Archive for the ‘Landscape’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse dreams of decorating garden walls and office spaces. While in Vienna, we visited the Secession Building. According to Wikipedia: “The Vienna Secession was founded on 3 April 1897 by artists Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Otto Wagner, and others…In 1898, the group’s exhibition house […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, Conspiracy, Dream, Fashion, Landscape, Pessimism, Ruins, Search, Sickness, Travel | 4 Comments
Tags: Art, Garden Walls, Jugendstil, Offices, Secession Building, Tedium, Vienna
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. But not really. Today we received the above (and well, below) photograph from Eric Patton of Sore Afraid. (Which btw we recommend for anyone — like us! — interested in refreshingly unrelenting pessimism, literary angst, truthful travel writing and related rumination.) This statue, obv one of the […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Dissonance, Hot Gay Statues, Landscape, Search, Sickness, Traffic, Travel | 3 Comments
In which The Gay Recluse lands. We finally descended through the clouds, and — while looking out at the approaching city — were confronted by two questions. Is it possible that we actually live here? And could it really be 2009?
Filed under: Conspiracy, Decay, Dissonance, Dream, Landscape, Travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: Air France, Europe, Flights, Middle Age, Modernity, New World, New Year's Day, New York City, Old World
On the Scent of Cinnamon
In which The Gay Recluse files a book report. After we read Keith Banner’s The Smallest People Alive, we could not have imagined a more fucked-up society/culture than the low-class Midwest (US) described so effectively by Banner; imagine our surprise then, when we turned to another set of short stories — The Scent of Cinnamon […]
Filed under: Disease, Dissonance, Gay, Landscape, Literature, Ruins, Sickness, Writers-British | 1 Comment
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. Today reader (and blogger and Twitterer par excellence) Atherton Bartelby kindly sent in the following note, just days before leaving Hawaii for the mainland (or whatever we’re called over here). Atherton writes: I finally snapped a photograph of one of the Hot Gay Statues on […]
Filed under: Architecture, Competitions, Hot Gay Statues, Infrastructure, Landscape, Search | 3 Comments
In which The Gay Recluse reads a book of signs. One strange thing about growing up in Pittsburgh was that even before we lived anywhere else, we used to say that it — i.e., Pittsburgh — was haunted. But when people would ask us why, we were at a loss to explain: either you got […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Disease, Dissonance, Dream, Faith, Knockbusters, Landscape, Obsession, The Times, Washington Heights | 4 Comments
Tags: Books, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Signs Project, Pop Culture, Signs, Walter Benjamin
In which The Gay Recluse ponders gay marriage literary equality. (Ed: we accidentally published an earlier version of this piece with a lot of unfinished crap at the bottom — please disregard in favor of the below!). UPDATE: please check out this post for gay-oriented 2008 book recommendations from those better informed than us! Last November, […]
Filed under: Disease, Gay, Government, Health, Landscape, Language, Literature, Politicians, Stereotypes, The Gay Recluse, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Assfucking, Cocksucking, Fiction, Gay Marriage, James Balwin, Janet Maslin, Marcel Proust, Michiko Kakutani
In which The Gay Recluse remembers the fall. This weekend we visited family and spent time remembering what a weirdly obsessive kid we were in many ways, some of which involved books about birds and spiders, others of which involved stuffed animals, and still others of which involved a crippling fear of birthday parties. Perhaps […]
Filed under: Animals, City Pattern Project, Landscape, Memory, Obsession | 2 Comments
Tags: Birds, Birthday Parties, Commuters, Fall, Leaves, Spiders
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. Some mornings the pigeons arrive en masse and circle the rooftops over Washington Heights. One minute the sky will be blank, and the next it will be filled with birds — somehow they move as a single entity — careening like a speed boat on […]
Filed under: Animals, Architecture, GWB Project, Landscape, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Flocks, November, Pigeons, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse clarifies his thoughts on gay marriage after years of skirting the issue. Since we are gay and in a long-term relationship — almost ten years! — we are constantly besieged by frenz and relatives with questions that more or less could be summed up as this: “Oh it’s so sweet that you’re […]
Filed under: Disease, Dissonance, Drag Queens, Drivel, Gay, Government, Infrastructure, Landscape, Language, Law, Pessimism, Politicians | 5 Comments
Tags: Civil Unions, Gay Marriage, Marriage, Semantics
In which The Gay Recluse has a “special comment” for the straights. We’re obviously not the first to point this out, but it nevertheless seems incredible to us that our life in the city — as we approach our 41st year — is in some ways a tired script from a ridiculous sit-com. We’re talking […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Decay, Drivel, Gay, Knockbusters, Landscape, Monopoly, New York City, The Autumn Garden | 7 Comments
Tags: Dating, Japanese Maples, Ladies, Men, Sit-Coms, The Gays, The Straights
In which The Gay Recluse cooks. Yesterday we went for a walk in the rain, in part because we wanted to check out what was happening uptown, and in part because none of the grocery stores around us carry the curly parsley that we needed for the lentil soup we planned to make. We’ve been […]
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Dissonance, Food, Gay, Health, Landscape, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, Photography, Pleasure, Science, Search, The Autumn Garden, Washington Heights, Weather | 4 Comments
Tags: Cultural Revolution, Enbalmed Bread, Health Food, Lentil Soup, Recipes, Sugar Cereals, Uncle Jimmy
In which The Gay Recluse gets an answer. Hey, remember those awesome art-installation storefronts in Washington Heights? Our friends at Uptown Flavor just wrote to tell us that they’re part of an initiative sponsored by the West Harlem Art Fund.
Filed under: Architecture, Landscape, Retail, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Storefronts, Uptown Flavor, WaHi, West Harlem Art Fund
On Change in Washington, DC
In which The Gay Recluse returns to Dupont Circle. For the past few days we’ve been staying at a hotel not far from Dupont Circle, which is the same neighborhood where we lived after college and before law school. Mostly it makes us wonder: why did we ever move? It’s so nice around here! It’s […]
Filed under: Architecture, Dream, Government, History, Landscape, Memory, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Dupont Circle, Gay Couples, Jobs in the Obama Administration, Safeway, Washington Heights
In which The Gay Recluse loves birch trees. We considered sweeping up the leaves. But decided that — for the moment — they look better where they are.
Filed under: City Pattern Project, Landscape, The Autumn Garden | Leave a Comment
Tags: Birch Trees, Bricks, Fall, Procrastination
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. Sometimes we think about what Manhattan looked like 500 years ago. When it was covered with trees and rivers and lakes. In some ways it was probably a lot more beautiful, or at least unspoiled. It was hard to get a taxi […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, Infrastructure, Landscape, Memory, New York City | Leave a Comment
Tags: Boats, Manhattan, Shorelines, The George Washington Bridge
On The Metropolis Case
In which Matthew Gallaway aka your local gay recluse gets a book deal. Eight or nine years ago, we decided to write a novel. It was actually our second attempt; the first one — a satirical look at internet start-up culture in the late 90s — we had retired to the desk drawer after sending […]
Filed under: Animals, Capitalism, Dissonance, Dream, Faith, Infrastructure, Landscape, Language, Literature, Weather, Writers-American | 15 Comments
Tags: Agents, Book Deals, Editors, Matt Gallaway, Matthew Gallaway, The Metropolis Case
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
The Gay Recluse 