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!

Waive goodbye, Grandpa
August 13, 2008 · 9 Comments
Waive goodbye, Grandpa

Wow, Gary Sheffield.Really? After seventeen thousand years in the big leagues, it seems to me that either you can never have learned what a platoon is, or you can never have learned how to shut …

The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories
August 10, 2008 · 11 Comments
<I>The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories</I>

…some of which require the bulk of said century to get to the point.[rimshot]Seriously, though: many of the stories faff around for two or three pages explaining how the protagonist had come to marry a …

“You have lovely hands. Do you moisturize?”
August 9, 2008 · 26 Comments
“You have lovely hands.  Do you moisturize?”

BSD dropped me an email about Bernie Mac’s death about an hour ago; the Sun-Times had it, but none of the other news orgs were confirming it, so we were on the phone together looking …

The Vine: August 8, 2008
August 8, 2008 · 28 Comments
The Vine: August 8, 2008

Hi Sars,
I’ve asked the blue-haired children’s librarian who’s been doing this for a hundred years.She doesn’t have anything for me.I’ve searched and scoured used bookstores.I’ve looked online, but I don’t really have much of anything …

The Vine: August 6, 2008
August 6, 2008 · 21 Comments

Hi Sars,
I think I’ve made a mess of things and have no clue what to do. Last night I broke up with my boyfriend of two years. We were living together in a house that …

Support Local Biz: August 5, 2008
August 5, 2008 · 13 Comments

I finally finished pasting in the last of the vintage Vines last night.Only took 15 months.Yay!
For those of you who enjoyed the piece on The House Next Door analyzing the credit sequence(s) of The Wire, …

The Atomic Café
August 4, 2008 · 56 Comments
<I>The Atomic Café</I>

The duck-and-cover thing still shocks me a little bit. I’ve seen it before, of course — that footage is a staple now, used to point up the naiveté of the fifties or the sheep-like qualities …

Product Break-Up: Stila Cherry Crush
August 2, 2008 · 12 Comments

The design of your tube is super-cute, but you don’t moisturize my lips, at all; you don’t give them any noticeable color; I don’t use you on my cheeks.   It’s nice of Stila to …

Manny 90210
August 1, 2008 · 36 Comments
Manny 90210

Should I offer congratulations to Red Sox fans, or condolences?
My instinct is to offer condolences to Dodger fans, to tell you the truth.From what I know about the ’08 Dodgers, which is not a ton, …

The Vine: August 1, 2008
August 1, 2008 · 88 Comments

Sars,
This might be a good question for the readers.I’m looking for new foundation.I’m currently using Prescriptives and I like the lightweight coverage, but I don’t like how it feels after a few hours.I’ve seen ads …