Will Ross here. Welcome to The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life. On this show we discuss tips and tricks for the game Second Life, created by Linden Labs. This week’s episode: “Branching Out: Other Second Life Podcasts Worth Your Attention.”

Now, as much as my enormous ego tries to convince me otherwise, I’m neither the only nor the first Second Lifer to start a podcast about Second Life. Lately I’ve been listening to quite a few of those other podcasts, and today I’m going to share two of my favorites with you.  As always, I used a completely unscientific method to choose which two of my favorites to share with you folks, and I’ll share others on future episodes. So without any further fanfare, let’s get on with the show.

[Fanfare]

I said WITHOUT any further fanfare.

“Sorry.” 

That’s Sean, our sound effects guy. He’s new.

“It’s my first day!”

They don’t care!

“Do too!”

Anyhow, on with the show.

The first show I’ve been enjoying lately is “Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara,” subtitled rather bossily with “The Podcast that TELLS you where to spend your Lindens.”  Why not “suggests”, or “asks”, or perhaps “recommends where you spend your Lindens”?  You’re not the boss of virtual Will! 

“No, Grammar girl is.”

Sean, back in your cage!

In all seriousness, this is an interesting podcast both because of its interview format, and because it’s a podcast with one purpose. Shopping. All right Sean, let's earn that $1.75 per hour and roll the clip.

[Clip]

Daphne and Tamera make suggestions on where to shop and interview designers, builders, and Second Life addicts to give their personal tips on where to shop. 

The shows run between a half hour and an hour long, which gives you plenty of time to actually visit the places they are talking about while you're listening.  They also do some pretty extensive blogging during their off weeks with additional suggestions, so you never have to wait too long for a fix, and they’ve just started a feature called “The Avatar of Style” where they feature a listener whose style is beyond compare. 

Now, when they start featuring an “Avatar of Only Has Three Outfits and One of Them is a Swimsuit,” you can bet I’ll be throwing my hat in for a nomination. 

You can find “Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara” at daphneandtamara.libsyn.com

The next show I’m going to talk about is...

[Fanfare]

Sean, knock it off!

“Sorry, my finger slipped!”

OK, I fell in love with the second show, “The Britney Mason Show,” quite by accident when Britney sent me an e-mail in error and it happened to have the show link at the bottom. I clicked on it and up popped a five-minute video cast of Second Lifer Britney Mason trading single and double entendres with an anthropomorphic gopher. This has to make episode 15 of the Brittney Mason Show the first, best, and only podcast featuring gopher-flirting and makes me hungry for more.

[Clip]

Also, who wouldn’t want to listen to a podcast with a catchy tune like this at the beginning. 

[Clip]

I mean, come on, how cool is that? Come to think of it, I need a theme song. Something along the lines of…

[Clip]

OK, not quite as catchy, but you get the idea.

The show is done as an interview style vidcast; shot in Second Life; and covers new media, bands, podcasters, and more. She’s even had some full-fledged pod celebrities like the podsafe band Uncle Seth and Accident Hash’s CC Chapman. The shows are short, never running longer than a few minutes, and I always enjoy watching even when I’m not remotely interested in the subject matter, which is the hallmark of a truly entertaining podcast.

You can find “The Britney Mason Show” at britneymason.podshow.com.

And just as a little closer, if you’ve got a Second-Life-related podcast you’d like featured on the show, or just want to share one of your favorites with me, send me an e-mail with a heads up about it. I’m always on the lookout for more ear candy. Of course if you were to tell me I was your favorite, I might be tempted to tell you where I hid the antidote. 

OK, episode’s over, NOW you can press a button, Sean. No, the other button. No, the button on the left. The other left. Oh forget it, I’ll just do it myself.

That’s it for this episode!  Stop by the website and check out my Twitter Page, if you want to see what I’m up to on any given day! Send your feedback or question to secondlife@quickanddirtytips.com, and the comment line is 206-888-6975, that’s 206-888-mysl. The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network, so be sure to check out other great shows like Grammar Girl, Legal Lad, and The Mighty Mommy at QuickAndDirtyTips.com. 

So until next time, remember, never hire your friend to run the sound effects board, no matter how long you’ve known him. He knows too much good blackmail information to fire him.