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!

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. …

The Vine: July 9, 2010
July 9, 2010 · 12 Comments
The Vine: July 9, 2010

Hello Sars and TN!
After posting for a couple of years in the comments, I too have to tap the mighty organic computer brain that is the Nation for help with a couple of books that …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #2: Backwards in High Heels
July 8, 2010 · 3 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #2: <I>Backwards in High Heels</I>

Henry James crisis averted! Our next read-along book is Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female, by Tania Kindersley and Sarah Vine. Not Kindleable this time, but a used copy is about …

The Vine: July 7, 2010
July 7, 2010 · 81 Comments
The Vine: July 7, 2010

Hi Sars! To cut directly to the chase (so to speak):
About four years ago at age 28, I started running, basically from scratch (although active, I was unfit and overweight and could only run for …

Love Happens
July 6, 2010 · 11 Comments
<I>Love Happens</I>

I have a piece forming at the horizon of my mind, like a cloud that intends hail, about the tiresome undimensional treatment of the widow/er in contemporary Hollywood product, but it will have to wait …

The Vine: July 2, 2010
July 2, 2010 · 44 Comments
The Vine: July 2, 2010

Lots to choose from in the TN Read-Along #2 poll; vote today!
*****
Dear Sars,
I’ve been trying to track down this radio ad that I heard in the recent past, and my inability to do so …

Squared Up: Card Games
July 2, 2010 · 16 Comments
Squared Up: Card Games

I snagged a pack of Topps the other day for the hell of it, and something isn’t quite right about it. Maybe it’s a special promotional kind of pack that contains a higher proportion of …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #2: Poll
June 30, 2010 · 18 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #2: Poll

Polling for Book #2 will end at 11:59 PM ET on July 6. Vote below!
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the live chat (you can watch a “replay” of it right here — upcoming …

The Vine: June 30, 2010
June 30, 2010 · 37 Comments
The Vine: June 30, 2010

Dear Sars,
I have a question for you (and the readers) about therapy. And essentially it’s this: how do you know if you just dislike your therapist because you’re dealing with stuff you’d rather not, versus …

Going In Circles: Live Chat
June 29, 2010 · 9 Comments
<I>Going In Circles</I>: Live Chat

Pepper Pamela Ribon with questions live: Wednesday 30 June at 7:30 PM ET.
You should see the chat window below; it actually works more like a live blog. You’ll ask your questions in the comments area, …