FYI: Reviews Going Out on RSS Feed

Hey guys, just an FYI. I have been asked to review a few other websites and will be posting my reviews under our “Featured Essays” section. I wanted to give those of you receiving our RSS Feed a head’s up so you won’t think they are “junk mail”. I will try to keep them few and far apart (though I am working on a bunch tonight) so you don’t get bombarded with them! Thanks for bearing with me and actually, check them out, a few of the sites are really interesting!

Please Help!

We depend on your tips, comments, and pictures to keep the site going. But right now we need you more than ever. Please help keep OLV running by making a donation. We may not be able to continue without your help. And thanks to all of you who have already donated, whether your donation was large or small, we appreciate all of your help!

To see this weekend’s locations, click here.

Time To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

You know how they have donation drives every fall on NPR and PBS? Well, we’re starting our own drive this week. We LOVE being able to help make your dreams come true and there would be no OLV without you. We depend on your tips, comments, and pictures to keep the site going. But right now we need you more than ever. Please help keep OLV running by making a donation. We may not be able to continue without your help. And thanks to all of you who have already donated, whether your donation was large or small, we appreciate all of your help!

We want to offer more opportunities for contests, more pictures, and even more tips but can’t do any of that without your support. We make little from advertising and like everyone else, our expenses are rising. Please donate today and help keep OLV alive!

Vote for Us in the Blogger’s Choice Awards!

We’ve been nominated for the 2008 Blogger’s Choice Awards but we need your help!

Please vote for us here!

Please vote for us here!

Please vote for us here!

Think About It

I saw this on Shepard Fairey’s site and thought it was worth sharing.

Sorry it isn’t related to movie locations and I promise I won’t start making this site my own personal political soapbox but this is pretty interesting.

Same situation, different perceptions

If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.”
If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”

Black teen pregnancies? A “crisis” in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A “blessed event.”

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you’re “unpatriotic.”
Name your kid Track, you’re “colorful.”

If you’re a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you’re an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.
But if you’re a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you’re spunky.

If you’re a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you “First dog.”
If you’re a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you “beautiful” and “courageous.”

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If you kill an endangered species, you’re an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion you’re not a Christian, you’re a murderer (forget about if it happens while being date raped.)

If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.”
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”

If you’re a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you’re “reckless.”
A Republican who doesn’t fully vet is a “maverick.”

If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an “arrogant celebrity”.
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are “energizing the base”.

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are “presumptuous”.
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a “shoot from the hip” maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are “an elitist-out of touch” with the real America.
If you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

If you strategize and manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign defeating more tenured politicians, you are an “empty suit”.
If you were a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an “experienced executive”.

If you go to a largely African American south side Chicago church, your beliefs are “extremist”.
If you believe in creationism, don’t believe global warming is affected by human activity, and see the Iraq invasion as “a mission from God”, you are “strongly principled”.

If you left your disfigured wife after cheating on her with a rich heiress, whom you married the next month, you’re a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years and raised 2 beautiful daughters, you’re “risky”.

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 3 years in the United States Senate representing a state of almost 13 million people, sponsoring 129 bills and cosponsoring 545 bills, and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you are “inexperienced”.

If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you’ve got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, have traveled to 3 foreign countries, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard of 4,000 members, you are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

Fringe Premiere Ticket Giveway

The folks over at The New York Television Festival have been nice enough to give us 2 passes to the Fringe Premiere on Saturday 9/13 at the World Stages in Manhattan and we are giving them away to one lucky reader!

To enter, email the full name of Joshua Jackson’s character in Fringe to olv(at)onlocationvacations(dot)com (please add contest to the subject line). After you have emailed us, please also leave a comment letting us know you have entered but do not give away your answer! You must enter by Thursday 9/11 at 5:00 PM. We’ll randomly draw a winner amongst the eligible entries and will post a video of the drawing at 9 PM Thursday. The winner will be contacted after the drawing with all of the details via email.

The NYTVF was founded in 2005 as the industry’s first recognized independent television festival, providing a platform to elevate the work of artists creating for the small screen. Held annually each fall in New York City, the birthplace of modern television, the Festival unites artists, executives, industry figures, and fans together in one forum to celebrate the medium and to help shape its future.

Call For Writers and A New Contest for Our Readers!

We’re looking for writers. If you have a story about something you saw filming or a location where a movie was filmed, drop us a line. It doesn’t have to be anything too formal. We are just looking to get some new ideas and new voices on the site. We won’t be able to compensate you but it may look good on a resume or make a good writing sample.

We are also starting a new contest this week. We ran a photo contest last year but just as it started so did the writer’s strike so it never went anywhere but we are going to give it another shot!

This contest is a bit different and a lot more fun! Since so many of you are using our tips to meet celebs we thought we might be able to get some free advertising out of it in the process! Here’s how it works, if you use one of our tips to meet a celebrity and get them to say Hi to On Location Vacations on video we will send you an iTunes Gift Card. It’s that easy. There are a few small stipulations. First, it has to be one of the stars of the movie or TV show. You can’t get a random extra or PA to do the video and think it will count, it won’t. You also have to upload it to YouTube and email the link to us, that will be the easiest way for us to get it up on the site.

So here’s an example: You bring your Flip to the set of Gossip Girl, meet Ed Westwick, get him to say something to On Location Vacations (you can be creative here, maybe get him to say something like OLV rocks or On Location Vacations is awesome, something like that) upload the video to YouTube and send us the link, it is that easy! And it might be a great excuse to start a conversation with a celebrity!

There is a bonus round: Most of you know that I love Joshua Jackson! If you are on the set of Fringe thanks to one of our tips and meet Josh and get him to say something directly to me (Christine) as well as saying something about OLV, you will get a bonus prize!

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Call for Writers

We’re looking for writers! If you have an idea for an article that you think would be a good fit for OLV, email us at olv@onlocationvacations.com and submit your pitch. Unfortunately we can’t pay anything at this point but it might make a good writing sample for those aspiring writers out there and we are hoping down the road we will be able to offer compensation so you may want to get on our good side now! We look forward to hearing from you!