My experience with Floyd’s was annoying enough to make this video about my experience with Floyd’s.

This episode only covers a day but it was a very very long one.  Two more to come!

Naomi and Tara in Costa Rica Part III from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

Is that a cheesy title for a travel show?  Maybe I should acronym that shit and go with YCDT.  I dunno, but nonetheless, here is the next episode.

Costa Rican Adventure Part II from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

I went!  And it was a wicked good time.  And since I love to do hosting stuff, I took that opportunity to bring the camera and document the whole experience.  I’m hoping to turn these videos into a little travel show for several reasons.

First, I love to travel and I love to do hosting and so I want to combine the two.

Second, it’s not about big expensive getaways.  It’s two young, fun best girlfriends exploring a place on the cheap and having a blast.  I’m hoping that can inspire more young people to travel.  The travel shows seem to be often geared towards retired people and really wealthy people.  If you’re between 20 and 40 or if you just have a youthful, adventurous attitude, you’re probably interested in doing completely different things on a trip than those other demographics.

And yet, it’s so easy for the 20-40 age group, especially in this economy, to get stuck in that grind and not feel like a trip somewhere is not an option.    Well no more!!  You can do it too.  You just gotta make it happen.  Hopefully these travel shows will inspire you or, if you detest traveling, you can still see faraway places from the comfort of in front of your computer.

Here is the first video (out of 5) of Our Costa Rican Adventure.  Gracias.

Costa Rican Adventure Part I from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

Most GDC parties are BAD.  So so bad.

These parties are usually open bar but the line is crazy and the drinks are never good. And I’m pretty sure the original idea was for networking but they crank the music so loud you can’t hear yourself talk, let alone someone you’re talking to.  The worst part is when there is no where to sit down.

The Game Developer’s Party was the best party I’ve ever been to during any kind of conference.  It was this year’s  Fairmount Hotel.  People were actually comfortable and having a good time.  After years of going to dog meat GDC parties, Dave Taylor thought about who goes to them and what they would want to do at a party, and designed his own around that.

The drinks were UNBELIEVABLE.   Seriously, I’ve worked in my share of bars.  Nice ones.  These drinks, sponsored by Bacardi rocked.  They were fruity and tasty but somehow sophisticated at the same time. Now I’m no light-weight that has to have Appletinis. I can drink whiskey with the best of them but these drinks tasted sooo much better!  The kumquats, fresh mint and essence of jalepeno weren’t there to mask the rum, they were there enhance it.  There was even a drink with lightly whipped egg white on top!  That might sound crazy but, trust me, it was good. The Mojitos were simple and perfect and the rest of the drinks on the menu were so unique and truly delicious. Not sure who’s idea that all was but it was genius. They were tasty, fun to try and a great ice-breaker for conversation. People were clearly impressed.

And then there was the food. Small fresh baguettes with carmelized onions and goat cheese. Yummy quiches, arugula and beet salad. Creme Brulee, fresh fruit and wicked good chocolate chip cookies.  I think the company that did that was Crepe de Chocolate and I think they have a restaurant in the Bay Area somewhere.  Or at least they really really should.

The last element for the perfect party was this, sort of, photo booth set up. Hal Bergman had a photography area with his strobes, camera and a back drop and people went nuts over it!  If Hal ever thought the momentum was slowing down, he’d grab me and tell me to wrangle people.  By then I’d tossed back so many cocktails, this was quite a fun assignment=)

I did manage to get a little bit of video from the night.  It was at the Academy of Art which was right next to Moscone. I had this brilliant drunken idea to take some footage by the front door for some reason. This was followed by another great idea to video tape my cab ride home. Enjoy!

Game Developer’s Party from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

This is creepy and trippy and scary but I can’t help but be fascinated by it.  I just shot a film that was similar to this in that there were a lot of cameras and they were rolling for 36 hours straight.  Though it was shot reality style, there was an outline to be met and we were portraying very detailed characters.  So we were still, in a sense, able to hide our personal selves behind something.

My good friend, Dave Taylor is constantly telling me that I should just have cameras rolling all the time so that when I tell a good story or joke, it will be captured.  And that sounds very appealing - but when I heard the last line spoken at about 3:28 (about lions and tigers starting out being kings of the jungle), it all started to sound like a terrible idea.  Eamonn Fitzgerald had some interesting things to say about that too:

http://www.eamonn.com/2009/01/we_live_in_public_now.htm

We Live In Public TRAILER from We Live in Public on Vimeo.

My friend, Ken Sheetz, produced a DVD interviewing kids on their political views around election time.  The DVD was released on Inauguration Day and we shot this: Kids Talk Politics Red Carpet Event

It was so much fun!

Last week, Jessica Fox and I went to a Super Walmart and filmed a mockumentary about various female shoppers.  It was so much fun!  Here’s how the project turned out.  Comments are welcome.

Oh, ya I had to post it in two parts:

Women of Walmart Part 1 from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

Women of Walmart Part 2 from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.

Check it out!  I did this on Sunday.  It was fun. 

Photographers Stand Up For Their Rights from Naomi Mercer on Vimeo.