Dubai, United Arab Emirates Is There Really a Market for This?

"Hi Matt, I represent a large adult video company and we would be interested in featuring you and your wife having sex in various locations around the world, similar to your current videos. Details are sketchy at the moment but we would be willing to pay you each £100,000 and all travel fees, shooting would probably be completed over a 3 month period. Let me know if you are interested."

And Melissa asks, "You have a wife?"

I'm in Dubai at the moment, shooting an ad for Visa...as you do from time to time.

The ad is unrelated to the above inquiry and is of a non-pornographic sort...or so I'm told.

It's Ramadan right now, which means no eating or drinking during daylight hours. The crew has arranged a closed-off, private space near where we're shooting tomorrow so we can nourish ourselves in sin.

I'm told there is also no laughing during Ramadan, though I can find no confirmation of this. The internet says one must abstain only from things food and sex-related.

Our hotel is near the Burj Dubai, which is supposed to open before the end of this year. Construction is all but complete, making it the not-yet official tallest skyscraper in the world. You wouldn't know from looking at it, though. There are no tall buildings anywhere near it, so it's difficult to judge its scale.

It'd be much easier if the skyline looked like this.

Apparently reaching the height of the Empire State Building's observation deck wouldn't put you halfway to the top of this beast. The tip of the Burj's spire is over half a mile up in the sky.

Melissa and I bought a house over the summer. We were in a town home for a few years, but this is a real housey house. It looks out over the canal. All day we watch fishing boats come in and out from Puget Sound, drawbridges raising and lowering, locks opening and closing, trains passing down from Vancouver, and float planes using the canal for visual navigation. It feels a bit like Legoland.

From time to time a bald eagle perches outside our bedroom. I've stood in the shower watching seals feed on salmon. A couple weeks ago they picked up a 140 lb mountain lion that was spotted on our street.

I got a kayak. It makes me tremendously happy. I realized several of the best days of my life happened on a kayak. Shortly after moving in, Melissa and I paddled over to Ray's Boathouse for dinner. They let us park it on the dock, we watched the sun set over the Olympics, and that was one more for the list.

We went to Burning Man. Loved it. Most people who've told me about Burning Man eventually end up sounding like cult members. I don't want to do that, so I'm not going to go on about it. It's possible your life may still be complete if you never bother to attend, but it's certainly unlike anything else I've seen in this world.

Drugs weren't nearly as central to the experience as I thought they'd be. They're present, certainly, but used discreetly and if you don't want to be in the thick of all that you don't have to be.

Nudity, on the other hand, is omnipresent, but the bodies on display are generally of a fit and well-utilized sort, so you're usually staring because you want to, not because you can't make yourself turn away.

The art was much more of a thing than I expected. We mainly just wandered around looking at stuff.

I would go back.

I also went to Comic-Con in San Diego. It was great for a whole different list of reasons. I spent most of my time in the ever-dwindling comic book portion of the convention hall, sifting through old EC horror books and tracking down cherished Fantastic Four issues that still elude me.

My anxiety over my own book has settled. I don't know whatever happened with bookstores returning copies, but I'm not worrying about it at this point. The responses I hear are still all good, and it's selling well in the store on my site. I should have warned on the sales page that it sometimes takes me a month to get copies signed and out the door since I'm away from home so much, but I haven't had any irate customers yet. I'm starting to enjoy the whole process of packing envelopes and putting my pants on to go walk to the mailbox.

The book has basically become this thing I did that turned out okay and didn't fail miserably and I'm sort of a little bit proud of having done it. And since it's a book, it hopefully has a long life ahead of it, and once I get the next video done I expect it'll suddenly start doing very well for a while.

Did I mention I'm making another video? I think I've sort of mumbled about it in the past. I tell anyone who comes up and asks, and I did a thing at the TED conference about it, but I guess I haven't formally announced anything. I'm planning to start in the early part of next year. I'm going to putter around the planet in a low-key way for a while, and then do the bigger crowd stuff as I get closer to completion. It was a drag rounding up a huge group of people to dance and then having to tell them all that the video would be up in a little over a year. Schoolkids in Burkina Faso don't mind as much when you tell them that.

This new video won't be a rehash. I've got something planned that I'm quite excited about. In fact, to be honest, the world travel part doesn't thrill me nearly as much as this amazing thing I get to put together. I'm around the corner on travel. It'll always be a big part of my life, but I'm old now and I found what I was looking for and I wrote a book about it and I've got a nice house and a lovely partner and I mostly just want to be there doing all of that.

But I've also got this wonderful opportunity, and a thing to say that's worth saying, and an audience that seems to want to hear it. And, of course, I'm not much use at this point when I'm not dancing badly. There are lots more bills to pay now.

I'll put a sign-up page back up at some point like I did with the last video, so you can get an email when I'm dancing in your area. In the meantime, if you want to make sure you're on the list, just send me an email and tell me where you are. The nearest city will do. If you tend to be in more than one place, you can list them, but please limit it to just a few. And if you've emailed me in the past and mentioned where you live, don't worry about it. You're already on my enormo-giganta-list.

Comments

[Ian Davies]

Hello Matt,

I really love your dancing videos. I live in Dubai and if you need somebody to jump about crazilly in the background, please let me know.

Regards,

Ian.

[Anton]

I'm commenting just to say that I'm here and I really enjoy reading your posts. Perhaps you were part of the inspiration for some of my travel. Over the past four years, I've done 40 or so countries and 6 continents and I can absolutely sympathize with your desire to settle down a bit in a cozy place with your partner. Looking forward to the next video, hope I can be in it too.

[Babel]

funny query :D no interest?
have you heard something about "the world" is cancled?

[Dieter]

Hi Matt & Malissa,

Great to read you'll be doing another movie in 2010. To be honest, I'm a little bit curious because everything you say stays quite mysterious... But you can count me in to join you when you're in Belgium.

Cheers,

Dieter

[Kearns]

Details are sketchy? I think the whole idea is sketchy...

And I don't know who told you there is no laughing in Ramadan, 'cause that's one I've never heard, and I've done sufficient research on the subject.

[Steve Algier]

Congrats on the House matt.

[Rich Rossi]

Thanks for the update! Congrats on things.. book/home/offer ;)

People are always going to be disappointed. A year?! That's nothing.. think of the wait for Diablo 3..

You're not old, kid!

[Alex]

I assume you've accepted the sex video deal. It's a brilliant idea and there's no way it could fall through.

Bald eagle = awesome.

Fantastic Four: are you reading Jonathan Hickman's current run? I love the hell out of it so far.

[Kevin Miller]

Yay another video! And congrats on the house, it sounds frakkin' awesome.

Glad you're getting to see Dubai while it still exists. I have a sneaking suspicion it will be the awesomest ghost town ever in another 30 years. The whole town appears to be based on slavery and classism though, so I wouldn't be sad to see it go.

[Bella]

So why don't you guys get married?? Living together is a sin--seriously.

[JD]

Just dropping a note to say you still have readers out there. Love to hear updates from you when you have time to post. Hubby and I danced in Seattle with you on the last round. We'd definitely have a second go if you do another Seattle cameo.

[Paul Cilwa]

I'm always glad to read another of your posts. They're like letters from a friend. One of the weird things about being a writer/celebrity is that people feel connected to you without your even knowing they exist. At least by blogging we have a chance to say, "Hey! I'm always glad to read..."

[Rob]

Congratulations to you and Melissa on the house and the new video. The seals in your neighborhood must be pretty impressive, if they were able to pick up a 140 pound mountain lion. Refraining from things food and sex-related reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George Constanza tries to combine the pleasures of sex and food; no wonder the imams want to put the kibosh on that.

[Janet]

Matt,
I'm happy to hear that you are settling down and that you and Melissa purchased a house. Life must be good! It appears to me that you must be getting closer to the "M" word....you know what I mean, I've bitched about "it" over the past several years. Please invite me.....:-)

[Michael]

Hi Matt,
I woke up this morning to my 41st birthday. I hated 39. 40 was the pits! 41 felt worse. While on my computer - by accident, I found myself saying, "Who the hell is Matt?" The simplicity of dance on your own terms is amazing. "Success is not a state to arrive, but rather a manner to travel"-author unknown. Keep teaching others to enjoy the ride.

[Susie]

Matt! Come to Louisville, KY!!!! We can dance in front of the ginormous baseball bat at the Louisville Slugger Museum!!!

[Bere Tarde o temprano]

Wooow! I´m sitting here alone at home because i have a splint in my left leg :(. I was surfing on internet and i found your videos! wow! they are sooo inspiring. It reminded me how wonderful is to travel. I have been living in different cities for the last 7 years but i have never come with such a wonderful idea of how remember the travels and how to get people to experience adventure virtually.

Bravo Matt! My next adventure is China! i hope one day i get to dance with you.

[Kirsten]

I live in Hollywood, CA and work near the beach in Redondo Beach,CA. Would love to dance with you sometime. Your home sounds great! Love that area of the world. Have fun, you only live once in this life.

[honglien123]

Congrats on finding what you were looking for and for having someone with whom to share it! It is nice to see that you're still posting. As someone mentioned, your posts are like letters from an old friend. You may not know us, but we're so happy you're well and content.

Also, nice to know that you'll be doing another video. I was completely late last time you were in my area (San Francisco) and ended up sounding like an out of breath fan when we did finally make it. (In my memory at least. You were SO nice to my little one.) Hopefully, you'll be coming back to the Bay Area. =)

[Amy]

Would love to see you in Madison, WI :D We're a fun bunch here...

[Jordan, aged 15]

Any chance of you coming to Scotland in your next video. I live in Aberdeen, but I would be happy enough just to have Scotland in your next video. (It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world)

[Susanna]

I could not be any happier for you.

Thanks for the new post. It is good to keep up with you.

[Mike]

I would suggest you go to Jukkasjärvi Ice Hotel during winter in Sweden, it's open December through to April. This is a very unique hotel in the world and an amazing experience. While you're up in the north of Sweden there's not that far to go to North cape in Norway, Lofoten Islands Norway and other great places like Tromsö Norway.
I live in Stockholm now but I lived up there for three years and did a lot of travels to the places I've mentioned and they're sooo worth seeing. Hope you'll let me know when you're in Sweden next time.

[Federico]

Amazing job, Matt!
Cheers from Milan, Italy

[JoJo]

I'm looking forward to your next video !!!

[Luciana Linck]

Hi matt, I wanna send an email for you but I don't know what happen and I can't see you email, I really want talk with you, this video and what you do is wonderfull.
Please if you had a time sand e-mail to me :

[Laura Nobel]

If you are ever by way up in Maine let me know!! Congrats on the Puget Sound and the special someone and your Kayak. Your videos are inspiringly happy. Also, I could find friendly folks for you to stay with if you made it to Cameroon (my husband's family is from there), in Africa. Cheers and best wishes, my mother grew up in Seattle area - its a pretty city.

[Julia]

Hi Matt,
Glad to hear life is good for you. Looking forward to the next video, let us know if your come back to England as we love your videos. If you ever get bored of travelling, you'd have a great following as a columnist - you're a very entertaining writer.
Take care.

[kat]

It's nice to hear you sound so contented. Not that your other posts were filled with angst and frustration, but you sound so gosh darned satisfied with life. I'm envious.

If you're ever near Boston...

[Ryan]

I am glad to hear about the new video. You should look into dancing in Socotra. It is a small island off the coast of Djbouti and is unlike anywhere else in the world.

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/most-alien-looking-place-on-earth.html

[Carol in Venice, CA]

Matt, great to read your post. I check every week or two to see if you've posted... I agree that it's like hearing from an old friend and I'm glad life is good. I'm old enough to be your Mum, but young enough to dance!

And, you ARE a very entertaining writer. More please!

[W2M]

Interesting Matt,

since I live in Magnolia, and saw said cougar when it ran from the heron gully up to the park.

I dont suppose your new house is near me, is it? that would be weird, since I dressed up like you last halloween.
Laura

[Rajib Bahar]

Happy Eid or Eid Mubarrak to you Matt and Melissa!

Enjoy your middle east trip.

Near the end of this clip, I play an eid music [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnY0XfkcH6c]. Later.

[Sontia of Kansas]

I am a complete stranger who just happened to be looking at Michael Jackson's Ghost to see if I could see where the shadow came from, and then I decided to choose dancing where I ended up watching possibly the prettiest belly dancer ever, then I hit the back button and there was a video sitting on the row that asked me "Where the hell is matt?" I didn't know, so I clicked the play button to see if I could find out..for some reason the video made me cry. You are very blessed to be able to have seen all of those places. Weather you believe it or not you are an inspiration to people, and your dance is silly enough to be magic.I really mean that. Love from Kansas cause Kansas is the Shit.

Sontia

[Emma]

Hi Matt,
I would love to spend more time in Dubai. We were there only in transit from Australia to London. I was blown away by our brief visit, the colour of the early morning skyline, the massive sand palm trees and the incredibe culture I'm yet to experience. Thanks for your inspiration.
Emma

[Glenn]

Good Stuff!How about dancing on a surfboard off the north west coast of Ireland in Sligo. We could probably teach you how to surf if you cant.
Enjoy the Trip

[Fraser]

This was my first year at Burning Man too. I stayed drunk most of the time.

[Lindsey Stetson]

Hey Matt...

Of course, the videos are great! Now that you seem to be somewhat settled - with the house and all - do you think the travelbug has subsided??? I'm just wondering if it ever leaves you...

[Palmer]

Love your stuff. I have no idea why you would but, if you ever decide to shoot in Tampa, Fl or anywhere around here count me in

[Bucket Truck]

Good Dancing :D

[Natalie]

As another Seattlite who now lives the expat life in Dubai, I hope you enjoyed your visit here. Sorry no one turned down the thermostat for you..it's almost bearable now in October. Almost. Anyway, we'll be on the lookout for the commercial with our homeboy Matt in Dubai. Happy travels. Looking forward to coming home and getting a copy of your book. :)

[Tracy]

Matt,

Thanks for the book! Our 7 year old, Michael, was so excited! I must say, you've inspired us to start a "dancing fund" for Michael...kind of like a college fund but for a "year off"....after college, so he can travel and experience life....If you are ever in Alabama or Georgia he (and his parents) would love to dance with you!

Thanks for the inspiration! Tracy

[Danny]

Ha Matt,

I went trough my old internet bookmarks and found your site again. Your videos made my day again. They did that in 2005 and four years later they still have the same effect on me. Every time I look at them it just make you smile. Reading your stories is amazing as well. You're a traveler of the world.

It's nice to read you are doing fine and that you have plans on settling down. I will keep an eye on this site for the new video.

Thank you for the videos and I hope life gives you what you expect from it.

(sorry for my broken english.)

- Danny

[Pardes]

Matt, you are a hoot and make me smile whenever I think of you dancing. You know, making people smile rates right up there with solving world peace and curing cancer. Seriously. Dance on, you dear thing and take a rest when you need to.

[Ian]

Another video, hooray! This time I will endeavour to join you at some point, should you come anywhere near Cambridge (UK).

Enjoyed the Visa ad too!

Keep dancing!

[Heike]

Hi Matt,
I'm always happy after watching your dancing video. If you ever come again to Cologne or maybe Bonn, please let me know. For sure I will be there.

[Rosemarie Hogan]

Wow, a house and everything, good for you and Melissa!
You deserve it. Looking forward to the Visa commercial!
just came back from a trip, great dancing spots in Albufeira,
Portugal on the Algarve Coast, and Fes, Morocco in the Medina!

Very excited about your new travel project! Good luck!

[Vianey Valles]

I loved your video! today was the first time I've seen. It's so amazing how many places you've visited in your life. I've only been to a couple of places in the world mostly in the USA but you have inspired me to start traveling. Thanks and good luck in your future travels.
I'm in Duarte CA come to visit please..

[lj evans]

I haven't checked in on you in a while, glad you seem to be thriving. Will go investigate this book thingie you've apparently got going. Please do keep me on your list if you ever make a stab at Fairbanks again, whether under the Northern Lights or the midnight sun.
best,
lj

[Hannah]

Hi Matt and Melissa.
I'm Hannah from North carolina and i'm 16 (what a youngster). My dad joined the Navy after going to the naval academy and was apart of it for 22 years. So of course that meant the entire family had to move around like crazy. Not so much fun to do without family or friends. So I've grown up around moving every few years until this last move where my dad retired and we've finaly settled down for 5 years! Praise the Lord! So I totally relate as to why you love traveling but prefer staying in one place in every blue moon. So if you're ever in a small town called Hickory to dance, I'll be there! Cuz im crazy and cool like that.
P.S. Loved the Visa Ad and the Hoax meeting. People are so oblivious somtimes.
lol. see you if i can. Go Foard High School!
Best in life and blessings from God,
Hannah