Welp, The New York Times has caught on to Lana Del Rey (ON IT!), and we've all been treated to an incredibly insipid profile of the scarlet starlet/harlot in T magazine. It's full of incredibly fascinating and concrete facts, like her possession of a Tennessee Williams paperback and her "neither rich nor poor" upbringing. Journalism at its finest!

If you think the best you can do to alleviate the stress of a cross-country flight is a drink at the Polo Lounge, think again. Hotels are going out of their way to make your airport experience smoother, instead of waiting to coddle you once you arrive on their premises. “We try to be a concierge at the airport and make their lives a bit easier whether they’re coming off an hour flight or a 14-hour flight,” James Bardolf of the Peninsula Beverly Hills told the New York Times. His role as “airport concierge” means he’ll greet you at LAX with anything you need, and for a $100 fee, he and his staff will speed your departure by getting you through security fast, securing your access to airport lounges, and getting your seats upgraded. Other hotels are offering similar services, so read on for the full list:

Nearly five years ago, Christopher Hitchens wrote an infamous article in Vanity Fair suggesting that women aren't funny. The piece enraged a lot of people (and included a notion that women can be successful at stand-up comedy as long as they're "hefty or dykey or Jewish"), and put the female perspective in comedy at the forefront. Of course, there have been plenty hilarious and successful women in comedy, but it seems that in the few years following the Hitchens article the focus has been on proving how funny women can be. Today's New York Times piece on foul-mouthed ladies continues that trend.

Super stud Hugh Jackman is known best for his action roles, particularly as Wolverine in the X-Men franchise. But he's also an accomplished stage actor; he first gained popularity outside of his native land down under when he starred in Oklahoma! in London. He's no stranger to Broadway, having won a Tony for his portrayal of Australian singer Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz. This week, Jackman made his return to the Great White Way in a one-man show, aptly titled Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, and apparently it's a big, sexy hit.

As is customary with high-profile personalities, The New York Times already had Elizabeth Taylor’s 4,000 word obituary written and ready to go when news of her death broke this morning. But strangely enough, the 35-year veteran Times writer who composed the piece, Mel Gussow, actually passed away six years ago at the age of 71 from bone cancer. Still, the Times’ obit editor Bill McDonald says that the article was just “too good to throw away.”

Forecasting the next big destination isn't the easiest job, especially when there are more than 2 million cities around the world to choose from. Not only do you have to limit yourself to a compact list, you also have to keep your thumb on trend factors, changes in tourism infrastructure and general buzz about a hot spot, and whether the city is experiencing a genuine renaissance or if tourism boards somehow created fleeting interest. This past weekend, the New York Times revealed the Top 41 Places of 2011. While I commend them on some picks (Koh Sumai, London, Hangzhou, China, and Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay), I have to say they're a little late to the game with others. Instead of going through all 41 of their selections, below are a few destinations I believe their editors should have thought harder about including before going to press.

Natalie Portman is on a roll. With Oscar buzz surrounding her performance in Black Swan, the star of the upcoming Miss Dior Cherie campaign will now be on the cover of this Sunday's Hollywood issue of the New York Times Magazine, shot by Solve Sundsbo. Portman is also featured in the Times' video gallery, "Fourteen Actors Acting"—mini acting master classes from the likes of James Franco and Michael Douglas, shot by Sundsbo and scored by Owen Pallett.

Everything that's old is new again and consumers have the recession to blame for it, says the New York Times. Vintage styles are as in vogue as ever, says the news source, writing that "for some clothing brands, the summer of 2010 looks a lot like the summer of 1910, and 1949, and 1957—basically, any time but now." Everyone from J. Crew to Marc Jacobs is taking inspiration from dominating trends of decades past. Eddie Bauer is "reintroducing jackets that the company supplied to World War II pilots and 1950s mountaineers" and "Sperry Top-Siders...[is] selling white buck shoes based on archival pieces." The same 'heritage' push we've seen from the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci is now turning up stateside courtesy of non-luxury brands. But, really, what's new about designers borrowing inspiration or reissuing garments from the past?

For weeks, the fashion and design industry's been abuzz with speculation over who would fill Stefano Tonchi's vacant shoes at T. The answer is here: Vogue's fashion news and features editor, Sally Singer. Singer's been with the Conde Nast title since 1999. Come July 5, she'll be starting fresh at the New York Times design magazine. (Tonchi, meanwhile, has started at W, where his stint as editor-in-chief is already rumored to be a welcome change for co-workers.) From musing on the current state of the industry for The Atlantic, to opening the doors of her home—which she shares with PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Joseph O'Neill at the iconic Hotel Chelsea, no less—to The Selby, Singer has proven she has sharp intellect, fine judgment, and aesthetic sensibility enough to bring new life to T.

It’s not hard to ascertain why the most noxious crank-cases always earn the most visible press, but that doesn’t make it any less odious a phenomenon. The latest example is The New York Times' coverage (courtesy of Brooks Barnes) of one puritanical scold who happens to be extremely averse to red band, a.k.a. R-rated, trailers. Nell Minow, a lawyer who reviews films for radio stations and Beliefnet.com under the name “Movie Mom,” has been complaining about their often unchecked circulation on the internet for years, but apparently the trailers for Lionsgate’s forthcoming superhero spoof, Kick-Ass, have really got her dander up. “Studios hide behind the notion of an age requirement for these trailers, but it’s pure fiction. It’s easy for kids to access, and that’s exactly how the industry wants it.”