Ted Levine

Welcome to another special Saturday edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. I missed last Sunday due to laying in bed all day after hosting a party on Saturday night. I slept until 3 and then watched the Breaking Bad Binge for eight hours. Save your judgment for somebody else. So instead of making the trip to Chicago for Lawlapalooza, I’m here working. That, and I may have bronchitis and/or pneumonia, but I digress. Today, I’ll continue my trilogy countdown with #8, but before I get to that, let’s get at the phenomenon that has taken over the media for weeks.

 

ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE

This is the scene all over America right now, and whether you like it or not, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken the country by storm. From former presidents to actors to the people on your facebook news feed, millions of people have filled buckets with ice and water, pulled out the smartphone and posted a video of dumping the bucket on their head in hopes of raising awareness of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Personally, I have no problem with this. I know many people do, and they’re certainly entitled to that opinion. That’s the beauty of living in this country. I have certain problems with it myself, but I’ve also got problems with people hating on it.

Here’s some of the problems that I have with it. First of all, I don’t think people truly understand what the rules are. I think the misconception is that dumping the bucket on yourself gets you out of donating. This is not the case. The way I understand it is that if you take the challenge, you’re in for at least 10 bucks. If you don’t do it, then you’re in for at least 100. This is where some of the hating comes in. Personally, I don’t like people telling me what to do. But if I were to respectfully decline your invitation, don’t be a dick about it. Maybe I don’t have a hundred bucks. Hell, maybe I don’t have ten.  Ask our comic expert, Nick Spears, how his experience was. He wanted to be a part of the charity craze, but he chose to do something different and I applaud him for it, but don’t knock him for contributing to another charity. He chose to give money to kids that need it in his part of the world. Kudos Nick!

Another part that gets at me is people not knowing what the ice bucket actually represents. If you don’t know anything about ALS, it is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons eventually lead to their death, and when they die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. This is what leads to paralysis and death in those that are affected by it. What the ice bucket does is gives people a split-second paralysis due to the insanely cold feeling. It gives people a chance to know for only a moment what people with ALS deal with every day. So, in my humble opinion, if you’re going to do the ice bucket challenge, then make ALS your charity of choice. If you want to bring awareness, state that you are rejecting the ice bucket challenge and donating money to another organization. Personally, I did both. I donated to ALS in doing the challenge and then donated to the American Lung Association as well.  But hey, who am I to tell you what to do?

Okay, so you just read all that and are wondering “well, he donated, but where did he go to do that?” That’s one of the biggest problems I’ve had with people. They’re taking the time to put themselves out there on social media and get some attention, but did they actually tell anybody what website to go to? Do they even know? Did they actually donate money? As you’ll see when I put mine up below, I told people where to go (alsa.org and lung.org) and as far as donating, we just have to hope that people are actually doing it.

Are we wasting water? Maybe. Probably. But did you know that the average is about one flush of a toilet? And I’m not directing this next part at everybody, but before this craze started, did you really give a damn about a water shortage? Did you know that the western states are in a drought before someone put that on your feed? Have you ever taken a long shower? Do you reuse the water that melts in your cooler after a night of drinking? . Did you use a bong to smoke weed this week when you’ve got a perfectly good bowl in the house? Hmmm…just a thought.

Overall, I really dig what’s going on with this whole challenge. It’s raising millions upon millions of dollars for ALS and bringing some awareness and raising some money for other organizations as well. The positives far outweigh the negatives here, so for those who are hating just for the sake of hating, just shut the hell up. If you don’t agree with this whole thing, again, that’s your opinion and you are entitled to it. If someone challenges you and you don’t want to do, just respectfully decline and move on with your day. Calling people out for their participation doesn’t make you look like a rebel or a badass. It just makes you look like an asshole.

I’m not pretending to be an expert on ALS or charity or world water problems, but at least I’ve done some research. And that’s all I have to say about that. Oh yeah, here’s mine.

 

TRILOGY COUNTDOWN

#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#9-THE NAKED GUN TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#8-THE LECTER TRILOGY

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, HANNIBAL, RED DRAGON

There’s a chance that this could have been higher on the list had all three films been outstanding, but let’s be honest, one was subpar. But the overall strength has The Lecter Trilogy at #8 on my list of all-time favorite trilogies.

I don’t think anyone knew how good Silence of the Lambs could be back in the 90’s, but when it was released, it came on strong, winning every major category at the Oscars. And for good reason. With an amazing performance from Jodie Foster and a “who knew that Anthony Hopkins could do that” portrayal of Hannibal Lecter, the first of the trilogy really sets the pace for the rest of the franchise. This movie is filled with amazing moments and some great dialogue, none of which includes the line “Hello, Clarice”. This actually doesn’t get said until the next movie. But think about some of the jacked up moments that happen in this movie, from Miggs’ toss to the awesome dance from “Buffalo Bill” and everything in between.

Most people will say that Silence of the Lambs is the strongest of the trilogy, but I think we can all agree on what the weakest was. Hannibal just couldn’t match the intensity of its predecessor. It becomes even more difficult when one of the main roles has changed actors, as was the case here. Not wanting to return, Jodie Foster was replaced by Julianne Moore, who certainly did her best in the Starling role, but it’s hard to follow up an Oscar-winning performance, even as great as Moore can be. Hopkins was still good, but not as good as he was in the other two films. But hey, at least we got this out of it.

The third movie in this trilogy is probably my favorite. Red Dragon takes place before the events of Silence of the Lambs and is filled with stars. Hopkins obviously returns as Lecter, but this time is joined by Edward Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Ralph Fiennes, who actually steals this movie. Watching his transformation throughout the film is mesmerizing. For a while, you actually find yourself rooting for him, even though you know he’s insane, much like you feel with Hannibal in the first movie. You can see that he actually has good in him, but his mind just won’t let him be that person. Instead we get this and it’s awesome.

That’s going to do it for me today. I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of “Working the Weekend with Luke” as I continue my trilogy countdown with #7. Over at Binge Media Sports, I’ll be bringing you more NFL previews over the next few days. If you missed the first one on the AFC East and NFC East, click HERE. As always, if you have any comments on anything I’ve talked about, leave them below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris. But before I go, here’s another fantastic clip from Beverly Hills, 90210. Remember Emily Valentine?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVkHH_ShEn4