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!

TN Read-Along #7: A People’s History Discussion Thread
January 18, 2011 · 22 Comments
TN Read-Along #7: <I>A People’s History</I> Discussion Thread

William James, the Harvard philosopher, wrote a letter to the Boston Transcript about “the cold pot of grease of McKinley’s cant at the recent Boston banquet” and said the Philippine operation “reeked of the infernal …

The Squared Up Podcast, Episode 2: Whither Pelfrey?
January 17, 2011 · 6 Comments
The Squared Up Podcast, Episode 2: Whither Pelfrey?

The Squared Up Podcast returns at last! Our first 2011 broadcast features Jill Stempel, a.k.a. “Bean,” who’s responsible for my reversion to Mets fandom. We remain friends despite this. Heh.
Episode 2 is Mets-heavy, and topics …

The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Aw(esome)
January 16, 2011 · No Comment
The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Aw(esome)

The Tomato Nation readers have done it again:
Happy New Year!
Thanks seems to be a bit of an understatement. Pitch In For Baseball is ever so grateful to the followers of Tomato Nation for the generous …

The Vine: January 14, 2011
January 14, 2011 · 22 Comments
The Vine: January 14, 2011

Another fairytale book question. I’ve looked this book up on Google and other places, and the problem is that there seem to be a ton of editions/variations on this fairytale. The one I’m talking about …

Getting To Know You: The Tomato Nation Demographic Dance Party
January 13, 2011 · 104 Comments
Getting To Know You: The Tomato Nation Demographic Dance Party

Hello, friends, and welcome to The Tomato Nation Demographic Dance Party, in which 1) you tell me a little bit about yourselves, 2) I give away a few iPod Nanos, and 3) in the interests …

The Vine: January 12, 2011
January 12, 2011 · 40 Comments
The Vine: January 12, 2011

My boss is a lovely human being. He cares about his employees, hosts a kick-ass holiday party every year, and is really a good man. But all his good cheer can’t erase the fact that …

Adventures In Pointed DVR-Pausing
January 11, 2011 · 30 Comments
Adventures In Pointed DVR-Pausing

The entire purpose of your flimsy-looking contraption is to strengthen the abdominals. AbdomiNals. Not one of the artistes responsible for either the ’80s-vintage illustrative graphics or the pornishly loving footage of the positively ropey-looking “after” …

Oscars 2011 Death Race Preview: The Social Network
January 11, 2011 · 12 Comments
Oscars 2011 Death Race Preview: <I>The Social Network</I>

You’re not an asshole, Mark. You’re just trying so HARD to be.
That presumed attempt to make Mark Zuckerberg marginally more likable to the audience is one of the few feet Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network …

Bradelor! DUN!: Principles of Inertia
January 11, 2011 · 10 Comments
Bradelor! DUN!: Principles of Inertia

In this week’s episode of Bradelor! DUN!, Miss Alli and I almost accidentally co-watched the second hour on a weird intra-IM time delay, and Alli impressively kept secret from me a final rose ceremony that, …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #7: A People’s History of the United States
January 8, 2011 · 20 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #7: <I>A People’s History of the United States</I>

Howard Zinn edges Shannen Doherty at the last moment — how many times to do you get to write that sentence — to make A People’s History of the United States our 7th read-along book. …