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 21, 2008
August 21, 2008 · 7 Comments
Support Local Biz: August 21, 2008

The 90210 reruns on SOAPnet have just cycled back to the beginning — and you can read S1 recaps at The HeldenFiles.
You can also get yourself a big bag of Hoffernalia while browsing the Hoff’s …

NCDS Update: Round Of 64 Voting Closed
August 21, 2008 · No Comment

Voting for Flight 4 is now closed.   Headed into the Round of 32: vanilla; Irish cream; Chubby Hubby; raspberry sherbet; praline (upset); peanut butter cup; grasshopper pie/Thin Mint; and coffee.
Round of 32 will appear …

The Vine: August 20, 2008
August 20, 2008 · 43 Comments

Hi Sars,
I’m thinking about getting a tattoo, and I’d like your advice on whether my reasoning is sound or I’m fooling myself as to what it’d really mean (which, in certain moods, I sometimes suspect).
My …

NCDS Update: Flight 3 Closed
August 20, 2008 · No Comment

Proceeding to the next round: strawberry; pistachio (upset); lime sherbet; Neapolitan; Rocky Road/heavenly hash; peanut butter and chocolate; dulce de leche; and chocolate chocolate chip.   No huge surprises there.
Flight 4 stays open ’til tomorrow …

Crazy Nines
August 19, 2008 · 9 Comments
Crazy Nines

You may care to enjoy a little baseball-related project I’ve got going: Crazy Nines, in which I put together fantasy teams based on the most arbitrary imaginable attributes.   The first team, Seven O’Clock Noir, …

Crazy Nines: Seven O’Clock Noir (The Black-and-White Team)
August 19, 2008 · 2 Comments
Crazy Nines: Seven O’Clock Noir (The Black-and-White Team)

I’ve decided to pull the content from my Crazy Nines blog over here, in the hopes that it will force me to update that section more often than I have. (These posts are a couple …

NCDS Update: Flight 2 Closed
August 19, 2008 · 20 Comments

Prevailing flavors: cookies and cream; fudge ripple (barely, in a minor upset); sticky toffee pudding (upset); Heath Bar Crunch; Key Lime Pie (upset); both regular and mint chocolate chips; and rainbow sherbet.   This will …

Support Local Biz: August 18, 2008
August 18, 2008 · 5 Comments
Support Local Biz: August 18, 2008

News of the N.C. Double Scoop: Flight 1 voting has closed. Proceeding to the next round: cookie dough; black raspberry/Oregon blackberry (upset) (well, it was an upset; I am the opposite of upset about it); …

Tropic Thunder
August 17, 2008 · 26 Comments
<I>Tropic Thunder</I>

Tropic Thunder seemed almost guaranteed to disappoint, because I couldn’t wait to see it and really wanted to love it.It didn’t disappoint, and I did love it, but not for the reasons I’d expected to.
The …

The N.C. Double Scoop Round Of 64, Flight 4: Write-Ups
August 17, 2008 · 49 Comments
The N.C. Double Scoop Round Of 64, Flight 4: Write-Ups

Confused? Click here. To vote, click here.
1 Vanilla vs. 16 olive oil. You do have some vanilla-loathers out there, but I can’t imagine they’d make this one close.
8 Irish cream vs. 9 Gold Medal Ribbon. …