Thursday, January 02, 2020

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Non-Review Blog Posts, of Those I Wrote (or Edited)

Please forgive a bit of hubris but I am somewhat proud of this blog.

No, it isn't really any kind of great accomplishment, hasn't earned me a dime, hasn't made me famous, isn't very influential, hasn't led to other opportunities, etc.

But while it technically dates back to 2004, I consider my first gamut of Best of the Decade posts--back in December 2009--as the origin of my maintaining it with regularity.

And in the past decade, I wrote--or for a handful of guest posts, almost all by my friend Ken Stasiak, edited--1,582 posts.

Some of these were rather brief Pithy Philosophies, while others were lists, as in year and decade end "Best Of" rankings and some "Ours Go to 11" picks on various topics.

But even, let's say, I wrote 1,500 blog posts for Seth Saith averaging 1,000 words per article, the 1.5 million words I published in 10 years nearly doubles Shakespeare's lifetime output.

And while I have no idea how many of the estimated 1.38+ million pageviews Seth Saith garnered this decade constitute actual readers of articles vs. individuals finding one photo or non-human robots--nor do I know why I spiked to 50,000 pageviews for a few months or dropped to under 6,000 in some after that--that makes for an average of 11,500 pageviews per month across the 2010s.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Especially as I'm happy to have anyone read anything I write.

Also making me proud is that most live theaters around Chicagoland--via their PR representatives--now invite me to Press Nights. I was reviewing shows long before this was the case, but it's a nice perk and one I never take for granted.

Reviews--of theater, rock concerts plus the occasional opera, comedian, movie, book, museum, restaurant, etc., etc.--by far comprise the bulk of SethSaith.com posts.

But there were many other pieces I was proud of, and I thought I'd highlight just a few of those. (Note: Some earlier pieces may have missing photos or other formatting issues; I'm not bothering to re-edit anything now.)

Societal Changes and Concerns

● The Erosion of Associative Learning

● The Commonality Conversation, or One Small Suggestion Toward How To Stop Bullying

● Whatever Happened to the Creative Cluster 

● A Code of Conduct for Live Events

● Impact of the Beatles' First Appearance on Ed Sullivan

● Global Warming

Profiles & Interviews

● Ralph Frese

● Rohina Malik

● Ginger Zee

● Britni Tozzi

Robert Katzman

Larry Smith by Ken Stasiak

● Me

Tributes

● Tom Petty

● Chris Cornell

● David Bowie

● Prince

● Philip Seymour Hoffman

● Robin Williams

● Whitney Houston

Travel Recaps & Guides

Washington DC Guide

London Guide

Detroit Guide

Japan Recap

Mexico City Recap

Taj Mahal Photos

Boston Recap

Valuable Travel Resources

Film Musings

● Citizen Kane vs. Casablanca

● The Socio-Cinematic 70s: When the Movies Had Something to Say

● The Beautiful Oeuvre of Catherine Deneuve

● An Appreciation of Asghar Farhadi

Art

● Stuart Davis: Modern Before His Time -- an Art Exhibition in a blog post

● Federico Zandomeneghi Makes a Surprising Impression

Early Works by Abstract Artists

Diatribe on Contemporary Art

Chicago Dining World Tour

This was a series of 50 or so dining recaps of restaurants in Chicago representing different cultures and ethnicities. It ran from January 2013 through June 2014, with this being the first post and this being the last. Searching the blog for "Chicago Dining World Tour" or clicking here will bring up all of them, starting with the last one.

Other Random Favorites

● The Boss Hits 70: Celebrating Bruce Springsteen on His Birthday

● Exlploring Chicago's Legendary Sunset Cafe

● Exploration of Cambodia's Killing Fields, in Chicago

● Proof That Life is a Crapshoot: A Somewhat Random, Somewhat Revelatory Look at the 2009 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft

● Celebrating Immigrant Pride in 'Six Words: Fresh Off the Boat'

● Retracing My Life Via Google Maps

● 50 Self-Indulgent Selfies at 50

1 comment:

Hemingway1955 said...

It was an honor and a privilege to be able to contribute to this blog which is an artistic oasis in a sea of internet drivel. Hopefully there will be more to come. Looking forward to the next decade of material.