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: December 17, 2008
December 17, 2008 · 39 Comments

Dear Sars,
I don’t ever seem to have great luck with my living situations. I had finally shaken off the curse of the terrible roommates by getting a one-bedroom (and a cat! yay!) and felt like …

DVR Break-Up: Life on Mars
December 17, 2008 · 36 Comments
DVR Break-Up: <I>Life on Mars</I>

This is what happens when you add a show to the season-pass list almost solely because you think Michael Imperioli is incredibly foxy with the long hair and the mustache (and about the long hair: …

Support Local Business: December 16, 2008
December 16, 2008 · 38 Comments
Support Local Business: December 16, 2008

Just a few notes and comments to take our minds off evil little troll moles that THINK they can step up to Dr. Robinson, AND WILL REGRET IT FOREVER…
Reader Shonda, who’s based in Philly, has …

Dr. Robinson 2, moles 0
December 16, 2008 · 134 Comments
Dr. Robinson 2, moles 0

Tuesday December 2, I visit the dermatologist for a routine skin check, which I do every six months.Dr. Robinson biopsies two moles from my back.
Wednesday December 3, Dr. Robinson calls to inform me that one …

Spicy meatballs
December 15, 2008 · 32 Comments

My latest piece for NPR’s Monkey See blog, this one on the perils of extended exposure to audio book narration.

The Vine: December 12, 2008 (Bookfest)
December 12, 2008 · 28 Comments

Hey Sars,
I’m hoping the TN readership can help me find a book I read years ago. I read it in 1998 when I was an exchange student in Germany for my English class. I would …

“Calgon — take me a gay!”
December 10, 2008 · 24 Comments
“Calgon — take me a gay!”

“Shhh, Daddy’s stories are on.”
To all my friends and readers who called in gay today, Lee and I salute you.   Don’t forget to take a nice hot bubble bath with your favorite boy or …

The Vine: December 10, 2008
December 10, 2008 · 57 Comments

O mighty Sars, wise in the ways of weirdo cats;
My boyfriend is fostering, and thinking about adopting, a 9-year-old female cat, Ava.Ava was at first grumpy and grouchy, but after about 6 weeks seems to …

Heaven’s Gate
December 8, 2008 · 24 Comments
<I>Heaven’s Gate</I>

how old you’ll be when the movie’s finally over
I couldn’t finish it; I couldn’t get through even an hour.The movie is manifestly, immediately, deeply and groundlessly in love with itself; like almost everyone else with …

Support Local Biz: December 7, 2008
December 7, 2008 · 2 Comments
Support Local Biz: December 7, 2008

First up, Ruth and Esther’s Egg Nog Revue, presented by Friend Of TN Mark Blankenship: “Everybody’s favorite southern belles return to Ars Nova to spread some BullsGap, Tennessee holiday cheer. Scandalous single gal Ruth (Marya …