Today, I will remedy that!  Because that is injustice.  Or just justice.  Or just ice.

BAM! Dino Andrade!   (dramatic pause of fireworks and horn section)   Voice actor!  Grand Poobah of Soul Geek!  Generally Awesome Dude!  Not a F1 Indy car driver.  But I bet he could be.  Maybe.   But if not, he could voice that race car in Pixar’s Cars 3.  For sure on that.  DINO ANDRADE!!

Now those of you who have been here a while will probably remember Dino from his most excellent interview on an earlier Chug-A-Freeze episode!  I have provided said podcast for you here, so that you might once more enjoy the Dino in all it’s glory.  Warning:  it’s a lot of glory and you probably shouldn’t swim for at least 20 minutes after enjoyment.  Just to be safe.

To slightly, somewhat wrap-up all that discussion:  Dino is a successful voice actor who has done voicework in a ton of video games, commercials, anime and such.   Some of his work includes voicing characters (mostly gnomes) in World of Warcraft, the Scarecrow in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Skull in PvP: The Series, various voices in Ghost in the Shell and Wolf’s Rain, as well as the voice of Pop from Rice Krispies cereal commercials.

On top of that, Dino went and made an amazing site called Soul Geek (see link on the right) to allow geeks and nerds of all walks of life to meet, greet, makes friends and hopefully find their own “soul geek.”  I’ve been praising Soul Geek since I first heard of it, because I think that the idea itself is great – but beyond that the people who work on it are amazing.  The best part is that Soul Geek isn’t just working, but it’s growing and getting noticed!  They got a mention on G4′s Attack of the Show as well as a ton of reviews on many geek blogs and magazines.  It’s the real deal folks, and I love to see it happen!

Okay, so, that gives you a great idea on who is the Dino and what the Dino is all about, but I hear a couple of you skeptics asking “But Joshua, why should I give up one of my rare and coveted follows to this Mr. Dino?”  A good question, and of course one that I am ready to answer!

BECAUSE I SAID SO!!

…did that work?  No? Never does.  Okay, let’s try this instead.  When you follow Dino you get some high-quality geeky tweets, also known as tweeks.  You will hear behind the scenes stories about Dino’s auditions and voice work projects.  You’ll get info about what’s going on at Soul Geek like their local Ladies Nights.  You’ll get links to hilarious videos of Dino being “interviewed” by a puppet at Comic Con this year.   Wait?  What?  Really?  Hmm… you know what, I’ll go ahead and share that one cause it’s to unique and goofy to just tease.  Dino get’s interviewed by a member of Fliptoppers.

… you know, I feel like I just wrote a whole lot of blog for no reason.  People, if you watched that video of Dino singing with a puppet and you DON’T think the man is follow-worthy I challenge you to question whether you even have a soul.

But, since you do have a soul, hit a follow on @dinoandrade and then head over to Soul Geek. (see what I did there?)

TODAY IS THE ALPOCALYPSE!!!

…by the way, I’m super SUPER excited!!  I’m practically enjoying an ALpileptic shock!!

Anywho, I figured what better way to show my enthusiasm and fandom for this amazing day then to toss the Twitter Tuesday spotlight on my hero:  Weird Al Yankovic!!

Al’s began his career in 1979 when Dr. Demento played his song My Bologna (a parody of My Sharona) on air.  Shortly after Capitol Records gave Al a shot with an official release of that song as well as a six month recording contract.  He quickly followed that with several more spoofs, finally striking gold when his parody of Michael Jackson’s Beat It called Eat It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Top 100.

Since then he’s done parodies of Madonna, Nirvana, Billy Joel, Coolio, Usher, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Don McClean, Eminem, Dire Straits, Queen, and now Lady Gaga.  Yes, that’s right – this new album features a parody of Born This Way by Lady Gaga.  I linked it a few weeks ago.  The new video for this song came out yesterday and it is hilarious!  Being able to spoof so many artists is impressive on it’s own, but what’s even better is that Al takes a professional high ground to get permission for every single parody he does.  Yes, there’s been a few times this has caused problems and it means a few artists (I’m looking at you Prince) don’t get parodies.  Whatever.  Their loss.

So, besides the new album, why would you follow Weird Al on Twitter?  So like DUH!  He links EVERYTHING on Twitter.  Early!  He linked his new video when it released, he linked his new single before it released, actually he linked a preview to the ENTIRE album about a week ago on Twitter.  He’s always sharing pictures – from tours, studio, and even home life!  Almost all of them are a riot!  Articles, interviews, and hair care tips.  Plus, in general, he’s funny.  He is a singing comedian of sorts after all.

Well, time to wrap this up.  Here are your directions for today!  1. Go to Twitter and follow @alyankovic 2. Watch the video of my favorite song on Al’s new album CNR (conveniently linked below) and then 3. Go buy the album yourself and enjoy!!

Now, I don’t watch every season of Dancing With the Stars.  It all depends on which celebs they have.  For example:  I didn’t even start watching until Season 3 when they had Mario Lopez (because I grew up as a HUGE fan of Saved By the Bell).  I also have cheered on John Ratzennberger (Cheers and Pixar voice mascot), Kristi Yamaguchi (figure skater superstar), Warren Sapp (football player), and this season WWE wrestler Chris Jericho!!

Chris Jericho has always been one of my favorite wrestlers – even back in the days of the WCW.  Not just because he’s got a ton of technical and athletic skill, not just because he can ‘sell’ a match better then most, not even because he stole my last name.  All that is great!  But the biggest reason I like Jericho is because he’s got charisma and style that just radiates through the screen.  He’s Y2J, the “Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla”, and “The Best at What He Does” – and right now, what he does is ballroom dancing!

Now, regardless of who Jericho got teamed up with I’d be cheering for him – but he just happened to be teamed with my longtime secret love:  Cheryl Burke.  She’s been in almost every season of Dancing With the Stars (she missed the first season) and she won her first two seasons becoming the first two-time champion among the professionals.  She’s also earned a second and third place finish.  That’s a true championship caliber people.  A perfect match for the First Ever Undisputed Champion of the WWE.

Now, just because they’re teamed together doesn’t make a pair great – let alone Twitter Tuesday worthy.  What makes this team so worthy is because they’re working like a real team.  They’ve taken up the nickname Team Chericho, they both Twitter daily about their practices and how proud/thankful they are for each, they’ve been touring together for book signings (which is awesome and I hope they’ll consider heading to St. Louis after the show’s over), and if you watch them on the show you can just tell they get along.  How a team clicks (or doesn’t) is often half the fun of watching – and Team Chericho is totally firing on all cylinders together.

So, if you like wrestling, or dancing, or reality TV, or cool celebrities having fun then do yourself a favor and follow @IAmJericho and @CherylBurke and then join me in cheering them on to first place!!!   Submit to the Waltz of Jericho!!

Now, it’s true that a portion of iCarly‘s success comes from great actors like Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, and Jerry Trainor.  Sure.  But, in the case of this show, you have to give credit to the creator and writer Dan Schneider.

Dan with the cast of iCarly

Oh, but we should expect that level of skill from Dan – after all you’ll find his name on the credits of several popular shows.   See, Dan is the creative force behind a whole slew of Nickelodeon powerhouses.  Check it – besides iCarly there’s also Drake and Josh, Victorious, Zoey 101, Kenan and Kel, The Amanda Show, and even All That.  If you grew up watching Nickelodeon, or if you’re watching it now for the first time, then you’ll realize that’s an impressive list.

Oh, and that doesn’t even mention the WB success What I Like About You, which gained an even broader fanbase from syndication.  Not to mention the movies Good Burger and Big Fat Liar.  Yeah, Dan was a creator, co-creator, and/or writer for all of those too.

Now THAT is a resume!

Dan with Drake Bell

So, what’s even more amazing then that?  Dude LOVES his fans.  LOVES them.  Spoils them in fact.  I’ve been following him on Twitter @Danwarp for about a year now and hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t link to backstage pictures, or a blog with notes from the recent shows, mini-interview videos of the casts, or maybe just a funny story about lunch with one of his young stars.  In fact, one of the funniest days was when he was teaching Miranda Cosgrove to drive.  Yeah, he tells those stories and shares those pictures.

I’d go so far to say that Dan has one of the most entertaining twitter feeds I’ve had the priviledge to follow and I highly recommend that any other fans of any of his shows – or just of funny backstage info – tags that follow button.  It won’t take long to appreciate his sense of humor.

In fact, last November (November 22, 2010 to be specific) I had become so fed up with the WWE that I got up and stormed out of the livingroom in the middle of Monday Night RAW.  I don’t remember what had triggered my reaction, probably John Cena or Randy Orton being John Cena or Randy Orton again, but for whatever reason I’d had all I could take.  I grumbled something about ‘sick of wasting my time on boring stories tailored for children’ and left the room.

Angry Miz Girl

In less then an hour I’d run back in and was singing the praises of the WWE for FINALLY giving the WWE Championship to The Miz!!  I was revelling in the audiences disgust – specifically the “Angry Miz Girl” – and cheering profusely that the WWE had finally done something smart.  In one moment, they’d risen the bar on RAW, moved the focus from two of the most annoying members of their staff, given true fans a reason to believe again, rallied the children they cater too behind a new villan, and given one of their better entertainers a push he had long before earned.

You see, The Miz was about to become a household name and give the WWE some attention it had recently lost to the UFC and MMA.  Do you remember when WWE superstars were on Letterman and hosted Saturday Night Live?  When they were at awards shows and on SportsCenter?  There was a time when these guys weren’t ‘wrestlers’ but actual entertainers – and Hollywood and New York wanted their draw because they brought attention.  For the past couple of years there have only been two stars with that type of non-wrestling-fan pull:  John Cena and Chris Jericho.   John Cena is loved by kids between the age of 8 and 12.  Jericho is normally a big fan favorite but has been cast as a dull, stingy heel for the last few years – a move I argue (regularly) is STUPID because it kills his marketability.  While there are other ‘stars’ in the WWE, few of them manage to carry eyes from the squared-circle to the red carpet.

The Miz is the one young upstart wrestler who can do it though.  Why can he do it?  Because… he’s The Miz and he’s AWESOME!

…okay, seriously, here’s why:  The Miz is pre-programmed to make the transition because he already made it once.  Mike (The Miz) Mizanin began on MTV’s Real World in 2001, and from there became a reality show mini-star.  After his season of Real World, he moved on to several of the Road Rules/Real World Challenges – live five of them.  During those appearances his nickname and persona of ‘The Miz’ was born and eventually stuck.

In 2004, Mike made it into the fourth season of WWE: Tough Enough – a compitetion to give upstar wanna-bes a chance at a WWE contract.  He ended up in second place, thus not winning a contract, but he earned one anyway and was sent to the WWE’s farm system to train and learn.  Four seasons of Tough Enough have produced some lackluster WWE and TNA wrestlers, a WWE show announcer, an American Gladiator, and an MMA competitor.  Oh, and also ONE WWE Champion: The Miz.

When The Miz finally made it the big leagues, it was originally as the “host” of Smackdown.  Yeah, he wasn’t even allowed to wrestle at first.  However, his personality and skill on the mic got him time on the screen and eventually earned him his way into the ring.  From there, he became one half of the Tag Team Champions a few times, the United States Champion, won the Money in the Bank Ladder match, and then cashed that in to become the WWE Champion. 

…okay, young John Cena fans cover your eyes so you don’t read this next part… covered?  Okay.   *ahem*  Wrestling is a show not a sport.  Winners, stories, etc are all planned out.  The “good” and “bad” guys are picked out months in advance.  I realize this.  Everything The Miz has won was scripted.  However, you’d have to be as silly as a member of the Cenation to think The Miz didn’t earn his accolaids.  He went from being a reality show semi-celeb to the WWE Champion.  That takes hard work, dedication, showmanship, and (yes) some talent.

It’s that rare combination of athletic skill and entertainment value that The Miz has that has turned him into the “Must See Champion.”  Yes, must-see!  In fact, I’d say he was “must see” long before he was the champ.  Over the last few years, while he’s been busy wrestling, he’s also made appearances on Bravo’s Battle of the Network Reality Stars, a reality show themed episode of Fear Factor, short lived game show Identity, much more successful game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Sci-Fi’s Ghost Hunters, Cartoon Networks awful show Destroy Build Destroy, and an episode of Food Network’s Dinner: Impossible where he stole the show and the desert table.  That’s a lot of shows pre-championship.  A LOT of shows.

See, even 'angry' Miz Girl knows The Miz is awesome!

Since he’s been champion, he’s appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan with Conan O’Brien, british morning show Daybreak, the Austrailian Kid’s Choice Awards, G4′s Attack of the Show, a recorded skit for Jimmy Kimmel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up at the Nick’s (american) Kid’s Choice Awards next month.  Oh, and did I mention he’s going to be the lead in a new action movie coming out in 2012 called Stainless Steel.  I don’t know a lot about it, but I’m willing to bet it’s way better then The Marine.  …just sayin’.

So, even though the match this Sunday is John Cena versus The Miz I think it’s easy to agree that as long as the WWE keeps The Miz in the limelight everyone wins.  Now, do the smart thing and click on the follow tab for @MikeTheMiz and get to cheering for a real people’s champion.  Afterall, when someone asks “why aren’t you on The Miz bandwagon” in three years I’d hate for you to have to answer “because I couldn’t see it.”  *smirks*

So you know about Dragon Age: Redemption already, but let’s take a moment to look at some of the other work Felicia’s already done.  Yesterday I skimmed over her webseries The Guild, a series about a group of people who play an MMO Game together.  It’s a comedy- and a great one- and I highly suggest it to anyone and everyone who likes gaming at all.  It’s available on their website, the XBox Live Market, the Zune Market, iTunes, MSN and Youtube, as well as DVD and Netflix.  Four seasons already and a fifth in the works.  Pretty good for a webseries right?

Felicia created, writes, and stars in both Dragon Age: Redemption and The Guild, but she’s also appeared in other webseries.  The one most people will know is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (also available on iTunes and DVD).  A musical by Joss Whedon and co-starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.  She’s also a recurring character in The Legend of Neil – a parody of the Legend of Zelda.

But, what if you don’t think a webseries is a valid acting job?  (I don’t think anyone reading this blog would think that, but I’m just covering the bases here.)  Well, you’re in luck!  Because Felicia has done plenty of television work too!  If you’re a SyFy fan you’ll know her as the lead character from their recent original movie Red: Werewolf Hunter.   She was in the movie Bring It On Again (even if no one wants to admit it) and she really got her start as the character Vi in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for eight episodes.  She’s also been in episodes of the show House and Dollhouse… cause she apparently has a thing for real estate?

As awesome as being an actress is, the fact that she’s a nerdette actress is better.  I think her work on Dragon Age and The Guild are pretty solid proof she’s a nerd, but I can add more validation.  She’s made appearances at the Microsoft presentation at E3 as well as the Spike TV Video Game Awards.  She’s made multiple appearances at San Diego Comic Con.  She’s also a video game voice actor in Fallout: New Vegas as well as the upcoming Guild Wars 2.  See?!  Plenty of geeky in that redhead!

So, if you’re one of the ten people who read this and isn’t already following Felicia Day on Twitter… what are you waiting for??  Get over there and tag @feliciaday for a follow!

When I was a little older and Doppler Radar was all the rage I know the city I lived in then had a station that was ‘tracking’ Santa’s flight all night.  It was a lot quicker and more accurate then calls from the North Pole but it lost the human element.  Yet my fascination with Santa’s whereabouts and if he was on track to keep his worldwide track in tact was satisfied.

Today, the technology has caught up again!  In fact, it’s gone far beyond my wildest dreams!  Not only will I be able to get constant updates and status reports about Santa’s flight this weekend, but I’ll get them FROM THE BIG MAN HIMSELF!!  Thanks to the quick and mobile availability of Twitter, we can all now keep tabs on Jolly Old Saint Nick and his magical one-night-only trek across the world!!

Now, I know what you’re saying… I can hear the comments even as I type this.  And, yes, of course I know.  How could I not know?  I am a grown man after all.  Yes, yes, Santa will probably have an elf with him to do the tweets in dictation.  It only makes sense, the guy has a lot on his plate already.

BUT STILL!!  How freakin’ AWESOME is it to get updates from Santa??  He’s been tweeting about his wife making cookies, some of his favorite Christmas songs, that he makes time to watch movies like Fred Claus, and the Tailor Elves were working on his suit for this year – yeah, see, a new suit every year!  You didn’t know that did you?  Me either, but it makes sense cause I’m sure chimney soot is really hard to wash out.  Twitter is so educational!!

As cool as all that is, it’s only the tip of the iceberg!  Cause on Christmas Eve we can all stay up together and follow Santa’s tweets as he delivers toys to all the good girls, boys, and me.  (I asked for a Marvel Crossovers Transformers Spiderman figure!!)  Oh man… I’m getting excited just thinking about it!!

So quick!  Be a good kid and follow Santa’s OfficialSanta twitter feed, (he’ll know you added him, cause he sees everything) and then send him a quick @ with your wishlist item.  Then, um, help an old lady across the street or something for extra nice points.  You can never have enough of those, right?  After that, it’ll be a Merry Christmas for all, and tweets all through the night!!

That’s part of the reason I like the show Chuck so much.  It’s got a real nerd playing a real nerd.  And trust me, Zach Levi is a real nerd.  Just look at his Twitter page; for status he’s got “Inside a Tauntaun.”  Dude is a nerd.

But that’s what ROCKS!  He’s a real, genuine nerd!  Playing a nerd!  And not just playing a nerd on a show, but taking the nerd to Hollywood and OWNING it!  Following his twitter feed will give you pictures of him doing zany stuff with other celebrities like sharing a milkshake with Seth Green, twitcasting off his iPhone, talking about gaming parties, and a few months ago he had this huge Nerd Party with like TON of celebrities and pictures to go with it.  But it’s not all nerdstock.  He also shares info and pics from backstage filming of Chuck or his trip to Europe.   Really, Zach is one of the most fun Tweeps I follow.

D-Wade rockin' a Nerd Shirt

So what about this whole “owning it” thing?  That’s probably my favorite thing – Zachary just launched a new website called “The Nerd Machine” the other day where he’s selling exclusive nerd apparel.  And it’s a hit.  How do I know it’s a hit?  Cause Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat is already wearing a nerd shirt.  …okay, that’s not really proof that it’s a hit but it’s a great start!  If nothing else, I’m getting one so he’s guaranteed 2 sales now right?

Oh, and before I forget – Zach is also doing voicework for the soon-to-release video game Fallout: New Vegas as well as the new Disney version of Rapunzel coming out later winter.

So, there you have it.  If you’re a nerd, join the rest of us and add Zachary Levi to your follow list.  And if you’re not a nerd, follow him anyway and maybe one day you too can be a nerd!

No matter the reason, you know Stan Lee and now you can follow him on Twitter.  Life is great isn’t it?

But, what if the real Stan Lee just isn’t enough Stan Lee for you?  Well, good news True Believers, cause now there’s also a Fake Stan Lee you can follow.

Now, to clarify, the Fake Stan Lee isn’t completely fake – there’s a real person you can follow.  He’s even got a website with videos and information about some of his appearances.  Including the recent visit to San Diego Comic Con where he met with the Real Stan Lee.  Check out the video below – it’s hilarious.

Now, obviously, Fake Stan Lee is just a character played by Kevin McShane, who happens to be artistic in many ways – all of which you can find on his website.  Still, if two Stan Lee’s aren’t enough people to follow you might as well add Kevin too.  Especially since he -is- one of the Stan Lee’s right.

Okay, three for one on Twitter Tuesday this week.  EXCELSIOR!!

Just to clarify:  yes, I’m a guy and she’s hot and that’s pretty much it.  Think less of me if you want, but I know why my sister and girlfriend go to see every Twilight movie.  Besides, for a Hardee’s commercial this one’s pretty tame, and that may be a large part of the reason it appealed to me so much.  Nothing wrong with a woman in a sundress eating a giant bacon cheeseburger.  Nothing at all.

Anyway, remembering Padma led me to check up on the next season of Top Chef which which just started a couple of weeks ago.  New season is called Top Chef D.C. and is on Bravo Wednesday nights at 9.  Padma Lakshmi returns as the host and that’s reason enough to watch – a role with got her an Emmy nomination in 2009.  If you like cooking challenge shows this is one of the better ones.

Oh, and if you were thinking she’s just a pretty face hosting a show about food you’ve fooled yourself cause she’s actually written two cookbooks – the first of which was awarded the Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards in Versailles.  She also hosted a show on the Food Network called Padma’s Passport before joining Top Chef.

Plus  she was also in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, so you know she’s gotta have some geek cred too.  Just sayin’.