House Update

So I bought another digital camera cause the one I had was just too big for travel needs, but for whatever reason, I can not get the pics off the camera easily. So below is a big group of pics from the past couple of weeks. We've made some great progress, and began painting yesterday, a sign that I'm in the home stretch. I also got to meet the neighbor who was the best friend and executor of the estate for Ms Newton, and I got a little history on the house, I'll post that later this week.

So here is the house as of 12-3-08. The pics of the dining room are just to show how much supplies and tools are everywhere. (UPDATE: a coworker had a cool gadget to help me get my pics off the camera, so there are pics from yesterday as well)

Pop Pop

There was a cool article about my grandfather in the local paper of the town he grew up, Two Rivers Wisconsin.

Link

inside pics

Was trying to get these up earlier, but I was in recovery from the Skins crushing defeat Sunday night...damn cowboys, I hate those guys.

So here are some pics of the inside of my new place. The furniture is not staying, although I tried to buy that TV in the dining room (found out it still works, thing must be 50 years old by now.) I also found out that the previous owner, Ms Newton, was 81, and the second owner, she never married or had kids, and all of her siblings had passed a while ago. The listing agent actually grew up across the street and said she was a great lady.

Everything is fair when you're livin' in the city

Well after a 7 month search, I have found a new home!



I go to closing on November 26, and will move in sometime around x-mas (it wouldn't be a Gauthier house without doing some work before moving in)

I'm heading back this weekend to do some measuring and planning, and I'll take some pics of the inside and post them. Everything in the house is all original from 1911 when it was built, some amazing wood work.

I'll keep posting updates on the house here, and I may also starting posting some other stuff again too (picked up a a bunch of new music on my vacation)

Modern Guilt

One of my favorite artists, music or otherwise, is Beck. I get a feeling of true expression with his music, someone who is always experimenting yet is staying true to his self. During high school, I always licked what I heard, but never got into more than his radio songs, so I split his career into pre- and post-college. Looking at his post-college albums, you start with the near perfect Sea Change, which was followed by Guerro, which had some great songs, but I wasn't impressed. Several years later, Beck went back to producer Nigel Goodrich (of Radiohead production fame) and put out The Information, which was a solid fun album, and another departure yet truly Beck album.

When I heard the new album was produced by Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame) I was very excited, and I was rewarded! Modern Guilt is concise, crisp, forward thinking, and classically Beck. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, Beck and Danger Mouse put together 10 tracks that are fresh and exciting. One of my only problems with some Beck albums has been that they go on too long, and towards the end the songs start sounding the same (see Guerro not above) but this one is not that at all.

The first track Orphans is a sparse self exploration that slowly fills out into a toe tapping, shoulder shaking diddy. Gamma Ray is a Odelay esque track that has cool effects used throughout. The title track Modern Guilt is first of the heavy Mouse influence, and while you can hear a little Gnarls Barkley, it's not overwhelming. Youthless is a little jump into the hip-hop world, which Beck has always done in his own way with a underlying bass beat driving the song. Some of my favorite lyrics on the whole album come from Walls; "You got warheads stacked in the kitchen/you treat distraction like instant religion/the battlesticks snap at the rhythm/you give the best with the souls you've been given."

Replica and Soul of a Man both give this weird feeling of being throw backs, but with a modern twist. Profanity Prayers is a danceable track that I think will be a great one for the live shows. The last track Volcano is another sparse song with a drum line that is drawn out for a melodic and smooth piece.

Overall I give the CD a 8. If you like Beck, you will very entertained by this latest incarnation.