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!

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors: Grayling Cross
December 17, 2011 · 61 Comments
And Now A Word From Our Sponsors: <I>Grayling Cross</I>

“Why is magic still a secret in Edmonton? Good PR.”

16/31: In the Shadow of the Moon, or “A Teeny Oral History of Communally Experiencing the Space Program, Courtesy of My Parents”
December 17, 2011 · 11 Comments
16/31: <I>In the Shadow of the Moon</I>, or “A Teeny Oral History of Communally Experiencing the Space Program, Courtesy of My Parents”

I never get tired of the stories of the Apollo missions. Apollo 13, of course, is one of those poppy-fields movies that I can never not watch, and I think I put In the Shadow …

The Vine: December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011 · 18 Comments
The Vine: December 16, 2011

Last year, my husband and I spent a great deal of cash money to renovate our house. Underneath the grody taupe carpet, we found gorgeous oak floors that are original to the house. Imagine our …

15/31: Rampart
December 15, 2011 · 6 Comments
15/31: <I>Rampart</I>

The title of the film refers to the LAPD Rampart scandal of the late ’90s, but the story follows a single cop, Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), who’s trying to hold everything together by any means …

14/31: Candyman: The David Klein Story
December 14, 2011 · 10 Comments
14/31: <I>Candyman: The David Klein Story</I>

“In life, you only have to be a genius for 15 seconds.”
Despite that promising quotation towards the beginning of Candyman: The David Klein Story, and the intermittent presence of Weird Al Yankovic, the documentary is …

The Vine: December 14, 2011
December 14, 2011 · 36 Comments
The Vine: December 14, 2011

I need some help finding new face products. Prior to having a baby I was one of those annoying people who never had to worry about my skin and was pretty lackadaisical about my maintenance. …

13/31: The Help
December 13, 2011 · 10 Comments
13/31: <I>The Help</I>

I give The Help sooo much credit; it won me over despite my utter determination to hate it. You can ask Couch Baron, to whom I spent a good ten minutes bitching on IM about …

Word Of The Day: “slam-drunk”
December 13, 2011 · 6 Comments
Word Of The Day: “slam-drunk”

My initial definition for “slam-drunk” was as follows:
slam-drunk. n. A beverage guaranteed to give you a working buzz-on in a single serving. (“The Gibsons at Oyster Bar are a slam-drunk, man.”)
But now I feel as …

12/31: Martha Marcy May Marlene
December 12, 2011 · 7 Comments
12/31: <I>Martha Marcy May Marlene</I>

I didn’t realize how tense I had gotten, physically, while watching Martha Marcy May Marlene until that last black screen. What an outstanding slow build of “can’t look”/”can’t look away” — you’d think the inciting …

11/31: J. Edgar
December 11, 2011 · 15 Comments
11/31: <em>J. Edgar</em>

I have no idea what the movie is trying to do. I only know that it fails on almost every level save the acting, and even that isn’t great; it’s merely not as disastrous as …