Archive for the ‘History’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse walks through the mist of a Sunday morning. Saturday nights can be particularly trying in Washington Heights. Especially now that it’s getting cool out, and you want to keep the windows open. But somehow a cool breeze at one in the morning just isn’t the same when it brings with […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Conspiracy, Decay, Dissonance, History, Landscape, Pessimism, Resignation, Ruins, Search, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Cars, Columnar Pin Oaks, Day, Facades, Night, Noise, Stereos, Streets, Townhouses
In which The Gay Recluse is officially one year old. So guess what! We made it through an entire year. For us, that meant 696 posts, 549 comments, 95 categories, 2,617 tags and 96,339 total views. It’s true that we were a traffic whore at times. Which we don’t regret, but lately we haven’t had […]
Filed under: Architecture, Dissonance, Health, History, Longing, Memory, Ruins, Search, The Gay Recluse | 6 Comments
Tags: Birthdays, Cities, Orchids, Solitude
In which The Gay Recluse ponders the Hills and the empty rooms of his past. So tonight we watched the most recent episode of the Hills. The first part was about Audrina. She had to help promote some horrible band for her job. She invited Lauren, who — now that they are on better terms […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Dream, History, Longing, Memory, Television | 2 Comments
Tags: Audrina, Couches, Empty Rooms, Fans, Heidi, Lauren, Lo, Spencer, The Hills
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
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. With the addition of Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket, the choice in the 2008 election is even more clear: it is those who embody the ethos of the city — the metropolis — versus the graceless, who are too afraid to doubt. We are […]
Filed under: Government, GWB Project, History, Pessimism, Politicians, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Birds, Democrats, Republicans, Sarah Palin
In which The Gay Recluse reports to the Board of Directors on monthly traffic-whoring metrix. I. Summary June marked our third best month on record, and — in light of limited time investment into the site — represents a promising long-term trend. If we’re ever in a position to start posting with renewed frequency, we […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Decay, Health, History, Science, The Gay Recluse, The Times, Traffic | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board Reports, City Room, Curbed, Forecasts, Gothamist, Metrix, Site Meter, The New York Times, Traffic Whoring, WordPress
In which The Gay Recluse remembers sitting at the airport. Just last week we were sitting at the airport. At the time it seemed painfully boring, but now we kind of miss it. Even though we know that if we went back we’d be painfully bored again. This is also why George Bush was elected […]
Filed under: History, Memory, Nostalgia, Pessimism, Philosophers, Politicians, The Gay Recluse, Writers-German | Leave a Comment
Tags: Airports, George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Walter Benjamin
In which The Gay Recluse suggests a link. The most beautiful ads are always for dead companies. Like this one we recently took on 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue. Does this company still exist? We hope not, because we don’t want to have to think about buying anything. New York City is filled […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Conspiracy, Decay, Disease, Dissonance, Dream, Gay, Graffiti, Health, History, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, Memory, New York City, Obsession, Pessimism, Photography, Quotes, Ruins, Search, Sickness, The Gay Recluse | 2 Comments
Tags: AIDS, Apple, Dead Companies, Gay Blogs, General Electric, Google, HIV, Microsoft
In which The Gay Recluse admires manholes. Time/Location: May 2, 2008 on 35th Street between 6th Avenue and Madison. By our calculations, there are approximately ten zillion manholes in New York City, and each has a cover; this is one of the largest and most striking. The alternating pattern of single and interlocking circles — […]
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Communism, Conspiracy, History, Infrastructure, Landscape, New York City, Obsession, Ruins, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Circles, Con Ed, Covers, Electricity, Manholes, Sewer, Squares
In which The Gay Recluse reports on monthly traffic whoring metrix to the Board of Directors. I. Summary After a record month of whoring in March, we experienced a slight dip in April. But! It was still our second best month on record. II. Traffic Whoring Metrix WordPress Total Views March: 13,957 Grand Total Number […]
Filed under: Architecture, Conspiracy, Decay, Gay, History, Infrastructure, Landscape, Search, Technology, Traffic | Leave a Comment
Tags: April, Board Reports, Metrix, SiteMeter, Traffic, Traffic Whoring
In which The Gay Recluse again laments the suffocation of the gay voice in American literature. If you’re like us, when you scanned through the list of books included in New York Magazine‘s recent “New York City Canon 1968-2008,” you had one reaction: wtf! where are the gays? In every other format, gays are represented […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Conspiracy, History, Infrastructure, Literature, Memory, New York City, Ruins, Search, Sickness, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, Writers-American | 4 Comments
Tags: 9/11, AIDS, Andrew Hollaran, Closet Cases, Dancer from the Dance, Edmund White, Gay Books, Gay Literature, Gay Voice, HIV, New York Magazine, Rick Whitaker, Sam Anderson, Susan Sontag
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and date of photographs: April 3, 2008, wheneverness. Work was difficult this week. It was hard to concentrate. Life felt very distant. We wished we could take a nap. Somehow it never ends. “I, too am obsessed with the George Washington Bridge, […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Dream, Gay, GWB Project, History, Photography, Quotes, Resignation, Ruins, Technology, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: George Washington Bridge, Sunsets, Work
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates human conception from a safe distance. Today we introduce our newest correspondent The Jessica Watch, who has expressed a willingness to satisfy our admittedly perverse voyeuristic impulses and keep us apprised as she moves ever closer to having a kid. TJW reports: I just had a barrage of tests, […]
Filed under: Government, History, Infrastructure, New York City, Photography, Search, The Gay Recluse, The Jessica Watch, The Spring Garden | 2 Comments
Tags: 59th Street Bridge, Asshole Doctors, Babies, Conception, Kids, Obstetrician, Parks Department, Penthouse, Single Moms, The Jessica Watch, Trees, Upper East Side
In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. Paul Krugman/Taming the Beast The Short Version: We need financial reform. So far none of the candidates seem to have noticed. In his words: “But you don’t have to be an economic radical, or even a vocal reformer like Representative Barney Frank… to […]
Filed under: Drivel, Faith, Gentrification, Government, History, Language, Politicians, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cohen, Death, Financial Markets, Kristol, Krugman, Obama, Race, Reform, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with The George Washington Bridge. Time and Date of morning photograph: March 21, 2008, 5:15pm-ish. Notes: This is the view of the George Washington Bridge from the north, in the remotest and most abandoned part of Manhattan. We see the pilings of an old pier and — […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Decay, GWB Project, History, Infrastructure, Landscape, Photography, Ruins, Technology, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Carcass, Green, Hudson River, Nasty Algae, Pilings, Rust, Sidewalks, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse kills two birds with one stone. Today we received a certain amount of shit for “trashing” Arthur C. Clarke as a major closet-case only milliseconds after he died. Fair enough, we trashed him a little. But our purpose in doing so — besides being an internet traffic whore, of course […]
Filed under: Disease, Dissonance, Gay, History, Language, Letters, Literature, Longing, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse | 5 Comments
Tags: Arthur C. Clarke, Closet Cases, Closet Queens, Internet Whores, Self-Hatred, The Gay Voice
In which The Gay Recluse retreats to our garden in Washington Heights. As it has done for thousands of years — and not just in our garden — the hellebore has sent forth the most beautiful, delicate blossoms at this improbable juncture, as if to taunt winter into sending one last storm. (Let’s hope nobody […]
Filed under: History, Landscape, Memory, The Spring Garden, The Winter Garden, Washington Heights | 4 Comments
Tags: Alexander the Great, Black Flower, gardening, Hellebore, Hellebores, Mythology, Pink, Spring, White, Winter
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
The Gay Recluse 