Buckets for a Cure?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, could a

video be worth...$15.6 million dollars?

So yesterday I was doing my usual perusal of the web (or maybe I was finishing up yesterday's blog post? idk), when I was told to jump on Facebook. I don't really use Facebook as much these days as I may have used to in the past (*grabs walker* back in my day, we had to type a "the" in the front, and only us college folk could use it). Upon loading the page, I noticed that my sister posted a video doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Well, that's cool. As I watched it, she got to the challengers. Wait...did she just say my name?

Yeppers. I was nominated to complete the challenge (and/or donate to support the ALS Association). Since I'm not in a current financial spot to be donating money, I decided to take on the challenge. I'm no Speaker of the House, but I also decided to add a little context behind the challenge prior to showing the video of dunking myself.

I know a lot of people are extremely opposed to the idea of this challenge. How can dumping a bucket of ice water over your head help - it's just a waste of water! Well, you probably got me on the water bit, though I'm sure there's more water somewhere out there. As for the idea, it started out as a general charity challenge. Eventually, Florida resident Charles Kennedy decided to gear his challenge toward supporting ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) research on July 15. From there, it took on a life of its own, and has been sweeping across the Internet in a viral sensation.

While it's generally expected that many will additionally donate money to the ALS Association, perhaps not everyone has that same luxury. Still, that didn't stop many from keeping this social media sensation going, spreading from chalengee to the next group of challengers. From what I last heard, the ALS Association had received $15.6 million dollars, as compared to $1.8 during the same time period last year. If it's for a good cause, what's really so bad about spreading awareness through a social campaign craze like this?

People are being entertained, and donating at the same time. If you are not a fan, don't worry - it'll eventually pass just like any online viral sensation. In the meantime, deal with it.

Well, below is my video for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge:

I was pleased with how it came out, other than having to hear my own voice (from what I hear, we all seem to hate hearing our voices recorded). It had been awhile since I have busted out the good 'ol Windows Movie Maker (used to use it when I made videos on Youtube from another era), so needless to say I was pretty psyched when I got to bust out a transition animation (what do you think is more lame, WMM transitions, or Comic Sans font?).

Anywho, just something a little different than gaming for today. If you would like to read more about ALS or should you decide to donate to support ALS research, head on over here.

Have you ever taken on some type of challenge to help support or raise awareness toward a charity/group? How do you feel about these viral experiments? Share below!