In my wilder blogging days, I used to do a "Ten And Only Ten" project on my main blog.

The exercise was meant to help me whittle down my blogroll by asking which ten blogs I would subscribe to if I could only subscribe to ten blogs, justifying each pick.

I'd post the list, then open up the floor to bloggers and podcasters to remind me of blogs or podcasts that I may have overlooked.

I can either swap in that blog/podcast or I can post the reason why I don't think that blog/podcast doesn't make my list.

Sometimes the reasons are nice, and other times the reasons were most savage (especially if someone posted a blog that they knew I absolutely despise, like Huffington Post's celebrity garbage, Daily Kos' deranged hatred of all things conservative and rational, and so on).

If you search the main isfullofcrap.com site for "Ten and Only Ten" you'll find the various results.

Anyway, since my main blog is circling the bowl and I tend to hang out in this feed more often than not, I figured I'd give the exercise a whirl on 10/10 for Second Life Podcasts and Blogs.

I'll be constructing my lists over the course of the day. Feel free to post suggestions in the comments as I go along, but be prepared for the brutal and honest truth as to what I think of them.

BLOGS

1. New World Notes - Hamlet and his happy crew of henchlings round up some of the most interesting issues that other bloggers ponder while providing a good roundup of interesting events to check out for the week.

2. Second Thoughts - Prokofy never pulls punches when examining the grid, its residents, and its masters (Linden or non-Linden). When you get past some of the name-calling and attacks, the meat of the arguments are thought-provoking and merit discussion.

3. Second Effects - A must-read for businesspeople in SL. ArminasX may work with the most insubstantial of elements, but he has a cool head for business and has had some excellent observations on how Linden Lab might improve upon its service and social networking aspects.

4. Cen's Two Cents - The magic of this blog is how it engages the audience into discussions on various topics. A blog on its own can be powerful, but it takes on a life of its own with the community that inhabits the comments and sparks side chatter.

5. NPIRL - Bettina has built an impressive cadre of designers, thinkers, scripters, dreamers, and observers to seek out some of the most engaging and challenging content on the grid. (And then there's the folks who have no idea why they're among that number, such as myself.)

6. Torley - "Amplifying Your Awesome" ... Torley's enthusiasm is infectious, his attitude is supportive, and his hints are both the medicine and the sweetener to many of your interface ills in dealing with the grid. Residents should book time every day just to browse what he's got here to see if it sparks any Eureka moments, and ask themselves WWTD when faced with a challenge they cannot find the answer to.

7. Vint Falken - Fashion, Frustration and Fun. Where Prokofy will write volumes on a subject, Vint keeps it brief and to the point with a call to action, whether it's a JIRA issue or just a laugh with a snapshot demonstrating the latest bug in the wild.

8. Seven Sacred Secrets - JueL blends her art, her writing, and her music on this blog in a way that crosses the senses. The term is synathesia, where you see the music and scents, hear the colors... maybe slip in a few embedded players from MySpace or The 61 to flesh it out for a full immersive experience?

9. Massively's SL Feed: As a whole, Massively is just World Of Warcraft junk, but thankfully you can subscribe to just the SL feed with Tat Nino. With Adam Reuters bugging out, this is a good spot to hit up a first-glance analysis of moves that LL is making or new releases or discontent among the residents in a manner that SL Herald and Avatar utterly fail at. Until, of course, AOL spreads it's shitcanning of content development further into Massively's domain and kills properties they don't have a stake in under some "synergy" banner or another.

10. Sim Crossing: The Keeme and Nika left Nowhereville to go on a bold adventure, seeking out interesting places on the grid and... um... causing havoc and mayhem in their wake, it seems. If you're bored with SL, well, this is how to break from the malaise and wander the grid in a fresh manner.

PODCASTS

1. Virtual Worlds Businesscast: Mike O'Hara interviews the most interesting high-stakes players in the virtual worlds.

2. Metanomics: Technically, this is a live show as well as a website, but I will classify it as a podcast because that is how I see it. Plu- I mean Beyers Sellers interviews major players in the SL universe as well as taking time to explore other virtual worlds to see where the trends are heading.

3. SL Under The Radar: Radar Masukami may get down on himself all the time, but his interviews of common folks on the grid doing uncommon things provides a good man-on-the-street view of the grid. (I skip over Chugging The Grid... I just don't get into it, eh.)

4. Diamonds and Rust - People think that George Burns was the comedian and Gracie Allen was the foil, but it was Gracie who had all the funny lines. In this case, well, Keeme is the Gracie Allen, but couldn't do his madness and nonsense without Nika's sensible presence.

5. Black Tie Martini Club Oddcast - Okay, so Caleb's on the left side of things and I'm on the right side of things. So what? They guy's a brilliant writer and produces a high-quality, high-larious show that also makes you think.

6. Milk n Kookies - KoffeeKid and the gang demonstrate how to do a community podcast/radio show that also acts as an answer to the negative press that SL gets from reactionary and ignorant imbeciles posting as mainstream media reporters. SL Kids have a purpose as well as have fun being SL Kids.

7. Pizzababe - We get a look inside Jenny's SL and RL highs and lows. She doesn't hold back. It's all about the love, no matter how painful it can be.

8. Rezzed and Confused - Itazura Radio doesn't just point out things on the grid and say they suck or they're confusing. He takes a close look at the issue, researches it, and finds a reason for it was well as a solution if it's at all possible. He also scans the other podcasts out there and busts any myths they're spreading.

9. Going Broke inSL - Daphne Abernathy's taken this podcast solo since the departure of her cohost from the grid. It's lost something from that, but not enough to make the interviews unlistenable. Daphne really needs to start rounding up guest cohosts (Madison?) for this show to get the conversation going, host fashion roundtables for discussion of trends, or fold this podcast into her new gig with the fashion show at SLCN or focus on Second Style.

10. BeatChicks - No, this isn't about some Gorean slave punishment ritual. It's Hope Clary and TheDiva Rockin interviewing SL musicians. They're slow on the production cycle but well worth the wait.

Keep in mind, at any time you're welcome to say "What the fuck do I care what they think?"

I do it all the time, eh. *wink*

I'm not done constructing the lists, and I've got my first suggestion via an IM.

Second Life Herald - 99% pointless garbage and gossip, difficult to sift out the relevant and insightful posts from the noise. It would be laughable if it was just one person pumping out that sewage, but the fact that it's a team effort makes it outright pathetic.

Here comes another:

Podmafia - For a while, Gomem and Yxes and Stuart had conversations about issues they'd actually read up on and explain.However, in recent episodes, they've lost their focus and it's become just a cacophony of "I don't know" or "That's nice, but here's something I'm doing."

The live episode this week demonstrates another issue with Podmafia - inconsistent audio quality. Way way way too many drops in a live show. Yes, Skype and other programs have their issues, but these are things that can be worked out ahead of time. If you have an issue with your sound quality, you run a few test recordings, post them privately, and have a few friends listen before running with that gear on the main feed.

Hopefully they will get their focus again, because it's turning into another Secondcast.

Take notes during the week, set your topics, then make your shameless plugs. Break it up with some music.

If it's such a hassle to get together on whatever day you get together on or it's not something that you're not enjoying doing, re-engineer it into something you enjoy doing, get sponsors that provide the money to make it worth your while to suffer the problems all the way to the bank, or trash it.

Okay, a few slipped to me under the door...

Danellion K. - Quiet as of late, but the issues raised here I've heard many, many times before. Just doesn't resonate with me... something about the writing style doesn't grip me.

Botgirl - On hiatus. Otherwise, raises some interesting issues of identity and the conflict between the persona and the typist... or is the persona the true identity and the typist is changed by it? I'll ponder this one a bit, but I think a lot of these issues are covered in larger conversations in Cen's hub-like social blog.

Podcast list is now ready...

RezEd - OUCH! Okay, this one's a toughie... it's certainly another very strong community roundup podcast that I would think is a must-listen for educators. Many of the subjects apply to Government and Business people, too. DAMN I'm going to have to think this one over. Argh...

Massively - As a whole, Massively is just World Of Warcraft junk, but thankfully you can subscribe to just the SL feed with Tat Nino. With Adam Reuters bugging out, this is a good spot to hit up a first-glance analysis of moves that LL is making or new releases or discontent among the residents in a manner that SL Herald and Avatar utterly fail at. Yeah, this one's taking a slot.

Another comes in...

One Hundred Word Stories - I will not include any production that I am a part of. This resulted in the removal of 100 Words Or Les Nessman, Command Post, Yourish.com, IMAO.us, and countless other sites I was a part of on other Ten And Only Ten efforts.

Here's something special...

blogHUD - *vomit* *barf* *upchuck* So... urk... so glad *gasp* you asked... uh oh... *hurl*

Okay, Kanomi asks about...

Gwyneth Llewelyn Longtime resident with some good insight on trends within SL. However, not very prolific as of late... one interesting post on globalization being a cause of the drop in content creator revenue as seen by English-speakers, then goes on to ponder translators. Drama-free and rage-free.