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!

Girls 106: Tight like a baby
May 21, 2012 · No Comment
<I>Girls</I> 106: Tight like a baby

From my recap of last night’s Girls at Press Play:
When Eric jokes that he knows the florist has a job opening, Hannah retreats to the safety of Gotham-centric condescension, saying she’d get “a real job, like …

The Vine: May 18, 2012
May 18, 2012 · 22 Comments
The Vine: May 18, 2012

Over the years I’ve seen the Vine readers come through for many people on hard-to-find or discontinued items, so I’m hoping they can help me. Basically, I need new underwear!
For years I was a bikini-underwear …

The Vine: May 16, 2012
May 16, 2012 · 8 Comments
The Vine: May 16, 2012

My husband and I have a casual friend who is a musician in Eastern Europe. We are not very close and don’t keep in touch regularly; we met several years ago at a folk-dancing event …

Girls 105: For the story
May 14, 2012 · One Comment
<I>Girls</I> 105: For the story

From my recap of last night’s kind-of-off episode of Girls, “Hard Being Easy,” over at Press Play:
The Marnie/Charlie storyline picks up shortly after the end of the last episode, and it’s well done—but it has …

Red Ops: Target Selection Complete
May 12, 2012 · 12 Comments
Red Ops: Target Selection Complete

This is Red Leader speaking. We have confirmed our fund-raising targets for the Red Ops contest. The cities/regions appear below, in alphabetical order:

Albuquerque, NM
Brownsville, TX
Buffalo, NY
Camden, NJ
Columbia, SC
The Dakotas
Detroit, MI
Joplin, MO
Northridge/Dayton, OH
West Virginia’s northern panhandle

This …

The Vine: May 11, 2012
May 11, 2012 · 36 Comments
The Vine: May 11, 2012

I am on the hunt for the perfect work bag. I have tons of large shoulder purses that would work, but I do a lot of walking and have a lot of stuff in my bag, and …

The Vine: May 9, 2012
May 9, 2012 · 21 Comments
The Vine: May 9, 2012

I am a longtime reader and have honestly found myself in an anxiety-creating moral pickle (so to speak…though being in a literal moral pickle might be rather nice!).
Here is the short version: I was in …

Red Ops: Choose our 10th community!
May 8, 2012 · One Comment
Red Ops: Choose our 10th community!

It’s time to choose the tenth and final community we drop a bazillion dimes on during the contest. The poll is below, and includes a few entries from the original poll, plus some write-in candidates. …

Out With The Crowd: “I’m so glad this is his last season”
May 7, 2012 · 4 Comments
Out With The Crowd: “I’m so glad this is his last season”

Out With The Crowd ventured into the NL East late last week when I interviewed Lauren, the head rodeo clown at LoveMyBravos.com, about bullpen-management issues, stupid baby names, and J. Hey’s new look.
Sarah D. Bunting: …

Girls 104: Totally not an attached bleeder
May 7, 2012 · No Comment
<I>Girls</I> 104: Totally not an attached bleeder

From my recap of “Hannah’s Diary,” over at Press Play:
“Just be who you are,” he says, oh so sweetly, and it’s a moment Hannah is going to take out and look at with brimming eyes for …