What the Hell is Matt?

Matt was already “pretty cool” for bringing people together. But now I elevate him to awesome.

Wow! He’s even been weightless! That’s the closest you get to God!

I’ve watched that video so many times and now it’s here on Friendly Atheist, and I’ll end up watching it again! I love this guy. He was into travel and did that little dance just to be funny, the way some people will take a picture with a little souvenir every place they go. That was his little thing he did, and he edited the clips together just for friends. Then the video he made ended up circulating on the web and getting tons of hits. Cadbury Adams asked him to do another one and paid his way around the world as a promotion for Stride gum. So now he’s made three videos, and this is the most recent one. All these people who have contacted him came out to dance in the videos. (And he paid those Papua New Guinea guys, I think.)

He has lectures about how this all came to be on Youtube. He’s really great! That video makes me cry, too. Just so cool. If you can watch some of the outtakes and other stuff on Youtube, you really get a sense of what an awesome guy he is.

Noadi wrote,

I think that video is just concentrated joyfulness.

Couldn’t agree more. Pure joy.

Hats off to Matt. I used to think the world would be a better place if everyone had a chance, in moments of real existential suffering, to sit quietly with someone they loved and have some ice cream. Now I think we need more spontaneous goofy dancing. Throw in ice cream, too, might as well.

No kings,

Robert

Great video, Siamang. Your little girl was so cute back then…she still is, but she’s…louder…these days!

Gabriel, his FAQ answers the question I had too, how does he afford it…
How do you afford all this travel?

I saved up at my job for a few years and then quit. That’s the simple answer.

It also doesn’t cost as much as a lot of folks think. Aside from the flights, I spend less on any given day than I would sitting at home paying utilities, car insurance, parking tickets (I get a lot of parking tickets)…

If you visit regions like Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, South America, and most of Africa — and you’re willing to rough it a little — you can get by on dollars a day.

More recently, with the crazy and unexpected response to the first dancing video, I’ve been lucky enough to find help getting to those hard-to-reach places. So no, I didn’t fund the whirlwind, seven-continent escapade with the money I tucked away making videogames.

I’ve been a fan of Matt for a while…. His movie was one of the first things I put on my new blog. I try to check in with Youtube once in a while to see if he’s done anything new. I had a strong feeling he was “humanistic”. Go Matt! And that song is captivating, no?