Project Rooftop

Maybe if you've been reading Building Batman for a long time you've started to notice that not all the picture of Batman are canonical-ish. If there is one thing I love more than comics, it's fans taking a character and making it their own.

There's a conflict in the stories that we might call "modern myths". Maybe the biggest modern myth stories are Luke Skywalker's hero quest to save the galaxy or the paradox of an all-america savior who does no wrong while fighting the never-ending-good-fight yet is equally just a mild man who struggled for years to get the girl across the desk from him to notice. The conflict is this: as "myths" these stories must be widely owned by many people but as "modern" they are actaully copyrighted controlled material owned by someone. The less centralized Superman franchize may be more myth than Star Wars because of the army of creative people who have all added or perturbed his story in their own way over the years but it still makes me extremely happy when fans stand up and make the myths their own. It's why I check Wayne Manor everyday even though I know he only updates near holidays (come on April Fools day, come on April Fools day) and why I wish BBWW would start posting again.

AND it's why I really wanted to tell you about Project Rooftop. This is a website that hosts contests for redesigning superheroes' costumes. They were inspired by Andi Watson's Batgirl meme. With Battle for the Cowl going on in the Bat-verse, they started this contest asking for people to redesign the Batman costume for "his most likely successor, Dick". They claim they got over 100 entries (I would love to scroll through all those) and their finalists are super cool.
But they haven't just done Batman. Check-out the righthand side links to past contests and then answer me this: why is it so easy to find really cool, really good redesigns of Wonder Woman by fans but DC still fails day by day to do anything worthwhile with the character?

Hotel Hospitality

I mentioned that I'm visiting Pittsburgh right now. I brought my lock-pick set and some pad-locks with me for relaxation and fun. When I got to my hotel room, I found the little lock on the minibar. Oh ya, baby.

I had alot of trouble at first. A painful amount of trouble. I couldn't figure out what was so hard about this pitiful little lock. Was it some other kind of locking mechanism than any I had seen so far, something that looks like a tumbler but isn't? The pins were really standard looking and feeling.

The answer was no: It was a regular lock but the key turned the other way than I expected. Oh well. Once I knew that, the lock was super easy. I raked it in seconds and picked it very quickly.

I still have to present to you all how to lock-pick yourselves and I do promise to do that very soon.

Nocturnal Knight

So I made it. It's still fairly early for most Friday night parties but the people I went with were leaving so I felt justified in calling it a night.

So there's the end of it. All in all, it wasn't so much trouble. It doesn't feel healthy and I find it hard to believe that a person could cope as a useful member of the superhero community if they didn't get proper sleep.

I went out for diner with a girl and almost fell a sleep on her. She definitely noticed how tired I was and I had to tell her that I didn't sleep much but when we went out after to a more active location and were out with a large group of people whom I didn't know as well I could function well enough to not stand out.

So in conclusion:
On Tuesday I had a normal day but when it came to sleep I stayed up and only slept 4 hours before getting up on Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning was just another day. Again, I only slept 4 hours. I got up at about 7AM Thursday morning and haven't slept since. It is 11:30 Friday and I am about to go to sleep so let's say I have gone 41 hours without sleep.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention I have to be on a plane to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning at 6 A.M.

Daybreak

The sun just started to come up. I've made it through the night. I guess that means the part that requires willpower is done. Once the day officially begins, I won't have the opportunity to sleep.

The combination of staying up late and staring at a computer screen is really making my eyes water.

The worst thing is how my stomach feels. It's not queezy but it feels really gross. It's the coffee. The coffee must irritate my stomach.

I went for another walk but didn't feel rejuvenated at all. All my energy is fake energy: the determination to get through the night and caffeine.

And I'm freezing! Why does being tired make me so cold?

Quarter to One

I cracked open the first bottle of Coke. Oh man.

Sugar Fiend

I came home late from work. It's about 10:30. The cool walk felt great. I was completely revitalized... Until I got into my nice warm home. Nobody is around and it is really quiet. I'm going to put on the radio despite the trouble from two nights ago.

Oh and my body is starting to ache. My back has a pain and my muscles are stiff. I'm pretty limber and don't often feel this way.

I have two bottles of coke to help me over the next two nights. I'm not convinced that the sugar will be a good idea in the long run.

Crime Doesn't Sleep

I think I take back last night's comments. I can definitely tell a difference in the quality of work I'm getting done. I'm wasting time. Things that shouldn't be difficult are taking me forever. I'm having alot of trouble with simple concepts and have notice myself slipping into thoughtless gazes. I've had 6 hours of sleep over the last two nights and I haven't even gotten to my sleepless night. Plus I still have to get through the evening.

The work day hasn't been so bad. Lots was happening and as long as I can keep my mind off my fatigue then it doesn't bother me much. I have to stay at work really late but that's ok because I'm not sure what I'll do when I go home.

Sleepless Nights

It's almost time to go start my day but I've already been up for 3 hours. I drank two pots of coffee --> I got up early so that I only got 4 hours of sleep. I think that I'm going to regret all the coffee.
I just kept drinking.

It was a rough night but luckily I had things to do. I've been working on this computer program for quite sometime and it needs to be done really soon. So I'm almost grateful for this extra time.

The worst part about staying up this late is the late night radio programs. Why do they play that kind of music? Once you get to the morning shows things improve but I think I've stick to my ipod tomorrow night.

Who Watches...?

I saw the Watchmen film today. My comment on the matter?

Rorschach uses the same lock-picking set as I do! It's the case that I noticed. He uses it when he and Dan are in Veidt's office. Watch for it in the film.


In other news, the day wasn't so bad. I was tired but I've been more drowsy and it will only get worse tonight and tomorrow.

The First Morning

I ended up getting less than four hours: I only got two. Although , I think I probably dozed in the shower for twenty minutes - when I noticed I was still there the water was cold.

It's not so bad yet. I'm drinking alot of coffee but that's not much of a problem.

Sleep Deprivation

Reasonably, Batman does not go out on patrol every single night, all night long. It's pretty unbelievable. However, he may go out most nights and he almost definitely has a completely inverted sleeping schedule. He most likely sleeps during the day and goes to work as a hero at night.

That being said, there must be times when Bruce Wayne must go out during the day.
As a playboy he can probably get away with mostly being seen at evening events but as the owner of a multi-billion dollar corporation there must be times when even the irresponsible and uninterested Bruce can't get out of a lunch or breakfast meeting.

Therefore, Batman must often but perhaps not regularly, go entire days without sleep.

This is my next experiment for Building Batman. I propose to remain awake and functional for 48 straight. It's probably pretty rare that Batman goes longer than that. An argument that he doesn't may be that he keeps his physical self in peak condition and therefore must see the value in self maintenance. That doesn't mean he sleeps long though in a crisis situation.

So here's what I think is reasonable. I'll get 4 hours of sleep between Tuesday and Wednesday (that's tonight). 4 hours between Wednesday and Thursday. I won't sleep at all Thursday night. Some friends of mine are planning to go out Friday and so I will go with them. I won't leave until the group disperses. After that I will allow myself to sleep as long as necessary.

I don't think this is very extreme and is definitely within reach.

Bike Lock and Coffee

Thank goodness that I now use coffee strategically instead of drinking a cup a day (here and here). During busy times (like now) coffee becomes a valuable ally in my war on... time.

That being said I have been able to pick a few locks when I catch a free moment. I can pick an old bike lock in under a minute. It's was no problem - probably because it was so old and has a lot of give. It is definitely the easiest one yet.

The brand new pad lock I was telling you about, is terribly frustrating. I got it that first time very quickly but have not gotten it again since! My front door still takes time but I can consistently get it.

What I need now are more old locks that I can practice on.

Does anybody have any ideas about that? I don't want to go buy 10 brand new ones because a) they're harder and b) buying 10 locks for no purpose except to pick them seems more than little wasteful.

PS You really should be keeping up to date with the_dark_cat's Welcome to Wayne Manor.

Fluke

Tonight night while watching an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold I picked a padlock. It was pretty cool. It took me just under 7 minutes BUT I think that was a fluke since I couldn't repeat it in the duration of the show. We'll see if I can repeat it again tomorrow.