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Episode 126 - ADHD & Being Weird: Are We Eccentric or Just Ahead of the Curve?
41 Plays5 days ago
Welcome back to ADHDville, the town where the detours are the main roads! 🛤️
This week, your co-ex-mayors, Martin and Paul, are taking a delightful detour into the basement to chat about something near and dear to our hearts: Eccentricity. 🕺
Are we "weird," or are we just neurologically gifted with a unique perspective that the world is slowly catching up on? From Martin's panic over "white mold" (spoiler: it was crystallized dog pee related 💀) to Paul's art school trauma involving the human tongue, we're unpacking why our brains are naturally drawn to the offbeat, the absurd, and the wonderfully strange.
In this episode, we get into:
- 🐌 The glorious British eccentrics of our youth (Prince Scotland, anyone?).
- 🤯 That moment you realize you’ve lost the entire room on a mental tangent.
- 🇮🇹 Why moving abroad lets you unleash your inner weirdo (kilts in Italy, wut?).
- 🎨 Is AI killing creativity? And why the AuDHD community is the secret weapon to save us from a "vanilla" world.
- 🔧 Plus, Martin waves a spanner around for no reason. It's very on-brand.
So, if you've ever been called "too much," "a bit odd," or been told "you're brave" for your fashion choices, this one's for you. Because in ADHDville, being off-centre is exactly where the interesting stuff happens.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?
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ADHDville, the podcast where hosts Paul and Martin bring 40 years of friendship to your ears. As late-diagnosed adults, they explore the ADHD world with fun, games, and the occasional guest—no boring lectures, just a comfortable and hilarious conversation you’d have with old friends. A new episode drops every Tuesday to make your week brighter!
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Theme music was written by Freddie Philips and played by Martin West. All other music by Martin West.
Please remember: This is an entertainment podcast about ADHD and does not substitute for individualized advice from qualified health professionals.
#ADHD #ADHDville #Eccentric #Neurodivergent #AuDHD #Podcast #Comedy #MentalHealth #BeingWeird #ADHDProblems #Creativity #FunnyAuDHD #YouTubePodcast #AuDHD #AudhdPodcast #Funny ADHD
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Transcript
Recording Challenges and Podcast Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
i mean Blimey, we're in. We're in. ah Back in the room. Back in the the room. Yeah, I think that we were a little bit caught out there. were. By the the recording button.
00:00:12
Speaker
You'd think after two and a half years of doing the pod, we'd be more I know, right? For all eventualities. Every podcast in emergency.
Welcome to ADHDville
00:00:22
Speaker
All right, so let's go to a place where the distractions and landmarks and the detours are on the main roads. Welcome. to ADHDville.
00:00:37
Speaker
This is the intro, yes it's the intro, it's the intro, yes it's the intro, yes it's the intro, it's the intro, right about now, what are listening to?
00:00:51
Speaker
The
ADHD and Autism Diagnoses
00:00:52
Speaker
ADHD. Hello I'm Paul Thompson, I was diagnosed with the combined ADHD and the D again, two years ago. not martin years ago wow And I'm Martin West and I was diagnosed with the ADHD poopoo platter in 2013. Oh, I know. I know. and I know. I suspect that I'm autistic as well.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah. Me three. So this is like an ADHD and an ADHD. podcast yeah to we have we should change the name of the podcast really you know what every every once in a while i think should we change it should we change it i've had a sometimes really strong feeling that we should change it right well we can we can chat about that um yeah but anyway uh what do you guys think um should it be um audi hd will
00:01:45
Speaker
Let us know what you think. I ah do actually think that our ADHD is a smaller niche than ADHD. So it kind of like, so we we are niching ourselves in. But um anyway. i think it's the opposite because you you just it doesn't exclude, the HD doesn't exclude people that are just autistic.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. you know So lost a vast catchment area.
The Shampoo Dust Incident
00:02:18
Speaker
yeahp Anyway, so today ah we are um we are ah in the King's Agitated Head in ADHDville where we, the co-ex-mayors of ADHDville, take care of business and we sit at the back and have a drink. yeah And this week we're going to be talking about ADHD and...
00:02:38
Speaker
Excentricity. Excentricity. Yeah. Talking of eccentricity, Martin, have you noticed you've got a ah a bookshelf that's like creeping up behind you?
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, so if you're watching on on on the YouTubes, behind me is not my normal... Well, I mean, there's some a added furniture behind me. What's all that about? Okay, so I'm having to clear out the office, the the the the other office room. Because, okay, look, this is this is like a bit of an ADHD moment, right? So...
00:03:18
Speaker
Um, that's my wife's office, right? And for some reason, I lifted up the carpet and there was white underneath. So it's a wood floor and then there was white under it. i was like, oh shit, that's white mold.
00:03:32
Speaker
Fuck. That is not good. White mold? Yeah, yeah. yeah like I mean i but mean, black mold is is is is bad, but as like this was like white mold. was oh, fuck, this is so bad. So anyway, so I cleared out, I literally had to clear out everything out of that that room.
00:03:50
Speaker
So all the stuff's behind me and all over on this floor. And I pulled up the rug, threw it out outside. And then when I went to test the white stuff,
00:04:03
Speaker
It wasn't mold after all. Right. What happened was because because Eddie, my dog, he's old, he's senior, and sometimes if I'm not careful, he he he pees on the carpet, right? And then I have to get the the the carpet shampoo machine and then I like...
00:04:24
Speaker
ah right shampoo the rug yeah and then what what was happening was that the shampoo itself had kind of like gone into the carpet and then was and then had dried out into white dust right so it was just shamp shampoo dust alright okay ide so thank god for that anyway so I've just cleaned out that that room and then this weekend I'll just be rebuilding that entire room again and So that's that's why why it's behind me.
00:04:57
Speaker
and But
Quiz Segment Anticipation
00:04:58
Speaker
yeah. so But also we have a quiz today. we do have a goddamn quiz. I am organized. Yes. Do we, Martin? Because I forgot last week. Yes.
00:05:10
Speaker
But do have one. I've got a good one. Okay. Nice. Nice. I like that. excited. I'm excited by the quiz. um Right. So ah where are we going, Paulio, to talk about?
00:05:25
Speaker
We'd go to the basement, Martin, you know kind of a place where you can hide and talk about some strange things. in Yeah. with us in yeah Weird things happen in the basement. All right. Well, in that case, we have to we have to walk over to the elevator. There we are. Get in.
00:05:47
Speaker
There we go. It's a bit of an eccentric elevator. There we go. Down we go. bit of music.
00:05:57
Speaker
If I remember rightly, this basement is quite a long way down. What is the music? I made it. really? Because usually a lot music is like the carpenters, isn't it?
00:06:11
Speaker
Right, yeah, no. I made this. Oh, I think we're here.
00:06:18
Speaker
Okay. Oh. Lovely. In the basement. Smooth as. All right. Well, ah do you want to kick us off? who Yeah, why not? Why not? He says pulling up his his script.
00:06:31
Speaker
Right. So AD and eccentricity. Yes. Well, I mean, it's not a big thing. stretch for anyone's imagination within our community about what this is about, you know. yeah but But I suppose for me, it's about this, how when I was growing up, how I had this like pull towards certain people, eccentric people, when I was growing up.
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah. Well, yes, you are. kind of you are. You're in that group. You're in that group, Martin, yeah amongst others. And without knowing it because I was only diagnosed two and a half years ago, had this i was drawn towards eccentricity.
00:07:25
Speaker
So um I thought today's a bit of an ode to eccentricity. Yeah, yeah. I mean, so his his he historically eccentrically eccentric ah meant off-centre.
00:07:41
Speaker
Oh, okay. So it's not centric. Right. It is off-centre. And it is often... associated with people like us, Paul. Rule breakers. Scientists, inventors, rule breakers. um Yeah.
00:07:58
Speaker
And yeah um the funny thing is, the one actually, you know what, the the first interesting thought I had when when you said, the first thing I thought of when you said, yeah oh this week's episode is about being eccentric.
00:08:14
Speaker
You are British. I'm British. You live in Italy. I live in in the States. Yes. And I found, and you're probably the same, it is easier to be eccentric or to be weird because you're not from here. Like, I am British. Like, my my Englishness masks in quite a big way My would my my my my weirdness. Because they just think, oh, that's Martin. He's being British and weird because the people are weird.
00:08:53
Speaker
so and do you ever Have you ever found yourself in the past becoming like a caricature? like ah a British caricature version of yourself just to like ham it up in front of the Americans.
00:09:07
Speaker
ah Yeah, for laughs. yeah For laughs. And I got into that, and then I and then i stopped, Martin. but I actually had a girlfriend who I suddenly realised she liked me because I was like ah ah kind of ah like of ah a lap dog.
00:09:27
Speaker
like an ex exotic pet. A Labrador? Yeah. And she would would go to places. It was like, I felt like an exotic parrot or something. Then she would just like, we'll go take her around with her.
00:09:40
Speaker
It's like, look at me. I've got a British boyfriend. And it's like, as soon I started recognising her, it's like, oh God, that's kind of irritating.
British Eccentricity Abroad
00:09:57
Speaker
And, Because at first I was hamming it up. Can you say that in American? Is that an American expression? I'm sure you were. Hamming it up. i was I was playing on it. i was And I became like a false kind of caricature of myself.
00:10:13
Speaker
Oh, that's so funny. You're becoming even more English. Yeah. I was kind of starting to act out what I thought people expected of me, how people expected me to behave.
00:10:23
Speaker
Oh, wow. yeah That is an interesting form of of of of of of masking, where how normallyly normally you would mask to blend in with the culture that you're in, but you're actually masking as someone else outside of that culture because it's what they expect of you. Yeah, yeah. That's funny.
00:10:47
Speaker
So you end up becoming like a character from Monty Python or something. Right. Or from a more recent history from Little Britain. Right.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah. Back to the script. Back to the script. So well um the the kind of attraction with eccentricity is what kind of goes hand in hand, I think, with this being ADHD and or autistic is that there's a kind of an this kind of instinctive Need to absorb to to not to absorb social hierarchies, right?
00:11:27
Speaker
So to kind of go against unwritten rules, right? So then you buy you becomes almost like not to something you do but a way of being you know, right?
00:11:41
Speaker
So eccentric sounds something that they would just do is this is not part of them, you know it's like the very being i had to like And it happens, eccentric, it's not just for me about famous eccentrics, right? I had a neighbour whose name was Prince Scotland.
00:12:03
Speaker
I'm not kidding. What? he was His name was Prince Scotland. do you remember the house I had in Rightgate that was in the first floor and then in the basement? He lived above me there.
00:12:15
Speaker
And he used to do the garden at the weekend in a three-piece tweed suit. Right. Hang on. Prince prince Scotland. What's his middle name of? Oh.
00:12:27
Speaker
ah No.
00:12:30
Speaker
No. All right. So he was out his garden doing his tweed suit. His tweed suit. Three-piece. Three-piece. With the jacket and the... So then it occurred to me for me...
00:12:45
Speaker
eccentricism is a very British thing because that's what i grew up with. So that's what I'm attracted to, you know. Right.
00:12:57
Speaker
Yeah. We grew up with Monty Python and the Goonies. Yeah. I mean, I think being eccentric or being weird is in every culture, but obviously because we're British, we, you know, we, each, each culture takes its own form, i guess. And we, you know, and our form does tend to be that kind of weird, um yeah, Monty Python post-war sort of yeah a Absurdism.
00:13:30
Speaker
um Absurdism, that's a good word. There's a sense of the absurd is a really crucial element in it. Right. where does say I think that we just, you know, if you have ADHD or ADHD, I think, you know, because you kind of, you feel weird, right? You you feel eccentric and odd. yeah i think I think anything that kind of is odd and weird and eccentric, you're just kind of drawn to.
00:13:59
Speaker
Like a magnet. Right. It's a bit what comes to mind like when you were kids as well. We had really bizarre children's programs, it which is going to mean nothing to you unless you're of a certain age and British.
00:14:14
Speaker
There's a program called Pipkins. Yeah. It's absolutely bonkers. Right. There's no way you'd get it on TV now because it's actually a bit disturbing.
00:14:30
Speaker
You know what we also had when we were young? We would also, for some reason, British TV, they would buy obscure Eastern European cartoons
00:14:44
Speaker
And they would show those once in a while. So you would get all your kind of normal British TV, and then sometimes you'd get these fucking weird ones that were like... polish Yeah, Polish.
00:14:58
Speaker
They're big on animation, aren't they, the Poles? Right. just Just crazy. yeah And I think that we kind of absorb that into our little weird beings.
00:15:09
Speaker
And we think, oh, there's other people from my planet... Exactly. Exactly. So what what examples did you have, Martin, growing up, like in your personal sphere and also like in like maybe in like television cinema sphere?
00:15:30
Speaker
Did you have like an uncle or something? Oh, who was weird in my family? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously, we've talked about my granddad who had cheese sandwiches every day for his and for his working life and had apple pie for his dessert every night for his yeah entire life.
00:15:56
Speaker
That's a little weird. That's a bit weird. right My granddad, he had a little bowl of peanuts, salted, roasted.
00:16:09
Speaker
Lovely. He had his cigarettes. Lovely. That were Craven A cigarettes. And he had a bottle of Bell's whiskey.
00:16:23
Speaker
Not every day. No, he wouldn't consume it. He was never drunk. Never drunk. But that was his thing. And the same um um armchair in the same corner of the of of the room.
00:16:40
Speaker
That was it. That was his spot. Absolutely. Absolutely. And he never went, he never, he had one car. I can only remember having one car. It was an orange Ford Escort.
00:16:54
Speaker
Ooh. That's that special. And it was in perfect condition. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I suspect that I'm the family weirdo if... if Right.
00:17:07
Speaker
You know, i think i think if I was going to kind of like anyone was going to go, which in the... If all my family got two together, yeah they decided who was the odd one. i would be high on that list.
00:17:22
Speaker
Right. I would probably be number one. Yeah. ah I'm the same. Andrew, what do you think? Would I be the weird one? had an aunt who I used to i to adore. I thought she unfortunately died a year and a half ago. She smoked cigars.
00:17:40
Speaker
And swore like a, like a sailor. i I remember you talking about her. as She was cray, but we didn't see her very often, off unfortunately. But I was the weird one, definitely. And I, I phoned my dad up recently and told him after two years of diagnosis, I told him that I had to be diagnosed.
00:18:01
Speaker
and ADHD and probably autistic. And I said, but you, Dad, you diagnosed me years and years ago because you always just you always called me, you're, as say, you're my weird son, right?
Identity and Being the 'Weird Son'
00:18:15
Speaker
Yes. And he said, oh, that's not very nice, is it?
00:18:21
Speaker
And I said, no, well, actually, you didn't know this, but I actually, for me, it was a positive thing. I always like being the wis weird one. so Oh, that's brilliant. I don't fit in.
00:18:34
Speaker
Come on. I have an identity now. I have an identity now, and it's weird. Exactly. And it's nothing. Yeah, I mean, I've always did things differently to everyone else in the family.
00:18:49
Speaker
Right. I mean, have you have you ever, like, realised mid-conversation, that the other person thinks you're being weird.
00:19:00
Speaker
Because that happens to me all the time, right? I'm talking to someone. I'm talking to someone and I'm yapping away. And then I realize that I'm kind of going off topic and I'm and i'm divulging stuff that I wouldn't normally talk about. Or I get into some like niche thing.
00:19:18
Speaker
that I'm excited by, but but the other person probably isn't. And I'm kind of going, oh, Martin, you fucking rein it in, mate. Yeah, rein it in. Because they probably fucking nuts. So I have to bring the conversation back around again.
00:19:34
Speaker
think I've told you this story, but was at art college once and we had to – we were discussing, we were kind of talking about conceptual art, okay? and So they were trying to kind of teach us, trainers to think conceptually.
00:19:49
Speaker
And they started the class off on a particular topic, right? Right. And I went off on my own, in my own hit i my head, for probably 20 minutes.
00:20:02
Speaker
And then I came back in, assuming that everyone had come with me on my journey. And I came up with some weird statement about the fact that the human tongue tongue is and ah anatomically strange.
00:20:18
Speaker
Right? And there was a complete silence. Oh, God, I'm dying. And that everyone's tongue is structured slightly differently.
00:20:31
Speaker
Oh, fucking hell. And could complete silence. Not just the students, but the these tutors as well. Like... like There was like tumbleweeds came through, you know.
00:20:42
Speaker
Because this is it, right? It's like there's a thin line between genius and what the hell are you doing? Yeah. right So they're probably like going, is this the most intellectual fucking thing I've ever heard in my life?
00:21:00
Speaker
Or has he just lost his fucking mind? Right. And I'm now trying to remember or not remember. I'm trying to get back from a situation like that that was 40 years ago. I try and remember the feeling I would have had in that precise moment.
00:21:23
Speaker
Wow. was like, oh, fuck. Yes. I was like, oh, yeah, they didn't come with me on that journey. That was just me on my own.
00:21:37
Speaker
Then somehow went down a rabbit hole and arriving at the anatomic anatomical structure of the human tongue. Right, because that's what I do a lot, which is I skip.
00:21:51
Speaker
There's more conversation going on in my head or more thoughts going on than actual words that come out of my mouth, so I skip stuff. I leave sentences out, and everyone just goes, I'm just coming across as weird because haven't...
00:22:09
Speaker
As you say, taking them along my thought process, I've just fast-forwarded. My brain just jumps fast, yeah too fast for my mouth to actually keep up with. Right, that's it. Right.
00:22:25
Speaker
And then sometimes I can actually see myself... thinking about thinking what I'm thinking. Oh, Jesus, meta. You know, i can do that.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I'm almost like listening in, listening and in. listening in listening in on my thought process as if i'm like a outside of myself yeah yeah yes yes it's weird it's a yes as you say it's that awful moment where you go fucking hell you're being weird yes right ah rain it in but but if you're still going down that tunnel at the same time in parallel and
00:23:10
Speaker
Well, yeah, because it takes a a while to to...
Joy in Tangents: A Neurodiverse Trait
00:23:14
Speaker
Because you kind of think, oh, shit, I'm being weird. did you get well Yeah. What now? What? What do I do now? What do I do now? let' just try and light georges Do I just try and make sense of sense of what I've just said you to explain where you are and what you've said, which is takes even longer? do you just kind go, oh, anyway, and it looks like rain again, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:42
Speaker
um But then that's the joy of meeting up with someone who's neurologically um diverse, you know, and you you go on tangents together. It's like going surfing together.
00:23:57
Speaker
Right. You know, and, you know, or going on a, I don't know. Yeah. And you're going off tangents and the tangents is the thing. It's not always the subject.
00:24:10
Speaker
Yeah. So I think the tangents are more important than what the tangents are about. Right. Yeah, yeah. No, I think we like tangents. We like now going on tangents and then, yeah, cause it it's off because because it's a little fun journey for us to listen to someone go off on a tangent and follow them.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah. Which is always in in interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So what I've got, I've got here some people because my, my the kind of the people that are featured in my life up until now are fairly exclusively British eccentrics.
00:24:59
Speaker
Fairly. If I think of it American eccentric eccentrics, I'm probably thinking of the Muppets.
00:25:13
Speaker
They're a total joy.
00:25:17
Speaker
A total joy. um And just absolute genius. The history of the Muppets is an incredible and the Sesame Street. They they were went through about five or six years of of research and people told them, the psychologists told them not to do it because the children shouldn't have reality and fantasy mixed up in the same situation.
00:25:44
Speaker
So you shouldn't have real people and puppets, essentially. within the same sphere of their imagination because they get confused turns out that's a bullshit you know yeah but amazing i'm not sure if it's available i'd love to find if it exists a book about uh how the muppets were developed and sesame street and the muppets right anywho i will say that um And and this up this applies, I think you'll probably appreciate this and if if if anyone else is you know yeah works in the creative sphere.
00:26:25
Speaker
And that is, ah you know, so I was a, I just still am. yeah So when I worked as a creative director at an ad a agency,
00:26:38
Speaker
I could be weird because creative directors were kind of, that kind of came with the package. Like yeah you were supposed to be different.
00:26:50
Speaker
So if I went into a room and I was normal, buttoned up, accountant looking, an acting guy, they would think I've got the wrong person for the for the jiit for the job. Whereas if I kind of came in and I was a little bit odd and a little bit weird and and I kind of like, I was a bit dis dis disruptive or a war kind of odd things, they would kind of go, oh yeah, that,
00:27:17
Speaker
that's that's the weird creative guy, that's the one that i want. and and in fact, the more successful you are o at your thing, the more you can be egg a the more you can be eccentric, right? Yeah. like Because you can't be eccentric but no but be superficial You know, it can't be just wearing a loud tie.
00:27:48
Speaker
Oh, no. No, no. That's the worst. he's got It's like the whole deal, you know. Yeah, that's like fake, fake yeah weird person. Yeah.
00:27:59
Speaker
I remember once I used to but like wearing quite eccentric trousers, multiple. I know you did. Do you to remember? i think you had I think you had sort of Rupert the Bear. Yeah, that kind of thing. one One point. Well, more than. i had i had two or three pairs like that.
00:28:19
Speaker
One guy, a complete stranger, got on the train to go home in London. This is London, by the way. London. It's not like, you know, in the in the ah provinces or something. London. This guy sat front of me and said, o you're brave.
00:28:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I get i get that sometimes. Right. I hadn't even thought about it. so Oh, what? then Yeah. Well, course, here in Italy, I go out wearing a kilt and i love it Oh, blimey.
00:28:52
Speaker
That's pretty eccentric for them. i mean, it's speaking about wearing an odd tie, I can remember when we worked at Redlands. So this is back in like, I don't know, was it late 80s? I don't know, in the 90s? It was the Right.
00:29:09
Speaker
I joined Redland in 1989. All right. 1990, I think. All right. So um i I remember having a lobster tie.
00:29:21
Speaker
It was a tie. I remember that. That had a fucking lobster on it. Yes.
00:29:30
Speaker
fucking shitty tie. What a shitty tie. I'm thinking about that and and it and there's certain amount of shame that comes with with that. Like, oh, Martin of 1990. Yeah. your fucking act together. I had a ponytail.
00:29:48
Speaker
So this is me, right? Ponytail. Yeah. And I had like a sort whitish shirt. had like ah a jacket that was like tan brown it was like a sort a reddy mid brown and then I had a lobster tie yeah well used to be responsible for the annual report and and and report an accounts document yes and one year you were featured you had there was a photograph of you in my annual report accounts you with two of our colleagues yes I know and I found it the other day
00:30:29
Speaker
With your ponytail and your kind of red ochery blazer jacket. I know the photo, mate. That's what I'm thinking of. And I'm holding up. I'm holding up this cocoon snail that I did for the housing thing.
00:30:48
Speaker
Oh, fucking hell. What a knob.
00:30:55
Speaker
But I must admit, I've got a penchant for French eccentrics as well. Oh, Jesus, they're mental. Mental. People like, this ah there's a great actor called ah Dominique Pinon.
00:31:11
Speaker
Okay. who um Have you ever seen any of the Jean-Pierre Jeunet films, like Amélie? Oh, yes, yes. Amélie and Delicatessen.
00:31:23
Speaker
Oh, yes, I know his star. And he was in Delicatessen. He's the one that played the saw. Okay. Yeah. just Oh, the frenchs French eccentrics are amazing.
00:31:37
Speaker
Right. They can pretty much, you know, hold their own with the British for it's such eccentricism. Right. I mean, you know, I will have to shout out, I mean, the the the the America that comes to mind is David Lynch.
00:31:53
Speaker
So I'm thinking sort David Lynch films. Yes. I'm thinking of
00:32:02
Speaker
Eraserhead specifically. Yeah. That film, which is nuts. Nuts. ola oh yeah I have a wrench. Talking of nuts. I have a wrench in my hand.
00:32:15
Speaker
A wrench for unscrewing nuts? Yeah. For nut work. Right. Anyway. hi um um But talk I've got a thing. I've got this thing, Martin. I've got a bit of a provocation at this point in the discussion. All right.
00:32:33
Speaker
Eccentrics, are they they dying like rock groups have died? Like groups? Yeah. There was a, there was a, something happened last year. It was the first time in the UK that the whole of the, there was not a single group in the top 50.
00:32:52
Speaker
Oh yeah. no charles right What happened to groups, but what happened to X eccentrics?
AI Creativity vs. Human Uniqueness
00:32:58
Speaker
Where they all go? Well, you see, this this is it. I think i think prayy creativity has become a little bit cookie cutter in the higher echelons of wasp names. um But my my little secret theory is...
00:33:17
Speaker
You know that kind of AI this has, so yeah you know, you can do AI music, you can do AI art, you can do AI writing, anything creative, right?
00:33:29
Speaker
You can make AI, produce stuff, right? Yeah. And it ten and but um because it's been fed all this all the things from the outside world, all the, you know, unfed, they've stolen all of this stuff, it tends to produce quite generic things, right?
00:33:49
Speaker
So I feel like... It's quite vanilla, right? I feel like in order for creative people to not look like or to not use AI or or for other people to kind of go, yeah, that's definitely not AI, they have to kind of go, oh well, that's AI is doing all this over here. I'm going have to kind of like raise the bar.
00:34:11
Speaker
I'm going have to be more creative, more weird, more out there. Yeah. and do something else. And I kind of feel like ah as a reaction to AI, creative people are just going to be odder, weirder, and they're going to kind of go against the kind of the cookie cutter of the eye of what's going on. Yeah. well um It's always been the art world, isn't it? It's always been people in art world that have like pulled us back reined us back in when things get too serious, right? and so
00:34:48
Speaker
And too vanilla. It's usually been an artist saying, no, I'm going to break all the rules and blah, blah, blah. But I listen to a a contemporary art podcast and you can tell that the difference between the older and the younger artists.
00:35:09
Speaker
The they're much more conceptual m and they're much more articulate. whether they're being eccentric or not, but they're really articulate about their ideas.
00:35:20
Speaker
Whereas newer artists, younger artists, they're not as articulate. You know, they're kind of, i don't know, it just sounds like a like a constant loop of of kind of of slang expressions, you know.
00:35:37
Speaker
Right. They're words. You know, they like set that to sound like they should sound as an artist. So, oh, yeah, artists sound like this. So I'm going to say the same kind of words.
00:35:49
Speaker
Right. i i I'm going be like an old old granddad here and kind of and and say ah kind of feel like these days it's how a piece looks is the important thing and not the idea or the thinking behind it.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah. So ah I wonder whether modern artists are more worried about how how how the piece comes across on Instagram and yeah rather than... if it's all right, if it works superficially, it's okay in every other way.
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah. It's enough. It's enough to work on superficially. Right, and you'll get loads of people with likes and comments and shares, and then you'll be you'll have a little following, and then you'll get in a gallery because you'll go, look, I've got 100,000 people who like my my work and this and they're selling it and it becomes a bit like a bit of that.
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah. I'm not saying that it's all like that, but it kind of feels a bit like that these days. Yeah, yeah. little... I don't know. um And i I am aware of sounding, as you say, like an old man.
00:37:04
Speaker
But I can't help it. I try not to be. um but I'm aware of myself sounding like an old man. And i i I pull myself up on it, you know. Right. And I kind of add like my own filter for myself.
00:37:18
Speaker
Stupid old bastard, you know. You bastard. But it keeps coming back, you know. Like acid reflux. Right.
Valuing Human vs. AI Art
00:37:29
Speaker
I mean, use this kind of argument right i mean you say that kind of the art world has pulled us out. before but music has never had the current problem of of AI right because it's always been in musicians they learn their instrument they create bands they make albums and singles whereas you know like now AI can kind of do all that so and so So for the first time, they're also being the ones to kind of go, oh, shit, I've got to pull us out.
00:38:06
Speaker
but We have to pull us out. So it's not just ah now. It's kind of like it's but it's people who write as well. They're having to, for the first time, they're having to go, oh, shit, we're going have to like – We have to react to all this fucking AI stuff. and And so I think where where that eccentric weirdness, just to bring back to I think that is, I think it's going to come back. I think that, I think all that that we're feeling like we're missing, I think it's coming.
00:38:36
Speaker
I think it's coming. Yeah, because like there was a thing um on Spotify you can find, Like 1960s and 70s Japanese jazz vibe compilation albums that are completely and utterly fake.
00:38:56
Speaker
The album art is fake. The whole so thing, the whole sound is fake. It sounds pretty good, but it's not real. no So for me, i there's a lot of debate about this, but for me, if I don't know it's been made by the human hand, as so speak, then it has no value to me.
00:39:21
Speaker
Right. You know, it kind of, um um i'm I feel kind of, it needs to be empty. m Right. There are robots now that could, could they there are robots now that could take a piece of marble that Michelangelo used. and could do an exact, exact copy of the David sculpture.
00:39:45
Speaker
Okay? Yeah. But if you know it's a robot, what's the point? And you probably can't tell the difference between the two. It loses its its its value. Yeah, it loses its soul. Right. But how do you put a value on soulfulness? Right.
00:40:02
Speaker
You know, you can't. it's It's difficult. But we'll have to at some point. We'll have to. Right. but as you as you say, it's like if you know the the story behind the piece and the person and you can connect to it, then it adds value, right? so Yes.
00:40:20
Speaker
So you do sculpture, you do photography. um So the more you sell yourself and your story, that that connects you to the ass and that gives it value.
00:40:32
Speaker
and but i mean but But I think that's where ADHD, autism, ADHD, and being ex eccentric, I think us as a whole group of creative and different will be the fucking driving force of this. Yes!
00:40:52
Speaker
We'll be the forefront. Oh, definitely. Definitely. We'll be the ones could know to reign it back in again. Right. so Come on, get a grip. you know We're going to be the ones that break us out of this AI bullshit and all this is how this cookie cutter world that that we're in. And I think it's interesting that, you know how we talk about Monty Python and all that kind of like stuff. That was post-war. Mm-hmm.
00:41:21
Speaker
ah absurdism right which is a form of but of nihilism which is like the world is doesn't make sense so let's just have a laugh right that's basically that's the whole point of that and I think now because of the world is how it is and all the fucking shit and the bombs and the crap going on now I almost feel like that spirit is gonna come into the into us as well. It can be a backlash.
00:41:53
Speaker
I hope so. but It's just that kind of up up the the world doesn't make sense so we're just going to do what the fuck we like. Yeah. We are who we are. Yeah. ADHD, LHD, we are going to be creative and we're just going to do shit.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah. We're just going to go fuck it. Probably because we're not able to do do it any other way. We don't know how to do it. You know, we don't know how to follow the rules. You know, it's...
00:42:24
Speaker
It's kind of instinctive for us to like, no, fuck that. Right. and And because there's much more ah much more awareness around ADHD and ADHD, via TikTok, we're all connected up. Yeah. We aren't weird. We aren't a weird in silos anymore. We're not weird on our own anymore. Yeah. We are a group. I know you. I know other people. They're all creative. They're all doing things.
00:42:50
Speaker
They're all little things. Yeah. It turns out we're really fucking cool as ah as a community. I mean, second this podcast is is is that. This is you and me as and as as as a reaction to all the crap that's going on and me, I'm waving a spanner around because I'm weird. monkey spanner. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:14
Speaker
a monkey spanner right yeah I don't even got Bob Ross behind me. Fucking Bob Ross. Yeah.
00:43:25
Speaker
But I definitely feel myself reacting to it, coming into you know thinking about what you're saying. i I mean, I'm looking at, you can't see...
00:43:37
Speaker
my my room it that's behind the camera. And it's total chaos. It's like this wall up here represents my fight against AI, you know.
00:43:51
Speaker
And it's becoming more and more kind visceral and obvious. Right. You know, the reaction against it subconsciously as well. I think, ah yeah, I think, as yeah, I think this is a really good point, I think, to kind of like leave this. I think i think we've, a four for once, Paul, we've actually dug deep. Yes.
00:44:17
Speaker
in ah In a very real and tangible way. Yes. And we're saying that, you know, that, Eccentrics have been silently um um affecting culture right for years and years and years and years yeah in its own way, kind of silently, you know, because we don't, you know, eccentrics that just generally don't make war and stuff like that.
00:44:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's kind of, um yeah, it's kind of affected culture in and in its own parallel universe almost. right and it And it's colliding with the real world occasionally when it needs to.
00:45:06
Speaker
When it needs to, which is now. Now, bloody now. So so maybe the the the question isn't why are ADHD people eccentric? Maybe the question is why a society expects everyone to to behave the same because, you know, our ADHD brains are slightly off-center and sometimes that's where the interesting stuff is. That's where all happens.
00:45:35
Speaker
Right. but like berlin All all the but the greatest scientists in the world, they were crazy eccentrics. Yeah. Because they dared to think differently.
00:45:47
Speaker
They dared. Right. Lovely. Fantastic. Good chat, Paul. That's good. <unk> a Round Round of applause there.
00:45:57
Speaker
All right. Well, you know what? We are going to have to like ah get back into the elevator. Right. Because I think ah we'll just go up to the pub and have a little but bit of a pub quiz.
00:46:11
Speaker
Yeah. So the elevator, somewhat eccentrically, takes us back to the pub. Yeah. Without the tractor. I know.
00:46:22
Speaker
I know. That's amazing. love that. Carbon footprint, mate. Yes. and Right. And the price of diesel. Right.
00:46:33
Speaker
Okay. So it's let's hit the music. It's the quiz. It's the quiz.
00:46:44
Speaker
No, it's not the quiz. We've got to do the ratings first. Oh, fuck it. we do have joe martin and i'm so excited i'm so excited for the quiz because last last week i was very excited for for this week all right let's rate let's rate being x6 eccentric
00:47:14
Speaker
is uh being eccentric is it is it a dopamine hit or is it a burnout thing What say you? Pulio. I'll give it 10. oh After that. Dopamine hits a 10.
00:47:29
Speaker
Stirring conversation we just had. Yeah. Fired up for it. Yeah. i will I will say yes. I will i will will just join you on a 9.9. Solid Solid and definitive.
00:47:46
Speaker
okay Burnout. Burnout. And I think that that's kind of like, that's society's reaction to you, right? That's like, oh, you're being weird. Right. Or you feel like you're being weird. And they try and push you in your little box. Yeah. But that's them, that's not me.
00:48:08
Speaker
Yes, but that has an effect on you, right? Yes. That was a good point, well put. Yeah. You can't think, oh, I'm an alien. Yeah. in But at the same time, go back to what my dad said, oh, you're my weird son, and that was always a badge of honour for me.
00:48:24
Speaker
Right. That was an identity. So I'm going to give burnout score or a solid one. Oh, wow. Look at that. i I'm going to give it more like ah higher up because ah because I kind of feel like it it does take it out of has taken it out of me, certainly in the past. and As you get an older, kind of doesn't so much.
00:48:45
Speaker
so I suppose you're right. Can I change my mind? Yes. I'm just thinking, yeah, there was shame attached to being different. Right. For a while. Yeah.
00:48:57
Speaker
So now it's different, but on over a stretch of 59, almost 59 years, i'm going to ramp it up to a a five. Yeah, I would say five as well. So there we go. I'll go 5.1 just to be different.
00:49:13
Speaker
what Eccentric. Oh, there we go. So what was your scores at home? let Let us know. Yeah. How weird are you? What weird things do you do?
00:49:25
Speaker
but but but but zi What's the weirdest thing that you've done? was just thinking that. ah yeah That would be an interesting one. Yeah.
00:49:35
Speaker
i mean I mean, unfortunately, we we have to crack on with with with the podcast. That could be weird things that I've done could be a quiz for a future episode.
00:49:49
Speaker
Oh, here we go. Weird shit that I've done. Yeah, okay. All right. Let's have the quiz, Martin. No, heres go oh because we have yeah we have to go to Alexandra's Haunted Inn first.
00:50:03
Speaker
Oh, Jesus, yes. It's a shambles. Yes. Well, unfortunately... We're going to get into
00:50:15
Speaker
it into a tractor and make it away there.
00:50:23
Speaker
All right. all right ah All right. As always, Alexander's left a rather lovely long ah comment on our auto our we or our YouTube channel.
00:50:34
Speaker
You can write good comments too. Yes. and Do it. Do it. Do it. Just say hello. Even if it's just a thumbs up emoji or tell us why we're crap. Yeah.
00:50:45
Speaker
I don't care. Just don't tell us why we're middle of the road, you know. Yeah. they Like with Phil Collins or something. Enya. You know.
00:50:58
Speaker
in art Oh, are we the Enya of podcasts? I hope not. Or even more middle of the road, even more middle of the road than Enya and Phil Collins, the guy that wrote Lady in Red.
00:51:12
Speaker
Oh, oh, Jesus Christ. Lady in Red. He was Irish as well.
00:51:23
Speaker
it' anyway you meet him Anyway, so she's ah left ah a note. So last week we we talked about buses and trains, public transport. um and they There was a lot in her comment. But anyway, she says, ah as he says oh i've I've taken a train from Rome to Florence. So Rome's near you, right? Yeah.
00:51:44
Speaker
And Florence. um Best route ever, Pamela. Have you taken the train between Rome and Florence? Is that a thing that you've done? No.
00:51:56
Speaker
Well, she highly recommends it. No, I've not done it. I've done... No, I haven't been that far in Italy by train. but Right, right. No.
00:52:11
Speaker
um And then you also talking about that you went on a on a on a trip to Istanbul. Yes. A group trip. And apparently ah you can take a bus from from from from Greece to Istanbul. In groups.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yes.
00:52:31
Speaker
In groups, by the way. And I think there's a train too from Thessaloniki. Oh, Jesus Christ. Thessaloniki. yeah Thank you, Paul. Thessaloniki.
00:52:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ba And and and and and she ah she travels from chi chose from paris paris to corfu right i was i was i was taking the boat switching two subway stations to the airport with all my luggage i need a week of rest after that i'm not surprised yeah yeah i've been to i've been from paris to um athens on a couple of occasions it's quite a quite journey
00:53:18
Speaker
Nice. All right. All right. I think i can now safely hit the ah hit the quiz button. So we're going to hear it again. Yes.
00:53:32
Speaker
quiz. It's a quiz. Finally. All right. so Just an update on our scores. um Currently, I'm on six points and you're on three points.
00:53:43
Speaker
Right. ah No pressure. No pressure. But all right. So our quiz is, as always, um it's it's three questions, um three possible answers, and one of the answers is false. So you have to pick out the false one. and This is going to be the... um I like history-based.
00:54:06
Speaker
This is a history-based weirdness quiz. Okay, right. People of history being weird. Okay, right.
00:54:17
Speaker
All right, here we go. Do you mean like it's on topic, Martin? It's very on topic. Semitic. Right, here we go. All right, question number one.
00:54:29
Speaker
Eyes down for a full house. Which of these strange habits from historical figures is false? A. Napoleon Bonaparte refused to eat any food that was green in colour.
00:54:46
Speaker
Okay. Or is it B. Charles Dickens insisted on sleeping facing north because he believed it improved creativity.
00:54:58
Speaker
Five. all it All very eccentric so far. Very eccentric behaviour going on here. or C. Ludwig van Beethoven counted exactly 60 coffee beans for every cup of coffee he made.
00:55:15
Speaker
So which one of those is false? And Napoleon ah ah refused to eat any food that was green. Charles Dickens always insisted on sleeping facing north. Or Ludwig Beethoven with his 60 coffee beans exactly.
00:55:32
Speaker
Dickens. Because I know bit about Dickens. He wasn't... I don't think he was particularly eccentric, Dickens. Whereas Beethoven was mad as trousers.
00:55:46
Speaker
as was Napoleon. I'm going for Dickens. Right, because he seems the most sane one out of the two. Yeah. The answer is actually... Dickens. Napoleon but Bonaparte.
00:56:02
Speaker
Damn it. ah But yeah, charles charles Charles Dickens did face North. Wow. didn't believe it. And Ludwig van Beeren counted his coffee beans of a morning.
00:56:19
Speaker
Blimey, okay. can't believe it. On that similar note, on eccentricity, Mozart kept a fart diary. Oh, yeah.
00:56:30
Speaker
he was obsess rocker He was obsessed with poop. Yeah. That guy. He was he was like, that that was there was like writing music and poop, I think, were kind of like, I don't know, 50-50 in his head.
00:56:46
Speaker
Okay. but Question number two. which of Which of these bizarre habits from famous thinkers is false? Number one, Nikola Tesla yeah ah developed an emotional attachment to pigeons and claimed one of them was the love of his life.
00:57:13
Speaker
B, Salvador Dali held a key over a metal plate while napping so the noise would wake him and capture his dream ideas.
00:57:27
Speaker
Oh, that's so Dali. Yeah. Or or c Albert Einstein refused to sit down while thinking, pacing for up to 20 hours a day.
00:57:39
Speaker
say Oh, so that's true. Nikola Tesla with his attachment to pigeons, Salvador Dali with his ah metal plate and key, waking up dream machine, whatever Einstein. I know that Einstein, he went regularly on long walks every day.
00:58:00
Speaker
Long walks, um... were a massive part of his life. And so he was a very much so kind of that would be shifted like a lot. Right. I'm going that number one is false.
00:58:16
Speaker
So what was number one? Pigeons. He wasn't in love with pigeons. He was in love with doves.
00:58:27
Speaker
cause you that That's how sneaky you are, Martin. Martin. That's how sneaky you are. Just swap out doves for pigeons. um The actual answer, the fourth one, is Albert Einstein.
00:58:43
Speaker
yeah Even though he did walk a lot, but he didn't he didn't refuse to think. I mean, he he would actually think, you know, he was not in bed I wasn't listening properly.
00:58:59
Speaker
Oh, okay. All right. i lost I've lost. I'm now just playing for pride to again. Nikola Tesla did. um he he he he He loved pigeons as much as... he He said as much as a man loved a woman.
00:59:18
Speaker
Wow. He was intimate. He had a really shit mother, didn't he, Tesla? Did he? I don't know. he must have done if he did if he had such a pride...
00:59:29
Speaker
yeah yes my Yeah, mummy problems. Right. It was like, my mum was so bad, i think I prefer a pigeon. You know, ho I can vaguely follow that line of thinking. Okay, playing playing for pride.
00:59:43
Speaker
Playing for pride. so It's familiar, yeah. It's a familiar place for you. Okay, which of these strange historical behaviours is false? Number one, Pythagoras.
00:59:58
Speaker
yeah Banned his followers from eating beans. Right. um Number two, it's another Greek name.
01:00:10
Speaker
That's true. demonhanes practiceised speeches with pebbles in his mouth to improve his speaking that's true or C. That's true because it's been on another quiz, Martin.
01:00:27
Speaker
Has it? It has. Oh, okay. I think it's true because I was at one of his speeches and one of the pebbles popped out. No, I was one of the pebbles in a previous life.
01:00:38
Speaker
Jesus. In a previous life, I was a pebble. So that's true. Two is true. Come on. You've been places. Or C, Winston Churchill refused to speak before noon because he believed words were unlucky in the morning.
01:00:56
Speaker
So was it Pythagoras banning banning for his his students from eating beans, Demontices for his pebbles, or Winston Churchill for not speaking before noon?
01:01:09
Speaker
So i know that two is true. Three is very close to the truth. Because he didn't like talking to anyone in the morning. And he was famous for being impossible to talk to in the morning.
01:01:26
Speaker
And he would lock himself in the bathroom. Right. but But would he refuse to speak? like I mean, he he ran a country at war. I know. Stop trying to distract me, Martin.
01:01:38
Speaker
It's very naughty. you Do you think... Very naughty, Martin. No, it's the first one. The first one is false. the The first one, of unfortunately, you you you you would be wrong. so what Churchill did speak to people before noon. hee he He might not have liked it.
01:02:00
Speaker
Right. But he was a country at war, so he had to. He was quite eccentric, though, Martin. Yes. He used to have a bottle of wine every day for lunch.
01:02:14
Speaker
A full bottle of of of champagne every lunchtime. Jesus Christ. It was, i mean, a total pisshead. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:02:25
Speaker
All right. Well, ah I was trying to help you there. You were, Marty. Thank you very much. and And you were like, no! Because I thought you were...
01:02:36
Speaker
You were selling me like a red herring. No, I was trying to sell you a blue herring, which was good kind of herring. herring.
01:02:48
Speaker
Right. Let me put the scores up there for next week. All right, so speaking of next week, um next week's ah episode is going to be, I think, about ADHD and watching movies, watching films. So that's like either going to the cinema and watching films there or watching films at home. Habits. How do interact with that? you know do you Do you kind of talk over them? Do you kind of try and guess the plot?
01:03:20
Speaker
or do you just like lettic wave over you do you like other people in the in the you know like when you kind of turn up I watched um I went to the Robbie Williams film where where he's a where he is where he is a chimp don't if you've seen that Robbie Williams as a film and film at him as a chimp as a chimp right no it is good I liked it
01:03:52
Speaker
but Anything with Robin Williams is good. it was It's good. I liked it. It was weird, but I liked it. That's weird. I've got ah rob i'll got rob williams as as ah robie williams are Robin Williams Williams? Robin, the musician.
01:04:07
Speaker
Oh, really?
01:04:11
Speaker
um okay. He used to snort his AD meds. Right. hey Sorry. He used to snort his ADHD meds. He used to snort them. Right.
01:04:22
Speaker
Well, anyway. Maddest trousers. Okay. I was the only one in the cinema. Right. Right. hena ma right so you know be you like Being eccentric all by yourself.
01:04:37
Speaker
I mean, you know is that something that you like? you know de do you Do you like a full house or or do do you like to be there on on your own? So there's like there's plenty to ah chat about. Totally. Last time I went to the cinema once, was just after lockdown, went to the cinema in Palermo, completely empty apart from me, right?
01:04:59
Speaker
The film just started and one person came in. and sat next to me oh fuck off fuck off that person right fuck off somewhere else as well and looked at him and said are you fucking serious
01:05:18
Speaker
and so i said to him does that mean are you going to move or shall i move
01:05:25
Speaker
So I moved. and no oh oh obviously oh I was going to leave it on a cliffhanger to kind of find out whether you moved or he moved. Right. No, I did.
01:05:38
Speaker
like I but wasn't fast enough to cut you off. Yeah, okay. Alright, okay. ADHD watching movies. Cool. Alright, so that just leaves me to say... Yes. ADHD, Phil, is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us Most Weird. And feel free to correspond at Will in the comments. But there's more if you wish to see our beautiful, beautiful faces. No. Or Sally Fields.
01:06:07
Speaker
lover And you can also pick up a quill and email us at ADHDreal at gmail.com But in the meantime be kind to yourself. And I've besieged you fellow ADHDers fare thee well with gladness of heart.
01:06:22
Speaker
There! That's that! is done, mate. Another one in the bag. Is that 127...? Six. One, I aren't they? Blimey!
01:06:35
Speaker
hundreders of twenty seven six one two
01:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's not. I remember when we were doing our 26th one, we were like, ooh! We've done more than we thought we would do.
01:06:55
Speaker
Look at this now! Fucking crazy. We are so binge-worthy. Fantastic.