Trained Monkey...

One of the things I didn't particularly care for in the legal profession was the high volume of incredibly boring, highly repetitive work that could be done by trained monkeys. I think most people in the legal field can agree with me there. Top on that hated list is document review. Especially with large companies or big cases, there are obscene amounts of documents that have to be sifted through. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I just landed a project doing doc review for a large financial services company. If I were still practicing full time, this would be the type of project that I would absolutely dread. What a difference a few years makes. While this is hardly my dream job or the kind of work I want to do the rest of my career, it is a welcome opportunity on my plate. If you're going to be a trained monkey, be a highly paid monkey. Pass the bananas.

End of the Digital Revolution?

I don't know if any of you has been keeping track, but the Supreme Court has recently heard oral arguments on the Grokster case. For those of you not in the know, Grokster is a file sharing system that came about after the demise of the original Napster. Essentially, the RIAA was able to successfully sue Napster for copyright infringement because it kept a centralized list of its users' shared files, many of which were copyrighted. Grokster and its siblings worked around this hurdle by maintaining no central server. Instead, each computer maintains its own list of files and the company itself has no way of monitoring who has what.

The end result, of course, is the same as it was with Napster -- people can use these systems to exchange copyrighted music, movies, etc. and they do. En masse. So, the Entertainment Powers that be are back to close the door that the Napster decision left open.

This raises an important question - will this end the digital revolution? As the Court noted, many new forms of technology can be used to infringe copyright - from the printing press to the Xerox machine, the VCR and the iPod. Since each of these can be used to infringe copyright, are their makers liable? Will new technologies emerge if there is an omnipresent threat of litigation? At the same time, is it fair to allow companies profit off of illegal activity? Is this the end of the digital revolution?

I was watching the intro to a DVD I rented yesterday that illustrated the core of the problem - a shot of someone downloading music from the internet. Cut to a shot of someone lifting a CD from a store. Its the same thing, right? The Industry would have us believe so. I think most people sense that something is wrong with the analogy. Is it really stealing if the store still has the same number of CDs it had before you walked in? At the same time, is it right for someone to get the music/movie for free?

Ultimately, economics is based on scarcity. The whole purpose of copyright is to create an artificial scarcity in order to give creators a way to reap rewards for their creation. In this case, supply and demand breaks down because once a song is in digital format, there is potentially infinite supply at no cost - and hence you have the rise of "pirating."

The Industry's best defense against this has been iTunes and similar services offering songs at $.99 a song. Cheap and easier to use than many of the illegal alternatives. Of course, now that there's a good amount of traffic, many of the record labels are trying to raise the prices, which will ultimately lead to more people pirating - why pay more when you can get it for free? The Industry hasn't learned from the past that the key is to lower prices and sell high volumes - that's what happened with video and DVD movies.

Essentially, the Industry is stuck in an old system that is on its way out. They can fight to prolong it, but this beast is dying. A new system is needed. Another blog, The Long Tail, explains how the economics of abundance can work. The question is when someone finally decides to put it into practice.

A Crack in the Wall?

The 2004 election may have been the zenith for the coalition between traditional small government conservatives and social conservatives. Of course, the biggest question for the Republicans is when the bill for their bargain would come due - that is, just how much will the religious right expect to receive for their support?

For anyone who has been following the Terri Schiavo saga, it appears that the religious right is expecting more than anyone would have guessed. The Miami Herold reported Friday that Fla. Governor Jeb Bush sent a team of law enforcement agents to take custody of Terri Schiavo despite a court order forbidding it. Apparently, local police were prepared to enforce the court's order and expected a confrontation until the state officers backed down. In the course of a few weeks, the religious right have managed to get W, Congress and Jeb Bush to stand on their heads despite annoying trivialities like the Constitution, state and federal law and limited government principles.

One might think that such a display of power would satisfy those on the fringe. Not so. Apparently, government should bow to the will of Operation Rescue, seperation of powers be damned. Randall Terry, who is both founder of Operation Rescue as well as a spokesman for Schiavo's parents, threatened that there will be "hell to pay," if Schiavo dies.

What affect will this have politically? I think that most traditional conservatives have to be rethinking this alliance. Of course, the Republicans are hoping that their memories will be short and that the country will forget this alarming display. That remains to be seen. On the other side of the party, however, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the right to life movement will remember this for a while. It makes you wonder if we haven't just seen the first crack in the wall.

WELCOME!

...to Fantasy Island! Ok, I know we haven't finished March yet, but I figured that since I had RTK2005 up for a month already, it was time for new music. This is my April Top 10 which will be appearing in Red Magazine, a new gay nightlife magazine here in Phoenix that comes out April 1st. I figured that not only should my loyal blog readers get to see my Top 10 first, but you get to hear my picks, as well. Just a note, I did not mix these as I did with the other couple of sets.

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FYI, I am having problems converting #2 to Radio.Blog. I will get that fixed as soon as I can.

Just for Jim...

I decided to make a little bit of a departure for Jim. Jim has a theory that most of us don't find men with body hair attractive. Au contraire! A hot guy is a hot guy whether he's naturally smooth, shaved, trimmed, or au natural. To prove my point, I decided to throw Jim yet another bone and put up a pic of his fave, Ryan Zane. I could perform hours upon hours of acts with Ryan that were criminalized in several states until that 2003 Supreme Court decision. The blue eyes and brown hair are quite a beautiful combination. Anyway, Jim, this one's for you!

What Would Jesus Say?

I was reading news on MSNBC.com and I noticed an NBC Report section on Faith in America. One of the articles was talking about a movement to bring faith into the workplace. Anyway, they had this pic of a PromiseKeepers rally somewhere. I thought to myself, boy, we sure are lucky that these people are returning America to its Christian roots. I'm sure Jesus would really encourage these sorts of acts of public faith and prayer, right? A fine question. What WOULD Jesus say?

Well, oddly enough, he said: " 5 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6.)

I suppose I could comment further, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

A nice distraction

Erik Rhodes
Originally uploaded by echeblog.

I realized that I had gotten away from one of my favorite things here on echeblog... enjoying pictures of big, beefy guys who wind up being insatiable bottoms. Suits me just fine, thank you very much. A lesson to all my loyal readers out there - don't be afraid to remind me to get back to basics.

Sanctity of Marriage?

I don't know if you guys have been keeping track of the Terri Schiavo circus, but its pretty hard to miss. In short, Terri has been in a persistent vegitative state for about 15 years. Her husband has consistently maintained that she would not want to continue this way and that her feeding tube should be removed. Her parents and family, however, disagrees and they've been fighting a vicious battle over the past 15 years throughout all levels of the Florida court system. Finally, the trial court has said that it will not allow any further delays -- there have been 15 years of motions and appeals -- today is the day they're supposed to remove the feeding tube.

Well, at the 11th hour, Congress is trying to step in and delay thing yet again. There are any variety of reasons that this is a bad move on the part of Congress. Of course, one of the striking points for me is that the same Congress that rants and raves about the sanctity of marriage and how God has ordained that nobody should interfere with this sacred union of one man and one woman doesn't give a fig about the marriage of Terri and her husband. The law is clear that a spouse is the person who makes these types of medical decisions when the other spouse is unable to. Of course, in this case, the family has a myriad of allegations that the husband is very bad and shouldn't be in that position. Of course, they've had 15 years to convince a court, which they haven't. Hence, everyone should get out of the way, whether they agree with the decision or not, and let the marriage function the way its supposed to right? Not so! The GOP knows better! Essentially, marriage doesn't mean squat if you don't agree with the Republicans.

I can understand those who would make a different choice if they were in the same position. I really can. At the same time, the hypocrisy of the masses who howled that marriage is under attack is striking. They can look in the mirror and see who is doing the attacking.

Another Good Night...

Well, for those of you keeping score, its officially my 6 month bloggiversary. YAY! I have our good friend Adam to thank for that. To celebrate this milestone, Adam and I have just planned a roadtrip to visit the illustrious Jonny in Palm Springs. Should be quite a swingin good time! YAY. To top it off, I got a call from the super-sexy Wicked Man on his way to the gym. ROWR! Add in the deep, sexy voice to the rest of the already smouldering package. My, my, my.

Ok, so I've been a blob and didn't quite make it to the gym, but hey, fuck it.

Toward The Sun...

I've spent a pretty good share of my 31 years on this Earth grousing about the various details of that existance... I guess that's pretty common, although one of the biggest details I've always struggled is the sense that my inner world is very different from those around me... Anyway, I digress. Its been over a year since I graduated and life has been one giant holding pattern. Every morning life is just a jumble of loose ends or puzzle pieces I can't seem to put together no matter how hard I try. I'd be lying if that didn't drive me crazy a decent part of the time. How I've yearned for at least one piece to fall into place so I could finally start putting things back together... but things just keep floating around. To look at it, things really seem like a mess -- still in career limbo, my incurable single-ness stretches into its 5th consecutive year, I miss having my own place in a BAD way... add it all together and toss in my tendency to analyze things over and over and over again and its a wonder that I am not heavily medicated (or heavily self-medicating)...

I guess the strangest thing is that it doesn't feel that way at all. The past few days have been objectively pretty uneventful... Well, unless you count me finally getting in contact with the recruiter in LA and finally hearing that the Entertainment Law position I was so jacked up about had been filled already... (as if the long silence didn't already tell me that...) I suppose I should be upset or worried or something similar. The bizarre thing is that I'm not.

A rare weekend to myself doing very little... I spent most of Friday night downloading music and doing some much needed practice mixing. Saturday I had the extreme pleasure of having a long conversation with Mr. Wicked Man himself, which had me simultaneously wishing I lived closer to Detroit so I could actually hang out with him and thanking the Powers that Be that I don't because I might actually risk getting in the line of fire of his psychotic ex-wife. I also had a long, very deep conversation with my friend Jan, which ended up with my cell battery running out to cap a long evening. Today was watching Bride & Prejudice, a modern Indian-flavored rendition of the Jane Austin classic, Pride & Prejudice, which I likened to the result of mixing a good meal of chicken tikki masala and couple of hits of LSD - a very colorful, musical, Indian-flavored trip that somehow blends together well in a bizarre way. (I recommend the movie, btw - its a musical and they even have Indian drag queens!) Throw it together with e-mailing back & forth w/ Mr. LA more than I do with most of my good friends, and all in all, there's just been a lot of positive stuff to enjoy.

I guess the big thing is that a while back it might frustrate me at some level because I would expect some of it to lead somewhere or make some kind of sense. At least for the moment, I'm just enjoying the things that are in front of me and I'm not worried about the rest. The bigger things are going to work themselves out - they always do, I know that. Its just nice to be able to stop and be with what is right now. Note to self: Remember how this works.

No! Wire! Hangers! Ever!

I was wondering to myself what the hell Jacko was aiming for when he had all that plastic surgery. Thanks to Perez Hilton for finally showing me the light. I didn't realize that Michael's life long ambition was literally to metamorphosize into Joan Crawford. Well, he may scores of still-adoring fans and the surgery did help, but he's way off on the chuzpah. Somehow I can't really picture him yelling, "Tito! Bring me the axe!"

All in all, I know there's a lot of Michael Jackson humor going on out there, but I really feel sorry for the guy. He basically had no childhood and a whacked out family. I mean hello, LaToya? And how good can you feel about yourself if you need to go out and turn yourself into THAT? What a tragedy. So much talent...

Says it all...

Thanks to Towleroad for finding this...

Hard At Work...

I know I mentioned some of my struggles to give myself a fair shake and start to promote myself. Maybe it sounded like neurotic whining (which it may have been) but I've determined to do something about it. Aside from updating my resume, I've gone ahead and worked out my Professional Bio, which I feel like gives people a better sense of me than a resume alone. Now I'm working on a website that puts everything together. I'm still rounding it into shape, but after about a week, its not bad. Feel free to check it out and give me any comments you may have. Thanks everybody! http://www.marcecheveste.com

White Party XX

For those that know me, you know that I'm very picky when it comes to music, especially dance music. I guess that's one of the reasons I started DJing. So its rare that I come across a mixed CD that I can sit back and enjoy. Currently, I'm listening to White Party XX by Brett Henrichsen (available at Masterbeat), who was kind enough to send me a copy. Start to finish it is a very good CD. Not as many all out favorites as his second CD of The Club 3, but they all flow very well together.

The absolute highlight is track 9, Sauna by Mirage. Middle-eastern flair with minimal vocals that focuses on an acoustic guitar. Such a beautiful track. I clearly remember Brett playing this track last year at San Diego Pride near the end of the night. Earlier in the evening, Susan Morabito, one of my favorites, had been playing at the Zoo Party. Normally I really love her, but she seemed to be in a very strange space and by around 8pm, I was getting an awful vibe from the music. I can't put my finger on it but there was just an unhappy, angry energy I just couldn't shake and I decided to leave. Fast forward several hours to the closing party at Club Montage, I had basically been dancing for a good 12 hours and my feet just wouldn't go any further. I was sitting on a couch behind the DJ booth and Brett played Sauna as well as Down to Earth by Grace, among others. For those of you who haven't heard either song, they're just incredibly beautiful tracks. Despite the fact that I was exhausted, I couldn't bring myself to leave because the music was so beautiful that it made me cry. I remember thinking that Heaven has to feel like this. Strange that in many ways I had been to Heaven and Hell in the same night.

So, I was quite happy that Brett had decided to put this on White Party XX -- I didn't know the name of the song and didn't know where to find it. Anyway, if you're looking for a good dance CD, this one is definitely worth getting.

I Heart Cock

I went to a friend's 40th B-Day party this afternoon. Had a great time - DJ Tye from LA was spinning, they had Pat Hodges perform. It was a big deal. To boot, they had a guy giving chair massages... He was VERY cute and very flirty. Got to see quite a few people I hadn't seen in a while; quite a number of very attractive guys. All in all, quite a nice afternoon. In any event, my friend Alfonso had the greatest T-Shirt and I had to share it with you all. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Just For Jonny...

I'm filling in at my friend Chris's company again this week and today is a VERY slow day. In any event, I've been bored as all hell and surfing the web and I came across this website that has a bunch of male fitness models. Personally, I think its a great find because its multipurpose: Not only do you get to ogle some very attractive, nearly naked manflesh, but you get to feed any negative body image issues you have at the same time! WOO HOO! Two for the price of one.

A funny thing, body image issues. I remember hanging out with a friend of mine who is also a personal trainer. The guy is very attractive and has virtually no fat anywhere on his body. So, we're getting ready to go out on the town and he changes his shirt and gets all neurotic about it... "I hate this shirt, it makes me feel too skinny..."

I'm thinking to myself, dear Christ, if he's insecure about his body then there's absolutely no hope for me or the public in general. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy looking at hot naked flesh as much as, if not more than the next gay guy, but we've gone way past the point of unrealistic expectations in gay culture.

The Social Security Scam

I'm sure we've all heard about Bush's plot to gut the social security system in order to get the financial services sector even cozier with the Republicans. We've heard, "The system is in crisis... blah blah blah... the system goes into the red in 2042... blah blah blah..." Well, the South Bend Tribune talks with a couple of Notre Dame economists and gets the real scoop. Basically, they say, the supposed crisis only occurs because the revenue projections used are unrealistically low. They assume that the economy will grow at an average 1.8% a year for the next 75 years. If, however, the economy grows at an average of 2.6% a year, Social Security will be able to meet its obligations with no changes. By comparison, in the past 75 years, the economy has grown at a rate of 3.4% per year. Crisis? What crisis?

Of course, this doesn't address the question of how taking money out of the system and putting it into pseudo-individual accounts would address the so-called crisis...

A final aside, I think the scary clown behind the Social Security card is way cool. Shades of R.J.'s Stalky"...

Our Fave Amazing Racer...

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you know I've mentioned Reichen Lehmkuhl before. Let me say that the man continues to impress me. I just read an interview with him at Notes From Hollywood. Apparently, he had been getting a new poster printed when the printer discovered that he was gay from reading his website. The printer, being a self- proclaimed conservative Christian, decided he would no longer work with Reichen and told him so in a letter. In California, this is lawsuit material. How nice.

Anyway, that in and of itself isn't that particularly uncommon or noteworthy. What really impressed me, however, was his willingness to discuss the issue of spirituality in general, and his own spirituality. Especially from someone in some semblance of the public eye, this is not a small thing. Combine this with his willingness to use his celebrity to help others, and you've got yourself a rare person, indeed. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, I had a chance to talk with him a little at a 4th of July party in Scottsdale. And while I'll certainly admit that he's very nice to look at, beyond that, he seems like a genuinely nice guy. No pretense, easy to talk to. He even remembered my name after a couple of hours and several cocktails.

Universe, if you're listening (and I know you are) - give me one like him!

Ah, flickr...

I was just amazed by how cool flickr is. An almost endless supply of images that you can surf through and blog with and about... Some of them are quite artistic. As I'm sure you're all aware, artistic value is really at the top of my list when I make most of my decisions. Take this fine example -- the guy's chest and abs lighting and shadows are rather striking. Indeed, I really envy the photographer because I would really love to be able to probe examine every angle of the subject with my tongue the camera. Indeed, this photo gives me raging wood a reminder of my deep appreciation for quality photography.

More WB Beauty...

I've talked about my affinity for shows on The WB before. I've been hesitant to bring this particular one up, though... Now, my taste in men usually runs from the late 20s to late 30s, with exceptions. Generally I'm not big into the young 'uns. Well, here is one major exception -- Jack & Bobby's Matt Long. Matt's character is in high school, so I always get a queasy feeling when I find myself gazing at him lustfully... Gotta remember that 15 will get you 20. Fortunately, as I was composing this and doing a little research on the web, I discovered that Matt was born in May of 1980... which would make him almost 25. That makes him fair game. The man is just stunning... those eyes... oh my.