Archive for the ‘New York City’ Category
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
On Is He One of Your Friends
In which The Gay Recluse is charmed. Reader Lloyd — one of our many 80-something y.o. fans — recently sent us this “mash-up” cover of the New Yorker, and we wanted to share it with everyone. Thanks Lloyd, and Happy Mid-February!
Filed under: Animals, Letters, New York City, Not Every Cat a Lolcat, Quotes | Leave a Comment
Tags: 80-somethings, Cats, Lolcats, Mail, Mashups, The New Yorker
On the Search for Spring
In which The Gay Recluse dreams about the garden. When the February blues hit — and considering this winter, how could they not? — we like to immerse ourselves into dreams of spring, which entails many hours in the seed and plant catalogs. Though our garden is dominated by perennials, bushes and trees designed to […]
Filed under: Dream, Faith, Longing, New York City, The Spring Garden, The Summer Garden, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Annuals, Flowering Tobacco, Perennials, Salvia, Sunfower, Zinnia
On Nowhere
In which The Gay Recluse remembers Ride. The opening chords of “Vapour Trail” are high and open, yet filled with same (phase-shifted) melancholy we associate with ringing church bells. To hear this the other day, as we plodded through our thirty minutes on the elliptical at the gym, was to be swept away with a sense of forgotten potential — […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Decay, Good Rock, Longing, Memory, New York City, Obsession, Resignation | 3 Comments
Tags: Beth, CBGBs, Kiss, My Bloody Valentine, Nowhere, Ride, Shoegazer Rock, Vapour Trail
In which The Gay Recluse considers a subterranean masterpiece. Our friend Paul just sent us this from his phone: “So what if I voted for McCain?” OMGLMFAO! We’re not sure exactly where this was taken, but Paul lives in Harlem, so we’ll give our downtown neighbors credit for this piece of brilliance. (But Paul would […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Food, Graffiti, New York City, Subway | 1 Comment
Tags: Harlem, John McCain, MTA, Subway Fast Food, Subway Transport
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds (and vlogs about it). Today we decided to go on a walk with our video camera. The streets were slushy and frozen after the snow; the magic of the previous night had dissipated with the sullen day. We trudged along, not really thinking about anything […]
Filed under: Animals, Gay, Graffiti, New York City, Traffic, Video, Washington Heights, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Birds, Geese, Snow, Vlogging, Walks
In which The Gay Recluse writes a book report. Just as the snow began, we finished Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking, a 2007 debut novel by Aoibheann Sweeney. The book is about a girl — Miranda — who grows up with her father on a tiny island off the coast of Maine; her […]
Filed under: Gay, History, Literature, New York City, Washington Heights, Writers-American | 2 Comments
Tags: Aoibheann Sweeney, Gay Voice, Ovid, Shakespeare, Snow, Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather
In which The Gay Recluse regrets not seeing Waltraud Meier’s Isolde. Before Friday night’s show at the Met, both the lead Isolde and her cover were sick and had to cancel. This sometimes happens! At the last minute, the Met was able to track down Waltraud Meier, who agreed to fly in from Munich for […]
Filed under: Longing, New York City, Opera | 5 Comments
Tags: Alchemy, Isolde, Jet Lag, Marathons, Waltraud Meier
In which The Gay Recluse fails to deliver the sun. Yesterday it rained so hard that we felt sure today would arrive bright and sunny, as so often happens in New York City, where weather really doesn’t tend to linger the way it does in say, Pittsburgh or Ithaca. We had visitors in from out […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Longing, Memory, New York City, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cold, Fog, Ithaca, Pittsburgh, Promises, Rain, Sun
In which The Gay Recluse holds a competition. Sort of. Remember how we said that one good reason to move to Washington Heights is that it’s home to the hottest gay statues? While this remains undoubtedly true, we have some groundbreaking news for our gay lady friends! This just in from Reader Roberta: Hi TGR, […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Gay, Hot Gay Statues, New York City, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Hot Lesbian Statues, Lady Couples, Lesbians, Tight Jeans
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. Today we left work and had to walk crosstown in the drizzle. It was completely dark and we didn’t have an umbrella. Plus we were running late, and had overdressed; we regretted that it wasn’t snowing, as it would have been before global warming. But […]
Filed under: Animals, GWB Project, Longing, New York City, Pessimism, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cities, Gotham, Rain, Rush Hour, Sand, Time, Walks
In which Dante and Zephyr take over The Gay Recluse. Friends! Aren’t you tired of getting on the subway and listening to two teenage assholes engage in a loud debate about whether it’s “gay” or not to touch shoulders in the kind of “bro-hug” you see on the teevee when a team scores a goal/point/tee-dee? […]
Filed under: Animals, Gay, New York City, Not Every Cat a Lolcat, Pessimism, Resignation, Stereotypes, Subway, The Russian Blue | 3 Comments
Tags: Daily Grind, Dark Ages, Ghetto Life, Homophobia, Teenagers
In which The Gay Recluse lives in the past. Our favorite part of Thanksgiving this year was not the food, but the table,* particularly after it was set and waited patiently in the late afternoon sun. Accompanied by the cats, we spent quite a few minutes quietly circling the table, observing the way the light […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Food, GWB Project, History, Memory, New York City, Nostalgia, Washington Heights, Weather | 1 Comment
Tags: Bygones, Community Plate, Grosvenor, Table Service, Thanksgiving
In which The Gay Recluse remembers an old obsession with the color red. Years ago, we went through a phase when we wore only red shirts. But here’s the thing: you couldn’t find any good ones that were new, so we were required to scour used-clothing shops all over the country in a mostly vain […]
Filed under: Architecture, Gay, Health, Longing, Memory, New York City, Obsession, Ruins, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Art Nouveau, Doorways, Flannel, Red, Seattle, Shirts, Tours, Vintage Clothing Shoes, Wrought Iron
In which The Gay Recluse covers the teen beat. We first noticed this trend at the beginning of the summer, when we were walking past a group of kids — including some girls, which was extra cool! — on Fort Washington Avenue, all of whom were messing around with skateboards. Then we noticed a regular […]
Filed under: Architecture, Athletes, Memory, New York City, Photography, Stereotypes, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Baseball, Ghettos, Skateboard, Surfing, Teen Beat, Teenagers, The George Washington Bridge, Trends
In which The Gay Recluse rather quickly dies of lung disease. Although there are countless slumlords offenders in Washington Heights, this building is one of the worst. We’ve written about this building before — and for a while it seemed to get better — but now that it’s getting cold, the smoke is getting worse, […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Health, New York City, Washington Heights | 2 Comments
Tags: 311, 672 West 162nd Street, Asthma, Boilers, Cheap Oil, Department of Environmental Protection, Pollution, Slumlords
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 becomes increasingly obsessed with the Empire State Building. Sometimes we spend our entire day at work looking at the computer screen. And then something will remind us to turn around and look out the window. And we’ll spend a few minutes staring at the Empire State Building. And we’ll think […]
Filed under: Architecture, GWB Project, New York City, Photography | Leave a Comment
Tags: Breaks, Clouds, Computers, The Empire State Building, Thoughts
The Gay Recluse 