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!

Support Local Biz: August 6, 2009
August 6, 2009 · 3 Comments
Support Local Biz: August 6, 2009

Reader Amalie is putting together a collection of plays and one-acts for performances affiliated with the Berkeley, CA Public Library — including a few of the Famous Ghost Monologues.   (Mary Charles McCormack, Mary Katherine …

The Vine: August 5, 2009
August 5, 2009 · 81 Comments

I recently got engaged to my awesome boyfriend, and we are starting to plan a wedding for next year.Even though I am not much of a planner (or maybe because I am not much of …

The N Cereal AA: Your Champion
August 4, 2009 · 31 Comments
The N Cereal AA: Your Champion

Frosted Flakes ekes out the win at last after a closely fought battle with Honey Nut Cheerios.   The final bracket is right here if you’d like to review the goings-on in their entirety.
Stay tuned …

The Most Evil Women in History
August 3, 2009 · 9 Comments
<I>The Most Evil Women in History</I>

The hilarious cover art and dryly blunt title got my hopes up — in vain, alas.   The writing is not awful, but Shelley Klein can’t decide if she’s going to report these cases straight, …

N Cereal AA: The Finals
August 3, 2009 · 52 Comments
N Cereal AA: The Finals

Edited 8/3/09 to add: It’s still a dead heat.   The current plan is to close the poll the morning of 8/4/09, but in the meantime, please Facebook, tweet, or otherwise share this entry to …

“Yes, he says ‘moi‘”
August 1, 2009 · 17 Comments

Miss Alli addresses James Spader’s underthought character in Wall Street, and much much more.   It’s a great piece, and the various bigger-than-a-breadbox-sized objects she uses to describe Gekko’s cell phone crack me up, but …

The Vine: July 31, 2009
July 31, 2009 · 19 Comments

Hi Sars,
I’m looking for a book I read about twelve years ago; I’m not even sure it was a good book, but it’s bugging me. It was in the section of my school library as …

Your Bill James quote du jour
July 30, 2009 · 2 Comments
Your Bill James quote <I>du jour</I>

From “Ellis, Richie and the Duke,” a comparison of various HoF and HoF-argued center fielders:
Ashburn had a good year with the bat, but he was playing for the Mets, and he couldn’t see the humor …

The Vine: July 29, 2009
July 29, 2009 · 56 Comments

Dear Sars,
My apologies up front for the length of this email and my thanks in advance for any advice you have for me.
I am a 32-year-old female. My brother (let’s call him George) and his …

The Vacationing: July 2009 Edition
July 26, 2009 · 22 Comments
The Vacationing: July 2009 Edition

Typhus, the Brooklyn Dodgers of Flatbush, lesser Kennedys, seminal animé (say that five times fast), Argentine nutbars, and cod on the Cape — plus the N Cereal AA and the fall contest.These stories and more, …