James Frey (right) and Terry Richardson grin at the prospect of ticking folks off at their book talk.

Controversy-friendly author James Frey and photographer Terry Richardson don’t much believe in rules, so the two intentional outsiders teaming up on a book/photo project makes a sort of sense. For those who don’t know that Frey is co-partner of Half Gallery with Andy Spade and Bill Powers, the move may surprise, but for the writer himself, it was just a matter of time.

“I’m much more part of the art world than I am the literary world,” Frey said before the duo’s Thursday night talk at Manhattan’s Strand Bookstore. “I wanted to make a cool, sort of radical, fun art book. I have no interest in being called a memoirist. I’m a writer.”

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If you can’t win an Ellie, make your own

Last night, Hearst celebrated its first year in the Hearst Tower by handing out fourteen crystal statuettes of the 46-story, 856,000-square-foot glassy outcropping to honor the work of its own magazines — a really expensive version of what most companies call an “e-mail.”

Cathie Black presided over an awards dinner that included guest “presenters” — CBS Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield and designers Kate and Andy Spade.

The full list, including what appear to be Black’s parenthetical notes on the winners:

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