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Some of you may be familiar with the "Where the Hell is Matt?" around-the-world dancing videos:
Well, today (Saturday) he did some filming in Singapore, and invited everyone on his mailing list to join in. In his words:
The last video was about places. This one is about people. LOTS of people.
I forwarded the email to a bunch of people, but only 2 turned up (Enming and My No 1 Fan). 2 more asked who Matt was (I should've mentioned YouTube; I was at Asian Dog aka California Girl's house and when I mentioned YouTube a few knew who I was talking about, and also attached a URL - oh well), one of whom (Law Girl) asked "I dunno how to dance BADLY, so unless Matt is cute, no. :p"
I was half-expecting the ISD to show up and haul us all away for illegal assembly (they were probably posing as PRC tourists with their video cameras), but it all went well:
He got 20-25 RSVPs, and just under 20 showed up, which was a very good turnout (even taking into account non-RSVP-ed arrivals).
I thought half would be expats. About a third were. There was one guy who did the same thing with him in Sydney 2 weeks back.
Matt
Reviewing the footage
People cramming around to view it
If you can't see anything, it's okay - neither could we (pretty much)
Me and My No 1 Fan with my (I don't know about her) first internet celebrity in the flesh!
[Addendum:
Off-camera dancing]
My No 1 Fan
The turnout was much better in other countries - 60 in South Korea, ~100 in Vancouver and more than 60 in Tokyo. In Hong Kong he went to the Peak, which was a bad idea since it was foggy, as usual.
Matt's comments on Singapore:
"The distinction between Singapore and its airport is a minor one. The entire country feels like one very large departure lounge; spotlessly clean, no distinct smells, climate-controlled, no one is poor, lots of shopping, no real culture, pleasant enough for the moment, but not a place you want to stay very long.
This makes sense. The city was founded to be a gateway. It is between places, and somehow immune to the realities of true placehood."
And more:
"The designers of this city knew exactly what they were doing. It's freakishly safe and efficient. It's what Guliani would've done with New York if he could've gotten rid of all the New Yorkers... it all works. The only other place I've seen that vaguely resembles this is the Microsoft campus...
I went into a country music bar where all the men were white and all the women were either Thai or Vietnamese. After about the fifth girl telling me I was handsome and asking me where I was staying, I finally caught on that they were all hookers."
Lastly (and randomly), a Jap told him: "We are a strange people". Good to know a native thinks so.
More pictures (albeit