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 29, 2013
March 29, 2013 · 5 Comments
The Vine: March 29, 2013

I could use your and your readers’ help finding a book. It’s a YA book, about a girl that loves to dance, but her mother doesn’t approve.
Bits and pieces I remember: The girl dances with …

Out With The Crowd: “Be very careful with Chris Sale”
March 28, 2013 · No Comment
Out With The Crowd: “Be very careful with Chris Sale”

Out With The Crowd is back for another season, as I get a sense of the fans’ feelings about their teams in 2013. With Opening Day not far away, I spoke with longtime ChiSox fan …

Cinemarch Madness: Waterston Division Semifinal
March 28, 2013 · 2 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Waterston Division Semifinal

A slightly easier division than previous ones for me to vote in, but a tougher one to predict, Waterston could just as easily have been called the Man’s Inhumanity to Man Flight — but because …

Cinemarch Madness: Streep Division Semifinal
March 27, 2013 · 5 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Streep Division Semifinal

by ferretrick
Full disclosure — I haven’t been able to see the following films, but I’ve read the Wikipedia plot summaries: Amour, Jacob’s Ladder, and Kids. Of those, only Amour seems to be a contender to …

The Vine: March 27, 2013
March 27, 2013 · 41 Comments
The Vine: March 27, 2013

I’m on the brink of turning thirty-one years old. As much as I claim to be a misanthrope I’m actually super-duper nice to about 99% of the people I encounter. A lot of them happen …

Cinemarch Madness: Watson Division Semifinal
March 26, 2013 · 5 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Watson Division Semifinal

Oh, dear God. What can I even eliminate here? Well, Seven (still think of it as an action movie, head-in-box be damned) and Eternal Sunshine (fundamentally sweet, hopeful about love). I’ll also chuck out Breaking …

Cinemarch Madness: Bjork Division Semifinal
March 25, 2013 · 2 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Bjork Division Semifinal

(Confused? Aren’t we all. Heh. But the Cinemarch Madness FAQ is here, and you can find the complete semifinal-polls list over here.)
The Björk flight isn’t the most agonizing division in the Cinemarch semis, but it’s …

Cinemarch Madness: Semifinal Polls
March 24, 2013 · One Comment
Cinemarch Madness: Semifinal Polls

This is the master list of Cinemarch Madness polls for the semifinal round. If it’s open, you can vote in it; if it’s closed, either it ended or you have to wait for the poll’s …

The Vine: March 22, 2013
March 22, 2013 · 47 Comments
The Vine: March 22, 2013

Two authors, two cocktails, cannot find out how to make them:
In one of the Fletch novels, Gregory McDonald has Fletch call down to the hotel desk for a Bath Towel (which they turn out not …

Happy birthday to me!
March 21, 2013 · 32 Comments
Happy birthday to me!

Okay, so I left Yahoo!, even though I had a great team/time there, because I had some other things I wanted to do, like work on The Blotter, and also, let’s be honest, curse freely …