Oh Myyy! (15 page)

Because of the success of that crowd-funding effort, I quickly became bombarded with requests to support other projects. I’ve had to turn all but a few of these down, mostly because I don’t want my fans to feel “charity fatigue” every time they log in. But on occasion I will stumble upon something that truly moves me, and I’m compelled to lend a hand. This happened specifically with a wonderful video made by a young man, Shane Britney Crone, who had lost his life partner to a terrible accident. Shane created a YouTube video in memory of his love, and to highlight the unfairness of how Shane was kept from attending his partner’s funeral services by a family that didn’t accept their relationship, even though they had been together as a couple for six years.

Shane wrote to me and told me he needed help raising the final funds for a documentary he wanted to make about his story, entitled
Bridegroom
. The Kickstarter campaign had stalled on funding at around $150,000, only half of what they needed to raise, and he was worried that his project would go unfunded. When I learned he would be working with acclaimed producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason of
Designing Women
, I was impressed, and I felt the project could use a bit of what Brad calls the “Takei” bump.

In all, I posted twice about
Bridegroom
, and once again, I could hardly believe the results. It became the most funded documentary movie ever on Kickstarter, with well over $300,000 raised. Shane and Linda wrote wonderful emails to me, thanking for the help, but it is really my fans who I have to thank for stepping up. All I can really provide is a shot of fuel; the project has to merit support on its own to garner this kind of backing. Shane is now traveling the world speaking about the film and being honored for raising awareness of the issue. While it can never erase the pain of losing a beloved partner and of being so heartlessly denied his emotional, if not legal, rights, I hope the success of his film will bring him some solace and closure. I look forward to attending the premiere, and I hope it does well at all the film festivals.

More recently, I joined forces with Humans of New York and Tumblr to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy. In addition to publicizing the campaign on my social media platforms, I donated a special portrait of me “On Broadway.” Apparently, $300,000 seems to be the magic number for me, because by the end of the fundraiser on Thanksgiving Day, we had raised in excess of $318,000 together.

But for every
Bridegroom
or Hurricane Sandy relief effort, there are dozens and dozens of regrets I have to send. It saddens me to no end to have to turn people down; in fact, most of the time I don’t even have the resources or staff to respond to them, and I worry that they think I am being cold or aloof. Some have even “unfriended” me because I failed to respond or took no action. I understand the hurt here; each of us has a passion project, and it’s hard to accept that others may not share the same commitment or be willing to devote the same time and resources.

In a perfect world, I’d like nothing more than to be able to help all who ask. Because that’s not possible, I’m now in the process of “systematizing” some of this, so that perhaps once a quarter I can help out somewhere, perhaps by having fans submit their wishes or requests to my interns, who can sort it all out. I may even have to, gulp, start hiring people to help.

The way things are going, I will need to make some changes. At present, my Facebook page gains between 25,000 and 50,000 new fans a week. I’m told that people click “like” after their friends shared repeatedly from my wall. “I’m not a Trekkie, but so many of my friends share your images, I’ve come to join the party” is a common theme. I don’t know how long these numbers can, or will, continue to rise, but I am very much enjoying the ride. People on the street stop me now as much for my Facebook page as for my work on
Star Trek
or
Howard Stern
. It’s a strange honor to be recognized simply for sharing what is largely other people’s material, but I’ve come to recognize that people appreciate a good laugh more than almost anything. And so as long as they keep coming and sharing with me, I’ll keep putting it out there for them.

Apocalypse Soon

Maybe it’s because we live in a more cynical, post-9/11 world, or maybe it’s because we have all seen too many post-apocalyptic movies, but my fans are decidedly and irretrievably obsessed with the end of the world. Any post I make relating to our collective destruction is sure to gain a following and to be shared avidly among the soon-to-be destroyed. We are all doom and gloom, and loving every bit of it.

The year 2012 was a particularly fertile time for the apocalypse-burdened. I blame the Maya principally for this. An aside: I learned that the correct term is “Maya” and not “Mayan,” which apparently refers only to the language. The incorrect term is in such common usage, however, that people often don’t know what I’m talking about if I use “Maya.”

I once had the great privilege of visiting the ruins of a Maya temple in Tikal, Guatamala. It was a
Star Trek
cruise that took us down the Mexican coast. To get to the ruins, we had to board a specially chartered, very rickety aircraft, which ominously piped in the music from
Titanic
as we climbed to cruising altitude.

Tikal blew away all apprehensions over that flight. It was astounding. Built some 2,500 years ago, central Tikal covers about six miles. Looming up out of the tangle of dense jungle growth, awe-inspiring in their majesty, stood the ruins of four temple structures. Their bases were not pyramids but steeply slanted stepped shafts that soared up to a terrace in the sky. Imposingly ensconced on top were the ornately carved stone temples of the Maya high priests. Climbing to the top was, literally, a breath-taking workout. Many in our group didn’t even attempt it. A friend named Cecily Adams, actress and daughter of actor Don Adams, fit athlete that she was, made it to the top with me. Here we are, pictured together in this admittedly grainy picture from that trip. Cecily tragically passed from cancer at age 46 in 2004.

The view from that spectacular vantage was as breathtaking as the climb. Below was the great central plaza where the ritual ceremonies were held. Across the way were the other temple structures. And surrounding us all was the jungle that had claimed these awesome edifices when the Maya nation mysteriously vanished. It boggled the mind to realize that this amazing civilization was built without the use of the wheel.

As most of us somehow have become aware, the Maya calendar only goes “up to” 2012. It is also based on lunar cycles, so the final, approximate date of their calendar falls on the winter solstice, 12/21/12. This not only looks like an ominous number, but is curiously just one month away from the date I am writing this. Dum-dum!!

The Maya were keen on making predictions about the future, usually about the weather and such. Depending on whom you believe, they also apparently loved to consort with alien life forms and build temples with amazing astronomical significance. Those temple builders probably knew they would have us all fretting thousands of years later, and had a good laugh over making particularly ominous markings. One popular comic strip that I reposted showed a Maya stonecutter explaining that there was only room on his sun disc to go up to 2012 and predicting that it was going to mess a lot of people up one day.

As I write this, it occurs to me that we could have some fun “punking” future generations. All I’d need to do is ask for fans to carve the words “The End” and the date 12/21/3012 into rocks, walls and streets all around the world. Imagine the consternation in 1,000 years. Suck on that, Mayas.

Here is one of the more popular Maya-related images I shared:

It wasn’t more than a few minutes after posting this that I was treated to a quick history lesson by my Facebook fans. “George, don’t blame the Spanish for the decline of the Mayans! You’re perpetuating anti-colonialism with false information!!!” I learned that my post was wrong on two counts. First, the Maya civilization had its height between 250 and 900 A.D., and then collapsed before 1000 A.D., long before the Spanish conquered the Yucatan Peninsula in the 1500s. Some speculate that it was overpopulation, others suggest a prolonged drought, or perhaps disease. We may never really know for sure, because one thing the Spanish
did
do was destroy all of the Maya texts that might have told us. Nice going. So while no one is quite sure what caused the decline of the Maya, it clearly wasn’t the Spanish, who were pretty late to the party with their guns and smallpox (if you haven’t read
Guns, Germs and Steel
by Jared Diamond, it’s worth the time. Fascinating).

Second, though December 21, 2012 is the end of the so-called time cycle for the Maya, the Maya never predicted it as the actual end of the world, as many believe. Like an odometer, it simply meant their calendar would turn over to a new “13th” cycle around that date. As an interesting tidbit, the calendar left to us by the Romans was hardly a model of accuracy, as it had to be corrected by decree in 46 B.C. to account for inaccuracies in year lengths (that confusing year apparently went on for 445 days). So no one knows for certain if 12/21/12 in fact was to be the day the Maya calendar ran out.

Fans with very dark senses of humor pointed out that the death of a certain celebrity in 2012 did not bode well for humanity’s chances.

© Christopher Dodge - Fotolia.com Used with permission.

A second popular indicator of the coming of the end was the pregnancy (and feared but unfounded due date) of a reality television star, whose popularity still perplexes me: