Straight Jacket: Escape - Saying Something Sober (#7B)

Living with ADHD - Saying Something Sober (#9)

The hiatus is over! In this episode I talk about the break I've taken and why. I discuss my neurodivergency and what it's like to get diagnosed and live with ADHD. I refer to my experience growing up and in university relating to the process I had before I got diagnosed. Then I discuss how my ADHD affects and connects to my recovery. Thanks for listening :)

Straight Jacket: Escape - Saying Something Sober (#7B)

Major Trigger Warning! In this episode, I go through and summarise the second section of Matthew Todd's book 'Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society's Legacy of Gay Shame'. The second section is entitled Escape and consists of 8 Chapters, which I go through in sequence. These chapters cover a lot of tough topics and tackles some dense subject matter. Throughout, I relate my experience to what it is discussing and give my own interpretations and opinions on what is being discussed. As such, with such dense subject matter, this episode is a long one and I expect the next will be too. Another episode is to come from this three-parter which will cover the last section: Rescue. I found this section of the book genuinely difficult to read at times because it is so thorough in its approach and layout of these issues. Regardless, I enjoyed it and found it's logical approach very refreshing. Hopefully, that comes across in this episode. Thanks for listening! :)

Poor Things - Saying Something Sober (#8)

Poor Things (2024) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo & Willam Dafoe. In this episode, I discuss this film and the themes that it explores. The film won multiple Oscars and many for the World that it created - a breathtaking marvel. I talk about the character arc of the protagonist, Bella Baxter, and her coming to womanhood. However, I also discuss how I related to the film as a sober person and as a more feminine gay man. Spoiler alert for this episode as I talk about the film in quite a lot of detail. I would recommend watching the film before listening. Enjoy! Thanks for listening!

Straight Jacket: Shame - Saying Something Sober (#7A)

In this episode, I go through and summarise the first section of Matthew Todd's book 'Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society's Legacy of Gay Shame'. This first section is entitled Shame and consists of 6 Chapters, which I go through in sequence. Throughout the episode, I review the book, give my opinion and relate what it discusses to my own experiences and how it has impacted me since reading it. This episode is a long one, sorry about that, but feel free to listen at 1.5x speed. I had so much to say and even cut a lot out from this first part. Future episodes will follow on the other two sections of the book: Recovery & Escape. I found this first section of the book incredibly impactful and hope you get something from my summary and distillation of it useful. Thanks for listening! :)

All Of Us Strangers - Saying Something Sober (#6)

All Of Us Strangers (2024) directed by Andrew Haigh, starring Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal, with Jamie Bell & Claire Foy. In this episode, I dissect this film after having seen it last week. I discuss what I feel about the film and its themes. This is mostly taken from my perspective and opinion on the film and is less so a summary as such. I give a review and discuss how the film portrays the queer experience. I didn't expect it, but this episode ended up being quite vulnerable and honest. I apply the events of the film to my own experience and relate my discussion to specific memories of my own. I wasn't planning on being so open in this episode and was intending on just reviewing and discussing, but the film, importantly, depicts themes that are ever-present amongst queer people and that I'm all well too familiar. I give a spoiler-free review in the first 10-ish minutes, but at that point, I submit a Spoiler Alert for those who intend to see the film but haven't. However, for those people, the first bit of this episode is spoiler-free. Enjoy! Thanks for listening!