Matt
is a 35-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever
wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal
pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be
other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in
Brisbane, Australia and used the money he’d saved to wander around Asia until
it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated
about where he is.
A
few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing
around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said “Hey, why don’t you stand
over there and do that dance. I’ll record it.” He was referring to a particular
dance Matt does. It’s actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly.
Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.
A
couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone
else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as
“That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not
him either. I’ll send you the link. It’s funny.”
The
response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at
Stride
gum.
They asked Matt if he’d be interested in taking another trip around the world
to make a new video. Matt asked if they’d be paying for it. They said yes. Matt
thought this sounded like another very good idea.
In
2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In
that time, he danced a great deal.
The
second video made Matt even more quasi-famous. In fact, for a brief period in
July, he was semi-famous.
Things
settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another
idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn’t actually all that interesting, and
that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his
inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails
from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one
more time and invite the people who’d written him to come out and dance too.
The
Stride people thought that sounded like yet another very good idea, so they let
him do it. And he did. And now it’s done. And he hopes you like it.
Matt
lives in Seattle, Washington with his girlfriend, Melissa, and dog, Sydney. He
hasn’t had a real job since Stride called him up. Matt doesn’t mind working,
but he doesn’t much care for having to show up at the same place every day.
Matt
is not rich. Matt also doesn’t have some magical secret for traveling cheaply.
He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does.
Matt
thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.
Matt
was a very poor student and never went to college. When he got older, he was
pleased to discover that no one actually cares. Matt doesn’t want to imply that
college is bad or anything. He’s just saying is all. There’s other ways to fill
your head.
Matt
is left-handed.
When
Matt was younger, he could hang seven spoons on his face at once. Sadly,
puberty made Matt’s face less conducive to spoon-hanging.
Matt’s
Xbox Live screen name is BadDancer. He plays a lot of Rock Band.
Matt
has a little piece of extra cartilage sticking out on the rim of one ear and a
little hole in the same place on the other ear. Since saying so on this page,
he’s been informed that the extra piece of cartilage is called a Darwinian
Tubercle. Matt thinks this is pretty much the greatest name for anything ever.
Matt
has never lost a staring contest.