Tunes Tuesday: "Suck it and See," Arctic Monkeys

The title of Arctic Monkeys' new release, "Suck it and See," really doesn't translate very well to American English. With a name like that, I wasn't expecting the title track to be such a lovely little ditty, as heard here in an acoustic version by Alex Turner. It turns out all this Britishism means is give it a try, so we can all get our minds out of the gutter.

The band made their name with blistering, snarky anthems, but don't overlook the slow songs, like 2009's "Cornerstone." That's what I put on repeat, just Turner's straightfoward croon, ambiguous lyrics and throwback melodies. In "Suck it and See," Turner sings, "I poured my aching heart into a pop song/ I couldn't get the hang of the poetry." After a few dozen listens of the song, it sounds to me like he has a fine handle on poetry, but pop is fortunate to have him.

Preview the new album on their site now!

PS - I'm going to try to write every Tuesday about a song I'm currently digging. I listen to songs on repeat for hours at a time, so rest assured you will only hear about the ones that make the 10x in a row mark. And I also love song lyrics, so I'll probably be posting some choice lyrics too. Hope you enjoy!

Rolling in the Deep

I didn't wait in line on the opening day for the new branch of Shake Shack in Dupont Circle, but I did get there this past Saturday to eat a Shack Burger. I may have idolized this burger from my trips to NYC and I may have spent the past 6 months hyping it up to everyone around me. I would chart the steady progress of the D.C. Shake Shack as I walked home from work to the bus stop, sometimes taking pictures to document milestones. One day I saw new employees practicing trust falls on the sidewalk outside.But somehow it wasn't quite as transcendent as I remember. It was good, don't get me wrong. But maybe something was lost in translation. What do you think? I'll have to go back to the Shake Shack in NYC to compare notes. And the milkshake is too teensy for the $5 price tag. I saw the calorie count, so maybe that's for the best though. Next time, I'm just getting the burger.We barely waited in line, albeit we were eating dinner at 5 p.m. Like ol' fogeys. I placed my order, they wrote down my name, and when I picked up the food, one of the employees said, "Adele is my favorite singer.""Thank you," I said.Thank you?? As if I had anything to do with her success. Yes, I will take credit for her singing career. We Adeles need to stick together.

A Pet Picture to End the Week

My parents' dog Rain is getting fixed at the end of the month. Don't tell her that though... She remains blissfully unaware.

Except this collar my mom bought for the week after surgery might make Rain think something is up.

Apparently there have been substantial strides in dog post-surgery accessories. This life preserver/donut thing replaces the cone that dogs used to wear that made them look like lampshades. Those were hilarious.

Benchmark

On Sunday, Joe and I went to the Greek Festival at Saint Sophia Orthodox Church in D.C. Gyros were the main draw, but they were surprisingly lackluster, considering the lines. I guess it's a captive audience for gyros.

As soon as we got our food and sat down to eat, it started to drizzle. We walked over to a shady spot down the street and sat on a bench, and I noticed all these wires sticking out at the base of the bench.

Turns out there was a notebook attached to record your time sitting in the park. I turned back to last spring and a Thai tourist couple complained about how expensive the gyros at the Greek Festival were. A nice little time capsule. I'm such a sucker for guests books, it's fun to see who else has walked in your shoes over the years.

Not everyone liked the journal though. There's always a critic.

Smart Phone

I saw my parents this weekend, and I let my dad borrow my iPhone to look something up on the Internet. He asked how to make the screen bigger, and was duly impressed when I showed him."Wow, this is so cool. Maybe I should get one of these," he said. "I could really see myself owning this...""Now what is this thing called?"Ha, we are only on version four, he's just a tiny bit behind.

Breakfast Salad

A few of us have dubbed this week at work "salad week." Only salad for lunch every day as a healthy alternative to the usual, i.e. Qdoba. (You can get salad at Qdoba, so that's not really fair).

I told Prudence that I even had a salad for dinner the night before.

"Oh yeah, what was on it?" she asked.

"Spinach. And then there were hashbrowns."

"Adele, I thought you were going to say, you know, carrots, tomatoes, avocados."

Nope. Topped the hashbrown salad with a fried egg.


Hey, greens are involved, which totally makes it a salad. Some might say it's breakfast, but if Martha Stewart deems it a salad, that's good enough for me.

Here's the recipe. Really easy and cheap, just fry potatoes in olive oil, combine with dressing and spinach, Parmesan and then add egg for protein and deliciousness.

Salad discovered via this blog...