Cherry 

Best of the past week

Hi , It's interesting how some things become more focused now I am getting ready to move out of London again (cf. last week's Sundae if you missed the news). I'm seriously looking at what's on and what I'd like to experience in London before I move.I had that in mind on Friday, I had no plans and suddenly remembered about Leicester Square's cut price ticket booth. In all the time I've lived in London I've never actually bought anything from it or suddenly decided to go see a show last minute. I'm glad to say that's now been done. And to kill two birds with one stone in doing two things I'd never done; I went to see a ballet.My first time at the ballet was a gorgeous traditional production of the apparently very popular 19th century French romantic ballet in two acts Giselle by the English National Ballet at London's Coliseum Theatre. The production is still on for another week or so, if ever you're in London I highly recommend it and if you check the TKTS booth on Leicester Square, you'll likely find seats at a good price. I'm certainly going to check out a few more shows before I leave London.When's the last time you went to see a stage show? If it's been a while I recommend checking out what's on in your area, you could even make it a surprise night out with your partner or some friends!In my checking important things off my London list, I was planning to have my favourite grilled cheese sandwich in town this weekend at Borough Market, from Kappacasein Dairy, though for whatever reason they weren't around then. That's another London highlight if or when you visit.Being nearby and ticking foodie and cultural items off my list, I finally checked out the Tate Modern Museum's impressive new building, The Switch House, that opened last summer. I used to work right around there and they'd just started the construction work back then, about 7 years ago or so. I particularly enjoyed the Living Cities collection and excellent views of the City and St Paul from the top floor.Last but not least, I wandered around a bit further checking off a few historic pubs to choose where I'd like to have my main leaving do. If you're in London you can make note that it'll be at The Cittie of Yorke on Saturday 18th February. Although pubs have been serving pints at the location since 1430, the current interior was rebuilt in the 1920s. It's a beautiful pub. I reckon a quiet, central and cool place to meet friends on a Saturday late afternoon / evening, and it's central enough for the evening to go on elsewhere if people feel like it. Awesome cocktail bar Scarfe's or Hibiki Korean Izakaya & karaoke joint are a short walk away, for example. You'll see a Facebook event if we're friends there.

 Sprinkles What's the GIF? 

Whipped Cream

As mentioned last week I'm testing a new section. We all like videos don't we?I really enjoyed this 7 minutes long video from TED featuring Steven Johnson about how play drives innovation and great inventions throughout the ages. The cause and effects it explores are fun, as well as the animation effects too. Have you ever wondered what the first flutes carved by cave men have to do with the modern computer? 

Caramel Fudge

What's sticky in the communications industry?

This week I believe I'm stealing a few links from another excellent email newsletter from friends at Storythings. They use stories to solve brand, communications and business problems.And while I'm at it, I just got tickets for their excellent annual conference The Story, taking place on Friday 17th February 2017 in London. There are still tickets left and I highly recommend checking it out! It's always an inspiring event with a number of speakers who bring stories to life in many different ways.

Chocolate

What's going on in gaming?

Nintendo published some mouth watering video trailers of new games on their upcoming new console, the Switch.I haven't been playing much video games in years but of course I grew up with a Nintendo console. The videos of the new Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are so enticing I'd be quite tempted to get myself a Nintendo Switch just to play those two. If you have any kind of nostalgia around Nintendo games check those out!For those interested in the full download, here is the hour long video presentation of the new Nintendo Switch console and launch games, for the quick one this post lists the main and most important facts, like the release date is March 3rd though you'll be able to pre-order as early as January 21st for some countries. 

Vanilla

What else is interesting this week?

I read this brilliant New Yorker piece by Atul Gawande from a few years ago, about how slow ideas can drive innovation, even though we often expect ideas to be spreading fast these days. Highly recommended read.On the audio side of things, this brilliant episode of This American Life titles "The Heart Wants What it Wants" reassured me that I'm not the only one doing what seems like completely silly things in the name of love.Finally, the U.S. presidential inauguration is coming up. I came across this inspired selection of Terry Pratchett quotes from various Discworld novels. He's one of my all-time favourite authors, I've read and own all the Discworld novels.That's about it for this week, enjoy the rest of the weekend!Best,Willem