indians Vedas we know who Mithra was and what his deity entailed but we still cannot conclude what went on between the members who attended a Mithraeum. A lack of real written scripture or history attributes to this as well. The Mithraeum that Geller got to explore was in relatively good shape given the fact that it was most likely 1800 years old. Many of the walls still stood from the foundation although many of them were eroded by time. A large number of benches were still well in tact and the many rooms of the Mithraeum were also in tact. Then they panned to a votive of Mithras slaying the primordial bull during his ascent to the heavens. If it was the original that had stood since the place was still in use, it was in marvelous condition and from what I could see only had a small piece missing of the upper left corner.

The whole temple was in good condition from what they showed and was rather immense for being underground. I thought it was extremely interesting to see that this was the first segment in the show and was also the longest in the episode. For what was many people’s first introduction to Mithraism, I think it was an OK outing but did the show’s subject justice at showcasing the splendor of this underground temple.