Baseball

“I wrote 63 songs this year. They’re all about Jeter.” Just kidding. The game we love, the players we hate, and more.

Culture and Criticism

From Norman Mailer to Wendy Pepper — everything on film, TV, books, music, and snacks (shut up, raisins), plus the Girls’ Bike Club.

Donors Choose and Contests

Helping public schools, winning prizes, sending a crazy lady in a tomato costume out in public.

Stories, True and Otherwise

Monologues, travelogues, fiction, and fart humor. And hens. Don’t forget the hens.

The Vine

The Tomato Nation advice column addresses your questions on etiquette, grammar, romance, and pet misbehavior. Ask The Readers about books or fashion today!

GasLand
February 3, 2011 · 9 Comments
<I>GasLand</I>

Death Race 37, Sarah 19; 1 of 24 categories completed
GasLand, a doc about the dangers posed to the national water supply by hydro-fracturing (“fracking”), gets off to a precious, over-edited start, and Josh Fox’s grating …

The Vine: February 2, 2011
February 2, 2011 · 12 Comments
The Vine: February 2, 2011

Hi! I’m an American teaching English in Russia, and I frequently field difficult questions from my students. I can almost always find a good answer for them, but this one is giving me issues:
Why do …

Bradelor! DUN!: Hallowed Malls
February 1, 2011 · 7 Comments
Bradelor! DUN!: Hallowed Malls

In today’s installment of Bradelor! DUN!, Miss Alli and I have sync-ing issues; Emily has NASCAR issues; Chris Harrison has sensitivity and disingenuity issues; and Lisa’s hair has the same issues it always does…for the …

Black Swan
January 31, 2011 · 31 Comments
<I>Black Swan</I>

Death Race 38, Sarah 18; 1 of 24 categories completed
I didn’t know what to make of Black Swan during the movie, and I still don’t. It’s laughably obvious, ambiguous, sentimental, frustrating, dark, sharply observed, and …

Unstoppable
January 31, 2011 · 13 Comments
<I>Unstoppable</I>

Death Race 38, Sarah 18; 1 of 24 categories completed
I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I believe I saw the trailer for Unstoppable while watching The Town with the Couch Baron. Everyone else in …

How To Train Your Dragon
January 31, 2011 · 24 Comments
<I>How To Train Your Dragon</I>

Death Race 38, Sarah 18; 1 of 24 categories completed
We decided to side with it early on, when we heard Jay Baruchel’s voice, and after the “…Astrid [choir of angels / slo-mo]” moment, but all …

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I
January 30, 2011 · 15 Comments
<I>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I</I>

See my comments on last year’s nominated iteration of the franchise. It has a few nice moments, but feels a little slower than the last one, and the acting is quite poor in spots. It’s …

TRON: Legacy
January 29, 2011 · 17 Comments
<I>TRON: Legacy</I>

Death Race 42, Sarah 14; 1 of 24 categories completed
You can’t come at a movie like TRON: Legacy with qualitative adjectives — or at least I can’t. I’ve never seen the original in its entirety, …

Salt
January 28, 2011 · 21 Comments
<I>Salt</I>

Death Race 43, Sarah 13; 1 of 24 categories completed
Altogether satisfying! Salt reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Fugitive: the action is exciting, the contrivances and twists seem deft instead of obtrusive, …

The Vine: January 28, 2011
January 28, 2011 · 10 Comments
The Vine: January 28, 2011

I need help with a book that I read as a kid, and I can’t remember the title (or most of the plot). It was about a girls’ home, possibly in England, that had about …