Hi ,

It's probably still about technical time to wish you a happy new year, even though to be honest I didn't feel like wishing it to many people, things have just been too weird.My father happened to pass quite suddenly two days after the last edition I sent on the 6th September. I didn't know the day I sent it, but my father's health had taken a serious turn for the worse, he was taken into the hospital that night. He reacted badly to the second chemotherapy injection for the cancer he had diagnosed with over the summer, and in short he didn't make it. He died on Tuesday 8th September 2020.Nobody thought it would happen so fast, and we weren't ready for it. One of those things.I didn't write in my website, record for the podcast (though I kept recording and publishing Teaching Tangents with my friend James), or write the newsletter for the past few months. I just needed and wanted some time to grieve. I'm still sad at times, of course, but with the new year, I'm also ready to get back to some kind of better rhythm of writing and publishing, and quite pragmatically I also need to find more clients, paid gigs / work, that whole jazz.On the 24th December 2020 (my parent's wedding anniversary), I managed to finish translating and transcribing all the eulogies told at my dad's funeral on my website as a blog post, along with the songs we played. It felt like something to complete. You're welcome to check it out:Klaas van der Horst, 10th May 1946 - 8th September 2020. I love you dad, rest in peace.After the holidays, I felt ready to get back to work, though I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the newsletter up and I had a fantastic random match-up with Tugce via Lunch Club, who happens to be subscribed to the newsletter, enjoys it, and encouraged me to keep going. Thank you very much if you're reading this. The other big news of the past few months is that I have started teaching a few classes at ISCOM, the French Higher Institute for Communications and Advertising, which also took me quite a bit of time and is a great experience.On content I'm happy to share with you in particular, I prepared a conference talk and a workshop in the context of the school's International Days event in November 2020. Have a look at the slides here:

• The World at Play: Gaming Opportunities for Marketing Communications (2h online seminar)

• Playful Strategy: Enhancing Creativity thanks to a Play State of Mind (3h online workshop)

I was also invited on Mark Pollard's Sweathead podcast to talk about "going freelance" with two other guests (Lani Dourado and Colleen Berg), and was interviewed for the first ever Sweathead annual report. 

Otherwise, the now nearly usual weirdness of the world goes on. The French government has decided to move the curfew from 8pm to 6pm nationally, for at least two weeks. Given there is no end in sight, I spend more time wondering how long I should keep paying an expensive rent in the middle of Paris for little to none of the benefits I appreciate about living in large city. It takes an effort from me to look at everything that was good about 2020, to make up things to look forward to in 2021, and the effort is worth it given it's easy for to moan and be negative. I'll cover a little more of this in the next section. That's about it, long update, thank you for reading!Take care,Willem

 Weekly Combo Typically a mix of playful and strategy flavours. 

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Goodreads link)

Last Sunday, I spent some time reflecting on 2020 and thinking of what I want for 2021. A few years ago, John Wick, a game designer I interviewed for my podcast, introduced me to the idea of new year mottos. I hadn't taken one in the past couple of years. I spent some time looking at inspiring quotes, sayings, mottos, etc. Then I suddenly remembered this brilliant little book I read a few years ago, and the title comes from this quote, and explains the idea behind choosing "Bird by bird" as my new year motto:“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I particularly got stuck into Dead Cells - from a French studio, widely celebrated as the best action game of the year 2018, and with a brand DLC coming out now. It is a beautiful 2D pixel action pixel art game, with a silly large array of weapon combos and procedurally generated levels. You're some kind of revived prisoner trying to escape an island full of monsters. When you die, you start over at the beginning, though you can hope to get further the next time you try with the bonuses you have unlocked on the way. I highly recommend it. 5 minute long review here.I finished playing Luigi's Mansion 3 (beautiful and a lot of fun), just started on Hades (critically acclaimed as one of the best games in 2020, though it's similar to Dead Cells in many ways, trying to take it easy for now), and the beautiful story game What Remains of Edith Finch. All links to IGN short video reviews if you don't know the games, which aside from Luigi you can get on other platforms than the Nintendo Switch.