On the Work of The Gay Recluse in an Era of Bloggable Reproduction
In which The Gay Recluse fears reactionary forms of propaganda.
This is a blog called ‘The Gay Recluse.’ Here you will find words designed to provoke or stimulate or anger or entertain or bore you to death. Moreover, ‘The Gay Recluse’ is a fictional character written by another fictional character named ‘Matthew Gallaway,’ who in turn is played by ‘an actor’ named Matthew Gallaway.
Just as this is a photograph of a bridge and not the real bridge, Matthew Gallaway — again, via The Gay Recluse — should not be confused with ‘the real person’ — i.e., the actor — much less his past or future, which is sometimes depicted here in ways that to the uncritical observer might appear to ‘resemble the truth.’
Rather, we ask readers to consider these words as you would lines in a movie, which while at times may appear very close to a ‘biopic’ should not be confused with ‘real life.’ Most of all, we beg you to resist the temptation to use these words to bludgeon or provoke those who — like children or the mentally infirm — are suspectible to confusing words with reality, or for whatever reason lack the acuity (or desire) to appreciate this construct.
Or to put it more plainly: whatever you do, please don’t feel compelled to tell our fifth-grade teacher Mr. W___ (if you happen to bump into him) that we made fun of the polyester pants he wore (not to mention his ‘macho perm’) so that all of sudden we have him yelling at us on FB! (Note: this is a metaphor, and in no way should be understood to be something that ‘actually happened.’)
This is a blog called ‘The Gay Recluse.’ It is filled with words and images. It is a story about life (i.e., it is not a Tumblr). It is a fabrication. It is meaningful/meaningless only as a work of art. Any insight you gain from it is into your own soul, not ours.
Filed under: Architecture, Dissonance, Government, Philosophers, Photography, Technology | 2 Comments
Tags: Actors, Blogs, Fiction, Meta, Propaganda, Walter Benjamin
A Note To Readers
Please note that The Gay Recluse has officially retired from blogging, but interested readers can now follow Matthew Gallaway on his blog here.Elsewhere for the Intrepid
Blogroll
- Acerbic Bubblegum
- Alex Ross
- Arch Noble
- Atherton Bartelby
- Bennett Madison
- Brendan Patrick Hughes
- Brett Berk
- Bright Year
- C-Monster
- Choire Sicha
- City Room
- Curbed
- Emily Magazine
- Ephemerist
- Fading Ad
- Fey Friends
- Francis Strand
- Gavin Plumley
- Gay Men’s Social Crisis
- GayAgenda
- Glennalicious
- Harlem Hybrid
- Hipster Runoff
- Inwood 10034
- James van Maanen
- Janeism
- Johnny I Hardly Knew You
- Manhattan Times
- Manhattan’s Peak
- MSnowe
- NYC The Blog
- One Monkey Show
- Out There
- Outside The Lines
- Queerty
- Rotten in Denmark
- Songs About Buildings and Food
- Sore Afraid
- Tangerines in a Red Net Bag
- The Main St. Diaries
- The Masterpiece Next Door
- The Streets Where We Live
- This Recording
- Tomorrow Museum
- Towleroad
- Trainstalking
- Trust Movies
- Write On My Man
- Zuzu Petals
The Popularity Contest
- On Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama and Frank Rich's Decision to Sell Us, His Largest and Heretofore Most Devoted Constituency, Down the River
- On the 2007 Award for the Most Remarkably Opaque Book Review
- On the City Pattern Project: Parisian Booksellers Edition
- On Hot Gay Statues: Sadly, Murray Hill Not Exactly Thriving
- On Hot Gay Statues: Florence Getting Hotter
- On Hot Gay Statues (Special Investigative Report): Washington DC Embroiled in Hot Gay Statue Scandal!
- On Whether Milan Kundera Is a Homophobic Asshole
- On the George Washington Bamboo Project
- On Which Neighborhood in the United States Has The Hottest Gay Statues
- On Our Deep Admiration for the Realtors and Developers of Washington Heights
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The Past
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google verification
Talk about a disclaimer for the internet age: Zowie! (Sometimes I forget you were/are a lawyer….)
Ceci n’est pas une pipe?