Archive for the ‘Nostalgia’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse decorates the office. Today in my office I hung up a color print I recently made to test out a new printer we recently bought after the old one died. The photograph was taken a long time ago, if you measure time in hours. It was Friday afternoon and difficult […]
Filed under: Decay, Drag Queens, Nostalgia, Photography, Weather | 2 Comments
Tags: Andy Warhol, Candy Darling, Friday Afternoons, Imaginary Quotes, Office Decor, Sunsets
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. My fifth grade teacher, Mr. W, was a large, macho man with a mustache and a tight perm. (You could actually be macho and have a perm in 1978.) He liked to aggressively talk about boys and girls “dating” and “kissing,” and […]
Filed under: Conspiracy, Gay, Government, GWB Project, Health, Memory, Nostalgia, Resignation, Sickness | 10 Comments
Tags: Cleaning Supplies, Fifth Grade, Girls, Harold & Maude, Knives, Macho Men, Suicide, The George Washington Bridge
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
On “Whatever Homo Tendencies I Have Are Basically a Minor Health Problem” (Valentine’s Day 2k8)
In which The Gay Recluse revisits the past, both distant and not-so-distant. As many of you may or may not know, last year we wrote an essay that was published by Gawker on Valentine’s Day as part of a “Gay Modern Love” contest sponsored by Sheila (miss u!) and inspired in part by our rants […]
Filed under: Competitions, Dream, Gay, Health, History, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, Obsession, Pleasure, Search | 2 Comments
Tags: 2k8, Gawker, Gay Modern Love, Sheila, Valentine's Day
On Death Culture at Sea: 1968
In which The Gay Recluse rocks out a lil? Listen on our Tumblr or download from the Death Culture at Sea web site. Can’t believe the things I have to say before I make it through the week I’m feeling sicker than philosophy I read a million useless words when I was younger then Today […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Conspiracy, Death Culture at Sea, Good Rock, Nostalgia, Pessimism | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1968, Death Culture at Sea, Lofi
In which The Gay Recluse finds remnants of the 1860s 1960s. It’s difficult to write about a city of the past without succumbing to nostalgia, given the grandeur of the dead monuments that have survived and the (philosophical) certainty that no time is worse to be alive than the present. Some friends of ours came […]
Filed under: Capitalism, City Pattern Project, Communism, Gentrification, History, Nostalgia, Travel | 1 Comment
On the City Pattern Project: On the Internet, the Lost Dreams of Youth Are Just One Click Away
In which The Gay Recluse remembers life as an indie rocker. After obsessing about the Hipster Runoff review of TV on the Radio for the past two days, we realized that it had sent us into a retroactive identity crisis. It was as if it were fifteen years ago, and we were just starting a […]
Filed under: Architecture, Bad Rock, City Pattern Project, Conspiracy, Decay, Memory, Nostalgia, Obsession | 3 Comments
Tags: Hipster Runoff, Music Reviews, Teevee on the Radio, The Olds, The Youngs
On The Book of Getting Even
In which The Gay Recluse files a book report.* In The Book of Getting Even (a title we love, btw!) by Benjamin Taylor, we meet some interesting characters: first (and last) there is Gabriel Geismar, a Jewish — and notably, unapologetically gay! — teenage boy from New Orleans with a horribly abusive father (a rabbi) […]
Filed under: Gay, Literature, Nostalgia, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Benjamin Taylor, Book Reviews, Gay Fiction, The Book of Getting Even
In which The Gay Recluse remembers old plants. Growing up in the 1970s, there were a lot of plants in our house. Having plants was a sign of liberal thinking: our mother, of course, was involved in the women’s movement, so she had a mix of spider plants, cactus and marginata; our dazed-and-confused sister did […]
Filed under: Animals, Dissonance, Gay, GWB Project, Memory, Nostalgia | 4 Comments
Tags: Cactus, Cigarettes, Dazed and Confused, Houseplants, Joints, Love, Marginata, Philodendron, Ponytail Palm, Terra Cotta, Women's Movement
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 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 wonders when the fog will burn off. Lately it seems that every morning we wake up in a fog. And we feel sort of hopeless, because even though logic dictates otherwise, we wonder if this will be the day that the fog is permanent. And we’ll never see the sky […]
Filed under: Architecture, Gay, Government, GWB Project, History, New York City, Nostalgia | Leave a Comment
Tags: 401(k), Depression, Fog, Recession, The George Washington Bridge
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the firethorn. Orange is one of the best colors in the autumn garden. It will have to sustain us through the winter. Fortunately, we never get tired of looking at it. Today as we contemplated the clusters of tiny fruit, illuminated by the eastern sun, we […]
Filed under: GWB Project, Memory, Nostalgia, Obsession, Pleasure, The Autumn Garden | Leave a Comment
Tags: Colors, Firethorn, Mountain Ash, orange, Sadness
In which The Gay Recluse remembers tenth grade. Like a million other kids in 1984 we were obsessed with Murmur, by R.E.M. Our friend Tom owned the LP and we used to go down to his room to listen to it — this was at boarding school — and then we made a tape. (That […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Death Culture at Sea, Good Rock, Language, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, Obsession, The Gay Recluse | 2 Comments
Tags: Boarding School, Michael Stipe, Murmur, Perfect Circle, R.E.M., Tenth Grade
On My Bloody Valentine
In which The Gay Recluse passes up the chance of a lifetime. Did you hear? Tonight My Bloody Valentine is playing at Roseland. They’ve always been one of our favorite bands. Loveless is a masterpiece; dissonant, propulsive and melodic, it changed rock, or least provided an important delineation. The way great pieces of art will […]
Filed under: Decay, Dissonance, Dream, Faith, Good Rock, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia | 1 Comment
Tags: Irving Plaza, Loveless, Mission of Burma, My Bloody Valentine, Reunions, Roseland
On Death Culture at Sea
In which The Gay Recluse starts a new band. So we decided to start a new band: Death Culture at Sea. We googled it and nothing came up, so we’re assuming it’s fair game. We’ve always loved Echo and the Bunnymen, so we decided to start things off by covering one of their best songs. […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Death Culture at Sea, Good Rock, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1980s, Bands, Death Culture at Sea, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Killing Moon
In which The Gay Recluse loves bamboo and The Hills. So we just watched the most recent episode of The Hills. It was a lot better than the Las Vegas episode. We’re never interested in any of the dumb guys, especially when they end up in jail. But fortunately that wasn’t a plot line in […]
Filed under: Gay, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, Pessimism, Television | Leave a Comment
Tags: Audrina, Bamboo, Gossip Girl, Lauren, The Hills
On the George Washington Bridge Project: Special Welcome Hanna and Neil Young Remembrance Edition
In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the George Washington Bridge. The drainpipe was rattling on the house today and we had to tie it down. One thing hurricanes make us think about is that Neil Young song, “Like a Hurricane.” (Hmm, wonder why? Lol.) When we were in high school, we were […]
Filed under: Architecture, Good Rock, GWB Project, Landscape, Memory, Nostalgia | Leave a Comment
Tags: Jimi Hendrix, Like a Hurrican, Neil Young, Rockin' Out, The George Washington Bridge, Time Capsules, Tropical Storm Hanna
On The Hills: Episode 1
In which The Gay Recluse loves the weeping blue atlas cedar and the first episode of The Hills. We finally saw the first episode of The Hills. Lo was really mean! (But so was Audrina.) We’re never interested in Heidi and Spencer. Mostly we watch for Lauren. There’s something heartbreaking about her idealism. We can’t […]
Filed under: Architecture, Nostalgia, Pessimism, Television, The Gay Recluse, The Summer Garden | 2 Comments
Tags: Audrina, Frank Lloyd Wright, Heidi, Lauren, Lo, Spencer, The Hills, Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar
In which The Gay Recluse loves the Manhattan Times. Hey, New York Times! Instead of David Brooks, William Kristol, Maureen Dowd and so on (Zzzzzz), maybe you should turn the column over to a new generation of writers, who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is, and moreover, know how to entertain! We suggest […]
Filed under: Gay, Longing, Memory, Nostalgia, The Times, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Manhattan Times, Opinions, School, Work
The Gay Recluse 