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!

Trillions of potential subjects
February 15, 2008 · 35 Comments

But it’s jury duty which the United States Postal Service chooses to honor with a stamp.
Hundreds of thousands of species of flora and fauna. Dozens upon dozens of minor holidays; myriad dead Americans of significant …

Gone Baby Gone
February 15, 2008 · 12 Comments
<I>Gone Baby Gone</I>

“‘The world needs gravediggers too’?   What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?”  
Not a perfect effort, but still impressive. Ben Affleck has historically struck me as a lot smarter than his career choices …

The Vine: February 15, 2008
February 15, 2008 · 7 Comments

Dear Sars:
Maybe you can help me find a baseball book. I saw it a couple weeks ago in Barnes & Noble. It was a book about baseball, but specifically about the hidden rules or etiquette …

The Savages
February 14, 2008 · 2 Comments

I felt like I’d seen it before — the neurotic adult children whose non-specific damage is played for laughs; the deprecation of certain arts/academia “types”; the warm, helpful immigrant/minority who opens the eyes of the …

Hendemonium
February 12, 2008 · 35 Comments

Hee. (Well, as long as no chickens were harmed.)

Sicko
February 8, 2008 · 35 Comments
<I>Sicko</I>

“If elected, I vow to retire the term ‘limousine liberal’ from the English language indefinitely!”
I like Michael Moore’s work. Do I think he presents the facts on his chosen subject with arid objectivity? No. Do …

The Executioner’s Song
February 8, 2008 · 12 Comments
<I>The Executioner’s Song</I>

I had read it before, 20 years ago. I’m glad I read it again, because the story has more resonance for a 35-year-old than for a 15-year-old — not that 15-year-olds won’t “get it,” but …

The Vine: February 8, 2008
February 8, 2008 · 20 Comments

Dear Sars,
My 8-year-old had a little nighttime accident last night — in my bed. In my brand-new, week-old mattress I hadn’t yet gotten around to covering with a mattress pad (because my husband is 9,000 …

Laura
February 6, 2008 · 10 Comments

Roger Ebert describes the film, and why it’s wonderful, better than I can; I’ll only add that, if you tend to avoid film noir, this isn’t typical of the genre, and you should give it …

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
February 6, 2008 · 61 Comments
<I>The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford</I>

No review of the film is complete without a dismissive reference to the length of the title — preferably one sighing about how it reflects the film’s overlong running time — but I actually like …