That Neil Guy

Life is a Cabaret

2012-01-30T09:22:00.000-05:00

Here's my review of a terrific new production of Cabaret.

Dr Zaius in Mark Twain Tonight

2011-12-30T17:23:00.000-05:00

John Hodgman issued a challenge. He wanted to see video footage of actor Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius as Mark Twain. So this morning I, um, "located" this: Earlier, I had "found" this photo. To coin a phrase, That Is All.

Mele Kalikimaka!

2011-12-05T15:26:00.001-05:00

Perhaps my very favorite Christmas song, performed by me on the ukulele with my daughter providing interpretive dance in the background.

5 Great Christmas Albums

2011-11-28T15:07:00.001-05:00

So long, Thanksgiving. Welcome, Christmas! To honor the season, I'd like to share some of my very favorite Christmas records. Christmas music is inextricably woven into the fabric of the season, and I can get a warm glow just thinking about some of these. So light up your yule log, pour a cup of hot cocoa and crank up your HiFi. 1. White Christmas. Bing Crosby. To my mind, this is

Happy Birthday, Lara!

2011-11-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

One of the things I've discovered through social media is my twinsie, Lara Zielin. We share the same birthday. We are both writers (she has published two wonderful novels with more on the way). We both love donuts. And there is more, but, really, need there be any more? This year our birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day. And for a gift, I wrote this song. I hope you enjoy it, Lara. Happy birthday!

Harvest

2011-10-28T13:23:00.001-04:00

I was asked to write a cover essay for this week's bulletin at our church. It's Stewardship time with the theme "The Joy of Giving." I really liked what I came up with, so i thought I'd share it here. Frank grabbed the toaster out of my hand. “Hey! I’ve got bread in there!” “I don’t care.” He fingered the dangling cord. “I’ve got more to worry about than burnt bread.” “I know, And I’m sorry, but, I can’t really help you. I’ve almost gone through my quota.” Frank opened my trash can, tipped the toaster and shook my bread slices into the bin. “Nice.” “Hey,” he said,

Untitled Five Minute Fiction

2010-08-24T22:12:00.001-04:00

Leah Petersen hosts a weekly Five Minute Fiction contest on her blog. This week, I decided to play along. She posts a one-word writing prompt and you then have five minutes to write a story. Here's what I came up with. Oh, and I won the contest. Woo hoo! “Hungry?”He cocked an eyebrow at me. Stupid Vulcan. He hasn’t got more than that one stupid expression. At least not that I’ve seen in these

Names

2010-08-19T15:37:00.001-04:00

I decided I’d make my fortune with a science fiction novel, maybe an epic saga, not unlike Asimov’s Foundation series. He often claimed that he merely cribbed The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Change the names, add atomic powered spaceships and bang, instant classic. I was going to do it with the story of Lyndon Johnson. In space. Start with a backwater planet, a place fiercely

Numb

2010-08-16T09:41:00.001-04:00

I wrecked my car during high school. Ran into a tree. What a moron. I broke my ankle, split my lip open, but otherwise came through it okay. Or did I? Ever since then, I feel like part of my face, around my upper lip especially, has been less sensitive. It's not that it's numb, or has no feeling at all, just, maybe, less than there should be. And, maybe, I'm emotionally less sensitive as well.

Souvenir

2010-08-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

She keeps it in her dresser drawer. The top drawer, with her jewelry and stockings and souvenir matchbooks. Sometimes, when she feels truly alone, she unseals the plastic bag and takes a long sniff. His scent is still there. Or so she tells herself. It’s soothing. Comforting. It makes her feel like he’s still here. She only saw him once. In Atlantic City. She’d been so

Wireless

2010-08-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

Just finished reading Wireless by Charles Stross. Here's a review of it I posted on Amazon. It's the worlds he creates. Layered, fascinating worlds. In stories like Missile Gap, A Colder War and Palimpsest, he creates strangely familiar yet utterly cold and different realities from our own, worlds so textured I wanted to spend more time exploring them. This was my first Stross book and it's a

Noodle

2010-08-06T09:46:00.003-04:00

They called him Noodle. He never knew why. Maybe because of the limp. Maybe the stringy blond hair. Who knew anymore? Kids say the darnedest things, and all that. So Noodle it was. He joined the Navy. They overlooked the limp, desperate, he guessed, for sailors. They shaved his head, for which he thanked them. He lived on an aircraft carrier, a giant city on the sea. He filled vending

Headshot

2010-08-05T20:51:00.000-04:00

For your approval: my headshot (originally snapped by Tim Brosnan for Mauritius).

Artist Profile Article

2010-08-05T19:52:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to an article I wrote for Greenville Business Magazine about the new Artistic/Executive Director of Centre Stage (a great space where I've acted in two great shows, including last fall's Mauritius).

Contact

2010-07-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

Looking up at the blank disc, she thought, “Orange?” Hovering, just like those books said, somewhere just above the treetops. She always thought they’d be silver. Not orange. She fumbled through her purse, then cursed her luck for leaving her camera at home. Now she’d be seen as just another rube, some glory-hungry moron making up stories about flying saucers. The media

Hawaii Five-0

2010-07-27T17:31:00.000-04:00

I posted a short piece with lots of versions of the great great great great great Hawaii Five-0 theme. It's at Film Score Monthly.

Strung

2010-07-27T09:27:00.000-04:00

She strung me up like as much meat, like a dirty gambler in one of those cowboy movies, like a kite in a tree, strung up, deserted, left for dead. Thanks a lot, baby. This was concocted in 60 seconds after seeing a one word writing prompt at http://oneword.com.

Leap

2010-07-22T10:12:00.000-04:00

“Mister Darien?” He opened his eyes, but otherwise didn’t move. “Mister Darien, do you know where you are?” He glanced around. He couldn’t move. A woman in a lab coat stared at him. Though not unfriendly, the whole room seemed sterile, clinical. A hospital? “Mister Darien, can you hear me?” He nodded. “Mister Darien, you’ve been through a shock. But I have to ask you this.

Hunger

2010-07-22T09:45:00.001-04:00

Karen rushed into the kitchen. “Mom!” Her mother let out a sigh and said into the phone, “Hold on a minute.” She gave Karen the eye. “What is it now?” “Can I have one more donut? Please?” Karen gave her mother the nicest little angel smile she could muster. “Just take the bag,” her mother said. “And don’t get any of that sugar on your clothes.” Karen grabbed the bag from the counter and returned

Diamond Ruby

2010-07-20T07:16:00.004-04:00

Thanks again to Twitter, I've just finished reading a wonderful novel. I first started seeing positive chatter about the novel a couple of months before its release. Then I started following the author, Joe Wallace, and read a lot more positive buzz. Two weeks ago I went ahead and ordered it. And I'm so glad I did. I expected Diamond Ruby to follow the exploits of an 18 year old girl who

Just Business

2010-07-15T16:31:00.002-04:00

“Another moneymaking scheme,” he said. “Great.” “No,” she said, grabbing his arm before he turned away. ‘This one will actually work. Really.” He couldn’t even summon the energy to sigh. He simply stared at her, taking in the fiery energy behind her green eyes. Her smile almost melted him. Her enthusiasm almost sucked him right back in. Almost. “Give it up, Karen.” He set

Seduction

2010-07-08T07:10:00.000-04:00

She looks into his eyes Green. No, blue. Turquoise? “Kiss me,” she says. A sigh. “You know I can’t.” “You never will if you don’t try.” “It doesn’t work that way anymore!” He rolls over. She pats his jellied limb. “I know. I’m sorry.” She rolls to the mirror, sighs, rummages through the top drawer for her brown eyes. She pops out a blue one, tosses it into a glass of

On Deck

2010-06-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

She glanced over the bow. Nothing. “Carroway!” No response. She sighed. No use. May as well give it up. There’s no way he could have survived out there this long. No way. “Carroway!” Nothing. She turned, slowly, so slowly. She took a few steps toward the wheelhouse. She looked back, scanned the horizon. Nothing. She kicked the door open and planted herself at the wheel.

The Associates

2010-06-21T14:36:00.000-04:00

I loved The Paper Chase. It arrived on TV in 1978 and, a critical darling but ratings nonstarter, lasted only one season. So, being the kind of person I am, I tracked down the book (by John Jay Osborn Jr.) that inspired it. I read it. I loved it. I read it again. I've probably read it three times over the years. The show returned to TV for a second and third season on Showtime, and I had the

Office Politics

2010-06-18T01:47:00.003-04:00

She walked by my cubicle without so much as a glance. Nice. Three years together, two years of being just plain coworkers on top of that, and it ends like this. Snubbed. I stood, peeked over my back wall. “Medlin.” He glanced up, raised his eyebrows in reply. “Hand me a donut.” His eyes returned to his screen but his hand held up a Powdered Sugar Delite. "Thanks.” I accepted the donut, held it

KXII Action News Theme!

2010-06-11T11:54:00.000-04:00

Back in the mid-eighties, I worked for tv station KXII, channel 12, in Sherman Texas. I did various things at the station, including working on the 6 and 10 news broadcasts. Here's the beloved (to me at least) theme tune we used back then.

The One That I Want

2010-06-07T10:14:00.000-04:00

I’m writing this while listening to the soundtrack to Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. I think that tells you a lot about where I’m coming from in this review. Somehow, some way, lost in the midst of the burbling twitter stream, I began following Allison Winn Scotch. Her twitter presence combines a lot of amusing snarky stuff and interesting, insightful writing-life

The Future Soon

2010-05-31T08:32:00.000-04:00

I've got a new short story posted at 365 Tomorrows. Hope you enjoy it!

On the Beach

2010-05-28T19:40:00.002-04:00

Gilligan sits on the beach, staring as always at the empty horizon. He gnaws the last few pieces of meat from the Skipper’s thigh bone, then tosses it into the pile where it lands beside Mr. Howell’s skull. Or was it Mrs. Howell’s? It’s so hard to tell them apart anymore. He begins to drop the Skipper’s hat into the fire, but stops before letting go. He grins, uses the hat

The Hardest Choice of All

2010-05-27T10:15:00.000-04:00

I don't know how I got the money. Saving up from allowances maybe. Hard to recall that detail all these decades later. What I do remember is the decision. The difficult decision, almost impossible to make. Standing between the two rows and having to decide: which will be my first record album. I'd purchased and received some singles over the years: Popcorn and Last Train to Clarksville and A