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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!

Cinemarch Madness: Polley Division Poll
March 13, 2013 · 5 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Polley Division Poll

Without double-checking the remaining divisions, I have to compare Polley to the NL East, where you’ve got one team contending and the rest pantsing around like the Bad News Bears.
Washington Nationals duty in this lineup …

The Vine: March 13, 2013
March 13, 2013 · 20 Comments
The Vine: March 13, 2013

My partner is pregnant with twins (yay!) and her mother’s friends are throwing us a very fancy shower, and invited all of their fancy friends. Although I don’t know most of them very well, I …

Cinemarch Madness: De Palma Division Poll
March 12, 2013 · 17 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: De Palma Division Poll

Wow.
I don’t know if Blow Out will do very well, but it’s a great film with no hope for human beings — as well as 1) De Palma at his best at harnessing his intensities …

Cinemarch Madness: Milestone Division
March 11, 2013 · One Comment
Cinemarch Madness: Milestone Division

We may have to conduct a separate poll for who gets Cinemarch Madness’s poster-girl honors: Emily Watson and Emmanuelle Riva well in the lead at this point.
Milestone is an odd lot, isn’t it? Yeah, I …

Down at the End of Lonely Street: The King still has no clothes
March 11, 2013 · 2 Comments
<I>Down at the End of Lonely Street</I>: The King still has no clothes

If you only have time in your life for one Elvis Presley biography, and can’t commit to the diaristic detail of the two-volume Guralnick, you could do worse than Down at the end of Lonely …

A Word From Our Sponsors: Hulu Plus
March 10, 2013 · 2 Comments
A Word From Our Sponsors: Hulu Plus

Oh, Sunday nights…you having-six-things-on-at-once scamp, you. Looking to catch up on shows that bit it in the DVR face-off, or stuff like Golden Boy that Couch Baron may or may not be making you watch?
Maybe …

Cinemarch Madness: George Division Poll
March 10, 2013 · 9 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: George Division Poll

From the looks of the nominations thread, the George Divison belongs to Hotel Rwanda, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Where the Red Fern Grows. We saw valid cases made for all; I haven’t watched any of these, …

Cinemarch Madness: Kaplan Division Poll
March 9, 2013 · 10 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Kaplan Division Poll

What a strange flight Kaplan is. I don’t quite understand the noms for Murder in the First and V for Vendetta, or even for Brazil, a movie I recall as having enough of a funny …

Cinemarch Madness: Ku Division Poll
March 8, 2013 · 11 Comments
Cinemarch Madness: Ku Division Poll

The randomizer giveth, the randomizer taketh away. What it giveth here in the Ku division is two presumptive favorites, Breaking the Waves and Requiem for a Dream, plus a Gary Oldman joint and some embattled …

The Vine: March 8, 2013
March 8, 2013 · 46 Comments
The Vine: March 8, 2013

I’m in search of a short story that I first remember reading in junior high (early 1980s FWIW, but I’m sure the story is much older) — we were given short stories to act out …