Man Sinks $2 Million Into Building His Own Batcave
by Sean ComerLet's muzzle any Occupy movement holdovers, and consider this question from a much more realistic, less abstract, non-partisan perspective: what signifies most definitively that one has "too much money?"
I have a theory: that would be the point when one is so bored with so few constructive, prudent, efficient and progressive desires, that he or she constructs a personal Batcave.
The U.K. Daily Mail didn't identify the client by name, but a Greenwich, Conn., Batman fan with no imagination for any more productive expense has reportedly sunk $2 million into commissioning Elite Home Theater Seating's construction of his personal lair of entertainment. The specs nuke the adjective "opulent" into pulverized, split atoms.
"The Dark Knight-themed custom home theater was actually a design concept we did free of charge for one of our previous clients, mainly just for fun," said Elite chief executive Bobby Bala. "Personally, I'm a huge Batman fan and with a background in CG animation, we were able to finish up the design within a couple weeks.
The 12,000 square-foot home theater's centerpiece 180-degree movie screen is flanked by four of the cave's six total batsuits - two on each side of the screen. The screen looks out upon race-car-style home theater chairs. Pull a secret book on one of the bookcases, and the case slides open to reveal a 15-foot-long, 10-foot-wide replicable "Tumbler" Batmobile. The structure also includes a 30-foot-long replica tunnel exit that reaches a dead end after walking around a corner - making it very easily the sweetest "panic room" ever, if perhaps not the most secure.
This Lord of Fanboys didn't stop merely at replicating the cave. Oh, no. It's actually a veritable mock-up of Wayne Manor itself.
A separate built-on study provides the entrance. In excruciating detail, the study is furnished with bookshelves, a grandfather clock, a bust of William Shakespeare that swings open the grandfather clock to reveal a cylindrical, stainless-steel elevator that requires a fingerprint authorization and boasts a glowing Bat-signal light with a "B" button next to it. Once identified by the elevator's floor-to-ceiling mirror scanner (complete with digitized graphics), a pleasant female voice then announces, "Security clearance granted."
Just in case "ostentatious" starts to feel like a woefully inadequate description, the cave's rear features a gas fireplace faithfully recreated, working Bat-computers on either side displaying images of Batman's rogues gallery.
Until it's finished sometime this November, please, settle for these CG renderings of money gone mad. Just...wow.