In which The Gay Recluse suggests a link.
The most beautiful ads are always for dead companies.

Like this one we recently took on 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue.

Does this company still exist? We hope not, because we don’t want to have to think about buying anything.

New York City is filled with ads for dead [...]

In which The Gay Recluse admires manholes.
Time/Location: May 2, 2008 on 35th Street between 6th Avenue and Madison.

By our calculations, there are approximately ten zillion manholes in New York City, and each has a cover; this is one of the largest and most striking. The alternating pattern of single and interlocking circles — reminiscent of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse leaves New York.

Last month we went to Pittsburgh for a few days.

Even though we “grew up” there, it was almost like visiting a new (as in unfamiliar) city.

We always lived in the suburbs, and almost never went into the city except to see the Penguins!

This time though, we stayed downtown [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Gail Collins/Pinochle Politics
The Short Version: I’m bored with politics.
In her words: “Setting aside six weeks of preparation for the Pennsylvania primary turns out to have been a little excessive.”
Score: B- (Boring)
We agree with Collins that the Democratic primary is kind of difficult to follow [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time and date of photographs: March 26, 10am (ish). [We would have posted earlier but had a backlog of hot gay statues to attend to. (Plus we had to go to Pittsburgh for the weekend for a celebration.)]
We’ve repeatedly documented the monstrous plumes of black [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time and date of photographs: April 2, 2008, 7pm (ish)

Although the worst offender seems to have abated after we called 311 a few weeks ago, there are regular emissions of nasty-looking black smoke from almost all of the rooftops.

At least when it gets dark it’s [...]

In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station.

Consider the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades of gold and silver, all [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Gail Collins/A Black Hole Rating System
The Short Version: Well, these are not exactly the best of times.
In her words: “Let’s prioritize. Rank all your causes for concern on a scale of: ! (unfortunate development) to !!!!! (Large Hadron Collider has a bad day). ”
Score: [...]

In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of.
Today reader Scott LaPierre sends in this from Georgia, as in the former Soviet Socialist Republic. Scott writes:
i don’t know exactly what’s supposed to be going on in this mural/statue, but there seems to be a lot of innuendo here…it’s in Gori, Georgia (the town is [...]

In which The Gay Recluse imagines a life more exciting than his own.
Our newest correspondent — Deirdre’s Terrain — sends in pix of her desk at work, which she labeled only half-ironically as “CUBE Party!” along with the following report:
Look @ my cube

This is the view from where Deirdre sits. (Note the television!)

Here’s the [...]

In which The Gay Recluse makes a monthly report on traffic whoring to the Board of Directors.
I. Summary
A combination of organic growth, traffic whoring and links from Curbed, Gothamist, Towleroad, Slog and others contributed to record numbers of visitors and page views in March.
II. Traffic Whoring Metrix
WordPress
Total Views March: 15,033
Grand Total Number of Views: [...]

In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station.

Consider, if you will, one of the old panels on the subway platform wall, and observe the finely wrought precision with which each strip of peeling paint has by the hands of time been distressed in the subtlest shades [...]

In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of.
Today we present a submission from Seth Tisue, who sends in an entry from the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.
Let’s check it out, shall we?

Hot or not…? Are you kidding!!? This is seriously gay and smokin’ hot. Nicely done, Philadelphia! You have not been tentative in [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and Date of morning photograph: March 21, 2008, 5:15pm-ish.
Notes: This is the view of the George Washington Bridge from the north, in the remotest and most abandoned part of Manhattan. We see the pilings of an old pier and — most [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Gail Collins/A Catered Affair
The Short Version: Paterson should have left his wife at home.
In her words: “Everybody knows there’s only one revenge affair to a customer.”
Score: A- (Amusing)
We began this column a bit fearfully, but gradually succumbed to Collins’ witty take on the [...]

In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly gets lung cancer.
Time and date of morning photograph: March 21, 2008, 7:54am.

Time and date of evening photograph: March 21, 2008, 7:34pm

The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and [...]

In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge.
Time and Date of morning photograph: March 20, 2008, 6:54am.
Notes: Seriously, don’t these clouds look a little “Poltergeisty”?

Time and Date of evening photograph: March 20, 2008, 6:54pm.
Notes: We appreciate the black smoke, which is so good for our asthma.

“The George Washington Bridge over [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
David Brooks/The Bailout Artists
The Short Version: There are reasons why even free-market types should embrace a bailout in the housing crisis.
In his words: “It makes sense to try to find some circuit breakers so the housing market doesn’t totally collapse.”
Score: A- (Astute)
Brooks presents a very [...]

Paul Krugman/The B-Word
The Short Version: Bailout!
In his words: “As Bear goes, so will go the rest of the financial system.”
Score: B+ (Bailout)
Krugman predicts more woe for the financial markets, along with an inevitable (and very expensive) buyout. Unfortunately for a lot of people (and U.S. taxpayers), he appears to be right.
Roger Cohen/Obama’s Brother in China
The [...]

In which The Gay Recluse would laugh at government doublespeak (and the media’s reporting of the same) if it were in a novel instead of the real world.
Today Jeff Weinstein sent us the following quote from an article in The Times (of London) about the British government’s decision to reopen the asylum case of Iranian [...]