Weekly Roundup Episode 85: Do Not Hold Your Feelings Hostage

Welcome to another edition of Weekly Roundup!

I feel Fear of Rejection hits the most when it comes to hopeless romantics. Love is our moral purpose in existing in the first place so we take much more pride in Love than anybody else. We’re all bound to love one another as love truly keeps us whole as human beings. When there is a moment where one feels that a person is worthy of their love, as they deny you… It’s a very saddening feeling to go through.

I feel one lesson they never tell you about when it comes to Fear of Rejection, is to make sure you don’t keep your feelings hostage, to where it continues to grow inside your mind and heart. When your feelings continue to build up on and on inside your mind and heart, as you continue to hold off on the idea to express your feelings as you don’t feel it’s the right time… Eventually you’ll crash down pretty hard when they reject you when you finally tell them your feelings.

There’s nothing wrong in establishing a connection at first, as more than likely when you tell someone you like that doesn’t even know your first name… Majority of the time it doesn’t work out. But don’t continue to imprison yourself, keeping your feelings in how you feel about someone for a long period of time, it will only add a great amount stress, anxiety, and especially increase heartache if it all doesn’t end up falling in your favor. Express your feelings for somebody as soon as you possibly can, that way you’ll less likely get hurt emotionally, as you can also strategize what to do moving forward whether it be moving on to someone else or continue to develop a greater connection with that same person. Remember at the end of the day: She/He is one out of eight billion people, it’s not the end of the world, maybe the end with him/her, but eventually you’ll find your one in due time.

There’s a time in my Sophomore Year in High School, where I had a crush on Maleni in my Drivers Ed class. From the moment I first laid eyes on her, as she walked into the classroom as the new student… I developed feelings for her right away. Now reasonably at first I would have to keep my feelings on hold, as she had a long distance relationship at the time with a guy out in California. But eventually later on in the school year they broke up, as I now had a fair shot in becoming her man.

But the thing is: I didn’t want to tell her my feelings right away, on the count she just got out of a long tenure relationship, so I would have to consider her emotional state of mind and let her recover from that relationship. Months would go by as the more time I actually spent with her in class and such: My feelings for her would become much deeper.

My sister gave me a recommendation on asking out one of her cute friends, as I refused to do so as I was totally committing to Maleni. My friends gave me A LOT of criticism, as they question why haven’t I told her my feelings for her, knowing good and well I developed a genuine connection with her. We obviously both were good friends and had a swell time in class, but my mind kept hesitating due to the fact I can’t make out a perfect time to execute sharing my feelings with her. Truth be told: There will never be a perfect time or opportunity to tell someone your feelings, there is no such thing as a perfect time to express that you want to date somebody. You just have to be a man/woman and just tell them straight up at literally any moment really… It won’t matter if you’re at a lovely scenery or at a freaking dump, just tell them and get it over with.

So my “Grand Opportunity” FINALLY came, while I was at work, as before my shift started… I texted her my feelings for her, as I locked my phone in my locker during my shift. I recall being incredibly nervous for that whole four hour shift, just pacing back and forth as I take in carts from outside to the inside of the store, as my mind raced just extremely nervous about what her answer would be?! After my shift was over, she gave me like a brief reply, as I had to explain what I meant in my text. She then replied that I was like a little brother to her… I was crushed.

It really hit me hard, when she told me in class about this whole situation… That’s where my whole world crashed down right before my eyes, as I cried immensely after that. I was crying for literally three days straight… That was an extremely difficult weekend for me, especially since I didn’t have the proper help and care I needed to get through that moment.

Over the years I make fun of my younger self, as my younger self has done many ridiculous things, . However: I can’t even make fun of a 16 year old Mitch, feeling heart broken over being rejected by a girl he had feelings for months, to where he cried consecutive days for. I’m not going to clown a teenage boy, whom is emotional and actually has pride in loving a woman where most guys his age treat them as intimate objects. I’m not going to clown a teenage boy that felt heart broken over a girl he had immense feelings for her, to where he kept them in for so long, that when he actually finally got the guts to finally let them out… That he cried consecutive days over being rejected.

It’s a normal reaction to cry over being rejected by someone you genuinely care about and wanting to build a relationship for… Sure, consecutive days is a bit much, however I understand because he took the difficult route and held those feelings in for WAY too long. I felt this was a great and valuable lesson that when you have feelings for anyone, make sure you don’t keep those feelings in for too long and especially make it out to be the end of the world if she doesn’t like you back. She’s one out of eight billion… You have time and plenty of pure beautiful options, it’s one great world full of pure beautiful women more so on the inside than out.

Sure enough after telling Maleni my feelings: I then started losing feelings for her a month later. Just to think if I told her earlier, more than likely would’ve prevented a lot of pain from happening and also would’ve likely went on dates with my sisters friend. Fear of Rejection is a pain in the ass, but what’s more of a pain in the ass is allowing precious opportunities of love slip by you. Let your feelings out at any given moment and see how they feel about you, you may end up being surprised that they feel the same, willing to give you a chance at a first date, or be denied where you’ll have to look elsewhere and you know what?! That’s alright: You can live with that or actually try to develop a better bondage to where maybe it can work.

One thing we need to address as we conclude this segment: Women should be more open in expressing they have feelings for someone as well… The world would have a lot more relationships taking place, that’s for damn sure. Let’s Talk About Movies!

Look at me: XXXTentacion Grade: B+

XXXTentacion without a doubt was a young yet extremely talented unique artist, whom had promising potential to be a powerhouse of an artist someday, whether it be for his rapping ability, vocal ability, and even his lyrical ability… The man was bound to create not only hits, but more so great songs.

We’ve been getting a lot documentaries recently on artists whom have suddenly passed away, from Everybody’s Everything, to Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss, and now Look at Me: XXXTentacion. I will have to say Look at Me: XXXTentacion actually differs from the other two, making this is a much more unique documentary that not only covers the artist, but more so covers on the domestic abuse case he Xxxtentacion had with his former girlfriend.

What I really enjoyed about the documentary when it did covered the abuse case, is that the film didn’t play no sides in disputing the events that occur by each side, but more so the film made the viewer fully understand why one like Xxxtentacion would become that violent in the first place. The film isn’t looking to receive sympathy for Xxxtentacion in anyway, but the film is making the viewer understand that this kid was severely troubled from lack of a strong father figure, mother having to work more than being in Xxxtentacion’s presence, as also too much exposure to the toxicity of the Internet… The film throughly explores what triggered the mind of Xxxtentacion for him to be developed this way, as the viewer fully understands him. Sure Xxxtentacion at the end of the day is fully responsible for his own actions, however there are actual factors why he was the way he is, as rest assure no one just develops a severely damaged mind out of nowhere.

I really appreciate the fact the film doesn’t have a clear view point if what had happen is true on either end, so it allows the viewer to make up their own mind while understanding that both parts in some regard do require sympathy on both ends. I mean regardless on how you feel or which side you’re on: You have to fully admit you feel for Xxxtentacion and especially his girlfriend, as both don’t come from a place of warmth, comfort, and especially closure as they both desperately needed some serious help… It’s unfortunate because with actual proper care and help, these kids can blossom as they both show signs of being loving and kind individuals.

Uncovering Xxxtentacion life, especially his rise in the music industry was crazy. Basically Xxxtentacion knew how to get himself attention needed to thrive in the music industry, by basically caving into doing bad things, as rest assure evil does sell as Xxxtentacion knew just how to do that. Like him using brawls to get his music popping… It’s a very odd way to secure views, however considering the toxic environment of social media, the man knew just how to lure in viewership.

The film does highlight that no matter how much damage you have done in your life, that there is still room for redemption. Xxxtentacion was slowly learning that he was hating himself as a person, that he actually needed to get serious help, as he wanted to do actual good to help those with Mental Health problems. It’s quite a shame that Xxxtentacion actually made a valid effort to turn his life around to where there is promise that he was going to change for the better, as then he just tragically gets murdered… I’m sure he was bound to do great things to help people for the better. Only this kid needed was a father like figure to watch over him and develop him as a young man, as when he was treated by a male therapist… That’s when things were starting to click for Xxxtentacion.

Overall, Look at Me: Xxxtentacion was a pretty good documentary. I recommend checking this film out, it can be seen on HULU.

Emergency Grade: B

The ole “We Are Going to Start a Dialogue” meme comes to life from Carey Williams… In a good way.

I found Emergency to be quite a unique experience, as this way of storytelling in terms of a situational plot works impressively well. This situation at hand when it comes to a few college kids I believe, whom found an unconscious drunk girl randomly on their floor, could perhaps be handled very quickly by just calling 911 where she can be treated properly. However: The climate of the world we live in, makes these young men extremely hesitant to do just that, as they feel the authorities may treat them a bit harshly considering not only the fact their men but they’re also fall into not being Caucasian. This situation can be a living nightmare for many men even if they’re Caucasian as well, as this stereotypical climate we currently live in makes it extremely difficult to do the most basic things, especially in this case but you can’t honestly blame these young men at all.

The story at hand was throughly engaging for the majority of the film, not only does it bring you to the edge of your seat, but it also makes you care about each and every character introduced, not to mention the comedy material whether lighthearted fun or dark humor is impressively solid as well. I will say the film does have indeed pacing issues as sometimes the momentum of the film is slowed down a bit, I also felt the finale was stretched out a bit too much as you’re hoping it’ll wrap up quicker. But I will say one thing about the finale: That one comedic moment was genius, I heavily relate to that sequence towards a lot of phonies on social media, excellent laugh out moment.

Overall, Emergency was a solid film. I recommend checking this one out, can be found on Amazon Prime, I feel this film could be a nice film discussion about our current climate of today’s society and how it genuinely damages a lot of people’s minds, to where they’re more afraid of doing the right thing when the right thing could potentially get them in trouble.

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania Grade: C-

There’s a couple questions to be asked to start off this quick review. First off after compassionately advocating a theatrical release for this latest entry of the Hotel Transylvania franchise… Why did it take me five months to literally watch this?! Perhaps my life has been dysfunctional, hectic, and most certainly busy for the past few months. But the most important question: Why did it take me today to find out Adam Sandler is not even in this film?! The heart and soul to this beloved animated franchise is gone?! The script must’ve been not that good, even for Sandler in which takes pride and joy to his own creations, no matter if it’s good or stupid.

I thought Hotel Transylvania franchise should’ve been over and done with after the third film, which to me was the best film in the entire franchise by far. I understand why they wanted to make another considering it’s an extremely successful franchise, however considering the lead actor and especially the film maker whom made the last three weren’t involved… I don’t understand the point in this film’s existence.

You can clearly tell Sandler and Genndy Tartakovsky were missed, as this film does indeed lack the comedic charm were used to seeing in these films. There are so many flat comedic moments in this film, like in the past three films they delivered well in the comedic department as the humor even catered to adults espeically, here it’s just bottom of the barrel humor for me. To me from a quality and story telling perspective honestly felt like a straight to DVD home movie: It may not be a bad film, but doesn’t feel like it was apart of the continuing franchise at all, it felt like a quick cash grab and nothing more than that. I give the studio credit: They saw a film in which didn’t really had the nerve to be in theaters, so they were able to rob Amazon a shit ton of money for it.

I will say this film does have at least has a not half bad written message that can be useful for children, about to have a more positive mindset than to have a negative mindset. Pretty much the entire conflict in this story was at the fault of Dracula (Brian Hull), due to the fact he panicked and thought negatively of Johnny (Andy Samberg) as he was bound to helm the hotel along with Mavis (Selena Gomez), as he felt Johnny was going to destroy the hotel. But if Dracula kept an open mind and thought positively, sure enough he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. So it was a nice message for kids, as they’ll learn good results will happen if you stay positive rather than thinking negative, as negative thoughts will surely lead to bad results.

Overall, Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania was meh and a disappointment as well. I don’t recommend this film, the only demographic this will please is very young children. -Mitch Smietana