Archive for the ‘Landscape’ Category
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
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 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 old bricks. When we are born, our souls are encased in ice. At some point, some of this ice might thaw, leaving us exposed in ways both good and bad. It would be naive to think that anyone could emerge from this without some damage, although […]
Filed under: Architecture, City Pattern Project, Disease, Dissonance, Landscape, Ruins | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ice, Old bricks, Thaws, Winter
In which The Gay Recluse finishes reading Roberto Bolaño. Through the fourth part of 2666, Roberto Bolano’s epic treatment of many things, we were extremely forgiving of the many tangents and digressions that permeate the work; not only were we impressed by the obvious genius of the writer, but we marveled at his ability to […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Conspiracy, Gay, Landscape, Literature, Memory, Nostalgia, Writers-Chilean, Writers-German | 1 Comment
Tags: 2066, Archimboldi, Bolaño, Letdowns, X-Files
In which The Chaos Detective concludes his European assignment in Paris. Watch on Facebook. THE CHAOS DETECTIVE is a teevee series for the internet. “City of Dreams” is a five-part episode set in Europe. Future episodes will be located in New York City. City of Dreams (Part 1) City of Dreams (Part 2) City of […]
Filed under: Architecture, Conspiracy, Decay, History, Infrastructure, Landscape, Subway, Technology, The Chaos Detective, Video, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: City of Dreams, Fog, Paris, Teevee
In which The Gay Recluse reads Roberto Bolaño in stages. In the fourth book of 2666, we are presented with something of an encyclopedia of the literally thousands of crimes (99 percent of them against women) that occur in Bolano’s fictional border city of Santa Teresa — modeled on the real Juarez — over a […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Conspiracy, Decay, Disease, Dissonance, Gay, Landscape, Language, Literature, Sickness, Writers-Chilean | 1 Comment
Tags: 2666, Feminism, Juarez, Murder, Rape, Roberto Bolaño, Serial Killers, The Part About the Crimes, Torture
In which The Chaos Detective goes to Munich. Click through for “hi-quality” on YouTube or watch on Facebook. Stay tuned for the fifth and final installment of “City of Dreams.” THE CHAOS DETECTIVE City of Dreams (Part 1) City of Dreams (Part 2) City of Dreams (Part 3)
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Film, Government, History, Landscape, Search, Sickness, Technology, The Chaos Detective, Travel | 1 Comment
Tags: City of Dreams, Hofgarten, Kempinski Hotel, Ludwig II, Munich
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
In which The Gay Recluse watches teevee. There are times when we cannot believe how long we’ve been alive, and concurrently, how long — assuming a regular life span — we still have to go. Though admittedly it’s a thought that most often arrives during an afternoon meeting at work, it also crosses our mind […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Decay, Dissonance, Dream, Drivel, Landscape, Ruins, Search, Sickness, The Winter Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | 6 Comments
Tags: Cats, Depression, Fears, February, Layoff, Meetings, Recession, Snow, Tedium, Teevee, Work
On the Wahi Knockbusters Report: Why Did the City Tear Down Our Only Luxury Condominium Development?
In which The Gay Recluse remembers 2k6. In this weekend’s City Section of The Times, we learned that the city recently tore down the only luxury condominium development in Washington Heights, located on an undeveloped patch of land under the George Washington Bridge overpass. Nestled in the trees and rock formations, the site had promised […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Gentrification, Infrastructure, Knockbusters, Landscape, The Times, Washington Heights | 4 Comments
Tags: City Section, Columbia Medical, Hooverville, Luxury Condominiums, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse drinks virtual wine. Photographer Dino Dinco sent us an announcement for his art opening on Wednesday night, and — hey! — if we were in San Francisco, we’d totally go. Dinco’s show (click here for gallery info) includes shots of the desolate “cruising trails” in L.A. (somewhat ironically located near […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Landscape, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Art Openings, Dino Dinko, Gay Cruising, Los Angeles, Photography
On The Rest Is Noise
In which The Gay Recluse recommends a book about music. When we finished The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross’ survey of twentieth-century (classical-ish) music, our feelings were mixed; not about the book, which — as we are hardly the first to point out (Google it!) — works brilliantly on many levels. It’s really beyond our […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Gay, Good Rock, History, Landscape, Literature, Writers-American | 5 Comments
Tags: Aerosmith, Alex Ross, Classical, Free Jazz, La Monte Young, Led Zeppelin, Pierre Boulez, Pittsburgh, The Rest Is Noise, The Who, Walter Benjamin, WDVE
In which The Gay Recluse orders Sachertorte. In the United States — except for the rare exception — there is a well-documented dearth of hot gay statues. Occasionally you’ll see a statue and think, “hmm, he’s a lil gay.” (Or she, obv.) Or: “Why is that guy’s head between that other guy’s legs? It’s not […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Competitions, Conspiracy, History, Hot Gay Statues, Infrastructure, Landscape, Search, Sickness, Stereotypes, Travel | 5 Comments
Tags: Audubon Terrace, Bravo, David Beckham, Franz Liszt, Gonzagagasse, Johann Strauss, Models, NSFW, Pablo Picasso, Parliament, The L-Word, Vienna
In which The Gay Recluse goes to Paris. One thing that never seems to change in Paris: the booksellers — les bouquinistes — that line the banks of the Seine. These are the ones who operate out of those green metal boxes that sit atop the balustrade. Obviously this could never exist in the United States; […]
Filed under: Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, Decay, Dream, Flatware, Infrastructure, Landscape, Search, Travel | 5 Comments
Tags: Booksellers, Bouquinistes, Comics, Paris, Seine
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. Recently we heard from Mike, an American expat (and blogger!) living in Denmark who writes: I didn’t know about your blog this summer when I went to Florence, but now that blog-whoring’s brought us together, here’s a humble contribution: Though we’ve already covered Florence — […]
Filed under: Architecture, Hot Gay Statues, Infrastructure, Landscape, Photography, Pleasure | 4 Comments
Tags: Denmark, Expats, Florence, Hercules and Caucus, Photographic Eye
In which The Gay Recluse produces a teevee series on the internets. The Chaos Detective: City of Dreams (Part 2) In this episode, Chaos Detective Lasalle arrives in Vienna and embarks on his first assignment. [Note: if you click thru to YouTube, be sure to watch in “high-quality”: otherwise it’s kinda blurry/fuzzy!] THE CHAOS DETECTIVE […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Dissonance, Dream, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, Ruins, Search, The Chaos Detective, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Cafe Central, Sachertorte, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna
In which The Gay Recluse recommends a scholarly work. Recently we heard from Scott Gunther, an old friend of ours from college (we also spent a semester together in Paris) and law school. Scott is now a French professor at Wellesley — i.e., he’s practicing as much law as we are, lol — and it […]
Filed under: Gay, Landscape, Language, Letters, Writers-American, Writers-French | 2 Comments
Tags: Academic Works, France, Homosexuality, Scott Gunther, The Elastic Closet
In which The Gay Recluse goes abroad. We’ve always loved stencils (especially of Andy Warhol), so when we were in Vienna, we spent a lot of time checking out the graffiti stencils. Some of it was maybe really cute? Except does anyone know what this means, or why this girl is laughing, or why 2×3=4? […]
Filed under: Architecture, Dissonance, Graffiti, Infrastructure, Landscape, Politicians, Stereotypes, Travel, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Pippi Longstocking
The Gay Recluse 