Archive for the ‘Capitalism’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. Gail Collins/Unwelcome Surprises The Short Version: Who knew? In her words: “Memo to future disgraced politicians: The nation has discussed this at length, and we do not want to see any more stricken spouses at the press conference. ” Score: B (Boring) We […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Drivel, Government, Politicians, Resignation, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Elliot Spitzer, Gail Collings, Globalization, International Trade, Nicholas Kristof, Prostitution, Roger Cohen, Roses, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. Bob Herbert/Sharing the Pain The Short Version: More than ever, it sucks to be poor. In his words: “It is disgraceful that in a nation as wealthy as the United States, nearly a third of the people are poor or near-poor.” Score: D- […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Drivel, Government, Resignation, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bob Herbert, Elliott Spitzer, Poverty, Prostitution, Recession, Scandal, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. Today we are extremely honored to present another hot-gay-statue submission, this one a joint effort from Jeff Weinstein/Out There and John Perreault/Artopia. Jeff writes: I sent partner John to shoot Garibaldi in Washington Square Park and instead he came back with [a fuzzy shot of] […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Competitions, Gay, Infrastructure, Photography, Ruins, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bronze, Gay Statues, Hot Gay Statues, Louis-Leon Cugnot, The Park Avenue Armory, Young Jupiter
In which The Gay Recluse ponders New York Magazine’s “Best of New York” Special Double Ish. Recently, through a series of startling but ultimately mundane machinations we’d rather not get into because it involves that most hideous of modern chimeras (i.e., frequent flier miles), we happened to receive in the mail (we know, gross) a […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Gay, New York City, Retail, Stereotypes, Television, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Best of New York, Bravo, Frequent Flier Miles, New York Magazine, The Daily Intel, The Real Housewives of New York City
In which The Gay Recluse thinks about shit on the daily commute. As we walk through midtown each morning and each afternoon, we often pause to observe a fading silhouette on a wall; while somewhat decrepit, it provides comforting evidence — of a sort we are always on the lookout for — that Andy Warhol […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Decay, Dissonance, Drag Queens, Graffiti, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, New York City, Nostalgia, Obsession, Pessimism, Resignation, Sickness, The Gay Recluse | 6 Comments
Tags: Andrea Feldman, Andy Warhol, Candy Darling, Commuting, Dishonored, Edie Sedgwick, Flesh, Geri Miller, Greta Garbo, Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis, Joe Dallesandro, Marlene Dietrich, Nico, Outer and Inner Space, Superstars, The Past, The Velvet Underground
In which The Gay Recluse runs a contest. Sort of. We are extremely pleased to announce that we’ve already received our first hot-gay-statue submission, from Andrew of 801a.info, who tells us: “This is in Washington D.C., directly across from the White House. The pictures could be taken to look more salacious, I guarantee.” Really? We’re […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Competitions, History, Hot Gay Statues, Ruins, The Gay Recluse, Travel | 6 Comments
Tags: 801a, Contests, D.C., Gay Statues, Military Instruction, Washington, White House
On the Harlem Watch: Why Doesn’t the Kalahari Mention Its Awesome Next Door Neighbor, The Head Shop?
In which The Gay Recluse poses a question to a condominium development in Harlem. Yesterday Curbed posted an update (via Joe Schumacher) on the Kalahari, a controversial — aesthetically speaking — condominium development on 116th Street in Central Harlem that appears to be nearing completion. We recently observed the Kalahari on a field trip to […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Gentrification, Knockbusters, New York City, Photography, Retail, The Gay Recluse | 6 Comments
Tags: Condominiums, Curbed, Harlem, Head Shop, Joe Schumacher, Kalahari, Tribal Motif
In which The Gay Recluse agrees with a reader. As regular readers know, we recently took a field trip to Harlem, which led us to make the case that the city should “aggressively” rezone 125th Street. Of the many responses we received — some of which (as expected) were caustic to the point of incoherence […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Gentrification, Government, Infrastructure, Knockbusters, Landscape, Letters, New York City, Politicians, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: 125th Street, Amanda Burden, City Council, City Planning, Community Board 10, Community Board 11, Community Board 9, Harlem
In which The Gay Recluse makes a monthly report to the Board of Directors. I. Summary February was an outstanding month for The Gay Recluse. A combination of organic growth, continued linkage from Curbed and Queerty and several new links from Gawker all contributed to record numbers of visitors and page views. II. Traffic Metrix […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Infrastructure, Technology, The Gay Recluse, Traffic | Leave a Comment
Tags: Business Revenue, Curbed, Feedburner, Feeds, Gawker, Internet Traffic, Linkage, Metrix, Monthly Report, Queerty, RSS, SiteMeter, Technorati, Traffic Whoring, WordPress
In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. David Brooks/Remembering the Mentor The Short Version: Even though he was a Nazi, I loved William F. Buckley. In her words: “Buckley was not only a giant celebrity, he lived in a manner of the haut monde.” Score: F (Foolish) In this column […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Dissonance, Drivel, Film, Gay, History, Obsession, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: David Brooks, Luchino Visconti, Nazi Germany, The Damned, The New York Times, William F. Buckley
On Roses and Ruins
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station.
Filed under: Capitalism, Decay, Dissonance, Longing, New York City, Photography, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, Masterpieces, Roses, Ruins, Subway, Washington Heights
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and Date of photograph: February 28, 2008, 7:56am. Notes: The sky is starting to seem spring-like, but it was actually close to minus-fifty. “It was to be encased in granite but because of the Depression was never done and the structure […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Dissonance, GWB Project, Photography, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1947, Blue, February, George Washington Bridge, James Renner, Minus-Fifty, Morning Light
In which The Gay Recluse reads the usually dependable City Room and says wtf. Yesterday City Room crapped out an astoundingly bad (and factually inaccurate) propaganda piece called “Should All of 125th Street Be Declared Historic?” in which they discuss a “proposal” — until now, completely unheard of (and for good reason) — being put […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Drivel, Gentrification, Knockbusters, New York City, Retail, The Gay Recluse, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Adam Leitman Bailey, Audubon Ballroom, City Room, Crap, Harlem, Knockbusters, Lawyers, Malcolm X
In which The Gay Recluse appears on the back of a tattered subway poster in the post-apocalyptic dungeon that is the 163rd Street subway station.
Filed under: Capitalism, Graffiti, Infrastructure, New York City, Subway, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: 163rd Street, C-train, Dungeons, Graffiti, MTA, Neglect, Post-Apocalypse, Ruins, Shitholes, Washington Heights
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 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
The Gay Recluse 