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!

The Vine: January 6, 2010
January 6, 2010 · 94 Comments

Dear Sars,
I’ve been getting several conflicting opinions on this one. I usually do a really good job staying out of office politics, but now I am in a situation where a non-committal grunt isn’t going …

Sherlock Holmes: 221B-plus
January 4, 2010 · 46 Comments
<I>Sherlock Holmes</I>: 221B-plus

(On a not-unrelated note: Can we collectively resolve for 2010 to retire the term “steampunk”? Perhaps the term isn’t as irritating to those who didn’t already live through the style in its “NuRo” incarnation, but …

The Vine: December 31, 2009
December 31, 2009 · 11 Comments

Ask The Readers comes a little early this week, in case anyone’s in the office (and so I can take the day off tomorrow).   A happy and safe New Year to you all!
*****

I don’t …

The Vine: December 30, 2009
December 30, 2009 · 55 Comments

Dear Sars,
I’ve read The Vine for a while and I think this is a new one.The closest one I can think of is the guy who bought all the chain mail off of eBay, but …

21 Jump Street: “Gotta Finish The Riff”
December 29, 2009 · 16 Comments
<I>21 Jump Street</I>: “Gotta Finish The Riff”

…Wait, it’s already the episode where Jenko gets killed? But he’s my favorite character! I ask you: who among us will honor his memory by cutting the rebop? Not this episode, which, although it contains …

The Vine: December 23, 2009
December 23, 2009 · 65 Comments

Hi Sars,
For some time, I’ve been engaged in a long, fruitless search for a shower caddy (of the hang-it-over-the-showerhead-variety) that does not rust. I’ve searched the usual suspects — BBB, Linens ‘n’ Things, The Container …

“Did I act wrong? Am I a bad son?”
December 22, 2009 · 45 Comments
“Did I act wrong? Am I a bad son?”

I hesitate to wade into the Shellie Ross/Madison McGraw fray — in case you don’t know the story, you can get the background here — but my boy MB at OMG! Ponies! posted an exquisite, …

21 Jump Street: “The Worst Night of Your Life”
December 22, 2009 · 19 Comments
<I>21 Jump Street</I>: “The Worst Night of Your Life”

And now: A Very Explosive Episode of 21JS.
“Shut Up, Penhall” Count: 1
Catholic school. A nun patrols a hallway sternly, to the accompaniment of organ music. After she’s passed a Jesus statue, a door next to …

Cosmos
December 21, 2009 · 38 Comments
<I>Cosmos</I>

When the National Geographics came out that had the Voyager photos of Jupiter and Saturn in them, I visited them on their shelf in the den almost every day. I looked at them hundreds of …

The Vine: December 18, 2009
December 18, 2009 · 72 Comments

Hi Sars!
I recently returned from a trip to Europe, and I have a photo of a gorgeous alley in Amsterdam. I couch-surfed while in the Netherlands, and my host told me a famous writer/philosopher had …