Tori Spelling, for all her time on this sinking planet, has done very little good. So before we tie her to rafters and gather to heckle her with beets for her ruinous contributions to the already-crumbling world of children’s literature, let’s fondly recall the good times. As few as they were. Like when she guested on Smallville as a non-journalist with a vicious mean streak. Or when she gave us a woefully short-lived, camptastic comedy in the vein of Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

He’s shot everyone from Charlotte Rampling and Thurston Moore to Victoria Beckham. Yet Juergen Teller seems to prefer life behind the scenes. The German photographer rarely gives interviews, but in light of a soon-to-be released Steidl tome documenting the photog’s last 20 years of ads for Marc Jacobs, Teller is speaking out. The Independent sat down with the iconic artist and fashion photographer to talk the past two decades of MJ advertising photos. Some of the best moments from the piece are after the jump.

Back in high school she may have cut classes, while he flunked his—but, today, Isabel and Ruben Toledo are continually schooling the fashion industry on how to stay ahead of the curve. Partners both professionally as well as romantically, the duo garnered SCAD’s Lifetime Achievement back in May. Now, FIT is paying homage to Isabel and her designs (which have won the favor of the First Lady herself, who donned Toledo’s line for Inauguration Day) with a recently opened retrospective. The exhibition, titled “Fashion From The Inside Out,” spans the designer’s career and is on view in NYC through September 26.

Norman Ollestad Jr. would be living a singular life even without the early tragedy. Growing up on Topanga Beach before the government stripped the shack houses from the surfers and the locals, Ollestad was the son of a former child actor turned FBI agent turned whistleblower, who was also a fan of extreme sports. Ollestad Sr. would push little Norman to the limits, teaching him to surf the roughest waters and ski the hardiest terrain. The latter experience led to Jr. becoming a skiing champion; on their way to a race, he, his father, his father’s girlfriend, and pilot all crashed in the San Gabriel mountains. The crash killed his father and the pilot instantly, and the girlfriend perished soon after, leaving 11-year-old Norman to fend for himself in the wilderness. He writes about his experience in his just-released memoir Crazy for the Storm. Now a father himself, Ollestad has resurfaced in Venice Beach, where he lives in the Canals, surfs and skis, and takes in the local scene.

The latest book by travel/adventure writer J. Maarten Troost is called Lost on Planet China. It’s the third in a list that includes titles like The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages. Troost takes a humorous view on travel and foreign countries, as evinced by the evocative titles. The first of the three details his life on the tiny island of Kiribati (total area 280 square miles), where he spent a few years with his then-girlfriend (now wife) Sylvia.

WH Smith is now in cahoots with Penguin travel guides. They’ve signed an exclusive deal with Penguin to showcase their books and guides at their 1000 + stores worldwide, many of which happen to be inside airports and train stations, effectively giving Penguin a serious leg up on the travel guide marketplace. Though Penguin has a robust selection, there will be no other competing titles available for consumer purchase. This is a big coup for Penguin, but a sad state of affairs for consumer choice.

This week’s edition of the New Yorker takes a look inside the home of Barneys’ inimitable creative director Simon Doonan. Doonan’s Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints, was adapted for television by the BBC last fall as a series called Beautiful People, and it recently debuted stateside on the Logo network. Right off the bat, he describes his digs as a “palatial gay fantasia.” The grandiose description, though over the top, isn’t surprising given the fact that Doonan recently married his partner of 14 years, interior designer Jonathan Adler. Not to mention the abode in question is outfitted with garden gnomes, a paisley ping-pong table, and a “burlap bust of Napoleon” in the fireplace.

Last night, makeup artist, author, and green-lover Lina Hanson stepped out to celebrate the release of her latest book Eco-Beautiful: The Ultimate Guide to Natural Beauty and Wellness at Sustainable NYC and supported by Zico (an eco-friendly sports drink we know around the office as the coconut-water hangover cure) and Johnny Love vodka (not sure if it’s considered green, but vodka alone is worth mentioning). Hanson, who has worked with everyone from Brooke Shields to Elijah Wood, was excited to share her insight on getting eco-beautiful—something Lina says isn’t just a shallow buzzword. “Becoming eco-beautiful is about being good to the environment,” she says, “and being good to yourself.” The book covers everything from skin-friendly diets to DIY masks and brings a great zen approach to getting all made up for a night out. Below, some of my favorite tips straight from Hanson.

I wasn’t aware of the fast lane as a boy hitting rubber balls with sticks in middle-class Queens, but as I grew up, I heard about the crazy Joe Gallo. I heard that he stood up and questioned the status quo. That’s what was going on: America was growing out of the Ozzie and Harriet 50s and embracing a new sexuality, new politics, and minority and women’s rights. For the first time since the Civil War, masses took to the streets to protest a war. Joey was the rogue gangster who asked why his world had to be this way, and they called him crazy. Then they whacked them. Reading Tom Folsom’s The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld took me back to a bygone era. The book presents a believable image of a man trying to change thousands of years of mob tradition. I talked to Folsom about his new must-read on a warm, sunny afternoon in Little Italy, outside of what used to be the Ravenite Social Club and John Gotti’s headquarters.

Author Brantly Martin, once a wonder boy of New York City nightlife, has returned from exile, purgatory, marriage, overseas, and five or six other speculated places armed with a 200-plus page book that’s is the buzz about town. “Which is worse?” a savvy pal asked me, “To be in it or not be in it?” Pillage describes some days and some nights in the life of the model/promoter/owner club set in decidedly non-PG rated terms; there’s more sex and drugs than Woodstock. As I read it, I became increasingly revolted, then jealous, then revolted, then I laughed and was revolted again. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the world of the young, rich, beautiful, and passionately immoral. Brantly seems to have come to terms with his demons. He is actually married to a beautiful Italian woman and lives in Rome. He admits to being the main character of the tome ("Cracula"). He is super hush-hush about the identities of the other characters and wouldn’t give me even one. In this case, the names have been changed to protect the guilty—but I managed to poke my rather cute nose in some of the right places and came up with a few reveals.