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!

Tomato Nation Read-Along #3: Poll
July 26, 2010 · 25 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #3: Poll

Okay, so that last one wasn’t so awesome. Live and learn.
The poll for the third TN Read-Along is below. The Wallace and the Cutrone have returned, as you’ll see, but I have a bet with …

TV Question Qorner: Work of Art
July 24, 2010 · 25 Comments
TV Question Qorner: <i>Work of Art</i>

Above, Abdi’s “Intruder Alert.”
I’ll grant that it’s functionally impossible for the show to do what its tagline says it will — find “The Next Great Artist” — but I think the attempt is really interesting. …

The Vine: July 23, 2010
July 23, 2010 · 65 Comments
The Vine: July 23, 2010

Dear Sars,
I am a single woman with limited amounts of time and money. I’d like to start eating healthier and thriftier, but the two don’t seem to go together very well.
There have been a …

TN Read-Along #2 Discussion Thread: Backwards in High Heels
July 22, 2010 · 27 Comments
TN Read-Along #2 Discussion Thread: <I>Backwards in High Heels</I>

Perfection is boring. Oh my God, it’s the dullest thing in the world. Stop trying to achieve it, now. (179)
I tend to avoid books like Backwards in High Heels, assuming that tired passive-aggression about socks …

The Vine: July 21, 2010
July 21, 2010 · 58 Comments
The Vine: July 21, 2010

Dear Sars,
Almost 4 years ago now, I met “Steve” through a work project that our two companies were collaborating on. The project required us to work very closely together (emailing and talking on the phone …

The Vine: July 16, 2010
July 16, 2010 · 11 Comments
The Vine: July 16, 2010

I’m not even sure this is a book, but I figured the TN universe might have someone who remembers it too. I recently read Cyteen and while doing so, had intense déjà vu of a …

The Vine: July 14, 2010
July 14, 2010 · 36 Comments
The Vine: July 14, 2010

Dear Sars,
I’ve been searching the web for help on this problem and I couldn’t find anything on this topic: Pressure to defriend someone on a social networking website.
A year ago I dated “Albert,” who …

Squared Up: Not The Same As The Old Boss
July 13, 2010 · 20 Comments
Squared Up: Not The Same As The Old Boss

Roberto Kelly was up in the bottom of the fourth against Detroit when a murmur began circling through Yankee Stadium. The scoreboard read: July 30, 1990, 8:26 P.M. The murmur built steadily, and suddenly a …

21 Jump Street: “Bad Influence”
July 12, 2010 · 5 Comments
<I>21 Jump Street</I>: “Bad Influence”

“Shut Up, Penhall” Count: 1
We open with a much-too-long nighttime sequence in which a Kirk-Cameron-esque kid named Dylan tries every door of Artie’s Deli.He finally gains access to find his little friend Jordy snacking on …

When You’re Strange
July 11, 2010 · 37 Comments
<I>When You’re Strange</I>

My opinion of Jim Morrison is not a secret, but in case you’ve just arrived on Tomato Nation: hate. Morrison’s poet-shaman-of-the-bacchanal persona comes off to me as just that — a persona, sophomoric, obvious, contrived. …