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: March 4, 2008
March 4, 2008 · No Comment

I have a usage question that occurred to me while listening to NPR recently. There was a piece full of praise for a person who has done a lot of good. The anchor used a …

Dewey Have Something To Share?
March 4, 2008 · No Comment

After posting about the Dewey Donation System last week, I got an email from Logan Kleinwaks, the president of an organization called Book Wish Foundation. Logan asked,

Dear Sarah,
I just found Tomato Nation through an article …

Product Crush: Mystery Boots
March 3, 2008 · 32 Comments

I first saw these boots on the train; a Gothy sort of girl had on a green pair of them, a mid-calf boot in a light, distressed forest-meets-Kermit color, very thin (almost cord) laces, and …

The Vine: February 29, 2008
February 29, 2008 · 35 Comments

 
Hi Sars,
My annual hunt for jeans, which always leaves me dissatisfied and homicidal, is about to start again. I think you and I have a similar shape, and I was wondering which brands you’ve found …

Pronunciation II: Home Sweet Wilkes-Barre Or Nogales
February 29, 2008 · 253 Comments

My apologies to central and western PA, but for years, I thought they were two different towns: Wilkes-Barre, pronounced “Wilks Bar,” and “Wilkesbury,” like the Traveling Wilburys.
And if someone could please remind me how “Nogales” …

Pronunciation peeve du jour
February 27, 2008 · 150 Comments

The word is not “preg-net.” The word is “preg-NANT.” “-NANT.” When you pronounce it “pregnet,” you sound like a five-year-old. Stop it.
The fact that it’s 90210 reruns of the Jackie-and-Mel-spawn era that drew my ire …

La Vie En Rose
February 26, 2008 · 9 Comments
<I>La Vie En Rose</I>

“Can I borrow ten fraaaaaaaaaaancs?!”
Of all the Oscar wins, Marion Cotillard’s is apparently the one people have taken the most issue with. Joe R hated her performance, and in fact the entire movie, and he’s …

“Is Daniel Day-Lewis chewing gum?”
February 25, 2008 · 22 Comments

TWoP’s Oscars coverage is up, including the real-time blog, featuring Matt Zoller Seitz, Odienator, Joe R, and myself; and the post-telecast Galaxy Of Fame, written by me with assists from Wing and Joe.

There Will Be Blood
February 24, 2008 · 13 Comments

As I just said in the Michael Clayton comments, sometimes a movie I go into expecting two hours of torture will fare better in my esteem merely by not sucking as much as I’d expected …

Michael Clayton
February 23, 2008 · 20 Comments
<I>Michael Clayton</I>

“Maybe if you’d gotten a pageboy you’d have a snowball’s chance in hell at Best Supporting Actor, crazy.”
This is a really well-built movie. You can’t see any of the joints or threads until the end, …