AJC – The Atlanta Journal Constitution may be laying off staffers left and right, but it is a newspaper that knows how to do Twitter right. It’s not just an RSS feed that automatically posts headlines and links. The writers in charge of this feed often have an irreverent attitude, adding commentary to their headlines. Sample post: “Isn’t the NASCAR race tomorrow? Two drivers apparently racing on I-285, cause a wreck early Saturday.”

Neil Gaiman – A geek god, Neil Gaiman is co-author (with Terry Pratchett) of my favorite book, “Good Omens.” A prolific Twitterer, he posts pictures and links to interesting articles, as well as updates about what he’s up to. He tweets like your friends do, candidly sharing details of his life (though it’s probably a more interesting life than most people I know). Sample post: “Just figured out that the thing that was making me sneeze at Maddy’s violin lesson was the box of scented tissues. Bitter irony, that.”

Neil Patrick Harris – How great is it that the once and future Doogie Howser is once again at the forefront of pop culture? His Barney Stinson on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” is the VIP of the show, and he did an amazing job as Emmy’s host. Harris’ Twitter feed is often very funny, and he also likes to post behind-the-scenes photos from HIMYM. Sample post: “I friggin’ love the Olympics. I never thought I could care so much for people or sports that I just learned about six minutes beforehand.”

Fake AP stylebook – If you work in a newsroom, you’re familiar with the AP stylebook, a guide that’s full of information about how to present information in your news pieces (AP style, in other words). Of course, it always seems to have all the information you could possibly need – except the one piece of information you need. The Fake AP Stylebook is often hilarious satire of the real AP guide. Sample post: “The correct phrase is “I couldn’t give a damn” but frankly we could care less.”

Shit My Dad says – Justin, a 29-year-old who lives at home, tweets the awesome stuff that his 74-year-old father says. It sounds like it wouldn’t work at all, but SMDS has over a million followers, and a TV deal featuring William Shatner. Strangely, Justin follows just one person on Twitter: Levar Burton. Sample post: “A parent’s only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed.”

Digg 2000 – This is a different kind of Twitter feed. Actually, it’s the kind I was decrying in the AJC section: an automatically generated feed of headlines and links. BUT, it’s worth following, because this is where you’ll find all of the stories, videos and photos that receive at least 2000 votes on the social bookmarking site Digg.com. Sample headlines: “Erm…Yes, It’s a Woman.” “Pilot shot between the eyes keeps flying to save 20 soldiers.” “Comcast: ‘Unlimited Usage’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Unlimited Usage’”

Nathan Fillion – He’s handsome, he’s funny, he’s a geek hero. Nathan Fillion currently plays Richard Castle on the ABC crime drama “Castle,” but geeks love him for his roles as Capt. Mal Reynolds on “Firefly” and as Capt. Hammer on “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog.” His tweets are a mixture of jokes, updates and images from his days on set. Sample post: “I like falling asleep in the make up chair because I wake up better looking.”

Kevin Smith – Caution, do not follow director Kevin Smith if you 1. have a problem with obscenities and 2. get annoyed by people who post large numbers of tweets. Here’s a man who has fully embraced using Twitter to communicate with his fans. Several times a day, Smith posts a dozen more responses to their tweets. But be careful: if you offend him, he won’t hesitate to block you (sometimes publicly). Sample post: “True Confession: Thanks to a high school girlfriend, I have every Amy Grant Christian music album from self titled debut to Heart in Motion.”

Joel McHale – “Community” and “The Soup” star Joel McHale is a very funny man. Whether he’s talking about shooting his shows or making fun of Ryan Seacrest, he always makes me giggle. The man just oozes sarcasm and wit. Sample post (after an episode that included a scene where he was playing pool in the buff): “Thank you to all who watched the show tonight. Lifting my leg and showing 30 extras and the cast all I have was liberating and scary.”

Veronica Belmont – Veronica is the girl that all the geek guys love. She’s a techie, co-host of the “Tekzilla” show on Revision 3, and host of “Qore” on the Playstation Network. She’s also very into gaming and often links to some very interesting articles online. Sample post: “If you say ‘keep abreast of the situation’ to me, I’m going to giggle. Don’t look so surprised.”

Stephen Fry — The fourth most popular account on Twitter (after Barack Obama, CNN and Twitter itself). Stephen Fry is a British actor, comedian, national treasure, etc. He’s done a lot of work with Hugh Laurie, including the classic “Jeeves and Wooster.” Sample tweet: “In the meantime I’m childishly amused by waiter who’s just told me about promotion: in his accent ‘two vodkas and you get a turd free’.”‘

Jimmy Fallon — After years on Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon recently took over for Conan O’Brien (who got promoted to The Tonight Show) on NBC’s Late Night. Sample tweet: “Watching Conan’s last late night. Really funny. Really nice. I really enjoyed him on late night. He’s gonna be great on the Tonight Show.”

Leo LaPorte — In many ways, king of the geeks. He spent years on Tech TV and now runs a podcasting network called This Week in Tech (TWiT – not related to Twitter). Sample tweet: “I have to say I’ve never understood Olberman’s appeal. And I’m a flaming liberal. I can only imagine what conservatives think.”

John Cleese — British actor and comedian who’s been in everything from Monty Python to Harry Potter to A Fish Called Wanda. Hilarious and awesome. Sample tweet: “There’s an interesting 50%-50% split here – people who think pet hates = animals, and those who know it means what you love to hate.”

Levar Burton. How can you not love Levar Burton? He’s hosted Reading Rainbow for like 25 years, and was Geordi — the banana-clipped engineer — on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sample tweet: “WTF? My rating on IMDB has jumped by over 700% this week. Must’ve been the guy wearing the Reading Rainbow tee-shirt on The Price Is Right!”

Michael Ian Black — A comedian who instigated a “Twitter War” with LeVar Burton. He’s best known for doing VH1′s I Love The… series. Sample tweet: “If you thought Vermont maple syrup would be less expensive in Vermont than at Trader Joe’s, you were wrong. God, were you wrong.”

Jeff Cannata. An actor, Jeff Cannata is best known as one of the hosts of the video podcast Totally Rad Show, where he and two other guys review movies, games, TV and more. Sample tweet: “Just watched Man on Wire – so glad it won the oscar! Such a beautiful expression of the power of art.”

There are plenty of other celebrities and semi-celebrities on Twitter – these are just the ones I follow. The awesome Mike Rowe also recently started tweeting, but hasn’t used his account much, so I didn’t highlight it with the others. But if you like Dirty Jobs, check him out.

There were, however several things I liked about this year’s award show. In no particular order, they are:

1. Ricky Gervais. The British actor won for his work in “Extras” last year and wasn’t at the ceremony to accept his award, so presenters Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert “gave” it to Steve Carrell. This year, Gervais repeatedly appealed to Carrell to return the award, saying “I bet you haven’t even seen ‘Ghost Town.’ I sat through ‘Evan Almighty’; give me my Emmy.” Will the Academy please hire Gervais to host next year?

2. Fashion of the over-40 crowd. Until I looked her up on IMDB, I had no idea Jean Smart, at 57, is only a year younger than my mom. She looked frakkin unbelievable in a long, sparkly black dress topped with a layer of sheer black fabric. Also looking gorgeous were Felicity Huffman (45), Mariska Hargitay (44), Laura Linney (44), Kyra Sedgwick (43) and Julia Louis Dreyfus (47).

3. Josh Groban. Yes, a lot of people think it was weird and a fail, but I was super impressed by his vocal impressions. Plus, he did the ‘Fresh Prince’ theme song — only the best TV intro ever.

4. Bryan Cranston finally won. The “Breaking Bad” star never took home an Emmy for his amazing work on “Malcolm in the Middle,” and I don’t think anyone was more surprised than he was when his named was called for Best Actor in a Drama. I would have been thrilled had the Emmy gone to Hugh Laurie of “House,” and wouldn’t have been surprised had James Spader or Jon Hamm. But how nice was it to see Bryan Cranston finally get his time to shine?

And just for fun, here are some things I hated.

1. The painful, stilted, awkward, just plain un-funny banter between hosts Jeff Probst, Heidi Klum, Ryan Seacrest, Howie Mandel and Tom Bergeron made an already bland ceremony 10 times worse.

2. Neil Patrick Harris loses. I like Jeremy Piven. He’s great in ‘Entourage.’ But again? Neil Patrick Harris is amazing as Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother,” and he did some of his best work this season. It’s the role of his career, and I was really hoping he would be recognized by the academy.

3. David Boreanaz/Lauren Conrad. I love me some Agent Seely Booth (and I guess L.C. is okay) but who thought to put these two together? Both were stiff and uncomfortable-looking, and couldn’t you just see the life go out of him when she chided him for taking her line?