It's important to me to keep this site lively while I'm hard at work on Five George Washingtons, but hard for me to write short stories while I'm so focused on the intricities of a novel.
That's one of the reason's I've been turning out so many episodes of Joel Fauré, the Melancholy Male Model, which involve more cartooning and less writing. Joel seems to be popular, as well.
This month, Joel goes to a self-help group, Gorgeous Men Who Can't Find Love, and makes two new friends: Sebastién Marcovici, the world's best-looking and best-endowed ballet dancer, and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
You may recall that Joel already has a friend: Jock, the happy male model, inspired by good-humored New York City Ballet dancer Jock Soto.
Joel's new friends are named after real people as well. The actual Sebastién Marcovici - a rising star at City Ballet - looks good, dances romantic roles beautifully, and appears to be gifted in a more primal manner, too, based on my observations from Row "C" of the New York State Theater.
I think the "C" stands for "codpiece," since that's what you're at eye level with from those seats. The press office put me there because I'm supposed to be a critic writing reviews, but when Sebastién's well-stuffed codpiece came onstage, it took me about half an hour to realize there was also a ballet going on.
Joel's other friend, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, I have never seen in person, and seen photographed only once - in an old issue of Life magazine, which showed him sitting on a staircase and complaining about his love life. I thought he would be a good friend for Joel.