What the New York Times had to say about LA-ish matters this weekend:

- Nikki Finke reminisces about her youthful lavish travels with her now-ailing mother. Note to Finke: don't rush through museums! Sometimes the less well-known pieces on display are the more rewarding.

- I forgot to mention this last week re: Army Archerd's retirement, but in lieu of 'Just For Variety', Variety will run Liz Smith's column. Liz Smith tells the NYT she is "more of a philosopher nowadays" than a gossip columnist, because blogs scoop scandal before she can. Liz Smith, philosopher. I like the ring of that.

- Amanda Scheer-Demme is glad that local blogs have called the Roosevelt Hotel out on its shoddy treatment of non-famous guests since she annexed the pool area as a celebrity-culture Sudetenland:

[T]he criticism, she said, has been constructive. "When you're working hard on something you tend to have blinders on," she said, "It's great to hear, 'Hey, dude, you need to fix this.' "

Wow, she's almost as insightful a philosopher as Liz Smith!