Cherry 

Hi , This is Ice Cream Sundae's 50th edition! As mentioned in the past few weeks I’ve been thinking of new formats for the newsletter. I really liked the long form one but I’m pressed for time and rather than promise that every week I’d like to have a different format to alternate with and write long form posts occasionally. I’m trying this with staple sundae ingredients. The design isn’t exactly there just yet; I’ll improve it. In the meantime if you have any feedback please keep in touch. The cherry on top rounds off the sundae. In the newsletter this will likely be something fun and offbeat I came across the Internet, maybe mixed in with some personal news. I’m back from an exceptional weekend away in Toronto that also happened to be a first date. I think I felt like the people enjoying this ridiculously fun slip n’slide down a huge hill in Australia.

Sprinkles

The sprinkles can be a fun animated gif. I’ve picked this from Reddit’s Gifs subreddit, rising in popularity. It’s how they made the Old Spice ads.

Whipped Cream

This section is going to feature some important piece of news from the past week, possibly a slightly different take on whatever the news are. This week it would be difficult not to mention the announcement of the new iPhone 7 and how Apple decided the humble 3.5mm audio jack no longer belongs in their future. Instead it seems Apple are investing in more adapters and variants on the colour black. If you missed it, this video sums up the launch event in 107 seconds. I stopped getting excited about the iPhone since the fourth version, I barely pay attention by now. I just kind of have to for work. I’m looking forward to the new Google Nexus phones being announced, which will be next month according to rumours. Apparently they might be rebranded and called Pixel instead of Nexus too.

Caramel Fudge

What’s sticky this week in the communications industry? A lot of people in the UK have been talking about this brilliant Maltesers advertising campaign aired during the Paralympics, I just came across one of them again on Youtube. The ads feature actors with disabilities talking and laughing about every day kind of awkward situations they’ve experienced. You can check out all the videos here, they’re worth it.

Chocolate

A sundae typically features two scoops of ice cream. I’m thinking one would be about tabletop gaming and the other about something possibly related to brand and marketing strategy somehow.

 I want to get back into tabletop roleplaying games. I haven’t played anything in months. In the meantime I still can’t help checking out Kickstarter for new projects and I’m very excited about this new game from acclaimed game designer Monte Cook. Invisible Sun is a deluxe tabletop roleplaying game of surreal fantasy. It looks super weird and amazing. Apparently there are many new gaming mechanics and ideas to accommodate our grown up busy lives, including an application to resolve certain situations and rules to integrate solo play sessions or changes in regular group situations like when one person can’t make it to a session.

Vanilla

I’ll finish with a fascinating, though maybe not exactly light read: this long article about how it feels to die. Both an account of the last days of the author’s mother and a collection of various scientific research projects and testimonials of what goes on in the bodies, brains and minds of people for their last few days or hours before they die. â€œSeventy-two percent of the patients dreamed about reuniting with people who had already died. Fifty-nine percent said they dreamed about getting ready to travel somewhere. Twenty-eight percent dreamed about meaningful experiences in the past. (Patients were interviewed every day, so the same people often reported dreams about multiple subjects.)†It puts things in perspective and while really interesting it’s also making me think of what I want accomplish while I’m alive and well. On a related though different note, it reminds me a little of this podcast episode I listened to about the value of slowing down on the TED Radio Hour. Different speakers and approaches to appreciating moments to slow down in a world asking us to always move faster and be busier. That’s about it for this week, enjoy the rest of your weekend! Tell me what you initial thoughts are about the new format and please share with friends if you enjoy it too. CheersWillem