Sunday, February 15, 2004

Note to self

Look up these links when my papers are written for this week: links about Russian singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky (from Volokh Conspiracy)
A reward for doing my work first, and then playing.

Here is a translation of Mr. Vysotsky's song The Penal Code:
We don't need complicated subjects and plots --
We know it all, whatever you give us.
For instance, I think our Penal Code
Is better than any book on earth.

And if I'm restless and can't sleep
Or if I'm dead from a hangover,
I'll open the Code on any page,
And I can't help but read it to the end.

I never gave my comrades advice,
But I know robbery is a great honor with them.
Well, I just read about this:
"No less than three, no more than ten."

Just think about these simple lines, --
Why do we need the novels of all times and lands?
There's everything in them -- barracks as long as terms,
Scandals, fights, cards, and betrayal.

I wish I'd never seen these lines in a hundred years --
Behind each one I see someone's fate!
And I'm happy when the section isn't too bad:
Someone may yet get lucky.

And my heart beats like a wounded bird
When I start reading my own section.
And the blood in my temples bursts and pounds so,
Like when the cops come to get you.
Remember that whereever you are, the law exists to show you how sinful you are. But I'm thankful I don't live in a Communist dictatorship.