maninsoma

I agree that expecting a provider with a reputation like Cade's to have the same rate as a random person with no "celebrity" attached to his name isn't reasonable. Someone well known through porn becomes "ultimate fantasy" material for some, and what greater thrill is there than actually having with with your ultimate fantasy? So it makes sense to me that someone who has made a name for himself in porn has a higher than average rate. As to what is a reasonable rate for someone like Cade, that's up to him and the market to decide. I know I cannot afford $1,000 per hour, but if he can get that (and wants to get that -- if I were in his position, I'd simply make money having sex with other hot, young guys on Fans websites versus escorting) then more power to him.

Without first hand experience of the market, I'm sure there are plenty of female sex workers who are not charging $3,000 per hour. At that rate, only the very well heeled could afford to hire. You mean to tell me that there is no market for clients with less money and providers with lower rates? That would be like arguing that the only restaurants that exist are those that have Michelin stars.

I'm not sure if you mean something similar to "talk shows" that are on network television or if you have a broader definition. Lots of people have channels on YouTube where the content is a "talk show" as far as I am concerned, but not with the same structure as a TV talk show in the sense of having a monologue and then a guest or two come out. Because I'm a big fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, I have watched a lot of content on line about that franchise. Some of the content is produced by World of Wonder (the production company behind the show); some of it is done by former contestants on the show; and some of it is just random people who decided they would try to monetize their thoughts on the show. To say there is a big difference in quality is an understatement, production quality aside. Some content providers are knowledgeable and then also do a good job of interviewing people. There's a guy named Joseph Shepherd whose content I like a lot. I don't know if he had any inside contacts with the show or if he's just good at making connections, but he gets a lot of people to spend around an hour talking with him and, for a fan of the show, the conversations are interesting. Maybe more similar to TV talk shows except the content is more sexually explicit, there are the shows hosted by Jonny McGovern -- Hey Qween and Look At Huh!. Then there are shows hosted by people actually on the show (Michelle Visage's Whatcha Packin'?, Raja and Raven's Fashion Photo Ruview, The Pit Stop with a variety of hosts) that are generally good. But then we get to other people. I'm not going to call out people whose content I've found lacking, but some former contestants on the show have tried to monetize their "fame" by recording themselves (or themselves with others) critiquing current episodes of the show. A lot of the time, this content isn't entertaining enough to keep me engaged. Sometimes it's a chemistry thing (the person just doesn't have that IT factor that makes me want to watch them) but sometimes it's because the person just rambles on and on with little focus. Probably the worst content I sampled was some woman who was supposedly going to review the show with her partner but the first few minutes of the video I watched was actually her just talking about how stressful her day had been. I'm sure her family and friends might be concerned about that, but as a stranger watching a video I expect it to be focused on the topic at hand. I guess that's my long-winded way to say that these qualities are helpful to make a good talk show: knowledgeable host; good interviewing skills; ability to attract good guests, if that's part of the format; ability to either focus during one take or to edit to keep content engaging; and the elusive IT factor. If marketing to a gay male audience, then it doesn't hurt to be good looking. I agree that it makes more sense to test the waters before investing a lot of money. As long as you have sufficient production quality that people can watch your content (i.e., decent video and audio), focus on the content you are creating first to see if you can gain an audience. These are certainly interesting times, where some people end up making a lot of money as internet "stars." I assume that for every person supporting themselves handsomely by creating online content, though, there are a lot of people whose income from their efforts is little or non-existent. I guess that's because, unlike traditional media, anyone can decide to create content and put it on line. Getting people to want to watch it and to continue to want to watch it is an entirely different matter.

I'm thinking back to a sociology class I had when I was an undergrad. The professor said that one of the things that employees are paid for is their emotional life, at least while at work. In other words, most employers expect a certain amount of agreeability of their employees. You might not particularly like your job, but you're not supposed to bitch about how much you hate your job while you are at work. You can do that on your own time, though I think that just as a coping mechanism a lot of people who don't like their jobs don't spend a lot of time thinking about that on their own time. So in your case, if an escort hates what he is doing but is able to act as if he doesn't while he's working, as long as his clients don't find out does it really matter? I'm not talking about escort-client relationships that become something more than transactional -- where actual friendships develop. An escort who did a good job while not really enjoying himself needn't tell his clients on the way out the door that he disliked his experience with them. He retires and never communicates with them again. It's what I intend to do with my colleagues when I move on. I'd love to tell any number of them off when I'm on my way out, but what would be the point?

It just dawned on me what I don't like about Reno's videos -- he combines the worst of amateur and professional porn. The worst thing about most self-made/amateur porn is that the production values are lower than studio porn. The worst thing about studio porn is that it's over produced, with sex that might have been enjoyable for the performers being interrupted repeatedly by a director who wants to control too much of the action in order to film from certain angles, adjust lighting, etc. It tends to come across as self-conscious and not particularly sexy, even though (hopefully) the faces and bodies are sexy. For me, Reno performs too much for the camera ("look at me, look at me") versus just turning on a camera or two and then enjoying himself. That just doesn't get me excited.

I don't get the appeal. He's cute, but no cuter than lots of other guys his age who show off on camera. The videos of his that I've seen are all boring. That New Year's one is especially tedious. Then again, I've never been a fan of soft core porn or j/o videos.

No personal suggestions for an Apple device since I'm a Windows/Android guy, but I'm pretty sure there's a version of Ghostery for Safari.

It's wise to be judicious about the links you follow. Do you also have any ad/cooking blocking tools installed? I use both AdBlock and Ghostery in Firefox. If a site that's questionable won't let me use it with those blockers active, then I don't proceed (most of the time). Those tools can get in the way of reputable sites functioning (a bank website wouldn't work until I whitelisted it), but for the most part they just do their job in the background.

Without thinking too hard, I remember seeing: Brad McGuire tending bar in the Castro. Lito Cruz on a treadmill at the gym -- must have been during a visit because I don't think he lived here. Jim Bentley more than once, just out and about in San Francisco. Michael Brandon -- way past his heyday, sadly being "auctioned off" for a date at the Eagle bar in San Francisco, with seemingly very little interest from the crowd. Various guys at Folsom Street Fair over the years. Some really cute guy whose name I don't remember was a regular at the gym I went to in the early 1990s. Dark haired but much shorter than I anticipated. My boyfriend at the time told me that a lot of porn stars are shorter than one might think; maybe he knew cuz he got around a lot.

Funny that the most recent comment posted when I finally look at this thread mentions audio equipment. It seems like people who care about sound quality are a dying breed, but as someone who has loved listening to music since I was a young child I know what's possible in terms of audio reproduction in the home. One of my retirement goals is to finally live in a space where I can have a dedicated listening room that doesn't contain a lot of other things that negatively impact the listening experience.

I hired him when I visited a couple of years ago. He's definitely using old photos, and I didn't think the massage was very good. I ended up feeling like it was a waste of money and time.

I've never booked a hotel for an escort, and I've only ever gone out to dinner with an escort whom I already knew or, on couple of occasions, with guys after an appointment where we really hit it off. So I have never been in the exact same situation, but I have had escorts confirm appointments, sometimes with quite a lot of communication back-and-forth, and then have them not show up and never communicate with me again. Given that none of them ever reached out the next day (or whenever) with an apology and explanation, I have never had the occasion of having to debate whether to give someone a second chance. I certainly wouldn't reach out to someone who previously ghosted me as it seems too masochistic. Speaking of masochism, I had a roommate for one year in college who would deliberately set up dates with guys and then either not be there or hide in his room and ask us to tell the guys when they showed up that he wasn't there. I told him that I wasn't going to lie for him so he better actually be gone if he expected me to say that. Even though I knew his m.o., when I ran into him years later we agreed to meet up for dinner the next night to catch up. You guessed right -- he didn't show up. I actually think that he got off on knowing that he annoyed/disappointed other people by failing to show up for whatever plans he had made with them. No matter which way I slice it, unless an actual emergency caused someone to flake on me without any notice then I am left to believe that the guy is just a jerk or has a drug problem that has seriously hindered their ability to function normally. I don't want to have anything to do with either type of person.

Perhaps. But doesn't an escort have a voice to express that prior to accepting a booking? If an escort isn't comfortable with what a prospective client wants, isn't it his prerogative to simply say "no" to the booking? And if an escort says "yes" but then later realizes he doesn't actually like the terms of the agreement, wouldn't it just be better for him to call the prospective client back to say so rather than just ghosting him?

I think you are misunderstanding me. My points are this: I understand that "carnal urges" will cause men to have sex with other men, even when that activity is illegal. Hell, most of us here are of the age where gay sex was still illegal in many parts of the U.S. and we didn't abstain. That doesn't mean that I absolve people of the responsibility to make wise decisions. Having sex at work is riskier than having sex at home. I assume there are professional ethics involved in nurses having sex with patients at work, too. And, as you noted, there is a pandemic going on so removing protective equipment and engaging in sex with a known infected person when one is in a position to interact with a lot of other patients is just wrong, wrong, wrong. My second post was simply a response to the notion that "carnal urges" explained the nurse's behavior. My response was intended to convey that carnal urges explain the sex act itself, but not posting information about that sex act. It in no way was intended to analyze the reasonableness of that specific sexual encounter given all of the other factors involved. Obviously it was irresponsible on a number of levels, but given that some men do think with their "little heads" more than their brains when they are turned on the poor choices made (by both parties, not just the nurse) does fall under that description of "carnal urges."

The article indicates that both men risk prosecution and jail time, not just the nurse. What would the charge against the patient be if not simply a charge against him for having gay sex?

That explains having sex. I am not questioning that. I don't expect gay men in societies where being gay is illegal to just forego sex. To post the details on social media is what seems incredibly stupid to me, and I don't see how carnal urges were in control there.

The last sentence of that article indicates they could face up to 10 years in jail "if convicted." I'm guessing that just means "if convicted of having gay sex." If so, then one has to wonder what the guy who posted all of those details was thinking.

To my eyes, neither of those people are the epitome of sex appeal. They aren't bad looking, but seem rather average to me.

I expected to find a thread about being overwhelmed by planning what will happen to your body and your stuff after death. Isn't that usually the topic covered by the phrase "final arrangements?" I have moved more recently than you (about a decade ago), but I am potentially going to be in your position in about a year. I also find the idea of moving a bit daunting. For the first time I may just spend extra money to have other people do most of the packing.

Bringing up D.O. or contacting D.O.? If you speak with D.O. regularly anyway, why not contact him to ask if he knows whether Paddy is escorting in your area right now?

I may have posted this story here in the past, but I vividly recall looking at a fitness magazine cover with a friend once who said the guy on the cover wasn't attractive. I asked him to take a second look because I thought he was extremely sexy. After a second look, my friend admitted that the guy was hot, just not his "type" because the guy had dark skin. It's true that some people immediately "turn off" in their brains simply because of skin color. It just doesn't make sense to me. I pushed the issue farther with this friend and asked if he would honestly turn down this guy if he propositioned him and my friend naturally admitted that he'd have sex with the guy given the opportunity. In other words, the guy was sexy when given a second look but ordinarily my friend wouldn't give a dark skinned guy a second look.

Wasn't Alig just following in Leigh Bowery's footsteps? Bowery was already pushing the envelope in a variety of ways in the club scene in London and I've more often seen/heard Bowery mentioned as being an influence for other artists. I don't know whether Alig was much of an influence outside of the New York club scene of which he was a part.

Oh, I misread the previous post and was calculating $27,000 per month. That's incredible that anyone can make over a million dollars in a year for mostly just showing off. Maybe the $27,000 week was an anomaly, though; I see that figure was released during a week he pledged his proceeds to charity, so it's possible he gained subscribers who decided to check him out because he was donating the funds.

I find him cute, but the videos I've seen him in haven't appealed much to me. I'm surprised he has so many paying followers that he makes $140,000 annually from one website.

Interesting read. Hindsight is 20/20, I know, but that article certainly does hint that things would not turn out well for him. He doesn't seem to have changed at all in prison, and returning to the same group of friends he had at the time of the murder (some of whom thought it would be funny to mock the murder by bringing a toy hammer when they picked him up upon his release) wasn't a decision of someone who wanted to chart a new and healthier course.