For those of you who are unfamiliar with the fabulous, sassy, wine-loving whiner Matt Bellassai, I recommend you stop what you're doing right now and look him up (right after you finish reading this post). I recently became obsessed with the wino after seeing a few of his videos on Facebook. As my obsession grew, I decided to take a shot in the dark and try to get in contact with Mr. Bellassai to see if he would answer a few questions for me. I asked Matt about his work with BuzzFeed, his obsession with wine and Beyonce and, of course, how he feels about some of life's most important matters: man buns and PDAs.
What is your favorite wine?
Whatever's cheapest, because all wine tastes exactly the same to me. (But, usually white wine, and something that's not too sweet because wine gives me an IMMEDIATE hangover.)
How did you land the job everyone wishes they could have?
Initially, I was a BuzzFeed Community Member, which means I was just a normal person living at home after I graduated from college, and posted some dumb stuff to BuzzFeed with a Community account, which anybody can sign up for.
The first few posts I published (about boys and butts, naturally) actually ended up performing really well on the site, so I applied and was hired to be a member of the first class of BuzzFeed fellows, which is basically an enhanced full-time internship for young people on the Internet who wanna train to become full-time editors. And I did well, and was hired as a full-time editor. And that's what I've been doing for the past two and a half years!
The cool thing about BuzzFeed is that everybody is free to pretty much experiment with whatever they want. So I get to pitch ideas like "we should do a video series where I get drunk at my desk and complain about stuff" and I'm able to try it and see if it works!
If you had to choose Beyoncé or wine which would it be?
Beyoncé is better than all material things combined. I would give up all food and drink for Beyoncé. But, I intend on meeting Her one day, so hopefully I can have both.
What has your BuzzFeed experience been like this far?
I love it, obviously! Like I said, the main thing about BuzzFeed is that we spend all our time experimenting. And it's OK if some of our ideas totally fail and get ridiculed, because we learn from our mistakes and just keep going. I also think the cool thing about writing for the Internet is that everybody has a relatively equal chance to be successful. It doesn't matter if it's your first day at BuzzFeed or your 500th day, if you write something, it has a pretty much equal chance of being successful, cause we just throw everything out into the Internet and see what works.
Also, there's snacks and drinks and cool celebrities come in and sometimes cats. So that's cool.
Are there any new projects you’re working on that you can talk about?
The team I'm currently on is the newest part of BuzzFeed, called BuzzFeed BFF, which makes original stuff that doesn't actually go on BuzzFeed the website, but on all the other places around the Internet, like Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. So I guess that's technically the "new project," as of now.
As part of that team, I've been able to grow my Facebook page, which is kind of my current number one project. That's where we put Whine About It every week and I can play around with just being myself. I also run a Twitter account called First Date Questions and an Instagram called Motivational AF.
Brad Pitt or Adam Levine?
Brad Pitt from Fight Club > everything.
Tell me about the love life.
The only love life I have is between me and the man who delivers my Chinese food.
Have you always been so outgoing and comedic?
I feel like I've been pretty outgoing my whole life, but it's taken a while to get really comfortable. I used to turn aggressively red whenever I spoke in class or in public, and I've come a long way from that. But I still get nervous and weird whenever we film anything, so there's still a ways to go.
How do you feel about man buns and dad bods?
I'm a fan of man buns IF YOU CAN PULL THEM OFF. I think most men who can wear a bun only do it when they haven't washed it, so it turns out to be kinda gross looking. But, whatever, you do you.
And dad bods are FINE, I guess. There's a whole thing about dad bods being bullshit cause it's an excuse for men to be lazy and still be considered hot, while women have to try so hard to be considered sexy. Which I totally agree with. Men shouldn't get a pass. That being said, I do like my men with some meat on their bones.
PDAs, yes or no?
Absolutely not.
Is that really wine you're drinking on Whine Wednesday?
Yes! I drink enough to get a little tipsy while we're filming, and then I pretty much go directly into a hangover.
Butts, Beyoncé or boys? Pick ONE. Why?
Well, if I picked boys, I get their butts, too. So I'll go with them. Beyoncé would understand.
I wish I could have picked this man's mind over a few bottles(or boxes) of wine but this was an awesome alternative. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Matt! Keep being fabulous, doll.
