The Nerd Machine
Encyclopedia
The Nerd Machine, commonly referred to as TNM, is an American based company and website founded by Zachary Levi
Zachary Levi
Zachary Levi Pugh , better known by his stage name Zachary Levi , is an American television actor, director, and singer known for the roles of Kipp Steadman in Less than Perfect, Chuck Bartowski in Chuck, and Flynn Rider in Tangled.- Early life :Zachary Levi Pugh was born in Lake Charles,...

 in November 2010. Levi along with Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...

prop master David Coleman and Courtney Coleman launched the online community website to spread the ‘nerd
Nerd
Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...

’ culture. It is possible to purchase merchandise from the site such as t-shirts, posters and hats. The website is home to a community of ‘nerds’ and hosts a forum where people all around the world may discuss hobbies, culture and even start collaborations on large scale projects.

Community

The Community has a population of over 14,000 members (at the present time) who talk, share and socialise about technology, science, conventions and anything in general. The community has members who have been there since the community began and still post very frequently. The number of members is constantly expanding down to the fact that fans of Chuck, General Nerds and people who are finding out about the Nerd Machine through Comic-Con
Comic-Con International
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...

. When zacharylevi.com is typed into the url bar, visitors are redirected to thenerdmachine.com so fans of Zachary Levi are encouraged to join the community as well as general nerds. Members of the community have also undergone large scale projects. One of which was campaigning to save Chuck for season renewal after viewer population declined. Fans took to twitter to campaign using the hashtag #NotANielsenFamily and tweeting to advertisers of the show. Members also advertise the website and spread the nerd culture by tweeting the hashtag #vivalanerdolution. The Community may communicate with each other through the Nerd Machine forums or the chatroom. As well as the forums there is also the opportunity for members to have their own blog on the site. Members can be a part of the Nerd HQ experience through numerous different social media sites, including, Facebook and Twitter. Users themselves have created a dedicated Google+ circle just for keeping in touch with other and to discuss matters concerning The Nerd Machine.

Nerd HQ

In July 2011, Zachary Levi and the Nerd Machine partnered with Break media to create a series of videos and events at the 2011 Comic-Con International Convention. This event ‘Nerd HQ’ was an event where various celebrity supporters of The Nerd Machine such as Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion is a Canadian actor, currently starring as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle. He is also known for his portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.He has acted in traditionally distributed...

, Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...

 and Jared Padalecki
Jared Padalecki
Jared Tristan Padalecki is an American actor. He grew up in Texas and came to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the television series Gilmore Girls as well as in several Hollywood films, including New York Minute and House of Wax...

 went to talk in small panels answering questions that the audience posed to them. In addition to this, people were allowed to meet and have conversations with these celebrities and have access to unreleased video games. Nerd HQ was created as an alternative to Comic-Con "to allow fans and the people that they're fans of to interact in a more intimate, low-key setting, while still enjoying the same mecca of merchandise, video games and comic books they've come to know and love from Comic-Con." The idea to create this event came from Levi's Chuck co-star Adam Baldwin
Adam Baldwin
Adam Baldwin is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, and Marcus Hamilton in Joss Whedon's Angel...

 (also of Firefly
Firefly
Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light", with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies...

fame, Levi "thought it was a shame that the entity of Firefly no longer had panel opportunities for fans and figured these intimate settings would be a great experience for approximately 200 people." This event was also streamed live on Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...

 so fans worldwide who were unable to attend could watch the event. The event also launched the website's first ever film festival 'The Nerd Machine Shorties' where members and fans would send in short videos under a minute long. The top 5 videos sent in were featured on Break.com
Break.com
Break.com is a humor website founded in 1998 that features comedy videos, flash games, and pictures among other material. The chief executive officer of Break is Steve Boss...

  and shown and discussed at Nerd HQ. Tickets for the event were sold in advance at $20 per ticket. All proceeds from this event went to the charity group Operation Smile
Operation Smile
Operation Smile is a not-for-profit medical service organization based in Norfolk, Virginia , founded in 1982. A secular NGO, the children's medical charity provides cleft lip and palate repair surgeries to children worldwide, assists countries in reaching self-sufficiency with these surgeries, and...

, over $25000 was raised in the first two days alone and by the final day $40000 was raised and donated.

List of Celebrities at Nerd HQ

  • Adam Baldwin
    Adam Baldwin
    Adam Baldwin is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, and Marcus Hamilton in Joss Whedon's Angel...

  • Aisha Tyler
    Aisha Tyler
    Aisha N. Tyler is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and author, known for her regular role as Andrea Marino in the first season of Ghost Whisperer and voicing Lana Kane in Archer, as well as her recurring roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Talk Soup, and on Friends as Charlie...

  • Alan Tudyk
    Alan Tudyk
    Alan Wray Tudyk is an American actor known for his roles as Simon in the British comedy Death at a Funeral, as Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, as Sonny in the science fiction drama I, Robot, as Doc Potter in 3:10 to Yuma, as Tucker in the Tucker & Dale vs Evil and as Hoban...

  • Alessandra Torresani
  • Danny Pudi
    Danny Pudi
    Danny Pudi is an American actor, best known for his role as Abed Nadir on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early years:Pudi, who is of Indian and Polish descent, was born and raised in Chicago and grew up speaking Polish...

  • Dominic Monaghan
    Dominic Monaghan
    Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....

  • Dulé Hill
    Dulé Hill
    Karim Dulé Hill is an American actor and tap dancer. He is best known for his roles as personal presidential aide Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series The West Wing, and as pharmaceutical salesman-private detective Burton "Gus" Guster on the USA Network television comedy-drama Psych...

  • Felicia Day
    Felicia Day
    Kathryn Felicia Day is an American actress, known for her work as "Vi" on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and for parts in movies such as Bring It On Again and June, as well as the Internet musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog...

  • James Roday
    James Roday
    James Roday is an American actor and screenwriter. He currently stars on the USA Network series Psych as hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic Shawn Spencer.-Personal life:...

  • Jason Mewes
    Jason Mewes
    Jason Edward Mewes is an American television, film actor, and internet radio show host best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.-Early life:...

  • Jewel Staite
    Jewel Staite
    Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...

  • Jorge Garcia
    Jorge Garcia
    Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...

  • Kevin Smith
    Kevin Smith
    Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

  • Nathan Fillion
    Nathan Fillion
    Nathan Fillion is a Canadian actor, currently starring as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle. He is also known for his portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.He has acted in traditionally distributed...

  • Olivia Munn
    Olivia Munn
    Lisa Olivia Munn is an American comedic actress, model, television personality and author. She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. Since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn personally and professionally....

  • Scott Bakula
    Scott Bakula
    Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...

  • Seth Green
    Seth Green
    Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...

  • Steve Franks
    Steve Franks
    Steve Franks is an American screenwriter and musician. He devised the story for the 1999 comedy Big Daddy and wrote the screenplay with Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. Franks also created the USA Network original series Psych, and created the band The Friendly Indians who made the theme song...

  • Zachary Levi
    Zachary Levi
    Zachary Levi Pugh , better known by his stage name Zachary Levi , is an American television actor, director, and singer known for the roles of Kipp Steadman in Less than Perfect, Chuck Bartowski in Chuck, and Flynn Rider in Tangled.- Early life :Zachary Levi Pugh was born in Lake Charles,...

  • Zachary Quinto
    Zachary Quinto
    Zachary John Quinto is an American actor and producer. Quinto grew up in Pennsylvania and was active in high school musical theater. In the early 2000s he guest starred in television series and appeared in a recurring role in the serial drama 24 from 2003 to 2004...


External links

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