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!

Wet Hot American Summer
June 11, 2008 · 25 Comments
<i>Wet Hot American Summer</i>

It’s not easy to review a movie you and your friends have been quoting from for so long, you’ve almost forgotten half the references even started there, but that’s just what the Couch Baron’s doing …

Everybody’s All-American
June 10, 2008 · 8 Comments

Frank Deford is a good writer; a novel about what becomes of an All-American football player after the football ends is a good idea; Everybody’s All-American is not a good book. It did not make …

Summer School
June 10, 2008 · 35 Comments
<I>Summer School</I>

We’ve entered the 12 Days Of Summer Movies homestretch, and Joe R winds up his time in the watcher’s seat with Summer School, a movie with the dubious distinction of teaching me and my friends …

Summer Of Sam
June 9, 2008 · 10 Comments
<I>Summer Of Sam</I>

Today’s 12 Days offering is a quantum leap of ahead of yesterday’s in terms of the acting quality (mostly…Mira), and it gets a Gotham heat wave exactly right.Bunting takes a break from a Gotham heat …

Summer Catch
June 8, 2008 · 9 Comments
<I>Summer Catch</I>

Joe R returns with a take on Summer Catch that is less “review” and more “Surgeon General’s warning,” a measure the film community should considered adopting if only to protect Brian Dennehy from himself. (This …

Suddenly, Last Summer
June 7, 2008 · 24 Comments
<I>Suddenly, Last Summer</I>

The temperature in NYC today has finally made the 12 Days Of Summer Movies feel seasonal — 95 stinky degrees, ladies and germs — and it doesn’t get any more overheated than Tennessee Williams and …

Flotsam and jetsam
June 6, 2008 · 10 Comments

1. Reader Tina emailed to remind me that, if you haven’t used your philanthropy credits from the TN fall contest, you should head over to DonorsChoose.org pronto — they expire June 11.
2. The summer-movie fest …

The Vine: June 6, 2008
June 6, 2008 · 16 Comments

Hey Sars,
I’ve got a Vine question for you and perhaps the readers. It’s kind of gross, so maybe not so much with the lunchtime reading on this one.

Stolen Summer
June 6, 2008 · 16 Comments
<I>Stolen Summer</I>

It’s Bunting’s debut on the 12 Days Of Summer Movies stage — with, fittingly, the worst of the films on her review draw. She’d like to thank Mr. Stupidhead for suffering through Stolen Summer with …

One Crazy Summer
June 5, 2008 · 31 Comments
<I>One Crazy Summer</I>

The Couch Baron is back with today’s summer-movie offering…and he’s not happy about it. Bad acting, contrivance, a series of cutesy nicknames, and a boat race all add up to One Crazy Summer.
Dude, I don’t …