Where the Hell Is Matt?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 1:51pm

This is the most extraordinary video. You must watch it--it will make you feel WONDERFUL about the world.

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/
Where the Hell Is Matt?

[DAME]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 1:53pm

Matt-G ?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 1:59pm

"I had breakfast with Margie, an old friend and my former boss. She's the one I ditched last year to go on this trip.

"Hey, Margie, someone's offering to pay for me to travel the world for six months on my own. I can go anywhere I want and all I have to do is dance badly, which is the only way I know how.""

That's supposed to make us feel wonderful about the world? That someone will sponsor someone to do that? What a ridiculous world - that's how I come away feeling.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:16pm

The Stride Gum Company in England sponsored him for his SECOND trip after he filmed himself dancing all over the world on his first trip.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:17pm

Why?

[DG]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:23pm

There's something reassuring about seeing the same person doing that same silly dance in all those different places. It seems to say that no matter how big and discombobulated the world might seem right now, there's commonality that will win out in the end. And to have the unifying trait in the pics be someone having goofy fun makes it all the more smile-inducing.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:48pm

I think it's reassuring to find that the world is not necessarily the frightening, war-torn place we hear about on the news every day, and all those wonderful places we dream about going to are still places where one can go and dance his fool head off.

And it's also reassuring to know that someone somewhere is living out a dream.

But if you're going to go all Negative Nellie on it, there's no reason for you to continue posting in this thread, is there?

Here's hoping YOU get to dance your fool head off in front of the Taj Mahal someday, Rath,

Yr pal,
Joey

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:53pm

Sorry we don't share the same opinion, but that's what makes this world - heh - funny, right?

And if and when I do dance at the Taj (not one of my dreams, but we'll use it), it will be on my own dime.

By the way, I was finished posting here, but you egged me on. NOW I'm done.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 2:56pm

Only time will tell.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 3:08pm

There are my favorites from the FAQ section:

What's the message of your videos?
Up to you. I'm just dancing.

Why is the world so screwed up?
Men.

How do we fix it?
Women.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:13pm

Matt puts a mile on my face. He had a screwball idea that puts mile on peoples' faces, found a way to implement it, and is experiencing ing more of the world than most of us will ever get a chance to see. And he's not hurting anyone or anything in the process.

I agree that there is something reassuring about watching people from the far reaches joining in the goofy fun.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:15pm

DAME, I was just about to post the same thing.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:16pm

oops - back.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it - and it's certainly fun - I think my issue is that I don't read anywhere near into it what PJ suggested in his initial (hyperbolic?) post.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:20pm

There's also something reassuring about Rath's attitude. Like Lucy van Pelt, the fussbudget's always there, dependable. She always has that scowl for anything that isn't related to the activities of indefensible manufactured teenage pop princesses ("Give the kid a break, when she should have been learning to spell she was doing high energy concert tours!") and select post-menopausal actresses ("I'll take Inappropriate Objects of Affection for 500, Alex").

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:44pm

Oh Rathy, I knew you'd be back.

Like the obsessed serial killer who can't resist returning to the scene of the crime...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:47pm

PJ, read the post above yours and tell me which one is the obsessive around here.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:48pm

Hyperbolic? Moi?

Vissi d'hyperbole.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:49pm

Ye Olde "I am Rubber, You are Glue" line of argument!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:51pm

You know it's not hyperbolic on my part, PJ. You watch the goings-on around here.

And Namo - it's one of your favorite defenses, I know!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 4:52pm

Isn't Matt's dance FUN!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 5:27pm

I posted it because I think it's a celebration of life and joy and the spirit of dance and clownishness that is the essence of theater. It is a literal expression of what the French call joie de vivre: the joy of life.

I thought it would make people smile on a cold winter day and post about which cities or landmarks are their favorites. (Mine is watching him dance in front of the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. My father saw it on a trip to Israel and Jordan two years before he died. Although he was in a wheelchair when he saw Petra and Matt was dancing, there is something similar in their experience of the wonder of the ancient city that was carved out of stone hundreds of years ago.)

I didn't think anyone would be cynical about the video because I didn't think there was anything about it to occasion cynicism.

I guess I was wrong.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 5:33pm

Without the words of your original post, I would have taken the video for what it is - fun - and gone with it.

It was set up to be something very different from what it is.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 6:48pm

So your impulse was to put me down for seeing not just fun but beauty in it?

Updated On: 1/21/07 at 06:48 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:05pm

The wonders of the internet. I was not in any way putting you down - I'm sorry if it came off that way, I truly am.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/07 at 7:48pm

Whether or not you were, you did.

And the result is an appreciation thread filled with so much negativity that no one would want to post in it. Even me.

Look at the Little Britain appreciation thread: a group of people coming together over shared enthusiasm.

Why would you want to SH*T on my appreciation thread?

Updated On: 1/21/07 at 07:48 PM