Archive for March, 2009
In which The Gay Recluse rebrands and retires. In the effort to be less ‘gay’ and less ‘reclusive,’ I’m ‘rebranding’ with a new blog written by ‘Matthew Gallaway’, which not coincidentally is the name I’ve used for my novel The Metropolis Case, which will most likely publish at some point in 2k10. I hope you’ll […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Dissonance, Landscape, Longing, The Gay Recluse | 4 Comments
Tags: Matthew Gallaway, Rebranding, The Metropolis Case
On Spring Break
In which The Gay Recluse goes on a trip. I’m going away for a few days/weeks/months. Hope you have a beautiful spring (via the mythical Helibores)! xoxo TGR
Filed under: Conspiracy, Health, The Gay Recluse, The Spring Garden | Leave a Comment
Tags: Goodbyes, Helibores, Spring
In which The Tsarina takes over The Gay Recluse. On your entry tonight, The Tsarina remarks by quoting Henry Miller (1941): “There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.” [Via reader CBNY.]
Filed under: Quotes, Resignation, Sickness, The Russian Blue, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1941, Crazy Worlds, Guest Blogging, Henry Miller, Salvation, The Tsarina
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today I read a disturbing post on the NYT’s City Room blog about a pair of teenagers who broke into a vacant apartment in Brooklyn, doused a cat with lighter fluid and then set it on fire. According to the article, “[t]he […]
Filed under: Brooklyn, Disease, Dream, Film, Gay, GWB Project, Memory, Philosophers, Sickness | 3 Comments
Tags: A Short Film about Killing, Cats, Crimes, Cruelty, Death, Judith Shklar, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Punishments, Richard Rorty, Teenagers
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with orchids. It is in the nature of certain people (ahem) never to be satisfied, which — depending on the context — can be a curse or a blessing. For example, I just finished a very delicious chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting (but not too sweet!) and […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Memory, Orchids | 2 Comments
Tags: Focus, Glasses, Happiness, Lenses, Sand, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today I finally read the New Yorker article about David Foster Wallace, which was by turns inspiring and depressing; inspiring because (and this is hardly a surprise) he seemed to genuinely believe in fiction as a means to reflect/analyze/transform currents of our […]
Filed under: Architecture, Disease, Landscape, Literature, Quotes, Resignation, Travel, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Airplanes, David Foster Wallace, Ennui, Huysmans, Pascal, The George Washington Bridge, Waves, Work
On March Light for Spring Phlox
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the spring garden. Though undeniably bright, there is a stark quality to the March sun that makes the phlox (and the sempervivum) seem — oddly — both luminous and bedraggled. The silver veins of the surrounding rocks add to this quality, and for a second I […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Dream, Landscape, New York City, The Spring Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | 1 Comment
Tags: Labyrinth, March, Phlox, Queens, Riverdale, Sempervivum
In which Dealth Culture at Sea* is a light that turns to blue. *Since there seem to be a few new folks stopping by here, a note of explanation: I used to play in an indie-rock band called Saturnine, and this — i.e., Death Culture at Sea — is my new ‘band,’ consisting of me, […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Death Culture at Sea, Dream, Good Rock, Orchids | Leave a Comment
Tags: Indie Rock, Late Bloomers, Music, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with spring. The Weeping Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens ‘the blues’) is one of the bluest of conifers. Blue conifers are true beauties. –Andy Warhol
Filed under: GWB Project, Quotes, The Spring Garden, The Winter Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Andy Warhol, Blue Conifers, Colorado Blue Spruce, Picea Pungens
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. (American gay fiction writer and flickering beacon during the Dark Ages of post-war American fiction) James Purdy died today, and as so often happens, The Times obit neglected to explicitly state that he was gay/queer/homosexual/vext. Not that you could really hide it […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Gay, Memory, Obsession, Ruins, Stereotypes, The Times | 5 Comments
Tags: James Purdy, Obituaries, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today the sky was windswept, which reminds of when I first moved to New York City and me and my friend Mike were walking around the Lower East Side one night — it was definitely winter — and we saw what could […]
Filed under: Architecture, Good Rock, Landscape, Memory, Weather | 2 Comments
Tags: Facebook, Meat Puppets, The George Washington Bridge, Tumbleweeds, Windswept
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. There is a pastel hue to the sky today that I haven’t seen since ____, which makes me think that summer is approaching. It reminds me of the sky I saw not too long ago in Vienna, although there the tones were […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Washington Heights, Weather | 3 Comments
Tags: Foreshadowing, Pastels, Summer, The George Washington Bridge, Vienna
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Today, before work. The George Washington Bridge is a true beauty — someone should write an opera about it! –Andy Warhol
Filed under: GWB Project, Quotes, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Andy Warhol, The George Washington Bridge, Work
In which The Gay Recluse is increasingly obsessed with spring. The garden at the end of winter is not exactly a joy to behold: branches are bent or broken, evergreens are pale, and even the ground — littered with dead leaves and twigs — seems inhospitable. But a closer examination reveals signs of life: the […]
Filed under: Longing, Photography, Resignation, The Spring Garden, The Winter Garden | 1 Comment
Tags: Climbing Hydrangea, Sycamore Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus "Eskimo Sunset"), Tree Peony
In which Death Culture at Sea looks back a few decades. Listen on our Tumblr or Download from the Death Culture at Sea site. “My Back for Thirds” Here I looked around In your dream I hit the ground I was bringing something wrapped in silk around to you But it was nearly cut in […]
Filed under: Death Culture at Sea, Dream, Memory | 1 Comment
Tags: Indie Rock, Ponzi Schemes, Retro
On Vexed
In which The Gay Recluse is vexed. Lately we’ve been thinking about how much we still kinda h8 the words ‘gay’ and ‘queer.’ Though we know that many in ‘the community’ consider this a ‘settled issue’ — and perhaps this is a vestige of our own self-h8red, which is not small by any measure — […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Drivel, Gay, History, Language, Quotes, Resignation, Ruins, Science, Search, Sickness | 15 Comments
Tags: Queer, Vexed, Vext
In which Death Culture at Sea breaks out the vintage gear. Until now, all of the Death Culture at Sea songs have been recorded with an acoustic guitar that frankly needs to be worked on a bit, and then we added distortion and all other effects ex poste facto. With this song, we finally retrieved […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Death Culture at Sea, Decay, Dissonance, Good Rock | 1 Comment
Tags: Cathedrals, Fender Princteton Reverb, Fender Telecaster Custom, Reverb, Sunsets
The Gay Recluse 