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The man in the video is doing some sort of quirky dance in a foreign land, arms flailing and flopping, feet moving as if walking over hot coals. There is nothing graceful or beautiful about the dance. Nonetheless it communicates an infectious joy that defies easy characterization. In short, it is fun
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In the year we became obsessed with YouTube and MySpace, perhaps it's no surprise that a blog of a bloke doing a silly dance around the world got five million hits Tis the season to give out awards. So, here's another one. My award for
Alternative Travel Hero for 2006 goes to (cue drum roll, split
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Games
Credited Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (2006), Bethesda Softworks LLC Destroy All Humans! (2005), THQ Inc. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Activision Publishing, Inc. Army Men RTS (2002), 3DO Company, The Dark Reign 2 (2000), Activision
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It's a 20-something's fantasy: Travel around the world, dance a lot and get paid to do it. Matt
Harding of Seattle made that dream come true. And he's turning into an Internet star, thanks to a short video he made of his recent trip that's become wildly popular on the
189:, on which he received a conceptual credit. He said, "...didn't want to spend two years of my life writing a game about killing everyone...". He quit his job and began traveling, leading to the production of his first video, which was uploaded to YouTube in July 2006.
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So, where the hell is Matt? We found him in
Seattle, but before that, Matt Harding, 30, was everywhere. In 2003, the video-game maker performed a silly free-form dance in more than a dozen countries, which he filmed and then posted on his Web site at
616:, 20 November 2008. Press release by Visa. "Visa's new travel-focused commercial recreates the dance made famous by internet celebrity Matt Harding in his self-made quirky video travel diaries."
123:
that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations. Harding has since received widespread coverage of his travel exploits in major print and
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Publishing, Inc. Battlezone II: Combat
Commander (1999), Activision Publishing, Inc. Battlezone (1998), Activision, Inc. Zork: Grand Inquisitor (1997), Activision, Inc.
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Matt
Harding has this silly dance he does, this running-in-place thing where he waves his arms around spastically. If it had a name, you might call it the Excited Toddler.
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to watch. "It's just something I've always done," said Matt
Harding, who created and stars in the video. "It's that dance that kids do when they're 2 or 3 years old.
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217:, doing a dance "jig" in many different places around the world in 2005–2006. The background music in the video is the song "Sweet Lullaby Dancing Remix" by
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He began his game industry career working for a video game specialty store called
Cutting Edge Entertainment. Harding later worked as an editor for
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were interviewed by KFAI radio in
Minnesota. The interview focused on how the "Dance 2008" project came to include Palbasha.
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Harding didn't. "I … didn't want to spend two years of my life writing a game about killing everyone," he said
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However, some of these locations are repeated in different videos, such as
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697:"YouTube co-founder tells grads to be persistent, take risks"
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Harding claims that a sarcastic joke about the popularity of
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American traveler, video game designer and
Internet celebrity
579:"Product Placement Creeps Into Amateurs' YouTube Offerings"
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294:: filmed from 2011 to 2012 (40 countries, 13 US states and
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on YouTube. The 2012 YouTube titles have also been titled
221:. The video garnered popularity on the video sharing site
324:, Matt had visited approximately 99 countries, 21 states,
254:: filmed from 2003 to 2004 (15 countries and 4 US states)
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without the year in the videos; Harding labels them as
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
232:The titles in the five major videos are all titled
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651:, skipped college at the suggestion of his father,
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628:"A Private Dance? Four Million Web Fans Say No"
606:Travel the world with the currency of the world
408:Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
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467:screen of smiling nominees) ... Matt Harding.
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260:: filmed from 2005 to 2006 (28 countries,
103:(born September 27, 1976) is an American
350:In November 2008, Matt and the vocalist
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362:Harding's development credits include:
246:Happy New Year! Peace on Earth in 2013.
225:. There are now five major videos plus
160:, and then as a software developer for
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481:"The Guy Who Danced Around the Globe"
549:"Dancing around the world (and Web)"
547:Jackson, Kristin (October 5, 2006).
517:Gilden, James (September 17, 2006).
242:Happy People Dancing on Planet Earth
447:"Dance, dance, wherever you may be"
445:Benji Lanyado (December 23, 2006).
213:that features a video of Matt, aka
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320:. Therefore, as of the filming of
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229:and background videos on YouTube.
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830:People from Westport, Connecticut
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503:http://www.wherethehellismatt.com
479:Andrea Sachs (October 22, 2006).
663:Jordan Smith (August 26, 2005).
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734:from the original on 2021-12-21
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638:from the original on 2016-11-17
626:McGrath, Charles (2008-07-08).
577:Mike Musgrove (July 13, 2008).
551:. Seattle Times. Archived from
384:Battlezone II: Combat Commander
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358:Video game development credits
238:Where the Hell is Matt? (year)
19:For the British musician, see
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815:American video game designers
665:"Dancing Matt coming to town"
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647:Mr. Harding, who grew up in
336:, 4 Canadian provinces, and
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23:. For the viral video, see
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127:outlets, and was hired by
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166:Santa Monica, California
825:YouTubers from Brisbane
519:"The Internet Traveler"
207:Where the Hell is Matt?
202:Where the Hell is Matt?
194:Where the Hell is Matt?
25:Where the Hell is Matt?
21:Matt Harding (musician)
840:YouTubers from Seattle
368:Zork: Grand Inquisitor
138:He is originally from
555:on September 17, 2008
140:Westport, Connecticut
183:to develop the game
170:Brisbane, Queensland
146:Video-Game developer
76:Norwalk, Connecticut
416:Destroy All Humans!
211:Internet phenomenon
186:Destroy All Humans!
158:Wilton, Connecticut
90:.wherethehellismatt
810:American humanists
611:2009-02-01 at the
491:on August 29, 2008
135:campaign in 2008.
113:Internet celebrity
69:September 27, 1976
47:Yoyogi Park, Tokyo
754:"Matthew Harding"
703:on March 13, 2009
153:GameWeek Magazine
131:to star in their
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766:. Retrieved
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738:November 21,
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272:Dancing 2008
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177:shoot 'em up
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133:Travel Happy
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121:viral videos
117:Dancing Matt
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33:Matt Harding
805:1976 births
345:Jawed Karim
334:Puerto Rico
296:Puerto Rico
244:as well as
219:Deep Forest
45:Harding in
799:Categories
768:2008-07-10
707:2008-10-14
679:2006-12-16
642:2008-07-08
588:2008-07-14
559:2006-12-28
495:2006-12-28
461:2006-12-28
432:References
376:Battlezone
338:Antarctica
262:Antarctica
179:games led
162:Activision
119:, for his
109:video game
65:1976-09-27
758:MobyGames
343:In 2007,
168:and then
732:Archived
636:Archived
609:Archived
528:July 11,
352:Palbasha
227:outtakes
105:traveler
727:YouTube
234:Dancing
223:YouTube
83:Website
427:(2006)
419:(2005)
411:(2004)
403:(2002)
395:(2000)
387:(1999)
379:(1998)
371:(1997)
209:is an
196:videos
316:, or
740:2012
565:Web.
530:2012
330:Guam
266:Guam
129:Visa
92:.com
55:Born
164:in
156:in
88:www
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
