This one's kinda short.

This has been dormant for quite some time.  I guess my initial purpose is always not to bore.  I know what I'm supposed to do to make that happen, I'm just not that good at doing it.  This'll be a short one.

In no particular order...

Don't ever intentionally try to use guilt as a motivator.  The whole "98% of you won't re-post this" does not define my (or anyone else's) humanity.  I have causes I'm partial to but there's no point to emasculating someone for a cause.  Before anyone asks, I don't believe the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge falls under this category.  More on that later.

We all tend to hang out where the love comes from.  Most recently most of the love I get (aside from my family) has come from my costume-wearing brothers and sisters.  We attempt to entertain the masses for good causes, and we get the benefit of seeing what we do make a difference, whether it's in money raised or hugs from children.  Truth be told, I'm not that good at it but I like to watch those that are and being in that circle is the best way I know how to learn. 

From a more traditional viewpoint I shouldn't even be involved in that setting.  I'm 43 years old.  There, I said it.  Nobody needs to guess my age anymore. I'll pause while you pick your jaws up off the floor......

This hobby I'm involved in caters more to the young. That's not to say we senior-citizen types aren't welcome (it's open to all if you've got a costume and a desire to benefit others with it) but most people wouldn't associate someone of my age with this pastime.  I hope my attempts to not come across as a creepy older guy are successful.  If not it might be time to hang up the Lobster.  ;)  Whatever happens, I'm choosing to go bald and / or grey gracefully.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge:

I'm not even sure where to start with this.  To paraphrase, it began as a contest between golfers as a way to support their pet charities, and at some point social media was in the formula.  One of the charities ended up being ALS research because one of them knew someone with the disease.  Those facebook posts overlapped with the story of Pete Frates, a local rising baseball star from Boston who was diagnosed with it.  From there the challenge went viral as professional baseball players who knew Pete from college lined up to do the challenge, followed by politicians, celebrities and business leaders. 

Why do I mention the early beginnings of it?  Some are actually critical of it and refuse to donate, or criticize that those who do the challenge are merely in it for the cyber-glory.  Whatever reason one may have for not donating or doing the challenge are one's own reasons, but to say doing the challenge is a waste of time is missing the point.  My take on it is short - True, dumping ice water over yourself does absolutely nothing in and of itself for ALS research, but it raises awareness of a relatively unknown disease in a fun way.  Sure, the ice purchased for the challenge could have been donated anonymously and that may appear more noble to some, but it wouldn't have quite the traction.   Doom n gloom videos wouldn't get watched and the awareness would be where it used to be, which is to say, in the toilet.  Some choose to both donate as well as taking the challenge as a fun way to earn the right to challenge others.   If you're critical of where the money goes, donate to something else but don't criticize others because you don't agree with how or to whom they donate.

I am not a movie critic.  The fact that I liked TMNT should tell you that while I don't have the cinematic discernment of Siskel and Ebert, I'm able to enjoy my time at the movies instead of waiting for something to happen that'll mess everything up.  It's obvious that plenty of movies have been screwed up by a single scene or piece of dialogue (Star Wars on Blu-Ray, anybody?) but I'm not waiting for it to happen, so I can enjoy the 2-ish hour journey.  To be fair to the rest of you, in the future I'll refrain from putting my film opinions out there.  ;)

Let's get something straight right here and right now.  You will not change anybody's mind, nor will anybody change your mind about anything involving politics or religion based on anything you post about it on social media.  Just don't bash, it's not becoming.  Celebrate the diversity and learn to love each other.  If you don't it will be a miserable existence.