Archive for the ‘The Gay Recluse’ 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 […]


On Spring Break

22Mar09

In which The Gay Recluse goes on a trip. I’m going away for a few days/weeks/months. Hope you have a beautiful spring (via the mythical Helibores)! xoxo TGR


In which The Gay Recluse produces a teevee series on the internets. The Chaos Detective: City of Dreams (Part 1) In this episode, CHAOS — the quasi-governmental entity “Computer Hardware and Operating Systems” (or so he has been told) — has given Detective Lasalle his first assignment, which is to go to Vienna and follow […]


In which The Gay Recluse updates an earlier post. The other day we wrote about how depressingly straight the New York Times 2008 Notable Books list appeared to us. Guess what! Others agreed, and obv better informed than us, went one step further to recommend several gay-oriented titles deserving recognition: Among the missing are National Book Award winner Mark Doty’s […]


In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times. Charles Blow/Gay Marriage and a Moral Minority The Short Version: The gays are not about to win over black women — who statistics show are stupid, bitter, homophobic cows — by appealing to equality. Better to appeal to reproductive health! In his words: […]


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, […]


In which The Gay Recluse considers the dark ages. So today we were reading about the new Thomas Pynchon novel, which is going to be released next year. Like so many adolescent boys we’ve known, we went through a serious Pynchon phase. His maddeningly complex yet (somehow) crystalline prose managed to resonate with the best […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with birds. So guess what? We now have a Twitter and a Tumblr and a Facebook! Sometimes we feel like the oldest person in the blogosphere. If we were a bird, we’d probably just fly away.


In which The Gay Recluse loves The Manhattan Times. Hey, so The Manhattan Times wrote a charming (if we say so) piece on The Metropolis Case. If you’ve never read the uptown weekly, you’re missing out (and really, we’re not just saying that!). In this week’s issue alone, there are excellent articles about Andy Linares […]


In which The Gay Recluse feels vaguely nauseous. So OMG did everyone hear that Keith Olbermann had a “special comment” last night (or was it two nights ago, whenevs) about Prop 8 and gay marriage? Chances are, if you spent five seconds on the internet today, you did! We were told not only to watch […]


In which The Gay Recluse is appeased. So remember how the BBC invited us on their radio show and made it seem like we were some random caller and not The Gay Recluse? Well, they responded to our complaint with the following message: I’m sorry your blog wasn’t mentioned. I’ve added a link to your […]


In which The Gay Recluse is interviewed on the BBC (but not credited) and then adds a backing track. [Note! Update appended below or click here.] Ha, so today we got an e-mail from “BBC World Service Request” with the following message: I work for a programme called World Have Your Say which broadcasts on […]


In which The Gay Recluse ponders life with the majority party. Confession time: Though we would have been predictably devastated by a McCain victory, we’re still a little nauseated by the onslaught of shallow optimism on display since Obama was declared the winner. We think of California (and Arizona and Florida) and are left with […]


In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. So who wants to take a break from groundbreaking, historical political elections and take a look at something even more timeless, i.e., a hot gay statue? Below we are pleased to present one of the hottest gay statues we’ve seen in a few thousand years, […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with the city. More than any other candidate in recent history, Barack Obama can be considered a product of the city. And not just because he’s black, obvs, but because he lives in a city and seems to genuinely appreciate its fundamental character, not only in a […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes sad and nervous, yet tries to remain hopeful. Today we were talking to our mother, who was telling us how disappointed she is in some of her old (in every sense) friends who are voting for McCain. When she pressed them as to why, all they could offer was […]


In which The Gay Recluse says wtf, dudebro? Although it’s not impossible to imagine a scenario in which a straight-guy literary critic does not expose himself as a moronic dudebro as he mocks other straight guys by writing 1) “Lev Grossman fellates Updike with a knowing look as Updike cradles his bald head in a […]


In which The Gay Recluse loves orchids, yet feels ambivalent about teevee. This week we’ve been catching up on Season Two of Mad Men. We’re not here to criticize the show, which is srsly one of the best on teevee these days. It’s basically everything you want in a drama: three-dimensional characters, interesting stories, good […]


In which The Gay Recluse confronts the reality of the past through the eyes of the present. We recently found out that one of our nephews was having “trouble” at college. One day he woke up and realized that he couldn’t get out of bed. So he stayed there for a week, until someone called […]


In which The Gay Recluse becomes increasingly obsessed with Corsican mint. This was just a few days ago: politics aside, it’s been another good season for Corsican mint! Of all the groundcovers we introduced into the garden, Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) has attained a particular affection for us. Although it has thrived in several places […]