Excuse this lame anglo-french approach in the title. Here one more reason to get onto a plane and escape the fierce Austrian winter…

Feel free

“It never rains in Southern California” (Albert Hammond)

Winter here in good old Austria made me really desperate. Desperate enough to have me pick up the clichést of clichés. Look what I found on my hard drive looking for a cosy warm desktop wallpaper.

Accidentally I changed my wallpaper to Tina Fey vs Sarah Palin the other day when reading some news page. After panicking (at least over 50% of my screen), I decided to keep it for a while to get into a christmas election mood.

It happened. Accident. Emergency. A la Patrick Wolf

Seems like the hills are alive indeed. I still got an echo of the hills that supposedly singing, dancing, cheering and jumping of joy in my ears. And since the reflection is somewhat the visual equivalent to an audio echo, I am posting this little snapshot. Taken in Salzburg near University church (oh yaa, a lodd of tschurtsches in Solzburgh). More pictures to come. Plus, I’m dropping a note that I made it safely through Austria and I have to admit, it was really nice.

Now, everybody go change their desktop's wallpaper, noooow! I mean it.

…this would be pretty much it. Hazy Manhattan Dreams, nothing to add from my side, what about you? This, is wallpaper material.

Hazy Manhattan Dreams · photo by eqqman on flickr.com

It’s been a year since I took off by plane to the Golden State. It’s been a year and I just can’t believe. A lot of things happened since then and this fact really proves that time flies. Working at Dynea, passing my community service and all the experiences that come along with it. At this time of the year I just wish I could board a plane that takes me somewhere else. The thought that I am trapped ALL summer is slightly stressing me out. Just slightly. Sarcasm End.

Not that I am sick of my life here in Austria, it is just that I am anticipating something that isn’t going to happen. Do you know that feeling. This year, no huge trip for poor Philipp. No vacation. Well, I’ll host an American friend for a week, so that should be fun, right? Touring Austria!

Thank you to my host family and all the new friends I made in California. I just wanted to thank you. Even after a year I keep thinking of you and I hope to be back soon. Promised. A YEAR, crazy!

Darker Than – This most certainly is a nice wallpaper opportunity – click to get enlarged version · by Thomas Hawk on flickr.com

Images like these of typical symbols like Las Vegas, San Francisco (Golden Gate, Transamerica Pyramid, etc.) and travel stuff keep following me. It looks like I can’t let go. No, I just can’t let go.

Here the lines of a song that people who fell in love with The City would sign without further ado to proof the finesse of San Francisco… I Left my Heart In San Francisco by Tony Bennett.

I left my heart in San Francisco, high on a hill it calls to me
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.
The morning fog may chill the air, I don’t care.
My love waits there in San Francisco, above the blue and windy sea,
When I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me.

Good to know that the golden sun will shine for anybody who goes to San Francisco.

A collective experiment in brand perception.

Lately, philsblogging has spent quite some time dealing with brands and how we interact with them. If you haven’t read Where We Encounter Brands by now, this is now highly recommended. As a follow-up story (there are more to come, that’s what I can say for now), I point at a research program that describes the offered service with the following words – and I quote now:”A collective experiment in brand perception.” Brandtags.net digs deep in our (collective) minds to answer one question. What associations is the public reflection of world brands made of?

This is what a flickr search for “collective brand” results in · Ever wondered what the public reflection of the Coke brand looks like? · photo by Ende

Listing reason why to love New York City probably takes ages and why have words ruin the magnetic(ally) appealing atmosphere of a city that never sleeps. New York at sun set must be a thing of beauty and pictures can only give you the tiniest bit of an idea of what goes through your mind when your thoughts begin to get lost. Thanks toBarry. This time, I force you to click to enlarge the experience.

Phil hearts NYC

Tower by Luis Montemayor – Overlooking San Francisco this is one of my favorite places in Fog City. I actually just wanted to show off my new Wallpaper for my Macbook. Astonishing capture.