Pet Rock: The Pop Culture Blog

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, everyone's favorite look-alike fraternal twins who started their careers as Michelle Tanner on "Full House" and have blossomed into young moguls, appearing multiple times on Forbes' richest celebrities list, have now released a coffee table book, "Influence."

Editor Derek Blasbery writes in the forward that "the making of the book followed a simple routine: Mary-Kate and/or Ashley Olsen would pick me up and take me to a location where a scheduled interview would take place with a creative visionary." Presumably from there they interviewed, he wrote and together they put together all this text with photos of the interviewees and of course, the Olsens, pictured at various points throughout their lives.

The 20 profiles cover mainly fashion icons, including Lauren Hutton, Diane Von Furstenberg and John Galliano. Here are some tidbits from the interviews:

-Mary-Kate went as a Japanese bondage girl to a NYC Halloween party last year. Ashley was a little vampire girl in a Victorian dress

-The twins are Geminis and were born on Friday the 13th

-From Diane Von Furstenberg when asked about her story: "I always knew the woman I wanted to be -- I knew I wanted to be a woman who was independent, a woman who was in the driving seat, a woman who didn't need for the man to decide."

-Since he started dieting 8 years ago (and lost a substantial amount of weight), Karl Lagerfeld hasn't touched anything bad. No sugar, no cheese! And he doesn't take time off from work to vacation. Quite restrictive.

-Ashley wants to get married and have kids, Mary-Kate does not seem to want either

-On the Proust Questionnaire (here in Vanity Fair), Ashley writes that her principle defect is that she's socially awkward. Her dream of happiness? "Being happy (which I am) -- Rock Band has helped." Haha.

-On Mary-Kate's Proust Questionnaire, her favorite bird is listed as a raven or black crow, her favorite composer is Neil Young. How would she like to die? "In your arms." What is her present state of mind? "Sarcastic." So, they're funny.

Overall, gotta say, I didn't expect it, but it's a beautiful book with many interesting insights. Makes me want to go out and interview everyone I admire and create my own book of influences.

Photos: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Read celebrity Proust Questionnaires from Vanity Fair