Song for Monday

I swear that tomorrow I will have finished my Indian Runner review for GMR and will be able to take a break from obsessing over Viggo. Really. (Shut up, you, you and you.)

Highway Patrolman
by Bruce Springsteen

My name is Joe Roberts, I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville, barracks number 8
I always done an honest job, as honest as I could
I got a brother named Frankie and Frankie ain't no good

Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same comedown
I get a call over the shortwave Frankie's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man I'd just put him straight away
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way

Me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family, well he just ain't no good

Well Frankie went in the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on droppin'
Till it was like we were gettin' robbed
Frankie came home in '68 and me I took this job

Yeah, we're laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin', teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family, he ain't no friend of mine

The night was like any other, I got a call 'bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid lyin' on the floor lookin' bad, bleedin' hard from his head
There was a girl cryin' at a table, it was Frank, they said

Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
I must of drove 110 through Michigan county that night
It was out at the crossroads down 'round Willow bank
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates, behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through them county roads till a sign said "Canadian border 5 miles from here"
I pulled over to the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear

Me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family, well he just ain't no good



From The Washington Post yesterday: On Tolkien and War.

I cheated a lot to get this because is an old friend with whom I used to work, who taught me to eat sushi, whom I miss a lot since she moved to the west coast:


Which Potterverse OC Are You?
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Saw TTT The Third Time. Still no diminishment, though I understand the frustrations of Faramir fans vis a vis his diminished screen time more each time I see it -- not the characterization, that still works for me because I'm taking the missing scenes for granted, but I really wish we'd get to SEE them.

Then came home and read this courtesy via . Am most amused. Almost wish Viggo would take a break from discussing politics to discuss getting drunk with Sean and kidnapping Orlando. Suspect this makes me shallow.