The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge takes over the world – The Verge

Samuel L. Jackson calls on the stars of the Ice Bucket Challenge to sing against ‘racist police’

2014-12-14T10:29:20-05:00

On the day when thousands of Americans took to the streets to protest police brutality, Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson urged his fellow celebrities to contribute their voices to the popular movement. Calling out all the high-profile figures who poured buckets of ice over their heads for the Ice Bucket Challenge, Jackson sings:

"I can hear my neighbor crying 'I can't breathe,' now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave, calling out the violence of the racist police. We ain't gonna stop till people are free."

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ALS Association abandons its effort to trademark the ‘ice bucket challenge’

2014-08-29T23:03:03-04:00

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Following backlash, the ALS Association says it's given up on its attempt to trademark both "ice bucket challenge," and the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge." In a note on its Facebook page today, the ALS Association said it understood people's concerns over any one group owning those phrases, adding that it planned to withdraw both applications, which were filed earlier this week.

We've received several messages regarding the trademark applications we filed. We filed for these trademarks in good faith as a measure to protect the Ice Bucket Challenge from misuse after consulting with the families who initiated the challenge this summer. However, w …

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Trademarking charity: ALS Association wants to own ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’

2014-08-29T10:13:56-04:00

No one could've predicted what a sensation the Ice Bucket Challenge would become. It's everywhere. It's unavoidable. And now that it's earned the ALS Association over $94 million in charity, the organization has filed for a trademark seeking ownership of the phrase "ice bucket challenge." The August 22nd filings also request a trademark covering "ALS ice bucket challenge," a slightly-more-specific description that's proven equally popular across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media. The ALS Association wants complete control over "ice bucket challenge" whenever the three words are being used for charitable fundraising purpose …

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David Lynch’s Ice Bucket Challenge video is very Lynchian

2014-08-27T12:05:53-04:00

The camera opens on a man in a fully buttoned black shirt standing in front of a red wall, squinting into the sun. He pours a shot of espresso into a metal bucket, raises a trumpet, and begins to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow, badly. Someone off stage pours the bucket of espresso over the man's head, followed by a bucket of ice water.

David Lynch's Ice Bucket Challenge is everything you would hope it to be. He was nominated by Laura Dern and Justin Theroux. I won't spoil his nominee.

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Rubble Bucket Challenge aims to raise awareness about Gaza

2014-08-26T05:59:35-04:00

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As the rest of the world continues to dump buckets of cold water over their heads in support of ALS research, some Palestinians have created their own version of the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in Gaza. Known as the Rubble Bucket Challenge, the campaign invites social media users to douse themselves in sand, gravel, and other materials from buildings that have been destroyed during Israel's seven-week military offensive. The choice of materials was both deliberate and necessary: they couldn't use ice water, participants say, due to deteriorating conditions on the ground.

"In Gaza we don't have water and …

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Patrick Stewart does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge the right way

2014-08-22T14:02:22-04:00

When the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge first started, the rules were simple: donate money toward fighting ALS or dump a bucket of ice on your head. It was meant as an incentive to be charitable - not, as it later evolved, to be both charitable and cold.

Watch: the best Ice Bucket Challenge videos

Cheers to you, Sir Patrick Stewart, although I worry that raise of his glass was a non-verbal challenge to everyone watching to do it. Stay classy.

#ALSIceBucketChallenge https://t.co/qVT3eP2MEJ
- Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) August 22, 2014

The Verge's Nilay Patel accepted his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in Times Square

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Samsung couldn’t resist turning the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge into an ad

2014-08-22T10:01:37-04:00

It had to be done. Some unscrupulous marketer was always going to try and capitalize on the global popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge - whose goal is to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - as a cheap ploy to sell you more stuff. In this case, it's Samsung, whose Galaxy S5 shows off its water-resistant design by taking a cold shower and calling out the iPhone 5S, HTC's One M8, and the Lumia 930 to try and do the same. Oddly enough, the waterproof Xperia Z2 doesn't seem to make Samsung's list.

Samsung has made a "generous" contribution to a UK organization fighting the same disease as the ALS Association, but the vi …

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Dr. Dre accepts Tim Cook’s ice bucket challenge and nominates Eminem and Snoop next

2014-08-19T04:01:59-04:00

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that is presently sweeping the US has reached hip hop mogul Dr. Dre, courtesy of a challenge from his new employer, Apple CEO Tim Cook. When Cook took a reasonably sized bucket of ice over the head last week, he nominated Dre as one of the three people he wished to see either doing the same or donating $100 to the fight against ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Being the larger than life persona that he is, Dre's ice bucket is suitably oversized and delivered via a custom-built mechanism to ensure he's fully drenched. Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar were Dre's choices for the next episode of the I …

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Lady Gaga does the creepiest Ice Bucket Challenge yet

2014-08-18T12:51:32-04:00

Folding your legs like that on a weird wooden chair looks extraordinarily uncomfortable, but then again, pretty much everything about the Ice Bucket Challenge is designed to be uncomfortable.

Watch: the best Ice Bucket Challenge videos

In the silent video posted to Instagram filled with as much emotion as the ice water itself, Ms. Gaga challenged a hodgepodge of people to get wet: Adele, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, executive Arthur Fogel, and Streamline Records founder Vincent Herbert, all of whom she hashtags "#RichPeople."

Update August 18th 4:20PM: Jared Eng of JustJared notes that Gaga credits him for issuing the challenge.

Did you …

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos takes the Ice Bucket Challenge and dares ‘Star Trek’ stars to go next

2014-08-15T15:29:36-04:00

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the latest to answer the call and take a bucket of ice water to the head for charity. Bezos got up on stage during a company all-hands meeting to soak himself while standing in what appears to be an inflatable kiddie pool. Bezos, of course, has to pass the challenge on from there, and he makes his selection a bit more interesting by theming it: he's challenging Star Trek stars William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, and George Takei to take the Ice Bucket Challenge next. If you're wondering why Bezos and a huge group of other tech executives have been dousing themselves, you can read our story on what the Ice Bucket Challen …

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