Archive for the ‘Pessimism’ Category
In which The Gay Recluse thinks about shit on the daily commute. As we walk through midtown each morning and each afternoon, we often pause to observe a fading silhouette on a wall; while somewhat decrepit, it provides comforting evidence — of a sort we are always on the lookout for — that Andy Warhol […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Decay, Dissonance, Drag Queens, Graffiti, Infrastructure, Landscape, Longing, New York City, Nostalgia, Obsession, Pessimism, Resignation, Sickness, The Gay Recluse | 6 Comments
Tags: Andrea Feldman, Andy Warhol, Candy Darling, Commuting, Dishonored, Edie Sedgwick, Flesh, Geri Miller, Greta Garbo, Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis, Joe Dallesandro, Marlene Dietrich, Nico, Outer and Inner Space, Superstars, The Past, The Velvet Underground
In which The Gay Recluse reads an acclaimed book of contemporary fiction and is more than disappointed. When we first received our copy of Call Me By Your Name (FSG, 2007) by Andre Aciman, we were a bit startled (but pleased, to be sure) that a book about a love affair between a 17-year-old boy […]
Filed under: Drivel, Gay, Literature, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Andre Aciman, Bad Books, Call Me By Your Name, Closet Case, Gay Voice, Homophobia, Stereotypes
In which The Gay Recluse is inspired by a classic. Of all the French photographers who documented Paris at the turn of the last century (and we don’t mean 8 years ago), we are most obsessed with Eugene Atget. Who can resist his urban streetscapes, his ghostly renderings of the city of light? And his […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Memory, Nostalgia, Pessimism, Photography, Pleasure, The Winter Garden, Washington Heights | Leave a Comment
Tags: Eugene Atget, Litter, Paris, Roots, Trees
In which The Gay Recluse looks at the suffocation of the gay voice at The New York Times and other hallmarks of the new dark ages. For those who missed it, we would like to point you in the direction of a recent post by Jeff Weinstein, in which he compares a truth about Jasper […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Literature, New York City, Nostalgia, Pessimism, The Times, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Food, Jasper Johns, Jeff Weinstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Roberta Smith, The Gay Voice, The New York Times
In which The Gay Recluse enjoys a game of “Would You Rather,” the elementary school game in which you must choose one of two offered alternatives and explain why. The Set-up: You are at the gym over lunch, about to get on to the treadmill for fifteen minutes when you realize — fucking-shit! — that […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Government, Memory, Pessimism, Politicians, Television, Would You Rather | Leave a Comment
Tags: 38-Special, Bethel Park, Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Rose, Condileeza Rice, Dead Battery, iPod, John McCain, Pittsburgh, Republicans, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, WDVE
In which The Gay Recluse contemplates an uncommissioned masterpiece from the walls of an uptown subway station. Dear readers: we invite you to submit any particularly inspiring (or uninspiring) examples of subway graffiti to us at thegayrecluse@gmail.com.
Filed under: Graffiti, Infrastructure, Pessimism, Subway, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: C-train, Color Palettes, Graffiti, MTA, Veggie Tales
Given the long-ascendant Manhattan real-estate market, people are often surprised to learn the extent to which abandoned, burned-out property still plagues Harlem and Washington Heights. On our block alone — which is not even close to one of the worst around here — there are three completely annihilated townhouse “shells” and several other larger buildings […]
Filed under: Architecture, Decay, Gentrification, Government, Landscape, New York City, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights | 1 Comment
Tags: Ailanthus, Ann Coulter, HPD, Marcus Millichap, Massey Knakal, Pigeons, Rats, Real Estate, Shells, Uptown Manhattan
In which The Gay Recluse offers approximately fifteen quotes from a modern masterpiece written in the “gay voice.” A Book of Memories by Peter Nadas: “[T]here’s nothing in the world with which I have a more intimate relationship than ruination.” “If one could learn the most important things in life, one would still have to […]
Filed under: Gay, Language, Literature, Pessimism, Writers-Hungarian | Leave a Comment
Tags: A Book of Memories, Gay Literature, Gay Voice, Gay Writers, Hungarian Writers, Peter Nadas, Quotations
Back at work this morning we find our blood still coursing with the slow, oscillating melodies of last night’s third act of Die Walküre at the Met. By the end (and really, by the middle of the first act) it was sublime and transcendent, so that all of our quibbling about the final dress seemed […]
Filed under: Good Rock, Opera, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Die Walküre, Jim Morris, Richard Wagner, Stephanie Blythe, The Metropolitan Opera, The United States
Have we ever told you just how grateful we are to the Audubon Station Post Office in Washington Heights? They have taught us so much, and not just about patience and resolve when it comes to standing in the six-hour lines that perpetually meander through their sallow, fluorescent interiors, but about the need to resign […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Gentrification, Infrastructure, New York City, Pessimism, The Gay Recluse, Washington Heights, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Audubun Station, Mail, Thomas Pynchon, Thurn und Taxis, Trystero, United States Postal Service, USPS, Washington Heights
As anyone who has read Cormac McCarthy knows, the best (which is to say, the truest) stories of the American West — although like pretty much anywhere, once you peel back enough layers — are filled with unfathomable extremes of violence and oppression; this was more than confirmed for us recently when we read (as […]
Filed under: Gay, History, Literature, Pessimism, Writers-American | Leave a Comment
Tags: Colorado Springs, Cormac McCarthy, Matthew Murray, Mormons, New Life Church, Tom Spanbauer
On Giving Thanks
While this day is not so different than so many others, to the extent we feel like we are under siege — fending off sickness and financial ruin and political censure at every turn — as we survey our past and contemplate what lies ahead, we are grateful for many things. Such as? Well, life […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Dream, Government, History, Memory, Pessimism | Leave a Comment
Tags: Clementine, Conservative, Democrat, Liberal, Libertarian, Religious Right, Republican, Thanksgiving
Andrew Sullivan expressed the idea (and admittedly, with thoughtfulness) in an essay he wrote a few years ago for the New Republic, while more recently British playwright Mark Ravenhill tackled the same theme (with much less success) for The Guardian. Their collective story goes something like this: in the dark ages of oppression (i.e., approximately […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Drivel, Gay, Government, History, Literature, Obsession, Pessimism, Writers-British | Leave a Comment
Tags: Andrew Sullivan, Arthur Schopenhauer, Gay Culture, Gay History, Mark Ravenhill, Michel Foucault, Stonewall
At the opera last week, we ran into a friend who we were surprised to note had gained at least 500 pounds since we had last seen him. “You’ve gained weight,” we said, not wanting to ignore the obvious. “Are you in good health?” “More than good,” he nodded enthusiastically, and then began to explain. […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Drivel, Gay, History, Opera, Pessimism, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Baudelaire, Cities, Dick Cavett, Modernity, New York Times, Obese, Opera, Spleen
The Gay Recluse 