I’ve been cheating on you with another blog. Her name is PopTen. She’s a dot-net.

I’m sure you’ve been wondering where all my introspective political posting has been of late, or whatever happened to Your Weekly Media, and why don’t I ever tell you stories from European and Asian lands. I don’t even want to talk about the pictures. I can say now that all those things will always be ours.

But this new blog – I met her through friends – she just offers a different kind of outlet, you know what I mean? I can be more myself with her. Goofy and nerdy and use cuss words and all the other things I just don’t feel I can be around you. It’s top-ten lists (the horror) and pop-culture musings.

I’ve given it some thought, and I think it’s time for us to add a little e-spice to our lives. So we’re going to have a blogging-threesome. That means that from now on, I’ll cross-post my PopTen posts over here at What-What.com. I’ll still add personal and other things to you from time to time, and I think you should also start subscribing to her RSS feed to keep up with what her other authors are doing.

To give you a head start on my secret history, you can see all my PopTen posts here. I’ve discussed some important things, as you’ll see, from which lovable movie alien life form kicks more ass, sorry, butt, to a top ten list of the worst band names from this year’s Warped Tour.

I hope this new relationship status works for you, and I have some other “just us” things in mind for you very soon (hint: shifting to a design/photo showcase site cuz I need some jobs plz).

I still love you baby, and I know we can work through this.

In that vein, I wanted to share a comprehensive (not exhaustive – there’s a lot I left out, amazingly) collection of my links and bookmarks – everything from news sources to my friends who blog to stupid YouTube video aggregators. Some of these may be familiar, some not, but all are worth a look (all links open in a new tab or window).

Recent Finds:

Best of Craigslist – from novel-length explanations of why you should or should not be cruising the personals section looking for Mr./Ms./Mrs./? Right to where to get a duck egg that someone’s cat brought home for cheap. Always entertaining!

Best of Wikipedia – Twice a day, here you will find bizarre things on, or recently removed from, Wikipedia that you had no idea existed (today: “Triboluminescence“). Archiving this junk is exactly why the internet was invented. Except for porn that is.

Racialicious - Thoughtful, varied blogging on race issues and non-issues in contemporary culture.

News and politics:

The Daily Dish, by Andrew Sullivan – Hands down the most important political blog out there, and winner of the “Best Blog” category at least this year and probably previously. Written by a self-described “conservative” British expat who is homosexual, HIV-positive and married to an American. Thoughtful, exhaustive discussions and debates span the gamut of politics, religion, culture, war, civil rights and more.

Wonkette - A hyper-savvy political satire blog. Skews left but leaves no political misdeed unexposed, usually with a Blingee-enhanced picture attached.

Freakonomics - For when I want a fix of off beat economics-related wool-gathering. I highly recommend the book as a great way for those a bit intimidated by “the dismal science” to get initiated, and I am certainly convinced by their thesis that incentives (positive and negative) drive most of our behavior.

Climate Progress – I will refrain from listing the half-dozen or so “green” blogs (Green, Inc. being the first stop) and sites that I attempt to keep on top of, but this one is worth mentioning as a premiere source of climate change related no-holds-barred political commentary, backed up with studious scientific analysis. THE place for talking points when attempting to educate the flat-earth (aka climate change denial) crowd.

Also see: NYT, The Atlantic, New Yorker, Mother Jones, Reuters AlertNet, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Al-Jazeera English.

Arts and Culture:

Boing Boing – A directory of wonderful things that is one of the best sources of information for our wired, connected lives. Used to really capture the zeitgeist, but its writers are beginning to show their age and predictable patterns emerge. Thankfully they get an incredible variety of guest bloggers, from my buddy who helped launch the fantastical Atlas Obscura to a couple of Muslim bloggers who turned me onto All Things Pakistan.

Judith Warner – Blogs about women, motherhood, feminism and politics for the NYT. Good because it’s authentic.

Vice - Dirt dog takes over the mainstream. So played, and yet who else is there?

Consumerist - Look here before you buy anything. Also teaches you how to get results from any customer service rep in existence.

Things You Wouldn’t Know If We Didn’t Blog Incessantly (TYWKIWDBI) – Lots of interesting posts, from rare butterflies to old-timey photos.

Also see: Jezebel (and all of the other Gawker sites), Losanjealous, Buddyhead, Arab Parrot, This Isn’t Happiness

Comics:

Penny Arcade – About video games and stuff.

The Fart Party – About a whiny chick in Brooklyn.

Alien Loves Predator – Playing with dolls.

Foreign:

Pink Tentacle – Weird Japanese stuff.

Pestiside - Hungarian gossip in English.

PUFFF.hu – Hungarian electronic music site.

Funnies:

FailBlog - A guaranteed dose of “no matter how shitty I feel about my life, there’s always someone that’s more of a jackass than me.”

Fuck You, Penguin – Buy the book!

Item Not As Described – As described.

Dickipedia – A wiki of dicks. People, that is.

Also see: Passive Aggressive Notes Dot Com

Media:

The Big Picture – Awesomest mainstream photo blog I’ve found yet.

Pandora - Make up your own damn radio stations.

SomaFM - Groove Salad is the best ambient background funk around.

KCRW - One of the best NPR stations in the world.

Nations Photo Lab – Where I get prints done. Great prices and fine quality.

Today’s Big Thing – Viral videos.

Useful tools:

Flip - Makes your text uʍop ǝpısdn.

TinyURL - Makes a long link short.

Google News Timeline – Expresses news stories from a variety of selectable sources in a timeline that goes back decades.

GapMinder.org – Statistics about the thorny issues out there.

Good Guide – How environmentally and socially sustainable is your shampoo? How about your toothpaste?

Friends:

Curious Expeditions

Japandroo

YellyElly

Second Skin

Working Definition

Whew, that was a long list! You can see I sort of petered off there at the end. Probably I should get back to looking for a job now. Post your favorite links in the comments!

Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Story here.

Via This Isn’t Happiness.