Archive for the ‘Addiction’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse wonders why David Brooks is still in office. Ohai! We thought we’d play a lil game in which we pull quotes from three pieces about the exurbs, two written in 2k4 by David Brooks in The Times — “Take a Ride to Exurbia” on the opinion page and “Our Sprawling, […]
Filed under: Addiction, Capitalism, Drivel, History, Infrastructure, Knockbusters, Landscape, Quotes, Stereotypes, The Times | 3 Comments
Tags: Cities, David Brooks, Exurbs, Shallow Optimism
On the Search for Relevance
In which The Gay Recluse questions his brand. When we started blogging, we didn’t really know anything about the internet, much less “bloggable memes.” Until then, like most people in our demographic, we had spent our time on nytimes.com and our “Yahoo home page.” But we quickly discovered internet traffic, and modified the blog to […]
Filed under: Addiction, Dissonance, Gay, Gentrification, Infrastructure, Longing, Search, Traffic | 4 Comments
Tags: Bloggable Memes, David Beckham, Google Ads, Identity Crisis, The Guy Recluse
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. For most of us, repetition is an unavoidable facet of modern life; we might even go as far as to say that it’s been like this as long as we have lived in one village or town or city. When we were […]
Filed under: Addiction, Architecture, Benefits of Being Gay, Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, Conspiracy, Dissonance, Faith, Gay, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Obsession, Pessimism, Resignation, Travel | 1 Comment
Tags: Cities, iPods, Laptops, Powerbooks, Repetition, The George Washington Bridge, The Will, Villages
In which The Gay Recluse seeks to vex. Oh noes! It seems that we’ve upset Reader Arundel with our obsessive-compulsive need to repeat the same or similar photographic images over and over! Here’s what Arundel wrote: Hi. I forget where I first came across your blog, but I enjoy your posts and insights. Thank you. […]
Filed under: Addiction, Dissonance, Dream, Drivel, Letters, Pessimism, Sickness | 6 Comments
Tags: Affectations, Causual Readers, Distractions, Eyesores
In which The Gay Recluse watches French film. In Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket, the young (and kinda hot, in an aloof, cerebral way) lead is given to wandering the streets of Paris, looking into the eyes of men with whom he has the briefest and most exhilarating (but ultimately soulless) encounters. Surprise: at least superficially, this […]
Filed under: Addiction, Film, Longing, Obsession, Writers-French | 4 Comments
Tags: Dark Ages, Gay Film, Pickpocket, Robert Bresson
In which The Gay Recluse needs a nap. We’re not sure why, but this has been the longest week in history. The election, the economy, the daylight-savings extension: all of it has left us utterly exhausted. (Or maybe it was the ten beers we had last night?) Today when we couldn’t handle it anymore, we […]
Filed under: Addiction, City Pattern Project, Resignation | Leave a Comment
Tags: Blue, Posters, Yellow, Zoning Out
In which The Gay Recluse remembers his grandparents. Of our four grandparents, the only one we knew at all was our grandmother. And even she died when we were very young. Our evil uncle stole almost everything she owned, but our father managed to keep a few things, including this blue vase, which he in […]
Filed under: Addiction, Animals, History, Longing, Memory, Small Pleasure Project, Stereotypes | 2 Comments
Tags: Blue Vase, Chameleons, Drunks, Ft. Lauderdale, Grandfathers, Grandmothers, McCain, Nixon, Republican Assholes
In which The Gay Recluse considers a Palin administration and shudders. One difference between George W. Bush (and McCain) and Sarah Palin is that Palin is genuine to a degree Bush or McCain is/was not. Watching Bush (as much as we prefer not to) we get the sense that he — a Connecticut blue blood […]
Filed under: Addiction, Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Government, History, Memory, Pessimism, Politicians, Ruins, Washington Heights | 5 Comments
Tags: Demagogues, Sarah Palin, Thugs
On David Foster Wallace
In which The Gay Recluse remembers David Foster Wallace. When we turned 28 or 29, our friend Marla gave us a copy of Infinite Jest. We spent the next month or so locked in our room reading it, pretending to be sick and not going to work. To say it was Pynchonesque doesn’t really do […]
Filed under: Addiction, Pessimism, Ruins, Search, Sickness, Writers-American | 5 Comments
Tags: David Foster Wallace, Death, Heroes, Infinite Jest
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Actually, this was yesterday. (We were so much younger then, we’re older than that now.) I, too, have an obsession with the George Washington Bridge. However, mine involves a nagging compulsion to complete a football pass from the deck of the bridge […]
Filed under: Addiction, Architecture, Bad Rock, Good Rock, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Memory, New York City, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: August, Football, Reverse Bob Dylan, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse retreats to the summer garden. Remember that post we did on that stupid Nike ad? Huge traffic whores that we are, we immediately sent it to Queerty and Towleroad, and they picked it up. And then JoeMyGod and Gawker did pieces, too! And a bunch of other sites we never […]
Filed under: Addiction, Drivel, Gay, Language, Resignation, Ruins, Sickness, The Gay Recluse, The Summer Garden, Traffic | 5 Comments
Tags: Arthur C. Clarke, Feelings, Homophobia, Lilies, Lolz, Nike, Retirement, Traffic, Whores
In which The Gay Recluse provides a gay alternative to this week’s Modern Love offering in The Times. Those looking for our quantitative analysis should click here. When The Chutney’s Gone (or Before I Came Out as a Lesbian, I Was the Worst Kind of Scary Sadshaw) By SUZANNE FINNAMORE and THE GAY RECLUSE Published: […]
Filed under: Addiction, Dissonance, Drivel, Food, Gay, Language, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Coming Out, Daniel Jones, Divorce, Gay Modern Love, Lesbian, Scary Sadshaw, Suzanne Finnamore, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. David Brooks/Pitching with Purpose The Short Version: The key to life (and baseball) is mental discipline. In his words: “Not long ago, Americans saw the rise of a therapeutic culture that placed great emphasis on self-discovery, self-awareness and self-expression.” Score: D (Destroyed) Although we […]
Filed under: Addiction, Drivel, Government, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Baseball, David Brooks, Mental Discipline, Rick Steves, The New York Times, Therapy, Timothy Egan, War on Drugs
On V (x4)
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates four uncommissioned masterpieces from the walls of an uptown subway station and finds evidence of paranoia, conspiracy and entropy.
Filed under: Addiction, Conspiracy, Decay, History, Infrastructure, Obsession, Subway, Technology, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, C-train, Graffiti, Modern Art, MTA, Thomas Pynchon, V
In which The Gay Recluse live-blogs the Super Bowl. 5:58. Our friend T___ arrives to give us haircuts. He tells us that his mother, who is only 64 years old, has just been diagnosed with an inoperable form of brain cancer. She has just begun chemotherapy, and to give him encouragement, we tell him about […]
Filed under: Addiction, Dissonance, Dream, Film, History, Landscape, Photography, Technology, Television, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Contempt, Giants, Haircuts, Hong Kong, In the Mood for Love, Jean-Luc Godard, Le Mepris, Maggie Cheung, Netflix, Patriots, Super Bowl, Tawaa, Tony Leung, Wong Kar-wei
While we are the first to admit to possessing character traits that would regularly be described as obsessive, addictive and quite possibly manic — and is this not part of our charm? — we nevertheless take no small consolation in having never descended into the ranks of the toilety neurotic and insane. We were just […]
Filed under: Addiction, Capitalism, Health, Infrastructure, Obsession, Sickness | Leave a Comment
Tags: Degradation, Hatred, Insane, Interviews, Manners, Neurotic, Toilet, Toilet Covers, Toilet Seats, Toilety, Toilety Neurotic, Work, WTF
Did you see the story in today’s Times about the man — the window washer — who fell 47 stories (500 feet) and survived? He’s in the hospital and while basically a bag of broken bones, doctors say he should be walking within a year. Incredible. It reminds us of when we were at Cornell […]
Filed under: Addiction, Animals, Drag Queens, Faith, Memory, Sickness, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ann Coulter, Cascadilla Gorge, Cornell University, Miracles, Raccoons, Tragedies
As we turn the corner from the Upper Riverside Drive onto 160th Street in Washington Heights, the intricate but repetitive brickwork of the apartment palace lulls us into a dream in which we hear the droning, distorted guitars of Spacemen 3. This was the “Heroin” of our youth, the soundtrack of delirious, pretentious ambivalence for […]
Filed under: Addiction, Architecture, Capitalism, Good Rock, Memory, Obsession, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1960s, Baby Boomers, J. Spaceman, Riverside Drive, Sonic Boom, Spacemen 3, The Beatles, Velvet Underground
We pull and tug at the blanket — the first cold night of the year is upon us — but it doesn’t move even an inch: it is trapped under the leaden weight of cats in the night. We shiver at the edge of the bed, longing to be covered and warm, to retreat to […]
Filed under: Addiction, Dream, Longing, The Russian Blue | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cats, Day, Insomnia, Night, Science, Sleep
The Gay Recluse 