Archive for May, 2008
In which The Gay Recluse reports on monthly traffic whoring metrix to the Board of Directors. I. Summary After two record months in March and April, May witnessed an overall drop in traffic whoring, but was still our third best month ever. Some of this can be attributed to the same macroeconomic trends that have […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Gay, Health, Technology, The Gay Recluse, The Times, Traffic | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board of Directors, Corporate Governance, Internet Traffic, May 2008, Metrix, Traffic Whoring, Whores
On How Incredibly Fucked Up: Book of Closet Cases Wins Lambda Literary Award for Men’s Fiction
In which The Gay Recluse is rather perturbed. Hey, apparently all it takes to win a Lambda Literary Award for Men’s Fiction — even if you’re not gay! — is to write a seriously homophobic treatment of a teen romance, get a bunch of testimonials from important straights, and put a smokin’ hot cover on […]
Filed under: Competitions, Conspiracy, Drivel, Gay, Language, Sickness, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, Writers-American | 4 Comments
Tags: Andre Aciman, Gay Voice, Homophobia, Lamda Literary Awards
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: My Dropout Boyfriend Kept Dropping In by Lee Conell Subject: A college […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Search, Sickness, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Modern Love, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse presents a gay alternative to this week’s Modern Love offering in The Times. Those looking for our quantitative analysis should click here. My Dropout Girlfriend Kept Dropping In By LEE CONELL and THE GAY RECLUSE Published: May 31, 2008 IN April of my freshman year, my girlfriend, Terry, decided she […]
Filed under: Search, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Gay Modern Love, Lee Conell, Modern Love, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse gets servicey. Reader Russell writes: I know that it’s a little our of your way but on June 8th, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association will hold the 19th annual historic house tour. Each year, the MMPCIA organizes a tour of ten or so historic homes in and around […]
Filed under: Architecture, Gentrification, Letters | Leave a Comment
Tags: Activities, Harlem, History, Mansions, Uptown
In which The Gay Recluse is nonplussed. From our subway station at 163rd Street: We’re all for organ donation, but we find this advertisement rather too exuberant. Is this woman giving or receiving? Oh and another weird thing: someone graffiti numbered all the people in this poster. Seriously: creepy. “Awesome! I’m 24!” We’ve never seen […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Photography, Science, Sickness, Stereotypes, Subway, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cheerful People, DMV, Organ Donors, Subway Ads
On Ferns and The Hills
In which The Gay Recluse loves ferns and The Hills. This year we started watching The Hills. Everyone laughs at us when we tell them how much we like it. And how much better it is than Gossip Girl. (Not that we like Heidi or Spencer.) Everyone seems so upset by the idea that they […]
Filed under: Search, Sickness, Stereotypes, Television, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden | 2 Comments
Tags: Audrina, Ferns, Gossip Girl, Heidi, Lauren, Spencer, Teevee, The Hills, White Noise
In which The Gay Recluse rejoices over the end of gentrification in Washington Heights. Rejoice, kind and courageous foes of gentrification! For those many of you who have added your voice to the cause — i.e., our allies in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and other gentrified neighborhoods around the city who have never ceased to warn us […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Drivel, Gentrification, Infrastructure, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 6 Comments
Tags: Coffee, Deaths, Patries, The OC Bakery and Cafe
In which The Gay Recluse says goodbye to Berlin. Before we went to Berlin, we were kind of dreading it. After all, it was a work trip, which means we had to do some work. Plus, German is not our strongest language. And this eagle was not exactly welcoming, either! But then we saw how […]
Filed under: GWB Project, Landscape, Memory, Nostalgia, The Gay Recluse, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Birch Trees, Bullet Talons, Eagles, Manhole Covers, Rhododendron, Tiergarten, Work
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. Ok, to all the doubters who thought that the Hot Gay Statue contest was winding down, we refer you to reader Genghis Kuhn, who recently wrote us with the following: [Herewith a] few pictures from my recent “research” trip to London. The firefighting statue is […]
Filed under: Architecture, Competitions, Gay, Hot Gay Statues, The Gay Recluse, Travel | 1 Comment
Tags: Bangin' Bods, Big Snakes, Doubters, Firefighters, Gay Firefighters, Hot Gay, Hot Gay Statues, Phallic Symbols, Statues, V & A Museum
In which The Gay Recluse stays in a swank hotel in Berlin. One good thing about going to Berlin for work was our company paid for the hotel, a little boutique called Goethe 87 in the west. Even though it wasn’t that expensive in euros — about 100/night — that’s the equivalent of $10,000 US […]
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Photography, The Gay Recluse, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Damask, Euros, Exchange Rates, Geothe 87, Hotel, Stencil, Wallpaper, Weak Dollar
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: Instant Message, Instant Girlfriend by Roger Hobbs Subject: A nerdy but sweet […]
Filed under: Animals, Gay, Search, Sickness, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Roger Hobbs, The New York Times, Zoos
In which The Gay Recluse presents a gay alternative to this week’s Modern Love offering in The Times. Those looking for our quantitative analysis should click here. Instant Message, Instant Boyfriend By ROGER HOBBS and THE GAY RECLUSE Published: May 24, 2008 FOR several years I had a problem unusual among Internet geeks: I had […]
Filed under: Gay, Search, Stereotypes, Technology, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Daniel Jones, Dweebs, Gay Modern Lover, Modern Love, Nerds, Roger Hobbs, Teens, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse dreams of a new career. Ever since we visited Prague a few years ago we have been obsessed with becoming a sidewalk builder. This obsession was rekindled in Berlin, which has lots of sidewalks made of small stones. Please! Step into our office. Could someone please hand us a stone? […]
Filed under: Architecture, City Pattern Project, Landscape, Photography, The Gay Recluse, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Career Counseling, Pavers, Prague, Sidewalks, Stones
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with manhole covers. Here’s something you won’t typically read about in guidebooks to Berlin: the capital of Germany has some freakin’ kickass manhole covers! This is pretty much our favorite manhole cover these days. At 4′ by 4′, it’s not small, either.
Filed under: Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, The Gay Recluse, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Germany, Guidebooks, Manhole Covers
In which The Gay Recluse becomes obsessed with orange tiles. We recently spent some time in Berlin at the conference center, much of which was done in orange tiles. Yes it was garish but there was something appealing about it. Maybe it’s just because it seems like nothing you ever see on this side of […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, Infrastructure, Subway, The Gay Recluse | 3 Comments
Tags: Berlin, ICC, Orange Tiles, The Clash
In which The Gay Recluse remembers life in Washington Heights. We’re in Berlin, which means we’re nostalgic for the George Washington Bridge. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we? This was last Sunday morning, as in May 11. We don’t remember it, either. This was at the end of the day Monday, which […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, Nostalgia, Obsession, The Gay Recluse, Travel, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Berlin, Friday, Monday, Sunday, The George Washington Bridge, Tuesday, Wednesday
In which The Gay Recluse has shaky hands and doesn’t regret it. There’s a saying among serious gardeners. Annuals are gay! “Friends don’t let friends buy annuals.” We can appreciate that. The colors are sometimes kind of gay garish! But then again, we hate to be austere about anything. And perennials can be very temperamental! […]
Filed under: Gay, GWB Project, Longing, Photography, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Annuals, Botany, Drugs, Eight, LSD, orange, Pink, Yellow
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly dies of lung cancer as he becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. The oily black smoke of 100-year-old boilers disperses daily across the rooftops in Washington Heights, heedless of those (including birds) who suffer from pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis. Officials and politicians? Not even footnotes in this story, which […]
Filed under: Animals, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Photography, Politicians, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Asthma, Birds, Bridges, Cancer, George Washington Bridge, Rooftops
The Gay Recluse 