I'm not jaded. I still have goals. To have a bestselling novel in the post-novelistic age, to break 80 for 18, to have grandchildren, and to be in Fantastic Man magazine. Because when you're in Fantastic Man, there is little doubt remaining that you are, indeed, a fantastic man.

Fantastic Man is the creation of Jop van Bennekom, a graphic designer and the creator of such revolutionary magazines as Butt and Re, and Gert Jonkers, a journalist, fashion editor, and co-creator of Butt. In some ways, Fantastic Man is the opposite of Butt. Both have a distinctly male flavor, but where the flavor of Butt is, say, wieners, buns, and relish, the flavor of Fantastic Man is of a more gourmet variety—it's a Bananas Foster of a periodical. Everything about it is subtle and elegant, from the design by Mr. van Bennekom to the really intelligent and tasteful fashion under the direction of Mr. Simon Foxton. After flipping through issue #4, fall/winter '06-'07, I developed a sudden yen for a velvet jacket from Filippa K and a pair of J.Lindeberg pleated wool trousers. These gents have an eye.

The articles are also quite informative and amusing. I loved seeing my friend Olivier Zahm, the editor and publisher of Purple Fashion, modeling briefs while smoking a cigar, and I was thoroughly amused by the charming profile that suggests that he is our Serge Gainsbourg. Amen to that! There are also interesting pieces on the suave auctioneer Simon DePury, the charmingly peculiar Mark E Smith of The Fall, and the cover man, Helmut Lang, shot by Bruce Weber, holding a cock, one of the barnyard residents of his grand spread in Montauk.

Fantastic Man gets more fantastic with each issue. I think it's really the most modern magazine. An editor I admire, Aaron Hicklin, formerly of Black Book, recently took over Out magazine and I suggested to him, only half facetiously, that perhaps his first order of business should be to rename the book "In." Times have changed, and there is much to be said for the virtues of subtlety, discernment, suggestion, discretion, understatement, wit, and je ne sais quoi. Not that Olivier in a banana hammock is subtle, but the whole approach of Fantastic Man is utterly fantastic—that is, born of fantasy. Mr. Zahm is a playboy who specializes in philosophy and womanizing. Mr. Lang is a country gentleman who lives with another country gentleman. Their fantasies are quite different, yet they are all fantastic, attractive, fascinating men. Like me. Fantasy is the technique we use to make our lives more interesting, and Fantastic Man captures its myriad manifestations in grand style.

The men in Fantastic Man are interesting. They may be gay, or they may be straight, or all or none of the above. This journal is above category. It's not what you say, as a TV game show once said, but what you don't say. And Fantastic Man has elevated that slogan to an art. It's a magazine that really makes you want to be fantastic.