Archive for February, 2008
In which The Gay Recluse reads an acclaimed book of contemporary fiction and is more than disappointed. When we first received our copy of Call Me By Your Name (FSG, 2007) by Andre Aciman, we were a bit startled (but pleased, to be sure) that a book about a love affair between a 17-year-old boy […]
Filed under: Drivel, Gay, Literature, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Andre Aciman, Bad Books, Call Me By Your Name, Closet Case, Gay Voice, Homophobia, Stereotypes
In which The Gay Recluse is inspired by a classic. Of all the French photographers who documented Paris at the turn of the last century (and we don’t mean 8 years ago), we are most obsessed with Eugene Atget. Who can resist his urban streetscapes, his ghostly renderings of the city of light? And his […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Memory, Nostalgia, Pessimism, Photography, Pleasure, The Winter Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Eugene Atget, Litter, Paris, Roots, Trees
In which The Gay Recluse updates his informal but rather telling quantitative analysis of Modern Love, the weekly Style Section (of The Times) column in which openly gay writers almost never appear, and even less frequently describe a romantic relationship. This week’s piece: I Married a Republican: There, I Said It Subject: A (bland, suburban) […]
Filed under: Drivel, Politicians, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Fashion & Style, Gay Modern Love, Gay Stereotypes, Gay Voice, Gay Writers, Homophobia, Modern Love, Republicans, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse provides a fresh alternative to this week’s particularly bland and tedious Modern Love offering in The Times. “I Married a Lesbian Republican: There, I Said It” by Ann Hood and The Gay Recluse IT was happening again. I was at a cocktail party where the hosts were people I had […]
Filed under: Drivel, Government, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Fashion & Style, Gay Modern Love, Gay Stereotypes, Gay Voice, Gay Writers, Homophobia, Lesbian, Modern Love, Republican, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse looks at the suffocation of the gay voice at The New York Times and other hallmarks of the new dark ages. For those who missed it, we would like to point you in the direction of a recent post by Jeff Weinstein, in which he compares a truth about Jasper […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Literature, New York City, Nostalgia, Pessimism, The Times, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Food, Jasper Johns, Jeff Weinstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Roberta Smith, The Gay Voice, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse responds (in italics) to reader comments. Dear The Gay Recluse: I also live in Washington Heights, and was led to your blog through curbed.com. I read your parody post On Our Eulogy for Tuck-It-Away Self-Storage with giddiness and glee! We like you already; this has been a banner day at […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Decay, Gentrification, Government, Infrastructure, Knockbusters, Letters, New York City, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Amsterdam Avenue, Boston Market, Columbia University, Curbed, Development, Rent-Stabilization, Rite-Aid, Saint Nicholas, Uptown, Useless Shit, Washington Heights
In which The Gay Recluse pays tribute to his friends in Inwood. Of all the kind words and comments we received in response to our Gay Modern Love piece, we must acknowledge our friend Sayd in Inwood, who wrote this on Manhattan’s Peak: Oh, TGR. your story on gawker today was absolutely perfect. if i […]
Filed under: Gay, Gentrification, Good Rock, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: A Garden in Riotous Bloom, Big Boobs, Gawker, Gay Modern Love, Inwood, Manhattan's Peak, Mutual Admiration Societies, Skorakopock Rock
On Gay Modern Love (or Thanks to Stephen, I Came Out Twice: First as Gay, Then as a Recluse)
In which The Gay Recluse — as part of a Valentine’s Day special feature — encourages readers to visit Gawker. For those of you who have followed our informal-but-rather-telling quantitative analysis of the “Modern Love” column in The Times — in which openly gay writers almost never appear and even less frequently write about romantic […]
Filed under: Dream, Gay, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Gawker, Modern Love, The Gay Recluse, The New York Times, Valentine's Day
In which The Gay Recluse celebrates the demolition of an eyesore. Location: The intersection of Amsterdam and Saint Nicholas, between 162nd and 163rd Streets, in Washington Heights. Previously: We wish we had a photograph, but — alas! — a search through The Gay Recluse archives came up empty. Thus you will have to imagine a […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Knockbusters, Landscape, Photography, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Amsterdam Avenue, Camper Van Beethoven, Columbia University, English Elm, Knockbusters, Rite-Aid, Saint Nicholas, Useless Shit, Washington Heights
In which The Gay Recluse — with help from our United Kingdom correspondent, The London Eye — examines life abroad (instead of just dreaming about it all the time). Today, this breaking news from The London Eye: Dear The Gay Recluse Here’s a photo of a TV screen in one of the tube stations (Picadilly […]
Filed under: Infrastructure, Subway, The Gay Recluse, The London Eye, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Advertising, Bakerloo, London, MTA, Picadilly Circus, Television Screens, Underground, Vandalism
On the Gawker Executions
In which The Gay Recluse — in case you missed it — reports on today’s media frenzy. So get this: today Gawker “executed” four of its “more-stupid-than-funny” commenters, three of whom we specifically targeted in the post we wrote yesterday about (get out your pencils and paper) Gawker’s original post about Chris Crocker. Say what […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Drag Queens, Faith, Gay, Law, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chris Crocker, Conformity, Executions, Free Speech, Gawker, Homophobosphere, Velvet Rope
In which The Gay Recluse enjoys a game of “Would You Rather,” the elementary school game in which you must choose one of two offered alternatives and explain why. The Set-up: You are at the gym over lunch, about to get on to the treadmill for fifteen minutes when you realize — fucking-shit! — that […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Government, Memory, Pessimism, Politicians, Television, Would You Rather | Leave a Comment
Tags: 38-Special, Bethel Park, Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Rose, Condileeza Rice, Dead Battery, iPod, John McCain, Pittsburgh, Republicans, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, WDVE
On Gawker Commenters: Pretty Much Just as Homophobic, Ignorant and Self-Hating as YouTube Commenters
In which The Gay Recluse celebrates The New Dark Ages. Last night Gawker posted a piece about Chris Crocker, who has released a new video in which he responds to YouTube comments such as the following: –Next time you are walking in the street I hope you get run over by cancer –I WANNA KILL […]
Filed under: Drag Queens, Gay, Language, Sickness, Stereotypes, Technology, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: AIDS, Chris Crocker, Gawker, Homophobia, Homophobosphere, Self-Hatred, The Gays, YouTube
In which The Gay Recluse — with help from our United Kingdom correspondent, The London Eye — examines life abroad (instead of just dreaming about it all the time). Here we contemplate another wall from the Leicester Square station and note striking similarities to the uncommissioned masterpieces of New York City.
Filed under: Decay, Infrastructure, Subway, The Gay Recluse, The London Eye | Leave a Comment
Tags: Leicester Square, London Underground, New York City MTA, Ruins, Subway Walls, The London Eye
In which The Gay Recluse updates his informal but rather telling quantitative analysis of Modern Love, the weekly Style Section (of The Times) column in which openly gay writers almost never appear, and even less frequently describe a romantic relationship. This week’s piece: A Valley of Misery Between Peaks of Joy Subject: In this column […]
Filed under: Drivel, Gay, Language, Obsession, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | 1 Comment
Tags: College Students, Daniel Jones, Fashion & Style, Gay Stereotypes, Gay Voice, Gay Writers, Homophobia, Modern Love, Modern Love College Essay Contest, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse — with help from our United Kingdom correspondent, The London Eye — examines life abroad (instead of just dreaming about it all the time). Today, we contemplate the wall of a London Underground station and note striking similarities to some of the greatest uncommissioned masterpieces of New York City.
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Infrastructure, Subway, The London Eye | Leave a Comment
Tags: London Underground, New York City MTA, Ruins, Subway Walls, The London Eye
In which The Gay Recluse posts a photograph of a two-headed cat. Dear readers: We invite you to submit photographs of two-headed cats to us at thegayrecluse@gmail.com.
Filed under: Animals, Photography, Technology, The Russian Blue | Leave a Comment
Tags: Double Exposure, Flickr Test Blog Post, Russian Blue, Two-headed cats, Zephyr
The Gay Recluse 