The Best of the Decade 2010-19: The Top Movie Directors per Brad Strauss of The Director's Club Podcast

I (Seth) recently posted My Favorite Movies of the Decade, and could probably have a good go at a list of the film directors I felt did the best work across the decade.

But it seemed wise to invite my friend Brad Strauss to cite his picks instead.

I know Brad primarily via the Chicago Film Discussion Meetup Group, whose lunch Meetup discussions he long hosted.

Brad and another leader of that group, Al Kwiatkowski, have hosted The Director's Club Podcast for three years and 44 episodes to date.

Coming up is a deep dive into Ingmar Bergman, across three podcasts, and a look at the oeuvre of Brian De Palma.

I've often included Brad's choices in my Best Movies of the Year posts (such as for 2018) and he helped me out with this post about one of the top directors included below. And while it could use some updating, in 2012 I posted his picks of Alternative Best Picture Oscar Winners for every year to that point.

Clearly, he's well-equipped to choose:

The Best Film Directors of the Decade
as selected by Brad Strauss, indicating their best movies from 2010-19

1. Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Roma)

2. Afsghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Past, The Salesman) - Seth's note: Everybody Knows is also worthwhile.

3. Frederick Wiseman (Boxing Gym, At Berkeley, Ex-Libres: The New York Public Library)

4. Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, Inherent Vice, The Phantom Thread)

5. Richard Linklater (Bernie, Before Midnight, Boyhood)

6. Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

7. Martin Scorsese (Silence, The Irishman) - Seth: I also loved Hugo and liked Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street and George Harrison: Living in the Material World.

8. Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Parasite) - Seth: I also enjoyed Okja and love Mother, a 2009 film that didn't get wide U.S. release until 2010.

9. The Russo Brothers (Captain America: Winter Soldier/Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame)

10. Lee Chang-dong (Poetry, Burning)


Seth's Additional Choices (in alphabetical order)

Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project)
Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, Creed)

The Dardenne Brothers (The Kid with a Bike, Two Days One Night)
Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th)

Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight)

Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Widows)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, Loving, Midnight Special)
Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, Cold War)
Christian Petzold (Phoenix, Transit)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite TV Shows

The greatest thing I saw on television over the past 10 years aired on the evening of November 2, 2016.

It had everything anyone could want:

Anticipation, pathos, rising action, crisis, concern, prayer and, ultimately, jubilation.

Oh, and a fortuitous rain delay.

While my beloved Chicago Cubs winning the World Series for the first time in 108 won't top my list below, it does speak to my TV-watching habits over the past decade.

It was somewhat different earlier in the '10s--when there were some broadcast TV shows I would tune into each week--but at this point, sporting events are about the only thing I watch when initially shown.

Everything else I watch on-demand, often in binge sessions.

And I really don't watch all that much.

A lot of shows that were widely acclaimed--Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Americans, The Walking Dead, Veep, True Detective, Fleabag, Dexter, Downton Abbey, Shameless, Transparent and more--didn't really capture me. At best I saw a few episodes of some of them.

Even shows I did like, some making my list below, I only watched for one or perhaps a few seasons; very rarely have I seen an entire series. And in terms of network shows, perhaps I only caught occasional episodes.

My criteria for consideration is that I watched at least one full season--even if it contained as few as 6 episodes--or 10+ random episodes in this decade. (If the program began before 2010, I am only judging the quality within this decade.)

If you've been reading my barrage of my Best of the Decade posts, hopefully you've caught on that I don't claim to be an expert on anything. These are just my opinions, which I'm happy to share and discuss, but am also publishing largely to have a personal resource I can look back upon.

With great regard for quality television well beyond what I opt to watch, in no way am I suggesting that these were really the Best TV Shows of the Decade. Rather just...

The Best Television Series
I Watched This Decade
(for at least one full season or 10+ random episodes)

1. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
2. The Good Wife (CBS)
3. Stranger Things (Netflix)
4. Modern Family (ABC)
5. Jessica Jones (Netflix)
6. Friday Night Lights (NBC)
7. Burn Notice (USA)
8. Person of Interest (CBS)
9. Making a Murderer (Netflix)
10. Homeland (Showtime)
11. Love (Netflix)

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Catastrophe (Amazon Prime)
11/22/63 (Hulu)
The End of the %#!#! World (Netflix)
The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
GLOW (Netflix)
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime)
Mindhunter (Netflix)
Mr. Robot (USA)
Royal Pains (USA)
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Architecture

Since I was 4 years old, I have loved architecture.

That may sound young, but in 1973--when I was 4--The Sears Tower opened in Chicago as the tallest building in the world. (A title it would hold for many years; it is now officially known as The Willis Tower.)

This was after many great skyscrapers had risen in Chicago, including the signature John Hancock Center.

So tall buildings have always fascinated me, and cool structures of all types. I've long been a fan of the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright and saw and even toured several houses he designed again during this decade.

In 2013, I even stayed in the Park Inn in Mason City, Iowa, a hotel he designed which was beautifully restored after decades of various changes for differing uses.

The restoration was completed in 2011, so it could theoretically qualify among my favorite architecture of the decade, but instead I'll focus on:

The Coolest New Buildings I Noted Over the Past 10 Years
These aren't all works I've seen in person and most photos are not by me.

1. The Louis Vuitton Foundation - Paris - Designed by Frank Gehry

2. WTC Hub (The Oculus) - New York - Santiago Calatrava

3. The Shard - London - Renzo Piano

4. National Museum of African American History and Culture - Washington, DC - Freelon Group/Adjaye Associates/Davis Brody Bond

5. The Broad - Los Angeles - Diller Scofidio + Renfro

6. Shanghai Tower - Jun Xia

7. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum - MSU, East Lansing, MI - Zaha Hadid

8. One WTC (Freedom Tower) - New York - David Childs

9. VIA 57 West - New York - Bjarke Ingels Group

10. Louvre - Abu Dhabi - Jean Nouvel

11. Writers Theatre - Glencoe, IL - Studio Gang Architects

The Best of the Decade, 2010-19: My Favorite Sports Stories

Although I've never actually lived in the city of Chicago--just the suburbs--and resided in Los Angeles for 3 years at the start of the 1990s, in terms of sports fandom I consider myself a lifelong Chicagoan.

My allegiances have never lied elsewhere.

But while this will make some of my favorite athletic happenings of the past 10 years Chicago-centric, this won't just be a list of the best seasons had by local teams.

Nor should this be construed as my picks of the Best Athletes or Best Teams of the Decade, though some of those are certainly represented.

Rather, from a decidedly personal point of view, these can be considered:

The Best Things to Happen in the
World of Sports over the Past Decade

1. 108 is Enough: Cubs Win!
Quite simply, though maybe a touch hyperbolically, the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in 2016 after an 108 year drought was the greatest thing to ever happen. I attended three Series games--the first two in Cleveland and Game 5 at Wrigley Field--but though it almost killed me, Game 7 was my favorite.

2. Hat Trick Kane: Blackhawks Win 3 Stanley Cups

I was fortunate to be at Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup and all three title runs were thrilling, though I missed seeing almost all of the 2013 Cup--including the famed 2 goals in 17 seconds against the Bruins--because I was in Europe.

3. The Quiet Superstar, U.S. Edition: Mike Trout
To this day he could probably walk through a shopping mall almost anywhere in America without being noticed, but a guy taken with the #25 pick in 2009 has decidedly been the best player in baseball since his first full season at the age of 20. Now 28, he's won 3 MVP awards, come in second four times and fourth once.

4. The Quiet Superstar, World Edition: Lionel Messi

I'm not a huge soccer fan but I have friends who are. And though he hasn't helped his native Argentina achieve the highest heights on an international level, with his club team, Barcelona, Messi has been among the best players anyone has ever seen.

5. Loyola's Final Four Run, Second to Nun

This is seemingly a highly Chicago-centric pick, but Loyola University was a #11 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament yet reached the Final Four. And their #1 fan, Sister Jean Schmidt--then 98 years old--helped make much of the country cheer on this Cinderella story.

6. Leicester Defies the 5000-to-1 Odds
Again, soccer, this time concerning the English Premier League. But prompted by some pals, I paid attention as the Leicester City Football Club--which began the season with 5000-to-1 bookie odds against doing so--won the league title in 2015-16. Some have called it the most shocking season result in sports history.

7. Lightning Bolt
Certainly, some U.S. athletes--Michael Phelps and Simone Biles among others--were remarkably impressive in the Olympics this decade, and merit great admiration. But Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, having established himself as the fastest human being with gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the 2008 Olympics, again won those two races, plus a relay, at the 2012 and 2016 Games. And he seemed like the world's coolest human being in doing so. 

8. Halcyon Times in Tennis
Their greatness goes back to the past decade, but it's been tons of fun watching the continued runs of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams. The 38-year-old Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, but 33-year-old Nadal with 19 and 32-year-old Djokovic with 16 are right on his heels for the all-time men's record. And with 12 Slam singles wins this decade, Serena Williams' total of 23 are the most of anyone in the Open Era. She also has 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles with her sister Venus.

9. Tiger Roars Once More

I used to love watching Tiger Woods during his years of golf dominance. But in addition to showing himself not to be a great husband, he also made me believe he likely isn't a great person. Still, after years of injuries had, at times, made him among the worst players on the PGA Tour, it was undeniably thrilling to see him win the Masters this year at age 43.

10. USWNT Has a Ball

For all kinds of silly reasons--their looks, haircuts, sexuality, celebrations, goal differentials, confidence, boldness and more--the U.S. Women's Soccer Team seemed to engender a lot of hate from many corners. But at the 2019's Women's World Cup, they proved they were the best team in the world. 

11. The Perfectly Unlikely Phil Humber

On April 21, 2012, Philip Humber, a journeyman pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, threw the 21st perfect game (27 up, 27 down) in major league history. It was just his 12th career win. After that game, he would earn just 4 more wins, with an ERA over 7.00 and be out of the majors after the 2013 season. Still, one shining moment. I was lucky to see the end of the game live on TV. 

Honorable Mention

- Ageless Tom Brady Leads the Patriots to 6 More Super Bowls and 3 More Titles

- Cleveland Finally Gets to Celebrate as LeBron Leads the Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA Title
- After Decades with No Horse Racing Triple Crowns, American Pharaoh (2015) and Justify (2018) Both Win
- Loaded with Talent, the Golden State Warriors Win 3 NBA Titles in 5 Straight Finals Visits, Led by Likable Shooting Guard Stephen Curry
- After Losing Superstar Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals Win the World Series the Next Year, Beating Multiple Favored Teams
- In Chicago, the Bears and Bulls Had a Few Good Seasons, Led by the 2010-11 Bulls in Derrick Rose's MVP Campaign

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Movies

I guarantee you. If you see any list of the Top This or That, you will disagree with it.

For it's somebody else's list, and--as often with publications--a composite of differing viewpoints.

So I fully expect you to differ from the list below, and all of my Best of the Decade rankings in recent days.

Chances are, I myself would disagree, in a month, year, decade, or perhaps even if making the same list next week.

Each year since 2010, at the very end of December on SethSaith.com, I've published my picks of The Best New Movies I Saw that year.

Sometimes, especially with prestige films or international movies, some of my favorites spilled over into the next calendar year.

For my picks below, I relied on those lists coupled with my admittedly eroding memory and a few other resources. I did not re-watch any films, and I did not newly view anything wonderful I may have missed upon release.

So as with all my lists, take it--with a proverbial grain of salt--for what it is: My choices, compiled unscientifically, meant for consideration, discussion, perhaps your own recollections & picks and possibly some worthwhile viewing recommendations.

For what it's worth, in looking at My Favorite Movies of the '00s, they seem to hold up pretty well.

And while I love documentaries and saw many great ones this decade, I opted not to include any in the list below. Certainly, some are exceptional cinematic achievements, but given the whims of vague recollect, it seemed wrong to try to work some into my feature film choices of...

The Best Movies of the Decade (excluding documentaries)

1. Ida
2. A Separation
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. Zero Dark Thirty 
5. If Beale Street Could Talk
6. Blancanieves
7. Selma 
8. Take Shelter
9. Sing Street
10. Poetry
11. Roma
12. Boyhood 
13. The Social Network
14. Manchester by the Sea 
15. Fruitvale Station
16. I, Daniel Blake
17. The Irishman
18. Room
19. The Secret in Their Eyes (original)
20. Moonlight
21. Hugo
22. Inception
23. The Past
24. Kubo and the Two Strings
25. Phoenix

25 Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Amour
Argo
The Artist
Burning
The Fighter
The Florida Project
Gravity
Holy Motors
The Imitation Game
Lady Bird
Les Miserables
Love & Mercy
Loving
Monsieur Lazhar
Mud
99 Homes
Parasite
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Rabbit Hole
The Salesman
Shoplifters
The Theory of Everything
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Two Days, One Night
Wild Rose

Oversights, meant to include

Dunkirk - Top 25

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Websites and Apps

From what I could quickly find, there are nearly 2 billion websites, though only about 10% of them are active.

Still, that's about 200,000,000 websites.

And sure, many are in languages other than English or representing companies I will never need care about.

But how many websites have I visited...ever? 1,000? 5,000?

Who knows?

But it seems that far fewer than 100 matter to me on a regular basis, though I get that many--such as for hotels, restaurants--will only occasionally be topical.

And when so, I appreciate that they exist.

But the lists below--I'll rank both my favorite websites of the decade (not only new ones) and apps, although sometimes they're duplicative--aren't primarily meant to judge sites based on design, navigation, etc.

There are some I'll leave off--Hotmail, Messages (texting), Netflix, Blogger, OneDrive, Camera, Bank of America and others akin--because it's really hard to compare them to other websites and apps, in terms of my usage.

But essentially--with several repeating from my Best of 2000-09 list--these are the:

Websites and Apps I Most Valued
Over the Past Decade

Websites

1. Wikipedia.org

2. Amazon.com
(use Smile.Amazon.com so it makes charity donations from your purchases)

3. AllMusic.com

4. Google.com

5. Setlist.fm

6. Pollstar.com

7. Baseball-Reference.com

8. Maps.Google.com

9. ChicagoTribune.com

10. IMDB.com

11. Backstreets.com

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

AllMovie.com
Booking.com / BookAAHotels.com
CNN.com
ListChallenges.com
Stubhub.com
Thesaurus.com
Ticketmaster.com
Travelocity.com
TripAdvisor.com
Twitter.com
WikiArt.org
Xe.com/ucc (Foreign currency rates)
Vistaprint.com

Special Mention (for my own websites)

SethSaith.com

6wordPortraits.com


Apps (I use iPhone)

1. Facebook

2. YouTube

3. Spotify

4. Uber / Lyft

5. Google Maps

6. MLB At Bat

7. SiriusXM

8. Scrabble

9. Kindle

10. Open Table

11. Twitter

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

AccuRadio
Flixster
Goldstar
Google Translate
Grubhub
Lose It
Overdrive
TransitStop (CTA)
Venmo
Weather (iPhone)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Rock Albums

For me, the album has always been the definitive statement of musical artistry.

Sure, they are comprised of songs, and great songs are what get your blood pumping, but the truly special artists are those who can fill an album of 12 or so stellar songs, with little or no filler.

Theoretically for album after album.

But it can be fairly argued that, in this age of streaming music, the importance of albums have lessened (even though they are still the way new music is packaged).

Along with this, the type of popular music I most love--guitar-driven rock--is no longer predominant.

This bothers me because I haven't been able to find nearly as much new music I love as in decades past.

I will never knock the talents of contemporary mainstream favorites such as Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Twenty One Pilots, Billie Eilish, Chance the Rapper and others, and I've listened to many of them.

But even though act such as the above have shown staying power, which I find crucial to musical fandom--the ability to follow a cherished act over time--there are few beyond the rock realm that have consistently moved me, or prompted me to revisit them.

Hence, while I think the term "rock music" can be construed rather broadly, I think it only fair to include it in this category title. Artistically, there were probably better albums produced than the ones listed below, but these were my favorites.

However, as readers of this blog should know, I do also love Broadway musicals, and recently chronicled my favorites of this decade.

And cast recordings of the finest new musicals--several fused with rock, hip-hop and other contemporary sounds, as noted in this post--make for some of my favorite albums of any type this decade.

So as a Special Commendation before my main list, I will cite the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of:

Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Matilda, The Book of Mormon and Moulin Rouge (which incorporates pop/rock songs new & old) as among my favorite new albums released between 2010-19. And this doesn't even include all the pre-existing brilliance found on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

But disclaimers done, to my ears these were...

The Best Rock Albums of the Decade

1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2. David Bowie - The Next Day 
3. Adele - 21 
4. Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars 
5. The Struts - Everybody Wants
6. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse 
7. Blur - The Magic Whip 
8. Bob Mould - Beauty and Ruin 
9. David Bowie - Blackstar 
10. Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound 
11. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order by artist)

Ash - Islands
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
Elvis Costello & the Imposters - Look Now
Dinosaur Jr. - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Gang of Youths - Go Farther in Lightness
The Hives - Lex Hives
Interpol - El Pintor
Tommy Keene - Laugh in the Dark
LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Johnny Marr - The Messenger
Maximo Park - The National Health
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
Robert Plant - Carry Fire
Len Price 3 - Pictures
The Struts - Young and Dangerous
Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
Taylor Swift - Red
Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation
Wild Flag - self-titled

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Restaurants

Over the past 10 years, I've enjoyed many fine meals in restaurants with dear friends, relatives, colleagues or just on my own.

Many of these occasions were quite special to me, far beyond the food consumed.

Some stand out among my favorite moments of the decade.

But to be clear, this category--highlighting some of the best restaurants I patronized--is only about the food, the service, the ambiance, perhaps the setting, not the company I may have been with.

There are enough places that I feel warrant commemoration to justify this post, but candidly I can't recall every place I had a good meal.

So I will limit things to a few categories, not meant to be exhaustive nor exclusive.

If in the Search Bar, you search for "Memorable Meals," you'll find several Year-End recaps that have greater acuity than this post will (although I varied formats from year-to-year giving the inexactness of trying to compare restaurants of different types.

And if you search, or click the hyperlink atop (on the web version), for "Chicago World Dining Tour" you can find about 50 restaurant recaps I did for Chicagoland eateries of different ethnicities.

That was a fun series, but if asked, "Which were the best places tried and featured?" honestly, I can't recall.

And I really have little barometer for trying to choose between several Chicago steakhouses I patronized. I ate at most just once, and can't recall any not being terrific, with delineations made harder if I didn't order the same cut of steak at each, which I didn't.

So take this for what it's worth. Perhaps some food for thought.

High-End Gourmet, anywhere

1. Picasso - Las Vegas
2. Maido - Lima, Peru
3. Astrid y Gaston - Lima, Peru
4. Jean-Georges - New York
5. Le Cirque - New York
6. Jiki Miyazawa - Kyoto
7. Pujol - Mexico City
8. Passion by Martín Berasategui - Playa del Carmen
9. Sea Lounge - Mumbai
10. Cosme - New York
11. Everest - Chicago

Honorable Mention: Azul Historico - Mexico City, Blackbird - Chicago, Frontera Grill - Chicago, La Rosa Nautica - Lima, Meson Sabika - Naperville, IL

Steaks, Chops & BBQ

1. Cut by Wolfgang Puck - Las Vegas

Chicagoland Steakhouses (in alphabetical order)
The Capital Grille
Del Frisco's
Chicago Cut Steakhouse
Gibson's
Jack Binion's Steakhouse
Kinzie Chophouse
Mastro's
Michael Jordan's
Morton's
Pete Miller's
Prime & Provisions
Rosebud Prime
Smith & Wollensky
Stefani Prime
Sullivan's
Swift & Sons
Weber Grill

Other Steakhouses Outside Chicago

Cabana Las Lilas - Buenos Aires 
Desnival  - Buenos Aires)
Keens - New York City
Pierpont's - Kansas City

Barbecue & Churrascaria 
Carson's - Deerfield, IL 
Fogo de Chao - Chicago 
Gale Street Inn - Chicago
L. Woods - Lincolnwood, IL 
Marius Degustare - Rio de Janeiro 
Pappy's Smokehouse - St. Louis
Real Urban Barbecue - North Suburban Chicago

Standbys

1. Poochies - Skokie, IL 
2. Pizano's Pizza - Glenview, IL 
3. Dengeos - Skokie, IL 
4. Players - Highland Park
5. McDonald's
6. Al's #1 Beef 
7. Culvers 
8. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria 
9. Las Fuentes - Morton Grove, IL 
10. The Noodle - Wilmette, IL
11. Steak and Shake
12. Superdawg

Also meriting mention

Hot Doug's - I loved Chicago's premier gourmet sausage emporium, which closed in 2014. Read articles I wrote here and here. 

New York Bagel & Bialy - Lincolnwood and Skokie, IL. Still the best bagels in the Chicago area. I also love Ess-A-Bagel in New York

The Doughnut Plant - New York. My favorite donuts anywhere.

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Travel Destinations

I love to travel and was fortunate to get to many great places over the past decade.

Certainly, it's hard to compare trips, sights, experiences, etc., and gratefully, even more minor excursions to places like Kansas City, Grand Rapids, Detroit and Dayton were highly enjoyable.

I will cover my favorite restaurants in another post, though many of those will be local to Chicago and its suburbs.

The museums ranked below exclude any in the Chicago area, and I probably won't do a separate post for those, so should note my fondness for The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Science & Industry, Field Museum, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, American Writers Museum, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Chicago Cultural Center and others.

Favorite Trips

1. Peru - 2018 
2. Europe (London, Paris, Krakow, Vienna, Budapest) - 2013 
3. Japan - 2019 
4. India - 2017 
5. Rio de Janeiro & Buenos Aires - 2014 
6. New York City - 2017 (also 2011, 2015)
7. Mexico City - 2015 
8. London & Paris - 2011
9. Washington DC, Baltimore & Philadelphia - 2016
10. Iowa Road Trip - 2013
11. Playa del Carmen & Chichen Itza - 2019 
12. Boston - 2018

Favorite Global Cities Visited

1. London
2. Krakow
3. Paris
4. Mexico City
5. Vienna
6. Tokyo
7. Budapest
8. Buenos Aires 
9. Rio de Janeiro 
10. Kyoto 
11. Mumbai 
12. Lima


Favorite U.S. Cities Visited

1. New York
2. Boston
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia
5. Grand Rapids
6. Mason City/Clear Lake, IA
7. Kansas City
8. Detroit
9. Cleveland
10. Key West
11. Las Vegas
12. Buffalo


Favorite Sights Seen

1. Machu Picchu (Peru)
2. Taj Mahal 
3. Eiffel Tower
4. El Castillo, Chichen Itza (Mexico)
5. Kinkaku-ji (Kyoto, Japan)
6. Big Ben
7. Amber Fort (Jaipur, India) 
8. Chand Baori Step Well (Abhaneri, India) 
9. Niagara Falls
10. Ollantaytambo Sanctuary (Peru)
11. Schönbrunn Palace (Vienna)
12. Flatiron Mountains (Boulder, CO)
13. Bethesda Fountain (Central Park, New York)
14. Liberty Bell/Independence Hall
15. Great Buddha of Kamakura 

Special note: It's hard to call Auschwitz-Birkenau a "favorite" site, but it was certainly among the most impactful places I visited this decade.


Favorite Events Attended Away From Home

1. 2016 World Series Games 1 & 2 - Cleveland, OH 
2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - London, Washington, DC, others
3. Springsteen on Broadway - New York, 2017
4. Paul McCartney - Paris, Green Bay, St. Louis
5. Lollapalooza Buenos Aires - 2014
6. Moulin Rouge musical - Boston, 2018
7. U2 - Denver, 2011
8. The Book of Mormon - New York, 2011
9. Yakult Swallows baseball game - Tokyo, 2019
10. Red Sox vs. Yankees - Boston, 2018
11. Ebertfest - Champaign, IL, several years
12. The Rolling Stones - Detroit, 2015
13. The Who - Buffalo, 2019
14. Radiohead - Kansas City, 2017
15. Chelsea FC soccer game - London, 2011

Favorite Museums Visited Beyond Chicago

1. Louvre - Paris
2. Secretariat of Public Education Building (Rivera Murals) - Mexico City
3. National Gallery - London
4. National Gallery - Washington, DC
5. Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York
6. National Anthropology Museum - Mexico City
7. Belvedere Museum - Vienna
8. Gandhi Smitri - Delhi
9. Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland
10. Kunsthistorisches Museum - Vienna
11. Carillon Historical Park - Dayton
12. Frida Kahlo Museum - Mexico City
13. Courtauld Gallery - London
14. Detroit Institute of Arts
15. Tate Modern - London
16. Meijer Gardens - Grand Rapids

Plus several other art museums: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), Baltimore Museum of Art, Walters Art Museum (Baltimore), St. Louis Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Milwaukee Art Museum, Larco Museum (Lima)

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Concert Acts

In a given year, I now see considerably more works of theater than I do rock concerts.

But I also see more rock concerts than most people I know.

And with at least one coming up before the end of the year--Wilco on Dec. 15 at the Chicago Theatre--my database of Shows Seen reveals I caught 353 concerts since the start of 2010.

On the list below you will several old favorites, some of whom I've seen going all the way back to 1981. (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was the first concert I attended of my own volition, in June 1981.)

During the decade I made a point of seeing several veteran acts I never had, particularly of a New Wavish ilk--Duran Duran, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Pet Shop Boys, The The, The Church, Jesus & Mary Chain and more--and some relatively newish acts, including Black Keys, Fleet Foxes, Dawes and The National.

Just this year, I made a point of seeing three legendary divas (Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand, Cher) and during the decade I saw artists as disparate as Barry Manilow, Madonna, Phish, Earth Wind & Fire, Tool, James Taylor, The Zombies and Taylor Swift, twice.

And of all the concerts I attended over the past 10 years, including some free shows in local parks, there were probably less than 10 that I didn't at least enjoy.

I wrote reviews of almost all of them--use the Search Box to look them up--and awarded the vast majority at least @@@1/2 (out of 5), and even that was rare compared to @@@@ and above. (You may also want to see my yearly picks for Best Concerts of the Year, posted late each December.)

Though I saw various festival streams, full shows on YouTube, concert broadcasts, DVDs, etc., I am only considering acts I saw live in concert at least once during the decade. Most of the artists on the list below I also saw before this decade, many multiple times. And there is considerable similarity with My Favorite Concert Performers of the '00s.

But for the most part, the greats remained great and comprise my picks for:

The Best Concert Performers of the Decade

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Seen 11 times during the decade.

2. U2
Seen 9 times during the decade.

3. Arcade Fire
Seen 5 times during the decade.

4. Pearl Jam
Seen 7 times during the decade.

5. Paul McCartney
Seen 8 times during the decade.

6. The Rolling Stones
Seen 4 times during the decade.

7. Soundgarden
Seen 3 times during the decade.

8. AC/DC
Seen 3 times during the decade.

9. The Who
Seen 5 times during the decade.

10. Elvis Costello (& the Imposters)
Seen 5 times during the decade.

11. Bob Mould
Seen 6 times during the decade.

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Adele - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Ash - Seen 3 times during the decade.
Black Sabbath - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Seen 5 times during the decade.
Buddy Guy - Seen 4 times during the decade.
David Byrne - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Leonard Cohen - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Coldplay - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Ray Davies - Seen 2 times during the decade. 
Depeche Mode - Seen 2 times during the decade.
ELO - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Fleetwood Mac - Seen 2 times during the decade.
John Fogerty - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Foo Fighters - Seen 3 times during the decade.
David Gilmour - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Green Day - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Guns 'n Roses - Seen 2 times during the decade + Slash solo
Elton John - Seen 2 times during the decade.
The Killers - Seen 3 times during the decade.
Maximo Park - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Metallica - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Midnight Oil - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Willie Nile - Seen 7 times during the decade.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Robert Plant - Seen 3 times during the decade.
Radiohead - Seen 3 times during the decade.
The Replacements - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Rush - Seen 4 times during the decade.
The Struts - Seen 2 times during the decade.
Wilco - Seen 5 times during the decade + upcoming on 12/15 
Stevie Wonder - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Neil Young - Seen 3 times during the decade.
 
Special Mention (in alphabetical order)

Chuck Berry - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Aretha Franklin - Seen 1 time during the decade. 
Merle Haggard - Seen 1 time during the decade.
Prince - Seen 1 time during the decade.

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: Dave Brown's Favorite Novels (plus some books that I read)

Quite candidly, I (Seth) am not a great reader.

Sure I still read a newspaper (almost) daily, and though I've cut down on magazine subscriptions, I read a variety of articles online and off.

Each year, I do read some books, just relatively few compared to some friends and relatives.

Most of my reading for pleasure falls under the realm of page-turners.

I've read virtually everything, including in this decade, by my two favorite authors of suspense thrillers--Harlan Coben and Lee Child--and would recommend almost any of them. Linwood Barclay covers similar ground as Coben, and I've read a few of his. (You can find some reviews on this blog via the Search Box.)

Of other books released since 2010, I've read several popular thrillers--including Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, Inferno and Origin by Dan Brown--along with the first three mystery novels J.K. Rowling wrote under the pen name Robert Galbraith, and a trio by Keigo Higashino.

I very much enjoyed Stephen King's 11/22/63 and highly recommend The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.

I buy and peruse various art, photography, travel and coffee table books on various subjects; a few that might make great gifts, even for yourself, are Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat (both by Stephen Sondheim), Vic Muniz, Vivien Maier: Street Photographer and Destinations of a Lifetime (National Geographic).

I tend to buy but only partially read biographies--such as Ali by Jonathan Eig--but I read a bio and most of the autobiography on Bruce Springsteen and, early in this decade, read numerous books about income inequality and the factors behind the subprime mortgage crisis, economic meltdown and recession.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis was probably the most enlightening book I read this decade, and his Boomerang and Flash Boys were also excellent. Predator Nation, by Inside Job director Charles Ferguson, was another that stands out in memory.

So I do read--including the occasional classic like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and Slaughterhouse Five--just not nearly as much as I should. I'd like to read more, but compared to watching, writing and whatever else, I just don't fit it in all that much.

But my good pal Dave Brown is ALWAYS reading something, with a preference for substantive works of fiction. He tends to read paperbacks, so may be a year behind the latest smash--even currently--but rather than cobble together my own list of Best Books of the Decade, it seems prudent to put him in the driver's seat for this category. He estimates he's read 500-600 new novels in the past 10 years.

So to glean his far greater point of reference, read on for:

The Best Books (Fiction) of the Decade
according to David Brown

1. IQ84 - by Haruki Murakami

2. 4 3 2 1 - by Paul Auster

3. A God in Ruins - by Kate Atkinson

4. The Goldfinch - by Donna Tartt

5. 11/22/63 - by Stephen King

6. The Son - by Philipp Meyer

7. Dark Corners - by Ruth Rendell

8. The Nix - Nathan Hill

9. A Spool of Blue Thread- by Anne Tyler

10. The Paying Guests - by Sarah Waters

11. Emily, Alone - Stewart O'Nan

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter
Blue Lightning - by Anne Cleeves
Carry the One - Carol Anshaw
City on Fire - Garth Risk Hallberg
The Lowland - by Jhumpa Lahiri
Solar - by Ian McEwan
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - by David Mitchell
The Trespasser- by Tana French
The Underground Railroad - by Colson Whitehead
The Ways of the World - by Robert Goddard
The Widower's Tale - by Julia Glass

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite Solo Theatrical Performances

Following My Favorite New Musicals of the decade and My Favorite New Plays of the decade, this third Theater category is a bit odd.

Some of the Solo Theatrical Performances I selected below--or considered--were plays, just starring a single person. But I decided to loop them into this field.

My top pick below is a musician, but I'm not considering solo concerts, only shows done in a theatrical vein.

Others are quite comical and even starring comedians, but I'm not including stand-up comedy performances.

Again, however can be delineated, and sometimes imperfectly, these--and any work I considered eligible--were individual theatrical performances.

Some were memoirs written by the performer. Some were biographical, in which the star embodied a noteworthy figure, perhaps even writing the show. As noted, some were essentially plays with just one star (though possibly multiple characters).

But--to phrase it slightly differently and counting only performances I saw live--these were the:

The Best One-Person Shows of the Decade

1. Springsteen on Broadway - written & performed by Bruce Springsteen

2. Every Brilliant Thing - written by Duncan Macmillan; starring Rebecca Spence; Windy City Playhouse

3. Liberty City - written by April Yvette; starring Dionne Addis; Fleetwood-Jourdain Theater

4. Wiesenthal - written & performed by Tom Dugan

5. Pamplona - written by Jim McGrath; starring Stacy Keach; Goodman Theatre

6. Latin History for Morons - written & performed by John Leguizamo

7. Churchill - written & performed by Ronald Keaton

8. Until the Flood - written & performed by Dael Orlandersmith; Goodman Theatre

9. A Map of Myself - written & performed by Sara Abou Rashed

10. Wishful Drinking - written & performed by Carrie Fisher

11. Buyer & Cellar - written by Jonathan Tolins; starring Michael Urie

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Hemingway's Hot Havana - written & performed by Brian Gordon Sinclair
Lady in Denmark - written by Dael Orlandersmith; starring Linda Gehringer; Goodman Theatre
Long Story Short - written & performed by Colin Quinn
Unveiled - written & performed by Rohina Malik
Why Not Me: A Sammy Davis Jr. Story - written by Tim Rhoze; starring Sean Blake

I did not include links to my reviews of these shows, but you should be able to find most using the Search Box.

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite New Plays Seen Onstage

If you need a long-winded disclaimer, refer to my previous post--covering My Favorite New Musicals of the decade--as the same stipulations apply.

Here I am gauging only new plays first produced on Broadway or in Chicagoland since the start of 2010.

Only shows I personally saw, live, are eligible.

Picks for the best non-musical theater productions of any vintage are covered in Best Plays of the Year lists, each December since 2010 and upcoming for 2019.

You can see My Favorite Plays of the '00s here.

Solo theatrical performances, starring just one individual, will be covered in a separate category.

The Best New Plays of the Decade

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - by Simon Stephens

2. The Steadfast Tin Soldier - Mary Zimmerman

3. The Outgoing Tide - Bruce Graham

4. Mary Page Marlowe - Tracy Letts

5. Outside Mullingar - John Patrick Shanley

6. Yasmina's Necklace - Rohina Malik

7. War Horse - Nick Stafford

8. Trust - Allison Torem

9. 33 Variations - Moises Kaufman

10. The Minutes - Tracy Letts

11. Clybourne Park - Bruce Norris

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

A Shayna Maidel - Barbara Lebow
Airline Highway - Lisa D'Amour
Assassination Theater - Hillel Levin
Black Ballerina - Stephen Fedo & Tim Rhoze
The Book Thief - Heidi Stillman
Cambodian Rock Band - Lauren Yee
Chinglish - David Henry Hwang
Cry It Out - Molly Smith Metzler
Curve of Departure - Rachel Bonds
Downstate - Bruce Norris
Exit Strategy - Ike Holter

Faceless - Selina Fillinger
Funnyman - Bruce Graham
The Gentleman Caller - Philip Dawkins
The Herd - Rory Kinnear
A Home on the Lake - Stephen Fedo & Tim Rhoze 

The Legend of Georgia McBride - Matthew Lopez
Linda - Penelope Skinner
Luna Gale - Rebecca Gilman
The Mecca Tales - Rohina Malik

Mothers & Sons - Terrence McNally

Oslo - J.T. Rogers
Other Desert Cities - Jon Robin Baltz
The Qualms - Bruce Norris
The Royale - Marco Ramirez
The Undeniable Sound of Right Now - Laura Eason

I did not include links to my reviews of these shows, but you should be able to find most using the Search Box.

The Best of the Decade 2010-19: My Favorite New Musicals Seen Onstage

Since the beginning of 2010, I've seen about 300 live musicals, typically about 30 per year.

These have ranged from longstanding classics to world premieres, from Broadway and London's West End down to community theater and high school productions--and at virtually every level and venue-type in between.

For my annual rankings of "Best Musicals Seen Onstage"--posted in late December since 2010; you can find these lists in the Blog Archives--I have cited the best musical productions seen each year, regardless of vintage.

Not surprisingly, well-done renditions of all-time favorite musicals such as Les Miserables, West Side Story, The Producers, Cabaret, The Sound of Music, Wicked, Avenue Q and various Stephen Sondheim shows have been usual suspects high on these lists.

"The Best Musicals I Saw Onstage in 2019" will be a separate post and include shows both old and new.

But this, my initial Best of the Decade category for 2010-19--you can find "My Favorite New Musicals of the '00s" here--will focus solely on musicals first staged on Broadway or in Chicago since the start of 2010.

Hence, new musicals this decade.

There may be a few--whether selected below or just that I considered eligible--that originated in London before this decade but didn't hit Broadway and/or Chicago until during it (e.g. Sister Act).  I'm also allowing at least one show (Next to Normal) that bowed on Broadway in 2009 but whose first tour didn't hit Chicago until this decade.

Although I may have gotten a decent inkling of some shows via cast recordings, YouTube clips, Tony Award telecasts, etc., only musicals I saw onstage at least once this decade are included in my picks or considerations. But I saw about 125 new musicals, including 9 of 10 Best Musical Tony winners and 30 of 42 nominees.

I have not seen Hadestown, the 2019 Tony winner, or a few other notable shows.

Using the Tony Award for Best New Musical category as a point of reference, new stage musicals with pre-existing origins or songs--Newsies, An American in Paris, Once, School of Rock, etc.--are eligible.

Any new musical productions I saw in Chicagoland count, even if the show never ran on Broadway or in London. But although a musical I love--The Visit--finally reached Broadway in 2015 after a 14-year gestation, and I saw it there, I'm not including it here as it was on my Best of 2000-09 list.

I will not factor in revues, although Sondheim on Sondheim and Baritones Unbound were both fantastic. And Springsteen on Broadway will be covered in another category.

As noted, some shows I saw multiple times in the decade, while others just once and perhaps not recently. But there are actually a few musicals I liked a good bit less upon a second viewing (while trying not to weigh any specific production too heavily).

So, as inherent in all my lists to come throughout this month, this one is replete with flaws, whims, inconsistencies, incongruities, yada, yada, yada.

But I think it's about time to raise the curtain.

The Best New Stage Musicals of the Decade

1. Hamilton
Seen on Broadway tour production in Chicago; 3 times.

2. The Book of Mormon
Seen on Broadway once; National Tours in Chicago, 3 times.

3. Moulin Rouge
Seen pre-Broadway in Boston

4. Dear Evan Hansen
Seen on National Tour in Chicago

5. Come From Away
Seen pre-Broadway in Washington, DC; National Tour in Chicago

6. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Seen on National Tours in Chicago, twice.

7. Matilda
Seen in London; National Tour in Chicago; Local production

8. Kinky Boots
Seen pre-Broadway in Chicago; National Tour in Chicago

9. Next to Normal
Seen on National Tour in Chicago; Local Productions, 3 times

10. Tootsie
Seen pre-Broadway in Chicago

11. Bright Star
Seen as a local Chicago production

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)

Aftermath (an unauthorized Rolling Stones musical in Chicago) 
An American in Paris
The Band's Visit
The Bridges of Madison County
A Christmas Story
Finding Neverland
Fun Home
The Jungle Book
The Last Ship
On Your Feet! The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Musical
Ride the Cyclone

I did not include links to my reviews of these shows, but you should be able to find most using the Search Box.

People Get Ready: It's the Best Of List Time of the Year. And Decade.

Well, here we go again.

If you look at the Blog Archive on the right hand side of this blog, in a non-mobile format, you'll see that the origins of SethSaith.com date back to 2004.

And, although somewhat sporadically and without images, I did post a good number of articles over the next few years.

But I generally regard December 2009 as when I really began maintaining this blog in earnest.

Then, I posted about 30 lists covering The Best--or My Favorite--This or That (Plays, Musicals, Albums, Restaurants, etc., etc.) of the 2000-2009 decade.

And now another decade has past.

So over the next month, I'll be sharing my picks in several categories--probably not as many as in 2009--and perhaps looping in some pals to help with certain idioms.

But, as beginning in 2010, I've posted "Best of the Year" lists in about 10 key categories each year, I'm also going to do likewise for 2019.

So you, and certainly I, might get a bit list weary--and I will keep posting reviews as I see shows--but beware that these selection posts will be populating this blog for most of the month.

Feel free to add your own lists, or just some picks, in the blog comments--and/or on Facebook or Twitter if seeing the posts when I share them there.

And if anyone asks you to cite your "Favorite Blog of the Decade," perhaps consider mention this one.

Thanks for reading over the years.

If stats are to be believed, I've had nearly 1.4 million pageviews across the decade.

Which, of course, many websites garner on a daily basis. Yet it still sounds flattering to me.

All the Best,
Seth