LJ Braintrust: Domain registrar?

Godaddy makes my skin crawl. Can anyone suggest a less slimy company that allows you to redirect/choose your own nameservers? Dreamhost has been recommended to me, but they lock you into using their nameservers (or at least did almost two years ago when I last investigated this.)

My server-fu is weak. Please advise.

Edited to add: I've gone with Dynadot, but if anyone else is looking for similar information, DirectNIC and BareMetal (a small Canadian independent) were also recommended.