Like Tom Cruise, I've also done my own 'stunts' all my Life! We used to do this kind of thing all the time when we were about 12yrs old...Growing up in Detroit in the 60's, it was a survival technique to get home from school and avoid the daily @ss kicking....What a guy did was, rush out of school and down the nearest alley, climb up onto a garage, then, you could run down the whole block jumping from one garage rooftop to the next! It was exactly like that arcade game 'Frogger, except if you missed a jump, or dilly dallied, your @ss was going to get beat in real Life!!'
It would be tough to do now, what with all the alleys and garages basically burnt down and out, lot of 'dead air' in between....But back then, no problem! A sprightly Lad up on a garage roof had the chance to repel any unwelcomed visitors 'King on the Raft' style...plus ripping off and throwing 3 tab shingles like some sort of asphault shurikin at the pursuing gang of @ss beating reprobates...
Yeah, a guy could do quite well and get home safely with these roof hopping and shingle throwing skills..even vastly outnumbered, if a fellow held the high ground and was fleet of foot, willing to abandon one fortress and move on to the next, scatter and spread out your enemies into manageable portions... OK then..no trouble at all! Like an Urban form of Prepubescent Sun Soo 'Art of War' kind of dealie! Keep the Sun at your back and use the available terrain for your advantage! Like what Gandalf did at Helms Deep!
I wouldnt even attempt it now though, just too much effort, and I aint as ascared of getting an @ss beating as I was back then for some reason....probably on account of the familiarity, a good @ss beating may do me some good even, like going to the Chiropractor without paying....The .38 snubbie I carry nowadays may have something to do with my reluctance for roofhopping and overall gravitational defying bravery..although, I can still throw a shingle shurikin and cut somebodies head off...and since my primary rig is only a 5 shot, shingle throwing skills may once again come in handy someday?
I'm still up on the roof quite a bit, even at my age, to clean the gutters and wash the skylights and patch up woodpecker holes in the chimney, but its just not the same...Plus, No safety cables like that pretty boy Tom Cruise has!....
Not only that..I will never forgive him for the heartache he put Elisabeth Shue through in 'Cocktail'...or rogering Kelly McGillis in 'Top Gun'..that there just aint right...so yeah, good post! Finally he missed a jump and got slammed right in the heart like he did to them!