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 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 …

The Vine: July 30, 2008
July 30, 2008 · 35 Comments

Hi Sars,
My younger sister (14) has recently started talking to her older cousin (18) online in many forms, including Gaia Online — a place mostly inhabited by thirteen-year-olds with broken Japanese, “emo,” “princess,” and “Thug …

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
July 29, 2008 · 6 Comments
<I>Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead</I>

A much better movie than I’d expected — I’d kind of anticipated something more precious, or that it would go for a quirkier, funnier tone, and it’s so much better for not having done that.
It’s …

Vine-tage
July 29, 2008 · 54 Comments

From the archives, still limping over here (a year and a half later, I know, I know, but I’m almost done!)…
The grody husband and his mom who wanted the author to get rid of her …

The Dark Knight
July 29, 2008 · 48 Comments
<I>The Dark Knight</I>

Warning: Contains spoilers.
I can’t figure out why I like the Bale Batmans so much (foxy Bale himself aside). Both movies lean heavily on storytelling maneuvers that I tend to hate, and both movies arrived in …

Support Local Biz: July 28, 2008
July 28, 2008 · 2 Comments

Friend of TN Karen tipped me to the nifty music of Schocholautte, which took me a while to get around to listening to (and even longer to spell correctly).The band has a Hives-y sound, and …