Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

(This is a new weekly feature, the Weekend Project. Every week, I’ll point you to a bunch of great resources for doing a particular thing on the Web – in this case, starting and awesomeifying a Wordpress blog.)

To anyone who asks me about starting a blog, I recommend Wordpress over and over. It’s the Firefox of blogging – incredibly extensible, impossibly customizable, and since everyone uses it there’s a huge community of helpful people to get you going like a champion.

But all that can mean it’s incredibly daunting to get started. With 50 kajillion themes out there, which one do you pick? And what the heck is a plugin?

Well, I’m only going to help slightly. Everyone’s got different needs and tastes, so giving you “the only four things you’ll ever need for Wordpress” might not work so well. Instead of doing that, I’ll point you to some of the best resources that’ll turn you into a Wordpressing machine pretty quickly.

Out of the millions of ways to use, customize and improve Wordpress, here’s 1,136.

The Basics – Choosing a Theme and Getting Up and Running

Smashing Magazine – 100 Amazing Free Wordpress Themes for 2009

Blog Perfume – 45 Best Free Wordpress Themes of All Time

Noupe – 45+ Must See Wordpress Themes

Smashing Apps – 21 Mindblowing Premium-Like Free Wordpress Themes

How to Make My Blog – 18 Most Downloaded Wordpress Plugins Ever

Webdesigner Depot – 300+ Resources to Help You Become a Wordpress Expert

Hackery – Tweak, Fix, and Improve

Hongkiat – 40+ Most-Wanted Wordpress Tricks and Hacks

Hongkiat – 30+ (More) Most Wanted Wordpress Tips, Tricks and Hacks

Site Sketch 101 – The 15 Best Wordpress Plugins to Use in 2010

TJ Dzine – 70 Best Wordpress Plugins to Supercharge Your Blog

Pro Blog Design – 10 Best Plugins to Get More Comments

Become a WP Ninja – The Unknown Awesome of Wordpress

WP Beginner – 55 Most Wanted Tips, Tricks and Hacks

Noupe – 13 Great Wordpress Speed Tips & Tricks for MAX Performance

Pro Blog Design – 30 Ways to Improve Readability

Quick Online Tips – 50 Best Wordpress Plugins for Power Blogging

Designmoo – 37 Cool Wordpress Hacks and Tutorials You Should Try

The Rabbit Hole – Resource Resources

Blog Themes Plus – 57 Best Wordpress Resources

Steffan Antonas – 100+ Killer Wordpress Resources

Blogussion – 100+ Lists to Help You Become a Better Blogger

Okay, so there’s a lot of stuff here. So bookmark this post, and if you’re in need of some Wordpress awesomeness, come back and go hunting. Or do what I did, don’t sleep for 19 days, and read every single word.

And, if you’re in the mood for more, check out all of the sites I’ve linked to – they’re all great resources for Wordpress users, whether you’re a newbie or a pro. Happy weekend!