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Home » Culture and Criticism

Who’s that double-chinned dude wearing my shirt?

Submitted by on August 10, 2007 – 3:04 AM25 Comments

Oh, wait. That’s actually me wearing my shirt as I win the Bryant Park Project’s TV-theme-song game (on a My So-Called Life cue, no less!) Now that I’m up on the podium I’d like to thank NPR for 1) shooting me from below for maximum chin-osity, 2) on the hottest, stankiest day of the year, 3) without warning me beforehand that it would be a video segment, so that I could shiny-forehead-too-much-cleavage it all over the on-air room.

I kid, I kid, I had fun doing it and the BPPistas kindly gave me some NPR loot when I won. You can listen to the on-air audio portion here (I’m about 10 minutes from the end).

Except I’m not kidding about how I look like Randolph Manteats. I’m not fishing for compliments here; this is more of a warning. Or a callback to the Fat Elvis entry from earlier in the week. Heh.

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25 Comments »

  • Suze says:

    You kidding? You look great! I love the eyebrow quirk, and the smirky “this is how we do it on TWOP, bitch” expression as you dazzle them w/ your knowledge of theme songs.

    And that guy is *totally* drooling over you. See his awestruck expression? ;)

  • bristlesage says:

    Agreed, not your best angle, but your hair has grown out super-cute.

    And way to kick ass.

  • juliette says:

    I’d hardly call that “too much” cleavage. You were very modest. :)

  • Ken says:

    Sarah, you were totally holding back so they wouldn’t feel so bad about the smackdown, anyone with kids can tell just by watching you. Which is OK! Winning with kindness is cool!

  • Shannon says:

    I think you look adorable, Sarah! I’ve been watching the vid (can’t do sound because I’m at work) and thinking to myself, “Wow…I would love to hang out with this girl!” You’re totally cute!

  • mcgjgl says:

    Okay, total false advertising! I really expected you to look like ass. If you were sweaty and sticky, it didn’t come across on camera. You even had on a nice outfit and jewelry. You live in the city! I’m sure you are assaulted, on a daily basis, by ACTUAL examples of ass. This does not qualify.

    Great game. I loved most of those shows. In fact, I have been thoroughly enjoying “90210”, from the beginning, on Soapnet. Although, as an adult, I’m not loving some of the characters as much as I did the first time.

  • Margaret in CO says:

    I agree w/Suze – you look great! And hey – YOU HAVE HAIR!!! Hee.

    (and there’s no such thing as too much cleavage, hon. I’m all jealous – if I want cleavage I have to draw it on with a Sharpie!)

    CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

  • Sarah says:

    I’m in total agreement…he was totally checking you out! :)

  • Shotrock says:

    Oh, I so feel you on the chins thing. A friend of mine calls it “the Irish curse.” And I, too, could Jiffy Lube a car with one wipe of my forehead. These two things are why I hate having my picture taken.

    I once told my boss I was NOT photogenic at all, and she told me “Don’t be silly.” Then she saw a photo of me taken when we were all at a conference – so obviously, she was there, she knew what I looked like in person (which was, not fugly at all) – and said:

    “That…… [loooong pause]…… is not how I see you.”

    Yeah. I turn out THAT bad.

  • Deb says:

    I think you look great, honestly. Especially with no notice!

  • Heather says:

    I totally agree with the fact that sars looks great. BUT – I had a REALLY hard time hearing – are you low talkers? my volmues were maxed, I swear!!!

  • Susie says:

    I’m with Suze. (Great name, BTW!) You look fine. Like you’re about to take ’em to school, for a master class in awesomeness. Nice segment, too. Can I get a bravo?

  • Christin says:

    Dude, Luke Burbank is the man (I spend my days listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me). I wish I could be Allison so I could sit in the middle of the awesomeness.

    Oh, and, shut up, you look just fine.

  • Smash says:

    I’m about your size, except with three chins, so trust me, it could be worse! For reals, though, you look fine and that clip was quite fun to watch. You did manage to invalidate about half my childhood by claiming to have never watched Who’s the Boss. I wanted to be Samantha Macelli (Alyssa Milano) for most of fourth grade, to the point of asking my mom if I could change my name to Sam. She didn’t go for it.

  • brightpheonix says:

    Awesome! I loved the whole “it’s for work!” thing. Hee.

  • Tom says:

    Yeah, she’s right–he’s pretty much a knob, but he’s looking clearly gob-smacked over you quite a few times. And despite having just the right amount of cleavage in effect, he’s actually looking at your face when he looks that way.

    Then again, that IS an inspiring look of concentration on your face. ;-)

  • Jennifer S says:

    You actually make me feel better about my own appearance in videos and pictures. I take HORRIBLE photos–chin bulging, arms like bratwursts, big horse teeth–but people always insist they’re fine. I assumed they were just trying to be kind about the awful truth until I read this piece. I clicked on the clip right away to watch, and was thinking the whole time “Man, Sarah is HOT! She’s totally got that tall, regal thing going with the eyebrows and long neck, I’m so jealous, I love that blouse”, than I click back and you’re beating yourself up about it–hmmm. Maybe I don’t look so much like Quasimodo as I thought.

  • BadHairLife says:

    I love your shirt – where’d you get it? Also: you look just fine!

    The benefit of the “Under the Rainbow” camera angle is that your forehead looks great from here (there is no shine visible) and your cleavage looks perfectly appropriate (no down the shirt shots since the camera is set up at knee level looking up).

    We’re always our own worst critics, especially when forced to watch ourselves on video!

  • Erin says:

    Sars, you don’t know what you missed on the Who’s the Boss? front. I used to watch it in syndication every day from 6 to 7. I may have been in fourth grade at the time.

  • Trey says:

    I was about a minute in before I realized that was Alison Stewart. Maybe Serena Altschul will have her day after all!

  • rayvyn2k says:

    That was awesome. Totally not too much cleavage, love your hair, and you rock the theme songs. :)

  • Sars says:

    Aw, thanks, guys. Just to clarify, I don’t think I’m *actually* ugly. I’m fine, and if I cared that much I wouldn’t have shaved my damn head, but something happens when a camera is present, and that something is frequently unfortunate for everyone.

    I really don’t think L. Burb was checking me out, but I’ll defer to you guys (he’s cute).

    Ken: I marinate in TV for a living, so it was sort of an unfair face-off, but I couldn’t help laughing when the producer was like, “This is sort of a hard one,” and it was MSCL.

    Heather: I was totally low-talking; I didn’t know how close to the mic to get, so I wasn’t close enough at all. Plus I have a baritone which is sometimes hard to hear. Sorry about that.

    BHL: Urban Outfitters.

    That camera angle does have its advantages, I guess, but when the Biscuit and I had our public access show back in the day, I usually did the talk “breaks” between clips, and I was *constantly* on him to shoot me from above. “Just get up on that stool.” “You look fine, Streisand, let’s just get on with it.” “Well, then can you hold the camera up like –” “No.” “I look like Huckleberry Hou–” “NO.”

  • effie says:

    this is so great, i’ve been reading tomato nation for years and this was totally fun to watch. your eyebrows were, like, running wild across your face.

  • Kristina says:

    I totally have the same shirt! And the same chin problem.

  • Molly says:

    Okay, that was pretty freaking awesome.

    I both impressed and depressed myself by getting Who’s the Boss a full note before the guy even rang in. (Silver Spoons? Pfft.)

    Also, you looked fine, but I totally hear you on the chin issue. I look at pictures of myself, then look in the mirror, make the same face…I don’t know where the other chin/s come from! It’s a mite unsettling.

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