My Favorite Beautiful Women of the '00s

Having today seen yet another stage production of My Fair Lady, it seems to be a loverly time to herald the famous ladies I find fairest of all. I not sure even I understand the delineation of this disclaimer, by this isn't necessarily a ranking of the most beautiful women of the '00s, but the beautiful women whom I most favor. Hence, no lingerie models nor Megan Fox. In a rough nutshell, these are women--all actresses--for whom I would watch a movie, show or talk show I probably wouldn't otherwise.

I'll provide pictorial support for my selections, though generally just the best pic I could quickly find on Google Images. But if you don't know who any of these women are, look 'em up on IMDB or Wikipedia. And while I acknowledge the one-sided sexism of this category, I welcome anyone to cite their favorite handsome men in the comments.

1. Anne Hathaway


2. Kate Beckinsale


3. Jennifer Connelly


4. Rachel McAdams


5. Aishwarya Rai


6. Eliza Dushku


7. Kristin Kreuk


8. Natalie Portman


9. Josefina Scaglione (Maria in West Side Story on Broadway, 2009. Check out this picture)


10. Rachel Weisz


Honorable Womention:

Keira Knightley


Frieda Pinto


Jordana Brewster


Minka Kelly


Jessica Alba


Eva Longoria Parker


Diane Krueger


Jennifer Morrison


Leighton Meester


Heather Graham

My Favorite Comedians of the '00s

OK, so some of these are stand-up comedians, others are comedic actors and others are some combination thereof. But I believe all count as comedians and these are my favorite of the decade. Sadly, a couple are no longer with us.

1. Chris Rock
2. Jon Stewart
3. George Carlin
4. Sasha Baron Cohen
5. Bill Maher
6. Artie Lange
7. Sarah Silverman
8. Robin Williams
9. Will Ferrell
10. Lewis Black

Honorable Mention:

Dave Chappelle
Tina Fey
Ricky Gervais
Jerry Seinfeld
Gilbert Gottfried
Mitch Hedberg
Steve Carrell
Jim Breuer
Wanda Sykes
Billy Crystal

My Favorite Brands of the '00s

These are not only new brands nor necessarily brands representing products & services I most used and liked. Rather, it is a ranking of brands that I believe maintained the most prominence, prestige, integrity, etc. throughout the '00s (albeit with some degree of personal preference):

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Coca-Cola
4. McDonald's
5. Canon
6. HBO
7. Red Bull
8. Target
9. Nike
10. ESPN

Honorable Mention:

Microsoft, Pepsi, FedEx, Yahoo, AT&T, Vienna Beef, eBay, Duracell, Heinz, Kleenex, Levi's, Energizer, New York Times, Hewlett Packard

My Favorite Plays of the '00s

Although I saw dozens of Musicals from this decade that I really enjoyed, I also saw a whole bunch of newly penned and staged Plays, but with a much lower percentage of enjoyment. A lot of things that were supposed to be really good, I just didn't fully understand and/or care for. But there were several I did like, and below are My Favorite Plays of the '00s.

Most of these I saw on various professional stages around Chicagoland, typically a few years after the work debuted on Broadway or elsewhere, although some were world premieres. But with enormous admiration for the multitude of performers who brought these to life, here I will credit just the work and author, not specific theaters.

I believe it is worth noting that I did not see Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan as a stage play, and thus do not include it below. But given that the movie--also penned by Morgan and starring the two lead actors from the Broadway run--was one of my favorite films of the decade, I imagine the play must have been sensational as well.

1. Doubt - John Patrick Shanley
2. Proof - David Auburn
3. I Am My Own Wife - Doug Wright
4. Permanent Collection - Thomas Gibbons
5. The Lieutenant of Inishmore - Martin McDonagh
6. 700 Sundays (one-man show) - Billy Crystal
7. The Pillowman - Martin McDonagh
8. August: Osage County - Tracy Letts
9. The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia - Edward Albee
10. The Judas Kiss - David Hare

Honorable Mention:

Golda's Balcony - William Gibson
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity - Kristoffer Diaz
The Sparrow - Chris Matthews & Jake Minton
The Pain and the Itch - Bruce Norris
The Overwhelming - J.T. Rogers
Blackbird - Adam Rapp
Blackbird - David Harrower
Graceland - Ellen Fairey
Columbinus - Stephen Karam and PJ Paparelli
Dublin Carol - Conor McPherson
Intimate Apparel - Lynn Nottage
Boleros for the Disenchanted - Jose Rivera
Radio Golf - August Wilson
A Steady Rain - Keith Huff
The History Boys - Alan Bennett

My Favorite Gift Books of the '00s

This might not seem like a very weighty topic, but several sagging bookcases prove otherwise. After I deferred to my friend Dave for the Favorite Books of the '00s list because he read much more than I did, I came to realize that while he was basically spotlighting his favorite new novels of the decade (with a couple of non-fiction works), there was another type of book I did do a good bit of delving into.

So, perhaps to aid anyone still not done with their holiday shopping, I thought I'd spotlight my favorite gift/coffee table-type books of the decade. I probably bought most of these as bargains from Barnes & Nobles and Borders, some several years ago, but as a point of reference I am supplying links to Amazon (or wherever the book seems currently available online cheapest):

1. Hirschfeld On Line (Al Hirschfeld cartoons)
2. Headless Body in Topless Bar (NY Post front pages)
3. Frank Gehry Architect
4. The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker
5. Cash by the Editors of Rolling Stone
6. The Clash
7. The Beatles Anthology
8. Total White Sox
9. Best By Number (Jersey numbers across various sports)
10. The Holocaust Chronicle

Honorable Mention:

LIFE: 70 Years of Extraordinary Photography
Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book
A Fine Romance: Hollywood/Broadway
The Marilyn Monroe Treasures
Take Me Out to the Ballpark
Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments
Speeches That Changed the World
America the Book (by the Daily Show)
When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden (by Bill Maher)
Kurt Cobain Journals

Also, although it is a bit tangential, I thought I'd mention that when it comes to travel guides, those authored by Rick Steves (primarily for European destinations) are far & away the best. What his guide books lack in colorful photos, they more than make up for in detailed insight and literally step-by-step guidance about what to explore and discover.

The only other travel series I have come to regularly rely upon are the Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides, such as this one on London. Cutting to the chase in easily transportable books, they have been quite valuable in narrowing in on what to see, where to eat, etc.

Finally, although I admittedly have not read every page of several of these, you or a gift recipient might appreciate these fine biographies released in the '00s about:

John Coltrane
Arthur Miller
Laurence Olivier
Sandy Koufax
Roberto Clemente
Ted Williams
Joe Dimaggio
Kurt Cobain
Pete Maravich
Lester Bangs

My Favorite Websites of the '00s

Not limited to sites that debuted in this decade, these are the websites I found most useful, enjoyable and/or beneficial (I'll exclude Hotmail from contention):

1. My.Yahoo.com - Although I greatly prefer Google's search engine, maps & much else, MyYahoo has remained my home page throughout the decade and is vital for providing a daily snapshot of what's going on in the world.
2. Google.com
3. Wikipedia.org
4. YouTube.com
5. Backstreets.com - A great online Springsteen fanzine
6. Facebook.com
7. Amazon.com
8. AllMusic.com - Awesome for looking up almost any artist in any genre
9. IMDB.com
10. Pollstar.com - A database of concert dates for all artists, everywhere

Honorable Mention:

Playbill.com
CNN.com
ChicagoTribune.com
HotTix.org
Ticketmaster.com
RogerEbert.com
Newseum.org/TodaysFrontPages (also Kiosko.net)
Pandora.com
Yelp.com
411.com
WolfgangsVault.com/Concerts
Baseball-Reference.com
ESPN.com
SI.com
Meetup.com
Setlist.fm
OpenTable.com
Thesaurus.com
XE.com/UCC (currency converter)
Hotels.com
Orbitz.com
GoMusicNow.com
Pogo.com (free online Scrabble & other games)

My Favorite Photos Taken in the '00s

It's hard even for me to believe, but I took well over 100,000 photos during this decade. Most were on my various travels, though I also took hundreds of my nephews & niece. I'll leave any of those out of this category, but I do realize that many of My Favorite Photos Taken in the '00s do capture people in incidental ways.

It was hard to whittle my favorites down to 10, but beyond those below, rather than any Honorable Mention, I refer you to my Online Photo Portfolio, where you can see many more of my favorites (almost all from this decade). White Sox fans might also enjoy this one and this one.

You can click any photo below to see it larger.

1. Fountain with Rainbow & Kids, Bilbao, Spain


2. Bethesda Fountain from the Arcade, Central Park, New York


3. St. Marks Square with Painter, Venice


4. The Coliseum, Rome


5. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain


6. Elmo in Bryant Park, New York


7. Eiffel Tower with Umbrellas, Paris


8. Motorcyclist on the Champs-Elysees, Paris


9. Saxophonist along the Mississippi, New Orleans


10. Rosenborg Castle with Kid, Copenhagen

My Favorite Museums Visited in the '00s

Since I have been to many more art museums than anything else, I'll separate out this list accordingly. I'm basing my rankings on how well I remember my visit, focusing mainly on the quality of the collections and special exhibits, not the architecture, price, gift shop, etc., and fully admit that my recollections are inexact. And while I have tended to visit art museums in almost every major city I've been to, I have not typically sought out history or science museums on vacation so omissions are not to be taken as a quality judgment.

Non-Art Museums (U.S. & Worldwide)

1. The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI
2. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
3. Vasa Museum, Stockholm
4. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Kansas City, MO
5. The Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
6. Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville, KY
7. Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem
8. Winston Churchill Museum, Fulton, MO
9. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland
10. Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago

Honorable Mention:
Experience Music Project, Seattle; Louisville Slugger Museum, Louisville; Dublin Writers Museum; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, Springfield, IL; Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum; Cabinet War Rooms, London; Skansen (outdoor museum), Stockholm; Field Museum, Chicago; Chicago History Museum; National Museum of American History, Washington, DC

Art Museums (U.S. & Canada)

1. The Art Institute of Chicago
2. The Barnes Collection, Lower Merrion, PA (will be moving to downtown Philadelphia)
3. Museum of Modern Art, New York
4. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
5. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
6. Philadelphia Museum of Art
7. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
8. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
9. McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
10. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

Honorable Mention:
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena; Detroit Institute of Arts; Cleveland Art Museum; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Musee de Beaux Arts, Montreal; Indianapolis Museum of Art; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Toledo Art Museum; Milwaukee Art Museum

Art Museums (Rest of World)

1. National Gallery, London
2. Hermitage, St. Petersburg
3. Pitti Palace, Florence
4. Musee d'Orsay, Paris
5. Prado, Madrid
6. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
7. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
8. Reina Sofia, Madrid
9. Tate Modern, London
10. Vatican Museum, Rome

Honorable Mention:
Egyptian Museum, Cairo; Museum Borghese, Rome; Rodin Museum, Paris; Louvre, Paris; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Courtauld Institute Gallery, London; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Picasso Museum, Barcelona; Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; Museo El Greco, Toledo

Top 25 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Omissions

Yesterday, it was announced that the 2010 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be ABBA, The Stooges, Genesis, The Hollies and Jimmy Cliff. A pretty good class, despite my distaste for latter-day Genesis. But it got me thinking about artists who deserve to be in but still aren't.

Keep in mind that artists only become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album. And while most deserving luminaries are already in (you can see the list here), these are my choices for deserving and eligible acts who have thus far been snubbed:

1. The Jam
2. Cheap Trick
3. Husker Du
4. The Cure
5. The Replacements
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan
7. The Zombies
8. Rush
9. Midnight Oil
10. Neil Diamond
11. Roxy Music
12. Tom Waits
13. Warren Zevon
14. The Smiths
15. Peter Gabriel (solo)
16. Dire Straits
17. Alice Cooper
18. Tina Turner (solo)
19. Love
20. The Cars
21. Kiss
22. ELO
23. The Faces
24. Heart
25. Foreigner

And Others to Consider:

The Beastie Boys
Chicago
Yes
Depeche Mode
The Move
Deep Purple
Chic
Hall & Oates
The Guess Who
Black Flag
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
The Moody Blues
Jethro Tull
Bad Company
The Buzzcocks
Mott the Hoople

My Favorite Architecture of the '00s

As far back as I can remember, I have loved beautiful buildings, from soaring skyscrapers to unique single-family homes. I love the classical design that beautifies places like Venice and the French Quarter, and can still be awestruck by some of the terra cotta carvings that adorn older buildings around Chicago (take a look up and around next time you're on Lasalle St.).

In terms of modern architecture, I greatly admire the imagination with which gifted designers tackle everything from subway stations to baseball stadiums. I still remember my awe years ago upon first seeing a photograph of the Sydney Opera House and then again years later upon seeing a photo of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

During this decade, I have been fortunate enough to see both those buildings in person, as well as several newer structures that either replicate the concept of sculptural buildings--which seems to be the current trend, inspired and continued by Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, Daniel Liebskind and others--or otherwise combine elegance with plenty of imagination.

Limiting my list to new buildings and structures that I saw in person--some while still under construction--here are My Favorite Architectural Works of the '00s, complete with photographs (mostly not my own):

1. Quadracci Pavilion, Milwaukee Art Museum - Santiago Calatrava
Ever since Gehry's Guggenheim made Bilbao a destination following its completion in 1997, art museums worldwide have featured bold re-designs or daring new expansions. Calatrava's addition to the formerly bland MAM was the best I saw, most notably for its brise soleil, the wing-like structure that opens and closes.

2. Peter B. Lewis Building, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland - Frank Gehry
After the Guggenheim, Gehry's been in great demand well into his 70s, but with general marching orders to repeat himself. So he has been forced to be Gehryesque, but in new ways. Most responses to his work are either "Wow!" or "WTF?" but given the several buildings on this list, you can see where I side. I like the way this lesser-know college building combines a brick structure with the flowing metal forms.


3. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA - Frank Gehry
I haven't been inside, but I hear the acoustics are outstanding.


4. Aqua Tower, Chicago - Jeanne Gang
I'm not sure the finished building is quite as enthralling as the original renderings, but nonetheless, the cascading balconies giving the illusion of liquidity represents something entirely fresh in hi-rise residential architecture.


5. BOK Center, Tulsa - Cesar Pelli
I took a road trip to Tulsa in 2009 for a Paul McCartney concert and was amazed at how beautiful their new arena was. It reminded me of what the Soldier Field redesign could have been, if it wasn't stupidly shoehorned in the old colonades.


6. Hearst Tower, New York - Norman Foster
Showing that old and new can be effectively merged, I like how the soaring new skyscraper bursts out of the Hearst Building's classical facade.

7. Denver Public Library Addition - Michael Graves
While I believe Daniel Liebskind's nearby expansion of the Denver Art Museum has garnered more attention (see further below), I like what Graves did with the library a bit better.


8. New Terminal, Bilbao Airport - Santiago Calatrava
After the Guggenheim, they've been building like crazy in this old city at the north of Spain. I was there in 2005 and enjoyed Calatrava's soaring airport addition, inside and out.


9. AT&T Park, San Francisco - Populous (formerly known as HOK Sport)
PNC Park, Pittsburgh - Polulous and L.D. Astorino & Associates
I attended games at every new ballpark that opened during the '00s except for New Yankee Stadium, and while almost all of the new parks offered good comfort & sightlines with some local quirks, these two stood out primarily due how well they adapted to their waterfront locations.



10. One Museum Park, Chicago - Pappageorge Haymes, Ltd.
While Chicago's Trump Tower garnered much more attention and isn't a complete eyesore, I believe this new building down near the museum campus is a much more elegant skyscraper.


Honorable Mention:

Frederic C. Hamilton Building, Denver Art Center - Studio Daniel Liebskind & Brit Propst


IAC Building, New York - Frank Gehry


Wynn Las Vegas - Marnell Corrao Associates


Time Warner Center, New York - David Childs


Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago - Renzo Piano


Pritzker Pavilion, Millenium Park, Chicago - Frank Gehry


Lucas Oil Stadium (football), Indianapolis - HKS, Inc.


Hyatt Center, Chicago - Pei, Cobb, Fried & Partners


Guthrie Theatre Complex, Minneapolis - Jean Nouvel and Architectural Alliance


Experience Music Project, Seattle - Frank Gehry

My Favorite Stores During the '00s

OK, so today's category isn't the most exciting or revelatory. And unlike the scope of most of my other lists, this isn't a survey of stores that debuted in this decade. But these were the places I most enjoyed shopping at over the last 10 years:

1. Amazon.com - No parking, no store clerks, no lines, no tax and no shipping (on orders over $25). Virtually everything I could ever want to buy and pretty good prices, often from a secondary seller, not Amazon itself.
2. Best Buy - Almost always the best prices on new release CDs & DVDs. A bunch of other good stuff too.
3. Barnes & Noble/Borders - I like B&N slightly better, but both of the big bookstores are great for browsing and wonderful for bargain books. Like the Complete New Yorker Cartoons or a book with every Van Gogh painting in color, each for under $20. (I already have both)
4. Target - I think Walmart's prices are a tad lower, but Target is considerably classier.
5. Walmart - OK, so I don't like the effect they've had on small town America and they notoriously underpay their employees, but I can't deny I like their prices
6. Apple Store - I don't think I've actually bought anything at an Apple store, other than replacement headphones, but I just like it.
7. Kohl's - So, I'm not doing a whole lot of clothes shopping, but when I do I know I can get it on sale at Kohl's
8. Sam's Club - I used to go a lot more when I was getting actual film developed, but they offer great prices on supply-type stuff. And sometimes you can even fill up on the free food samples.
9. Land's End - Their All-Weather Mocs have been my shoe of choice for the last several years. I've bought them through the catalog, online and from their outlet near Yorktown Mall in Lombard.
10. Staples - When I need office supplies, even though I don't have an office, they've become a solid step above Office Max and two steps over Office Depot

And that's about it; other than Jewel, CVS and Walgreen's--more stores of necessity than want--there really isn't anywhere else I've shopped with any sort of repetition.

Dave's Favorite Books of the '00s

Although I (Seth) read a, um, respectable number of books in this decade, they were all of a pretty similar nature (suspense/thriller, page-turner) by the same few authors. I will cite those favorite authors below, but for a much more well-rounded "Favorite Books of the '00s" opinion, I thought it best to defer to my friend Dave Brown, a prolific reader who cited these as his Best of the Decade (all are fiction, Dave's preference, except where noted):

1. Peter Matthiessen - Shadow Country - Trilogy in '90’s-Reworked into one novel in ’08.
2. David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas - Six stories from 19th Century to future; connected in ultra-clever ways
3. Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections - Family drama; brilliantly done
4. Philip Roth - The Human Stain - Third in a loose trilogy
5. Dennis Lehane - Mystic River
6. Haruki Murakami - Kafka On The Shore
7. Richard Price - Samaritan
8. Richard Ford - Lay Of The Land
9. Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay
10. Ian McEwan - Atonement

Honorable Mention:

Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Paul Theroux - Dark Star Safari - Only Non-Fiction book - Travels thru Africa years after author taught there
Ruth Rendell - Rottweiler - Could have chosen any of several others; finest living Crime Fiction author
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell - Only debut novel in the group
Paul Auster - Oracle Night - The Book Of Illusions was equally great; master at stories within stories
Margaret Atwood - Blind Assassin
P.D. James - Murder Room - 2nd finest living Crime Fiction author
Tom Perrotta - Little Children
George Pelekanos - The Turnaround - Best hard-boiled author these days

And Dave's pick for Favorite Author of the '00s: Philip Roth or David Mitchell

(Seth): Seemingly, Dave read so many good books that he didn't even cite a well-reviewed book by his own brother, but I will give it a plug here (no, I haven't read it, but Dave did and liked it):

Curt Brown - So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior (Amazon)

OK, so I explained the constraints of my reading this decade above, but to be fair, I did read every book written (before or during the '00s) by the first 4 authors below, and several by the subsequent 2, so I do recommend their work, especially if you're looking for something fast to read in airports or on planes. I guess you could say these were My Favorite Authors of the Decade:

1. Lee Child - All of his Jack Reacher novels are fun reads; can't remember one from another, however
2. Harlan Coben - Start with Tell No One or Gone For Good
3. Dan Brown - Perhaps you've heard of The Da Vinci Code
4. Stieg Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and next two are all great reads by this now deceased author
5. Carl Hiaasen - I think I liked Basket Case best
6. John Grisham (though some things this decade were subpar) - I seem to recall The Broker, King of Torts, The Last Juror and the non-fiction The Innocent Man favorable; some others were subpar

My favorite non-fiction book, at least among those that I read in their entirety, was Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

I also got several coffee table-type books that I thought were excellent, but I think I'll rank those in a separate list on another day.

Two other quick plugs for books from this decade by people I know:

1. Ramble On: Six Months Around the World with Yer Typical American Family - by Roger Tauchman - I am friends with the aforementioned family and have read most of this fun travelogue. (Amazon)
2. Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town - by Arnold Alanan - Arnie is a friend of a friend and told me about this book on a long drive to the Upper Peninsula. I have not read it. (Amazon)