Brave the elements in fall's primal furs. A force-of-nature photo shoot inspired by the hit Spike Jonze movie, Where The Wild Things Are. Photography by Kate Orne. Styling by Christine de Lassus.

"I’m like the canvas side -- the shitty side that gets dirty quick -- and Gucci is the luxury leather,” says British musician and dandy Mark Ronson, parsing the components of one of the limited-edition boat shoes he designed with the high-end fashion house. The Grammy-winning turntablist (and brother of fashion designer Charlotte Ronson) partnered with Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini to create hip footwear for the labels Icon-Temporary sneaker line. Sitting at the back of Indochine, New York’s storied nightlife destination, Ronson excitedly pokes at the eyelets and pulls at the laces on one of his high0tops. (Check out Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred, celebrating the restaurant's 25th anniversary; see a gallery of selected photos.) The shoes will be sold at pop-up shops in New York, Miami, Tokyo and London, among other locations. Each pair comes with a Gucci iPhone app that allows users to mix their own songs. What’s more, customers who buy the trainers will snag a brand-new Ronson track inspired by each of the cities.

Actor-musician Jared Leto and his certified-platinum band 30 Seconds to Mars have been keeping busy, readying their third album, This is War, for release on December 8th. But not so busy they can’t play with Manhattan’s punks and paparazzi. It’s all in a day’s work for the hardcore heartthrob. (Also check out our behind-the-scenes report.)

There’s little more than 1,000 days until the end of the world. Or so say the conspiracy theorists who predict global annihilation on December 21, 2012, the day the Mayan calendar ends. That potential doomsday is the premise of Roland Emmerich’s new movie 2012, a cinematic wrecking ball that wallops landmarks across the globe (and has an aircraft carrier belly flop on the White House). Emmerich, who also directed Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, isn’t the only filmmaker to traffc in megadestruction. Since a tidal wave swallowed New York whole in 1933’s Deluge, obliterating iconic landmarks has become a movie cliché. We’ve put together a map of cinema’s most memorable tourist attraction takedowns.

Every field of endeavor has its icons, and nightlife is no different. To be an icon in this world, one has to be successful and stay relevant. After all, you’re only as good as your last party. For every genuine icon, there are swarms of scenesters who occupy the pantheon in their own minds -- putting the “I” and “con” in the word. But it takes a certain amount of swagger to succeed in this business, so they should be forgiven. Besides, they are always the easiest people to shop for around Christmas: any mirror will do. Listed below are my six New York City club icons -- solo artists and teams -- and the up-and-comers with the potential to replace them, if only their predecessors would move to India (or somewhere even more remote, like Brooklyn).

Elly Jackson is on the move. No, really. The clicking of the 21-year-old musician’s heels punctuates each pause in a transatlantic phone call as she walks down a busy London street. But as quickly as the redheaded front woman seems to be moving, her career—as part of chart-skipping, beat-happy British pair La Roux—is moving even faster. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a good artist or if you’re a shit artist,” she says of her success. “If you’ve got a catchy song, people will catch onto it really quickly.”

An icon is someone who floats above the culture. Consider Orson Welles, the subject of my upcoming film Me and Orson Welles, and an icon if there ever was one. He was a larger-than-life personality and immense talent who has come to mean a great deal to many people. But the more you study his life, the more unknowable he becomes. He was a notoriously unreliable narrator. He never distinguished between fact and fiction. Everything -- from Shakespeare to his own personal history -- was open to reinterpretation.

Actor Paul Reubens is ready to dust off his gray suit and resurrect the bow-tied, bonkers Pee-Wee Herman in a traveling live stage show, before appearing in two new films by indie envelope-pushers David O. Russell and Todd Solondz. Here, the manic man-boy blows his big-top with a list of things that get him bent out of shape.

The King Khan BBQ Show, Invisible Girl, (In the Red) - Doo-wop garage rock outfit the King Khan & BBQ Show could be the freaky offspring of Frankie Valli and the Ramones, and they’ve got the records (not to mention the semi-legendary live shows) to prove it. The Canadian duo’s latest album includes love ballads (“Third Ave”), get-up-and-dance numbers (“Do the Chop”) and even a track infused with bestial noises (“Animal Party”). Combining nostalgic melodies, surf guitars and edgy distortion, Invisible Girl would make both Frankie and Joey proud. -- Hunter Fleetwood

Though it’s not exactly gritty, it’s hard to imagine Pedro Almodóvar making a darker film than Broken Embraces. Leaving behind the intimately personal flavor of Volver, his latest leans in the direction of neo-noir, inflecting both his rich, deep color palette and narrative strategy. It’s a genuine thrill to see him stretch like this.