Instead of spending this past week revising our scripts for the upcoming Austin Film Festival, my brother and I spent that time meeting with bankers and lawyers and inspectors because we've decided to purchase a 4-story loft in downtown Austin.
This move towards property ownership is a big one, and we've found it to be filled with a plethora of unexpected expenses and time-consuming tasks.
But our bank has agreed to give us money to fund the project, which is nice but also makes me question their sanity because I'm not sure if I would give us that much money.
The place is very sharp and modern and has a huge rooftop deck with hot tub connections. There's also high ceilings and an industrial look that I totally dig.
Here's some pics: 
The first picture is from the rooftop deck, and I can't wait to fill the nearly 600 sq feet with bamboo, lounge chairs and a mini-fridge stocked with Negro Modelos and Heineken.
I have a pretty good feeling that this will turn out to be a good investment for us. I have an even better intuition that it will be an exciting and fun place to live.
I'm undecided, however, on how it will affect our script work, but if we can just ride out the next month then it's entirely possible that creativity will flow freely in the belly of the beast.
At least I hope so.
-BDS
Thanks for stopping by this morning. The part I didn't put in the post, but did include in emails to the folks on my regular mailing list was this:
Last week, a small group of us journalists were privileged to meet Elemore Morgan, Jr., an icon in the art world of South Louisiana. His studio, planted smack dab in the middle of a rice field somewhere between Lafayette and Abbeville, is not climate controlled - except for whatever temperature it is outside. He took great care to explain why.
"This is the way I like it. Around here, it's 80 percent sky and 20 percent land. We positioned the building and placed the downstairs windows to make the most of cross ventilation. Upstairs, crank windows let out the heat. The building is comfortable all except maybe 45 days a year. And it's quiet."
We sat for a while on the front porch with Mr. Elemore and his menagerie of animals. Here's an excerpt from a story I wrote last week, which I'll use an an introduction to today's blog post.
Morgan, 74, is down to earth as the land he paints. What he says, sticks. What he paints, works.
“I never intended to teach,” Morgan recalls, reflecting on his career of university service, “but I had to make a living. The more I taught, the more profound it became. It’s all about learning to see things critically, making serious contact with form. It’s amazing how many people never have that experience. You could easily teach 10-year-olds how to hook their eyes and their hands together as a way to draw naturally and gently, as well as explosively and gesturely. Both attributes are sure and precise, but not tight or afraid.”
“Once you give students access,” he concludes, brightening his smile, “they’re off and running. After you’ve opened the door, it’s important to cause some striving – not to be hard, but because most people respond to a challenge. I also teach students how to be quiet, how to get inside themselves. The biggest test was whether I could walk out of the room without their knowing I was gone.”
Thanks for the expansion of the story, and Mr. Morgan's place sounds very interesting.
Like I mentioned before, everyone has their own favorite environment to work inside, and mine usually involves A/C and Bob Dylan playing quietly in another room.
But whatever works, eh?
You're new pad looks awesome. That is undoubtadly the funkiest shower I have ever seen!
Thanks, and yes the new shower is a colorful creation that I believe they call "mosaic (sp?) tile."
Regardless, it should help make me up in the morning.
love the bathroom especially.
very swank.
please let me know if you need a housekeeper - i can be paid in housing, food, and "thank you's"
We might need a reliable housekeeper who could be bartered with because we've stretched ourselves to buy this place and although we're not slobs, it might still get a tad messy on occassion.
The new place looks fab. However, since I finally got my own cool office space at home I have become more distracted with decorating rather than writing lectures or other important things, like homework. Still, I wouldn't mind visiting said loft and watching a sunset.
Studies have shown that a combination of bamboo, lounge chairs, and a refrigerator of beer on a rooftop increases the brain's ability to write a good script. So good move.
I can appreciate the difficulties of focusing on work, and I don't plan on getting anything written until at least mid-July (when we move into the place).
However, sunsets on the deck will be excellent, and the space is big enough to comfortably seat about 20 - 30 people.
Finally, I'm glad I was alerted to the study which links bamboo, scripts, beer and lounge chairs because it's about time those scientists worked on something important.
Looks so cool! Awesome