I Want You To Remember:

I’m always fascinated by vengeance arcs in fiction because of their potential to create conflict within the audience—it’s an extremely natural, human thing to desire justice, and seeing someone get their comeuppance is extremely satisfying, and fulfills almost a spiritual need within everyone, I think. But there’s a fine line between justice and vengeance—where is it? How far is too far? I’m not here to answer these questions here other than to say that there is a line, but how a piece of fiction decides to indicate that line and where it’s been crossed is utterly fascinating to me. It’s the ability to have your audience response go from “YES! YEEESSSS!! WOOHOOOOO” to “…wait…no, this isn’t…oh no” on a dime.

The Time Lord Victorious in Doctor Who is still my favorite example of this (the shift is just so subtle!), but FMAB is getting some MAJOR points from me for how it handled Roy’s pursuit of vengeance over Hughes’ death. It isn’t subtle by any means—the dude is terrifying, Ed and Scar are actively commenting on how far he’ll go, Riza is obviously terrified for him—but it’s still extremely effective. I think part of what makes it so good is how well it parallels his encounter with Lust—she was also a homunculus, he also torched her to death protecting Riza, it even happened in the same exact place—but while that situation felt karmically satisfying and necessary to defend someone else (though, admittedly, it was still a bit disturbing), his encounter with Envy, while it starts out hyping you up for what promises to be a long-awaited delivery of justice, quickly begins to feel utterly wrong. Roy’s face is contorted, he doesn’t possess his usual control of his emotions, and he’s cruel. Envy is actively fleeing from him, and Roy isn’t even running to keep up with him, he’s just walking, and it’s terrifying. But where any pretense of justice completely vanishes is where Envy reverts to his tiny, weak, reptilian form, and Roy is still just as willing to murder him. And of course, the final nail in the coffin is Riza pointing her gun at his head—fulfilling the promise set up in earlier episodes that she would kill him if he ever deviated from his path. It’s just *chef’s kiss* perfection.

Literally red handed

HELP

Things my extremely Italian physics professor has said:

“If you are walking in the woods nearby Chernobyl, you will probably be fine. But if you pick something up off the ground and eat it, you will die of radiation poisoning. Of course you may die if you eat things from the ground in other places, also, but likely not of radiation.”

“Unfortunately there is nothing I can teach you that will prevent you dying if there is on your house a hydrogen bomb. That is a politician problem. If any of you are president later, please do not hydrogen bomb my house.”

“Radioactivity could perhaps be used by terrorists, but it has not yet. Likely this is because terrorists do not study much physics.”

“Why is it that physics graduate students cannot make a nuclear bomb? It is not that they do not want to. They simply have not the money to buy the materials. Or anything else.”

becoming an adult cheat sheet!

learn to coupon

what to do when you can’t afford therapy

cleaning your bathroom

what to do when you can’t pay your bills

stress management

quick fix meals

find out if you’re paying too much for your cell phone bill

resume workshop

organize your closet

how to take care of yourself when you’re sick

what you should bring to a doctor’s appointment

what’s a mortgage?

how to pick a health insurance plan

hotlines list

your first gynecology appointment

what to do if the cops pull you over

things to have in your car in case of emergency

my moving out masterpost

how to make friends as an adult (video)

how to do taxes (video)

recommended reads for surviving adulthood (video)

change a flat tire (video)

how to do laundry (video)

opening a bank account (video)

laundry cheat sheet

recipes masterpost

tricks to help you sleep more

what the fuck should you make for dinner?

where should you go for drinks?

alcohol: know your limits

easy makeup tips

find seat maps for your flight

self-defense tips

prevent hangovers

workout masterpost

how to write a check

career builder

browse careers

birth control information

financial management software & app (free)

my mental health masterpost

my college applications masterpost

how to jumpstart a car

sex ed masterpost

i love london

how it feels everytime someone boops me

im booping you all

omfg im laughing so hard i fell asleep on my keyboard last night and i just found this